Good evening. Welcome to
Vancouver City Council. Today
is Monday, July 13th, 2026. I'm
Anne McEnerny Ogle mayor for
this city. And this afternoon
in our workshops, we had the
first of many biennial budget
updates, followed by a
discussion about our public
safety sales tax. So we are now
in the business portion of our
meeting. And let's stand and
join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance, please. 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,
Miss Staller. Please call the
roll.
>> Councilmember Harless.
Present. Perez. Present. Fox.
Here. Paulson here. Stober here.
Hanson. Present. Mayor.
McEnerny Ogle present.
>> Thank you very much. Mr.
Wahler, are you able to change
our screens so I can see.
Individuals?
>> Are you wanting to see like
the CVTV feed?
>> Especially if Mayor Pro Tem
Sarah Fox raises your hand or
wants to chat.
>> Okay, so yeah, I've got her
on there and she's not just at
the moment.
>> But we don't have anything
right now.
>> Oh thank you. Yeah.
>> Okay. That'll work for us.
Thank you. All right.
Councilors, you have in front
of you a minutes, minutes of
June 15th, 2026. Are there any
corrections or changes. Mr.
Hanson? Seconded by Paulson.
Those in favor say aye. Aye.
Opposed. Motion passes. Thank
you very much. How about the
minutes of June 22nd? Changes
or corrections? Perez seconded
by Stauber. Stauber. All those
in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion passes. Let's move into
a proclamation this evening. We
have a proclamation for the
month of Hope. Lynn and Julie.
Yay! Come on up and I'll
present this to you. Let me
read just a little bit of this.
Thank you. Whereas dementia is
a progressive group of brain
diseases that affect memory,
thinking, behavior, and daily
functioning, impacting
individuals, families, care
partners, and the broader
community. And whereas people
living with dementia and their
care partners face distinct
emotional, social, and
financial challenges, often
navigating years of caregiving,
ambiguous loss, and the complex
grief, hope Dementia Support, a
Vancouver based nonprofit,
provides free weekly support
groups, education, outreach,
and compassionate guidance to
families across Clark County,
strengthening the community
resilience and reducing
isolation in July is recognized
as the month of Hope, dedicated
to raising awareness, honoring
care partners, supporting
people living with dementia,
and promoting community
understanding and compassion.
Now, therefore, I and McEnerny
Ogle, Mayor of Vancouver,
Washington, do hereby proclaim
the month of July, the month of
Hope in the City of Vancouver
and encourage all community
members to support dementia
awareness, honor care partners,
and build a compassionate,
informed and connected
community.
>> Thank you. And unfortunately,
I need glasses in order to read
my notes.
>> Small.
>> Tight. So good evening. I'm
Julie Donovan, I'm the program
manager for Hope Dementia
Support. I'm with Erin Bennett,
who is our newly added
volunteer coordinator as well.
We're very grateful for her. On
behalf of Hope Dementia Support,
thank you for recognizing July
as the month of Hope in the
city of Vancouver. We are
sincerely grateful for this
proclamation and for your
commitment to supporting people
living with dementia, their
care partners, and the families
who walk beside them. Here in
Clark County, an estimated 7800
adults are living with
Alzheimer's disease, and many
more are living with other
forms of dementia. But dementia
is never just one person's
diagnosis, because behind every
individual is often a spouse,
an adult child, a parent,
another family member, or a
close friend who steps into the
role of care partner. Beyond
that is even a larger circle of
grandchildren, neighbors,
coworkers, health care
providers, faith communities,
and friends whose lives are
also changed. Dementia creates
a ripple effect that reaches
far beyond the person living
with the disease. It touches
families, workplaces,
neighborhoods, and our entire
community. One of the things we
hear most often from care
partners and from people living
with dementia, is I felt so
alone. That simple statement
reminds us of why our work
matters. Dementia can be an
incredibly isolating journey,
but it doesn't have to be.
