Welcome to Vancouver City
Council. Today is March 16th,
2026. Middle of March. There
you go. This afternoon we
worked a little bit on our
community forum format, which
will be next Monday here in
City Hall. And then the
comprehensive plan update that
we've been working on for many,
many years. They're making
great progress with that. Would
you please stand and join me in
the pledge? 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 very
much, miss. Please call the
roll.
>> Councilmember Harless.
Present. Perez. Present. Fox.
Here. Paulson. Stober. Hansen.
Mayor. McEnerny. Ogle.
>> Present.
>> Move to. Excuse. Council.
Members. Paulson. Stober and.
Hansen.
>> Second. Motion and a second.
Those in favor say aye. Opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you. This
evening, we have three
proclamations. And let's do the
Red cross first. Who is here
from the Red cross? Hi. Come on
up. I'll read a little bit. Are
you Shelley? Hi, Shelley. Have
a seat. Okay. Whereas in March,
we celebrate American Red cross
month by honoring our neighbors
who make its humanitarian
mission possible in the
Cascades region, which covers
southwest Washington and Oregon.
And whereas in 2025, they
provided relief and recovery to
over 900 households, collected
over 166,000 units of blood,
supported over 5000 service
members through the service to
the Armed Forces Program and
trained over 50,000 people in
CPR, first aid, babysitting and
water safety. And these
collective efforts are a
powerful reminder that the
strength of our community lies
in our shared commitment to one
another. And this Red cross
month, for this Red cross month,
let's celebrate our local
heroes and resolve to continue
lifting each other up so no one
faces an emergency alone. Now
therefore, I Anne McEnerny Ogle,
Mayor of Vancouver, Washington,
do hereby proclaim the month of
March as Red cross month in the
City of Vancouver and encourage
community members to reach out
and support its humanitarian
mission. And Mayor Pro Tem, you
have a little message here. Go
ahead. Oh, sure.
>> I just when I saw that we
were going to be celebrating
the Red cross, I just wanted to
share that one of the services
or missions that I didn't
wasn't aware that the Red cross
did was provide humanitarian
aid to our incarcerated
individuals internationally.
And I was able to visit the
Robben Island in South Africa.
And, and to better understand
that, you know, you see these
these prison conditions and
knowing that these political
prisoners were there, Nelson
Mandela was there for 18 years,
and the Red cross showed up to
provide him clothing, books,
you know, things to make sure
that he stayed, provided some
dignity and human kindness to
these individuals. And so it
just was really powerful to me
to know that that was something
that the Red cross provides. So
anyways, thank you.
>> Thank you for sharing your
story, I appreciate that.
>> Oh, if you could. Yeah.
Hello.
>> There you go. There we go.
Sorry, this is my first time,
in case you can't tell. So I'm
Shelley Krull. I'm on the
southwest Washington Red Cross
board of directors. I've been a
volunteer for 13 plus years now.
It's embedded in my heart. And
I'll just give you a quick
little backstory. I started
with the Red cross back when my
son left for the military. One
of the Red Cross's five lines
of service is services to armed
forces. He left for the
military, and I had a friend
who said, hey, you should start
volunteering with the Red cross,
he said. Back in the 80s, when
he was out to see the Red cross,
flew a helicopter to the ship
that he was on and said, we're
here for Kevin. He's like, what?
Loads up on the helicopter?
They flew him to the hospital
in Seattle, and he saw the last
ten minutes of his father's
life. And then after that, the
the Red cross flew him back to
his ship and he carried on with
his business. Had the Red cross
not been able to find him,
locate him through help of
services to Armed forces, a
division of Red cross, he
wouldn't have seen the last ten
minutes of his father's life.
So when my son was leaving for
the military, it was a perfect
fit for me to do so, just to
begin helping with the Red
cross. Since then, I've been a
part of every line of service.
