Vancouver City Council. Today
is Monday, April 6th, 2026.
This afternoon we had two
workshops the Electric Vehicle
Infrastructure Strategy
Workshop and the Development
Activity Update. We then went
into executive session to
discuss potential litigation.
We are now in our regular
council meeting. And would you
please stand and join me in the
Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge
allegiance to the flag.
>> Of the United States of
America and to the Republic for
which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you, Mr. Muller.
Please call the roll.
>> Council member Harless Perez
present. Fox Paulson here.
Stober here. Hansen. Present.
Mayor McEnerny Ogle present.
>> Move to excuse Council
members. Harless and Fox.
>> Second motion and a second
to excuse our two colleagues
for personal reasons. Those in
favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you very much. Councilors.
You have in front of you the
minutes of February 17th.
>> Motion to edit February 17th,
with Council Member Hanson not
present at that time.
>> And you're excusing
Councilor Hanson.
>> And excusing Councilor
Hanson from that meeting.
You're excused. Councilor.
>> Second.
>> Motion and a second to amend.
February 17th. Amendment. Any
other discussion? Motion. Vote
on the amendment. Those in
favor of the amendment say aye.
Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.
Motion to approve the minutes
of February 17th, as amended.
>> Please move to approve
Stuebe second.
>> Paulsen. Thank you very much.
All those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you. Minutes of February
23rd.
>> Move to approve Perez.
>> Seconded by Paulsen. Paulsen.
Any corrections or changes?
Those in favor, say aye. Aye.
Opposed? Motion passes. Minutes
of March 2nd.
>> Move to approve.
>> Paulson. Seconded by Hansen.
Hansen. Corrections or changes.
All in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Abstain.
>> One. Abstention. Any opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you. Yes,
councilor.
>> Sorry also to abstain on
that one.
>> Two abstentions on March 2nd.
Perez stober. Thank you. Motion
still passes. Minutes for March
16th. Any changes? I'll
entertain a motion.
>> To approve.
>> Perez. Seconded by. Hansen.
All those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed?
>> Abstain.
>> One abstention from sober.
>> Abstain.
>> One abstention from Paulsen.
Any opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you. March 23rd.
>> Move to approve Paulson.
>> Seconded by. Perez Perez. No
changes. All those in favor,
say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? One abstention.
>> Two.
>> Two. Abstentions. Hansen.
Stober. Motion passes. Thank
you. All right. Got through
that. We have proclamations
here. Let's start off with
Community Development Week. And
we have. Oh, hello. The week of
April 6th through 10th, 2026 is
the 40th annual National
Community Development Week. To
celebrate the success of the
Community Development Block
Grant program and the Home
Investment Partnerships Program.
And the Cdbg program provides
funding for services,
neighborhood improvements, and
economic opportunities for
people with low to moderate
incomes, and has been doing so
since 2002. The Home Investment
Partnership Program provides
funding to create decent, safe,
affordable housing in Vancouver.
Home funds have supported 383
rental units, 40 home owners
and over 800 renters with
rental assistance, and the City
of Vancouver recognizes that
the Cdbg and home funding is a
partnership of federal, state
and local government, nonprofit
and community efforts and
relies heavily on the
dedication and goodwill of
combined efforts. Now,
therefore, I Anne McEnerny Ogle,
Mayor of Vancouver, Washington,
do hereby proclaim April 6th,
2026, through April 10th as
Community Development Week in
the City of Vancouver and urge
Congress and the Presidential
administration to recognize the
outstanding work being done
locally and nationally with
Cdbg and home by supporting
increased funding for these
programs in the fiscal year of
2027. We would love to have
more money from them, wouldn't
we? Here we go.
>> All right. Thank you, mayor
and City Council. I'm Kimberly
Curley and this is Tasha Slater.
And we are a City of Vancouver
staff on the housing team.