Every day. At Hope, we have the
privilege of walking alongside
families through support groups,
education, meaningful
engagement programs, and one on
one guidance. We see the
challenges they face, but we
also see incredible resilience,
compassion and love. When
people find connection and
support, they discover that
they don't have to carry this
journey all by themselves. This
proclamation is more than
recognizing a month on the
calendar. It sends a powerful
message that people living with
dementia are valued, that care
partners are seen, and that our
community is committed to
walking alongside them. As we
recognize the month of hope, I
encourage everyone to learn a
little bit more about dementia,
about brain health for
ourselves, reaching out to a
family that may be caregiving,
and look for ways to make our
community even more welcoming
than it is more understanding
and more inclusive. Because
when a community understands
dementia, families are stronger,
care partners feel less alone,
and people living with dementia
can continue to live with
dignity, purpose and connection
something we all need. Thank
you for helping make Vancouver
a place where no one has to
walk the dementia journey alone.
Thank you so much.
>> Thank you Julie. That
concludes our proclamations and
brings us into community
communications concerning the
consent agenda. I do not have
any cards on anyone that would
like to. Comment on the consent
counselors. Are there any items
that you would like to pull? We
have eight of them.
>> Mayor. Number six, please.
>> Item number six in an item
number eight. Any others? Okay,
I'll entertain a motion for
items one through five and
seven. Hanson. Seconded by
Perez, Hanson and Perez. All
those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you very much, Counselor
Stover. Item number six.
>> Yeah. This is the item
regarding the master plan for
Pearson. And really this is
commentary. Commentary that
ChemImage Washougal. You can
sit down. Meredith. Port of
Kamea. Washougal is also doing
master planning on Grove Field
and just expressing a desire
that we are coordinating with
them in the master planning
process. And I'll make another
commentary. Boy, it would be
great if, say, Clark County had
a a coordinating body for all
the airports in Clark County,
and they had an aviation
advisory board, but neither
here nor there. But the just
the request that we're
coordinating with Kamea.
Washougal on on master plan.
>> Attended one of their.
>> Meredith, would you push
that? There you go. Thank you.
>> Oops. Nope. Hold it.
>> There you go. There you go.
You got it.
>> Are we on green?
>> Okay. Start again. Meredith
Fox.
>> Hi. Airport manager at
Pearson Field. I recently
attended the APEC meeting of
Camas, so I'm already
coordinating and working with
the airport manager over there.
>> So wonderful. Yeah, thank
you very much.
>> Meredith, before you go, so
this is a grant from the
Federal Aviation Administration
to develop the master plan
airport Master Plan project,
and it authorizes the city
manager to execute an agreement.
Could you talk a little bit
about the process here?
>> Process of the master plan.
>> Of acquiring, of who's going
to be helping with that master
plan?
>> So we went out to RFP and
Century West was selected
already. We were just waiting
for the grant acceptance with
the FAA that we need signature
for. And then also Wasch Dot is
going to provide a 2.5% grant
as well. And they needed this
to be approved first before
getting that. And then it's
just the order, the schedule of
doing this first and then
getting the washed out grant to
award Century West their
contract. So you'll see me at a
future meeting.
>> Okay. And you also have an
aviation advisory commission
over at Pearson. So they'll be
involved in this process also.
>> Absolutely. Arc. And then
we'll also have another group
called Pack, which will include
Clark County representation,
public representation, city
representation, the AEC. And
we'll have multiple open houses
for public comment as well.
>> Okay. Thank you counselors,
do you have any questions? All
right.
>> Mayor, move to approve item
number six.
>> Stuebe seconded by Fox. All
those in favor, say aye.
>> Aye.
>> Opposed? Motion passes.
Thank you mayor. Thank you. All
right. Let's jump over item
number eight. Counselor. Mayor
Pro Tem Fox.
>> Yes. I you know, this is
just about approving our
invoice payments. And usually,
you know, there's a lot of
items on here. I mean, it's $40
million overall just to give
everyone kind of a scope of, of
what this item includes. But
one, a couple things stood out
that I hadn't maybe noticed
before, but I'm wondering if we
have a policy on sponsorships
from the city, you know, again,
kind of building on some of our
financial policies. And why I
ask that is because there's a a
payment to the Oregon City
School Foundation grad night.
And I'm it seems a little odd
that we would be spending money
on an Oregon City School
Foundation grad night. And I'm
assuming it's a sponsorship or
something like that, but staff
or anyone have any information
about one or the other, like,
do we have. Policy on
sponsoring such activities and
or any of these type of grad
night activities?
>> Sorry, I was trying to find
where that is at.