So just to give you a little
background on who Red cross is
and and thank you all, first of
all, for the proclamation. I
really appreciate that very
much. We're grateful for our
volunteers and our donors to
carry out the mission. Our
workforce is made up of 90%
volunteers who are trained and
involve people from all aspects
of life, helping others. And as
a nonprofit, we are completely
funded by philanthropy,
philanthropic gifts, and 90% of
what is given to us is used in
funding for our services.
Disaster response. I know there
was quite a few mentioned there
of what we do. We respond to an
average of 2 to 3 home fires a
week. We deployed disaster
trained volunteers to large
local natural disasters like
hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding
and wildfires. We supply
orchestra with. We supply and
orchestrate with our local
community and national
colleagues, sheltering and
feeding for the displaced and
homes that are destroyed, and
we provide financial and other
assistance for initial disaster.
Health and safety services. CPR,
as you mentioned, their
services to armed forces and
international response work. We
provide relief saving lives
around the world. Thank you
very much for this recognition
of the Red cross and through
the proclamation. Proclamation,
proclamation. Oh my goodness,
you think I've never spoken in
public before?
>> Schelby that's absolutely
fine. We are just honored that
the Red cross is such an asset
to our community, and you've
made such a difference. Thank
you so very much.
>> Thank you all very much.
>> Thank you all very much.
>> You bet. Thank you. Let's
talk about Developmental
Disabilities Awareness Month.
And we have Angela and Heather
with us this evening. Yes. Okay.
Oh, you have all sorts of
people. Well, pull up a couple
extra chairs. There are only
two chairs there. Grab grab
some of those others while I
read a little bit. Whereas
developmental disabilities are
lifelong conditions and people
with developmental disabilities
are valued members of our
communities whose voices,
talents, relationships, and
lived experiences enrich the
social, cultural and civic life
of Vancouver. An. Individuals
with developmental disabilities
thrive when support is person
centered, grounded in
self-determination, and shaped
by the goals, preferences, and
identities of each person as
they grow and change across the
lifespan, creativity,
innovation, and flexibility.
Strengthen access, foster
belonging, and allow people
with developmental disabilities
to participate meaningfully in
community life in ways that
reflect who they are and what
matters most to them. And
whereas Developmental
Disabilities Awareness Month is
an opportunity to recognize
services and systems, but also
the relationships shared
responsibility and lived
experience, leadership that
make true inclusion possible.
And the City of Vancouver
affirms its commitment to
equity, accessibility, cultural
responsiveness, and belonging
that support the full
participation of people with
developmental disabilities in
community life. Now therefore,
I Anne McEnerny Ogle, Mayor of
Vancouver, Washington, do
hereby proclaim the month of
March as Developmental
Disabilities Awareness Month in
the City of Vancouver and
encourage community members,
organizations and institutions
to promote awareness, celebrate
inclusion, support
collaboration, and uplift the
voices and leadership of people
with developmental disabilities.
All right. Yes, of course you.
>> Sure? Yes. Thank you so very
much. Yeah. Okay. It's the mic.
The little person. Yeah. Okay.
>> Thank you to the city of
Vancouver for this recognition.
I'd like to thank everyone
that's joined us here today. So
we have some board members from
Peace Northwest. We have a
board member of the Clark
County Developmental
Disabilities Board here, Kevin.
And then we have a lot of the
team from Steven's place here
today. And we're so grateful
that everyone was able to make
it good. The developmental
sorry, Developmental
Disabilities Awareness Month is
an opportunity to celebrate the
many people who make inclusion
possible. Individuals with
developmental disabilities,
their families, their friends,
their educators, advocates, the
community partners who walk
alongside them across the
lifespan. It's also a reminder
that disability does not exist
in isolation. People with
developmental disabilities are
part of many communities and
identities, and understanding
those intersections helps us to
build supports that are more
equitable, culturally
responsive, and truly person
centered. True inclusion does
not happen through one program
or one system alone. It happens
when communities come together
with creativity, collaboration,
and commitment to supporting
people in ways that honor who
they are and what matters most
to them. And you would like to
add something.
>> And this also, when our
community work to remove
barriers and belong for people
with disability, the disability,
we build a stronger and more
inclusive Vancouver for
everyone.
