Mayer Prug here, Councillor Hassan.

Here.

Counselor Kimmy.

Here.

Counselor Teeter.

Here.

Counselor Tivnon.

Here.

Mayor Beatty.

Here.

Okay.

Today we have a uh packed agenda with uh starting with visitor comments.

We have a proclamation tonight on behalf of the city council.

We have a large consent that we shall move quickly through.

We have a presentation.

I saw the sheriff and the under sheriff in the back of the room here to chat with us today.

We have a presentation on plastic pollution and the recycling modernized.

We have a public hearing and we have a first ordinance reading.

Today we're gonna start with visitor comment.

As a reminder, visitor comment is an essential part of local government business.

However, for us to stay compliant with Oregon's open meeting laws, this is not a time for dialogue, rather a time to listen.

If follow-up is required, uh the city manager will make sure that happens.

Tonight we do have one in comment visitor that is requiring a bit of interpretation.

So I'm gonna forego the normal three-minute limitation and make sure they have the time they need to address us.

With that, I'll invite Mark Bradley up to the daisy.

Hello, my name is Mark Bradley.

I kinda wanna make a suggestion about the safety improvements around the roadway.

Downtown Beaver 10 has become increasedly dangerous with frequency road range accidents and serious safety concerns.

It's time to provide the reconstruction projects.

It would be a good idea if we can make farming and canon road into one-way complex streets between Hawkins Highway 27.

Westbound to be traveling on Canyon Road and eastbound to be traveling on Farmitton Road.

So they can fit four travel lanes and leave out the fifth for buses and right turns on the fifth line and bicycles to we need to study on the traffic flowing in this area, have population growth and upcoming downtown route projects like in 2027 with wider sidewalk bike lanes and bus only lanes to the right and the protection churn signals with a green hero for caution and a no churn on bread with permanent signs.

But we do agree that we shake stand no catway from all boulevards and vampire streets to a south deck and chest with the bare traffic flow and solutions.

Could we permit lead this at handy freight trains?

If not, then provide all them to be a great separate bridge or time those and there's the lawn train with so the hash that has been since August 2025.

And the Max Train hall needs to be great separation bridge only send beach with frequent surfaces.

Wow.

TV Highway has become increasedly dangerous with frequent road range incidents that we value shall repay the entire roadway services.

With full traffic signals for protection safety.

And restricted left turns with straight plants and more straight lighting.

And the women washing else to a green hair home with speed limits at 55 miles per hour.

And expand capacity with seven points or fascinating with our sidewalk and there's no street light then.

They're supposed to do it in 1996.

And Rowie House is also a bad intersection where those free road hosts and both may beards and host the highway.

And it's a safety concern to 20 minutes.

So what are the thoughts?

It is a nice day outside.

It is really hot with 90 the gray weather.

We need to make pedaction friendly haunt the sidewalks and have more straight life and points.

And if it be sad, they woke and have back surface by 2030.

Hopefully.

It's been a pleasure of me than you.

Any thoughts?

Awesome.

Well, uh, I will tell you that we do not dialogue in public comment, but if you could email us or hand your written notes to the city manager with your email address, we will do some follow-up.

I do want to make one point though.

I hear a lot of what you said, but the kamikaze corner is not ours.

That is Washington Counties, that six-way intersection.

So we'll make sure you have the names of the right people for that one.

Of course.

We need the address on dangerous intersections if we can't.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for joining us this evening, and we'll make sure that staff give you a follow-up.

You're welcome.

All right, thank you.

Uh we do have a proclamation tonight on behalf of the council, and councillor Hartmeyer Prague will read it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Proclamation on behalf of the city of Beaverton.

Whereas each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th.

And whereas the observation began in 1968, as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson, and was expanded to Hispanic Heritage Month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

And whereas Beaverton is home to many people whose ancestors came from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Spain.

And whereas September 15th is significant as the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

And whereas Mexico and Chile celebrate Independence Day on September 16th and September 18th, respectively, whereas people of Hispanic descent have contributed to our shared prosperity and culture throughout the history of Beaverton, the state of Oregon, and the United States.