>> Well, it was 31761. So it's,
I don't remember what exact
page I don't have the page
pulled up. There's 37 pages for
everyone in the audience to
understand, but I could find
the page. But that was the
check number was 3170.
>> Yeah. Let me do some
research on that because I know
that while we do have policies
related to sponsorships, it's
generally very restrictive
because of the gift of public
funds doctrine in Washington
that we are very limited in
what we can do as far as any
type of just sponsoring an
event or something like that.
We have more flexibility if
their mission is in alignment
with ours. But as I say, in
general, we don't have much
ability to just do a
sponsorship. There has to be
like a contract or an
expectation of service in
general for some, for us to be
able to do something like that.
>> That's that's what I
understood too. That's why it
seemed a little strange. And,
you know, there's other
organizations throughout this,
you know, our, our list of
checks and whatnot, but most of
them are things like refunds,
which, you know, you assume
even if they're from out of
this area, like there's a, I
think Central Catholic High
School is on there, but my
assumption is maybe they rented
a facility or something along
those lines. But yeah, this one
just stood out as kind of I
know it's a small amount, but I,
like I said, it's when you read
through 37 pages every week,
you know, you don't always
notice these abnormal
abnormalities, I guess. So I
would appreciate some
information back either if
there is a policy or what in
particular this item is about.
>> Unless councilor, as you
pointed out, it's a refund for
a rental that they didn't use.
>> It doesn't say refund. It
says payment.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah, I did find it. So I've
got it flagged.
>> All right.
>> So I'm not I'm not sure if
the action is to approve all of
the payments and refunds except
for this particular item, just
to move this forward. And
looking to the two of you for
guidance.
>> Mayor Pro Tem, it's up to
you. You could do either.
>> Okay, well, why don't I move
all of our payments and refunds
to move forward tonight, with
the exception of that singular
one, until staff can bring us
back information next week.
Second.
>> Any other further discussion,
mayor? Yes.
>> Thank you, Council Member
Fox, for coming through and
finding finding that. So
appreciate your diligence.
>> Okay. Motion by Fox,
seconded by Harless. All those
in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you. That
concludes the consent agenda.
Now we move into the
communications from the
councilors. Councilor Harless.
>> Yeah, we're all back from
break, so hope you all got some
family time in. I just wanted
to quickly mention that there's
for those that maybe didn't
notice that there are tours of
the wastewater treatment center,
and I brought my 17 year old
and was surprised he actually
still had fun. So that was
always good. So really great
educational tour. There's lots
of kids. So just big
appreciation for the staff that
is doing that. They all the
kids and the adults learn so
much and definitely walked away.
Yeah, lots of community events
over this break went to, but
just particularly wanted to
call out those staff that did a
phenomenal job.
>> Councilor Perez.
>> None for me tonight. Thank
you.
>> Councilor Fox.
>> Sure. Although I was joining
remotely at the beginning of
the meeting tonight, I was
driving back from being on a
panel at the Pacific Northwest
Climate Week kickoff event
today in Seattle, and just
wanted to say that that event
is happening all over because
it is called the Pacific
Northwest. There's events
happening here in Vancouver and
Portland, as well as up, up
north throughout the entire
week. And so for those of you
that might want to tune in to
any of those events, they're
free. So you practically
everything's free for the week.
So just want to key everyone
into that. But also just to
mention as, as a panelist today
and being at the kickoff, it
was just kind of an inspiring
event to talk about things that
are happening in the world of
climate action throughout the
state of Washington, just kind
of centering ourselves again,
knowing that Vancouver is one
of them that are leading not
only in the state of Washington,
but but in the nation for the
work that we're doing to to
make changes to get us closer
to our our climate goals. So
just wanted to share that with
everyone. Thanks.
>> Thank you, Councilor Paulson.
>> Thank you. Mayor, just
quickly wanted to mention that
there's a pretty significant
construction project happening
near my home. And in years past,
we've talked at great length.
And Councilor Stober, you've
kind of led the charge in this
respect about how when we
disrupt rights of way, we don't
always aren't aren't sensitive
to users other than automobile
users. And I just wanted to
compliment public works on in
this particular instance, you
know, it involves a corridor
where there is a dedicated bike
lane going both directions. And
there's really good signage
that says, you know, cars and
bikes now have to share the
road. So it's announcing it to
all users. And I wasn't
expecting that and it was
pleasantly surprised. So I just
wanted to make sure that I
added that compliment this
evening. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councilor Stober.