Thank you for taking this
moment to recognize Cdbg and
home programs. National
Community Development Week is
an important opportunity to
highlight the real positive
impact of the Cdbg and home
programs. These programs make a
meaningful difference in our
community every day by
recognizing the 40th annual
Community Development Week, we
also help raise awareness with
Congress about just how
essential these programs are
and why continued increased
funding is necessary to support
the people and neighborhoods
that rely on them, furthering
our commitment to inclusivity
and compassion for all. Since
2003, the City of Vancouver has
received a direct allocation of
Cdbg, Cdbg funds from HUD. In
2009, the city began receiving
an annual allocation of home
funding, and in 2021, the City
of Vancouver received just over
$2.4 million in home ARP
funding through the American
Rescue Plan. These funds
continue to provide critical
support to some of our most
vulnerable households.
>> The housing team would also
like to extend our appreciation
to our partners in 2024. During
the program year, we partnered
with 19 agencies using these
federal funds. 17 low to
moderate income households
became homeowners or had their
home rehabilitated. 194
Microbusiness Microenterprise
businesses were assisted, 182
youth engaged in programing,
3535 people received homeless
services and 39 households
received rental assistance.
We're looking ahead at the 2026
Cdbg and Home Awards and will
review them with you on May 4th.
Thank you again for taking the
time to celebrate with us, and
this week we will have social
media posts, so we hope that
everyone will look and engage
on the city's social media to
celebrate Community Development
Week with us.
>> Thank you so very much. Okay,
let's go to Arbor Day with Jess
Durfee and Charles Ray. The
city of Vancouver has been
named a Tree City, USA for the
37th consecutive year in
recognition of its excellence
and commitment to ongoing
community forestry programs for
planting and management of
trees to maximize their
benefits. And Washington The
Evergreen State has celebrated
Arbor Day since 1917 and
Vancouver's Arbor Month for
2026 includes Arbor Day
celebration and planting at
Lincoln Elementary School and
the Gordon and Sylvia
McWilliams Evergreen Award
recipients. On April 23rd, a
month long pop up Arboretum's
at our Mayada Park in Homestead
Park and trees enhance our
lives by supporting clean water,
improving air quality, reducing
runoff, cooling temperatures
and preventing erosion of
topsoil, and providing wildlife,
food and habitat. Whereas,
trees help build community and
beautify neighborhoods and
wherever they are planted,
trees are a source of joy and
renewal. Now therefore, I Anne
McEnerny Ogle, Mayor of
Vancouver, Washington, do
hereby proclaim the month of
April as Arbor Month and
recognize April 8th, 2026,
Arbor Day in the City of
Vancouver and encourage all
community members and
businesses to join Vancouver's
Urban Forestry Commission in
our continuous efforts to
properly plant, care for and
preserve trees for the good of
current and future generations.
Jess.
>> So, on behalf of the Urban
Forestry Commission, I would
like to thank you for your
continued support to make
Vancouver a more livable,
thriving community by investing
in our community trees across
our city.
>> Sorry, would you put your
microphone on and then yeah,
just go ahead and restate that.
>> I will do that. On behalf of
the Urban Forestry Commission.
That was my rehearsal. So now
I'm totally into this. On
behalf of the Urban Forestry
Commission, I would like to
thank you for your continued
support to make Vancouver a
more livable, thriving
community by investing in our
community. Trees across our
city, trees are helping to
reduce stormwater runoff,
decrease erosion, improve air
quality, shade our
neighborhoods, enhance our
overall quality of life, and
contribute to the beauty of our
wonderful city through trees
and working with the community.
The Urban Forestry Commission
helps achieve all of the city's
core values. The simple truth
is, trees are not just a nicety,
they are a necessity. This year
also marks 37 years for
Vancouver. As a Tree City, USA.
I personally, along with my
fellow commissioners, am
honored to be given an
opportunity to serve our
community as an Urban Forestry
Commissioner, we are always
looking for other tree lovers
who might want to volunteer. So
for more information, community
members can contact us at
360487 tree or Trees at City of
vancouver.us or visit us online.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> Good evening, Mayor and
council members. Charles Ray
Urban Forester with Public
Works and staff member for the
Urban Forestry Commission. We
also were recognized with the
growth award for our climate
initiatives, as well as our
training programs for both
urban forestry commissioners
and staff. And then also, we're
wrapping up our annual report.
