Good evening. Welcome to
Vancouver City Council. Today
is Monday, August 10th, 2026.
Two workshops this afternoon.
The first one was an update on
the Affordable Housing Fund and
the second on the multifamily
tax exemption code changes
brought on by House Bill 1491.
We went into executive session
to discuss collective
bargaining. We're now in our
regular meeting. 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.
Please call the roll.
>> Councilmember Harless.
Present. Perez present here.
Paulson. Here. Stober Hansen
present. Mayor. McEnerny Ogle.
>> Present.
>> Move to excuse. Council
member Stober. Second.
>> All those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you very much. Councilors.
You have three sets of minutes
in front of you. How about the
minutes of July 20th? Are there
any changes? Corrections. Fox
seconded by Harless. All those
in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you.
Minutes of July 27th.
Corrections or changes. Hearing
none, I'll entertain a motion.
>> Move to approve.
>> Seconded by Harless. All
those in favor, say aye. Aye.
Opposed? Motion passes and the
minutes of August 3rd. Mr.
Hansen, seconded by Perez. Are
there any corrections or
changes? Hearing none. All
those in favor, say aye.
Opposed. Motion passes. Thank
you. We'll now move into
community communication. I do
not have any cards for this. I
do have one person, Kimberly
Elbon from Le Center. Not here,
not here. Close. Close that
I'll move on. And we and we
have senior patrol leader from
troop 358. Please come and join
us. Tell us a little about the
folks in your troop, please.
>> Hi. I am the senior patrol
leader of troop three. Troop
ASA is my assistant senior
patrol leader. He's not here.
Oh. Our troop was founded and
chartered by Vancouver Church
about 20 years or so. A little
bit more. We meet every Monday,
have campouts every third
weekend of the month. During
our meetings, we cover a large
range of topics, focusing
mainly on scout skills such as
fire building, first aid and
knots. We also cover a range of
life skills such as internet
safety, like leadership, which
is more of a Scout skill and
complete requirements for this
various ranks. This helps the
Scouts rank up because. In
order. Because you have to get
the ranks in order to get Eagle,
which is the goal of our troop.
Each summer we also have a week
long camp. This year we went to
Camp Meriwether for their 100th
year anniversary of being a
camp. It was an absolute blast.
I had a ton of fun, but not
only that, we also had four
scouts advanced to the next
rank, which is a pretty big
deal. So yeah.
>> Very big deal. And you
completed your Eagle?
>> I did.
>> And what was your project?
>> I built a stage for Royal
Ridges camp up in Yacolt.
>> Congratulations. Thank you
Nate. Good job. All right. And
we gave all of them. Many of
your scouts are working on
either citizenship in the
community or communication
tonight. Great. Thank you so
very much.
>> Thank you.
>> Guess I'll close the
communication. Bring it back to
consent agenda. Counselors. I
have item number six being
pulled. Are there any other
items you would like pulled?
Item two. Hearing none more, I
will entertain a motion on
numbers one, three, four, five
and seven. Fox seconded by
Perez Perez. All those in favor,
say aye. Opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you, counselor Fox. Take
item number two, please.
>> Item number two is the
construction, acceptance and
release of Retainage for the
northeast Hannani fourth Avenue
extension. And it was the first
part of it's on southeast first
Street, first part of section
330 sub area plan. And the
contractor was rocky. This
contract. We had a lot of
discussion from council,
worried about some safety of
workers, and we added some
additional provisions to this
contract that were new. And I
was asking staff for a bit of
an update on how some of those
new provisions and inspections
were implemented. And I guess
the results of that, I did get
an email response from staff,
but I actually, when I read the
response, I thought maybe the
rest of council should benefit
from hearing what staff had to
say about this. It was all all
good news. Actually. I was
pleasantly surprised to hear
kind of the response from staff.
You said staff was here.
>> Mayor, members of council,
deputy City Manager Jeff Tower.
I do believe we have staff
support in the room. Here.
There's Baylei. Thanks.
>> Hello. I'm Bailey Paul. I'm
one of the engineers within
construction services, and I
followed up with Council member
Fox. I'll just kind of give you
guys an overview of what we
said. So yes, we did add some
additional inspection resources
beyond our normal staffing
approach for this project. The
additional staff time was
charged directly to the capital
project and was accounted for
as part of the project's
construction inspection costs.