>> Thank you mayor. It was a
busy weekend here in Vancouver.
Saturday, Saturday and Sunday
was the Pokemon Go Fest, with
events happening all throughout
downtown. And, and the
organizers of the of that event
are to be commended for
bringing a lot of folks to town,
putting a lot of beds and heads,
a lot of excitement. The
waterfront Waterfront Park was.
Overflowing, to say the least.
And there were other things
happening along Main Street and
over at the Fort. So that was
great. Same exact time, same
exact. Kicked off pride in the
park and its 33rd year. Thank
you, mayor, for allowing me to
participate with the
proclamation there. So s
Schaadt Park was full. Of
course the streets surrounding
it were full with the farmers
market. And then the mayor
clued me in. That right here in
City Hall, we had 60
firefighters or potential
firefighters interviewing. So
downtown was packed out. I ran
into somebody I've known for a
very long time who's doing a
master of public policy program
over at PSU, and they got so
excited talking about the Water
Resource Center. And we're.
Very complimentary about the
work that we did decades ago
now to create that center. At
first, I thought they were
talking about the waterfront
park, and it took me a second
before I finally figured out,
oh, the Water Resource Center
and was excited to share about
the update that's happening
there. And so potential of if
maybe our Rebecca Kennedy,
since she's a graduate of that
program, can, can have the
opportunity to, to get our get
a connection happening so we
could go invite or invite the
master of public policy class
over to see what we're doing
there in that renovation. But
exciting to hear somebody south
of the river excited about
things happening here in
Vancouver. Thank you.
>> Councilor Hanson. Thank you.
You're absolutely right. It was
a very busy time. And for those
individuals who have not seen
the community calendar, we have
concerts on the waterfront on
Thursdays, concerts in East
Vancouver on Sundays, but we
also have a number of other
things that have happened over
this amount of time. This
Thursday is the 10th
anniversary of the
groundbreaking For the
Waterfront. Ten years ago,
Larry Kirkland and the City of
Vancouver and a number of
different individuals that Mr.
Kirkland helped design that
waterfront, that Grant Street,
pier and such. And we met Mr.
Kirkland, evidently, the city
of Portland auctions him off to
do walking tours of our
waterfront. So people in
Portland pay big bucks to have
the architect walk on our
waterfront and learn about how
it was designed. So Mr.
Kirkland said, use me if you
need me. So we will. Department
of ecology sent a note. Our
wastewater treatment plant was
an outstanding performance.
They got an award in the top
wastewater performance of
approximately 300 wastewater
treatment plants statewide.
Yours was among the top
wastewater treatment plant
operations in 2025. So
congratulations to our staff.
That's lovely. The ambassador
of Denmark showed up last week.
How exciting. Industrial
symbiosis was the big topic,
and they have been doing it
quite well for 30 years. So the
ambassador flew out from
Washington DC to help us
understand. The city of
Vancouver is one of 20 projects
that the governor has awarded.
And so we're working on that.
Again, it goes back to our
staff. Frank, Dick and this
team have been working very
well with those projects, but
it's quite unique to have the
ambassador of Denmark in your
little town, and he did a
wonderful job. And
unfortunately, councilors, we
lost a dear, dear friend.
Fujimoto San was one of our
dedicated members of the sister
City Committee. Fujimoto San
lives in Joyo, Japan, which is
our only sister city, and she
has been instrumental for over
30 years of helping us work
that relationship,
strengthening the friendship
between Joyo and Vancouver. And
while we were on break, she
passed. So we did send a note
to the city and to her family.
With that loss, city manager,
you want to chat about council
appointment processes?
>> I do, but while Miss Dolor
is bringing that presentation
up, I also want to recognize
that Maddie Suter, the new
deputy director of public Works,
is in the audience and I think
has been brave enough to stick
around for the entire meeting.
So welcome, Maddie.
>> Hi, Maddie.