And we we planted over 2000
trees with community support
and participation, and then
also community members
volunteered over 4000 hours
towards our work projects. But
then also the Urban Forestry
Commission also volunteered
over 400 hours. And if they
only showed up for meetings,
they would be about 130 hours
each. So great, great involved
community members on the Urban
Forestry Commission. So thank
you, Charles.
>> We have a little chart out
on the hallway here, but we've
used up all the slots. So do we
need to get a new chart for
this 37th little award?
>> So so we have a new plaque
that's over at Marine Park
Engineering. Now that's
starting to fill up. Okay, so
we'll be bringing that to Arbor
Day.
>> I don't know how you got
four, eight, seven tree for a
phone number, but
congratulations.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. We have some
special friends this evening.
Lonnie and Cora Chandler are in
the house tonight, whereas
today's northwest coffee
culture did not yet exist in
1990. And Cora and Lonnie
Chandler recognized the
potential of downtown Vancouver
to become a thriving engine of
community. And whereas in 1991,
Cora and Lonnie founded,
operated, and opened downtown's
first espresso bar, helping
pave the way for revitalization.
And whereas, through its
consistent quality, warm
hospitality and familiar
presence, Java House has
remained a beloved and enduring
fixture of downtown Vancouver,
reflecting the spirit of local
enterprise and community pride.
And whereas, after many years
of dedicated service, the
Chandlers have announced their
retirement and the sale of this
cherished establishment,
marking the end of an era in
Vancouver's downtown history.
Now therefore, I Anne McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby recognize
and celebrate the legacy of
Java House in the City of
Vancouver and extend our
deepest gratitude for its
owners for their years of
service, commitment and
community building. And we wish
them happiness and fulfillment
in their well earned retirement.
>> Yes. I'm sure. Yep yep yep.
>> Well, thank you all very
much. A lot of familiar faces
up here. One of the things that
we most often get asked is who
was your first customer? Oh,
and we jokingly look around and
say, well, if you walk down the
street there, there's a you'll
see a statue of her. Her name
was Sacagawea. However, the
truth is our first customer was
a guy named Paul Touvier, who
was the head of Social Security
down here at the time, and Paul
had been walking around in
circles for a few minutes,
afraid to go back to his office
because of things that were
going on there, and he walked
in and says, are you guys open?
And we said, yes, come on in.
Let me give you a free cup of
coffee. And he says, I can't
pay for the first cup of coffee
that you've had. I said, well,
how about when you get the
second cup, it'll be on us. And
that's how we started the free
refills. Oh, but thank you very
much. And it has been a
wonderful 37 years. It is truly
a great community to live and
work in and will continue to do
so.
>> Well. We have been honored
to have you, Cora. Any note?
>> I'm good.
>> I'm good.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much. Yes.
>> Ole Miss everybody.
>> And we'll miss you. We
always are amazed how you
remember people and what they
want to drink. So 37 years. We
appreciate all of the community
building that you have been
doing. So don't be a stranger.
Let's see you around town once.
>> In a while. You will see us.
>> Okay?
>> Every day.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> That concludes our
proclamations and brings us
into community communication. I
have one card this evening.
Bruce Barnes would like to talk
about items one through ten.
>> Good evening, Mayor and
Council. Thanks for the
opportunity to speak. My name
is Bruce Barnes. For the record,
I noticed on some of these bids
here that there's a there's out
of town contractors, and I
understand it's the lowest
responsible bidder. But man,
I'll tell you, our union halls
are suffering. We've got over a
thousand electricians out of
work, and I would hope that
you'd take that into
consideration when you guys do
your bids, and maybe you can do
some project labor agreements.
You know, we've had a great
relationship with the. The
Indian tribes, and they've
really appreciated the quality
of work that we've done at
their casino. Always neat,
complete up to date on time, no
injuries, no accidents. You
know, always what they want.
And I would hope that the city
would also want that because I
know there's a lot of union
members that work for your city,
and our unions would love to
work for the city as well. So.
I would just ask that you guys
consider that next time you
guys do some bids. I know we've
talked about it at the Labor
Roundtable as well, about doing
some project labor agreements
with the city and the county.