>> Yes we do. Thank you so very
much.
>> Absolutely. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Our last one is
Women's History Month. And
Tracy Riley Kelly and Sally
Haille have joined us this
evening. Hey, Tracy. All right.
Oh.
>> I'm her official.
>> Whereas 2026 is the
celebration of the 250th
semiquincentennial year of the
United States. And women have
been key players in its history
since our earliest founding,
and for all 250 years and since
time immemorial, native women
have been here stewards of
community life in southwest
Washington, and it's a time to
celebrate women who, led by
example, demonstrating a
commitment to uniting and
elevating others, embracing
diversity of thought by valuing
the ideas, the viewpoints of
others. And whereas women have
unfailingly safeguarded the
values of liberty, equality of
rights, due process and the
opportunity to pursue their
hopes and dreams. And whereas
when we understand the
achievements and struggle of
women, we gain a fuller and
more inclusive understanding of
our collective past to hand
down to our future generations.
Now, therefore, I add McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby proclaim
the month of March as Women's
History Month in this city of
Vancouver and call upon the
people of Vancouver to honor
this observance with
appropriate programs,
ceremonies, and activities.
Tracy. Here you go.
>> I'm going to take a moment
here.
>> The League of Women Voters
is honored to be here today,
marking Women's History Month,
recognizing women for our vital
role as full partners in
community building, in
representation in the arts,
family life, and in every
corner of public life. And my.
The representation of. For
elected officials, wouldn't the
women of history. Glory to be
here tonight. As we note the
extraordinary founding of our
Democratic Republic 250 years
ago, let's renew its commitment
to natural law and basic human
dignity, due process, freedom
of speech and religion, the
sanctity of our homes. These
are the foundation of our
society. In this pivotal moment
of history, we are called to
confront a range of overlapping
global challenges from climate
change to economic insecurity
to basic safety. These issues
are deeply intertwined, and
women, particularly from
marginalized communities, often
experience their impacts most
acutely. Let us remember and
celebrate our ties with each
other and to the courageous and
smart women who came before us,
collaborating with their
neighbors in fierce commitment
to recognition, justice,
privacy, and freedom.
>> Thank you so much. That
concludes our proclamations and
brings us into community
communication. No
pre-registration, but we do
have one card for one
individual who came this
evening. Daniel Woods would
like to talk about item number
seven. Come on up, Daniel. Join
us here at the table. Yes. And
is push the little button with
the face on it. There you go.
Good evening.
>> Good evening. How are you?
>> Well thank you. Go ahead.
You wanted to talk about number
seven?
>> Yeah. My name is Daniel
Woods. I live over in Northeast
Vancouver, 1/36 Avenue. It's
the bill. I think that's what
it is. It's a good start, but a
lot of the streets in Vancouver
are really bad. At one point
last year, I ran over a pothole
and I had some issue with my
car. I tried filling out a
claims notice for you guys and
it got denied. But like, it's a
good start for you guys to kind
of start resurfacing the roads,
but maybe a little bit more
urgency on it.
>> We just have to wait for
money and good weather.
>> Yeah.
>> So we will be resurfacing.
Item number seven is the mil
plan to fourth plane project.
So we do east central, west and
rotate it throughout the each
year and wait for good weather.
And it looks like the frost
might be over with yet. So we
got off easy this winter with a
lot of snow and ice, thank
goodness, but our crews will be
out soon. Thank you.
>> Awesome.
>> Thank you. You bet. Thank
you. I don't have any other
cards, counselor. So we'll go
right into the consent agenda.
We have 23 items. I do need to
read a couple of them into the
record for titles. Hang on.
Item number 20. An ordinance
relating to management of the
public rights of way granting
to beam LLC and its affiliates,
a Washington LLC, a
non-exclusive and revocable
franchise to install, operate
and maintain a
telecommunications system on,
in, over, upon, along and
across the public ways of the
City of Vancouver, Washington.
