1
00:01:58,770 --> 00:02:04,290
All the Yakima City Council, this is the meeting of December 9th, 2025, to order. We'll start with roll call, please.

2
00:02:05,150 --> 00:02:17,150
Where? Here. Brown. Here. Five years. Present. Diesel. Here. Glenn. Here. Herrera. Here. Roy. Here. Thank you. Please stand and join us to the Pudzal Agents.

3
00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:36,840
Then we'll have interpreted services.

4
00:02:46,140 --> 00:02:46,860
Thank you.

5
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:51,200
Thank you.

6
00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:54,580
Next on the agenda is public comment.

7
00:02:55,340 --> 00:02:59,260
There would be 35 minutes to lighten for public comment with two and a half minutes first

8
00:02:59,260 --> 00:03:02,900
speaker in order to allow as much opportunity as possible for audience participation.

9
00:03:03,780 --> 00:03:07,900
Written comments and you know messages are strongly encouraged that you can send them to

10
00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:08,400
all council.

11
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,100
When you come to the podium, please identify yourself in the city in which you look.

12
00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:23,800
Tonight, we will start with Forbes Mercy, Adam Chauvin, Toby Opsary, and Ken Wilkinson

13
00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,180
and Director of Parks and Recreation.

14
00:03:28,420 --> 00:03:30,500
Thank you, Mayor and good evening, Council.

15
00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,600
I always love bringing you great news, and certainly this holiday time of year, so many

16
00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,980
things to be grateful for, and always grateful for gifts.

17
00:03:39,980 --> 00:03:59,560
So, in your packets under consent, we have a resolution for the acceptance of a donation of $115,000 from Mr. Forbes Versi for the installation purchase of an outdoor calisthenics gym, the Chesterleet Park, and then some other items as well.

18
00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:06,400
So I'm going to invite Forbes to come up and let him talk about it and also Adam Tobia and let them share with you the great things

19
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:15,380
But I just want to say so much gratefulness and thanks to Forbes and for Adam for all the things that you have done for this community and continue to do so

20
00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:17,380
Forbes, if you'll join me and Adam too.

21
00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:30,600
I understand you put last year's donation to Good Use, that was the daycare program up there in the park and we had a lot of people where it will drop their kids off and

22
00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,000
and have some good activity for them for the time.

23
00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:37,160
So, yeah, come on, it's had a tough year,

24
00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:39,920
a $3 million cutback, followed by the Levy failure

25
00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:40,540
with six.

26
00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:43,260
Missing by only 364 votes.

27
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,760
In my view, that happened because the public

28
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,000
didn't fully understand how deeply the loss would affect them.

29
00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,520
The city's limited to 1% revenue growth

30
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,700
while facing wage increases of 3% to 7%.

31
00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:57,680
Eventually, those lines collide, and we're seeing that now.

32
00:04:57,680 --> 00:04:59,960
I believe the levies should be-

33
00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:07,740
Personally, now that residents clearly understand the consequences. While we wait, we're facing cuts

34
00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:13,260
that hit the core of Yakuwa's quality of life, especially in parks and recreation. Even

35
00:05:13,260 --> 00:05:18,300
if funding is restored later, many programs won't return for years. So I've asked the

36
00:05:18,300 --> 00:05:24,560
community to join me in stepping up with tag donations to support the programs they care

37
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:30,000
about. My contribution today is part of that effort. And I hope it continues a year round

38
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,760
until these services are stable and able to be applied again.

39
00:05:34,340 --> 00:05:38,740
After 34 years of the Internet industry, I've been fortunate with a comfortable retirement

40
00:05:38,740 --> 00:05:43,420
thanks to the people of the city, by the way, I'm Forbes Mercy City of Yakima, I forgot

41
00:05:43,420 --> 00:05:43,880
that part.

42
00:05:44,580 --> 00:05:44,760
Okay.

43
00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:50,240
I also plan to advocate nationally for Congress to recognize gifts to municipal governments

44
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,240
as fully tax deductible.

45
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:58,520
That change alone would motivate many more business owners to support their hometowns directly.

46
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:10,660
So, rather than just being a 23% return on your tax as they would be able to write off a lot more because they're directly responsible to that two cities to their programs for their own town.

47
00:06:11,220 --> 00:06:17,680
Last year, a family friend, Adam Tobin approached me with an idea to bring a calisthenics park to Yakima.

48
00:06:18,140 --> 00:06:23,740
He researched the equipment coordinated with Parks Director Ken Wilkinson and built a solid proposal.

49
00:06:23,740 --> 00:06:27,880
Also, if I may, I'd like to yield and have him briefly talk about what it is.

50
00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:28,800
He said about a minute.

51
00:06:31,620 --> 00:06:33,620
Hi, Adam Tobias, City of Yakima.

52
00:06:34,100 --> 00:06:39,900
So I believe that a calisthenics park will be beneficial for our city because it's easily

53
00:06:39,900 --> 00:06:44,960
accessible to all ages, all demographics, and the calisthenics park that we're going to

54
00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,180
be building will be free and accessible to everyone.

55
00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:54,520
So I know at my time when I worked as a youth peer counselor at Comprehensive, a lot of

56
00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,500
the struggles for the kids that I worked with was they didn't have the funds to join

57
00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:05,000
a jam or join sports so using this calisthenics park and my knowledge as fitness coach

58
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:11,060
I'll be able to just allow a more accessible way for health and fitness into our community.

59
00:07:11,740 --> 00:07:12,420
Thank you.

60
00:07:12,700 --> 00:07:12,880
Awesome.

61
00:07:13,220 --> 00:07:13,520
Thank you.

62
00:07:14,300 --> 00:07:16,040
He was so nervous about seeing him.

63
00:07:18,620 --> 00:07:25,000
I have chosen to fund that project, equipment, installation and the warranty, totally in $54,000.

64
00:07:25,740 --> 00:07:30,960
And Chesterley Park has been chosen for a number of reasons, such as the location of the

65
00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:37,060
Y, the roller skate park, and we recognize a lot of moms drop their kids off, and they just

66
00:07:37,060 --> 00:07:40,080
roam around the park until their kids are done with the Y, so now they can work out.

67
00:07:40,220 --> 00:07:43,640
So we get some strong moms out there, and a lot of other people as well.

68
00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,160
My second donation addresses the loss of youth programs.

69
00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,800
You know that I'm very committed to making sure the youth has some place to go.

70
00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,960
With major cuts to parks and recreation and reductions to the gang task force, many

71
00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,020
kids will be left without structure or positive outlets.

72
00:08:00,660 --> 00:08:06,340
That's not a risk we can afford, so I'm choosing to fully fund the 2026 youth parks program

73
00:08:06,340 --> 00:08:07,960
for $61,000.

74
00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:13,080
I would like to add with the resolution to have that added back into your programs that are used.

75
00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,120
I'm hoping other people can do some of the other programs.

76
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:27,160
Through my website helpyacama.com, I hope other businesses, business owners will join to help restore the programs that make Yacama a strong, safe, and vibrant community.

77
00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:34,940
At the end of the day, these aren't just line items in a budget, they're lifelines for kids, families, and the future of this city.

78
00:08:34,940 --> 00:08:39,420
I'm stepping up because Yakima stepped up for me for 34 years.

79
00:08:39,780 --> 00:08:41,880
And I believe many others are ready to do so.

80
00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,840
The same once they see a clear path to making a difference.

81
00:08:46,380 --> 00:08:49,820
So let's rebuild the momentum, restore what matters, and

82
00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:54,140
show our residents that the city doesn't wait for someone else to solve our problems.

83
00:08:54,540 --> 00:08:55,560
We solve them together.

84
00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,360
Thank you for your time and attention.

85
00:08:58,360 --> 00:08:58,920
It doesn't matter.

86
00:08:59,180 --> 00:08:59,600
Thank you.

87
00:08:59,780 --> 00:09:00,200
Thank you.

88
00:09:01,140 --> 00:09:03,620
I'd like to say I'm done, but I have this a little bit more.

89
00:09:03,620 --> 00:09:04,560
Why?

90
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,620
Because I didn't quite stop here.

91
00:09:07,340 --> 00:09:15,180
I just got a lot of calls and such and as you know, the cell we're going to explain,

92
00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:16,980
this is what it was, the short one.

93
00:09:18,420 --> 00:09:20,440
So I have one more concern I'd like to raise.

94
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:25,380
I'm a regular donor to the Yakima Humane Society and the city's decision to eliminate the

95
00:09:25,380 --> 00:09:28,240
animal control officer troubles me deeply.

96
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:33,380
Without that position, injured animals and strays simply won't be picked up.

97
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,040
And when dangerous animals are involved, the burden will fall on police officers,

98
00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:43,320
putting them in the most difficult situation where they may have to euthanize an animal in the field.

99
00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:48,380
That is not acceptable for the officers, for the public, and for the animals.

100
00:09:48,940 --> 00:09:56,080
The person currently serving in that role is dedicated, capable, and working towards becoming a Yakima police officer.

101
00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,360
Cutting this position doesn't just impact public safety.

102
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:29,680
This is her ability to bridge the time until the academy. Keeping her on is a win-win, good for the city, good for residents, and essential for humane animal management. The city currently spends about 8,000 a month on this role, to ensure opportunity to ensure continuity, no glasses. I'm willing to fund the next three months into 2026 by donating 32,000 additional, specifically earmarked for this purpose. This is a small investment

103
00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:38,120
With a large impact for public safety for humane treatment of animals and for supporting a dedicated employee who served this community well

104
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:20,410
Any other questions for me regarding this donation?

105
00:11:21,590 --> 00:11:23,510
No, what are you going to do with all I can to ask?

106
00:11:24,470 --> 00:11:25,550
We'll find a way.

107
00:11:26,750 --> 00:11:27,470
Thank you.

108
00:11:27,630 --> 00:11:28,990
Thank you very much.

109
00:11:29,730 --> 00:11:30,030
All right.

110
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,180
Next is Leslie Rodriguez.

111
00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:41,480
Is there a Leslie Rodriguez?

112
00:11:41,980 --> 00:11:42,360
Here you are.

113
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:43,640
I

114
00:11:51,670 --> 00:11:52,890
didn't realize that was your last name.

115
00:11:52,890 --> 00:11:58,230
Yeah, right. It says, it says Leslie Clara on my Facebook site.

116
00:12:12,590 --> 00:12:29,630
Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Leslie Rodriguez. I am a health care provider and Founder of Anthropos Health and Counseling Center. And I'm here because I believe deeply in protecting the quality of life that makes Yakima home.

117
00:12:30,450 --> 00:12:36,010
And I wanted to thank Mr. Forbes Mercy as well too, but it looks like he may have already

118
00:12:36,010 --> 00:12:44,490
left, for creating HelpYakama.com and for lifting up the programs that truly support our community.

119
00:12:44,950 --> 00:12:50,670
His vision shows how powerful it is when we invest in the people and places that connect

120
00:12:50,670 --> 00:12:51,050
us.

121
00:12:51,530 --> 00:12:56,510
I did want to say too, just as an additional thought that I did support rerunning the

122
00:12:56,510 --> 00:13:10,770
I mean, I know that there were a lot of people that participated, but maybe you know that the impact of the donations of the community awareness, if that's at all possible, I would support that as well.

123
00:13:12,690 --> 00:13:19,450
The Harman Center is one of those places throughout my time in aging and long-term care

124
00:13:19,450 --> 00:13:24,070
and through my own family's journey, I saw how much it means.

125
00:13:24,370 --> 00:13:29,870
When my mother, Judy Dutty, was ill, the Harman Center contributed, continued to give

126
00:13:29,870 --> 00:13:32,730
her moments of comfort, joy, and connection.

127
00:13:33,430 --> 00:13:35,010
Those moments were a gift.

128
00:13:35,770 --> 00:13:40,510
In her memory, I will also be contributing personally to support the Harman Center and

129
00:13:40,510 --> 00:13:42,010
and hope others will join me.

130
00:13:43,130 --> 00:13:46,970
Programs like this are not optional, they're vital.

131
00:13:47,510 --> 00:13:50,910
They help ensure that we all continue the quality

132
00:13:50,910 --> 00:13:52,750
of life we expect in Yakima.

133
00:13:53,330 --> 00:13:56,070
Thank you for your time and for everything you do

134
00:13:56,070 --> 00:13:57,210
for this community.

135
00:13:57,530 --> 00:14:00,190
I really appreciate you, Mayor and Council members.

136
00:14:00,950 --> 00:14:02,330
Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez, thank you

137
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:10,900
so much.

138
00:14:17,900 --> 00:14:19,120
You're here, you can check his hand.

139
00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:27,780
It's Ann NAP.

140
00:14:42,020 --> 00:14:43,580
Hi, thank you, my name is Ann NAP.

141
00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:44,980
I live in the city of Yakima,

142
00:14:44,980 --> 00:14:48,820
And I have a handout for you that I believe the clerk put in front of you.

143
00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:50,960
I do support the trolley.

144
00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:52,800
It's a seasonal tourist attraction.

145
00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:54,960
It runs on a short track inside the city.

146
00:14:55,380 --> 00:14:59,320
It's not a railroad, since 1985 it's relied on tax-

147
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:28,860
Mayors, subsidies, and transportation grants help to trolley become self-supporting and work within its budget, say no to this operation license agreement. Attorney James Cromedy commented on the agreement, quote, the city is entering into a joint venture with a marginally solvent organization that places significant risks on citizens of this community. A similar risk exists with respect to environmental liability, debts and liens and operational liabilities.

148
00:15:28,860 --> 00:15:34,560
Key issues include one, no more subsidies for trolleys, I gave you a little table.

149
00:15:34,860 --> 00:15:39,720
The potential savings in 2026 amounts to $8 million to $9 million.

150
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:48,660
An HLA engineer and estimated the cost to re-engineer and rebuild six avenue at $5 million per mile,

151
00:15:48,900 --> 00:15:50,940
going to seal it would be $20 million.

152
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:56,480
Secondly, did the trolley take private property for free?

153
00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:01,020
who owns a land under the tracks on 6th Avenue from River Road to the bridge,

154
00:16:01,500 --> 00:16:03,640
did owners grant easements or rights of way.

155
00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:08,140
3. The land use application lists the city as the applicant for the agreement.

156
00:16:08,660 --> 00:16:12,460
Why does the city need a license from itself, isn't the applicant the trolley?

157
00:16:12,820 --> 00:16:18,340
4. The draft agreement extends to downtown Seala, but Yakima city limits and in the middle of the bridge.

158
00:16:18,620 --> 00:16:21,360
Can the city approve operation outside city limits?

159
00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:26,680
and for our mental, cultural, and archaeological resource impacts is noted by letters from the

160
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,880
yakimination, and others are not fully addressed.

161
00:16:29,660 --> 00:16:32,320
After 40 years, help the trolley stand on its own.

162
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:38,720
Sell the trolley bar museum to the Tally Group at the assessed value of 2026, I can't say

163
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:38,800
it.

164
00:16:39,980 --> 00:16:40,620
$260,000.

165
00:16:40,940 --> 00:16:41,720
$260,000.

166
00:16:42,100 --> 00:16:43,260
I'm not a money person.

167
00:16:43,540 --> 00:16:44,200
Thank you.

168
00:16:44,740 --> 00:16:45,920
I'll shake your hand for that.

169
00:16:46,520 --> 00:17:02,540
Declined the agreement, flaws include shifts revenues to the trolley, increases tax pay or costs and misrepresent the trolley as a railway, include the trolley in the lodging tax and prioritize the Ackermas year round needs, police, fires, pulled in committees, centers.

170
00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:06,900
That's where tax pay or money should go, say no to trolley subsidies in this agreement.

171
00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:12,980
Thank you for listening to me so many times about the trolley and how we spend tax pay or money.

172
00:17:13,180 --> 00:17:13,520
Thank you.

173
00:17:21,430 --> 00:17:23,050
next is Maria Braimos.

174
00:17:31,710 --> 00:17:36,850
Good evening mayor and city councilman my name is Maria Ramols and I'm

175
00:17:36,850 --> 00:17:42,390
here to speak on behalf of the Yakima Trolley's. We want to spread some holiday cheer as we have

176
00:17:42,390 --> 00:17:47,230
our Santa Trolley going on right now and also knew this year is our candlelight trolley.

177
00:17:48,150 --> 00:17:52,670
I want to say for some foremost that we really have a remarkable gift in this community.

178
00:17:53,410 --> 00:17:57,570
Something that truly preserves our history while bringing joy to people of all ages.

179
00:17:57,950 --> 00:18:08,670
The trophies aren't just a ride. They're a piece of our heritage. They represent a legacy that we can pass down to our children and to future generations to come.

180
00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:18,030
In a world that moves so quickly preserving the meaningful pieces of our local history truly matters and I want this for my children and for all of your children as well.

181
00:18:18,670 --> 00:18:21,650
I've seen firsthand how powerful this experience is.

182
00:18:21,650 --> 00:18:27,730
We've welcomed educational tours from young elementary school students eager and excited

183
00:18:27,730 --> 00:18:33,290
to learn about our history here in Yakima families and seniors and some of them who

184
00:18:33,290 --> 00:18:37,590
remember writing the trolley as a child and passing this on to their families as well.

185
00:18:38,230 --> 00:18:43,350
Visitors from out of state no matter who they are the look in their faces with joy and excitement

186
00:18:43,350 --> 00:18:48,750
and the curiosity of the connection is truly incredible and I have seen it firsthand.

187
00:18:48,750 --> 00:18:52,610
And it reminds us that the Trolley's are more than a historic attraction.

188
00:18:53,130 --> 00:18:54,830
They are a bridge between generations.

189
00:18:55,530 --> 00:18:59,170
I've seen how the Trolley's support and collaborate with other businesses in town,

190
00:18:59,790 --> 00:19:02,650
from hotels, to restaurants, to local shops.

191
00:19:03,130 --> 00:19:06,070
Visitors, when they come here, they just don't ride the Trolley's.

192
00:19:06,130 --> 00:19:10,270
They often stay to eat, to explore, and to invest in our community.

193
00:19:10,590 --> 00:19:11,510
It's a ripple effect.

194
00:19:12,090 --> 00:19:16,730
That strengthens our local economy and brings increased visibility to the town as a whole.

195
00:19:16,730 --> 00:19:23,170
One of my favorite things is watching how guests come as they come to visit and soon they

196
00:19:23,170 --> 00:19:26,210
fall in love which is my case as well have become volunteers.

197
00:19:26,790 --> 00:19:31,470
People who come for the experience but stay because they believe in the mission and the

198
00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:35,690
magic of what we truly have here as a legacy in our town.

199
00:19:36,390 --> 00:19:41,030
The Trolley's enrich our community, honor our past, and continue to build a legacy for

200
00:19:41,030 --> 00:19:41,550
the future.

201
00:19:41,550 --> 00:19:53,390
I respectfully ask that your support in renewing the operation trolley agreement because this is so important for our town's story and continue to be for future generations to come.

202
00:19:53,630 --> 00:19:56,090
So please vote yes on this agreement. Thank you.

203
00:19:56,230 --> 00:19:56,950
Thank you, Australians.

204
00:20:04,590 --> 00:20:05,990
The next is Tony Corsi.

205
00:20:16,450 --> 00:20:19,110
Tony Corsi, where I laid my heads, where I'm at.

206
00:20:24,470 --> 00:20:26,570
2001, there was an incident

207
00:20:27,450 --> 00:20:31,190
back east that we should never forget.

208
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:38,320
And did you know that legislation voted for people

209
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,560
to keep track of certain things?

210
00:20:45,750 --> 00:20:47,450
Yakima really messed up.

211
00:20:50,070 --> 00:20:51,650
I didn't make up the rules, I just

212
00:20:51,650 --> 00:20:52,250
followed them.

213
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,360
Now I understand this. I bought a telephone number because I was on

214
00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:04,640
the 10th hole of the apple tree from

215
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,460
809 and a half South A street worked my way

216
00:21:10,460 --> 00:21:15,360
all the way up and I've seen all walks of life and

217
00:21:18,530 --> 00:21:19,910
it's very disappointing but

218
00:21:19,910 --> 00:21:25,350
anyway I bought that number and I was getting it because my wife decided to go in a

219
00:21:25,350 --> 00:21:31,430
different direction which is her choice. She didn't realize what I was doing but it

220
00:21:31,430 --> 00:21:38,590
wasn't her business. So when I called that number, I want to know why half a million

221
00:21:38,590 --> 00:21:45,350
dollars went into that. She got that number, which she did not get that. So you guys heard

222
00:21:45,350 --> 00:21:51,350
me the other day. Yeah, but you're not going to answer that question because you haven't

223
00:21:51,350 --> 00:21:58,520
answered any other questions, which is real sad because the legislation voted to see if

224
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,020
People were doing correct things with the funds.

225
00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:04,780
What do you guys rate yourself?

226
00:22:06,540 --> 00:22:07,720
I know what I did.

227
00:22:09,220 --> 00:22:12,860
Yeah, and you still have you have to sit down and talk and negotiate.

228
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,580
Mr. Trump, whether he gave you a pass or not, that's his prerogative.

229
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:20,680
You guys got to figure out something.

230
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:23,340
That's what you're saying.

231
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:24,880
Thank you, Mr. Corsi.

232
00:22:25,140 --> 00:22:25,880
Thank you, I'm y'all.

233
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,060
Those are all the slips I have.

234
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:34,440
I forgot to mention earlier, if anybody else wishes to make public comments tonight, they should pick up a form in the lobby and turn it into the clerk.

235
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:36,600
You still have time to do that, if you would like.

236
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,040
Mr. Bieler, is anyone online who would like to address the council this evening?

237
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,220
No mayor buyers, there is not.

238
00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:44,480
Thank you.

239
00:22:44,780 --> 00:22:47,220
Then I will close the public comment portion of the meeting.

240
00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:56,240
Now we're going to open discussion for the good of the order and we're going to recognize our going council person through and start with City Manager Vicki Bickier.

241
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,800
Yes. Thank you, Councilor Mayor.

242
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:05,560
Good evening. Tonight we are going to take a moment to recognize two individuals who

243
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:11,480
have dedicated their time, energy and hearts to serving the people of Yakima, our Retiring

244
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,040
City Council members, Janice Ceo and Danny Herrera.

245
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:24,140
Public service is not easy. It requires long hours, occasional five-hour public meetings, long

246
00:23:24,140 --> 00:23:28,940
long budget discussions and tough decisions and a deep commitment to our community.

247
00:23:30,340 --> 00:23:33,800
They've been voices for their constituents, advocates for their districts,

248
00:23:34,420 --> 00:23:37,720
and also they've been part of the whole city's future too.

249
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,560
We've helped, they've helped guide Yakima through the challenges like recovering from COVID,

250
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:50,040
going through a lot of staff changes, and through some of the most complex financial issues

251
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:55,980
use a city can face. But beyond the policies and the votes, they brought compassion and

252
00:23:55,980 --> 00:24:01,540
love for the city of Yakima. They've listened to residents, collaborated with the staff,

253
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,460
and worked to make Yakima better place for all of us. As they step away from their official

254
00:24:06,460 --> 00:24:12,040
roles, we know their impact will continue. And on behalf of the city of Yakima, we want

255
00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:18,220
to thank you for your service. Thank you. And for believing in Yakima. We wish you all

256
00:24:18,220 --> 00:24:23,380
the best and we hope you'll continue to be part of Yakima's story and Mayor has some

257
00:24:23,380 --> 00:24:28,160
we'll take it from here. Thank you. Just any other council person

258
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:36,200
wish to say anything at this point? Go ahead. Yeah. I just want to say thank you for being

259
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:45,380
on this council. I've truly respected and appreciated your guys' opinions on everything whether

260
00:24:45,380 --> 00:24:52,220
Whether we've agreed or disagreed on issues, when we first got on council, we made a point

261
00:24:52,220 --> 00:24:57,440
to, even though we disagree, we can still move forward on things, and I've appreciated

262
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:57,720
that.

263
00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,120
and so

264
00:25:00,180 --> 00:25:18,180
I wish you guys the best of luck in the future and whatever your endeavors are. I know you are coming on to retirement soon as we leave. You are, all right. Well, that's even probably way more fun than this is going to be. And, you know, God bless you both. Thank you.

265
00:25:30,180 --> 00:25:35,240
It's really impressed me with this City Council more than any other than I observed in

266
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:35,780
past years.

267
00:25:36,420 --> 00:25:41,020
A lot of times there's a lot of animosity between different council members and the fact

268
00:25:41,020 --> 00:25:47,280
that we can share our ideas and our thoughts and still respect each other and still like

269
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,580
each other to me is awesome and that's an important part of what life is all about.

270
00:25:52,940 --> 00:25:54,400
And don't get lost.

271
00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:58,980
You know when we have City Council and you know that you can come and make comments any

272
00:25:58,980 --> 00:25:59,280
time.

273
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:05,720
so we want to hear your input forward. Thank you. I wish you the best.

274
00:26:06,020 --> 00:26:07,280
Maybe on study sessions. Yeah.

275
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,040
When we have a six hour meeting, we'll make sure we get you here.

276
00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:20,060
Okay. Anyone else before I close? All right. Thank you. I just want to thank you both. It has been

277
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,260
pleasure as a council to have you here, to have your voices be a part of the conversation.

278
00:26:25,260 --> 00:26:30,020
And as Deputy Mayor Brown said, sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't, but I think

279
00:26:30,020 --> 00:26:32,060
we've had a mutual respect here at the horseshoe.

280
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:37,020
I've appreciated all of the thinking and ideas and things that each of you have brought.

281
00:26:38,660 --> 00:26:42,040
And James, I have part of your district now, I think the district will move.

282
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,080
Yeah, but we have some of the same constituents.

283
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:50,900
And I hope to hear from you on a regular basis in terms of your community and where you live

284
00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:53,380
and things that you would like to have brought forward.

285
00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:56,120
Because I like it, so.

286
00:26:56,860 --> 00:26:58,980
And Danny, it's been fun because we've

287
00:26:58,980 --> 00:27:00,820
seen you go from saying absolutely nothing

288
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:03,720
to the meetings that you come to now

289
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,060
and you're making motions and you're

290
00:27:05,060 --> 00:27:08,320
recognizing things in your district and in the community.

291
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:10,180
You've been doing that for a while now

292
00:27:10,180 --> 00:27:14,500
and just to see you grow in that has been really, really

293
00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:15,280
delightful.

294
00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:20,260
And so I hope I know that you will stay involved in your community

295
00:27:20,260 --> 00:27:21,360
because I've seen you out there,

296
00:27:21,460 --> 00:27:23,720
referring basketball games and all kinds of things like that.

297
00:27:24,420 --> 00:27:26,020
So I'd encourage both of you just, you know,

298
00:27:26,140 --> 00:27:29,100
in your life and in your way to stay active in, you know,

299
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:30,680
in your district and in your community

300
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,380
and supporting the city of Yacquim

301
00:27:32,380 --> 00:27:33,420
in every way that you can.

302
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,340
And I'm personally grateful for the opportunity

303
00:27:36,340 --> 00:27:38,960
to share those thoughts with you.

304
00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:40,680
And we do have something for you.

305
00:27:41,140 --> 00:27:42,960
So this is for Mr. Herrera.

306
00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:46,040
And this is for Councilman DCO.

307
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:47,040
Thank you.

308
00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:47,560
You're welcome.

309
00:27:47,940 --> 00:27:49,180
You can open it now, OK?

310
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:11,160
I just want to say that I've enjoyed being on council.

311
00:28:11,620 --> 00:28:16,160
It's been a real learning experience, but I think it's something that so many people

312
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:25,500
I don't know not everyone can do it but I wish everyone could experience it because it gives you a whole new perspective on how the city is run.

313
00:28:26,540 --> 00:28:33,920
The decisions that are made and why they're made and sometimes it doesn't make sense to everybody but there are reasons why things happen the way they do.

314
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:40,200
So I'm really grateful that I have that and going forward as someone who's going to be active in the community.

315
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:48,680
I have that background to be able to have that perspective on how things are

316
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:54,400
run. So, and I've met a lot of really great people, some of them are still my

317
00:28:54,400 --> 00:29:00,940
friends now, now that I've met them. And I think that it'll be fun to go out

318
00:29:00,940 --> 00:29:04,940
and be a non-council person and do some things out in the community.

319
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:10,180
I'll be on

320
00:29:10,180 --> 00:29:18,740
because yeah, come as a great place to live and that's the reason I ran to begin with is so that I could make some changes or

321
00:29:19,660 --> 00:29:22,900
however small that is but I

322
00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:30,600
Just really like this community a lot. I've been here my whole life and so I'm gonna continue to be part of it

323
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:40,160
Thank you

324
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,960
Everything not just for the campaign and my time on council but before graduating from

325
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,400
university, being professional, everything that I do in life.

326
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:57,140
Yeah, it's not easy, it's been on council, being the forefront, being in the news, on the

327
00:29:57,140 --> 00:29:59,180
newspapers, you know, everything gone there.

328
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:29,880
Microsoft, it's not easy. First of all, I do want to thank council, Deputy Matt Brown. Thank you here. At a good time sitting next to you. And you know, you did just give me some advice sometimes to make some motions when I was in too sure. And then, yeah, like you said, there's some some mutual respect on council. Because again, like Rich Rick said there. Council that I see before they were very nice. I was kind of nervous. But I'm glad

329
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:34,880
that we were able to work together and get things done as well, and then also Madam Mayor.

330
00:30:35,460 --> 00:30:44,940
Yes, working on the aquatic center fundraising committee and all the other community members and I know you're out in the community, so thank you for recognizing that I'm out in the community too.

331
00:30:45,300 --> 00:30:59,440
So we'll definitely see each other as well and it's not easy and I just want to make sure that my students and any future students know that anybody from East Yakima or any part of Yakima can do anything, especially you run for city council.