And whereas Hispanic Americans continue to be crucial to the vitality, hometown livability, and growth of our community.

It is through their support and contributions that our city has continued to become more culturally diverse and a welcoming city for everyone.

And whereas the city of Beaverton champions respect for diverse voices and ideas as a core civic value.

And whereas Beaverton is proud to join the nation in celebrating the rich culture and history of Hispanic Heritage in Oregon as we dedicate ourselves to working together to address the challenges that still face our Hispanic population.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Beaverton hereby recognizes September 15th through October 15th, 2025 as Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Beaverton and encourage all to observe this month.

Thank you, Councillor Hartmeyer Prigg.

Councilor Duggar, would you give us the consent this evening?

Uh make a motion we pass the consent as proposed.

I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any discussion on tonight's motion?

I will just make one comment on the liquor license change.

The only restaurant that I like to drive to Portland to is opening their second location on first, and that is Bluto's.

It's a Greek restaurant.

And so I'll just say way to go economic development.

This is a big win for the city.

So we, of course, have many great restaurants in Portland only, in my opinion, outnumbered us on one.

And now we have them too.

So no more reasons to go to Portland.

So you're welcome, Beaverton.

Uh, with no other comments on tonight's consent.

Will the recorder please call a roll?

Counselor Duggar?

Yes.

Councillor Hartmeyer Prigg.

Yes.

Counselor Hassan.

Yes.

Councillor Kimmy.

Yes.

Councillor Teeter?

Yes.

Counselor Tibnon.

Yes.

Mayor Beatty 7, yes, Cyril, no.

Cyril, no.

I mean, I would have to vote.

I voted yes, but just so you know.

Yeah.

I was the Pluto's comment.

I was so excited about the consent.

You just got it.

But yes.

Just for posterity, I vote yes.

Okay.

Chief.

I'm sorry, Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, welcome to Beaverton.

I feel like you were just here, but welcome back to your favorite city.

I assume that's us.

No.

There we go.

We were just here, and so what we will do is make our presentation a little more brief.

Um, as promised when we were here several months ago for uh for just the sheriff's office updates.

We did promise that we would be back with a more timely rendition of our annual report than we were last year.

And so, and we'll run through just a few updates and then we will spare you our levy speech looking forward and things like that because I know that the levy team was in front of you last week.

I mean, why waste any opportunity?

But go on.

Indeed.

Well, we do know I heard somewhere that you have a packed agenda, so I will not waste time.

Next slide, please.

I like the level set us where I always do, which is wherever you live, we serve you for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

We continue to provide extraordinary services to our rural, urban unincorporated and contract cities, which are North Plains, Gaston Banks, Cornelius, and I feel like I'm missing one.

But maybe not.

Uh our goal, which I share with all of you, I know, is for us to be the safest major urban county in Oregon.

Next slide, please.

If you're in the audience or online and you would like to scan the QR code or go to WCSO annual report.com, you can also review our current annual report from 2024, um, the same one that you all have in front of you.

Next slide.

Little update about our jail.

Um we are about a year ahead of schedule to be fully staffed in our jail and have been given permission to engage with overhires to um be able to stay ahead of some of that natural attrition that we're looking at.

Now we do still have three housing units closed, but that is no longer because of staffing and entirely because we are undergoing critical infrastructure repairs.

It includes an entire new roof, HVAC system, hot and cold water piping throughout the facility, uh water or fire suppression systems uh et al.

So everything that hasn't been touched in 25 years is now getting worked on at the same time.

We anticipate being able to have two of our three housing units closed somewhere near the beginning of next year.

And then uh currently what we do is we accommodate the repairs in the upstairs and downstairs housing units, and then we move when those are done, we'll move adults in custody back over there and work on the next two until we go all the way down the way.

We also just recently concluded our jail expansion capacity study.

And so what that did was that looked at what the jail might need for housing beds uh and staffing through 2055.