Establishing certain rights,
duties, terms and conditions,
which, with respect to the
franchise and setting an
effective date and conditions,
grantee and city are sometimes
collectively referred to as the
parties. Item 21 is the first
supplemental budget. 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 and 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 and
item 22 an ordinance of the
city relating to changes to the
bylaws of the Downtown
Redevelopment Authority.
Adopting an amendment to
section 2.09 of the bylaws,
clarifying the employment
status of the Executive
Director. So, councilors, are
there any items on the consent
you would like to pull? No, no.
>> 21 or.
>> 22 item 21 and 22. I'll
accept a motion of approval for
items one through 20 and 23
move to approve Perez seconded
by. Harless Harless. All those
in favor, say aye. Opposed?
Pass. Thank you, councilor Fox,
supplemental budget item 21,
please.
>> Yeah. And reading the staff
report for this item tonight. I
know we had several questions
that council had brought up at
our workshop, and I didn't see
really I didn't see any of them
addressed in the staff report.
And I know an item that I had
brought up specifically was
related to kind of the I don't
know if we need to see an
additional staff member, but
maybe having the issue address
where we have seen kind of that,
I guess, workload impact of
losing a staff member last,
last year and, and how it's
affected our communications to
the public. And so I was hoping
that would be addressed.
Whether or not you would say we
could shift some of this work,
kind of bring back this ability
to communicate on the
dashboards back to the in
responsiveness on that
particular issue, because
because we can delegate it
somehow or show us how we might
be able to incorporate an
additional FTE. But I know
there was other items that were
brought up as well.
>> Yes. Councilor Fox Lisa
Randall Deputy City Manager,
Interim CFO yes, thank you for
the question. We are looking
into that. We are analyzing the
impact to that, and we will be
conferring with our department
directors and seeing how we can
address the impact. We do have
one staff member on our budget
team that performs some work
like that, and so we will be
conferring and addressing that
and returning back with some
information to all of you,
either through a memo to the
city manager and and possible
recommendations or explaining
how that work is being
integrated.
>> So the, what you've, the
initial response that you have
right now is that you will be
delegating this work within
existing staff, and you're not
recommending at this time that
we add additional staff
capacity.
>> That's correct. We're going
to try and address it with our
existing resources. And if we
can't, we may come back with a
request in the new biennium
budget request requests, but
it's too soon to address that.
We just didn't have enough time
to confer with all of our
department directors to really
assess the impacts of your
question. There was a lot of
information to gather.
>> Okay, I appreciate that. Are
there any other questions that
others had?
>> Yes. Thank you. Councilor. I
can address one question that I
have, but do my colleagues over
here on the right have
questions of the budget? Lisa,
during the year, people promote.
They move up in rank. They
might. You're hiring a number
of full time employees who are
coming in. Some may move from
coordinator to manager or
supervisor. Are all of those
promotions accounted for in
this supplemental budget, or do
we have to wait for each
supplemental budget for those
promotions to happen?
>> Thank you for the question,
mayor. We have started a new
process internally where we are.
Processing requests for
promotions or changes
internally with review, with
myself and the other deputy
City manager, and then they are
coming forward in a
supplemental request. So you
you will see them addressed
administratively in the
supplemental request, because
we have to account for the
changes in the accounting or in
the position changes
administratively in the
attachment B. Correct? Shannon.
>> Yeah.
>> So yeah, any re classes that
are that don't require any
additional budget. So any
additional funding or have been
administratively approved,
approved by the city manager
will be shown on our attachment
B, but not necessarily called
out specifically in a decision
package or listed on our FTE
change sheet that we show
during the presentation.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you
so much. Go ahead.
>> Yes. Just to clarify. So
it's not a net increase in the
number of employees. It's
really just a change in a
position classification. And
we're making that
administrative notation in the
attachment B that you'll see in
your supplemental request.
>> Good. Thank you so much. All
right. No further questions.
Councilors. I'll go ahead and
take a motion on item 21.
>> To approve item 21.
>> Fox seconded by.
>> Perez.
>> Boy you're good. Harless.