So I would hope that you guys
would consider that. And that's
all I got for now. Thank you.
>> I'll close the community
communication and bring it into
the consent agenda. Councilors,
are there any items that you
would like to pull?
>> Over to make comments on?
Okay.
>> All right. So let me read
item number nine into the
record. This title is an
ordinance relating to
management of the rights of way
granting to Michelle Marchel
Telecom, Inc. Lichnov and its
affiliates, a corporation, a
non-exclusive and revocable
franchise to install, operate
and maintain a
telecommunications system on,
in, over, upon, along and
across public ways of the City
of Vancouver, establishing
certain rights, duties, terms
and conditions with respect to
the franchise and setting an
effective date and conditions.
Grantee in the city are
sometimes collectively referred
to as the parties hearing no
item to be pulled. Have a
motion to approve items one
through ten. Second second by
Stober. Comments.
>> Mayor.
>> Councilor.
>> So I very much appreciate
Mr. Barnes comments this
evening, and I understand that
a lot of principles of a
project labor agreement find
their way into our contracts,
but they're they're buried into
larger documents. I, for one,
would very much like to see our
standards brought out into a
single document. That is
something that's easier for us
to share, to reference and can
be. Can really be a standard.
And we can be very clear about
where we are and what are the
opportunities we still have to
grow as a community. Thank you
very much.
>> Thank you. And I'd like to
thank staff for item number
eight, the collective
bargaining agreement with our
Vancouver Police Officers Guild.
I knew that there was a great
deal of work involved in that.
Thank you for working so well.
We have a motion and a second.
All those in favor say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you very much. That
brings us into item number 11.
This is the public hearing.
This is an ordinance relating
to the 20 2526 biennial budget
and making supplemental
appropriations in various funds
needed to meet certain
necessary expenditures to be
incurred in 20 2526, which were
not or could not reasonably
have been foreseen at the time
of the adoption of the 20 2526
budget, declaring an emergency
and providing for an immediate
effective date. Staff summary
please.
>> Thank you, Mayor and Council.
>> Thank you.
>> Shannon Olsen, budget
manager here at the city, here
with Lisa Randall.
>> Lisa Randall Deputy city
manager, interim CFO. Good
evening.
>> Good evening.
>> All right. Let's jump in. So
most of this is the same as
what we reviewed on the
workshop on March 2nd. But we
will go through it again at a
quick high level summary, just
to give a little overview. The
supplemental budget does occur
during the biennium to adjust
the appropriation due to an
unanticipated circumstances.
Any adjustments to the budget
do require approval by Council
to amend the current biennial
budget, and this supplemental
specifically does include
administrative items,
expenditures associated with
new external revenues, as well
as requests based on newly
identified needs, as well as
adjustments to some revenues.
We did go in detail on all of
these revenue adjustments last
time, but just to recap, due to
some decline that we've seen in
permit activity and permit
activity does impact all
revenues generated from new
development, including sales
tax, as well as park and
transportation impact fees.
Within the supplemental, we did
adjust our impact fee revenue
budget to match the revenue
that we have received through
2025. As mentioned last time,
our cable franchise revenue has
been adjusted to better align
with the forecasted amounts, as
we have seen a decline in the
revenue with cable subscribers
canceling their services to
stream their services instead.
Within the supplemental, we are
adjusting the cable utility tax
as well to match what was
received in 2025, as well as
due to the actual revenues not
being starting to accrue until
the second quarter of 2025. So
we are adjusting to match to
the actuals. And then also now
that we have some revenues
coming in, we are adjusting
2026 to better align with what
we know to be true utility
utility tax revenues in 2025
come in higher than forecasted.
So those taxes are getting
trued up for 2025 as well as
more aligned with the forecast
in 2026. And then we have added
the 6 million in new revenue
for proposition five. And then
due to the passing of
proposition five, the bank
capacity revenue from
proposition two for 2026 is
recommended to be removed
within this supplemental, and
we'll go into the prop two bank
capacity a little bit further
in the presentation. Overall,
within operating and capital,
the recommended expenditure
appropriation for the city's
operating and capital funds
totaled 70.1 million, which is
pretty similar to prior
supplemental budgets. This
supplemental specifically will
result in utilizing 14.2
million in city resources. And
of that amount, the general
fund share is a credit of 4.1
million. Of the 70.1 million.