That that number looks to be around a thousand plus beds to get us through 2055.

Our current capacity is 572 jail beds, and we are currently operating at right around 380 because of those closed housing units.

So what that means is that we would have to expand.

Now, where the current jail is, it was designed in order to be able to expand on its current footprint if necessary.

And so that's what we will start looking at over the next five-ish years as it becomes time to figure out how to fund that and how to staff it.

Um we will start doing quite a bit of homework and research on best practices and where people are doing it really well, so that we don't have to reinvent as we are looking at trauma-informed spaces, um, holistic behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment opportunities and extraordinary transitional supports to help ensure that the adults in custody that come into our care are released in a much better space to provide safety in all of our communities.

Um the last thing I'll mention here is that we have also received a 775,000 uh grant that will help us build a more comprehensive pretrial release program.

So our folks who were out of custody awaiting trial on electronic monitoring, we're going through a private vendor who did not um monitor those folks overnight or on the weekends.

That resulted in some incredibly tragic circumstances in our community where someone made contact with their victim.

So we have purchased all of our own equipment, and we are now bringing that entire thing in-house, and it will be supervised in our jail division 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And if someone has victim contact, for instance, in the city of Beaverton, then our jail staff will contact dispatch.

We will get a Beaverton police officer or a deputy to that location as soon as possible to ensure that victims remain safe in our communities.

Next slide.

Thank you, Sheriff.

Thank you, Council.

Um we're very fortunate in Washington County is the partnerships between the municipalities and the county government.

That is also seen in policing.

Uh we see with our interagency teams across Washington County, we're able to provide a professional consistent service, no matter where you live in Washington County.

By us pulling our resources together with the cities and the county, uh, we're able to provide a very high level of service.

Chief Jeffson and her team at the Beaverton Police are an essential component to that overall public safety system across the county and being good partners.

Next slide, please.

We're going to highlight a couple of the interagency teams and some of the countywide services that are that we all uh benefit from.

The first team we're going to talk about is the newly formed community violence reduction team.

Um this team was a result of us uh the cities and the county continuing to monitor some of the crime trends throughout Washington County.

We had seen an increase in violence and some gang activities throughout Washington County.

Uh back in October of 2024, the City of Beaverton, Beaverton Police Department, the Sheriff's Office, Hillsborough Police Department, and the DA's office formed a new uh team to address some of the gun violence we were seeing across the uh county.

We know that a lot of folks that are uh operating with some of these criminal activities do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries, and by us pulling our resources, we're able to address some of these issues.

One of the other benefits of us having those interagency teams and countywide uh resources is it also makes us more competitive for larger scale grants.

This team was formed, like I said, back in 2020, the end of 2024.

So far, they've already seized over 282 firearms off the streets of Washington County.

They're really focusing on those folks that are uh committed to doing gun violence and uh across all of the jurisdictions, different jurisdictions.

One of the other benefits with this team as we formed it, again with the DA's office, we were able to receive a grant to uh obtain a Niven terminal.

And this is a terminal that if our police officers or deputies come across shell casings involved in a shooting, they're able to put these uh shell casings into a system and help track uh other gun violence that may have occurred with uh that particular weapon.

And it really helps them have more of a data-driven policing service uh across the region.

Next slide, please.

Next team we're gonna talk about is not so much of an interagency team, but it is a countywide resource.

It is uh the search and rescue team.

The sheriff is that is one of the sheriff's mandates is to provide search and rescue across the county.

Most community members think of that as maybe a lost hunter out in the coast range.

They do much more than that.

Our search and rescue cadets uh responded to over 48 missions in unincorporated and the cities last year in Washington County.

They are highly trained to not only look for folks out in the rural areas, but they're also uh working in urban areas.

They're able to grid off different neighborhoods and streets and really get out there and look for folks.

If it's not a lost hunter, if it's somebody with Alzheimer's or autism that may be missing out in the community.

Uh next slide, please.