All those in favor, say aye.
Opposed? Motion passes. Thank
you so very much. All right,
item number 22. Thank you for
joining us.
>> Thank you. Mayor. Members of
the council. Jeff Tory, deputy
city manager. Happy to answer
any questions you might have.
>> Thank you, Councilor Fox. Go
ahead.
>> On this item. I just want to,
I guess, address a few of the
comments that we received in
advance of the meeting tonight
and what I'd characterize. We
received letters from several
individuals, but one of them
was from the elected members of
the board and from their legal
representative, Dan Lloyd. And
one of the things that caught
my attention from both of these
letters was them stressing that
city Council should not be
interfering with the day to day
operations of the DRA. And
they're interpreting that we
would be interrupting our, you
know, inserting ourselves in
these operations by merely this
change to how the executive
director is established. And I
want to clarify that when you
look at the proposed changes
that we that we're putting
forward tonight, there is
nothing in those proposed
changes that mention anything
about us taking on more of a
day to day responsibility or
changing that. The duties of
the executive director. So I
want to make that clear. So
it's kind of interesting
because we've also heard
testimony in previous
conversations along those lines
as well. And I thought we need
to highlight that tonight and
make it very clear that that
isn't what we're trying to do.
It also wanted to mention
another piece that I found a
little concerning was the
proposal that that was put
forward in the comment letters.
And, and the reason for their
proposal of, of another change
that they might find acceptable.
But it was again, focusing on
ensuring that they have choices
when selecting their executive
director. And I'd say that the
interesting thing about the
choices we've observed in the
last month by the Downtown
Redevelopment Authority is that
they have selected an executive
director, but they did that
without advertising the opening.
They did that without doing a
recruitment process. So there
was no competitive process.
There was no pool of applicants.
So I do find that very
interesting that the actions
that they're asking the city to
make sure that we don't prevent
them from doing are exactly the
actions that they have taken.
So I just want to make that
clear that we are moving
forward with this proposal
tonight. That is just clearly
establishing our city's ability
to continue to ensure that the
DRA is seated with individuals
that we select that serve in
their capacity as prescribed in
the charter and the bylaws,
that we merely select them and
they go forward and and carry
out their duties and the day to
day tasks that are part of
their charter. And the city
doesn't have any new interest
in, in taking on those duties
or overseeing those particular
responsibilities. I think
that's all I wanted to say
tonight before we take action.
>> Thank you. Councilor. Any
other comments? Yes, councilor
Perez.
>> Thank you. I appreciate the
dialog that took place at the
last meeting where there was
some work that was remanded
back to staff to look at a more,
more amenable language. Right.
But that still safeguards the
public's interest. And for me,
that's where my priority is, is
safeguarding the public's
interest. And so at the end of
the day, our job is to make
decisions that do protect the
public interest. And this
ordinance strengthens the
transparency, clarifies
accountability and safeguards a
significant public investments
tied to the convention center
in downtown redevelopment. And
so that kind of clarity is
exactly what the public expects
from us.
>> Thank you.
>> Any comments? Jeff? We all
know that it's governed by a
seven person board that's
appointed by the city Council.
For some reason, in the back of
my mind, I'm recalling state
auditors call us on the carpet
if there's any problem with the
Dre. Is that correct?
>> The the Dres Financial
annual financial statements are
bundled together with the
city's, along with the Public
Facilities district, that both
are considered component units
of the city. I'm not aware that
we have had any specific
findings related to either of
those agencies. I do know that,
more broadly, the State
Auditor's Office has opined
about the the general lack of
appropriate oversight for such
redevelopment agencies across
the state. So it's something
they're always on alert to.
>> But it falls under our audit.
>> That's correct.
>> Yeah, that's what I thought.
Okay. Councilors hearing no
further questions. I'll
entertain a motion.
>> To approve.
>> Fox. Seconded by. Perez
Perez. No additional comments.
All those in favor say aye.
Opposed? Motion passes. Thank
you, Mr. Tory. All right. That
concludes the business of the
City Council. We are now into
communication from the council.