>> So I wanted to close the
loop with the City Council on
this particular topic, because
we're faced with a little bit
of an unusual circumstance this
time around, and that we have
three sitting city councilors
that are involved in races for
other seats. And the as you
look through the city's charter
and the council policy for
filling vacancies, it doesn't
really give guidance for what
happens if you suddenly find
yourself with, say, four
members left out of a seven
member council. And I know that
there was some discomfort among
the Council about having that
number of people potentially
appointing three of their peers.
And there were questions about
whether or not Vancouver could
hold a special elections or
what options we might have. So
we've done some research on
that, and I just wanted to
bring that back to the City
Council. So if you would
indulge me right now, we have
the appointment process. And
then we were looking at the
possibility of doing special
election. Next slide please.
Okay. And then it's driven by a
couple of different things. One
is the city charter, then the
council policy. We took a look
at that election process, and
we've come up with an idea for
how the city might be able to
proceed. So advance please.
Okay. Go ahead and go to the
next one. When you look at the
city charter, it doesn't have a
lot of information on it other
than conferring a duty on the
council to actually fill those
votes by a majority vote of the
remaining members of the City
Council. There's also the
requirement, then, that whoever
is appointed at the next
general election has to go
through the regular election
process, and then it gives you,
as the city council, the
authority to actually adopt
your rules and procedures for
how how you would fill that
vacancy. Those are expressed.
Next slide please. And Council
Policy 138 that was last
updated in 2021. But what it
really does is walk through the
process for how you would do it.
It starts with advertising for
candidates, has parameters
around where we advertise, how
long we advertise, even
stipulates the questions that
all candidates will get asked
as a minimum. But it again, it
doesn't address anything for
what you would do in the
instance that you might have
multiple vacancies. Now, one
thing that does play in
Vancouver's favor is in the
initial round, I was looking at
this and was somewhat alarmed
that there's provisions in the
state code that if an
appointment doesn't occur
within a certain period of time,
that the county council can do
it. And then if the county
council doesn't do it, it
actually can be petitioned to
and done by the state.
Vancouver is a first class city
and a charter city, so we're
not specifically underneath
that statute. But I think it's
ambiguous about what would
happen if we didn't appoint. I
think someone could potentially
make a case that that should
apply. So that prompted us to
really look at the special
election opportunity. And when
I say opportunity, I really
mean that in this case, it
actually has more challenges.
If you could advance. Sarah,
one more. And the biggest thing
really is about timing. The
state sets the actual schedule,
sets the calendar every year
for when we have to hold
special elections. And then
beyond that actually sets the
timeline for when papers need
to be submitted for those
special elections. So, for
example, if we were going to
attempt to hold a special
election on in January of 2027,
the information has to be
submitted to the county on the
county on election night of
2026. So if you can think that
through what it would be like
for someone to try to be
submitting, say, nomination
papers, you'd be trying to
submit nomination papers
without knowing the outcome of
the election, about whether or
not that seat that you wanted
to apply for would actually be
vacant. But as you dig into it
and you look at the topics that
are allowable for those
elections, the state's pretty
specific. And generally those
special elections only get used
for ballot measures. It's not
really clear about whether or
not you could hold a special
election on that or not. But I
was unable to find any evidence
anywhere of a city or county
having done that. So the
candidates for office appear to
be restricted to your primary
and general elections, which
would be your August for the
primary and then November for
the general elections. Now, the
state code does also stipulate
an alternate process. If you'd
move forward, Sarah. And again,
because Vancouver is a first
class city, this is not
something that automatically
applies to us, but it does
apply to cities and other
classifications. And it
specifically says that you're
supposed to use it when two or
more positions are vacant. So
just to outline a scenario for
you, if all three of our
councilors that are running for
other seats were successful and
four of you were left, those
four council members could
appoint one council member, but
then the next appointment would
have to be done by those five,
and then the next appointment
would have to be done by those
six. So it's sequential.
There's not an opportunity
there under that provision of
the state code for for members
to unilaterally make the
decision to appoint three new
members, probably intentionally,
to get around the idea or even
the impression for the public
that you have a bare majority
of the council appointing their
peers. And that is a process
that you could adopt by your
council policy as the method
that we would use as the City
of Vancouver, in the event that
there's multiple vacancies. Now,
the next slide I have on here
for discussion, because while
you've got the flexibility to
be able to adopt that or
another process, whatever you
would want to try to do, that's
within your purview. It doesn't
specify like how many seats
would be vacant before you
would utilize that process. You
could potentially say, we will
only do that in the event that
three seats are vacant. We'll
do it in the event that more
than one seat are vacant. So in
the eventuality that this is
the way that you decide to go
forward with, we'd need that
guidance from you on when you
want that threshold to kick in.