This was a project specific
measure and was different from
our typical inspection staffing
on other projects. The approach
to additional staffing did not
transfer the responsibility for
contractor safety to the city.
The contractor remained
responsible for its employees
means, methods, site safety and
compliance with additional
safety requirements. It's also
worth noting that after award
of this project, staff updated
our inspection approach on all
projects. The new standard
includes consistent staff
review of site safety plans,
enhanced safety training for
staff, and continuing use of
the state's experience
modification rate EMR, among
other factors.
>> Yeah, all really great
feedback on a project where we
were a little concerned about
it. And not only did it
successfully complete, but
under budget and also with it
sounds like a better safety
rating has affected other
safety outcomes for other
projects. So I'm really pleased.
Thank you. Thanks.
>> Okay. I'll entertain a
motion for item number two.
>> Move to approve item number
two.
>> Seconded by. Perez Perez.
All those in favor, say aye.
Opposed. Motion passes. Item
number six is an ordinance
rendering findings and issuing
a decision on the Mount Hood
Vista zone. Change from R9
LeBard lower density
residential to R 17 lower
density residential and an 82
lot subdivision and providing
for severability and an
effective date and okay
counselor Hanson recuses
himself. Counselors. Any
comments, questions. Concerns.
Counselor. Fox.
>> Just a question. Did you
pull this because staff was
going to.
>> Know because Counselor
Hanson wanted it pulled.
>> Okay. I mean, other than the
fact that this reviewing this
development proposal and the
hearings examiner record,
unless other council members
have come up with other things.
But it would seem as if we have
a very narrow ability to really
make any particular mitigation
measures, given that they're
they're following every code we
have, so they're not asking for
additional concessions for this
project. And so just yeah, I
thought we were going to have
maybe a presentation on this
particular project tonight.
>> City Attorney Nina Cook.
>> Thank you, mayor. Reminder
to council that this matter
will be subject to a quasi
judicial hearing next week, at
which time we'll go through the
question and answer process to
confirm and assure the
applicant and the public that
you have not yet made up your
minds until after you hear the
evidence and after the hearing
next week.
>> Thank you. Any other
comments? Yes. Deputy City
Manager Jeff Tory.
>> Thank you. Mayor, one item
to add. We did get a request
from Councilor Stober for
information to be presented at
the public hearing at your next
council meeting. I'll just
highlight that for you. The
question was about the zone
change, because this particular
zone no longer exists in the
newly implemented comp plan,
staff will give a more detailed
answer, but just a reminder
that this application was
submitted prior to the new comp
plan being approved and going
into effect. And so it's
actually being processed under
the rules that were in place at
the time. And there'll be more
details during the staff report
next week. Thank you mayor.
>> Thank you. So counselors,
I'll entertain a motion to
advance the ordinance, setting
the date for the second reading
and public hearing for next
Monday, August 17th.
>> So moved.
>> Paulson seconded by Fox. Fox.
All those in favor, say aye.
Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you. Counselor. That
concludes the business of the
city will move into
communications counselor
Harless.
>> I Council member Harless. I
wanted to bring to the rest of
council and see if there was
support for putting on a future
consent agenda, a resolution
that would express our
opposition to the two ballot
initiatives in November.
IL26001 and IL26638. Already
chatted briefly in my one on
one with our city manager. Just
about like, what is our future
agendas look like? And that
this he confirmed this would be
an easy lift and we could even
see it on the agenda this month
if the council so would like to
see that feel like it's
definitely in alignment with a
lot of our values and
statements that we have made.
And the city of Tacoma just did
this recently. And so yeah, I'm
looking for support from others
to put this on a future consent
agenda.
>> This is Councilor Perez. I
support us looking into this
further and bringing this back
so that we're better aware of,
of what these initiatives
actually mean to our children,
so that we could have a more
informed discussion about about
what it means.
>> Councilor Harless, what are
the ballot measures? Again.
>> It is IL26001 and IL26638.
>> Two members of the council
have asked for an agenda
addition. We will find the
opportunity to make that happen.
>> Thank you, thank you.
>> Any other items?
>> Councilor Perez yes, just
just to clarify those two
initiatives. It's the no hate
in Washington state campaign
effort. And so these two
initiatives really about
respecting our children, the
dignity of our kids. And so
most importantly, I don't
believe that our children
should be subjected to physical
touch to just confirm their
gender. I think that is absurd.
And so I just wanted you to get
a little more information on
what those two initiatives are.