332
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,300
to represent the district and know what's their best interest.

333
00:31:03,980 --> 00:31:23,340
And thank you to the staff, I know I'm going to continue to keep communication already told, I think some of the police officers that I had grown up with, and obviously chief boy on chief Markham, you'll be hearing from me no matter what comes up as well as staff that's been here the last couple of years I know.

334
00:31:23,340 --> 00:31:30,560
So turnovers not always the best, but I know I've met a lot of people that are all over the state are still here as well too, as well.

335
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,120
Thank you, Councilor Herrera.

336
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:38,180
Again, we appreciate your presence and wish you well and everything.

337
00:31:38,620 --> 00:31:41,260
All right, we will move forward.

338
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:47,580
Next on the agenda is to administer the oath of office for Judge Aaron Masters and Judge Troy Clement.

339
00:31:50,170 --> 00:31:51,470
Good to see you both again.

340
00:31:59,050 --> 00:31:59,850
Good evening.

341
00:31:59,850 --> 00:32:07,010
at the face this way. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state

342
00:32:07,010 --> 00:32:07,450
yearning,

343
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:15,160
solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States

344
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:23,620
and the Constitution of the State of Washington and the Constitution of the State of Washington

345
00:32:23,620 --> 00:32:31,640
and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the Office of Judge

346
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:42,240
of the municipal court of the city of Yakima, Washington, according to the

347
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:48,640
best of my ability. So help me God. Congratulations.

348
00:32:51,020 --> 00:32:53,310
Congratulations to both of you

349
00:33:10,820 --> 00:33:17,740
I was going to make one comment further to Councilman D.C.O. I started my path to City Council

350
00:33:17,740 --> 00:33:18,820
after I retired.

351
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:21,340
It does make a difference.

352
00:33:23,660 --> 00:33:25,340
The door may be open here in the future.

353
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,340
All right.

354
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:28,240
We'll see.

355
00:33:30,500 --> 00:33:32,480
Next on the agenda is Council Reports.

356
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,020
6A is that we will have a report from the nominating committee.

357
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,600
And I believe that Danny Herrera is going to make this report.

358
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,820
Yeah, this is the meeting November 17th, not yesterday.

359
00:33:42,940 --> 00:33:48,340
But we had some appointees for the art commissions, bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee and

360
00:33:48,340 --> 00:33:53,900
tax advisor committee. None of them were challenges set for some of the positions for the

361
00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:59,360
lodging tax advisor committee, but I think we're going to bring that up later. So, yeah,

362
00:33:59,420 --> 00:34:01,880
those are the appointees and reappointees.

363
00:34:04,970 --> 00:34:09,970
And Madam Mayor, a motion to accept the nominating

364
00:34:09,970 --> 00:34:18,090
committees recommendations. Second. So we have a motion by Councilor Herrera and a second by

365
00:34:18,090 --> 00:34:20,910
They're definitely wearing brown to accept the nominating committee's recommendation.

366
00:34:21,750 --> 00:34:23,930
And I'm wondering if you can give us the names of the persons.

367
00:34:24,130 --> 00:34:32,710
Yes, for the arts commission, a point, Brandon Dean, and then Sylvia Marcell was a community rep, and

368
00:34:32,710 --> 00:34:35,530
she's going to change the work in artist position.

369
00:34:35,770 --> 00:34:40,570
So thank you Rosalinda, to making sure that all positions are filled in the correct spot.

370
00:34:41,130 --> 00:34:45,710
And then for the bike and pad, reappoint Jennifer Grint, and Frank Purdy,

371
00:34:45,710 --> 00:34:51,230
Any lodging tax advisory area point, sir De Villa and Kathy Kramer.

372
00:34:51,730 --> 00:34:53,430
Thank you for sharing the names.

373
00:34:54,510 --> 00:34:54,630
All right.

374
00:34:55,050 --> 00:34:56,150
Any comments, Council?

375
00:34:56,610 --> 00:34:58,830
There is the bicycle and ped committee too.

376
00:34:59,090 --> 00:34:59,770
That's the Jennifer.

377
00:35:02,420 --> 00:35:02,820
Okay.

378
00:35:06,140 --> 00:35:12,640
All right. There's no further comments. All of this in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

379
00:35:13,980 --> 00:35:18,160
All right. The motion passes 7-0. Thank you, council. And thank you, and I want to leave the committee for your work.

380
00:35:19,580 --> 00:35:26,760
Next is a discussion by the council regarding suggested 2026 state and federal legislative priorities. And, man, be alert,

381
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,440
or a community case in some public affairs manage?

382
00:35:28,580 --> 00:35:29,440
Just gonna address council.

383
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,260
Good evening Mayor and council members.

384
00:35:32,580 --> 00:35:35,320
Last week when I was responding to giving you an update

385
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:36,880
on a couple of motions that the council had made,

386
00:35:37,020 --> 00:35:39,160
I told you that I would come back this week

387
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,060
and give you a little bit more detail

388
00:35:41,060 --> 00:35:42,160
on what we are doing

389
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:43,680
and have been doing for several months

390
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,780
with regard to our state and federal legislative priorities.

391
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,740
I'll just, tonight I'm gonna give you a really quick overview

392
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:56,060
and then based on information we get from the council,

393
00:35:56,060 --> 00:35:58,620
So we may need to adjust some of our priorities.

394
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:05,360
But on the state level, so far, we are planning to request funding for our airport modernization,

395
00:36:06,180 --> 00:36:13,780
$2 million, also pre-design and design of the proposed Children's Advocacy Center, $1.5

396
00:36:13,780 --> 00:36:14,080
million.

397
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:22,020
We're asking for $3 million for the Shaw Creek rerout, which is a project in partnership with

398
00:36:22,020 --> 00:36:28,120
of a county. Also, a mill site feasibility study. We imagine that might be in the neighborhood

399
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:36,640
of $150 to $200,000. We're also going to request funding for repairs to Franklin Pool.

400
00:36:37,180 --> 00:36:41,920
We don't know the exact numbers for that yet. We're working on that and that will be a request

401
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:49,240
to make. These are capital requests of the legislature. We also are going to support requests that union

402
00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:55,080
gap might make regarding the beltway and that Yakima County might make for the Shaw Creek rerout.

403
00:36:55,700 --> 00:37:00,560
A few policy things we're following on the state level, a homelessness funding,

404
00:37:01,220 --> 00:37:07,380
public records, regulation, rewrites, indigent defense funding will be following all of those very

405
00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:12,080
closely and will also keep a close eye on. There may be, if there are efforts that will be made to

406
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:16,720
change a little bit of the legislation on the 1-10th of 1% sales tax for public safety,

407
00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:20,300
there's a lot of discussion that that may be redone a little bit.

408
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,420
On the federal side, we're planning to request funding for the airport.

409
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:29,540
Again, $2 million, pre-designed design for the proposed children's advocacy center, $1.5 million.

410
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:34,720
Any ongoing project to extend water and sewer services to currently unserved areas of the city.

411
00:37:35,220 --> 00:37:38,440
There have been two phases of that project that have been funded.

412
00:37:38,820 --> 00:37:40,420
This would be the third and final phase.

413
00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:43,620
These are areas that of the city within the core of the city

414
00:37:43,620 --> 00:37:47,700
that currently have no water or domestic water or domestic sewer service.

415
00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:59,020
Also, we will be, we'll advocate at the federal level to improve funding to prevent and combat wildfires.

416
00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:05,840
And we'll also be following progress in various funding bills from this year that Congress is yet to act on.

417
00:38:06,100 --> 00:38:10,840
And I'll tell you a little bit more about that in just a second. But from the state level, this is a 60-day session.

418
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:16,100
a short, what's called a short session. It's a non-budget year session. It'll be interesting

419
00:38:16,100 --> 00:38:20,340
to see what happens at the state level this year because of course as you may have seen

420
00:38:20,340 --> 00:38:26,400
in the last couple of days, the revenue forecast for the state is not good. And plus in a short

421
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:32,880
session such as this, the likelihood of a lot of major policy things happening, it doesn't

422
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,140
seemed like that would be very likely.

423
00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:41,080
Also on the federal level, I did forget to mention this,

424
00:38:41,140 --> 00:38:45,400
the federal level, we're also asking for, we secured $3 million

425
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:48,840
in funding for the Nelson Dam, or the Nelson Project.

426
00:38:49,900 --> 00:38:56,360
And we secured that in an airmark in 24 from Senator Murray.

427
00:38:56,940 --> 00:39:00,300
However, Congress has not acted on those funding bills yet,

428
00:39:00,300 --> 00:39:04,800
So that money still kind of is hanging in limbo there, so we'll be pushing to have that

429
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:14,880
provided to us. And also on the federal level we'll be asking for an air cargo and TSA modernization

430
00:39:15,700 --> 00:39:20,400
some money for that for the airport. I think I already said that one. So you guys know how we do

431
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:28,200
some of this work. We will prevent for the funding requests in specific. We provide or we prepare and

432
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:33,440
provide these one-pagers. You can hand this just just an example of a couple of them.

433
00:39:33,940 --> 00:39:40,060
It's kind of how we get legislators familiar with the issues that we are talking about

434
00:39:40,060 --> 00:39:45,880
and advocating for. And there will be several more of those created as we move closer to

435
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:52,540
the state legislative session in January and the ongoing congressional session.

436
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,180
If you have

437
00:39:58,180 --> 00:39:58,760
into your discussion.

438
00:40:00,690 --> 00:40:11,690
One comment you made about fire control. My perception is I lived in the county or the city for the last 50 years is in the last decade or so.

439
00:40:13,910 --> 00:40:27,570
Whoever's controlling the fires is not actively putting them out. And it results in probably some of the worst pollution that the state gets. And it just seems insane. We need to change the policy.

440
00:40:27,570 --> 00:40:33,310
just because we get a fire started doesn't mean we don't put it out and I don't

441
00:40:33,310 --> 00:40:39,870
feel very convinced that that policy is being adhered to. I think the

442
00:40:39,870 --> 00:40:44,750
letter burn policy is way too people are accepting it and that's not a good

443
00:40:44,750 --> 00:40:52,670
idea. It's part of why we're closely watching that legislation and determining

444
00:40:52,670 --> 00:40:56,090
whether or when, when or whether we would weigh it.

445
00:40:57,250 --> 00:40:59,930
On the family center.

446
00:41:00,450 --> 00:41:03,950
Did you say that was 1.5 at the state and at the federal?

447
00:41:04,210 --> 00:41:06,630
Well, we'll be making dual requests.

448
00:41:07,290 --> 00:41:10,230
We're playing, I don't know what the right term is,

449
00:41:10,330 --> 00:41:12,270
but because I'm not much of a gambler,

450
00:41:12,350 --> 00:41:13,350
but we're covering our bets.

451
00:41:13,690 --> 00:41:14,810
Maybe that's what it is.

452
00:41:15,430 --> 00:41:16,930
You're hedging your bets.

453
00:41:16,930 --> 00:41:18,630
Hedging, oh hedging our bets.

454
00:41:19,050 --> 00:41:19,610
Okay, there you go.

455
00:41:19,630 --> 00:41:20,350
You would know, right?

456
00:41:24,690 --> 00:41:26,890
Do we only need 1.5 for that?

457
00:41:27,370 --> 00:41:33,130
No, that's for pre-design and design, but not for construction.

458
00:41:33,470 --> 00:41:39,330
That would kind of come maybe not this session, maybe next set, not 26, but maybe 27.

459
00:41:40,630 --> 00:41:43,850
What is the child advocacy center?

460
00:41:44,670 --> 00:41:46,790
I can give you a high level overview of the project.

461
00:41:46,790 --> 00:42:06,890
It was a meeting that Deputy Mayor Brown and I had with some local, a coalition of local people who are working on child abuse a place for us to have like a one stop place for children to get the intake instead of having to go to the hospital and the police station to be taken all around.

462
00:42:07,330 --> 00:42:12,650
It includes a lot of different aspects. It's very early. We can bring you some more information about it as it comes together.

463
00:42:14,030 --> 00:42:18,150
It may be, I mean, we really have to work on our timing with this, but it's at least

464
00:42:18,150 --> 00:42:20,850
something that's in our, on our radar stream.

465
00:42:22,230 --> 00:42:26,650
And having worked for a number of years with families or in crisis and children that would

466
00:42:26,650 --> 00:42:30,770
go through those situations and seeing parents or foster parents having to go from place

467
00:42:30,770 --> 00:42:34,470
to place to place to place and then poor children being traumatized over and over and over again

468
00:42:34,470 --> 00:42:35,530
having to tell their story.

469
00:42:36,070 --> 00:42:38,550
This is such a fantastic opportunity.

470
00:42:38,550 --> 00:42:54,650
It was a very cool project that was brought to me, and I was like, well, this is going to be a big project, so let's figure out if we can, you know, even do such a thing and brought it to Vicki, and we had a nice meeting with those folks.

471
00:42:55,470 --> 00:43:01,550
I don't think it was you, Mr. Beeler, but I know we have brought it up the project for the extended water and sewer services.

472
00:43:01,790 --> 00:43:05,570
Do you know, I think I asked last time the general area for that?

473
00:43:05,690 --> 00:43:06,310
I think it was Scott.

474
00:43:06,530 --> 00:43:06,990
I might have brought it.

475
00:43:07,050 --> 00:43:18,170
The project right now is kind of if you can picture in your head where a good Samaritan is in the juvenile justice center, it's kind of that neighborhood.

476
00:43:18,750 --> 00:43:20,410
That's where the ongoing work is.

477
00:43:20,410 --> 00:43:26,010
And then there are a couple of other places, Northeast and Southeast, Yakima.

478
00:43:26,830 --> 00:43:27,450
Thank you.

479
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:34,920
I just want to say to our heard you say that we're going to be watching what's happening with Indian and

480
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:40,880
Jeff N. Stolters and so I served on the AWC legislative priority committee this year.

481
00:43:41,300 --> 00:43:48,360
And that is one of the top priorities for AWC, representing the cities that we are going to not just be monitoring, but

482
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:54,540
Yes, I may have understated what our interest will be in that.

483
00:43:54,640 --> 00:44:01,740
Yes, for the state to provide more monies to the whole communist penalty for an unfunded mandate.

484
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:08,680
And particularly just in the last year and a half, hard to remember exact timeline.

485
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:15,820
There was a state supreme court decision that limited the number of cases that defense lawyers can have,

486
00:44:15,820 --> 00:44:20,340
which places more burden on us to find the lawyers and also to pay for their services.

487
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:22,080
For the city's to do that.

488
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,300
Again, an unfunded mandate and we need funding to state for that.

489
00:44:28,260 --> 00:44:29,700
Any other comments, council?

490
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,620
There was some more stuff I think, Rick.

491
00:44:33,420 --> 00:44:42,840
You had brought this up I think last week to talk about kind of a resolution or like some other ideas.

492
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:45,220
Is there anything else that you would like us to touch on?

493
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:49,840
I think there's several issues that I have on my list.

494
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:53,660
One of them is stop the Civil War,

495
00:44:53,780 --> 00:44:55,500
become unsevil.

496
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,960
It just irritates the heck out of me that Washington and Olympus

497
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:07,820
The Olympics are fighting tooth and nail about different issues. Immigration is one, drug control

498
00:45:07,820 --> 00:45:15,060
is another. And I would admonish our state to get on board, but we are the United States

499
00:45:15,060 --> 00:45:24,060
of America, and when the State Attorney General comes into press conference and says, we

500
00:45:24,060 --> 00:45:29,260
have sued the federal government 43 times in nine months, that isn't united, and that isn't

501
00:45:29,260 --> 00:45:31,560
what we should be doing as the United States of America.

502
00:45:31,820 --> 00:45:34,220
So I'd like to chide Olympia and say, guys,

503
00:45:34,380 --> 00:45:35,940
you need to get with the program.

504
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:37,840
And so that's one.

505
00:45:38,580 --> 00:45:40,380
The other one, that's a big issue to me.

506
00:45:41,260 --> 00:45:44,680
And as we went through the budget issues,

507
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:49,400
the fact that 90% of the revenue that is collected

508
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:53,280
in the city of Yakima goes to Olympia.

509
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,720
And only 10% stays here.

510
00:45:56,240 --> 00:45:58,220
That is just an insane number.

511
00:45:58,220 --> 00:46:03,680
And what it does is it gives Olympia way too much power, way too much control.

512
00:46:04,300 --> 00:46:12,920
And we need to have Monisha gets that, I think, that as a city, we should be getting 50% of the revenues that are collected.

513
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:21,660
You know, we don't, it's a very inefficient method to go to Olympia and beg them to give money back after we've sent it over there.

514
00:46:21,940 --> 00:46:27,240
Just leave it here in the beginning and let our city government take care of that.

515
00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:35,080
But another one that I see that just really bugs me is that in our legal system, we are

516
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:40,740
kind of evolving towards the point where it's okay to break the law as long as you have

517
00:46:40,740 --> 00:46:41,640
a good excuse.

518
00:46:43,100 --> 00:46:50,920
And I see that in the way that the courts are handling delinquent renters.

519
00:46:51,220 --> 00:46:54,380
I see it in the way that we are prosecuting shoplifters.

520
00:46:54,380 --> 00:46:57,980
I see it in the way that people are committing other crimes.

521
00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:03,020
Many times they're given, they're just let off with very minimal.

522
00:47:03,460 --> 00:47:05,360
And what that does is send a signal to criminals.

523
00:47:05,460 --> 00:47:06,300
It's okay.

524
00:47:06,900 --> 00:47:09,520
As long as you've got a good excuse, go ahead and break the law.

525
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,840
We need to fight that notion.

526
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:22,520
The other one that I have, you had a lot, back up on the environment, the state of Washington

527
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:28,740
is statistically irrelevant when it comes to carbon and a lot of people are

528
00:47:28,740 --> 00:47:34,280
starting to step away from that. Let us keep our natural gas, let's keep our

529
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:39,740
hydroelectric dams, let's not get rid of all these things that are so essential

530
00:47:39,740 --> 00:47:44,140
to the success of prosperity of Washington State just to be friendly to the

531
00:47:44,140 --> 00:47:50,560
environment. The other one that I see is being a big issue and it isn't just in

532
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:57,560
And Yakima, it's through the whole state, is that we have businesses, terrible time

533
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:58,360
getting started.

534
00:47:59,070 --> 00:48:05,120
It's very hard to start a new business in the best of circumstances, and the way that

535
00:48:05,610 --> 00:48:12,580
the climate that we have established in government in Washington State is detrimental to new business

536
00:48:12,580 --> 00:48:15,880
and we need more new business in Yakima desperately.

537
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:26,040
The last one that I'll mention is medical care is extremely unaffordable and the more

538
00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:30,920
government gets involved, the more expensive it gets, and the less effective it gets.

539
00:48:31,580 --> 00:48:36,340
So we need some comprehensive approaches to improve medical care.

540
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:39,540
That's my list.

541
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:40,460
That's quite a lot.

542
00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:42,180
You read all that down right now.

543
00:48:42,180 --> 00:49:12,080
I will make one note when you were talking about state-revenue cities, part of what is at risk during this session because of the budget situation, revenue situation, the state is in, when we've been here before, and a lot of the funds like the Public Works Trust Fund, that cities rely on to build infrastructure to fund a number of programs are seriously at risk, they have in the past, been led nearly dry or funds

544
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:17,300
just taken from them to help boost the state and that's something of course cities, counties,

545
00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:22,580
paying a lot of attention to you during this session and I'm hoping to influence that that

546
00:49:22,580 --> 00:49:31,460
doesn't happen yet again. So I thought a lot about this. One of going back to you Rick is a little

547
00:49:31,460 --> 00:49:37,900
bit is I think there's I personally think they should be cutting spending at in Olympia.

548
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:47,680
If you're consistently every year in the last three years passing new taxes to try to fund government, I think government is too big.

549
00:49:49,140 --> 00:49:58,360
And so, in my opinion, a policy or a statement from the council saying, you have a $2 billion shortfall this year.

550
00:49:58,840 --> 00:49:59,940
Well, you need to seriously-

551
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:10,880
We look at actually balancing a budget, not on the backs of the workers of our city. So that's one. The other aspect is, though, going back to revenue sharing, I know the city doesn't have.

552
00:50:14,180 --> 00:50:29,980
We get out of a sales tax, we get a 1%, maybe a little bit more on certain things. The rest of it's six and a half going to the state. I think the state, I mean, you're talking 90%, 10% those type of things. I think let's put it in a

553
00:50:29,980 --> 00:50:34,820
a place that's there needs to be another one percent going back to counties and cities

554
00:50:34,820 --> 00:50:40,660
across this state so that you know instead of six and a half percent the state is going

555
00:50:40,660 --> 00:50:42,280
to have to live within five and a half percent.

556
00:50:43,580 --> 00:50:45,560
Now how do you pass any of these things?

557
00:50:45,820 --> 00:50:46,480
I don't think you do.

558
00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:47,840
I mean we're not going to pass them.

559
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:52,340
Here is never going to happen you know we can talk about it.

560
00:50:52,340 --> 00:51:01,940
And I think from a perspective of like can we collectively put a statement out as a resolution

561
00:51:01,940 --> 00:51:09,120
of some sort that says, you know, Washington is creating an environment of, we cannot

562
00:51:09,820 --> 00:51:14,700
afford to live here when it comes to the taxes that have been increased on our businesses.

563
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:19,580
I mean, we've seen it just in our own town in the last six months to a year.

564
00:51:19,580 --> 00:51:46,640
A lot of our folks are either, I mean, we're talking businesses that have been here a long time, have packed up and went home and, you know, I think we're going to see a lot more of that in 26 if we do not, if our state does not start changing the course correction of continuously trying to tax their way out of this solution or this problem and, you know, I don't know, I mean, I know Olympia is one way.

565
00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:52,360
I would also say that, you know, the governor has said he does not want to pass any new taxes next next year,

566
00:51:52,380 --> 00:51:55,340
but he did said that last year and then signed all the taxes in.

567
00:51:56,720 --> 00:52:05,260
So, you know, we can, I think, sending a statement from the city is something we haven't done in a little while.

568
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:08,640
Yeah, certainly we have done that in the past.

569
00:52:08,860 --> 00:52:13,860
Maybe that is more of what we're talking about with Council Member Glam and resolutions.

570
00:52:13,860 --> 00:52:35,260
But of course, also know that your voices are important in both Olympia and in Washington, D.C., we have a great delegation on the state level, from our area, and I know you guys know a lot of them, and if not all of them, and please do make your voices heard to them because it doesn't matter.

571
00:52:35,260 --> 00:52:47,880
And I would agree that Council agreeing together on a resolution to press at the state level for changes that every city in our state needs.

572
00:52:48,580 --> 00:52:58,960
I think they need to focus specifically on us as a city and what we need the state to do for us because we represent almost every other city in the state.

573
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:18,120
So I think those statements should be directed that way, but I also think that when we do this, not just send it to the Governor, but send it to the legislature and make sure that our representatives have copies of this in hand ahead of time so they know the statements that we're making and they can support our position as a city.

574
00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:24,660
That would be great if all the cities banded together and did a statement together and

575
00:53:24,660 --> 00:53:25,520
signed it.

576
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:30,880
That would be really powerful because we're all in this same boat.

577
00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:36,960
When I think it, yeah, I mean, going back to that, I think it was 91% of cities are facing

578
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:40,800
financial crisis going into the next three years of budget cycles.

579
00:53:42,510 --> 00:53:47,680
That's a huge dumpster fire when it comes to local governance.

580
00:53:47,680 --> 00:53:52,600
I know I had even the Pasco, one of the Pasco City Councilmen, reach out to me because

581
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:57,920
they are facing a very, it's the same cliff, so to speak.

582
00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:03,620
And anyways, I think us sending a statement from this council, I think whether other

583
00:54:03,620 --> 00:54:09,760
councils do that, you know, maybe we set the pace, we set the tone.

584
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,240
We lead the charge.

585
00:54:12,860 --> 00:54:16,520
I've had calls from tri cities and from Clellum as well.

586
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:21,040
Other council persons are facing the same issues we are and need help in that area.

587
00:54:21,260 --> 00:54:26,220
So I think if we could take charge, take the lead and encourage other cities, we can

588
00:54:26,220 --> 00:54:32,120
create more pressure for the legislature and the government to look at things differently.

589
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:40,120
I have talked with these AWC meetings that I've gone to, every city that I've talked to

590
00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:42,180
is in the same issue as far as revenue.

591
00:54:42,940 --> 00:54:49,200
One thing I think is kind of interesting is that we passed record tax increases in Olympia

592
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:52,360
last year, and the revenues did not come at all.

593
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:55,340
And to me that's a sign that they overdid it.

594
00:54:55,340 --> 00:54:59,580
And to Matt's comments, I just say,

595
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:06,000
It's better to shoot for the moon and land on the roof, then to shoot for the roof and land in the mud.

596
00:55:11,190 --> 00:55:31,390
That's it. You pulled that out of the way back. So what would the council like to do at this point, anything? I mean, I think we could craft something. I don't know if we can craft it right here, but I think if we had some policy points that we want to try to hit on that we could agree on.

597
00:55:31,390 --> 00:55:39,070
that I'm sure these guys who craft this stuff can bring something back to us at another meeting.

598
00:55:40,170 --> 00:55:47,890
So, I mean, for me, I think the policy, one policy point that I think we should hit on is the sales tax revenue share.

599
00:55:48,190 --> 00:55:50,410
I think that needs to come back.

600
00:55:51,350 --> 00:55:57,410
That honestly would solve pretty much every city and counties issues going across the entire state.

601
00:55:57,410 --> 00:56:05,410
And you know, even in like Seattle for that matter, those guys would be just blown away.

602
00:56:07,110 --> 00:56:11,990
But anyways, needless to say, I think that would be one if I could champion home that one.

603
00:56:12,550 --> 00:56:18,250
I think if we could just, can we do this without emotion, just direct staff too?

604
00:56:18,630 --> 00:56:23,890
Okay, thank you, Mr. Wheeler, maybe you can Sarah and Vicky Baker can head the charge here,

605
00:56:23,890 --> 00:56:28,730
but take the information that Rick brought and take the suggestions that Council may have

606
00:56:28,730 --> 00:56:33,510
it would be important items to include on that and bring back to Council some of the

607
00:56:33,510 --> 00:56:34,290
interim resolution.

608
00:56:35,010 --> 00:56:39,930
I like the stuff that you put together as well, so I'm glad that we're heading in this

609
00:56:39,930 --> 00:56:46,610
direction and I nothing ventured, nothing gained, I'm excited to see what happens in Olympia.

610
00:56:47,690 --> 00:56:52,570
One of the things that I've noticed when I've been over there, it's almost more important

611
00:56:52,570 --> 00:56:57,090
to pay attention to what the other side is saying, that it is to what the legislators are

612
00:56:57,090 --> 00:57:03,590
sitting there listening because, and I say this with regard to rent control, the people

613
00:57:03,590 --> 00:57:08,790
that were there voting or arguing in favor of rent control were wearing t-shirts that said,

614
00:57:08,910 --> 00:57:17,470
housing is a human right, we should get it for free. And what we need to do as a city is if

615
00:57:17,470 --> 00:57:23,390
And bring out how ridiculous that is because in the arguments that took place last year,

616
00:57:23,690 --> 00:57:29,110
the businessmen and the people who gave very good arguments on why we should not have

617
00:57:29,110 --> 00:57:30,590
rent control were ignored.

618
00:57:31,050 --> 00:57:35,750
And the people who said housing is a human right, they're the ones that got the ear of the

619
00:57:35,750 --> 00:57:36,350
legislator.

620
00:57:36,510 --> 00:57:41,890
So, we kind of have to go a step further and look at that as we go forward.

621
00:57:45,690 --> 00:57:59,450
that's right. So probably I'm sorry probably in the first on the first meeting in January maybe the second meeting would be better because your first meeting is a little bit busy and so maybe we'll shoot for the second meeting in January.

622
00:58:00,310 --> 00:58:05,790
Provide you more comprehensive as I said it's very beginning and then bring forward to you a draft resolution.

623
00:58:05,790 --> 00:58:08,490
Everything on the funding side, though, I think was great.

624
00:58:09,310 --> 00:58:09,810
Thank you.

625
00:58:10,050 --> 00:58:11,530
You want my outline?

626
00:58:11,890 --> 00:58:12,750
I'll pass it to you.

627
00:58:13,130 --> 00:58:14,750
You can do what you wish with it.

628
00:58:16,130 --> 00:58:20,790
I think that, you know, in particularly in the light of what Deputy Mayor Brown shared about,

629
00:58:21,010 --> 00:58:28,890
let's look at that at the sales tax, we can press against unfunded mandates because that's what gives us so much grief

630
00:58:28,890 --> 00:58:31,770
that if they're demanding something, they need to fund it.

631
00:58:31,770 --> 00:58:42,030
Yeah, I mean, I do think too that the Gint defense aspect is another huge, big problem.

632
00:58:43,190 --> 00:58:48,290
But, you know, let's say I think there's, and I, you know, this is one of those things

633
00:58:48,290 --> 00:58:52,250
that it's probably not going to get solved in 60 days in this short session.

634
00:58:52,450 --> 00:58:55,870
They might not even listen in 60 days to do these type of things.

635
00:58:56,110 --> 00:59:00,590
But it is something that you lay the groundwork for, you know, the next long session that is

636
00:59:00,590 --> 00:59:08,450
coming the next year so I think there's I think this is something for us to at least send out that way.