But rather than this being
something that turns into a
charter amendment where we have
to get language together and
get it to the county, you've
got the flexibility to be able
to adopt a council policy at
any time. So it would be an
update to the existing council
policy just to revise the
process for how you would
handle it in the event that
multiple vacancies occur. But
unfortunately, there did not
appear to be a workable path
towards moving towards a
special election that didn't,
at a minimum, involve a period
where other council members
should be appointed, and then
that creates the incumbency
effect that I think some of you
were concerned about with
multiple vacancies.
>> Okay.
>> So councilors, because this
is new information, let's
certainly have a discussion
right now, but please, no
motions tonight. Let's take a
little bit of time to think
about it. We're not in a big
hurry to make that tonight, but
discussion. Councilor Paulson.
>> Thank you mayor. Thank you,
City Manager, for giving us an
overview of what our options
are. Just to complete the
picture for those who may not
be aware, in the instance where
council makes an appointment
and that person is appointed,
what follows after that?
>> So once the person is
appointed in the office becomes
vacant. And I'm wording it that
way because an office can
become vacant throughout the
year, council can make an
appointment, death, resignation,
someone moves out. Or it could
be because someone's elected to
another office and it becomes
vacant. On January 1st. That
individual is appointed to the
seat, but then has to stand for
election on the next general
election.
>> Right. And so there have
been a lot of conversation. I
don't know if this specific
council, but certainly prior
councils have talked a lot
about that particular aspect of
this. But for me, on the
continuum of sort of incumbency
bias and filling vacancies, a
couple of things have risen to
the top as I've thought about
this issue. One is, you know,
as you mentioned, City Manager,
just thinking about it from a
good board governance
perspective. You know, I'm not
comfortable being one of four
individuals who is choosing
three new colleagues to join
our board. Just from a board
governance perspective, that
doesn't feel right for me. And
so I'm certainly one of the
folks who have led the charge
to have this conversation that
we're on the cusp of having to
discuss what alternatives are
available to us. You know, I
had been interested in
potentially doing something
that would involve a public
vote on a shorter time horizon,
but it sounds like between
having to put that onto the
charter for voter approval this
fall, which would be in a very
short time frame, as well as to
your presentation this
afternoon, the impractical
impracticality of that option,
I think we're really just left
with, do we want to make any
changes to how our appointment
process might work? And so I
think it would be good for us
to sort of narrow the
conversation to that and then
really just talk about under
what circumstances might we
want to take a different
approach? Certainly, if there's
one vacancy that's very
straightforward, but what would
the threshold be? Would it be
two? Would it be three or more
where we would want to follow
an alternative methodology?
Just at first blush, having had
a chance to review the
materials and think about it,
in a few days, we've had
between the publishing of the
agenda and now, you know, I
think that it's worth talking
more about the the
attractiveness for me at least
anyway, of having that
sequential process that you
described. City manager. You
know, it's interesting to me
because also, as you talked
about, our charter says what we
have to do, but it doesn't say
how it's council policy that
says how. So that gives us a
lot of latitude here and also a
lot of ability to act in a, in
a time that allows us to be
deliberative about it. Also
knowing that if it doesn't work
for some reason or another, it
can be pretty easily changed in
the future. So, you know, I'm
not going to take a position
one way or the other in the
conversation this evening in
honor of your comments just a
moment ago, other than to say,
I am interested in seeing a
change to council policy, I am
interested in having a
conversation about what would
trigger the threshold where we
would make that change. And I
like the idea of that
sequential process that was
outlined by the city Manager.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councilor Hanson.
>> Thank you, mayor, just in
hearing what you've presented
tonight, of course, not making
any sort of motion or anything
like that, but if we had four I
would be comfortable with
appointing one. If we had five,
I would be comfortable with
appointing two. So I, I think
with the pool of folks that
would apply, we would have a
talent pool that we would be
able to choose two from, and
that would just basically not
be leading into a one, one and
one and going through the
process three times. Thank you.