Councilor Harless comments.
>> No additional comments.
Thank you.
>> Okay. Perez.
>> Yes, I wanted to take the
opportunity to highlight about
30 folks or so or so that
received awards and recognition
from the Vancouver Fire
Department when they had their
awards ceremony last week at
Clark College. And one thing is
to read an incident that
happens in the newspaper and
how our first responders were
there. And another thing is
actually here, all these life
saving occurrences that are
first responders did. And so I
just want to acknowledge those
who receive the award. They did
an outstanding job. And I, and
I was so proud of our first
responder. The second person I
want to acknowledge, especially
as we're in International
Women's Day, is the Vancouver
Police Department Sergeant
Tanya Wolstein, and she was
honored with the 2026 spotlight
for the Justice Award recipient
by the National Women's
Coalition Against Violence and
Exploitation. And so she has
helped strengthen response to
domestic violence crime. And
she plays a key role in
developing and implementing the
department's assessment
protocol and advancing sexual
assault investigation practices.
So her her work is a deep
commitment of of our city to
our residents safety, survivor
safety and accountability. So a
shout out to all those who.
There was like 30 names from
the Vancouver Fire Department.
So I'm not going to list all
those. But you know who they
are, and I don't know if the
city plans to highlight
Sergeant Tanya Wilson and the
awardees from the Vancouver
Fire Department. I think in
acknowledgment of the great
work that they did to our
public, would would be nice to
see.
>> Thank you, Councilor Fox.
>> Sure. I just wanted to share
that. On Thursday, I attended
the Greater Vancouver Chamber's
Inspire Her conference that was
held at the Hilton. I think
this was their third year of,
of holding this particular all
day conference. And it's
intended to really have
workshops that are focused on
developing executive women's
leadership skills. And I'll
just say, I have never
regretted taking a day off to
be there and to hear and learn
from all of the women that
attend this conference. I think
this year they had over 600
folks participating. And
anyways, just wanted to say,
for those of you again, we're
celebrating International
Women's Month, but I would say
put this on your calendar for
all the women out there that
would like to be inspired next
year.
>> And the luncheon was
delightful, learned a lot and
congratulations to all the Iris
Award winners. And you're right,
Councilor Perez. Those are the
stories of our first responders
who have saved lives is
absolutely tremendous. It's
enough. So many of the awards
were given to citizens not in
uniform, but they came upon an
incident and they jumped in and
volunteered and saved that life.
And then our responders came.
And if it hadn't been for our
own citizens, we probably would
be talking a memorial rather
than a celebration of. So
congratulations to all of them.
We have a couple different
items. Councilors. Wednesday,
March 18th, Firstenburg for 30
boards and commission
recruitment. So we have nine
boards and commissions that
have vacancies on them, and we
will be recruiting our folks to
come and join us in that
decision making process. The
tomorrow is a big day. The
governor will be announcing,
and the IVR will be announcing
where we are with the I-5
bridge. And so that information
will come out around 11:00. If
you have any questions, feel
free. I don't think Catherine
Kelly is in the audience, but
she'd be happy to help fill in
any gaps. It's also how Patty's
Day parade down Main Street.
Let's hope the rain holds off.
And then on Sunday at Magenta
Theater at 1:00, we have the
15th poetry moves. Those are
the poems that are written and
then displayed inside the
C-tran busses. So we have a
great opportunity to look at
the creativity, read the
creativity of individuals in
our community as we ride the
busses. So City Manager, do you
have communications?
>> Nothing for me tonight,
mayor.
>> City attorney.
>> I think from LA. Mayor.
>> Thank you. Okay, then that
concludes the business portion
of the city Council meetings.
Sarah will have CVTV turn off
all of our cameras. We will
record audio, but we need to
move into our community forum
right now. Unfortunately, I
don't have any preregistration,
nor do I have any yellow cards.
So Sarah, go ahead and we'll
close the city business meeting
at 706. Wait a moment and have
CVTV turn everything off