One of their other missions is to look for uh downed aircraft beacons that will get notified if we have some of those issues and they can also they have equipment to go out and track uh those types of devices.

Two of the projects we're gonna highlight.

One is Project Lifesaver, and the other is Help Me Home.

These are two voluntary programs that uh the Sheriff's Office provides countywide to ensure that our community stays safe.

If you have somebody with Alzheimer's or autism that may not be able to communicate and may be prone to wandering, uh they're able to enter one of these two systems.

The Project Lifesaver is a uh GPS type bracelet.

There is a cost to that to the community members, uh, but if somebody goes missing, we're able to use some uh electronic devices to help track them down.

The help me home system is more of a database system where people are able to put their loved ones into that database with some descriptors and some photos.

So if a police officer or deputy comes across uh maybe a young child in the middle of the night, they're able to use some of those descriptors to help identify them and get them back to their loved ones.

The the case we're gonna highlight right there uh occurred in July.

This was actually up uh off of West Slope and Canyon area, right between the unincorporated uh and urban area and city areas of Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County, where we had a gentleman that had uh Alzheimer's and had gone missing down a wooded ravine.

As those of us that live in the area know that even though it's the urban areas, there are also wooded areas.

And this gentleman was down a very steep ravine.

His family had reported him missing.

Uh had the team not been able to get out there quickly with some of their devices, uh, we may not have been able to find this gentleman in a timely manner, but they were able to get him back to his family safe and sound.

Uh so it was just another uh great partnership with the city of the county to work in those uh urban areas to find somebody that have gone missing.

Next slide, please.

The next thing we're gonna talk about is the ROVT ROVT team.

This team has been around for almost 20 years.

It really started through some federal grants that we receive for ground robots uh utilized by uh a lot of our tactical interagency tactical teams here in Washington County.

As technology has evolved, so has this team.

The bigger, larger focus of this team has really gone to drone usage.

And the team is made up of uh the Sheriff's Office, Beaver and Police, and Hillsborough Police.

Last year they flew over 500 missions uh throughout the the county and the region.

Uh they're trained, they all go through an FAA training to make sure that they uh meet all the public safety requirements uh for uh operating these uh this equipment.

People have a lot of questions about uh some of the public safety uh and some of the privacy interests with these devices.

It's really important to know that these are not just out there randomly flying around the neighborhoods, they're deployed specifically for incidents.

Uh when our police officers, our deputies are responding to calls, uh, we're able to get eyes up overhead to make sure not only our police officers and uh the neighbors are safe, but all the community members as well.

Uh we're gonna show a video if we can go to the next slide, please.

Of this team's operations.

And so you'll see when we have a call for service, whether it's in the city or in incorporated areas, uh, our police officers and deputies that are on this team carry robots in their car or sorry, drones in their in their vehicles and are able to get them up immediately.

So if we have a gentleman uh here fleeing from a uh patrol uh operation, we're able to get the drones up overhead.

It alleviates us from sending police officers or dogs into dangerous situations, make sure we're able to contain those situations, keep community members out until we're able to bring uh kind of calm to the uh situation.

This one was actually uh worked by Beaverton Police in uh cooperation with the teams.

We'll see some other footage again.

These teams are able to, because they're out there all the time with these devices, they're able to assist.

This one was down in Twalton where there were some burglary suspects that were fleeing.

We're able to get a drone up overhead, and again, as you have people running through apartment complexes, neighborhoods, we're able to make sure we can keep community members safe as well as our police officers and deputies that are out there.

Very essential to make sure that if again, if uh we have people fleeing into neighborhoods uh that we're able to communicate that uh throughout the area.

As this uh technology has become increasingly more cost effective, we are able to get grants to uh utilize some of this.

This is an actual tactical operation with our interest squad team.

A gentleman was inside uh and they were able to break out a window, and rather than send a dog or a patrol officer or patrol deputy in there, they're able to get the drone through that very small crack in the window to identify the person and make sure that everybody was safe.

Just a quick snapshot.