>> Mayor. Okay.
>> Councilor Fox, go ahead.
>> Yeah, I've definitely been
advocating for a special
election process of some sort
and leaving the choice to, to
the voters. And, you know, when
I read this item on the agenda,
I was a little disappointed
that it felt like there there
was no avenue whatsoever. But I
guess I'm wondering now as I
kind of listening to it again.
One of the pieces that was
driving us to a special
election or, you know, keeping
everything the way it was, is
because we had been told that
interpretation of state law was
that if we don't make an
appointment, then, you know,
another entity, be it the
county or the state, would step
in and make an appointment for
us. And tonight you're saying
that doesn't apply. And I feel
as if that might be something
we really want to think a
little bit more about. And I
know that would be a charter
amendment again. But if this if
no one is forcing our hand to
make an appointment, then maybe
there is a discussion around
how many seats are vacant
before we have to do an
appointment process. If it's
just one seat waiting until the
voters decide to fill that seat
feels reasonable. But sure, if
we have three vacant seats, we
need to do an appointment
process because we can't do our
work. So I'm just that's one of
the things now that's kind of
in my mind is perhaps the
discussion is a little bit
shifted, given that we're not
we shouldn't be forced into
appointing. All right. Thanks.
>> Councilor Perez.
>> My question was about
ideally, by when would we need
to make a final decision on the
process, considering the amount
of time it takes for this body
to decide and make those many
decisions. So by when is do we
ideally want to make a decision
on our process?
>> Yeah. And you know, the
timing for coming to you at
this point was pretty
deliberate because if this was
going to be something that
turned into a charter amendment,
we'd have a lot of work to do
to get everything ready and get
it into the county by August to
be able to get it on the ballot.
But here, because the
implications really are for
anything that would occur after
January 1st, 2027, I would say
any time up until November,
because just for example, if
the council wanted to do an
appointment process, say you
just decided to adopt the one,
the alternate process in the
state code after the election,
you could conceivably advertise,
get candidates that are
interested in November, do your
interviews in December, and
have them queued up and ready
to go at the first council
meeting after January 1st.
>> Councilor Soelberg.
>> Thank you, mayor. Mr. City
Manager, or whoever's driving
the slides, can we go back to
the charter? So to the mayor
pro tem point. I believe the
charter is what requires
appointment to happen because
it's very clear there. Now
there is no. That doesn't say
who. Gets to enforce this, but
I'm guessing and this would be
an interesting question for the
city attorney, is does this
become a dereliction of duty of
the council if they do not
follow the charter?
>> I had mentioned in my
comments that I understood we'd
have to make a change to the
charter just for clarification.
>> So something to think about
also for the city attorney. If
a seat becomes available or
becomes open, that only has one
year remaining, I know in some
parts of the country, special
and regular elections end up
happening almost concurrently.
And so. If there's a need to
clarify that only one election
needs to happen. That we only
if there's only one year
remaining, there's not a need
to run a special election and
the regular election to fill
that position for the next four
years. If you could just do
some research about that. The
other thing that we've talked
some about. And actually, this
may already be in the in the in
the policy. And if it is, I
apologize. But we've talked
about adding a community forum
to the process. And I think
that would be very useful and
informative for the Council if
if if it wasn't just people
coming here and, and
interviewing in front of the,
of the Council. But if there,
if the candidates actually had
to go out into the community
and. In some type of forum
where they're answering
questions from the community
and having to show their skills
and in that form, I think that
would be another great thing to
be adding if we're messing with
this particular.
>> So perhaps this evening,
city Manager, the council needs
to give you direction about
whether or not they want a
charter change that needs to be
written immediately, or if we
just simply want a council
procedure, change a council
policy. Is that correct?
>> I think that yeah, I mean,
the only if there's anything
that would, we would want to do
that we would want to do on the
charter this fall, then we
would need that. If it's
something that you'd be
comfortable pursuing, then in
the in 2027, then we've got
more time.
>> Okay. Councilors, are there
any individuals on the council
right now that would like the
city manager to write a charter
change an amendment to the
charter? One? I see one
councilor who would like an
amendment to the charter. Is
that correct?
>> Defining that charter change
again.