637
00:59:08,710 --> 00:59:14,790
Well if we can also as a city we can do this as leaders in the state we can be a city that leads away

638
00:59:14,790 --> 00:59:20,210
and not only us to it but as many cities as we can get to join us in continuing forward in every

639
00:59:20,210 --> 00:59:26,310
session those things that the cities agree on are important. One other thing to remember is that

640
00:59:26,310 --> 00:59:27,870
The counties are in the same situation.

641
00:59:28,290 --> 00:59:30,690
I went to a Yakima County meeting this morning

642
00:59:30,690 --> 00:59:33,650
and they're facing the same battles we are.

643
00:59:34,490 --> 00:59:34,750
For sure.

644
00:59:35,470 --> 00:59:35,550
Yeah.

645
00:59:36,230 --> 00:59:37,690
Any other comments, Councilor?

646
00:59:38,650 --> 00:59:39,670
Just kind of an anecdote.

647
00:59:40,030 --> 00:59:43,830
I was talking with a former mayor of Yakima

648
00:59:43,830 --> 00:59:46,410
and she told me she was very familiar

649
00:59:46,410 --> 00:59:48,390
with all the legislators over in Olympia.

650
00:59:49,010 --> 00:59:52,690
And she said that after her term of service

651
00:59:52,690 --> 00:59:55,670
that the director of the EPA came up to her

652
00:59:55,670 --> 00:59:59,950
and said, I appreciate the fact that you were there because...

653
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:15,240
I knew I had to give, you made me realize that I can't just do whatever I want. There's another side of the issue to look at. And so that just one individual made a difference. And so I think we as a city can make a difference.

654
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:21,680
And we have done that. I remember when going over to Olympia with the then chief of police

655
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:28,140
and talking about not changing the structure of juvenile justice. And we were successful

656
01:00:28,140 --> 01:00:31,480
in those efforts. So, yeah, we're just one city they're talking about.

657
01:00:31,700 --> 01:00:37,100
When does session start? It starts. I don't know this in particular. It's, yeah, it's

658
01:00:37,100 --> 01:00:42,940
the second Monday, whatever that is. Okay. So we have a little time. Yes, we do. Thank

659
01:00:42,940 --> 01:00:43,160
Thank you.

660
01:00:43,700 --> 01:00:44,000
Any else?

661
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:44,300
Council.

662
01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:45,640
If not, we'll move on.

663
01:00:46,340 --> 01:00:46,440
Okay.

664
01:00:46,580 --> 01:00:48,400
Next thing on the agenda is a consent agenda.

665
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:53,700
Item listed are considered a routine, but the City Council will be enacted by one motion without

666
01:00:53,700 --> 01:00:54,200
discussion.

667
01:00:54,780 --> 01:00:58,640
A council member may request to remove an item from the consent agenda, and if approved,

668
01:00:59,020 --> 01:01:01,500
that will be placed on the record agenda for discussion and consideration.

669
01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:05,200
There's an E-Council person, which is to remove an item from the agenda.

670
01:01:06,460 --> 01:01:09,660
I would like to remove item E. Any others?

671
01:01:11,180 --> 01:01:13,640
If not, then clerk, would you read the agenda, please?

672
01:01:14,800 --> 01:01:19,980
Item 7A is approval of minutes from the December 2nd, 2025 City Council regular meeting.

673
01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:23,280
Item B is November 2025 investment transaction report.

674
01:01:23,960 --> 01:01:28,060
Item C is approved payment of disbursements for the period in November 1 through 30, 2025.

675
01:01:28,780 --> 01:01:36,300
Item D is an ordinance relating to city personnel, adopting a classification and compensation plan for city employees to be effective January 12, 2026,

676
01:01:36,300 --> 01:01:40,360
and repealing all preceding state ordinances in the City of Yakima Municipal Code.

677
01:01:40,940 --> 01:01:45,660
Item F is a resolution authorizing the City of Yakima to accept an anonymous monetary

678
01:01:45,660 --> 01:01:50,940
donation and the sum of $50,000 through BNYML Interest of Delaware for use to assist

679
01:01:50,940 --> 01:01:53,000
in funding the General Operation of the Harman Center.

680
01:01:53,660 --> 01:01:57,920
Item G is a resolution authorizing a contract amendment with Transportation Demand Management

681
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,960
LLC for Senior Tours Transportation Services.

682
01:02:01,580 --> 01:02:05,660
Item H is a resolution authorizing an amendment to airport lease agreement between the City

683
01:02:05,660 --> 01:02:08,120
of Yakima and McAllister Museum of Aviation.

684
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:13,280
Item I is a resolution authorizing the City Manager to adjust the 2026 airport rates

685
01:02:13,280 --> 01:02:14,900
and fees within the master fee schedule.

686
01:02:15,600 --> 01:02:20,060
Item J is a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute change order number one

687
01:02:20,060 --> 01:02:24,000
for the fire alarm system replacement at the Yakima Air Terminal McAllister field.

688
01:02:24,980 --> 01:02:29,720
Item K is a resolution authorizing the acceptance of a grant with Washington State Department

689
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:34,600
of Transportation to design and construct an overflow parking lot at the Yakima Air Terminal

690
01:02:34,600 --> 01:02:35,460
McAllister Field.

691
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:40,720
Item L is a resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement between the City of Yakima and Yakima County

692
01:02:40,720 --> 01:02:44,320
for phase one of the Shah and White Hollow Creek's flood control project.

693
01:02:44,940 --> 01:02:49,320
Item M is a resolution authorizing a fire services agreement between Yakima County Fire District

694
01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:54,800
number 11 and the City of Yakima. Item N is a resolution ratifying and proving the city manager's

695
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:59,720
execution of a grant agreement with the Washington State Office of Public Defense accepting the

696
01:02:59,720 --> 01:03:02,860
terms and conditions for a grant for 2026 through 2027.

697
01:03:04,160 --> 01:03:06,380
Thank you, almost like a roll call, but we need more.

698
01:03:06,580 --> 01:03:11,080
I'll move to approve the consent agenda and give Rosalinda a high five for that one.

699
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:12,900
That was a long one, yeah.

700
01:03:13,420 --> 01:03:13,740
My second.

701
01:03:14,140 --> 01:03:18,960
It's where you have motion by Deputy Mayor Brown, the second by Councilman D.C.O. to approve the consent agenda as red.

702
01:03:19,300 --> 01:03:20,480
And we do need a roll call, but please.

703
01:03:20,940 --> 01:03:21,200
Buried?

704
01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:21,720
Yes.

705
01:03:22,200 --> 01:03:22,460
Brown?

706
01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:22,980
Yes.

707
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:23,800
Buyers?

708
01:03:24,080 --> 01:03:24,220
Yes.

709
01:03:24,640 --> 01:03:25,280
D.C.O.?

710
01:03:25,280 --> 01:03:25,480
Yes.

711
01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:26,020
Glen?

712
01:03:26,020 --> 01:03:26,120
Again?

713
01:03:26,520 --> 01:03:27,000
Yes.

714
01:03:27,280 --> 01:03:27,680
Herrera?

715
01:03:27,920 --> 01:03:28,100
Yes.

716
01:03:28,360 --> 01:03:28,680
Roy?

717
01:03:29,160 --> 01:03:29,600
Yes.

718
01:03:30,100 --> 01:03:30,360
All right.

719
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:31,760
Motion passes 7-0.

720
01:03:32,120 --> 01:03:33,320
All resolutions are adopted.

721
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:34,040
Thank you, Council.

722
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:39,380
I want to go back to item Ian, even though Mr. Mercy is not here at the moment.

723
01:03:40,040 --> 01:03:47,340
I had a great opportunity to visit with him about a week and a half ago.

724
01:03:47,980 --> 01:03:51,620
And he is just an incredibly generous person.

725
01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:55,220
And I will say this because I've said this about our city before.

726
01:03:55,220 --> 01:03:59,020
This is the most generous community I have lived in in my entire life.

727
01:03:59,300 --> 01:04:06,340
People at every level in this community give resources, time, energy, creativity, and so I just want to say that flat out.

728
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:13,020
But I do want to recognize the efforts of Forbes Mercy, not only for the contribution he is making, because he is able to do that.

729
01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:15,180
He said that, he's able to do that.

730
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:23,580
But because he's leading in a way that we need community members to come forward and lead in the situation the city is facing right now.

731
01:04:23,580 --> 01:04:39,600
So I want to commend not only his gift, but his leadership in giving substantially and in talking with other businesses to see what they can do in the same and I just really appreciate it and Mr. Wilkins will like to speak again just want to echo what you said Mayor

732
01:04:39,600 --> 01:04:45,700
We're just so fortunate in this community, especially for parks, I mean whether it's Forbes or Rotary Clubs or

733
01:04:45,700 --> 01:04:51,160
Kwanisclubs and Lionsclubs, you know so many times I've been able to come before you and share just great news of

734
01:04:51,160 --> 01:04:57,540
somebody's wanting to partner with us to make our city great and that is one of the best things about my job that I'm

735
01:04:57,540 --> 01:04:59,900
able to work with these people to be able to come

736
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:23,640
Thank you for your support. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? I don't want to discount the person that gave the 50,000. No, we should recognize that it was anonymous. It was given through an organization similar to Yakima Community Fund, but it was an anonymous gift. We do want to recognize that. So thank you. Any discussion?

737
01:05:25,750 --> 01:05:29,190
Move to adopt the resolution. Second.

738
01:05:29,190 --> 01:05:35,870
So we have motion by Deputy Mayor Brown, a second by Councilman Burke to adopt the resolution.

739
01:05:36,110 --> 01:05:37,430
Would you be in a place, in full?

740
01:05:37,910 --> 01:05:44,950
This is a resolution authorizing the City of Yakima to accept a donation from Forbes Mercy in the sum of 115,000 for

741
01:05:44,950 --> 01:05:51,670
use in purchasing and installing an outdoor exercise gym at Chesterly Park and to be used for other programs and services.

742
01:05:52,690 --> 01:05:53,250
Brown?

743
01:05:53,890 --> 01:05:54,050
Yes.

744
01:05:54,450 --> 01:05:54,890
Buyers?

745
01:05:55,230 --> 01:05:55,450
Yes.

746
01:05:55,850 --> 01:05:56,190
DCO?

747
01:05:56,570 --> 01:05:56,770
Yes.

748
01:05:57,130 --> 01:05:57,390
Glenn?

749
01:05:57,930 --> 01:05:58,230
Yes.

750
01:05:58,230 --> 01:05:58,350
Yes.

751
01:05:58,470 --> 01:05:58,950
Herrera?

752
01:05:59,130 --> 01:05:59,290
Yes.

753
01:05:59,610 --> 01:05:59,910
Roy?

754
01:06:00,350 --> 01:06:00,790
Yes.

755
01:06:01,190 --> 01:06:01,670
Yes.

756
01:06:02,830 --> 01:06:04,070
The vote is 7-0.

757
01:06:04,130 --> 01:06:05,970
Motion passes and the resolution is adopted.

758
01:06:06,270 --> 01:06:06,730
Thank you, Council.

759
01:06:07,830 --> 01:06:07,990
All right.

760
01:06:08,070 --> 01:06:08,610
Move moving on.

761
01:06:08,690 --> 01:06:10,110
We have no public hearings this evening.

762
01:06:10,530 --> 01:06:11,950
We're going to move into our department item.

763
01:06:12,110 --> 01:06:18,170
Starting with 9-A, which is Municipal Court assignment of lawyer and entity screening presentation.

764
01:06:18,650 --> 01:06:21,430
And judge masters and judge comments are coming forward to present to us.

765
01:06:24,360 --> 01:06:24,900
Welcome again.

766
01:06:33,860 --> 01:06:39,160
Good evening, Council. We've put together a presentation. I know there's a presentation

767
01:06:39,160 --> 01:06:44,520
from City Legal about a month ago, maybe a little bit longer about the new

768
01:06:44,520 --> 01:06:48,060
Indigenous Defence Standards, and there was some questions about the screening process

769
01:06:48,060 --> 01:06:54,420
and how that works, so just Clemens and I have put together a presentation about the court

770
01:06:54,420 --> 01:06:59,180
rules and the laws surrounding the emergency screening as from the court's perspective.

771
01:06:59,960 --> 01:07:07,260
So we sent that packet, but I also did send a copy of our screening form just so that Council could take a look at that as well.

772
01:07:08,360 --> 01:07:08,920
As

773
01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:19,100
you know, I'm Judge Aaron Masters, Judge Troy Clements, and so we'll just get right into it.

774
01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:26,780
It is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system that people who are charged with a crime.

775
01:07:26,780 --> 01:07:36,580
And so just for perspective, Yakima Municipal Court deals with any misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor offends that occurred within the city limits of Yakima.

776
01:07:36,740 --> 01:07:38,040
So those are the cases that we're seeing.

777
01:07:38,480 --> 01:07:45,660
And any person who comes before our court that is charged with a crime has the right to an attorney to assist them at any stage of the proceeding.

778
01:07:45,660 --> 01:07:49,780
So that starts when they get charged all the way through, they have a right to an attorney.

779
01:07:50,340 --> 01:07:55,060
If they cannot afford an attorney, they have the right to have one appointed for them.

780
01:07:56,440 --> 01:07:59,520
And so that's where we come into these indigency dispensed standards.

781
01:08:02,530 --> 01:08:08,910
I mean, we can go into how you could waive that right, but generally everyone has a right

782
01:08:08,910 --> 01:08:09,390
to an attorney.

783
01:08:09,550 --> 01:08:15,070
That is a cornerstone that's provided under almost every constitution down.

784
01:08:15,350 --> 01:08:16,170
That is a right.

785
01:08:16,170 --> 01:08:22,870
Starts a Gideon versus Wainwright in the 60s, basically, a person was not represented,

786
01:08:23,110 --> 01:08:27,490
convicted of a crime of Supreme Court, said, applies to the States to the 14th Amendment.

787
01:08:27,970 --> 01:08:34,350
So, since then, people show up in court that do not have the financial resources get a court

788
01:08:34,350 --> 01:08:40,230
appointed attorney. So, that's kind of the framework we're working in, and then there's also the court rules,

789
01:08:40,230 --> 01:08:47,210
and so we reference the court rule that also outlines that and so often here

790
01:08:47,210 --> 01:08:50,810
Miranda warnings and people are told right out out of the gate they have a

791
01:08:50,810 --> 01:08:55,030
right to an attorney if they can't afford one and often in certain types of

792
01:08:55,030 --> 01:08:59,710
crimes like DUI they're allowed to talk to an attorney before they go through the

793
01:08:59,710 --> 01:09:05,650
BAC screening room type process so it happens very early on often in the

794
01:09:05,650 --> 01:09:08,410
process before they ever get to court. So what

795
01:09:11,480 --> 01:09:13,080
we're talking about are

796
01:09:13,080 --> 01:09:17,320
indigency screenings and that's in line with the indigency defense standards

797
01:09:17,320 --> 01:09:22,080
that counsel heard about. In the legal context when someone is defined to be

798
01:09:22,080 --> 01:09:26,080
indigent, they lack the financial means to pay for an attorney without causing

799
01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:31,680
substantial hardship to themselves or their family. At that point when they are determined

800
01:09:31,680 --> 01:09:35,320
to be indigent, the court would appoint an attorney to assist them at no expense

801
01:09:35,320 --> 01:09:41,060
to them. So in the state of Washington there are several ways that are

802
01:09:41,060 --> 01:09:45,860
person under the RCWs, a person could be considered indigent. One of those is

803
01:09:45,860 --> 01:09:51,420
their annual income is 125% less of the federal poverty guidelines after

804
01:09:51,420 --> 01:09:59,960
taxes. They are CW-10-101-010-3A-C. Talks about-

805
01:10:00,940 --> 01:10:29,440
The benefits that someone, so government benefits, someone could receive that would automatically consider them indigent, and we've listed them there, some of them are food assistance, health insurance, TANF, those types of things. So if you're on any one of those programs or you receive benefits, you're automatically indigent under the law. How do you check that they're actually on these programs? That's what we're getting to. Okay.

806
01:10:31,980 --> 01:10:36,620
But by law, if you do receive those, you're automatically

807
01:10:36,620 --> 01:10:40,180
indigent under law and qualify for public defense.

808
01:10:41,700 --> 01:10:47,280
And also, if you've been involuntarily committed to a public mental health facility,

809
01:10:47,760 --> 01:10:51,660
or again, are below the 125% of the federal poverty guidelines.

810
01:10:51,940 --> 01:10:58,020
Just for reference, we've included the 2025 federal poverty guidelines.

811
01:10:58,020 --> 01:11:01,160
and these are the ones that would be used to screen.

812
01:11:01,680 --> 01:11:04,100
And so, under that, it's also important to talk about

813
01:11:04,100 --> 01:11:06,600
what a household could be under the federal definition

814
01:11:06,600 --> 01:11:10,160
of a household is basically anyone that is within a household

815
01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:12,460
that needs to be supported regardless of age

816
01:11:12,460 --> 01:11:13,320
or marital status.

817
01:11:13,660 --> 01:11:16,000
So, that's after tax.

818
01:11:16,340 --> 01:11:19,260
So, taxes are taken out, that would be like net income.

819
01:11:19,720 --> 01:11:20,780
So, that's what we're talking about.

820
01:11:26,930 --> 01:11:35,210
In Washington and then the City of Yakima, I know council is very familiar but it's estimated

821
01:11:35,210 --> 01:11:39,930
that 80-90% of the defendants in Washington are indigent and do not have the ability to

822
01:11:39,930 --> 01:11:41,750
pay for attorneys.

823
01:11:42,810 --> 01:11:48,730
Between 17-22% of the population, depending on where you look, what sort of you look to

824
01:11:48,730 --> 01:11:54,970
the population of the city of Yakima lives below the Federal Poverty Guidelines, the state

825
01:11:54,970 --> 01:12:01,910
average is 15%. And then from the news release, from the governor's office, 28% of Yakima

826
01:12:01,910 --> 01:12:06,990
County residents receive SNAP benefits, which is the highest percentage of any county statewide.

827
01:12:07,890 --> 01:12:13,070
So if you look at those numbers, it's a pretty substantial portion of the population of city of Yakima

828
01:12:13,070 --> 01:12:19,750
that's meeting those emergency standards, and then additionally 35% of the city of Yakima households

829
01:12:20,290 --> 01:12:24,950
are what are considered, quote, Alice households. So those are the asset limited

830
01:12:24,950 --> 01:12:29,130
income constrained employed households, and those are households that don't necessarily

831
01:12:29,130 --> 01:12:36,150
receive or meet the income threshold for those benefits that we talked about, but they still struggle

832
01:12:36,150 --> 01:12:41,310
with the rising cost of living. They struggle with inflation, and it would be a substantial financial

833
01:12:41,310 --> 01:12:45,570
hardship for them to have to, for example, hire an attorney if there was a criminal charge.

834
01:12:45,770 --> 01:12:51,430
And so the 35% of the city of Yakima household is also fit into that category.

835
01:12:52,410 --> 01:12:53,830
Any questions about that?

836
01:12:55,590 --> 01:12:56,850
Questions, council comments?

837
01:12:59,930 --> 01:13:03,790
One of the things that kind of concerns me is that the cost of

838
01:13:06,590 --> 01:13:11,730
trying a case is getting so expensive, it's just out of touch with reality.

839
01:13:11,730 --> 01:13:20,110
And I think what we see on the county level is the prosecutor chooses not to prosecute crimes because

840
01:13:21,230 --> 01:13:27,090
they've had the resources or the money to carry it through in accordance with the rules.

841
01:13:27,310 --> 01:13:32,730
So they just drop the cases and I'm like, well, they don't charge them and that's an interesting issue.

842
01:13:32,990 --> 01:13:36,930
Because a lot of the cases we'll see your second degree burglaries.

843
01:13:37,110 --> 01:13:41,130
If you've been trespassed from a store for shoplifting, let's say, and you've been trespassed.

844
01:13:41,130 --> 01:13:47,530
If you go back into that store with the intent to commit a crime, a property crime, that's technically a second degree burglary, a felony.

845
01:13:47,890 --> 01:13:51,310
Those typically aren't being charged right now at the county level.

846
01:13:51,550 --> 01:13:59,170
So we're seeing because of the crisis of indigent defense, we're seeing more and more what should be felony cases,

847
01:13:59,630 --> 01:14:06,070
trickling down and putting more pressure in our court to deal with cases that are really technically felony cases.

848
01:14:06,070 --> 01:14:11,590
Sometimes there are violation of protection or your third one under the statute of a felony.

849
01:14:11,950 --> 01:14:13,430
Sometimes those are not charged.

850
01:14:14,010 --> 01:14:20,030
Various types of domestic violence, assaults will not be charged at the county level for the same reasons.

851
01:14:20,710 --> 01:14:26,210
We're seeing more and more of those cases so as the indigent defense standards get ratcheted down.

852
01:14:26,930 --> 01:14:33,930
We're going to start seeing more felony type cases that should have normally in the best of times where everyone has resources.

853
01:14:33,930 --> 01:14:37,950
is be charged in superior court, end up in municipal court.

854
01:14:38,730 --> 01:14:43,730
And so, not only are we going to be dealing with typical misdemeanor crimes that we deal

855
01:14:43,730 --> 01:14:49,330
with, but also felony level crimes that aren't being charged in the county.

856
01:14:53,190 --> 01:14:53,450
Bomber.

857
01:14:53,910 --> 01:14:57,170
I mean, we're seeing it more and more all the time.

858
01:14:57,170 --> 01:14:59,830
You know, it's just it's it's it's trickle down

859
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:29,360
It's a trickle down effect because they have to prioritize. I mean, the city prosecutor is going to have to prioritize as resources get slimmer. What types of cases at each level can they handle? And so it keeps, you know, something, you know, rolls downhill, as they say. And so that's kind of a rat. And so we're going to see more of that effect as time goes on.

860
01:15:29,360 --> 01:15:35,700
I would predict unless there's state intervention, maybe in funding indigent defense, obviously

861
01:15:35,700 --> 01:15:39,840
the counties are involved in that right now and probably a lot of the city is looking

862
01:15:39,840 --> 01:15:42,980
at unfunded mandates as the mayor said.

863
01:15:44,020 --> 01:15:49,080
So that means we're, as we get ratcheted down, are we just going to start tossing misdemeanors

864
01:15:49,080 --> 01:15:49,340
out?

865
01:15:49,680 --> 01:15:52,540
Well, I mean, it's, you know, priorities of prosecution, right?

866
01:15:52,800 --> 01:15:57,920
So in any office, I mean, Sir, I'll tell you, it's like, if you only can prosecute

867
01:15:57,920 --> 01:16:01,400
so many cases you've got to pick the most serious ones you're going to focus on.

868
01:16:01,950 --> 01:16:06,900
The lower level ones are the ones you might have less ability to prove beyond a reasonable

869
01:16:06,900 --> 01:16:08,340
doubt that's the legal standard.

870
01:16:08,860 --> 01:16:10,620
They might not get charged, right?

871
01:16:10,880 --> 01:16:16,940
So it's a vetting or triage every day on what cases are going to make it.

872
01:16:17,240 --> 01:16:25,260
So it's a policy issue too, I mean, you're going to have illegal camping or trespassing second

873
01:16:25,260 --> 01:16:29,220
degrees from the lower level crimes or quality of life crimes. There's not

874
01:16:29,220 --> 01:16:33,180
their resources, maybe those who want to go and you focus on driving on the

875
01:16:33,180 --> 01:16:38,900
influence, domestic violence crimes, the more serious misdemeanor crimes, so all

876
01:16:38,900 --> 01:16:44,640
of these things start having consequences and so we're not here to talk about

877
01:16:44,640 --> 01:16:50,460
that, but I think it's all intertwined. So you can't just look at one piece of the

878
01:16:50,460 --> 01:16:57,280
puzzle and go, well, let's look at indigency without looking at all of the things that go

879
01:16:57,280 --> 01:16:57,880
into it.

880
01:17:00,810 --> 01:17:01,250
Thanks.

881
01:17:01,690 --> 01:17:06,110
I went to the grocery store with my wife and she says, I forgot my purse, you gotta pay.

882
01:17:06,650 --> 01:17:10,850
And I said, oh, that's a good excuse, we don't have to pay, let's just go.

883
01:17:11,550 --> 01:17:13,350
And the clerks, at first they laughed.

884
01:17:13,870 --> 01:17:18,830
But then they came right out and they said, last week we had somebody that came in and took

885
01:17:18,830 --> 01:17:24,850
$800 with the stuff and refuse to stop and left and got away with it.

886
01:17:25,310 --> 01:17:27,650
And then the other clerk had a story from the same week.

887
01:17:28,050 --> 01:17:32,590
So what we're seeing is lawlessness is becoming a very popular pastime.

888
01:17:32,790 --> 01:17:35,470
And we've got to find a way to stop it.

889
01:17:35,830 --> 01:17:36,910
You see robberies, right?

890
01:17:37,470 --> 01:17:39,970
Some of these cases aren't just burglaries or robberies.

891
01:17:40,150 --> 01:17:44,190
They assault a clerk, and that's why you see a lot of the stores

892
01:17:44,190 --> 01:17:45,950
tell their employees not to get involved.

893
01:17:45,950 --> 01:17:51,030
they want to get shot, they don't want to get somebody stabbed over, you know, some

894
01:17:51,030 --> 01:17:55,790
property, right? So they're not doing that. We see people getting assaulted. So if you

895
01:17:55,790 --> 01:18:00,270
assault somebody in the commission of a theft, that's really a robbery. So we're seeing

896
01:18:00,270 --> 01:18:04,810
a lot of robberies, too, technically, they'd be a second degree robbery. They're not using

897
01:18:04,810 --> 01:18:10,570
a firearm or a knife. They're physically assaulting the lost prevention officer, the clerk.

898
01:18:10,570 --> 01:18:15,270
That's a robbery, we're seeing those quite frequently too coming down.

899
01:18:15,630 --> 01:18:20,010
Again, it's because of the pressure in the Superior Court, they don't have the resources.

900
01:18:20,490 --> 01:18:24,850
So those more serious cases are now filtering down in a misdemeanor court.

901
01:18:25,110 --> 01:18:31,150
Can you guys as judges advocate at legislation at the state level?

902
01:18:31,390 --> 01:18:34,130
Can you testify on bills, can you do that type of stuff?

903
01:18:34,130 --> 01:18:39,550
Now, it can't really be involved in politics, because we're supposed to remain neutral.

904
01:18:40,170 --> 01:18:43,470
I mean, we can talk about the issues that are affecting the courts.

905
01:18:44,050 --> 01:18:46,210
I mean, that's always something that-

906
01:18:46,210 --> 01:18:46,590
You could do that.

907
01:18:47,130 --> 01:18:47,350
Sure.

908
01:18:47,950 --> 01:18:53,650
And we, as municipal court judges are members of the district and

909
01:18:53,650 --> 01:18:58,210
municipal court judges' association, they have a legislative committee and

910
01:18:58,210 --> 01:19:02,790
the priority is to take, they also have their legislative priorities.

911
01:19:02,790 --> 01:19:09,850
and there is a legislative law day where the judges do go and advocate and speak to those issues

912
01:19:09,850 --> 01:19:13,870
that have been deemed a legislative priority for the courts under that association.

913
01:19:16,590 --> 01:19:19,030
But judges are neutral decision makers.

914
01:19:19,590 --> 01:19:23,570
I was wondering now that we certainly have much more voice.

915
01:19:24,530 --> 01:19:28,130
Well, they're expertise on actually what they just were communicating.

916
01:19:28,130 --> 01:19:33,350
And I'm going, man, more people need to hear from you guys on what this is doing to local communities.

917
01:19:33,890 --> 01:19:39,470
I mean, we can try to articulate it, but we're not sitting in your shoes and seeing this stuff firsthand.

918
01:19:39,970 --> 01:19:46,670
Your voice is so much more powerful in actually showing this is what these decisions are making.

919
01:19:47,010 --> 01:19:49,230
When you make this decision, this is what's happening.

920
01:19:50,830 --> 01:19:54,550
So the trickle down effect, I'm like, man, that's like gold right there.

921
01:19:54,550 --> 01:19:59,570
like you just said. So this is kind of a flow chart.

922
01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:29,400
In how you determine indigencies, somebody, the court has to look at, you know, when you're looking at attorney fees or whatnot, in misdemeanor court, typically, and I throw in the number of 1,500 to 10,000, and it could go over that. It could be under that for a simple misdemeanor to a more complicated series of domestic violence, assaults, protection order violations, and attorney may charge more. But typically, I'd say,

923
01:20:29,400 --> 01:20:36,780
If 1,500 to 5,000 is probably mid-level, 5,000 maybe for a DOI up to 7,500 depending on

924
01:20:37,320 --> 01:20:39,100
the attorney you're going to hire.

925
01:20:39,580 --> 01:20:45,680
And so you have to weigh with the reality of hiring somebody in the community is.

926
01:20:46,700 --> 01:20:51,380
In the other circumstances, whether that person's working, whether it's seasonal work, we have

927
01:20:51,380 --> 01:20:53,760
a lot of people that are not working right now.

928
01:20:54,580 --> 01:20:58,960
They may work during the summer, they don't work right now and so they don't have funds.

929
01:20:58,960 --> 01:21:01,680
and so they're technically indigent right now.

930
01:21:02,820 --> 01:21:06,140
Things we can't consider, and we hear people say,

931
01:21:06,240 --> 01:21:09,340
well that guy bailed out at, you know, $15,000.

932
01:21:09,380 --> 01:21:11,000
He's got money, he can afford a attorney.

933
01:21:11,180 --> 01:21:13,220
Well, actually, into the statute, you can't consider

934
01:21:13,220 --> 01:21:16,800
whether your friends or family, and often friends and family

935
01:21:16,800 --> 01:21:18,820
are the people that are pulling together resources

936
01:21:19,340 --> 01:21:20,500
to bail somebody out.