When you do your, your homework
and we research on it. So look
forward to our discussion on
where we stand with that. Other
than that, I having so much fun
introducing the summer concerts
in the park, and I know we've
got one last summer concert
coming up this weekend. Sunday.
Really sad to see those come to
a closure, but it's just been a
delight to see so many people
really come out and enjoy the
park system and music and get
together, and really thank our
sponsors for helping us make
that happen, and most
importantly, to be able to
provide those for free. And I
know there's a lot that has
been taking place in, in our
great city. So I just want to
make sure that that I'm very
thankful that we love our city
and that we're out there
enjoying all the events and
that our staff is working
really hard to provide all
those opportunities for our
families. So that is it.
>> Thank you, Councilor Fox,
councilor Paulsen, you were
busy this weekend. Councilor
Hansen.
>> Let's talk about Fircrest.
Is that happening tomorrow?
>> It is.
>> Go ahead. So National Night
Out. It is Fircrest. Is there
anywhere else that's going on
tomorrow night?
>> Not tomorrow night, but
Wednesday night. Airport green.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. Okay. Those were all
the national night outs that
were canceled because of smoke
and everything else. So this
week, Tuesday, tomorrow night,
fircrest big one. And then
Wednesday airport green.
>> Excellent. That's all I have.
Mayor.
>> Okay, Thursday also is open
House ministries block party in
the middle of the day, which is
always a wonderful event. So
we'll be looking forward to
that. But we had a heck of a
time at the Art and Music
Festival this weekend. Friday,
Saturday, Sunday it was packed
and again, free concerts to the
entire world. A little Gershwin
last night. That was lovely.
The breeze was blowing through.
No smoke, clear skies, lots of
fun activities and 5000 people
probably found a place to park
and walk in to all of the
exhibits and all of the
sculptures. And the dragon had
his parade with all the little
dragons behind it, and
Vancouver Symphony had a huge
turnout all three nights. Gosh,
we had high schoolers up on
stage two. They did a beautiful
job. Anything that I forgot,
councilor.
>> I think you covered it
pretty well. Other than to say,
I think that we should take
tremendous pride in our
symphony and the fact that ours
is the only free outdoor
performance of its kind in the
entire Pacific Northwest.
>> Nothing in Oregon and
nothing up north of us.
>> Right. So. And last night,
during the introduction, the
mayor did an informal poll of
our audience members, and I
would say close to 30%
indicated that they had come
from south of the river. So a
lot of bringing a lot of people
in from a pretty wide geography
to enjoy our great city. And I
think all of us got an email
this morning from somebody who
complimented us on having come
here recently and appreciated
the changes that our city has
undergone and complimented us
for that. And so we have a lot
to take pride in.
>> Yeah.
>> Great partnership. Yes, yes.
Yes. Yes, absolutely. Deputy
City Manager, any additional
updates from you?
>> Thank you. Mayor. Members of
Council, this is my favorite
part of the agenda because I
get to delegate upward. There's
a couple of homework items for
the city manager to follow up
on. We've got we'll provide
some detailed information on
the projects for affordable
housing that have been
committed but have unspent
balances. We'll also provide
the council with the makeup of
the Housing Review Committee,
and then we will also bring
forward an item for discussion
of a resolution related to the
two ballot measures that
Councilor Harless identified
during her news report. At this
point, we have a report to you
from the Commission on Aging,
and I'd like to invite Mike
Anderson and Julie Donovan
forward to provide that
presentation for you tonight.
Thank you.
>> Come on up. Hit those little
buttons in the green lights
will go on.
>> Good evening.
>> Green button. Julie. Years
went off. There we go. Now we
can hear you.
>> Okay. Sorry.
>> Good evening, Madam Mayor.
City council, city staff and
residents of Vancouver. My name
is Mike Anderson. I'm the vice
chair of the Clark County
Commission on Aging. And I'd
also like to introduce Julie
Donovan, one of our esteemed
members of the commission.
Tonight. We will. Explain to
you our actions during 2025,
the Commission on Aging, also
known as the CoA, is into its
second decade of providing
leadership, developing
community awareness and guiding
positive change toward an all
age friendly, livable community.
We are so pleased to be able to
share a brief annual update
with you. Next slide. Can we
control the slides?
>> Yes. And you've got the
clicker just right there. Yes.
>> Oh, great.