Uh next slide, please.

Trying to be respectful of your time.

I know there's gonna be probably some questions on on that, but uh we're happy to answer any questions here at the end.

So I said I wouldn't go into it too much.

However, November 4th, the public safety local option levy is on the ballot, and um that does provide 16% of our funding for the district attorney's office, the sheriff's office, community corrections, and our juvenile um department.

And so um it's just incredibly important to us that you know um how much we value our partnership and how absolutely none of us could do what we do to keep our community safe without each and every one of you working side by side with us and collaborating with us on um what that service looks like into the future.

And with that, we would love to take your questions.

Well, uh thank you for joining us this evening.

I will say, Sheriff, when you were first sworn in, I think our first meeting, you and I talked about the importance of jail capacity to the city, and it's been something the mayors have frequently talked about because as you know, residents don't understand the difference between the sheriff, the jail, what we do, but like the jail operating has a direct impact on our safety and a place for our officers to be able to arrest and take people.

So I know it probably feels like some that it took a long time, but like I recognize how quickly you've moved, and and I know you come from the jail side of the sheriff's department, like how quickly you've addressed this issue.

You know, I I know that the funding piece to build it out is separate from like the hiring piece, and I would just say like congratulations on the the swiftness of addressing this major public safety issue on our behalf.

I don't know what you're paying people, but I assume it's a lot.

So we'll have to figure that piece out.

Counselor Hussan Thank you for the presentation.

I will try to keep my comments brief.

It was lovely seeing you last week in community.

That was really awesome.

Um so three quick, hopefully, questions or comments.

The first one is about the search and rescue team.

I actually recently sat, you don't have to write anything down.

It was all good.

I sat with a family member who was like telling an experience of their child, participating.

I guess you take them to somewhere, and I think they were trying to talk me into getting one of my kids, and I was like, okay, we'll just talk.

So just very positive feedback that I had received from the community, and I wanted to share that with you.

Um this one's a little bit harder.

You can take notes if you want.

Um as we're seeing increased violence, specifically against minority communities.

Where should we be sending people?

Because I know I am at the front line of some of those conversations, and they tend to be at more in Washington County than in the city.

So can you repeat the question?

Where do you send them?

Is that what you're doing?

Yeah, I mean, like we're talking, I I personally just coming from the faith-based community and the Muslim community, we're seeing increase like um violence and or the need for security.

And so, is there an office and or a space where we should send people?

I don't want to just send people to 911.

Yeah, I would say if there's any criminal activity that somebody feels they're the victim of a crime, please call 911 or our non-emergency dispatch.

If it's just a community conversations, please let us know.

We're happy to meet with different community organizations and kind of talk through any uh any fears they may have and and how we can all work together.

Uh, we do have you know some some great events coming up, like building bridges, uh, which is a great annual summit or annual summit to be able to get uh community members together with public safety to kind of talk through some of those concerns.

Okay, and when you say let us know, like should we is there a place to send them?

I just want to be able to give some of the folks I know in the community like a resource that's not 911.

Yes, I'll say for if you're talking in the unincorporated areas that you mentioned, some of the community members on the sheriff's office website, there is a link to be able to reach out to the sheriff directly and get those emails to her, and then we can make sure that we community concerns.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

Uh, last question or comment.

Um, you know, I have talked a lot about, and you you said this we're one of the safest counties, so thank you for the work that you're doing to do that.

Um, I've been reading this book on policing, and it talks a lot about how police have been asked to answer calls that are not in their realm, right?

So you're dealing with folks who are struggling or who are dealing with poverty or just dealing with bills or anything.

And so there's been a lot of conversation around how do we build systems of support for those groups.

It sounds like the community resource violence team you mentioned is like a step in that direction.

Are there any other bodies of work that are moving in that direction or or could there be bodies of work in that area?

I know I spoke with somebody in fire and they were talking about the volume of 911 call data and how much so much of it is more band-aid calls than actual dealing with it, and like how we're building our response for that.