You can see the breakout here.
We have 35.5 million relating
to the operating side and 34.6
million to the capital budget.
The General Street Fire Fund
specifically make up 8.1 of the
appropriation, with 27.4
million within other operating
funds. And then of the 34.6 in
capital, we have 26.1 related
specifically to capital
projects, and then 8.5 million
is representing the funding
transfers that support the
capital projects. Excuse me.
These next two slides go over
the fees that are recommended
to be added within the
supplemental 27 in total. But
as discussed in the workshop,
the majority of the FTEs do
have offsetting revenue support.
And then, as discussed in the
last council meeting, the
position three classes that did
require additional budget or
were not represented on
schedule D are shown on the
appropriate attachment B as we
talked about. Additionally,
positions that change
departments are also reflected
on attachment B as appropriate
and attachment B is in your
council packet. And then
circling back to prop two bank
capacity. So this as mentioned
the supplemental does remove
the prop two bank capacity
revenue due to the passing of
proposition five that was
passed in 25. The prop two bank
capacity revenue was budgeted
at 5.5 million to support fire
capital and operational
expenses, 3.6 million was
specifically budgeted to. For
the completion of Fire Station
8 in 2026. However, now that
that revenue is recommended to
be removed from the Or within
the supplemental, there will be
a resolution on the Council's
consent agenda scheduled for
next week, April 13th,
requesting an. Requesting an
Interfund loan from the General
Fund to fire so that station
eight has the funding support
needed to complete the project
in 2026, with the expectation
of the proposition two bank
capacity going into place in
2027 for the loan to start
getting repaid. And with that,
I'm happy to address any
questions that you might have.
>> Thank you. So, Sean, when
you talk about the
reclassification, those are for
the salaries of individuals
that are being promoted. And
and they're in a new
classification.
>> Yeah. So yeah, if somebody's
getting a promotion or just
reclass due to a market study,
if they do need additional
budget, then it is included. It
is shown on attachment B. Also,
we have schedule D that
represents all the positions at
the city for nonunion.
Specifically, if there's a
position Reclass that occurs
where that position doesn't is
not already listed on schedule
D, then it also gets added to
attachment B for transparency.
>> Great.
>> Thank you so much. Other
comments of staff. Yes.
Councilor Stolberg.
>> Thank you mayor. Thank you
for the presentation. Can you
go a little bit one step deeper
and and walk through why we
need to remove the bank
capacity change.
>> Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah.
>> I feel like that one got
punted my direction. In essence,
it was to moderate the impact
on property taxes when the
voters approved proposition
five just for in using round
numbers, that would be about a
15 cent property tax increase.
That's basically the equivalent
of what the the dollars that
are in proposition two would do,
which would have resulted in
about a 13, 14% property tax
increase all in one year. So in
the interest of not really
slamming the taxpayers, we
wanted to make sure that we
moderated that. And so we
figured out a way to be able to
continue with our capital
projects, but then we'll defer
the imposition of the banked
capacity until 2027.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay.
>> Councilor Perez, go ahead.
>> That was my same question.
Thank you, Councilmember Silva.
So I just wanted to put it in
layman's terms that what does
that mean to the taxpayer?
Right.
>> Any other questions?
>> If you want to further
elaborate on that?
>> Oh yeah. It was really to
avoid hitting them with two tax
increases in the same calendar
year, knowing that the approval
of proposition five, we asked
them for a pretty steep jump
just with that one ask. And
with the proposition two banked
capacity, it would have almost
doubled it up.
>> And then what does that mean
for our fire department?
>> We still have the banked
capacity, and we do anticipate
tapping into that in 2027. But
the purpose of the internal
loan that Shannon was outlining
will let us keep moving with
the capital projects.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. Let's go ahead and
open the public hearing. Bruce
Barnes, please.