>> The purpose of this work
session or this meeting is to
update the City Council on the
Commission on Aging's work in
2025. Today, we'll be sharing
some background information
about the Commission on Aging,
giving you a high level
overview of the Aging Readiness
Plan, providing an outline of
the Commission's 2025 focus on
healthy communities and civic
involvement. Acquaint you with
the 2025 Silver Citizen Award
winner and share a summary of a
few additional commission
achievements in 2025. To start
off, we will give you some
background on the commission
and review the work completed
by the Commission in 2025.
Clark County is everywhere in
the country is anticipating a
surge in the number of senior
residents 60 or better, by 2035.
1 in 4 Clark County residents
will be 60 or older. With the
knowledge of this coming change,
the county council approved the
original Aging Readiness plan
in 2012 and formed the nine
member Volunteer Commission on
Aging. The Commission's charge
is to provide leadership in
addressing the special needs of
the aging population to manage
and assist with the
implementation of the county's
Aging Readiness Plan and to
update the plans as needs
change. The Aging Readiness
Plan is a long range planning
document that assesses the
county's readiness to serve as
a home for a growing number of
older residents. The
recommendations in the AARP
focus on topics such as missing
or lacking public
infrastructure, support for
social services and zoning, and
planning standards that
encourage an age friendly
community that older adults can
thrive. In. The ten year update
of the AARP was adopted by the
county council in September of
2023 to ensure that the plan
reflected the community's needs.
Public engagement was a focus
of the of the update of the
AARP. It centered on what makes
Clark County an age friendly
place, and what opportunities
and hurdles there are for
making improvements. Engagement
activities included a survey of
older adults, focus group
meetings with service providers
and agencies, online input
opportunities, and three public
workshops to evaluate existing
strategies, brainstorm ideas
for new strategies, and
prioritize the strategies for
improvement in the community.
The Commission was honored to
learn that the updated plan was
awarded a 2024 Governor's Smart
Communities Awards from the
Washington State Department of
Commerce. The Governor's Smart
Community Awards highlight
effective implementation of the
state's Growth Management Act
and other local or regional
planning procedures. The plan
received the Judges Merit Award,
which recognizes success in
more than one judged category.
>> The AARP includes 18 goals
that are implemented through 67
strategies. These strategies
are intended to improve the
community's capacity to support
the growth of older population
and ultimately benefit all ages.
The Housing Chapter provides
strategies to address the
various housing needs of the
aging community, such as
multigenerational living
options and affordable units.
It also supports construction
that enables people to age in
place, which generally means
staying in their own home or
community as their abilities
change. The mobility chapter
includes strategies based on
the on the transportation and
mobility needs of older adults.
It outlines ways that older
adults tend to travel and areas
that could use improvement,
such as public transit, Ada,
accessibility, and others. The
final chapter is on emergency
preparedness, which was added
to the AARP during the update
process of 2023. This chapter
provides strategies that
outline how older adults might
be affected by natural and
human caused hazards, and
outlines ways the county can
improve the health and safety
of older adults and methods to
prepare them for these hazards.
Thanks. Aging readiness plan
implementation efforts in 2025.
That's the wrong slide. Oops,
thanks. Focused on healthy
communities and civic
involvement, the Healthy
Communities chapter provides
strategies that encourages
opportunities in Clark County
related to access to healthy
foods, park parks and
recreation, and goods and
services related to healthy
eating. It includes strategies
to improve and expand access to
resources by creating a
welcoming and age friendly,
built environment that serves
all ages and all abilities. The
Civic Involvement Chapter
establishes strategies based on
increasing older adult civic
involvement within the county.
It reviews ways the older
adults can engage with their
communities, like working,
volunteering, attending
community events, participating
in local government or advocacy
work. The commission began
their forum series, which the
Commission on Aging calls
fireside chats to guests and
experts focusing on providing
access to healthy food
resources, which included
information related to food and
other resources offered by our
local food banks and community
gardens. They continued by
hosting a meeting with experts
from the Clark Cowlitz Fire and
Rescue, the National Alliance
on Mental Illness and Hope
Dementia Support to find better
ways to raise awareness of
available services and support
for those experiencing mental
illness and those in a caring
role. The partnership with Hope
flourished in 2025, and the
Commission on Aging is looking
forward to fostering this
connection in the future. The
Commission on Aging also
invited staff from the City of
Vancouver to discuss
opportunities for social
connection and fitness. They
shared resources and
information about opportunities
for older adults at the Marchel,
LUP and Firstenburg community
centers. The commission
partnered with staff from the
Area Aging Area Agency on Aging
and Disabilities of Southwest
Washington for a discussion
about wraparound care options
for older adults who wish to
maintain independence and age
in place. This discussion
included input from design
doctors and included
information on how older adults
can continue to live in their
homes comfortably and safely.