>> I wasn't prepared to provide
a a full idea here tonight on
this one, but it would be to
give us some flexibility here
as to when we fill that
remaining vacancy. And perhaps
it would be based on how many
vacancies. So two things
providing us some more time.
And also if there's more than
one. But if there's there's
only one vacancy, then perhaps
we leave it to the voters.
>> So, councilor, are you
putting this in the form of a
motion even though we said you.
>> Said no motions?
>> We do. We do need to give
direction. Otherwise I need to
see nodding heads. Counselor
Fox has made a suggestion.
Councilor Hanson is agreeing
with it. That's two nodding
heads. Are there any additional
nodding heads? No.
>> I think it's I think it's
too premature to do that right
now. I think we should wait
till after the primary and see
get a little more information.
And I would hate to make a
decision tonight on a workload
that we just don't have enough
behind us. That's how I
personally feel.
>> Let's go ahead.
>> Yeah, just a comment. I
appreciate the idea and
exploring it, and maybe it's
something for the next charter
review commission to explore.
But I know that, you know, we
have the charter review
amendments that are going to be
on the ballot from the county,
and it's going to be a really
full ballot as it is that maybe
now is not the time to be
adding something else onto that
ballot.
>> Any nodding heads over here
or no.
>> No, I would appreciate. So
about 2 to 3 years ago, the
former city attorney did an
evaluation on the same topic.
And I think it would be
worthwhile to pull that
evaluation back out and
distribute it back to council.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, mayor. So I'm
thinking about timing and
prioritization. And so for me,
the most pressing matter before
us is the potential risk of
having three vacancies and what
that process might look like.
I'm comfortable that we can
make potential changes to our
policies that would address
what, in my mind, are the
largest risks having to do with
that? I don't see a path to get
from where we are today to
where we would need to be to
agree on charter amendment
language in the time that we
have available to do that. If
we had more time, I might be
more open to it, but I think we
would have to have something
submitted to the auditor by the
first week in August, which
basically gives us about three
weeks. And I would, at the very
least, before putting something
on the out for a charter
amendment, want to have a
sufficient public dialog before
I gave a yes or no vote on
something like that. And I just
don't see a sufficient runway
to do that. But I do agree with
Councilor Harless that this is
something that we could
definitely take up in the
normal course of our charter
review process.
>> Okay.
>> So City Manager, a council
policy to be used later, but
not a charter amendment for
this year.
>> Mayor.
>> Councilor.
>> One more point. Just because
the question came up about
timing and how much time do we
have versus what I think would
be good words. Osmancevic. I
would like to have this issue
settled prior to Election Day
so that if on Election Day, it
becomes evident that there will
be openings, folks have clear
transparency on what that
process will be and that we're
not changing the rules of the
game after the outcomes have
been determined. So for me,
prior to Election Day would be
optimal. The sooner the better.
>> Yes, I'm seeing four nodding
heads on that.
>> Thank you. Mayor.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah. And just, you know, I
wasn't going to opine on on the
policy itself, but I don't see
that policy being any material
difference at all. If you if we,
the four of us left standing,
appoint a person and then they
immediately join our council.
And now, you know, that new
group makes another appointment.
I mean, basically that same
four is the majority and
they're still making the
decision. So it doesn't feel
materially different to me.
Okay.
>> All right.
>> City Manager, any other item
from.
>> You just to close that out,
I would also clarify that, you
know, adopting one does not
preclude the other. The
interest of time. You know, if
if the council wants to move
forward with a policy change
and do this as an interim step
and then come back with a
charter amendment, there's
nothing to preclude us from
doing that at a future election
cycle.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you, Councilor Harless.
>> Go ahead.
>> I think most of you all here
have either been an applicant
or have gone through the
process of appointing somebody.
And so I would love also, I
know we don't I don't want to
open a can of worms, but like,
if we're opening up a policy,
it's a really good time. If
there are some very major
things that you experienced or
noticed, I would love to hear
about those in the future just
to ponder on things.
>> We can do that when we have
our workshop on this policy.
Okay. Thank you. All right.
That concludes the business
portion of our meeting. And we
now go into the community forum.
This is the opportunity for
anyone to come and talk to us
about any particular topic we
audio recorded. We don't video
record it. So let's go ahead
and turn off CVTV.