>> Bruesch Barnes, for the
record, thanks for the
opportunity to speak on your
budget. I would like to make
some suggestions. I see a lot
of when I go to the grocery
store, I don't care if it's
WinCo or Safeway or whatever. I
always see seems to be for
firefighters walking, grocery
shopping, and I'm all for
firefighters. I'm all for what
they do. I'm all for first
responders. But I think that
there's a an easier way to do
their shopping. I mean, we can
all order food to our home. We
can all order groceries to our
home. They've got cadets that
can go out and do their grocery
shopping. So that would be one
suggestion. With the rising
cost of fuel, we saw fuel at
diesel fuel in woodland
Saturday at $8 a gallon, and
those fire trucks get maybe
three four miles a gallon. They
don't get very good fuel
mileage. So I'm suggesting less
trips, you know, down to the
waterfront or just out for
cruising around and have your
cadets go shopping and not
waste that fuel in the fire
truck, because that would
definitely impact your budget.
I guarantee you in a year, you
know what I mean? Less driving,
less, less money out. And the
other thing is, hopefully you
put some money in for garbage
cleanup because the Columbian
did a really good article about
Vancouver and the highways
being trashed, and we need to
clean that up. So I hope
there's money in that budget to
clean that up. And I would
suggest getting the inmates out
there. They can also work off
their their their sentencing,
which would lessen the burden
to the taxpayers. Because would
you say it's like $170 a day to
have them incarcerated? Let's
get those people out in the
sunshine cleaning up our
freeways and, you know, make
this place clean and pristine
again. So thank you.
>> Any other comments? No.
Online. Thank you. Close the
public hearing. Bring it back.
Councilors. Any other
discussion? I'll entertain a
motion.
>> Move to approve.
>> Paulson. Seconded by Perez.
Perez. Roll call. Vote, please.
>> Council member Perez. I
Paulson I Stover I. Hansen,
mayor. McEnerny Ogle.
>> I motion passes unanimously.
Thank you very much. That
concludes the business portion
of it. Going into
communications from the Council.
Councilor Perez.
>> Pass for tonight. Thank you.
>> Councilor Paulson pass.
>> Councilor Stoeber.
>> I'm going to pass.
>> Councilor Hansen.
>> Mayor, I have one thing to
bring up from last month, and
it was the foundation. They
have a restorative justice
panel series, and this one was
the other side of crime. And
Lester Griffith Griffin. Lester
Griffin was the panel moderator
for this. And it was one of the
most impactful things I've seen
in quite some time. There were
five speakers, all parents, and
all of them had lost a child to
guns in the community. Two of
the five panelists had lost two
children. So if you do get the
chance to see one of these
panels, I highly recommend it.
It is definitely well attended
and there's a reason for that.
That's all I have. Mayor.
>> Thank you very much. Yes,
councilor.
>> If I could back up and thank
you, Councilor Hansen.
Tangentially related. Next
Tuesday, a week from tomorrow,
the ending Community
homelessness organization Echo,
which is an organization run by
the county to coordinate
jurisdictions around the issue
of homelessness, will be doing
a law enforcement panel, and
members of the public are
welcome to come. It's 930 to
1130 at the Public Service
Center, the county's
headquarters, and it will also
be online.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. And at 1:00
Saturday, we'll have a new Poet
laureate at magenta. So we will
hear lots of wonderful poems
and find out who our new Poet
Laureate is. They did moving
poems all on all the C-tran
busses. So we're excited about
that. City Manager anything?
>> Yeah. I'd like to invite
Laura Shepherd to come up and
talk with the Council a little
bit about the new accessibility
guidelines for digital
communication.
>> Mayor, councilor.
>> Mayor, council. Good evening.
I'm Laura Shepherd. I'm the
director of communications and
actually I'm here tonight to
talk with you a little bit
about accessibility at City
Council. I was originally
scheduled to give you a
briefing next next week at
dinner, but I got the week
wrong and showed up a week
early, so thought we would take
advantage of having a little
time today. So what I'm going
to try to do is model a little
bit of what we're expected to
do after the deadline. So what
I'm going to do right now, I'm
going to get up and I'm going
to be handing a stack of papers
to our city attorney and ask
her to pass them down.
>> And also if she would.