937
01:21:21,580 --> 01:21:25,960
So we can't look at that, that's not a factor.

938
01:21:25,960 --> 01:21:30,400
You have to look at the person's individual means, it's a means to us.

939
01:21:32,680 --> 01:21:38,200
And so the statute also outlines levels of indigency, so if someone's indigent, those are the people

940
01:21:38,200 --> 01:21:44,380
that receive some form of public assistance, and we would point an attorney to assist them

941
01:21:44,380 --> 01:21:45,000
at no expense.

942
01:21:45,560 --> 01:21:49,780
And then those are also the people, and we've talked about this before, during the budget talks

943
01:21:49,780 --> 01:21:53,880
about the legal financial obligations, they're likely to have their legal financial obligations,

944
01:21:53,880 --> 01:21:57,360
restrictions, stricken, at sentencing, so there would be no fines assessed.

945
01:21:58,220 --> 01:22:02,020
Indigent and able to contribute those are people who make too much money, so

946
01:22:02,020 --> 01:22:04,580
those are likely the Alice households that I earlier referenced.

947
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:06,960
Those who make too much money to receive public assistance.

948
01:22:06,960 --> 01:22:11,240
But when you look at all those other factors we just talked about, it's not financially

949
01:22:11,240 --> 01:22:17,840
feasible for them to hire an attorney to assist them, so we would deem them able to

950
01:22:17,840 --> 01:22:21,560
contribute. This statute requires that we do a

951
01:22:21,560 --> 01:22:24,460
promissory note with payment terms that

952
01:22:24,460 --> 01:22:26,780
forth in writing has to be a sworn affidavit and

953
01:22:26,780 --> 01:22:29,160
there has to be continuing monitoring of their

954
01:22:29,160 --> 01:22:33,940
indigency status and we'll talk about the feasibility

955
01:22:33,940 --> 01:22:36,580
of us able to do that in just a moment. And then

956
01:22:36,580 --> 01:22:38,980
if someone's not indigent then they just hire

957
01:22:38,980 --> 01:22:41,020
an attorney to assist them. So they hire

958
01:22:41,020 --> 01:22:42,700
private council. So there's kind of the

959
01:22:42,700 --> 01:22:44,200
three levels that are outlined in the

960
01:22:44,200 --> 01:22:47,760
statute. Okay, so our current

961
01:22:47,760 --> 01:22:52,660
intergencies screening process, and I think it's really important to talk about the statute

962
01:22:54,040 --> 01:22:59,520
when it comes to screening. The court is not, has to be confidential. It can't be on

963
01:22:59,520 --> 01:23:06,340
the record, so because it can't be available for use by the prosecution. And it used to

964
01:23:06,340 --> 01:23:10,360
be that the court would go through the screening process on the record and ask the questions

965
01:23:10,360 --> 01:23:14,760
and be very detailed about it and the person would give them the answer we can't do that.

966
01:23:15,820 --> 01:23:24,580
And so the reality of it is that currently because of that we just ask them if they have

967
01:23:24,580 --> 01:23:26,480
the ability to hire an attorney to assist them.

968
01:23:26,820 --> 01:23:32,560
If they say yes, then we say great, we'll put it on the stock it, make sure you have your

969
01:23:32,560 --> 01:23:35,060
attorney hired by the next time you come to court.

970
01:23:35,240 --> 01:23:37,900
If they say no, we appoint an attorney to assist them.

971
01:23:37,900 --> 01:23:43,240
And we tell them at the conclusion of your case where we can have this inquiry on the record

972
01:23:43,240 --> 01:23:46,980
because the case is concluded, we're going to talk about your financial situation and

973
01:23:46,980 --> 01:23:51,160
make a determination of what, if how much money you may owe towards the cost of your

974
01:23:51,160 --> 01:23:51,440
defense.

975
01:23:51,860 --> 01:23:53,460
So that's our current screen process.

976
01:23:54,820 --> 01:23:59,980
And that's because of the RCW that's referenced on the slide there that it has to be confidential

977
01:23:59,980 --> 01:24:02,340
and it cannot be available for use of the prosecution.

978
01:24:02,360 --> 01:24:06,640
So if we were going to do an in-depth screening with documentation, it would be have to be

979
01:24:06,640 --> 01:24:07,320
off the record.

980
01:24:07,320 --> 01:24:09,800
and it kind of have to be under seal.

981
01:24:12,590 --> 01:24:14,970
And if it's all over, good luck collecting.

982
01:24:16,110 --> 01:24:18,830
Well, I mean, that's the other issue we'll get to the end.

983
01:24:18,930 --> 01:24:21,970
You can order people to pay, and they don't.

984
01:24:22,350 --> 01:24:23,870
And so then they go to collections.

985
01:24:24,370 --> 01:24:29,570
And so a lot of this becomes academic at some level

986
01:24:29,570 --> 01:24:33,090
because even if people are ordered to pay, they often do not.

987
01:24:35,330 --> 01:24:37,570
And so we did include the verification methods.

988
01:24:37,570 --> 01:24:44,310
The current statute does not require that financial information needs to be verified.

989
01:24:44,650 --> 01:24:50,530
It says it's subject to verification, but doesn't outline that we have to verify it or a process for that to be done.

990
01:24:53,130 --> 01:24:59,970
So to thoroughly vet and screen defendants for indigency can be a substantial cost, especially when it's

991
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:29,180
It's not mandatory to do so. Because I mean, it's like any kind of business. If you can't audit what somebody's saying, right? And verify. And so if you think about it, it's like, how do you, how do you go about doing that? There's a lot of different rules and regulations we were talking about this today. How deep can you die? I mean, are you going to have them verify W2's like you wouldn't mortgage loan or something like that last two paychecks? How much time does that take?

992
01:25:29,180 --> 01:25:34,160
you're going to have to hire somebody in our office to go through each application, audit them.

993
01:25:34,720 --> 01:25:39,240
If you think about how long it takes in a bank to do these things, we've got hundreds

994
01:25:40,260 --> 01:25:46,140
thousands of people coming through how realistic and how much manpower to get

995
01:25:46,140 --> 01:25:51,740
what percentage of money, and we'll get to that, but I think that's the bigger context you have to

996
01:25:51,740 --> 01:25:57,040
put this in, right? It's like how much money do you invest to get very, maybe a very little

997
01:25:57,040 --> 01:26:02,460
out back because to really catch somebody and I think the concern is there's people getting

998
01:26:02,460 --> 01:26:09,080
free attorneys and we should make them pay. Well, you got to figure out who's able to actually

999
01:26:09,080 --> 01:26:14,180
pay and catch the people that are saying they can't pay, right? I mean, that's the end of the day

1000
01:26:14,180 --> 01:26:18,620
what we're trying to do. If we're going to do this, you're catching the people that say they couldn't

1001
01:26:18,620 --> 01:26:23,560
afford it but actually could. So that's like an investigation basically.

1002
01:26:23,560 --> 01:26:29,040
There are no state systems to look and see if they actually are receiving state assistance.

1003
01:26:29,340 --> 01:26:33,260
I think at the state level you can when we start talking about federal income and those

1004
01:26:33,260 --> 01:26:38,440
types of things, I think it may get more complicated to verify because you know federal government

1005
01:26:38,440 --> 01:26:42,080
doesn't always cooperate the same level maybe a state agency would.

1006
01:26:45,440 --> 01:26:51,420
When I first became a landlord, we got a significant amount of money that was owed through

1007
01:26:51,420 --> 01:26:56,520
collections, but in the last five years, I don't even send them to collections anymore

1008
01:26:56,520 --> 01:27:02,540
because it never worked, they never pay. It's just the reality of people don't. They

1009
01:27:02,540 --> 01:27:07,480
know that they can get away without paying and all the teeth have been taken out of the

1010
01:27:07,480 --> 01:27:10,800
collection agency, so you can't really do it and think.

1011
01:27:11,140 --> 01:27:17,280
If people are, they do have the means and they say they don't, can their wages be garnished

1012
01:27:17,280 --> 01:27:23,960
Or have had no no it be more like at the end of the case when we have that call

1013
01:27:23,960 --> 01:27:30,820
equates like most of the most of people you'll probably see are like might be able to contribute to pay right so you order them to pay

1014
01:27:30,820 --> 01:27:33,240
I mean we're talking like

1015
01:27:33,920 --> 01:27:38,720
Was it a hundred dollars now maybe that's something we could change right for a public defender

1016
01:27:38,720 --> 01:27:43,200
So it's like well that public defender doesn't actually cost a hundred dollars. It's a lot more than that

1017
01:27:43,200 --> 01:27:46,060
But then they don't pay so

1018
01:27:47,340 --> 01:27:53,960
You know, you can go through this whole process and still not get anything potentially from a lot that middle group now

1019
01:27:53,960 --> 01:27:57,180
The people that think that's concerning are like the people are driving

1020
01:27:58,400 --> 01:28:02,740
Expensive cars they come up until the court. Hey, I don't have any money, but oh by the way

1021
01:28:02,740 --> 01:28:06,900
I have tons of assets that I don't want to sell, right? I don't want to get a

1022
01:28:07,740 --> 01:28:13,260
Helach loan on my house or have to take equity out of my house to pay for my mess up, right?

1023
01:28:13,260 --> 01:28:19,060
So that's I think when we're starting to look at this, those are the people you think you're going to capture, right?

1024
01:28:19,500 --> 01:28:22,740
But how do you do it, right? You got to have somebody that's going to audit that

1025
01:28:23,200 --> 01:28:29,100
Take the time and right now with our staffing we'll get to that. It's like that's a big job for somebody sit down and

1026
01:28:29,100 --> 01:28:31,780
Pour through these papers and then start

1027
01:28:32,540 --> 01:28:34,120
Investigating, right, so

1028
01:28:34,800 --> 01:28:41,440
So then the question is what percentage are you actually talking about in our community that have those means that we're missing?

1029
01:28:42,200 --> 01:28:43,640
So, you know, I don't know.

1030
01:28:43,680 --> 01:28:44,440
Better in court.

1031
01:28:45,440 --> 01:28:45,600
Right.

1032
01:28:47,080 --> 01:28:51,760
So, just to kind of visualize the change,

1033
01:28:52,000 --> 01:28:56,620
been using the screening form versus our current process of just asking if they have the ability to pay,

1034
01:28:57,760 --> 01:29:00,980
I did, we kind of put some numbers together.

1035
01:29:01,200 --> 01:29:05,020
This isn't, there's some room for error,

1036
01:29:05,600 --> 01:29:09,880
and it's because it's really difficult to just get an exact number of the number of cases

1037
01:29:09,880 --> 01:29:11,420
is where a court appointed attorney was assigned.

1038
01:29:11,980 --> 01:29:14,420
But we took the number of new case filings.

1039
01:29:14,520 --> 01:29:17,100
This is admitting any sort of probation violation

1040
01:29:17,740 --> 01:29:20,320
or any reason why someone's case would be refiled.

1041
01:29:20,520 --> 01:29:22,420
So these are just new case filings every year

1042
01:29:22,420 --> 01:29:25,540
and then using the audit numbers

1043
01:29:25,540 --> 01:29:28,100
from the city manager's office

1044
01:29:28,100 --> 01:29:31,980
for the new court appointed counsel assignments of that year.

1045
01:29:32,340 --> 01:29:34,120
We subtracted those numbers and figured

1046
01:29:34,120 --> 01:29:37,000
that's likely the private cases

1047
01:29:37,000 --> 01:29:43,260
the private cases where private council was obtained. And if you look somewhere around February

1048
01:29:43,260 --> 01:29:48,800
of 2023 is when we made the switch towards just asking if they had an ability to pay versus

1049
01:29:48,800 --> 01:29:57,060
doing the screening form. And those are kind of the numbers. If you look at the total cases filed

1050
01:29:57,060 --> 01:29:59,960
and the number of private cases, it's rough.

1051
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:30,230
Definitely about 10-ish percent of the new case filings, which if you recall, 80 to 90% of the defendants in the state of Washington are in-gent and require court of point of council. So, it is falling along that line of 10%. But just kind of a visual. And I, I would like to say that this is the same people, or the people that say yes or no, when I ask them, do you have the ability to hire an attorney to assist you?

1052
01:30:30,230 --> 01:30:35,510
So, if they're going to say no, I do not, they're still going to give me the same answer

1053
01:30:35,510 --> 01:30:43,430
if I'm asking what their income is, how much, how many assets they have, the same answers

1054
01:30:43,430 --> 01:30:45,570
are going to come no matter how we ask the question.

1055
01:30:46,430 --> 01:30:51,350
And I don't want to imply that I think people are lying because I don't, I think that that's

1056
01:30:51,350 --> 01:30:55,770
just the community we live in, that an overwhelming number of people that come before the court are

1057
01:30:55,770 --> 01:31:00,950
meeting those indigencies standards and they truly don't have the ability to hire an attorney

1058
01:31:00,950 --> 01:31:07,450
to assist them. But if you're talking about trying to dig down, just simply re-instituting the

1059
01:31:07,450 --> 01:31:12,190
indigencies screening form and having people fill it out without requiring some sort of documentation

1060
01:31:12,190 --> 01:31:18,170
and verification outside of what Judge Clemens and I can do on the record, where it's not going

1061
01:31:18,170 --> 01:31:24,690
to change the number of, it's not going to change. And if you look at the numbers, I mean about 10%

1062
01:31:24,690 --> 01:31:29,570
of the people are hiring their own attorneys. So if you believe 90% are indigent and that

1063
01:31:29,570 --> 01:31:36,730
other 10%, the people want to hire an attorney? They do. People typically if they can want

1064
01:31:36,730 --> 01:31:42,010
a private attorney and it's just kind of the way it works, you know. It's not to disparage

1065
01:31:42,010 --> 01:31:46,130
public defenders, but I think a lot of people think you're going to get more bang for your

1066
01:31:46,130 --> 01:31:51,230
buck if you hire your own attorney. So a lot of the people have the means do that. And I

1067
01:31:51,230 --> 01:31:54,150
I think the numbers reflect from changing,

1068
01:31:54,150 --> 01:31:55,470
from asking those questions,

1069
01:31:55,470 --> 01:31:57,570
and not about the same amount of people

1070
01:31:57,570 --> 01:31:59,170
are going out and hiring their own attorneys.

1071
01:31:59,850 --> 01:32:03,090
So you don't see a radical change.

1072
01:32:03,830 --> 01:32:05,070
Is there a limit to the amount of time

1073
01:32:05,070 --> 01:32:06,410
so they can be provided as attorney?

1074
01:32:07,310 --> 01:32:07,450
No.

1075
01:32:07,770 --> 01:32:10,590
Any time you have a case before the court?

1076
01:32:13,610 --> 01:32:16,570
So we did put together kind of what an in-depth

1077
01:32:16,570 --> 01:32:18,250
intergencies screening would look like.

1078
01:32:18,470 --> 01:32:21,650
Going back to the written form that I provided

1079
01:32:21,650 --> 01:32:26,330
to Council on the packet. In custody defendants it's a little difficult because they're in custody,

1080
01:32:26,870 --> 01:32:31,130
but we would have them complete the form with the attorney. We have an attorney that comes to

1081
01:32:31,130 --> 01:32:34,710
arrangements and they represent them at a arrangements so we would have that attorney review the form

1082
01:32:34,710 --> 01:32:39,530
with them and fill it out. For out of custody defendants we send them summons to have them come into

1083
01:32:39,530 --> 01:32:44,930
courts. We would send them the interdency screening form with their summons, with instructions on how

1084
01:32:44,930 --> 01:32:51,850
to complete it and tell them that we wanted supporting documents to be brought to support

1085
01:32:51,850 --> 01:32:56,430
their assertions on the form. They would have to sign the form under penalty a perjury

1086
01:32:56,430 --> 01:33:02,310
with those documents and then we would have a way to screen them at the arrangement.

1087
01:33:04,000 --> 01:33:09,550
If we were going to do a screening it would be something like having one of our judicial

1088
01:33:09,550 --> 01:33:14,450
additional assistance have the window open and it's solely dedicated to reviewing documentation

1089
01:33:14,450 --> 01:33:20,150
with their application and determining whether or not they meet those indigenancy standards

1090
01:33:20,150 --> 01:33:25,090
with the documents and then saying yes or no. For those in custody defendants they obviously

1091
01:33:25,090 --> 01:33:30,670
if they're in custody would be unable to provide any proof unless they were to bail out and

1092
01:33:30,670 --> 01:33:35,830
if they did bail out they'd be instructed to bring supporting documents. And that's kind

1093
01:33:35,830 --> 01:33:42,390
of where we would run into, we kind of run into that cost-benefit analysis because in order

1094
01:33:42,390 --> 01:33:48,250
for the court to then institute this, we would likely need a full-time cashier who could

1095
01:33:48,250 --> 01:33:52,870
run the cashier window because as you recall, we have our judicial specialist running that

1096
01:33:52,870 --> 01:33:55,210
cashier window right now, unlimited hours.

1097
01:33:55,610 --> 01:34:00,590
So anything that's important to look at too, you're going to have to run through 90% of them

1098
01:34:01,250 --> 01:34:04,010
and spend time that do qualify.

1099
01:34:04,770 --> 01:34:10,510
So you're going to be sending a lot of time looking at people that qualify for a public defender

1100
01:34:11,530 --> 01:34:15,710
and verifying because you have to use the same system for everyone, you can't just pick and choose.

1101
01:34:16,030 --> 01:34:21,970
So you're going to be spending a lot of time just rubber stamping and trying to audit people that qualify.

1102
01:34:22,810 --> 01:34:28,450
So that last ten percent or maybe that one or two percent of the people that might be trying to gain the system,

1103
01:34:28,450 --> 01:34:35,570
You have to weed through 98% and to get to that, so that's a lot of time.

1104
01:34:37,210 --> 01:34:43,570
And so, some of the barriers to the more in-depth formal interest in the screening increase

1105
01:34:43,570 --> 01:34:49,670
costs and lack of available staffing, so the judicial specialists right now, max capacity.

1106
01:34:49,890 --> 01:34:54,130
So we would need a cashier to operate the window because that's the one place where we would

1107
01:34:54,130 --> 01:34:59,730
have to run that screening through and then just kind of from the courts.

1108
01:35:00,000 --> 01:35:29,980
The respective should someone say that they are indigent, but do not provide the court with required proof, or we do the indigency screening, and we find they're not indigent, but then they go and look, and they really can't afford to hire an attorney to assist them. Then what do we do at that point? Do we put them in jail? Because they're not following a pre-trial release condition that the court has ordered them to do? Do we require that they represent themselves? And in order for some to represent themselves, we have to go through a colloquial with them.

1109
01:35:29,980 --> 01:35:32,340
them, and what if they say, no, I don't want to represent myself.

1110
01:35:32,560 --> 01:35:36,740
I want an attorney picking and slow down the processing of cases.

1111
01:35:37,840 --> 01:35:41,580
We have these speedy trial rights that we need to make sure that we are preserving.

1112
01:35:43,980 --> 01:35:47,020
So 60 days if they're in custody, 90 if they're not.

1113
01:35:47,280 --> 01:35:52,340
So you're talking like a retainer, typically, the defense attorney, you have to have the

1114
01:35:52,340 --> 01:35:53,020
money up front.

1115
01:35:53,020 --> 01:36:02,880
So even middle-class people that have decent jobs don't have $5,000 always laying around to drop off to get a defense attorney.

1116
01:36:03,400 --> 01:36:17,260
So even if your income on paper is not indigent, maybe even far over it, if you have a bigger family and you're living paycheck to paycheck, you may not have $5,000 sitting around to do that, even though technically you're not indigent.

1117
01:36:17,920 --> 01:36:19,940
Do many people represent themselves?

1118
01:36:22,800 --> 01:36:27,540
Not a lot. Obviously you have a constitution right to do that.

1119
01:36:28,880 --> 01:36:33,620
I would say people who, people do not represent themselves because they don't have the money to hire an attorney.

1120
01:36:33,780 --> 01:36:37,840
I should say people who represent themselves right now are representing themselves because...

1121
01:36:37,840 --> 01:36:38,740
Variety of reasons.

1122
01:36:38,960 --> 01:36:41,320
Yeah, but it's not for inability to pay for.

1123
01:36:41,360 --> 01:36:42,380
Usually not good ones.

1124
01:36:42,500 --> 01:36:42,660
Right.

1125
01:36:44,360 --> 01:36:49,800
Now, there are some sayings about people that represent themselves, what the client is.

1126
01:36:51,540 --> 01:36:58,460
So yeah, you have the right, but then the court's up against speedy trial and you're saying,

1127
01:36:58,580 --> 01:37:03,280
well, I think I can't afford it, then you're in a colloquial potential with a defendant asking

1128
01:37:03,280 --> 01:37:06,480
a way of a constitutional right, so right to speedy trial when they're not represented.

1129
01:37:06,480 --> 01:37:13,620
So you get that gray area of people that have jobs, but they don't have $5,000, they're sent in custody.

1130
01:37:14,040 --> 01:37:15,580
It's like, why need you to wave speak?

1131
01:37:15,860 --> 01:37:19,000
Well, I could probably get an attorney in three or four months from now.

1132
01:37:19,260 --> 01:37:21,640
Well, that's beyond the time for trial.

1133
01:37:22,240 --> 01:37:27,980
So these time frames are constraints, too, with over dealing with, because maybe that person could.

1134
01:37:28,080 --> 01:37:30,600
But then as a judge, I'm like, well, I'm going to ask you,

1135
01:37:30,780 --> 01:37:33,240
unrepresented to start waving constitutional rights.

1136
01:37:33,520 --> 01:37:34,960
I don't like being in that position.

1137
01:37:35,500 --> 01:37:37,700
I think it's a good position, so.

1138
01:37:39,280 --> 01:37:43,660
When we also, in this barriers, there's that middle,

1139
01:37:43,960 --> 01:37:45,440
indigent, but able to contribute.

1140
01:37:46,020 --> 01:37:49,260
If we started instituting that, that requires a promissary note.

1141
01:37:49,500 --> 01:37:55,840
And then regular vetting of the affidavit with financial monitoring.

1142
01:37:55,940 --> 01:38:04,080
And again, we just, the resources to do that, to kind of continue to monitor that right now is not.

1143
01:38:04,080 --> 01:38:06,240
We do not have that in place.

1144
01:38:06,940 --> 01:38:12,180
So there is no state system that you guys can put in this individual.

1145
01:38:12,640 --> 01:38:17,360
You could see if they're receiving benefits of any kind, you could see.

1146
01:38:17,920 --> 01:38:21,060
Because if they're receiving benefits, they've already done income verification,

1147
01:38:21,320 --> 01:38:22,600
they've already done all those things.

1148
01:38:23,780 --> 01:38:26,640
And so there's no, yeah, baby.

1149
01:38:27,560 --> 01:38:32,900
But I'm going, but there is no system that you guys have to be able to pull at the state.

1150
01:38:32,900 --> 01:38:35,440
There are some courts that we've reached out to.

1151
01:38:35,460 --> 01:38:39,520
We did reach out to other courts and just kind of see what other courts are doing for

1152
01:38:39,520 --> 01:38:40,400
indigencies screening.

1153
01:38:40,740 --> 01:38:48,940
Just a lot of courts have their own office, the public defense, and the public defender's

1154
01:38:48,940 --> 01:38:51,900
office does the screening and kind of assigns the cases out.

1155
01:38:52,420 --> 01:39:01,080
There are some courts that have dedicated clerks who do verify benefits through DSHS, and

1156
01:39:01,080 --> 01:39:02,680
so there is a way to do it.

1157
01:39:02,680 --> 01:39:06,540
there are courts that have access to it, but we just do not currently have access to that.

1158
01:39:07,120 --> 01:39:08,780
So that's something that we could look into.

1159
01:39:08,920 --> 01:39:13,600
I'm not sure if it's as easy as a system or if it's just having a contact at DSHS,

1160
01:39:13,600 --> 01:39:14,880
they call them up and ask them.

1161
01:39:15,560 --> 01:39:20,660
All right, but still that's resource that we don't have right now in terms of personal and personal.

1162
01:39:21,100 --> 01:39:25,820
But again, I think the big picture is how much do you invest to get what return?

1163
01:39:25,820 --> 01:39:38,640
And I think, you know, we heard the comment, there's $200,000 and maybe, maybe there's $400,000 invested to get maybe the 200,000 collections that never gets paid.

1164
01:39:38,940 --> 01:39:43,620
So, I don't know, I'm not saying there couldn't be money there. It's not clear cut.

1165
01:39:43,980 --> 01:39:48,740
And I think when you look at the indigency rates in our community, they're high.

1166
01:39:48,740 --> 01:39:53,660
I mean, if you haven't been to our court, I didn't encourage anybody to come into court.

1167
01:39:53,780 --> 01:39:59,940
I'm Monday morning, and take a look at who's rolling in in custody, and you will...

1168
01:40:00,000 --> 01:40:29,560
People find out real quick without asking any questions, they do not have the sort of the funds to hire an attorney. It's obvious. They're in a bad place, and they're truly indigent people. They're suffering, you know, in the community, and they're committing crimes of poverty, basically. So it's obvious. They're not going to hire an attorney. And even the people aren't in custody. It's pretty obvious as you do this for years on who maybe

1169
01:40:29,560 --> 01:40:33,920
be able to pay, you can tell. Now, is there some people are slipping through the cracks?

1170
01:40:34,420 --> 01:40:41,560
Absolutely. No doubt. But how much do you have to invest, catch the people, and we don't

1171
01:40:41,560 --> 01:40:48,500
like it, right? We don't like the idea that somebody is driving away in a $80,000 BMW, and

1172
01:40:48,500 --> 01:40:52,820
they just told you they can't afford an attorney. I mean, we've all seen it periodically in

1173
01:40:52,820 --> 01:40:57,960
our careers, and you go, huh, is that reportable income, or how did you pay for that? Maybe

1174
01:40:57,960 --> 01:41:00,460
It's on the books, off the books, you don't know, right?

1175
01:41:01,260 --> 01:41:02,200
But they have assets.

1176
01:41:02,780 --> 01:41:05,320
But how do you catch those few that are,

1177
01:41:05,640 --> 01:41:07,280
yeah, and I think I agree with Judge Master,

1178
01:41:07,380 --> 01:41:09,320
I think most people are pretty honest in front of the court.

1179
01:41:09,760 --> 01:41:10,820
I don't think they're lying.

1180
01:41:12,320 --> 01:41:13,140
Are there a few?

1181
01:41:13,400 --> 01:41:13,700
Sure.

1182
01:41:14,900 --> 01:41:17,660
And what do you invest to get that money?

1183
01:41:18,380 --> 01:41:19,140
That's the question.

1184
01:41:19,540 --> 01:41:23,180
You think like fraud rate would be like 1%, half a percent?

1185
01:41:23,420 --> 01:41:23,800
Oh, no.

1186
01:41:24,280 --> 01:41:27,200
I mean, you have to invest that to find out, right?

1187
01:41:27,200 --> 01:41:31,540
You're going to have to invest all the time and resources and what's your number going to increase?

1188
01:41:31,800 --> 01:41:33,840
I mean, I still think it's probably pretty small, right?

1189
01:41:34,240 --> 01:41:37,880
Because I think that people really cannot afford attorneys, probably go out and buy them,

1190
01:41:37,940 --> 01:41:44,040
and go pay for one, so there's only a few people that probably that really can afford it

1191
01:41:44,040 --> 01:41:47,400
that just go with the public defender or light of the court.

1192
01:41:48,080 --> 01:41:52,400
So, I'm not, and it's not that we're not doing it, right?

1193
01:41:52,400 --> 01:41:57,520
So at the end of every case, we have Lizena factors, so that's a case.

1194
01:41:58,100 --> 01:42:02,080
We have a fact, we talk about, hey, do you receive any forms of public assistance?

1195
01:42:02,460 --> 01:42:07,940
We talk to them about their financial situation to determine if we're going to assess legal financial obligations.

1196
01:42:08,100 --> 01:42:11,700
And it's very rare that I have someone who has a court appointed attorney that's like,

1197
01:42:12,220 --> 01:42:16,600
sign me up for $3,000 in fines and fees I can totally pay it.

1198
01:42:17,460 --> 01:42:25,880
Most of the time, it's either I'm receiving public assistance in the form of food stamps or any other listed way that would fall under the interdency statute.

1199
01:42:26,400 --> 01:42:35,860
Or they say, you know, I'm not currently working. I got laid off because of this criminal charge. I hope to work in the future, but I have five people in my household.

1200
01:42:36,900 --> 01:42:39,420
They'd still qualify for a public defender.

1201
01:42:39,580 --> 01:42:41,240
They're still meeting those indigency standards

1202
01:42:41,240 --> 01:42:44,040
and we're striking discretionary fines and fees at the end.

1203
01:42:44,480 --> 01:42:46,960
And so I would say when you look at people

1204
01:42:46,960 --> 01:42:48,740
who had court appointed attorneys at the beginning

1205
01:42:48,740 --> 01:42:49,980
and when we get to the end,

1206
01:42:50,140 --> 01:42:53,160
not really seeing a huge disparity in the people

1207
01:42:53,160 --> 01:42:54,640
who are paying their fines and fees

1208
01:42:55,140 --> 01:42:56,280
enabled to have them assessed

1209
01:42:56,800 --> 01:43:00,180
versus having the public defender court appointed council.

1210
01:43:01,500 --> 01:43:02,780
But I do want to make,

1211
01:43:02,780 --> 01:43:08,020
If we're talking about intergencies screening, you can talk to think about it in a couple

1212
01:43:08,020 --> 01:43:08,260
of ways.