The commission also explored
social connection through a
special joint meeting with the
Clark County Youth Commission.
The two commissions discussed
cross-generational challenges
around mental health and formed
relationships that carry
through the school year, and
concluded with the Youth
Commission Art show. In
partnership with the Area
Agency on Aging and
Disabilities of Southwest
Washington Neighborhood
Associations and other partner
agencies. We shared and
distributed best practices for
reaching older adults. The
Commission on Aging also hosted
a fireside chat with members
from the Humane Society of
Southwest Washington, and
explored the value of social
connection between people and
animals. Commission members
also teamed with Hope Dementia
Support and participated in the
stand down event in October.
These events occur locally all
around the US and are meant to
connect homeless and at risk
veterans with comprehensive
support services in one
location. The local event is
organized by the Clark County
Veterans Assistance Center and
is open to all veterans and
their families. Commission
members connected with visitors,
provided a listening ear and
gathered feedback about the
challenges facing veterans
today. Early in the year, the
Commission on Aging welcomed
area experts from both the
private and public sector to
discuss housing options for low
income individuals, and in the
fall, commission members
benefited from a presentation
provided by the Clark County
Assessor's Office regarding a
special tax exemption option
for seniors. In addition to the
focus on healthy communities
and civic involvement, the
Commission on Aging presented
its annual Silver Citizen Award
to encourage and support older
adults for their contributions.
The Clark County Commission on
Aging established a Silver
Citizen program to recognize
older adults who go above and
beyond in service. The award
recognizes the valuable
contributions older adults make
to the vitality of a community,
and is open to any county
resident 60 years or better,
who has enhanced the community
through their life's work,
engagement of others,
volunteerism, or other
impactful acts of service to
the community for any age group.
Recognition for 2025 was
awarded to Sharon Wallach,
president of the Board of
Directors for the Battleground
Senior Citizens, Inc. She has
actively served this group
since 2018, and under her
leadership, the group has
expanded expanded their roster
from 90 to over 700
participants. I talked to her
today. It was over 900 and
serves up to 200 lunches to
area seniors each week.
>> And finally, other
commission work included
members and staff giving
presentations at several local
community meetings in 2025.
This included city and town
council meetings, neighborhood
groups and advisory bodies.
Commission members also provide
provided a presence at meetings
for the Washington State
Council on Aging Community
Health Access Resource Team.
Formerly it's now known as
Schaadt, formerly the A DRN and
the Area Aging Area Agency on
Aging and Disabilities of
Southwest Washington Advisory
Council. They also cosponsored
a County Council proclamation
for Older Americans month. That
is the end of our formal
presentation. We would now like
to open up for discussion and
answer any questions you may
have for us, or discuss topics
of interest for you.
>> Thank you Mike. Thank you.
Julie. Councilors, do you have
any questions? Yes, Councilor
Hanson.
>> Thank you, mayor, Council
member Hanson, I just want to
say great report, and thank you
for coming in and letting us
know what you're up to.
>> Thank you, thank you, thank
you.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you. And I hope to see
you at the Fircrest National
Night Out tomorrow, because
that's my neighborhood.
>> That's always a huge event
out there.
>> Yeah, we expect anywhere
from 3 to 500 people.
>> Are you starting at 5 or 530?
>> Do we.
>> 5:00, 5:00 group should be
the groups that are having
booths. There will be set up by
430.
>> Sure.
>> And parking at the school
district?
>> Yes.
>> There's two major parking
lots right next to the park.
>> Right. Good. Thank you Mike.
You're welcome. Good job.
>> Oh, I also do have copies of
our annual report for the
counselors.
>> Yeah, Mike, just leave him
with Jeff. He'll take care of
him. Pass him out. Good job.
Okay. Mr. Terry, do you have
any other items from the city
manager's table?
>> I do not.
>> All right. That closes
communication. This is the
point in our evening where
we're done with all of the
agenda items. We open it up to
the public to talk to us about
anything that they would like
to talk about. And we do not
videotape this. We do audiotape
it according to the CWS. So
we'll go ahead and ask staff to
go ahead and turn off the
cameras.