>> And while that is happening,
I'll give you a little bit of
background. And actually, I'm
scheduled to come here on April
27th to talk with you more
about the entire project. So
I'll try to stay focused on
just this, this component of it.
But so but for those of you
that don't know, the last year
the Department of Justice
published a new rule on digital
accessibility that all, all
jurisdictions must follow
cities, counties, ports, school
districts, which basically says
that all of our digital content
must be accessible to all
people. So we've been working
for the last year on a variety
of fronts, again, that I will
share with you on the 27th so
you can know the full scope of
what we have been doing. But
what I was going to talk with
you tonight was about what we
what we need to do at City
Council to help make our
meetings more accessible. And
what it comes down to is being
more descriptive about our our
actions. So some of the things
that we have done to help
comply with that, we have
purchased a new system that
we're that we have been
training staff on and that our
CVTV folks have been trying out.
It's called audible sight. And
one of the things that this new
software does, it will help
provide audio captions for our
meetings. Audio captioning only
goes part of the way. What it's
going to take is also a
behavior change on all of our
parts who present at council.
And then those of you who who
run the meeting. So what you're
seeing in front of you in that
handout is some standards that
we wrote. Sorry about that,
that we wrote to help you when
you preside at meetings. And we
also wrote standards to help
staff understand what they need
to do when they present at
meetings, so you'll know what
to expect when they present.
And then we also created
guidelines for to help staff
understand how they create
their materials. So what we're
trying to do is make your
meetings as accessible as
possible on as many fronts from
when the public sees the
information online to when
we're here in front of you
presenting the information. And
then when we're interacting
about that information. So so I
can go through this. I sent it
in my Friday message as a
preread or I can answer
questions about it. If you, if
you had an opportunity to do to
take a look at it on Friday, I
know you have a lot going on.
So if you'd like, I can go
ahead and just take you through
it if you'd like.
>> Councilors, do you want her
to go through it or did you do
your homework and ready for
questions? I read mine, read
read. Yep, yep. Okay. We read
it.
>> Oh, excellent.
>> You have questions of Laura.
So we're starting to see that
at the bottom of different
documents that are coming
through. When is the full
implementation expected? Laura.
>> The full implementation is
on April 27th. So we're coming
up on the deadline very fast.
And oh, actually, I'll be in
front of you on the 27th. The
deadline is actually the 26th
of April. Okay. And when I come
to see you on the 27th, I'll
bring you and you'll see it in
your packet too. I'll bring you
a full report of all the
different activities that we've
been doing for the better part
of a year and a half now, to
make sure that we're going to
meet to the best of our ability,
this deadline. But I will let
you know it is going to be a
journey, and we won't get it
right at first. Well, there
will be places where we'll have
to learn as we go and places
where we just have to keep,
keep learning. Some of the
things I was noticing in
tonight's meeting, and I will
be talking to all the directors
tomorrow to help them
understand what they need to do
when they are at meetings too.
So I was taking note during the
workshop to see some of the
places that we might have a few
places to shore up how we
present. So for example, during
the mean. So for example, I
observed when we were doing the
proclamation tonight, two staff
members just came to the table.
So in the future, what we'll
need to do is whoever's
presiding mayor, whether it's
you or whether it's mayor pro
tem, you'll need to invite
people to the dais and say who
we're inviting to the dais.
When you come around and give a
proclamation, what you'll need
to do is describe that action
to I'm going to I'm going to go
whatever your language is that
you want to use, basically
letting people know that you're
coming around to give the
proclamation and potentially
have a photo. You know, just
think about the different
things that we're doing in the
meetings that lend itself to,
to description. And that allows
when we use audible site to
make sure we have a full
picture of it, not only in what
we're presenting, but, you know,
a software is only as good as
what it's getting. So if we're
describing our activities very
well, we won't necessarily need
to rely on the software. So,
for example, when you have
occasion to ask the city
manager or the city attorney to
to tell you about something
during a meeting, you'll want
to call the city manager by his
name. You'll want to say City
Manager Lon Lon on, will you
please do X or we'd like an
opinion from City Attorney and
state your name. And then also
to. When you are interacting
with each other, you'll want to
say each other's names. So
mayor, for example, in that
last in the in the item before
the supplemental budget, when
you called on your colleagues
to speak, you said yes and then
turned them. So what you'll
want to do now is say yes.