1213
01:43:08,420 --> 01:43:09,820
One, is the money aspect.

1214
01:43:11,220 --> 01:43:15,880
But two, I think, and this is maybe what troubled the council to begin with, are these

1215
01:43:17,080 --> 01:43:21,860
intergencies defense standards that are coming down where you're seeing kind of this reduction

1216
01:43:21,860 --> 01:43:24,540
in cases, unless we can hire more attorneys.

1217
01:43:25,440 --> 01:43:31,760
If you're looking at this screening process in, okay, well, if we catch, if we have this

1218
01:43:31,760 --> 01:43:53,320
Just one person who's determined to be not indigent, that means there's one more case that we can charge that we potentially go to an indigent defense attorney, so a court appointed counsel, then there may be value there if you're looking at it in that kind of unit valuation, because you want to be able to prioritize charging and you're concerned about cases that are going to be charged.

1219
01:43:54,380 --> 01:43:56,640
So there's that aspect of it.

1220
01:43:57,560 --> 01:44:06,460
Well, I think for me, one of the concerns I have is typically, I mean, if you're committing crimes, you're fairly decent that can continuously trying to game a system.

1221
01:44:07,540 --> 01:44:18,060
You kind of, if you've gone there multiple times, if you've gone this, you know, you know how the system works, you know, the flaws in the system, you know exactly what things to say and not to say.

1222
01:44:19,060 --> 01:44:23,920
I know this, I've had family members who have, I've seen through their games on the

1223
01:44:23,920 --> 01:44:29,720
same aspect and I go, man, I wish someone else would see through these games and how

1224
01:44:29,720 --> 01:44:36,020
much are the taxpayers seeing that fraud rate.

1225
01:44:36,180 --> 01:44:39,100
While I say, I agree, like the cost benefit analysis, right?

1226
01:44:39,180 --> 01:44:44,040
Okay, so are we seeing a 1% is that $100,000 can you employ someone for that?

1227
01:44:44,400 --> 01:44:44,680
Probably not.

1228
01:44:45,420 --> 01:44:45,980
I don't know.

1229
01:44:45,980 --> 01:44:51,860
Is there a way to automate this type of system of verification?

1230
01:44:52,300 --> 01:44:57,400
Is there AI or is there software or is there something that can do some of that?

1231
01:44:57,780 --> 01:44:58,120
I don't know.

1232
01:44:58,120 --> 01:44:59,960
I guess that...

1233
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:29,040
That was my only concern is how people do know how to game a system. I think you'll find that people are in the criminal justice system at that level. They're not working. They're not their indigent. They're getting, we say working a system. They're going to be on public assistance. They're already going to be per se, what we call per se, indigent under the statute. And they're the chronic repeat offenders, the revolving door. They're not working.

1234
01:45:29,040 --> 01:45:33,120
I mean, some of these guys you can talk to are gals that have never worked.

1235
01:45:34,400 --> 01:45:37,560
So, you know, you've never had an income, you're indigent.

1236
01:45:38,040 --> 01:45:44,340
So, you've been in and out of the jails and superior core, federal core, municipal core.

1237
01:45:45,020 --> 01:45:47,160
And they're probably unemployable anyway.

1238
01:45:47,380 --> 01:45:47,600
Correct.

1239
01:45:48,100 --> 01:45:54,220
So, you're dealing with a population that, you know, there's only, you're not going to squeeze

1240
01:45:54,220 --> 01:45:55,000
anything out.

1241
01:45:55,000 --> 01:46:00,120
I mean, it's just the reality, I mean, I think Vicki would tell you, the amount,

1242
01:46:00,600 --> 01:46:05,780
the law and justice, whether it's a city, the county, it's a huge part of the budget everywhere

1243
01:46:05,780 --> 01:46:11,600
in every community. It's because you have to deal, that's the cost, I guess, of free society

1244
01:46:11,600 --> 01:46:17,420
and having the rule of law. If you want to put people in jail, this is part of the system.

1245
01:46:17,900 --> 01:46:24,680
You get a public defender if you're being charged with a crime by the state and a cost

1246
01:46:24,680 --> 01:46:30,740
money. And there's no way around it. Attorneys aren't free. Public defenders aren't free.

1247
01:46:31,500 --> 01:46:37,100
Going to law school isn't free for, you know, four years of undergrad, three years of law school.

1248
01:46:37,220 --> 01:46:42,360
I think the average people get now is probably about 200,000 out of law school now. So they're not

1249
01:46:42,360 --> 01:46:49,720
going to work for free. So it all builds and costs. There's built-in costs. But I think our

1250
01:46:49,720 --> 01:46:54,980
presentation is tell you it's not as simple as just saying, get people to pay this, vet

1251
01:46:54,980 --> 01:46:58,600
out those people that are gaming the system, right?

1252
01:46:59,340 --> 01:47:01,960
Because you have to apply the same rule to everybody.

1253
01:47:02,400 --> 01:47:05,420
You can't just pick people out and say, well, this guy's dressed really nice, and I think

1254
01:47:05,420 --> 01:47:09,700
he's driving a nice car, so let's pick his out of the pile and we're going to audit that

1255
01:47:09,700 --> 01:47:09,940
guy.

1256
01:47:10,260 --> 01:47:10,860
But nobody else.

1257
01:47:11,320 --> 01:47:13,180
I mean, you can't do it that way either, right?

1258
01:47:13,460 --> 01:47:13,580
So.

1259
01:47:14,040 --> 01:47:18,760
One of the things that, as I've talked to people that have been through the legal process,

1260
01:47:18,760 --> 01:47:20,340
They just keep coming back to me and say,

1261
01:47:20,540 --> 01:47:22,080
I paid my debt to society.

1262
01:47:22,780 --> 01:47:25,280
And I think what I would really like to see you

1263
01:47:25,280 --> 01:47:29,640
as judges do, emphasize to these guys.

1264
01:47:30,400 --> 01:47:32,980
Even if we paid your attorney, even if you paid your own

1265
01:47:32,980 --> 01:47:35,960
attorney, it was a very expensive process

1266
01:47:35,960 --> 01:47:39,120
that you forced all the citizens of Yakima to go through

1267
01:47:39,660 --> 01:47:41,220
because you committed this crime.

1268
01:47:41,800 --> 01:47:45,560
And try to find ways to say, guys, it's time

1269
01:47:45,560 --> 01:47:50,980
to step up and become a productive member of society don't come back every time, you know,

1270
01:47:51,300 --> 01:47:57,120
creating that atmosphere to me is more important than trying to get every last penny from an

1271
01:47:57,120 --> 01:48:00,140
indigent tenant or criminal.

1272
01:48:01,400 --> 01:48:07,020
I mean, we do try to say that, but I mean some of it, we're dealing with chronically addicted

1273
01:48:07,020 --> 01:48:07,700
people.

1274
01:48:08,200 --> 01:48:12,640
It's not rational all the time, I mean they're driven, their motives are driven by different

1275
01:48:12,640 --> 01:48:18,240
things that it's not rational. I mean if they sometimes sober up and jail for two weeks

1276
01:48:18,240 --> 01:48:21,480
or a month, they're different person. You're not talking to the same person anymore.

1277
01:48:21,940 --> 01:48:26,560
When they're out on the streets using drugs, they're not making rational decisions.

1278
01:48:27,080 --> 01:48:33,320
So I think you're right. I mean, when we all talk about it, theoretically that's how you want

1279
01:48:33,320 --> 01:48:37,500
to deal with people. But I can tell you, some of the people that we're dealing with come in on

1280
01:48:37,500 --> 01:48:42,140
Monday and see there's no rational conversation you're having with a lot of

1281
01:48:42,140 --> 01:48:44,660
these folks. I mean you're lucky to get through an

1282
01:48:44,660 --> 01:48:50,700
arrangement with a conversation, not like a deep deep thoughts moment. This is

1283
01:48:50,700 --> 01:48:55,020
just like can you answer yes or no five times so we can get through a hearing.

1284
01:48:56,400 --> 01:49:01,180
A lot of people do have you know we talked about it before underlying mental

1285
01:49:01,180 --> 01:49:04,600
health disorders, substance use disorders, and the resources within our

1286
01:49:04,600 --> 01:49:09,940
community aren't there. One thing that Judge Clements and I have worked to do is try

1287
01:49:09,940 --> 01:49:13,180
to refer people, you know, we have pamphlets in the courtroom for the

1288
01:49:13,180 --> 01:49:16,340
recovery navigator program and we try to refer them to that so that they

1289
01:49:16,340 --> 01:49:20,280
can get access to resources within the community that can help them with those

1290
01:49:20,280 --> 01:49:26,320
underlying issues. We try to connect them with resources. When the court has to do

1291
01:49:26,320 --> 01:49:29,740
the state of the court, we'll talk to you about the now-formed community

1292
01:49:30,440 --> 01:49:54,600
We're working to try to interrupt those patterns and try to get people in contact with the resources that we have within our community to try to stop the behavior to try to address those underlying issues to try to help them be successful and kind of plug those holes that we see, you know, with housing, having a license, not having a job, trying to, you know, interrupt the pattern for them.

1293
01:49:54,600 --> 01:49:59,300
Is there a lot of percentage of people who take those routes?

1294
01:50:00,500 --> 01:50:30,480
Right now we have about 12 participants. That's pretty good. Yeah. Really, we just got our public, our dedicated public defender. We got an award of state funds through this administrative office of the courts to pay for the dedicated public defender. So that's really helped us because it's helped us just kind of a dedicated attorney guide everyone through and kind of keep them in line. But we have a really great group of people that are working really hard.

1295
01:50:30,480 --> 01:50:36,660
right now and we're working to kind of build our relationship with treatment providers and resources

1296
01:50:36,660 --> 01:50:42,860
within the community to try to connect people with Camp Hope and other places to try to disrupt

1297
01:50:42,860 --> 01:50:48,340
that because at sentencing we can set up there until we're blue in the face and talk to them about

1298
01:50:49,040 --> 01:50:54,440
wanting to make different life choices and you know really thinking about how they've impacted

1299
01:50:54,440 --> 01:51:05,100
their lives, their family's lives, the community's lives, but for a lot of people it comes down to interrupting those underlying patterns that are driving the behavior.

1300
01:51:06,600 --> 01:51:24,280
I think it's pretty wild that out of 50 states, there are five that don't fund public indigent defense and we're one and I think when you look at the community, I would say probably three out of four people have no idea.

1301
01:51:24,280 --> 01:51:29,780
that that is even a thing in our community, maybe even higher than that, 4 out of 5 have

1302
01:51:29,780 --> 01:51:37,640
no clue that the state doesn't just pay for this aspect. And when people talk about crime

1303
01:51:37,640 --> 01:51:43,360
and they talk about all these things that go on, I'm going, this one aspect here is such

1304
01:51:43,360 --> 01:51:50,000
a huge burden on the city taxpayers. And because of the caseload counts and all those things

1305
01:51:50,000 --> 01:51:57,400
that are going on, it's just going to be a fun job to try to navigate through trying

1306
01:51:57,400 --> 01:52:01,820
to be pick and choosey on which cases that you're going to actually have to do this

1307
01:52:01,820 --> 01:52:07,520
with. And the community has no idea that they have no clue that these things transpire

1308
01:52:07,520 --> 01:52:14,140
this way. When they, if they see crime go up, they go, well, it's those gosh darn council

1309
01:52:14,140 --> 01:52:23,080
people that didn't do something, but I go, is it, when we can't fund indigent defense and we can't prosecute crime?

1310
01:52:25,760 --> 01:52:27,220
To the fullest extent.

1311
01:52:27,620 --> 01:52:34,340
The indigent defense is kind of an interesting problem because it's only a money problem.

1312
01:52:34,600 --> 01:52:37,380
We also live in what people consider a legal desert.

1313
01:52:37,380 --> 01:52:44,820
We have to be able to recruit people to want to come to Yakima, to be public defenders.

1314
01:52:45,320 --> 01:52:50,940
And I know I've shared that I came here, I came right out of law school in the recession in 2009.

1315
01:52:51,640 --> 01:52:56,420
And I did not want to be a public defender, but came here because that was the only job that I can get.

1316
01:52:56,560 --> 01:52:58,240
And I'm very thankful for it.

1317
01:53:00,060 --> 01:53:06,980
But recruiting people who want to come back to be public defenders, that's another issue.

1318
01:53:06,980 --> 01:53:10,700
especially when you're trying to compete with bigger counties like King

1319
01:53:10,700 --> 01:53:15,820
County, Pierce County, Sonoma's County that can pay a lot more per case than

1320
01:53:15,820 --> 01:53:24,120
smaller rural counties can. So it's a much larger problem than it seems on its

1321
01:53:24,120 --> 01:53:29,320
face. Well, Yakima has really two great judges, so thank you.

1322
01:53:29,800 --> 01:53:35,320
Yes, we appreciate you're coming tonight. Yeah and if anybody wants to visit the

1323
01:53:36,360 --> 01:53:42,760
If you haven't done it, anybody who hasn't done it, it isn't eye-opener and it's a worthwhile

1324
01:53:42,760 --> 01:53:50,640
endeavor to see really how it's made the sausage, I think, because you can only see it from

1325
01:53:50,640 --> 01:53:55,240
afar, but when you're actually in there, I think you get a better idea of what the courts

1326
01:53:55,840 --> 01:53:57,580
in the communities up against, too.

1327
01:53:57,580 --> 01:54:05,700
So I've been to a rainbow, but I've also been to graduations from the drug

1328
01:54:05,700 --> 01:54:13,780
curve for life, and those particular people are probably at some level higher

1329
01:54:13,780 --> 01:54:17,280
functioning than a lot of the people you see coming into the system, you know,

1330
01:54:17,620 --> 01:54:21,220
and so it gives them an opportunity for success. There's something they catch on to

1331
01:54:21,220 --> 01:54:24,480
about wanting to work for family or other things. They really make a difference

1332
01:54:24,480 --> 01:54:35,420
We should have our first community diversion court graduate here at the beginning of the year, so make sure to extend an invitation when we get to do that graduation.

1333
01:54:36,420 --> 01:54:36,740
Thank you.

1334
01:54:37,300 --> 01:54:38,500
Thank you very much to be here.

1335
01:54:38,660 --> 01:54:39,140
Thank you.

1336
01:54:44,200 --> 01:54:50,920
Next is item 9B, which is our Friday Department Master Plan presentation and our fire chief Aaron Markman's here.

1337
01:54:50,920 --> 01:54:51,780
And

1338
01:54:54,080 --> 01:54:59,420
Erin, excuse me, if you would please introduce your guests and other people, maybe online as well.

1339
01:55:00,000 --> 01:55:00,600
Absolutely.

1340
01:55:03,810 --> 01:55:32,410
Good evening, mayor, council members. So the gentleman sitting to my left may look familiar to you, Zach, with the Sage Land Consulting LLC, is here present tonight to present the Fire Department Master Plan, and then also online should be retired Fire Chief Bob Gehr from Pasco and retired Deputy Chief Ed Dunmar also from Pasco. To answer any of the analytical questions that may come up

1341
01:55:32,410 --> 01:55:34,350
regarding the presentation this evening.

1342
01:55:35,110 --> 01:55:36,030
So I'll turn it over to Zach.

1343
01:55:36,430 --> 01:55:37,410
All right, thank you, Chief Markham.

1344
01:55:37,470 --> 01:55:39,010
Thank you Mayor Buyers, members of Council

1345
01:55:39,010 --> 01:55:39,870
and a good evening.

1346
01:55:40,070 --> 01:55:41,830
Once again, good to see you all again.

1347
01:55:42,050 --> 01:55:42,750
It's been a little while.

1348
01:55:43,230 --> 01:55:45,030
Zach Ratkai was stage land strategic

1349
01:55:45,030 --> 01:55:47,530
and great introduction of our team here

1350
01:55:47,530 --> 01:55:48,930
for the Fire Master Plan.

1351
01:55:48,930 --> 01:55:51,890
We could not have done a lot of the technical analysis

1352
01:55:51,890 --> 01:55:53,870
without Bob and Ed as well.

1353
01:55:54,350 --> 01:55:58,410
So just kind of want to run through some of the timeline,

1354
01:55:58,870 --> 01:56:00,990
the composition of the master plan.

1355
01:56:00,990 --> 01:56:09,890
a few of the larger recommendations and then we will stand for questions and any follow-ups from City Council at that time.

1356
01:56:10,390 --> 01:56:17,590
So, why would you typically need a master plan for any City Department or Yakima fire?

1357
01:56:17,790 --> 01:56:26,890
Well, really it was a chance to identify needs, whether it's facility needs, infrastructure needs, staffing, generalized operational capabilities.

1358
01:56:26,890 --> 01:56:32,850
But also looking at, okay, so when and where would we apply some of these needs?

1359
01:56:32,990 --> 01:56:35,710
Do we need to change some items immediately?

1360
01:56:36,050 --> 01:56:40,450
Are there some short, medium, and long-term recommendations or

1361
01:56:40,450 --> 01:56:45,710
emerging issues that we need to address and where can we allocate resources?

1362
01:56:45,990 --> 01:56:49,010
Now resources could be what's currently hired and

1363
01:56:49,010 --> 01:56:56,450
staffed within the fire department, but also what is equipment, apparatus, what's the long term?

1364
01:56:56,450 --> 01:56:57,850
what do your facilities look like?

1365
01:56:58,470 --> 01:57:05,090
And so sort of you want to, you know, triage what's currently happening now, what's needed

1366
01:57:05,090 --> 01:57:10,110
in the future, near and long term, and really doing a master plan is a great way to open

1367
01:57:10,110 --> 01:57:14,510
the hood and really take a look at all the items and issues going on.

1368
01:57:16,730 --> 01:57:21,710
So part of the process we utilized for the master plan was really just sort of a generalized

1369
01:57:21,710 --> 01:57:22,390
assessment.

1370
01:57:22,390 --> 01:57:31,850
So we had a great station tour, I know Bob and Ed went on a tour of the Dispatch Center as well, but really we wanted to see, okay, what does Yakima Fire Department do?

1371
01:57:32,550 --> 01:57:48,490
So generally you look at a fire department, you kind of have a general idea of what a given fire department does, but fire departments differ in the services that they provide, the services that they contract out, the community relations, type of things they provide to their community.

1372
01:57:49,130 --> 01:57:54,950
So, we wanted to look at, what does Yakima fire do and look at some of this, oh, always

1373
01:57:54,950 --> 01:57:55,470
stumbled with that.

1374
01:57:55,650 --> 01:58:01,150
Some of these statistics and operational statistics and information that we could

1375
01:58:01,150 --> 01:58:08,010
glean from the last number of years to identify trends as it compares to just general

1376
01:58:08,010 --> 01:58:12,810
happenings in the community, whether there's big events for fire, whether it's small events,

1377
01:58:12,950 --> 01:58:17,630
just the general day-to-day, but also look at the statistics in relations to growth and

1378
01:58:17,630 --> 01:58:20,110
and development patterns within the community as well.

1379
01:58:21,250 --> 01:58:23,130
Next we would do an analysis.

1380
01:58:23,910 --> 01:58:26,870
So is Yakum Fire Department currently meeting standardized

1381
01:58:26,870 --> 01:58:28,950
metrics whether they're from the state

1382
01:58:28,950 --> 01:58:31,510
or national standards or just general standards

1383
01:58:31,510 --> 01:58:33,070
and they're standing in the community?

1384
01:58:33,190 --> 01:58:36,250
Are they responding to calls, assisting where needed?

1385
01:58:37,130 --> 01:58:38,610
We do do a comparison.

1386
01:58:38,930 --> 01:58:41,430
So we looked at a lot of the regional departments,

1387
01:58:41,630 --> 01:58:44,130
departments around Washington State

1388
01:58:44,130 --> 01:58:45,910
for communities of similar size,

1389
01:58:45,910 --> 01:59:01,870
but also knowing that there's difference with an urban fire department, you would have in the Seattle area, even Spokane to Central Washington, so we did look at some of the departments in the Tri-Cities region, other similar agencies around the state.

1390
01:59:02,810 --> 01:59:11,070
Also, are there national and state mandated trends that are something that Yakima fire needs to be mindful of?

1391
01:59:11,950 --> 01:59:18,670
From that, we gathered recommendations, short medium and long-term recommendations based

1392
01:59:18,670 --> 01:59:23,750
upon a number of different areas that we looked at, and then provided a report on this.

1393
01:59:26,460 --> 01:59:30,560
So some of the focus areas that we looked at, in fact all the focus areas we looked at

1394
01:59:30,560 --> 01:59:36,060
was the general organization and the management of the fire department, your capital assets,

1395
01:59:36,460 --> 01:59:42,720
so that would be your facilities, the staffing of the fire department, so everything from

1396
01:59:42,720 --> 01:59:48,980
administration down, service delivery to the community, community risk, the

1397
01:59:48,980 --> 01:59:53,200
partnership and just the provision of emergency medical services, paramedic

1398
01:59:53,200 --> 01:59:58,500
services, hazardous material response, and specialized technical rescue.

1399
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:20,260
Generalized planning for the fire department, the airport, the Washington State's raiding bureau, and a fiscal review. And then from there we looked at future system demand based upon trends for growth and development, and what we could generally glean that sort of on the horizon what we would need to look at.

1400
02:00:22,770 --> 02:00:31,630
So that came up with a number of findings and recommendations. We grouped them into short, medium, and long-term, and that goes for each of those areas that we described in the previous

1401
02:00:31,630 --> 02:00:38,610
slide. And in general with a short-term recommendation, you look at high impact, not necessarily high

1402
02:00:38,610 --> 02:00:44,730
impact, but maybe more immediate impact, and a little bit lower cost if no cost, which is always

1403
02:00:44,730 --> 02:00:51,790
good in the public agency. So that could include things like policy and process updates within the

1404
02:00:51,790 --> 02:00:57,750
department, just modernization of standard operating procedures. Are there different staff assignments

1405
02:00:57,750 --> 02:01:06,170
that could get a little bit more of a return on investment for the community based upon the current staff allocation and hiring that is currently in place.

1406
02:01:06,750 --> 02:01:13,150
Are there any training or administrative actions that could be revised to kind of set the tone for the future?

1407
02:01:14,170 --> 02:01:21,690
Medium term, that would generally be something that might require moderate investment from the department.

1408
02:01:21,690 --> 02:01:27,550
that could be anything from additional staffing to vehicles and equipment,

1409
02:01:27,570 --> 02:01:32,370
whether that's updating or repairing current vehicles or even procuring current vehicles.

1410
02:01:32,670 --> 02:01:37,810
Now, some of the vehicles are pretty expensive, so that could be more of a long term recommendation.

1411
02:01:38,530 --> 02:01:40,730
But it also looks at expansions of programs.

1412
02:01:41,130 --> 02:01:47,030
So, you know, programs for the community or programs within a department like specialized airport rescue,

1413
02:01:47,350 --> 02:01:49,110
technical rescue hazardous material.

1414
02:01:49,890 --> 02:01:55,350
And then long-term recommendations are the ones that require significant capital investments.

1415
02:01:55,690 --> 02:02:01,190
So these are your new fire stations, your renovations to fire stations, facility, you

1416
02:02:01,190 --> 02:02:06,850
know, infrastructure development, whether there's water delivery systems for, you know, the

1417
02:02:06,850 --> 02:02:08,570
airport fire station, for example.

1418
02:02:08,970 --> 02:02:13,650
Some of those that would require significant planning and significant investment as well.

1419
02:02:15,960 --> 02:02:20,640
So going through the report and just pulling some examples here and then we want to open

1420
02:02:20,640 --> 02:02:24,720
up to questions for anything that you read, anything that you have concerns about or anything.

1421
02:02:25,620 --> 02:02:29,440
But some quick short-term examples, maybe not quick, but short-term examples could be,

1422
02:02:30,020 --> 02:02:33,860
you know, just greater communication of the department identity, what they do out in the field.

1423
02:02:34,820 --> 02:02:39,100
Generally, in local government, the most visible people you see if your employees are your police

1424
02:02:39,100 --> 02:02:47,800
and firefighters. But is there a way for fire to sort of trumpet their identity out to the community?

1425
02:02:48,960 --> 02:02:54,400
Workforce and succession planning, so utilizing your current workforce, how are you going to

1426
02:02:54,400 --> 02:02:59,900
grow your team, promote them from within, but also how can you plan their allocations,

1427
02:03:00,460 --> 02:03:09,440
shifts, training, that sort of thing. Enhancing Spanish language capability and having the Spanish

1428
02:03:09,440 --> 02:03:15,560
language in the community as well. Recordkeeping or just assessing records, data keeping,

1429
02:03:15,560 --> 02:03:22,200
keeping those sorts of things, and then having Yakima fire more present at like a planning

1430
02:03:22,200 --> 02:03:26,320
and development reviews, so they have more of a stake in the future as the community

1431
02:03:26,320 --> 02:03:30,820
grows, as new subdivisions come in, as there's new commercial developments that could certainly

1432
02:03:30,820 --> 02:03:34,700
impact fire, you know, having a seat at the table through that.

1433
02:03:34,940 --> 02:03:39,360
So those are some simple, maybe not simple, but, you know, some shorter term examples that

1434
02:03:39,360 --> 02:03:40,360
we pulled from the report.

1435
02:03:42,080 --> 02:04:08,600
some medium term examples. Now this is capital improvement planning, not necessarily capital investment, but certainly looking at what is needed for facilities, what is needed for equipment, apparatus, and sort of at least marking that down and having that plan to say in a number of years we're going to need to look at investing here, so that way early on you can start looking at, okay, what's the priority here? What can we do as we get into budget season?

1436
02:04:08,600 --> 02:04:22,360
and that kind of ties into an equipment replacement plan as well, so you're not looking at a piece of equipment that's one or two years past its useful life, but you're looking at it, you know, five years ahead of time to say, hey, we need to get these sorts of things.

1437
02:04:22,560 --> 02:04:26,880
We need to start planning, looking around what we need to do, what we need to budget for that.

1438
02:04:29,240 --> 02:04:37,120
Modernized training practices, so some of the training within the department but also certifications, greater certifications for the team

1439
02:04:37,120 --> 02:04:44,000
to help serve the community and then implementing some community risk assessment programs as well.

1440
02:04:46,210 --> 02:04:49,110
And then finally, some of the long-term examples, as we all know,

1441
02:04:49,730 --> 02:04:54,470
upgrade and expand facilities, new facilities, new fire stations.

1442
02:04:55,150 --> 02:04:58,690
We don't have a list of five additional fire stations, but you know,

1443
02:04:58,990 --> 02:04:59,950
just some things to keep in mind.

1444
02:05:00,000 --> 02:05:06,780
In mind, as the community grows, as annexations come around, that sort of thing. And then some

1445
02:05:06,780 --> 02:05:11,440
of the stuff out at the airport fire station, too, recommendation of, you know, upgrading

1446
02:05:11,440 --> 02:05:16,120
the water and foam infrastructure, potential relocation, as you look at the airport master

1447
02:05:16,120 --> 02:05:19,580
plan and some of the things you have out there to address that need.

1448
02:05:21,860 --> 02:05:27,840
So what's next? This is just a master plan, so really we're identifying what's happening

1449
02:05:27,840 --> 02:05:33,680
planning now, what might be needed in the future, but internal planning within City Hall

1450
02:05:33,680 --> 02:05:37,760
within the Akima Fire Department to look at, okay, where can we get our best return on

1451
02:05:37,760 --> 02:05:39,840
investment with current resources allocated?

1452
02:05:41,580 --> 02:05:46,620
Look at strategic planning, so we divided into short, medium, and long-term examples, but

1453
02:05:46,620 --> 02:05:52,160
this plan did not go into the prioritization, and this is going to cost this much in the

1454
02:05:52,160 --> 02:05:57,040
next five years, because really that is something where we brought to the Fire Department.

1455
02:05:57,040 --> 02:06:02,920
Here's what we see now, but you are the boots on the ground here in Yakima, so what is the most feasible?

1456
02:06:03,340 --> 02:06:11,140
So recommendation for a little bit of internal strategic planning to prioritize some of those short, short, medium and long-term examples.

1457
02:06:12,940 --> 02:06:26,880
And then, you know, just long-term planning, so, you know, look at, you know, trying to lessen your impacts currently, but look at, okay, what do we need to look at in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road for the fire department?

1458
02:06:27,040 --> 02:06:34,720
as well. So that was kind of a quick run through of a pretty big document, but we do have

1459
02:06:34,720 --> 02:06:39,900
Bob and Ed on the line to answer some more of the technical fire-based questions. Chief

1460
02:06:39,900 --> 02:06:43,100
Markham is here as well, and we'll stand for questions of Council at this time.

1461
02:06:44,940 --> 02:06:45,380
Council?

1462
02:06:48,010 --> 02:06:51,050
So I do have a question. One, was this master plan developed?

1463
02:06:52,630 --> 02:06:55,090
We worked on it all of

1464
02:06:56,870 --> 02:06:59,050
starting June of 24.

1465
02:06:59,430 --> 02:07:00,710
I thought it was early

1466
02:07:00,710 --> 02:07:02,450
research. I couldn't remember

1467
02:07:02,450 --> 02:07:03,450
exactly what the day was.

1468
02:07:04,230 --> 02:07:07,830
So obviously the

1469
02:07:08,970 --> 02:07:10,730
budget situation in the city

1470
02:07:10,730 --> 02:07:13,370
really is going to hamper

1471
02:07:13,370 --> 02:07:15,410
the ability to move forward

1472
02:07:15,410 --> 02:07:16,410
with the master plan.

1473
02:07:17,170 --> 02:07:18,990
And what

1474
02:07:21,360 --> 02:07:22,180
do we see as

1475
02:07:22,180 --> 02:07:26,020
Is the things that are most affected with what's happening with our bed right now?

1476
02:07:28,340 --> 02:07:35,200
Well, some of the things that I think would be the most effective is we could focus on the training of our staff as it exists right now.

1477
02:07:35,380 --> 02:07:41,160
There's several areas of improvement as far as if SAC fire officer one training.

1478
02:07:41,680 --> 02:07:47,080
It's at a minimal cost there are instructors that are local here that can provide that training.

1479
02:07:47,900 --> 02:07:52,560
But what that does is it benefits in the long term as far as number of hours that are required.

1480
02:07:52,560 --> 02:08:00,900
Weakly for ongoing training once you have firefighters and fire officers that are trained to hire levels with a certification that goes along with them.

1481
02:08:01,680 --> 02:08:09,620
It's also required for future development we would like to have as essential basis for

1482
02:08:09,620 --> 02:08:12,680
promotional opportunities within the department right now.

1483
02:08:12,760 --> 02:08:18,220
It's usually based on ten or into the department if you've been there for five years as a firefighter.

1484
02:08:18,480 --> 02:08:21,060
You qualify to test for the position of lieutenant.

1485
02:08:21,060 --> 02:08:29,140
And beyond that, there's no other certificates that have academic criteria that go with them

1486
02:08:29,440 --> 02:08:33,800
to base that experience, even when you go forward into the captain's rank and the shift

1487
02:08:33,800 --> 02:08:34,860
commander's rank as well.

1488
02:08:35,460 --> 02:08:45,480
So these training opportunities cuts the training obligations of our members down, almost

1489
02:08:45,480 --> 02:08:50,700
by 50% and so that gives us opportunity to try to not jam all that training while we're

1490
02:08:50,700 --> 02:08:55,500
trying to run calls and stuff throughout the shift in the days.

1491
02:08:57,160 --> 02:09:02,200
So the trainings that we're talking about, you know, kind of moving in directions, whatever

1492
02:09:02,200 --> 02:09:10,840
they are, are they going to help in our ratings with, for example, community ratings for fire

1493
02:09:10,840 --> 02:09:11,100
insurance?

1494
02:09:11,820 --> 02:09:12,200
Absolutely.

1495
02:09:12,200 --> 02:09:21,900
So the fire officer training that I just spoke to was one of the areas that we were penalized were given the merits for in that area.

1496
02:09:22,440 --> 02:09:30,000
We were doing a lot better in the initial firefighting certificates because as we brought on brand new people,

1497
02:09:30,600 --> 02:09:38,540
we trained them to the firefighter one level in their first year and they accomplished that right after getting out of the academy.

1498
02:09:38,540 --> 02:09:43,700
the next step is to get them trained in the firefighter to certifications which

1499
02:09:43,700 --> 02:09:48,340
reduces their hours even more. So we were to accomplish that on the

1500
02:09:48,340 --> 02:09:51,300
firefighter level but we weren't on their fire officer level.

1501
02:10:00,000 --> 02:10:00,820
Any other questions?

1502
02:10:04,370 --> 02:10:13,190
So just generally throwing it out there, it may deviate from the question of the master plan. But for any of you, including the two gentlemen, gracious enough to join us online tonight.

1503
02:10:15,630 --> 02:10:25,920
If you understand the situation of the British in the city right now, what would be your thoughts on the master plan? How that's going to affect our master plan?

1504
02:10:30,460 --> 02:10:37,300
Well, I'll speak. I never she's in Chasco and never been hesitant to open my mouth and appropriate.

1505
02:10:37,300 --> 02:10:44,080
really. Or as some people say, I do a good job of explaining things poorly. One of the,

1506
02:10:44,700 --> 02:10:48,520
you know, you look at the fire department, the council looks at the fire department, and

1507
02:10:48,520 --> 02:10:55,880
we're kind of the department that just keeps on taking. That's the feeling. It is keep

1508
02:10:55,880 --> 02:11:02,200
pouring money into us. But in reality, the fire department can give you a return on your

1509
02:11:02,200 --> 02:11:07,200
investment for the citizens of the city. And that really comes down to the surveying

1510
02:11:07,200 --> 02:11:12,780
rating bureau, rating of your department. And every step right now, you're currently rated

1511
02:11:12,780 --> 02:11:18,580
a protection class three. You go up to protection class four and your homeowner's insurance

1512
02:11:18,580 --> 02:11:24,760
goes up 15%. You go to protection class five. From a three, your homeowner's insurance

1513
02:11:24,760 --> 02:11:31,500
goes up 30%. So focusing on those things where there actually is a return on your investment

1514
02:11:31,500 --> 02:11:35,300
in your fire department can really help you.

1515
02:11:35,660 --> 02:11:38,080
We went through that in Pasco many years ago

1516
02:11:38,080 --> 02:11:40,640
as we really transformed the department

1517
02:11:40,640 --> 02:11:42,520
that needed a lot of work

1518
02:11:43,340 --> 02:11:45,320
and were actually able to

1519
02:11:47,120 --> 02:11:50,640
take a bunch of bank capacity that the council had

1520
02:11:50,640 --> 02:11:52,620
to do a bunch of improvements

1521
02:11:52,620 --> 02:11:55,520
and virtually got no comments at all

1522
02:11:55,520 --> 02:11:57,440
about taking that bank capacity.

1523
02:11:57,860 --> 02:11:58,460
But in the meantime,

1524
02:11:58,460 --> 02:12:03,520
time, even the mayor who had been kind of a doubter at the time, you know, called me

1525
02:12:03,520 --> 02:12:10,080
and said, hey, chief, my homeowner's insurance went down $150 a year and I'm paying like

1526
02:12:10,080 --> 02:12:17,900
$25 more by taking the bank capacity. So you can get a return on investment in your

1527
02:12:17,900 --> 02:12:23,460
fire department if you strategically plan that and work it out through the reading bureau.

1528
02:12:23,460 --> 02:12:29,320
know, I know you're up against some tough times and I know you're going to have to make

1529
02:12:29,320 --> 02:12:32,020
some tough decisions on what you do to balance the budget.

1530
02:12:32,840 --> 02:12:37,900
But I would strongly encourage you to look, as Chief Markham said, what are the things

1531
02:12:37,900 --> 02:12:44,020
that we can do that are low hanging fruit that bias rating bureau points because you close

1532
02:12:44,020 --> 02:12:51,480
the station and you're probably going to lose at least one protection class rating if

1533
02:12:51,480 --> 02:12:56,800
not too. I don't know exactly. I'd have to spend some time with the Reading Bureau and do some

1534
02:12:56,800 --> 02:13:04,400
mapping and look at statistics. But I think you have some opportunity to look at some of that

1535
02:13:04,400 --> 02:13:10,620
low-hanging fruit and what can you do to preserve your protection class three as you go into the future

1536
02:13:11,500 --> 02:13:16,340
and then go from there with other larger capital improvements.

1537
02:13:22,620 --> 02:13:31,720
I would just like to say one of the biggest challenges that we faced during the process of retrieving

1538
02:13:31,720 --> 02:13:37,160
the data for this far to part my master plan is we were right in the middle of a change

1539
02:13:37,160 --> 02:13:40,080
over to a new reporting system.

1540
02:13:40,080 --> 02:13:47,040
So we're trying to get legacy information out of one system called emergency reporting

1541
02:13:47,040 --> 02:13:52,540
while we are already in the process of changing to another program called ImageTrend.

1542
02:13:53,120 --> 02:14:00,960
Now it was the reason we had to change reporting software because it was the other software was

1543
02:14:00,960 --> 02:14:06,100
no longer going to support the legacy software that we had been using for the last 19 years.

1544
02:14:06,100 --> 02:14:15,780
So we had no choice, we had to pick one of two that was suitable for Yakima Fire Department, and the other one was actually even more cost prohibitive to go to.

1545
02:14:16,140 --> 02:14:27,060
So we were in the middle of that transition, which complicates looking at the same type of data through two different software systems.

1546
02:14:27,060 --> 02:14:30,740
So they made it challenging, but we worked through that.

1547
02:14:32,260 --> 02:14:39,780
Fortunately, Deputy Chief Dunbar from Pasco was familiar with the software that we're going, that we had just transitioned to.

1548
02:14:40,160 --> 02:14:47,660
So he was able to, you know, navigate that and pull reports when we were just getting started using it within the first quarter of the year.

1549
02:14:49,240 --> 02:14:50,000
Thank you.

1550
02:14:52,580 --> 02:14:54,160
All right, any other questions by Council?

1551
02:14:54,520 --> 02:14:54,880
Comments?

1552
02:14:55,900 --> 02:14:59,960
We'll probably have questions, but not this evening.

1553
02:15:02,420 --> 02:15:06,500
Thank you. Thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you, chief.

1554
02:15:11,810 --> 02:15:36,910
Next on the agenda as item 9c, which is a second public meeting and resolution on the consolidated annual performance evaluation report, the caber regarding had funding and our city development director, Bill Preston is going to present. Good evening, council. So as I presented a couple of weeks ago, the caber for, we had our first public meeting.

1555
02:15:36,910 --> 02:15:39,330
public meeting. This is the second one.

1556
02:15:39,810 --> 02:15:47,590
Basically, the report that was provided to you outlines basically the accomplishments and

1557
02:15:47,590 --> 02:15:51,570
the fund sources associated with the Office of Neighborhood Development Services.

1558
02:15:52,490 --> 02:15:58,650
And so what we're really just looking for tonight is approval of that report.

1559
02:15:58,790 --> 02:16:05,850
We did not receive any public comments or comments at all regarding the report.

1560
02:16:05,850 --> 02:16:17,210
And so tonight we're just looking for authorizing staff to submit that report to HUD and meeting

1561
02:16:17,210 --> 02:16:18,130
our obligations there.

1562
02:16:20,340 --> 02:16:22,940
Any questions, council? Nope.

1563
02:16:23,640 --> 02:16:27,020
Then I'll turn to the motion. I move to adopt the resolution.

1564
02:16:27,460 --> 02:16:30,380
Second. A click would you read the full resolution for us, please?

1565
02:16:32,100 --> 02:16:38,520
This is a resolution adopting the proposed 2024 consolidated annual performance and evaluation

1566
02:16:38,520 --> 02:16:39,140
report.

1567
02:16:41,040 --> 02:16:41,720
Thank you.

1568
02:16:41,740 --> 02:16:42,000
I'm sorry.

1569
02:16:42,200 --> 02:16:44,720
Were you going to open the meeting for it?

1570
02:16:44,800 --> 02:16:45,640
It's not a public hearing.

1571
02:16:46,140 --> 02:16:48,000
It's just a receiving comment.

1572
02:16:48,320 --> 02:16:49,660
We're not receiving comments.

1573
02:16:49,860 --> 02:16:50,140
Okay.

1574
02:16:50,240 --> 02:16:50,760
I thank you.

1575
02:16:51,600 --> 02:16:51,960
All right.

1576
02:16:52,080 --> 02:16:58,700
So we have a motion from Councilman DCO and a second by Deputy Mayor Brown to approve the

1577
02:16:58,700 --> 02:16:59,180
resolution.

1578
02:16:59,900 --> 02:17:01,460
We'll need a little hobo place.

1579
02:17:02,040 --> 02:17:02,420
Buyers?

1580
02:17:02,860 --> 02:17:03,000
Yes.

1581
02:17:03,500 --> 02:17:03,880
DCO?

1582
02:17:04,280 --> 02:17:04,540
Yes.

1583
02:17:04,920 --> 02:17:05,180
Glenn?

1584
02:17:05,680 --> 02:17:06,000
Yes.

1585
02:17:06,360 --> 02:17:06,720
Herrera?

1586
02:17:07,020 --> 02:17:07,200
Yes.

1587
02:17:07,560 --> 02:17:07,880
Roy?

1588
02:17:08,340 --> 02:17:08,720
Yes.

1589
02:17:09,040 --> 02:17:09,200
Berg?

1590
02:17:09,560 --> 02:17:09,780
Yep.

1591
02:17:10,220 --> 02:17:10,460
Brown?

1592
02:17:10,780 --> 02:17:10,960
Yes.

1593
02:17:11,480 --> 02:17:11,740
All right.

1594
02:17:11,940 --> 02:17:12,820
The vote is 7-0.

1595
02:17:12,920 --> 02:17:14,960
Motion passes, and the resolution is adopted.

1596
02:17:15,200 --> 02:17:15,680
Thank you, Council.

1597
02:17:16,620 --> 02:17:29,160
Next is item 9-D, which is a resolution authorizing an operation license agreement with the

1598
02:17:29,160 --> 02:17:36,940
All right. Thank you, Council. So we have been talking about the trolley agreement for a while now. We've had

1599
02:17:37,660 --> 02:17:44,860
I think six or seven extensions to get us to this point. So before you today is the revised

1600
02:17:46,320 --> 02:17:48,440
2026 through 2030

1601
02:17:49,800 --> 02:17:50,400
operations

1602
02:17:51,320 --> 02:17:54,140
Operation maintenance agreement with the Yakima Valley trolley

1603
02:17:55,400 --> 02:18:02,280
So this has all of the edits, changes, modifications that we've talked about over the last couple of months.

1604
02:18:05,040 --> 02:18:12,660
Specifically regarding the general fund contribution towards this agreement.

1605
02:18:13,440 --> 02:18:23,580
And the only thing in here right now is just the routine items that the city would have to do if there was no.

1606
02:18:24,440 --> 02:18:30,440
operating agreement in place and so it is in appendix D or exhibit D so it's

1607
02:18:30,440 --> 02:18:34,040
things like the gas utility bills the electric utility bills water and sewer

1608
02:18:34,040 --> 02:18:39,360
bills solid waste and then phone internet and alarm and that kind of stuff so

1609
02:18:39,360 --> 02:18:46,540
everything else is covered by the Yakima Valley trolleys so there was some

1610
02:18:46,540 --> 02:18:52,720
discussion regarding the insurance we would build them we would we would do it

1611
02:18:52,720 --> 02:18:58,260
under ours and then we would build them for that insurance and then they would pay us back.

1612
02:18:59,060 --> 02:19:08,340
There is still the $10,000 fund from the streets department because you know if track

1613
02:19:08,340 --> 02:19:13,120
a pop or if there's something out on the roadway that needs to be done that's still within our right

1614
02:19:13,120 --> 02:19:18,960
away on our road so that Scott has still continued to keep that in the public works and streets budget.

1615
02:19:21,620 --> 02:19:29,580
One of the, some of the chatter that I've kind of heard about this is that there was

1616
02:19:29,580 --> 02:19:32,440
some discussion regarding, you know, what is maintenance.

1617
02:19:33,180 --> 02:19:36,080
So we kind of to further define that in here a little bit.

1618
02:19:38,000 --> 02:19:46,240
Maintenance, any maintenance activity that's over $1,000 has to get at least the Community

1619
02:19:46,240 --> 02:19:56,920
the development director approval and then there's a level for the city manager and then ultimately a level for the city council that that's all in here as well.

1620
02:19:56,920 --> 02:19:59,960
Well, the maintenance, really, that...

1621
02:20:00,000 --> 02:20:28,300
That we're talking about for this agreement is things like, you know, if they get a broken window, a door breaks. If they need to roll rocks off the track or pull some weeds or do some general small stuff like that. A lot of stuff around the trolley barn and the museum. And then some general maintenance stuff on the tracks, nothing of any real significant consequence. So we did do the SEEPA.

1622
02:20:28,300 --> 02:20:32,540
Like we had talked about a month ago or so.

1623
02:20:33,360 --> 02:20:39,580
We did receive some comments, however, the city did issue a determination of non-significance.

1624
02:20:40,020 --> 02:20:42,520
Trevor can talk about that if you have any questions about that.

1625
02:20:44,120 --> 02:20:49,040
So right now, there is the trolley agreement before you.

1626
02:20:49,980 --> 02:20:54,320
I'm willing to take any questions or questions, Council.

1627
02:20:54,720 --> 02:20:56,740
What was the thing that Trevor would like to say?

1628
02:20:57,660 --> 02:20:59,960
If you have any questions regarding CPI.

1629
02:21:01,560 --> 02:21:03,380
So he was here for that.

1630
02:21:04,760 --> 02:21:06,480
Any questions regarding CPI,

1631
02:21:08,860 --> 02:21:08,980
all right?

1632
02:21:10,060 --> 02:21:14,900
So I guess in that, if it's non-significant, there's no expectations, and he needs to

1633
02:21:14,900 --> 02:21:15,120
be done.

1634
02:21:15,540 --> 02:21:16,060
Okay.

1635
02:21:16,280 --> 02:21:16,360
Good.

1636
02:21:16,620 --> 02:21:16,880
Thank you.

1637
02:21:16,980 --> 02:21:23,760
A lot of the comments revolved around project-related work, which this is an operating agreement

1638
02:21:23,760 --> 02:21:24,880
not project-related.

1639
02:21:24,880 --> 02:21:29,540
The projects themselves will have their own super projects, such as the Sixth Avenue Project.

1640
02:21:30,280 --> 02:21:35,240
Okay. Thank you. Thank you for billing me and I'd like to be here a little late, but you know.

1641
02:21:37,990 --> 02:21:40,030
Any other questions or discussion council?

1642
02:21:41,470 --> 02:21:47,590
As I've looked at this trolley agreement and what's been going on over the last several months,

1643
02:21:48,930 --> 02:21:54,070
we're in a severe budget situation and as I look at what the trolley is done,

1644
02:21:54,070 --> 02:21:56,050
And I never really paid a whole lot of attention

1645
02:21:56,050 --> 02:21:58,250
to how much it was being used,

1646
02:21:58,730 --> 02:22:02,370
but basically it operates on weekends during the summer

1647
02:22:02,370 --> 02:22:06,250
and then on Halloween and then on Christmas.

1648
02:22:06,890 --> 02:22:11,410
Last year, the biggest usage about over half of it

1649
02:22:11,410 --> 02:22:14,330
was during the Christmas program.

1650
02:22:14,990 --> 02:22:17,930
And so what we have is a trolley

1651
02:22:17,930 --> 02:22:19,470
that has a lot of sentimental value

1652
02:22:19,470 --> 02:22:23,770
and it has a feel to a certain part of the population,

1653
02:22:23,770 --> 02:22:31,890
but it is an extensively used and as I compare that usage with the Harman Center or Franklin

1654
02:22:31,890 --> 02:22:42,010
Poole or Lyons Poole, I think those assets are all much more important than allocating

1655
02:22:42,010 --> 02:22:51,010
money for the trolleys and the desire of the trolleys people has been to expand the route

1656
02:22:51,010 --> 02:23:01,290
and be much more, have a lot bigger route to cover and as a city council we voted that we did not want to limit that in any way.

1657
02:23:02,050 --> 02:23:08,650
So I would propose based on the circumstances that we're looking at.

1658
02:23:09,050 --> 02:23:20,090
If we don't want to commit to a multi-million dollar expansion of the trolleys, then it's time to just end it and be done with it.

1659
02:23:20,090 --> 02:23:28,090
So I would move that we do not approve this operation and that we look for other opportunities

1660
02:23:28,090 --> 02:23:30,990
or decide what to do with the trolley.

1661
02:23:34,350 --> 02:23:35,170
So that's my motion.

1662
02:23:37,340 --> 02:23:41,640
The motion is to not approve the operating agreement.

1663
02:23:42,260 --> 02:23:42,820
That's correct.

1664
02:23:44,480 --> 02:23:46,840
I think that we need the money back in the budget.

1665
02:23:47,380 --> 02:23:50,480
It's not a time for open discussion, you made a motion, we need to get a response.

1666
02:23:55,870 --> 02:23:57,290
Motion dies for lack of a second.

1667
02:24:02,080 --> 02:24:03,280
Do you have any other motions?

1668
02:24:11,960 --> 02:24:14,500
Well, first of all, thank you for presenting.

1669
02:24:14,860 --> 02:24:18,940
Appreciate the clarity of that and the work done by staff and the employees both on just

1670
02:24:18,940 --> 02:24:20,720
being able to operate as they are right now.

1671
02:24:21,120 --> 02:24:24,060
So thank you, Ms. Martin, for me hearing me calling you.

1672
02:24:25,980 --> 02:24:27,740
Clerk, would you read the resolution, please?

1673
02:24:29,800 --> 02:24:32,600
There's no motion on the table to approve it.

1674
02:24:34,220 --> 02:24:36,660
Do you want a motion before you have it read or?

1675
02:24:36,660 --> 02:24:40,000
you can she can read it and then there could be a motion so yeah which is

1676
02:24:40,000 --> 02:24:43,820
actually probably the more proper way it's just that I reverse it most often so

1677
02:24:43,820 --> 02:24:48,480
would you read the motion please or that resolution this is a resolution

1678
02:24:48,480 --> 02:24:52,900
authorizing an agreement with Yakima Valley Trolley's to operate maintain and

1679
02:24:52,900 --> 02:24:56,280
promote the city of Yakima's Electric Railway System and Museum

1680
02:25:02,800 --> 02:25:03,720
We have a motion.

1681
02:25:09,440 --> 02:25:18,360
I would make a motion to approve the resolution. Are you authorized to do that? I am the same as any other council person. I know more than 30. So yes, I can.

1682
02:25:27,090 --> 02:25:30,210
And motion dies for like a second. Here we are a council.

1683
02:25:39,260 --> 02:25:44,220
We just move on then. I need. Yes, really okay. We'll move on to 90.

1684
02:25:46,680 --> 02:25:55,720
Thank you, Mr. Preston. Well, I mean, can we have some discussion before we move on though, Rick? I mean, there was no discussion. It was you.

1685
02:25:59,980 --> 02:26:01,500
What are you guys thoughts?

1686
02:26:05,890 --> 02:26:06,890
Well, my thoughts are this.

1687
02:26:07,150 --> 02:26:08,950
The trolley is operating.

1688
02:26:09,350 --> 02:26:13,850
They have picked up responsibility with this contract that they didn't have before.

1689
02:26:14,330 --> 02:26:20,390
They would like to at least send the capacity they are now to continue operating to be a quality of life service to our community.

1690
02:26:21,210 --> 02:26:28,530
And it has historical value, it has quality of life value, it has other value in ways as well.

1691
02:26:28,530 --> 02:26:35,470
So, to be able to do that, as they are right now, we need to have a contract in place

1692
02:26:35,470 --> 02:26:37,170
or a contract expires to the end of this month.

1693
02:26:37,790 --> 02:26:42,330
It's a five-year contract, but in that, according to my understanding, the terms of the agreement

1694
02:26:42,330 --> 02:26:46,510
or that your party can cancel that at any point, okay?

1695
02:26:47,270 --> 02:26:54,710
I would prefer that the trolley become its own entity away from the city, and that they

1696
02:26:54,710 --> 02:27:03,450
They fundraise in order to and they can they can we can sell the trolley barn to them and then they can do what they need to do to

1697
02:27:03,450 --> 02:27:04,950
to make it

1698
02:27:05,870 --> 02:27:07,850
can continue and

1699
02:27:08,810 --> 02:27:15,750
Possibly find some funding so that we could fix the tracks, but I don't think the city should take this on at this time unfortunately

1700
02:27:16,490 --> 02:27:20,070
I think the trolleys are great, but I think that the city

1701
02:27:21,150 --> 02:27:24,550
Has gotten rid of a lot of things that

1702
02:27:25,430 --> 02:27:28,510
are more important. So, that's my thought.

1703
02:27:29,550 --> 02:27:36,730
Thank you for that. I will say this, they can buy the Taliban, but we actually, we own the track.

1704
02:27:37,290 --> 02:27:42,170
We own, can you explain that, Sarah, how that works? Or maybe you just press there?

1705
02:27:42,190 --> 02:27:46,950
I don't have the documents in front of me, but we were sold the track and all the assets.

1706
02:27:47,370 --> 02:27:54,210
So I think we could look back and see how that transfer occurred and evaluate whether we can sell all the assets much like we purchased all the assets.

1707
02:27:54,210 --> 02:27:57,810
So that's as we're donated to us from the railroad.

1708
02:27:58,190 --> 02:28:00,010
So I don't know off the top of my head,

1709
02:28:00,010 --> 02:28:01,850
but I think they were donated.

1710
02:28:02,210 --> 02:28:05,690
Yeah, but we've received them in some sort of transactions.

1711
02:28:07,930 --> 02:28:10,110
And I wouldn't be totally opposed to that.

1712
02:28:10,230 --> 02:28:12,810
However, that's their contract expires

1713
02:28:12,810 --> 02:28:14,470
the end of this month, which means they would not

1714
02:28:14,470 --> 02:28:16,890
be able to operate while we're trying to figure it out.

1715
02:28:17,930 --> 02:28:21,290
So my preference would be to approve the contract.

1716
02:28:21,330 --> 02:28:23,710
They can operate for as long as we are.

1717
02:28:23,710 --> 02:28:29,010
they feel it's necessary and move toward making those changes, all those things take time.

1718
02:28:30,630 --> 02:28:31,190
Good night.

1719
02:28:33,110 --> 02:28:37,970
In regards to the trial, I mean, I would agree with Councilwoman DCO on this fact that

1720
02:28:37,970 --> 02:28:44,890
there, I mean, I do think there are costs that are just going to exist, whether we are operating

1721
02:28:44,890 --> 02:28:49,430
the trolley or not, the building is still our building, the tracks are still the tracks,

1722
02:28:49,750 --> 02:28:52,510
the things are still the things, right, they're not going to go away.

1723
02:28:52,510 --> 02:28:55,590
whether this agreement's in place or not, it's still happening.

1724
02:28:57,870 --> 02:29:05,590
My only question really is, is like, how long does that process take for us to unwind it?

1725
02:29:06,290 --> 02:29:17,090
From the city, not from like, you can't operate as the trolley, but you can operate on your own type of thing.

1726
02:29:17,090 --> 02:29:26,490
because I think for the vast amount of things that somehow the city is involved in all the time.

1727
02:29:28,910 --> 02:29:35,190
I feel like this is one of those things that I go, this really shouldn't have the city's involvement as much as it does.

1728
02:29:35,550 --> 02:29:41,350
This should be a community-led thing that they want to keep and do. It's theirs.

1729
02:29:43,970 --> 02:29:49,570
That's my thought. That's why I have a hard time approving an operating agreement or seconding

1730
02:29:49,570 --> 02:29:50,030
emotion.

1731
02:29:51,170 --> 02:29:58,270
If we knew how long it would take to do that, maybe we could have an operating agreement

1732
02:29:58,270 --> 02:29:59,510
that's not five years.

1733
02:30:00,910 --> 02:30:15,970
We can cancel it any time. We can approve the contract tonight so they can operate while the process goes on. But if we don't, then they can't. But they can't. Still going through Christmas. It goes to the end of the year.

1734
02:30:18,150 --> 02:30:30,730
So in two weeks you think I can find an answer. No, but I mean he was talking about Santa. Oh, if I could just kind of.

1735
02:30:30,730 --> 02:30:33,270
respond real quick to your councilman Brown.

1736
02:30:36,540 --> 02:30:38,420
If, how long does it take to unwind, right?

1737
02:30:38,580 --> 02:30:41,040
So there's the process of figuring out the ownership thing

1738
02:30:41,040 --> 02:30:44,020
and whether we can sell, and yes, they could operate there.

1739
02:30:44,560 --> 02:30:49,400
One of the things to consider is that if it was a private

1740
02:30:51,040 --> 02:30:53,980
organization that owned it, now they're in our right away.

1741
02:30:54,540 --> 02:30:55,780
And not only are they in our right away,

1742
02:30:55,880 --> 02:30:57,320
they're down the center of our road, right?

1743
02:30:57,320 --> 02:31:03,040
So now we have an entirely different kind of agreement in place.

1744
02:31:03,260 --> 02:31:07,460
It's much more like a franchise agreement, but it really isn't a franchise agreement.

1745
02:31:08,040 --> 02:31:14,600
But we would have some real maintenance issues that we would want to and need to address

1746
02:31:15,680 --> 02:31:17,140
with something like that.

1747
02:31:17,320 --> 02:31:23,780
So that would take significantly longer or additional time and probably quite a bit higher

1748
02:31:23,780 --> 02:31:28,760
now what that would even look like because I don't really have an example. So I'm kind

1749
02:31:28,760 --> 02:31:30,020
of be making that up as I go.

1750
02:31:31,720 --> 02:31:32,460
So time?

1751
02:31:33,060 --> 02:31:34,980
Yes, that would take time for sure.

1752
02:31:39,210 --> 02:31:44,350
And that's really what I would consider to be acceptable as if we limited them to usage

1753
02:31:44,350 --> 02:31:50,510
of the Pine Street, which is about a half-hour trolley ride. I know my grandkids wouldn't want

1754
02:31:50,510 --> 02:31:57,130
to ride longer than a half hour on the trolley anyway, but if we set it up where they are

1755
02:31:57,130 --> 02:32:08,370
limited to the Pine Street tracks and the museum as is, I would support that. I will

1756
02:32:08,370 --> 02:32:11,990
not support going out 6,000 back to Sela.

1757
02:32:14,400 --> 02:32:16,580
So I would put that motion out there.

1758
02:32:19,400 --> 02:32:28,120
We put the limitation on that they operate only on Pine Street and then I would have moved

1759
02:32:28,120 --> 02:32:32,500
that we approve with that condition that we approve the operating agreement.

1760
02:32:35,170 --> 02:32:36,110
They can't.

1761
02:32:36,290 --> 02:32:36,770
That's a motion.

1762
02:32:36,930 --> 02:32:37,010
Right.

1763
02:32:37,230 --> 02:32:37,710
Our pass.

1764
02:32:38,470 --> 02:32:39,050
Pine Street, right?