Councilor Hanson, you may speak
or. Yes, councilor Stober, you
may speak. So you just need to
be a little bit more attuned to
making sure that people know
who is speaking. So before you
speak for the first time,
you'll want to introduce
yourself. So, Councilor Paulson,
whenever you speak, you'll want
to say Councilor Erik Paulson
and then then go into it. And
over time, people will begin to
recognize their voices. But if
you're attending one of our
meetings for the first time,
it's still important that we
that we do that every time
staff will have a heavier lift
than you. They will have to
change how they describe
visuals. When I think about the
presentation that Chad and
Patrick gave you today during
the workshop, it was a very
good presentation. I was taking
notes of the things they did
very well, and I was also
taking notes of some of the
some of the habits that we're
going to need to change. And
one of those habits are we're
going to need to describe
charts a lot, a lot better or a
lot more descriptively than we
do. We're going to have to let
people know when we go to the
next page. Or, for example, at
the end of that presentation,
mayor, you said, can we go back
to the previous slide? What you
want to try to do is say, can
we go back to slide 13? So it's
just it's little things like
that. And eventually it's like
anything. Once we do it, it
will become easier and easier
for us to do. But these
standards that I gave you kind
of help you understand what you
need to do during the meetings.
And I'm always happy to come
and talk with you about them.
And we'll update them as we see
new things at the end of this
handout that I gave you. And
and thank you all for reading
it ahead of time. You'll see
some of the things that will be
expecting staff to say, like
when they talk about maps, when
they talk about charts and
those sorts of things. So.
>> So, Laura, do we expect the
federal government to do the
same thing?
>> I hope so.
>> Okay.
>> Yes. Go ahead.
>> Councilor Laura.
>> Councilor Perez.
>> Thank you, mayor. Councilor
Perez speaking. Is this going
to be rolled over into our
city's accessibility plan?
>> I would I've been talking
with Joy, Joy about what we're
doing, and I do have a section
in that. So it's one of the
things I need to review.
Actually, it's on my to do list,
but I've been working, working
to make sure that this is
comprehensive and all the
departments are, are involved
in it.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes, councilor. Councilor
Stober.
>> Thank you. Mayor and
McEnerny Ogle and this is
Council Member Ty Stober. And
thank you, Laura.
>> We're probably taking it a
little too far, but this is
good that we're practicing this.
So she so she said, Councilor
Stose called on you, Councilor
Stober. And so since you were
just introduced, you don't need
to necessarily say your name
right away again.
>> Thank you. You talk about
presiding in this document.
There's only two, maybe three
people on this dais that
preside. So it would be great
if you did a guide for the rest
of us.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
>> I can do that.
>> Okay.
>> All right. So, Miss Dollar,
would you be so kind as to put
just a common statement at the
bottom of each one of those
proclamations? A couple of
those little notes that Laura
just talked about, inviting the
individuals by name up to talk
to us. And we always walk over
to present the proclamation to
them. So we'll want to put that
down there. Also, just as a
reminder, who's ever in this
seat. Thank you. Laura.
Anything else?
>> Not for now. I'm just
looking forward to seeing you
all on the 27th.
>> Great. Thank you so very
much. City Manager. Any other
item?
>> That's all from me tonight,
mayor.
>> All right. Thank you so very
much. So councilors will now be
going into the portion of our
meeting designated for our
community forum, where
individuals are just talking to
us tonight. City Council policy
tells us it's an opportunity
for us to hear from our
community members. Policy calls
for this portion of the meeting
to be audio recorded for the
City Council assistant. In
general, this portion is not
televised. Therefore will take
a moment. Ask CVTV to stop
their video feed in compliance
with the Open Public Meetings
Act. We will not be taking any
votes or engaging in any final
action on any matter from here
on out. So with that,
councilors, let's go ahead and
take a transition. CVTV, thank
you very much. Say goodbye and
we'll start with our community
members in just a moment