1765
02:32:39,790 --> 02:32:43,950
Well, they can get all the way to River Road down 6th right now because that's where the crossing

1766
02:32:44,430 --> 02:32:44,910
is out.

1767
02:32:44,910 --> 02:32:47,570
Yes, and they

1768
02:32:50,900 --> 02:32:56,240
are currently working on fundraising for to try and get that crossing back.

1769
02:33:02,020 --> 02:33:02,660
No second.

1770
02:33:03,120 --> 02:33:04,720
Motion dies for a second.

1771
02:33:12,240 --> 02:33:19,300
The other thing that is very clear is that they're not going to operate again after Christmas until Labor Day weekend.

1772
02:33:19,580 --> 02:33:24,080
So we can bring this up any time in the next couple of months and discuss it if we wanted to.

1773
02:33:24,080 --> 02:33:29,920
It is an urgent issue like it was in the earlier meetings where we said, oh, they've got

1774
02:33:29,920 --> 02:33:35,040
Labor Day, they've got Halloween, they've got Christmas, they've got that opportunity

1775
02:33:35,040 --> 02:33:35,880
to perform then.

1776
02:33:36,800 --> 02:33:40,700
And so we can let this, I mean, we just table this and bring it up a little more.

1777
02:33:40,700 --> 02:33:45,720
I would like to, before we move in that direction, I'd like to comment that they are open for

1778
02:33:45,720 --> 02:33:49,940
trolley rides during those periods, but they're also developing an educational program having

1779
02:33:49,940 --> 02:33:53,700
children come to the trolley barns in the museum and those kinds of things which they can

1780
02:33:53,700 --> 02:33:55,320
more easily do in this way or so.

1781
02:33:57,820 --> 02:34:00,940
But this doesn't stop them from doing that, does it?

1782
02:34:03,020 --> 02:34:08,560
No, in the agreement they have the operation agreement

1783
02:34:08,560 --> 02:34:11,280
includes the museum and the powerhouse.

1784
02:34:12,420 --> 02:34:14,820
If we don't renew the agreement then they

1785
02:34:14,820 --> 02:34:15,920
can't use it though.

1786
02:34:16,380 --> 02:34:17,580
Well if we renew the agreement they

1787
02:34:17,580 --> 02:34:20,460
would also have the ability to operate the trolleys.

1788
02:34:20,800 --> 02:34:24,220
So if you're asking me to tweak that and take out

1789
02:34:24,220 --> 02:34:30,560
the trolley part, then I would have to rewrite it and make the changes.

1790
02:34:31,760 --> 02:34:37,440
I think the hard part is, I mean I understand what councilman Glenn's saying is, are we

1791
02:34:37,440 --> 02:34:45,620
going to spend, as a council, are we going to spend $10, $12 million to allow these trolley

1792
02:34:45,620 --> 02:34:52,000
tracks to go through all the way out to where we have to build it?

1793
02:34:52,000 --> 02:34:59,440
Because if we're not it's it's kind of a moot point. It's why are we signing a five-year agreement?

1794
02:35:00,000 --> 02:35:23,240
If we're not going to have, if, if the council doesn't want to replace the road in that capacity, now, I don't know, I get it. I mean, it's a lot of money to put towards a road. And, and we just got through finishing north first street and hearing everyone's complaints about spending a lot of money on north first street. And the roundabouts, right? So.

1795
02:35:25,660 --> 02:35:29,980
But, and I would agree. I mean, I think there's 12 million other ways I'd want to spend.

1796
02:35:29,980 --> 02:35:32,960
and money than the 6th project, right?

1797
02:35:33,980 --> 02:35:36,160
That project will actually come up,

1798
02:35:36,160 --> 02:35:39,860
I think it's the second regular business meeting

1799
02:35:39,860 --> 02:35:42,600
in January, we're gonna talk about that TBD list

1800
02:35:42,600 --> 02:35:44,740
that I brought back, I think in September, whatever,

1801
02:35:44,880 --> 02:35:46,000
and that's where we're really gonna have

1802
02:35:46,000 --> 02:35:48,040
that discussion much more in earnest.

1803
02:35:48,520 --> 02:35:50,740
All right, really is an issue, we're gonna settle tonight.

1804
02:35:51,220 --> 02:35:53,580
So tonight we're talking about the operating contract

1805
02:35:53,580 --> 02:35:56,340
moving forward for five years

1806
02:35:56,340 --> 02:35:57,680
that we can cancel at any point.

1807
02:35:57,680 --> 02:36:01,520
the council, the cancel it though, it's 60 days.

1808
02:36:01,900 --> 02:36:03,080
60 days, 60 days.

1809
02:36:07,780 --> 02:36:12,640
When you start talking about other things on, you know, TBD funds.

1810
02:36:12,640 --> 02:36:17,480
There's a big question whether spending any of that money on the trolleys is legal,

1811
02:36:17,480 --> 02:36:19,480
because the TBD is for roads.

1812
02:36:20,060 --> 02:36:27,220
And for what I understand, even in a best case scenario, it's five years before any of this could happen

1813
02:36:29,320 --> 02:36:32,680
But that's not the issue before us tonight, the team.

1814
02:36:32,740 --> 02:36:34,140
No, we've turned the issue down.

1815
02:36:34,240 --> 02:36:35,920
I don't know why we're still talking about it.

1816
02:36:38,760 --> 02:36:39,240
Yeah.

1817
02:36:41,400 --> 02:36:43,440
You said what meeting in January?

1818
02:36:43,860 --> 02:36:45,740
It's the second, so whatever.

1819
02:36:46,200 --> 02:36:46,940
It's the 20th, I think.

1820
02:36:46,940 --> 02:36:47,680
Not the 6th.

1821
02:36:47,700 --> 02:36:48,700
No, not the 13th.

1822
02:36:48,760 --> 02:36:50,280
Not the 6th.

1823
02:36:50,700 --> 02:36:54,320
13th would be a special study session, so it'd be the 20th.

1824
02:36:55,920 --> 02:37:00,840
That's when the TBD discussion, I will bring forth the way to.

1825
02:37:06,270 --> 02:37:10,190
Well, here's my thought on it, and I don't disagree

1826
02:37:10,190 --> 02:37:12,670
in understanding the financial positionation in the city.

1827
02:37:12,790 --> 02:37:14,070
It's a really difficult issue.

1828
02:37:14,990 --> 02:37:17,830
So, you know, I understand that we'll hasn't seen about the TBD,

1829
02:37:18,450 --> 02:37:19,970
but that's not what we're talking about.

1830
02:37:20,090 --> 02:37:20,230
That's not what we're talking about.

1831
02:37:20,230 --> 02:37:21,670
We're talking about their ability to operate,

1832
02:37:21,790 --> 02:37:25,630
because even if we don't do that, include them in the TBD,

1833
02:37:25,750 --> 02:37:27,890
they still have an operation in an area that's in.

1834
02:37:27,890 --> 02:37:31,430
And without renewing the contract, they don't have them.

1835
02:37:32,890 --> 02:37:35,750
I think there has been two motions that have knocked on forward.

1836
02:37:36,770 --> 02:37:41,630
And so, I mean, at this point, I don't necessarily know, unless someone was willing to make a different

1837
02:37:41,630 --> 02:37:42,050
motion.

1838
02:37:43,410 --> 02:37:46,550
I don't know if I'm motionю in the past that you guys would all agree on, though.

1839
02:37:48,940 --> 02:37:51,120
Mr. Glenn motion to the table it.

1840
02:37:52,100 --> 02:37:52,920
I'll second that.

1841
02:37:53,320 --> 02:37:53,440
No.

1842
02:37:53,500 --> 02:37:53,840
You should.

1843
02:37:55,640 --> 02:37:56,640
I'll second your motion.

1844
02:37:58,120 --> 02:37:59,800
I'll second- I'll second- I'll second- as motion.

1845
02:38:00,400 --> 02:38:02,420
So he's had a motion to table it.

1846
02:38:02,420 --> 02:38:04,340
Yeah, and then Mr. Herrera just seconded.

1847
02:38:04,520 --> 02:38:04,800
All right.

1848
02:38:05,080 --> 02:38:05,960
I'll go with that.

1849
02:38:06,660 --> 02:38:09,080
Well, do you want to- are you motioning to table it,

1850
02:38:09,140 --> 02:38:10,480
or are you motioning to postpone it?

1851
02:38:11,660 --> 02:38:12,420
What's the difference?

1852
02:38:13,360 --> 02:38:17,520
Well, if you motion to postpone, you either move to postpone it.

1853
02:38:17,560 --> 02:38:20,460
And definitely, or you move to postpone it to a specific day in the future,

1854
02:38:22,000 --> 02:38:25,620
moving to lay it on the table usually means you're going to take it up again in the same meeting.

1855
02:38:25,620 --> 02:38:28,400
So I think you may move to postpone.

1856
02:38:28,400 --> 02:38:30,400
I move to postpone it indefinitely.

1857
02:38:31,380 --> 02:38:31,800
Definitely.

1858
02:38:34,700 --> 02:38:35,120
No.

1859
02:38:35,260 --> 02:38:35,340
What the.

1860
02:38:36,800 --> 02:38:40,640
To move it indefinitely would mean that you could possibly never pick it up again.

1861
02:38:40,820 --> 02:38:44,500
And then it defeats the whole purpose of postponing it to something specific.

1862
02:38:46,240 --> 02:38:47,780
But you want to take it up with the other day?

1863
02:38:47,780 --> 02:38:49,520
It's indefinitely killing your second.

1864
02:38:49,680 --> 02:38:50,460
Is that what you're saying?

1865
02:38:51,220 --> 02:38:53,000
Just stick with postpone.

1866
02:38:53,640 --> 02:38:55,020
See, the January 20th.

1867
02:38:55,020 --> 02:38:57,740
To a date to January 20th, would you amend your motion

1868
02:38:57,740 --> 02:38:59,480
to postpone to January 20th?

1869
02:38:59,580 --> 02:39:00,920
No, I can definitely.

1870
02:39:01,800 --> 02:39:03,960
Why don't you think you're gonna get a second on that one?

1871
02:39:04,980 --> 02:39:06,540
All right, so be it.

1872
02:39:10,840 --> 02:39:12,220
The motion dies for like a second.

1873
02:39:13,560 --> 02:39:14,740
You wanna make that motion?

1874
02:39:17,110 --> 02:39:17,470
I'll do it.

1875
02:39:17,670 --> 02:39:21,970
I moved to postpone this item until January 20th.

1876
02:39:22,550 --> 02:39:22,850
Second.

1877
02:39:24,170 --> 02:39:26,370
So we have a motion by Council Member,

1878
02:39:26,830 --> 02:39:29,130
and a second by Council Member Herrera.

1879
02:39:29,130 --> 02:39:36,650
I'm sorry, Councilman Roy, I was looking, I just heard, to postpone this discussion until

1880
02:39:36,650 --> 02:39:41,070
the January 20th, 20th, 20th, 26th meeting.

1881
02:39:45,390 --> 02:39:46,830
All those in favor say aye.

1882
02:39:47,570 --> 02:39:47,850
Aye.

1883
02:39:48,690 --> 02:39:49,270
Any opposed?

1884
02:39:50,170 --> 02:39:50,410
Aye.

1885
02:39:50,870 --> 02:39:51,390
May, what up?

1886
02:39:51,470 --> 02:39:53,390
So, five yes and two noes.

1887
02:39:53,550 --> 02:39:54,610
So, the motion carries.

1888
02:39:55,070 --> 02:39:55,670
Thank you, Council.

1889
02:39:56,150 --> 02:39:56,350
Thank you.

1890
02:40:02,290 --> 02:40:31,970
Thank you, Mr. Preston. Appreciate it. Item 9E is a resolution authorizing an interlocal dream of the city of SEALA for Inmate Housing and Services in the Yakima County Jail and our Chief of Police, Sean Wall, is going to address council. This is an introduction to discussions with Chief Soptik at the time and finished it with Interim Chief Cosmon of SEALA. They were housing their inmates up in Kittites County and they asked for a more reasonable alternative to the County Jail. We were able to secure a two-bed,

1891
02:40:31,970 --> 02:40:36,390
They're going to purchase two beds contract two beds for the entire year and then space available

1892
02:40:36,390 --> 02:40:40,550
It'll be a little bit more the price will be a little bit more when it's over those two beds

1893
02:40:40,550 --> 02:40:43,950
But they will book into our jail. They'll enter their own transports

1894
02:40:43,950 --> 02:40:47,050
And it won't impact our ability to book our inmates because we have

1895
02:40:47,630 --> 02:40:52,790
Between 30 and 40 openings a day. So it's not going to create a lot of work and it'll cover the cost of

1896
02:40:52,790 --> 02:40:56,610
Housing the inmates along with making some revenue for the city

1897
02:40:58,030 --> 02:41:01,190
That's great. I love it. Yes. I move to adopt the resolution

1898
02:41:03,310 --> 02:41:09,630
So we have most of my councilman D.C.O. and a second by Deputy Mayor Brown and clerk would you read the resolution, please?

1899
02:41:10,350 --> 02:41:12,310
Are we going to discuss it?

1900
02:41:14,250 --> 02:41:21,870
This is a resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement with City of Cila whereby the City of Yakima Jail provides inmate housing and services.

1901
02:41:22,630 --> 02:41:25,030
Thank you. Do you have any discussion, council?

1902
02:41:26,930 --> 02:41:31,610
The argument I hear is that it's 150 a day to go to the county, and we're doing it for just 90.

1903
02:41:32,390 --> 02:41:34,690
We're doing it for a significantly reduced amount, yes.

1904
02:41:37,100 --> 02:41:37,860
That was my question.

1905
02:41:39,780 --> 02:41:40,740
Any other questions?

1906
02:41:40,740 --> 02:41:41,500
I'm on the right line.

1907
02:41:42,600 --> 02:41:47,180
Kenneth Tess was the last contract I had with them was in the 80s.

1908
02:41:48,180 --> 02:41:53,880
I don't know what their new rate was for going into the new year, but it was in the around $90 it would be around my understanding.

1909
02:41:53,880 --> 02:41:58,060
was in that ballpark and it's obviously a less there's less travel up to

1910
02:41:58,060 --> 02:42:04,240
Kittitas County so looking for a more local option yeah I think it's great yeah all

1911
02:42:05,520 --> 02:42:12,460
right then we'll take a roll call vote please Tisio yes Glenn yes Errera yes Roy

1912
02:42:12,460 --> 02:42:18,840
yes Ferg yes Brown yep buyers yes in the motion seven Jerome passes and the

1913
02:42:18,840 --> 02:42:22,800
resolution is adopted thank you council and our chief is going to present again

1914
02:42:22,800 --> 02:42:26,780
This is a similar contract conversation we had with the city of Moxie.

1915
02:42:27,040 --> 02:42:28,780
They're not going to book their inmates off the streets.

1916
02:42:28,780 --> 02:42:30,160
They're going to be booked into the county jail.

1917
02:42:30,280 --> 02:42:33,200
But any of the long-term commitments will be held at our jail.

1918
02:42:33,980 --> 02:42:38,720
Obviously, offering them a more reasonable cost to encourage their eight inmates at a long-term basis.

1919
02:42:39,420 --> 02:42:42,420
And again, it's not going to impact our ability to book inmates into our jail.

1920
02:42:42,760 --> 02:42:46,060
And the transports will be done just as we go over the county jail and bring them back.

1921
02:42:47,500 --> 02:42:48,100
Thank you.

1922
02:42:48,740 --> 02:42:51,020
So, Korkos, start with you reading the resolution this time, please.

1923
02:42:51,020 --> 02:42:58,100
This is a resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement with City of Moxie where by the City of Yakima, Jail provides inmate housing and services

1924
02:43:00,030 --> 02:43:01,890
I'll move to adopt the resolution again

1925
02:43:01,890 --> 02:43:08,590
So you have a motion by councilman D.C. I want to second by Deputy Mayor Brown to adopt the resolution as red

1926
02:43:10,710 --> 02:43:11,230
Glenn

1927
02:43:12,070 --> 02:43:12,590
Yes

1928
02:43:13,570 --> 02:43:19,950
Errera. Yes Roy. Yes bird. Yes brown. Yep buyers. Yes D.C.

1929
02:43:19,950 --> 02:43:19,970
Thank you.

1930
02:43:20,230 --> 02:43:20,470
Yes.

1931
02:43:21,110 --> 02:43:21,410
All right.

1932
02:43:21,510 --> 02:43:22,550
Motion passes 7-0.

1933
02:43:22,730 --> 02:43:23,510
Why solution is that?

1934
02:43:23,630 --> 02:43:24,230
Thank you, Chief.

1935
02:43:24,630 --> 02:43:25,210
Thank you very much.

1936
02:43:25,330 --> 02:43:26,230
Where were they going before?

1937
02:43:26,810 --> 02:43:27,150
Moxie.

1938
02:43:27,490 --> 02:43:28,910
Moxie was having them at the county jail.

1939
02:43:29,150 --> 02:43:29,370
They were leaving.

1940
02:43:29,410 --> 02:43:29,810
Oh, county jail.

1941
02:43:29,970 --> 02:43:30,110
Long for.

1942
02:43:30,110 --> 02:43:30,390
Got to.

1943
02:43:30,590 --> 02:43:32,650
So they're saving money.

1944
02:43:33,010 --> 02:43:33,310
Yeah.

1945
02:43:33,950 --> 02:43:35,030
And we're making some.

1946
02:43:35,090 --> 02:43:35,290
Yeah.

1947
02:43:36,470 --> 02:43:37,210
How about me?

1948
02:43:38,070 --> 02:43:41,110
Next on the agenda is our city manager update.

1949
02:43:41,290 --> 02:43:44,150
And I believe that our city manager has comments.

1950
02:43:44,630 --> 02:43:46,110
I do have a few things to share tonight.

1951
02:43:46,950 --> 02:43:49,410
First, I wanted to briefly update council.

1952
02:43:49,410 --> 02:43:57,130
We had to sit down this morning with the state auditors and went through the results of our 2024 City Accountability Audit.

1953
02:43:57,770 --> 02:44:00,610
The city is audited multiple times a year by the state auditors.

1954
02:44:00,630 --> 02:44:05,290
I know you all know that on everything from the budget to the financials and

1955
02:44:05,290 --> 02:44:08,330
a wide variety of things, but this was the accountability audit.

1956
02:44:08,430 --> 02:44:10,870
And I wanted to share with you what was covered in it.

1957
02:44:11,930 --> 02:44:17,190
So it covered this range of topics, utility billing, cash receipts,

1958
02:44:17,190 --> 02:44:26,070
use of restricted funds, procurement, payroll, including wages and over time, accounts payable, open public meeting regulations,

1959
02:44:26,510 --> 02:44:30,430
financial condition, which looks for any signs of financial distress.

1960
02:44:31,330 --> 02:44:38,030
They monitored areas of the city that might have high theft items as well, and we passed this audit with flying colors, no findings.

1961
02:44:38,730 --> 02:44:46,870
So I just wanted to give a kudos to Craig the finance team and of course everyone in all the departments who are doing all of the right things.

1962
02:44:47,790 --> 02:44:50,710
We're very proud of everybody for that, that was a great, great job.

1963
02:44:51,250 --> 02:44:57,210
I also want to briefly talk about the flooding that's happening in our community.

1964
02:44:57,210 --> 02:44:57,570
Which one?

1965
02:44:58,230 --> 02:44:59,830
Yeah, there's a lot.

1966
02:45:00,500 --> 02:45:29,980
So when I want to also thank our first responders because they rescued at least 16 people today from the river. And we had a lot of support services partner who was a really big effort. So thank you to all of you. And it goes without saying to all of us, but out in the public in case people are unaware, please stay away from the rivers and don't drive in flooded areas. It's very, very dangerous. And the rivers are still rising, and the rain is predicted to continue for a couple more days.

1967
02:45:29,980 --> 02:45:37,220
days. I would recommend that people go to the Yakima Gali emergency management of social

1968
02:45:37,220 --> 02:45:42,940
media and their or their Facebook page or their web page and sign up for alerts if you

1969
02:45:42,940 --> 02:45:48,040
live in areas just to be safe. So I wanted to share that in a while. We're also talking

1970
02:45:48,040 --> 02:45:55,640
about flooding. I also want to talk about the flood that we had on Yakima Avenue and then

1971
02:45:55,640 --> 02:46:00,260
And one that included last week during this meeting we had another pipe break that was

1972
02:46:00,260 --> 02:46:01,320
on 16th.

1973
02:46:01,320 --> 02:46:07,720
And I just wanted to bring to you a little bit of information about that because we have

1974
02:46:07,720 --> 02:46:14,340
a beautiful historic city which includes beautiful historic cast iron pipes that are 80 to 100

1975
02:46:14,340 --> 02:46:15,240
years old in places.

1976
02:46:15,920 --> 02:46:18,480
And so they're disintegrating and it's a big problem.

1977
02:46:18,700 --> 02:46:20,440
And we are seeing the results of that.

1978
02:46:20,440 --> 02:46:25,860
It is something that comes up every time the weather changes and we start to see freezing.

1979
02:46:26,880 --> 02:46:31,860
So I would like to bring to you in early 2026 the discussion of our infrastructure and

1980
02:46:31,860 --> 02:46:36,400
all of those problems so that we can work with Scott and the team and put together a plan

1981
02:46:36,400 --> 02:46:43,140
to replace some of these things because I think we all see where we're reacting and our businesses

1982
02:46:43,140 --> 02:46:50,200
and our residents are experiencing inconvenience and problems and insurance situations that

1983
02:46:50,200 --> 02:46:52,260
that we could avoid if we could try to get ahead of it.

1984
02:46:52,380 --> 02:46:54,500
It's a really big problem.

1985
02:46:55,440 --> 02:46:57,300
And so it's something we want to put together

1986
02:46:57,300 --> 02:46:59,880
some information for you to end a plan.

1987
02:47:00,180 --> 02:47:01,780
Is there any state or federal money

1988
02:47:01,780 --> 02:47:03,960
that can help with that kind of issue?

1989
02:47:04,580 --> 02:47:06,860
I'm sure we can definitely ask.

1990
02:47:07,320 --> 02:47:11,160
A lot of that we have funds for as far as the pipes.

1991
02:47:12,040 --> 02:47:14,260
It's the road projects that go along with it.

1992
02:47:14,360 --> 02:47:16,380
So there's a lot of coordination between the two departments.

1993
02:47:16,660 --> 02:47:18,520
But we can talk to our experts.

1994
02:47:18,700 --> 02:47:19,520
We've got them right here.

1995
02:47:19,520 --> 02:47:23,280
and bring to you a presentation about it.

1996
02:47:23,300 --> 02:47:24,040
Need a motion.

1997
02:47:25,120 --> 02:47:27,140
If you want to do a motion absolutely.

1998
02:47:27,800 --> 02:47:34,900
I would move to add to a future council agenda presentation on infrastructure needs.

1999
02:47:35,520 --> 02:47:35,840
A second.

2000
02:47:36,800 --> 02:47:38,820
So we have a motion by Deputy Mayor Brown.

2001
02:47:38,960 --> 02:47:43,360
It's like in my council in DCO to bring to a future study session infrastructure needs.

2002
02:47:44,760 --> 02:47:46,720
All those in favor, please say aye.

2003
02:47:47,160 --> 02:47:47,380
Aye.

2004
02:47:47,920 --> 02:47:48,360
Any opposed?

2005
02:47:48,360 --> 02:48:00,540
All right. Motion carries. So we have direction. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Anything else in Spaker? That's it. Okay. That brings us to other business. Does any councilperson have other business this evening?

2006
02:48:02,020 --> 02:48:11,460
Councilman Herrera. Yes, Madam Mayor. I move to direct staff to prepare a marketing with the King Junior Day Proclamation to be placed on agenda in January.

2007
02:48:11,460 --> 02:48:18,860
So we have a motion by Councilman Herrera, seconded by Councilman D.C.O. to direct staff to prepare

2008
02:48:18,860 --> 02:48:24,400
Martin Luther King Jr. Day proclamation to be placed on the agenda in January of

2009
02:48:24,400 --> 02:48:27,780
2026. Any discussion?

2010
02:48:29,340 --> 02:48:31,280
And all those in favor? Say aye.

2011
02:48:31,720 --> 02:48:32,180
Aye.

2012
02:48:32,620 --> 02:48:33,100
Any opposed?

2013
02:48:33,920 --> 02:48:35,280
Motion passes 7-0.

2014
02:48:35,460 --> 02:48:36,400
Thank you.

2015
02:48:36,460 --> 02:48:36,900
Is there any?

2016
02:48:37,140 --> 02:48:37,440
Thank you.

2017
02:48:37,440 --> 02:48:40,440
Is there any other business pre-fort council this evening?

2018
02:48:41,240 --> 02:48:41,480
Yeah.

2019
02:48:42,640 --> 02:48:43,260
Uh-oh.

2020
02:48:44,760 --> 02:48:45,240
Buckley.

2021
02:48:48,440 --> 02:48:49,920
I'm ready for you, Rick.

2022
02:48:49,920 --> 02:48:50,000
I'm ready for you, Rick.

2023
02:48:50,120 --> 02:48:54,120
The first item is we had our hotel committee meeting,

2024
02:48:54,120 --> 02:48:55,420
and we had two candidates.

2025
02:48:55,800 --> 02:48:59,540
And as we discussed after we met with them and interviewed them,

2026
02:48:59,680 --> 02:49:03,320
we thought that we would really like to have both of those individuals

2027
02:49:03,320 --> 02:49:11,020
be on the committee because we felt like they both had some very interesting ideas that

2028
02:49:11,020 --> 02:49:17,840
would be valuable to the city. So based on that, I would like to move that we adjust the

2029
02:49:18,400 --> 02:49:24,160
numbers on that committee to allow for an extra person. And as I understand it, I think

2030
02:49:24,160 --> 02:49:29,720
we have to actually increase it by two to meet with the regulations of that group. So I would

2031
02:49:29,720 --> 02:49:39,780
move that we direct staff to adjust the numbers of the, what is it, the hotel?

2032
02:49:40,360 --> 02:49:49,000
LTAC. LTAC group to add two more people to it. Make it instead of four people it would

2033
02:49:49,000 --> 02:49:49,460
be six.

2034
02:49:50,260 --> 02:49:50,380
Yeah.

2035
02:49:50,820 --> 02:49:51,420
My second thought?

2036
02:49:51,560 --> 02:49:52,560
No, instead of eight.

2037
02:49:52,560 --> 02:49:55,340
Is that it would be five and five?

2038
02:49:55,620 --> 02:49:56,700
It would be five and five.

2039
02:49:56,700 --> 02:49:56,720
It would be five and five.

2040
02:49:57,020 --> 02:49:57,120
Yep.

2041
02:49:57,120 --> 02:49:59,860
So is that and do we have that in ordinance?

2042
02:50:00,000 --> 02:50:28,540
Ms. Forum, or how is that established? I'll tie a board to establish my state statue, but we do have our own local requirements because the state statue doesn't require so many people on it. So, I need to go back and look in, maybe, Mr. Bada knows, but if we adopted our local requirements, by resolution we would need to amend those, by resolution. That's sort of asking what we need to do to make the change.

2043
02:50:28,540 --> 02:50:33,700
Yeah, we're going to have to go back and look and make sure that we make it consistent with how we create it.

2044
02:50:33,700 --> 02:50:35,360
Another resolution from what I found.

2045
02:50:35,440 --> 02:50:38,300
It is, Rosalind. Thank you for looking. Rosalind, appreciate that clerk.

2046
02:50:39,320 --> 02:50:47,760
So the other part of that to understand how the set up in the state for LTCH is that you have even numbers on both sides of the issue.

2047
02:50:48,440 --> 02:50:57,020
One side is the hoteliers and those that generate all the rooms that generate the money coming into the city and the other side are people who benefit from that.

2048
02:50:57,020 --> 02:51:03,240
And so we, in the two people that we would bring on, they need to be totally independent

2049
02:51:03,240 --> 02:51:07,100
and not receiving any funds or generating funds, just a name or a voice.

2050
02:51:07,600 --> 02:51:13,680
Or we can have one that is in support of the whole tires position, one support of the

2051
02:51:13,680 --> 02:51:14,780
facility's positions.

2052
02:51:15,540 --> 02:51:16,300
Does that make sense?

2053
02:51:16,840 --> 02:51:18,820
I don't think it is required that way, though.

2054
02:51:19,140 --> 02:51:22,200
No, I think that you have to have it and correct me if I'm wrong.

2055
02:51:22,400 --> 02:51:26,540
I think I have to have an equal number of people who are the hotelier, the people who

2056
02:51:26,540 --> 02:51:30,520
who are creating the LTCH money,

2057
02:51:30,720 --> 02:51:32,380
and then you have to have an equal number of the people

2058
02:51:32,380 --> 02:51:36,480
who would be eligible to apply for the LTCH money,

2059
02:51:36,580 --> 02:51:39,220
and the eligibility is set forth by state statute.

2060
02:51:39,620 --> 02:51:41,460
And we can bring that information back to you

2061
02:51:41,460 --> 02:51:42,900
so that you can see who's eligible,

2062
02:51:43,140 --> 02:51:45,120
and who wouldn't be like what kinds of entities

2063
02:51:45,120 --> 02:51:49,600
would be eligible, and not eligible when we bring back

2064
02:51:49,600 --> 02:51:52,580
the resolution, so you know what you're looking at

2065
02:51:52,580 --> 02:51:55,520
to add to people to the committee.

2066
02:51:57,520 --> 02:52:04,360
So, you have to follow under one of those two categories, so you can't not be associated

2067
02:52:04,360 --> 02:52:05,420
with either one of those.

2068
02:52:05,540 --> 02:52:10,140
You could choose not to take any money, I suppose, on the one side, but you still have

2069
02:52:10,140 --> 02:52:11,700
to be eligible to take the money.

2070
02:52:12,100 --> 02:52:12,300
Okay.

2071
02:52:12,980 --> 02:52:14,060
Thank you for the clarification.

2072
02:52:14,400 --> 02:52:15,260
Interesting board.

2073
02:52:15,520 --> 02:52:16,500
It is very interesting.

2074
02:52:18,100 --> 02:52:20,520
And so, do we actually have a motion on the forehawk?

2075
02:52:20,980 --> 02:52:21,260
I don't.

2076
02:52:21,300 --> 02:52:22,640
I didn't catch a second on that.

2077
02:52:22,880 --> 02:52:23,000
I was there.

2078
02:52:23,860 --> 02:52:23,900
Okay.

2079
02:52:23,900 --> 02:52:25,520
Okay. Would you read the motion, please?

2080
02:52:26,300 --> 02:52:32,080
I have to move that we direct staff to adjust the number of LTCH committee to add two more

2081
02:52:32,080 --> 02:52:32,440
people.

2082
02:52:32,940 --> 02:52:33,180
Okay.

2083
02:52:34,700 --> 02:52:40,960
And we have a second, so we have a motion by Councilman Glenn and a second by Councilman Roy

2084
02:52:40,960 --> 02:52:47,120
to direct staff to come back with a resolution that would reestablish the number by two additions

2085
02:52:47,120 --> 02:52:48,360
to the LTCH committee.

2086
02:52:49,740 --> 02:52:55,360
do we need to amend the motion for resolution sake I think we'll bring it back

2087
02:52:55,360 --> 02:53:02,380
the way that it needs to be back okay just making sure the motion I'm not

2088
02:53:02,380 --> 02:53:09,500
dragging this on you started it we have a motion on floor all of those in favor

2089
02:53:09,500 --> 02:53:16,320
please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. Any other business?

2090
02:53:17,860 --> 02:53:25,380
Yeah, I mean it's more. Okay, all right. I'm back on it. We're not it's not it's not six

2091
02:53:25,380 --> 02:53:29,960
hours. Not at 10 o'clock yet. No. Yeah. Some of us have worked tomorrow, Rick. So I was talking

2092
02:53:29,960 --> 02:53:38,180
with some of the individuals on the staff and they indicated there was a possibility that we

2093
02:53:38,180 --> 02:53:44,140
We can kind of scheme things around without actually raising taxes right now to save the

2094
02:53:44,140 --> 02:53:50,180
jobs of a couple on the police force and I thought I like that idea and I didn't quite

2095
02:53:50,180 --> 02:53:56,780
understand the whole concept and and Mr. Schaefer said he would be happy to come and explain

2096
02:53:56,780 --> 02:53:57,060
it.

2097
02:53:57,220 --> 02:54:00,560
So I would like to have us entertain his-

2098
02:54:00,560 --> 02:54:04,960
We would be delighted to have Mr. Schaefer come forward and talk about an income opportunity.

2099
02:54:10,930 --> 02:54:23,470
Yeah, yeah. Well, good evening. What you're referring to is the utility tax on all of our utilities here in the city. Refuse, water, wastewater, stormwater.

2100
02:54:24,050 --> 02:54:37,130
The way the utility tax works is that the revenue that each of the utilities generates through their rates to cover the cost of providing that essential service is then taxed by the general fund and brought in.

2101
02:54:37,130 --> 02:54:41,450
And so right now each of the utilities is set at 20%.

2102
02:54:42,050 --> 02:54:50,490
So anytime that is raised, you know, usually what we do is then we adjust the rates for the customers to recoup that cost.

2103
02:54:51,530 --> 02:54:54,150
I have a question on that.

2104
02:54:54,590 --> 02:54:57,470
So there is an RCW that talks about being taxed twice.

2105
02:54:58,110 --> 02:54:59,850
and you cannot do that in YouTube.

2106
02:55:00,460 --> 02:55:29,640
It was passed about three years ago, four years ago, I want to say, but it was talking about how you cannot, you cannot tax, you cannot put it into a rate and then said then tax it on the other backside of it. So, for example, you can't say there's a tax for 20% on our side, on the backside, and then also have a sales tax or any other thing on the utility side. That'd be double taxing. There is an RCW that says that.

2107
02:55:30,420 --> 02:55:34,040
Our bill, we don't charge our customers any utility tax.

2108
02:55:34,280 --> 02:55:36,620
We charge ourselves utility tax.

2109
02:55:36,760 --> 02:55:39,700
So we charge ourselves tax on the revenue that we make from the rate.

2110
02:55:40,600 --> 02:55:42,160
And that's the in lieu tax.

2111
02:55:42,380 --> 02:55:46,280
So the 20% is the tax that we tax the enterprise fund for bringing in the revenue.

2112
02:55:46,700 --> 02:55:48,440
So there's no sales tax on any utilities?

2113
02:55:49,600 --> 02:55:51,700
No, they just charge a rate.

2114
02:55:52,140 --> 02:55:54,360
They just charge the rate, but no taxes on the rate.

2115
02:55:55,560 --> 02:56:03,220
My understanding is, I'm sorry, that we can do that with a 1% margin without having to increase the rate, is that correct?

2116
02:56:03,640 --> 02:56:09,620
Well, that is something that we looked into as far as if you were to raise it by 1%, so it all comes to 21%.

2117
02:56:09,620 --> 02:56:18,660
That the utilities could absorb that cost without having to go back and adjust the current rate to pass that on to the customer for a temporary period of time.

2118
02:56:18,660 --> 02:56:36,180
Either through a sunset clause, however you determine that, or if it stays in place, then we would then, when we go to do our rate adjustments, I think in four years, we would include that 1% in addition to what is needed for that utility to cover the cost.

2119
02:56:37,980 --> 02:56:42,320
wasn't that one of the things that we got rid of last week when we were when we deleted

2120
02:56:42,320 --> 02:56:48,460
all the taxes. I think we could have talked about this last last time, so.

2121
02:56:48,760 --> 02:56:50,100
We could have talked about it last time, yeah.

2122
02:56:50,440 --> 02:56:50,440
Yeah.

2123
02:56:52,540 --> 02:56:56,300
I don't think we can do anything tonight, so on our agenda, so.

2124
02:56:58,430 --> 02:57:04,070
So the idea would be if we wanted to pursue this and try to save those jobs, we would have

2125
02:57:04,070 --> 02:57:10,450
to suspend the rules and then have a vote on it and is there a feeling that we want

2126
02:57:10,450 --> 02:57:12,150
to pursue that or do you don't want to?

2127
02:57:13,830 --> 02:57:18,010
Well, there's nothing drafted to do such.

2128
02:57:18,510 --> 02:57:22,790
We drafted the proposed ordinances at your last meeting.

2129
02:57:23,450 --> 02:57:30,450
I think if you move to suspend the rules, you could move to enact an ordinance that increases

2130
02:57:30,450 --> 02:57:40,030
is the utility tax for waste water, refuse, storm water, and the amounts of 1% in the form

2131
02:57:40,030 --> 02:57:41,770
that was provided at the last meeting.

2132
02:57:44,030 --> 02:57:46,910
And we could include a sunset clause on that

2133
02:57:48,960 --> 02:57:51,320
because if we're looking, if we're looking

2134
02:57:51,320 --> 02:57:55,640
at doing the 1% so that there's no increase of cost to the taxpayers in their utilities,

2135
02:57:56,000 --> 02:57:57,140
we're just taxing ourselves.

2136
02:57:58,300 --> 02:58:01,700
We could do that for a limited period of time of the stay two years or three years, whatever

2137
02:58:01,700 --> 02:58:09,180
We think would benefit from what's the monetary increase if we did that 1% what they were just talking about collectively

2138
02:58:09,180 --> 02:58:12,140
It's about $600,000. Okay a year

2139
02:58:13,800 --> 02:58:14,840
Yes, okay

2140
02:58:17,040 --> 02:58:22,360
Right for all of it would be for all of them the 1% and we could say for

2141
02:58:25,990 --> 02:58:28,590
Three years have it ended the end of the three years

2142
02:58:29,630 --> 02:58:33,350
So the idea behind that was that we have some

2143
02:58:33,810 --> 02:58:37,290
train police officers that are scheduled to be laid off and we would be able to keep

2144
02:58:37,290 --> 02:58:41,890
them and so that would save us from having to replace them when our monetary situation

2145
02:58:41,890 --> 02:58:42,430
improves.

2146
02:58:44,050 --> 02:58:48,170
Which retaining them is easier than hiring and retraining, that's for sure.

2147
02:58:48,990 --> 02:58:53,310
So I would move to suspend the rules so that we could entertain a motion.

2148
02:58:54,810 --> 02:58:55,330
I'll second that.

2149
02:58:56,790 --> 02:59:00,650
So we just actually that just requires a consensus council.

2150
02:59:00,650 --> 02:59:03,010
No, it takes five minutes.

2151
02:59:03,190 --> 02:59:03,230
So it's reduced.

2152
02:59:03,230 --> 02:59:05,810
The rule requires a majority of the council presence.

2153
02:59:06,050 --> 02:59:06,770
So it requires four.

2154
02:59:07,170 --> 02:59:07,830
Okay, sorry.

2155
02:59:07,910 --> 02:59:08,570
The moga bag of the moga.

2156
02:59:08,590 --> 02:59:11,290
It requires a motion majority per our rules and procedures.

2157
02:59:11,590 --> 02:59:12,370
No, okay.

2158
02:59:12,550 --> 02:59:15,030
So let me bring them up real quick just so that we're-

2159
02:59:15,030 --> 02:59:17,210
No, just suspend the rules takes five votes.

2160
02:59:17,630 --> 02:59:20,290
Here, I can I can bring it up just a sec.

2161
02:59:20,770 --> 02:59:25,850
The reason I ask is because every other time we suspended the rules we've not voted we just have consensus the council.

2162
02:59:26,410 --> 02:59:29,230
So, okay, give me two seconds.

2163
02:59:29,530 --> 02:59:29,790
Thank you.

2164
02:59:29,790 --> 02:59:35,370
And while I'm doing that, I can say that if this passes and if the council wants to do something,

2165
02:59:35,510 --> 02:59:41,510
if you take a quick recess, I can draft whatever ordinance you would like and then we can

2166
02:59:41,510 --> 02:59:49,390
come back and you can look at the actual language of the ordinance tonight if that is something

2167
02:59:49,390 --> 02:59:50,670
that the council wishes to do.

2168
02:59:50,670 --> 02:59:51,470
I

2169
02:59:53,810 --> 02:59:59,470
think under the circumstances if we approved then the chief would know that he could

2170
02:59:59,470 --> 02:59:59,850
recent.

2171
03:00:15,240 --> 03:00:26,740
So under your council rules of procedure, the suspension or waiver of rule section says that no rule of the council shall be suspended or waived without the vote of a majority of all of the members of the council present at the meeting.

2172
03:00:26,740 --> 03:00:29,760
So, just a simple measure, we need that for, okay?

2173
03:00:29,880 --> 03:00:31,760
But, of course, the past any tax you still need for.

2174
03:00:32,040 --> 03:00:34,580
But then, just a suggestion takes for.

2175
03:00:35,420 --> 03:00:39,160
Sorry, I do have a question before we suspend rules.

2176
03:00:40,960 --> 03:00:47,500
On the, you're saying there will be no rate increase to tax fares.

2177
03:00:47,780 --> 03:00:48,140
Correct.

2178
03:00:48,320 --> 03:00:51,100
We would absorb the cost of 1%.

2179
03:00:51,100 --> 03:00:56,680
So, what that looks like is for like wastewater, they would have to absorb about two

2180
03:00:56,680 --> 03:01:04,180
$260,000 a year, which wouldn't go to projects or to operational costs, water is about

2181
03:01:04,180 --> 03:01:10,960
$144,000 a year, solid waste, about $110,000, and storm water about $50,000.

2182
03:01:11,220 --> 03:01:14,060
And they have the capacity to absorb it?

2183
03:01:14,480 --> 03:01:20,480
Yeah, temporarily, like I said, but once we set the rates in about four years, we'll incorporate

2184
03:01:20,480 --> 03:01:20,960
that.

2185
03:01:21,160 --> 03:01:22,240
If it doesn't get taken away.

2186
03:01:22,240 --> 03:01:23,360
If it doesn't get taken away.

2187
03:01:23,360 --> 03:01:29,660
Only one percent you couldn't go two percent if we go two percent or more than we're gonna

2188
03:01:29,660 --> 03:01:32,600
Adjust the rates to recover those costs. Yes

2189
03:01:32,600 --> 03:01:36,280
Yeah, then that would happen immediately rather than having a period of time

2190
03:01:36,280 --> 03:01:42,500
We don't have that word. There's no cost of the taxpayers. Yeah, so three years would be at the sunset then probably

2191
03:01:43,260 --> 03:01:44,920
Or that's what council decides

2192
03:01:45,660 --> 03:01:52,020
Because I think that if I remember correctly, we're looking at the rates that are set right now for the next four years

2193
03:01:52,020 --> 03:01:56,040
Yes. Okay. We just set those. What's that?

2194
03:01:56,180 --> 03:01:57,820
We set those rules already. Yes.

2195
03:01:59,320 --> 03:02:06,020
And this would, and this money that we're saving would specify the saved couple of police officers in?

2196
03:02:06,180 --> 03:02:08,300
Is that how many? What does it look like?

2197
03:02:08,300 --> 03:02:10,220
It can be used for any general from purpose.

2198
03:02:11,000 --> 03:02:16,340
And if you want officer positions, I would probably need the chief to give us the numbers.

2199
03:02:16,800 --> 03:02:21,440
I don't have that memorized, but there were CSO positions. There were analysts positions.

2200
03:02:21,440 --> 03:02:26,060
there were different positions, so I think they all have different prices.

2201
03:02:26,380 --> 03:02:32,540
Chief Boyle would 600,000, sorry, how many officers would that save, or positions, I guess?

2202
03:02:33,480 --> 03:02:35,160
Foot officer, like, car, yeah.

2203
03:02:35,780 --> 03:02:42,620
If you were to do the 600,000, we would be able to, so that equals about four police officers, three to four police officers.

2204
03:02:42,940 --> 03:02:46,740
It would be the analysts, and the CSOs would be saved, and probably a police officer.

2205
03:02:46,740 --> 03:02:53,380
because an analyst is about 90 or sorry an analyst about 120,000 a full benefits

2206
03:02:53,380 --> 03:02:58,580
and package pay and benefits a CSO is about 90 to 95,000 in that ballpark

2207
03:02:58,580 --> 03:03:03,520
where these officers are around 160,000 full wages and benefits would that be

2208
03:03:03,520 --> 03:03:09,120
all of the cuts proposed no no no because they were like there were like 20 or

2209
03:03:09,120 --> 03:03:10,360
There's been a role in there.

2210
03:03:10,980 --> 03:03:14,700
The animal control is four positions and removed from the budget.

2211
03:03:15,220 --> 03:03:21,700
And then there's three that are losing their, that are either losing their jobs or two of them are trying to relocate to other positions within the city.

2212
03:03:22,940 --> 03:03:27,220
Then there's the three analysts that are on the two that were coming out of the $6 million cut.

2213
03:03:27,740 --> 03:03:30,100
And then there's 12 police officers in a sergeant position.

2214
03:03:30,780 --> 03:03:34,840
And then we could, we'd have to evaluate if we, depending on how much money came to the police department,

2215
03:03:34,840 --> 03:03:40,600
whether we can promote a person to take that role, to be able to keep the pro-accumidate, those would be things that we look at.

2216
03:03:41,120 --> 03:03:47,200
And so those would be internal decisions you would make, Chief, if that has to what positions they would be.

2217
03:03:47,580 --> 03:03:47,880
Okay,

2218
03:03:51,920 --> 03:03:55,720
I mean, if you're feeling what would be your most important positions that you would look at.

2219
03:03:56,100 --> 03:04:05,580
I think right now the Community Service Officers and the Animal Control is an important role in our organization because it provides those quality of service or quality of life positions.

2220
03:04:05,580 --> 03:04:11,140
the analysis provide the reports and the data and the quality or the transparency portals and maintain those.

2221
03:04:11,380 --> 03:04:14,840
So looking at at least one of them staying on board would be vital for

2222
03:04:14,840 --> 03:04:18,780
anything for us. And then the police officer positions and being able to keep our pro-acc unit,

2223
03:04:18,940 --> 03:04:22,360
working the downtown area that's really made a lot of headway in the area.

2224
03:04:22,600 --> 03:04:26,780
We need another sergeant for that and we have to evaluate how much money we got to be able to make that happen.

2225
03:04:27,180 --> 03:04:31,780
Okay. All right, so we actually, I think we have a motion.

2226
03:04:32,440 --> 03:04:32,860
Yes.

2227
03:04:32,980 --> 03:04:33,200
We do.

2228
03:04:33,360 --> 03:04:33,740
I guess.

2229
03:04:33,980 --> 03:04:34,160
Thank you, David.

2230
03:04:34,740 --> 03:04:34,900
Yeah.

2231
03:04:35,320 --> 03:04:38,780
And so the motion was to suspend the rules that we can make a decision this evening.

2232
03:04:39,440 --> 03:04:39,860
Yes.

2233
03:04:40,160 --> 03:04:40,320
Right.

2234
03:04:40,540 --> 03:04:40,720
Right.

2235
03:04:41,920 --> 03:04:46,900
So all of those in favor of suspending the rules this evening please indicate by raising hand

2236
03:04:46,900 --> 03:04:47,280
with a yes.

2237
03:04:47,780 --> 03:04:47,920
Yes.

2238
03:04:48,280 --> 03:04:48,400
Yes.

2239
03:04:48,500 --> 03:04:49,500
Two, three, four, five.

2240
03:04:49,760 --> 03:04:50,000
Okay.

2241
03:04:51,180 --> 03:04:52,140
Did you say yes?

2242
03:04:52,460 --> 03:04:52,700
Yes.

2243
03:04:53,100 --> 03:04:53,340
Thank you.

2244
03:04:53,440 --> 03:04:53,640
Okay.

2245
03:04:54,240 --> 03:04:55,940
That is 7-0 and so we are.

2246
03:04:56,380 --> 03:04:57,300
Thank you, Council.

2247
03:04:57,440 --> 03:04:58,000
Motion passes.

2248
03:04:58,220 --> 03:04:59,020
We'll suspend the rules.

2249
03:04:59,020 --> 03:04:59,980
so we can take.

2250
03:05:00,000 --> 03:05:29,940
action tonight, if we desire to do that. It's my move that we adopt the hold on, hold on, let's discuss first or something. Hold on. I would like to see this ordinance. Okay. I've printed them upstairs. So, but they don't have a sunset clause and then that's not what was proposed last time. So if you want to add that we can. But, but yeah, if you want to take a quick recess, I can go grab them. How much time would you like us? I need five minutes. Five minutes to go up and get what I've printed.

2251
03:05:34,880 --> 03:05:43,900
and then I can print out a new copy and okay you want to do that well I'd need actually I mean council direction if they want a

2252
03:05:43,900 --> 03:05:50,180
sunset clause in it I think we should yeah yeah council's generally be an agreement to a sunset clause because that is going

2253
03:05:50,180 --> 03:05:58,840
to protect the rate payers for a period of time okay great can we just do a resolution and then have it

2254
03:05:58,840 --> 03:06:01,940
presented at the next meeting? Is that satisfactory or not?

2255
03:06:02,900 --> 03:06:09,120
Every meeting you put it off is another 30 days that the rate can't be charged, I suppose.

2256
03:06:09,480 --> 03:06:10,760
So it's up to the council.

2257
03:06:10,860 --> 03:06:14,340
Whether you want me to bring this back on January 6th, or-

2258
03:06:14,340 --> 03:06:15,560
Could you take a five minute recess?

2259
03:06:15,660 --> 03:06:17,600
Yeah, we're going to be assessed for five minutes.

2260
03:06:18,060 --> 03:06:18,260
Thank you.

2261
03:07:40,780 --> 03:07:42,040
Council back into order.

2262
03:07:43,080 --> 03:07:43,400
Okay.

2263
03:07:43,860 --> 03:07:50,000
I move that we include a sunset clause for three years on-

2264
03:07:50,000 --> 03:07:50,140
Yeah.

2265
03:07:50,680 --> 03:07:51,880
What are we calling it?

2266
03:07:52,120 --> 03:07:52,900
On the proposed resolution.

2267
03:07:52,900 --> 03:07:57,480
On the proposed resolution for the, or the, or the, or the, yeah.

2268
03:07:57,920 --> 03:08:02,420
So we have a motion by Council on D.C. on a second by Council on Glen to add a three-year

2269
03:08:02,420 --> 03:08:06,040
sunset clause to the resolution that is being put together this evening.

2270
03:08:06,900 --> 03:08:10,200
All those in favor, please aye aye aye in the opposed.

2271
03:08:10,820 --> 03:08:14,860
All right motion passes and so now we're going to go on your recess for five minutes to give

2272
03:08:14,860 --> 03:08:17,240
our attorney an opportunity to put the resolution together.

2273
03:08:17,400 --> 03:08:17,800
Thank you.

2274
03:08:18,560 --> 03:08:19,260
You can go to the back.

2275
03:17:04,480 --> 03:17:05,120
We

2276
03:17:07,140 --> 03:17:19,420
need to go to this. I do not want it to go into the abyss. I think you can direct the city manager to utilize the

2277
03:17:19,420 --> 03:17:29,020
money for whatever you want, because this ordinance is, talk about the entire tax amount.

2278
03:17:30,040 --> 03:17:36,980
It's difficult to parse out 1% for this or 1% for that, but I think the council can give the city manager direction about the budget.

2279
03:17:37,200 --> 03:17:47,660
And if your direction is, you're increasing this tax 1%, and you expect that money to go into the budget for the police department, I think that the city manager would follow that direction.

2280
03:17:48,780 --> 03:17:56,160
we would hope. I move that we adopt these proposed ordinances and direct that the funds be allocated to

2281
03:17:56,160 --> 03:18:03,960
do one at a time. Yeah we should do one at a time because they're all taxes. So the first

2282
03:18:03,960 --> 03:18:14,680
is from water wastewater. I move that we adopt the ordinance amending the waste and wastewater tax and

2283
03:18:14,680 --> 03:18:17,040
and allocate that money to the police department.

2284
03:18:17,580 --> 03:18:18,120
I second.

2285
03:18:18,960 --> 03:18:21,820
So we have a motion by Councilman Glenn,

2286
03:18:22,180 --> 03:18:24,380
a second by Councilman D.C.L.,

2287
03:18:24,380 --> 03:18:29,320
to authorize a 1% increase of water and wastewater tax

2288
03:18:29,680 --> 03:18:31,740
and direct city manager to put that money toward

2289
03:18:31,740 --> 03:18:32,380
the police department.

2290
03:18:33,400 --> 03:18:34,500
Is that work, Sarah?

2291
03:18:35,000 --> 03:18:35,560
I think so, yeah.

2292
03:18:36,320 --> 03:18:38,020
As long as the city manager understands

2293
03:18:38,020 --> 03:18:40,140
what your directive is, I guess I shouldn't speak for her.

2294
03:18:40,360 --> 03:18:41,300
Yes, I understand.

2295
03:18:41,800 --> 03:18:43,700
You want that to go in the police department.

2296
03:18:43,700 --> 03:18:44,440
that's it.

2297
03:18:46,790 --> 03:18:53,590
We have to do a roll call vote. We need to read the ordinance. Yep. This is an

2298
03:18:53,590 --> 03:19:00,510
ordinance amending the City of Yakima Municipal Code section 7.64.020 water and wastewater tax.

2299
03:19:01,730 --> 03:19:13,430
We'll take a roll call vote please. Errera? Yes. Roy? Yes. Berg? Yes. Brown? Wow. Yeah. I guess so.

2300
03:19:14,130 --> 03:19:43,010
byers? Yes. Decio? Yes. Glen? Yes. All right. The motion passes 7-0 and the resolution is adopted and I before we move on I want to make a comment here because these three ordinances are very similar just on the different utility costs. I want to make clear to our listeners tonight that this is not an increase to the rate payers. This is a 1% tax that's basically that the city is putting on

2301
03:19:43,010 --> 03:19:50,870
ourselves for those services that those departments can absorb and the medical be put toward the police department.

2302
03:19:51,830 --> 03:19:52,590
Okay.

2303
03:19:53,410 --> 03:19:53,490
Okay.

2304
03:19:53,490 --> 03:19:53,710
Thank you.

2305
03:19:53,930 --> 03:19:56,650
I move that ordinance number 2025.

2306
03:19:56,650 --> 03:19:59,090
The most important thing is that I can listen to the code.

2307
03:20:00,000 --> 03:20:06,920
On the stormwater tax, the adopted and the money allocated to the police department. I second. Clerk, would you read the ordinance, please?

2308
03:20:10,210 --> 03:20:19,030
This is an ordinance amending the city of Yakima Municipal Code Section 7.64.040 stormwater tax. Roy,

2309
03:20:21,670 --> 03:20:34,430
bird? Yes. Brown? Yes. Fires? Yes. TCO? Yes. Glen? Yes. Irra? Yes. All right. Motion passes. 7-0 and the ordinance is done.

2310
03:20:35,450 --> 03:20:43,750
So before we go on with the Refuse Tax, 21% is actually a 4% decrease from the current rate.

2311
03:20:45,530 --> 03:20:46,050
What?

2312
03:20:48,390 --> 03:20:58,310
Refuse Tax was a very great increase to 25% earlier this year based on a City Council decision back in 2019.

2313
03:20:59,230 --> 03:21:01,470
That was for Yakima waste.

2314
03:21:02,190 --> 03:21:03,490
Yakima waste only?

2315
03:21:06,990 --> 03:21:13,530
We can raise the tax on private care and that one's used to actually start funding Clean City for the first time.

2316
03:21:13,910 --> 03:21:26,690
I take back my words. I move that we approve ordinance number 2025 regarding the refuse tax and allocate the funds to the police department.

2317
03:21:26,690 --> 03:21:27,250
Second.

2318
03:21:28,470 --> 03:21:34,090
So we have a motion by Councillor McLennan and a second by Deputy Mayor Brown to,

2319
03:21:35,630 --> 03:21:38,070
could you be the ordinance placed for me, I'm sorry I forgot.

2320
03:21:39,930 --> 03:21:45,510
This is an ordinance on any in the city of Yakima Municipal Code, section 7.64.030,

2321
03:21:46,110 --> 03:21:46,710
refuse tax?

2322
03:21:47,730 --> 03:21:48,110
Thank you.

2323
03:21:48,590 --> 03:21:53,610
So, then we have a motion by Councillor Vergett and second by Councillor Brown and Deputy

2324
03:21:53,610 --> 03:21:54,130
Mayor Brown.

2325
03:21:54,130 --> 03:22:06,090
to approve the resolution on the rough use tax bird yes round sure buyers yes

2326
03:22:06,090 --> 03:22:16,290
diesel yes Glenn yes Irrena yes Roy yes all right that's 7-0 and motion passes the

2327
03:22:16,950 --> 03:22:19,330
resolution is adopted. Thank you council.

2328
03:22:22,840 --> 03:22:25,800
I just think it's I just want to say I

2329
03:22:25,800 --> 03:22:33,080
think hell has frozen over because Rudy Berg has voted for this. First tax

2330
03:22:33,080 --> 03:22:33,540
I'll ever.

2331
03:22:36,260 --> 03:22:39,900
Well yeah me too but for Rudy I just want to say that's the first

2332
03:22:39,900 --> 03:22:43,540
time in the history of his entire time here. I'm just throwing curveballs.

2333
03:22:45,700 --> 03:22:50,200
Okay. Is there any other business before the Council this evening?

2334
03:22:51,240 --> 03:22:53,540
I'm going to cut Rick off if he has one more thing.

2335
03:22:55,140 --> 03:22:57,440
Do you have anything else, Council Member Glander?

2336
03:22:57,480 --> 03:22:59,360
I move that we take the rest of the year off.

2337
03:23:01,740 --> 03:23:04,080
Just to say the Council, not the whole staff.

2338
03:23:05,540 --> 03:23:07,380
Okay. We have some meetings this week.

2339
03:23:09,520 --> 03:23:13,740
So I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

2340
03:23:13,740 --> 03:23:19,580
Madam Mayor, I move to adjourn to our next council meeting on January 6th, 530pm here at

2341
03:23:19,580 --> 03:23:20,400
this city hall.

2342
03:23:20,840 --> 03:23:21,240
I second.

2343
03:23:21,700 --> 03:23:26,720
So we have a motion by Deputy Mayor Brown on the second by Council on DCO to adjourn to

2344
03:23:26,720 --> 03:23:30,760
our next regular city council meeting, January 6th, 530pm here at City Hall.

2345
03:23:31,320 --> 03:23:32,380
All this is a favor say aye.

2346
03:23:32,900 --> 03:23:33,240
Aye.

2347
03:23:33,980 --> 03:23:35,680
Michael, please don't turn the camera off.

2348
03:23:35,980 --> 03:23:39,480
I just want to say to the city of Yakima, Merry Christmas.

2349
03:23:40,000 --> 03:23:44,080
I hope you have great holidays and that we'll all be blessed moving forward in the

2350
03:23:44,080 --> 03:23:44,400
New Year.

2351
03:23:46,040 --> 03:23:46,700
Thank you.

2352
03:23:47,660 --> 03:23:48,100
Good.

2353
03:23:48,240 --> 03:23:49,020
Merry Christmas.

2354
03:23:49,020 --> 03:23:50,360
Oh my goodness, they're ready.

2355
03:23:50,520 --> 03:23:50,640
Woo!