Big question.

Thank you, counselor.

I I would say that public safety, whether it's the police department or the sheriff's office, our role has always been to respond to community concerns.

And so uh there are a lot of those that intersect into social services.

We have a lot of great programs here throughout Washington County with both the city and in the sheriff's office.

MHRT, as we've talked about, is one of those great resources that we have.

We're able to divert people from the criminal justice system and get them the mental health uh treatment that they need.

And so by pairing clinicians with our police officers and deputies, that's a great uh program.

I know for the sheriff's office we have our hope program, which is our houseless outreach uh program in education.

Our hope deputy responds to our houseless community members and helps engage with them and gets helps them find navigators to get them into housing.

I know Beaverton Police all also has a very very similar program with their bike team that's out there engaging with the community.

We're really, even though our we may be first responders in public safety, we're also trying to make sure that we help people navigate the system of government and get them the resources they need.

Okay.

If I might just add the other um beautiful thing is we are really celebrating today or yesterday, our one year um benchmark of deflection in our community.

And so um we've had a few dozen people that have been successful and participating in deflection, which is also from the justice system into substance use disorder treatment and things like that.

And so um we're working we're working along with health and human services in that space, and it's those partnerships I think that are providing that wraparound care because um they're not just identifying people who you know don't have anywhere else to go, so they send them to jail.

Now we have the partnerships in place to send people where they can get the most help.

Okay.

Uh I'll just say like any ways that I can support anything that is in that vein of of public safety and reimagining and supporting communities.

I work with a lot of communities, particularly in the South Asian and African community who have really deeply been impacted.

I just have one quick question.

Thank you, city counselors, for your patience.

You mentioned Project Life Saver and Help Me Home.

Um what information is collected to be an applicant?

And I asked because there's a lot of sensitivities right now about people worrying about what information is being shared.

I can think of so many individuals right now that I want to send to these services, but I'd love to just make sure that I'm sending the right people to you.

Those are all public safety private databases that are not open to the public.

And so when people share their uh information of their family members, those do stay restricted at the sheriff's office on databases.

I assume we don't ask about immigration status.

No, not at all.

We do not uh in public safety, uh, we have no information for any reason.

Okay, okay.

So um I might be sharing those resources.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Counselor Duggar.

Yeah, uh, thanks for being here.

Always good to see you uh two weeks in a row.

Um the mayor stole my thunder about the jail, so I'm just gonna echo what she said.

I know there's a lot that you guys have done.

It's incredible, and I know we have some construction and stuff in front of us, but um that's been a big one.

I do want to give you uh one bit of feedback on the actual report.

Please um I I saw a lot of response, right?

Specialized response teams.

I think that's super helpful, but I also know you all do a lot to prevent stuff, and I did not see that highlighted in here.

And I think so I would ask you maybe as you think about kind of new versions of this and continuing to iterate is like what are we doing to prevent communities from from falling into situations?

I think Counselor Hussen kind of got a little bit of that, but also some of the actual programs, and then I I would also say um, like I get I get quite a few questions on things like uh what's happening with the street takeovers in Portland, and is that gonna happen here?

And I'm like just some conversations around prevention, I think in the report and then in your comms would be super helpful.

So thank you.

Thank you for your feedback.

I appreciate that.

Kilder Divnon.

Thank you.

Um, I'm also really excited to see what the design and programming starts to look like as you're doing the best practices.

I've been following the new builds across the country and have been really excited to see that there's new space for thinking in this area, especially around the architecture firms that are just branching into the space of um detention facilities, correction facilities, and looking at it through trauma-informed design, biophilic design, and so uh I cannot wait to hear updates on that.

I can't even fix my face because I'm so excited.

I bet I bet.

And I'm sure it's on both sides, not just for folks that have to stay there, but that's the other piece, right?

Is because uh PTSD is presumptive after five years of being a first responder in Oregon, it is essential that we prioritize the physical, mental, emotional health of our staff, and uh you know they are in there all day long working upwards of 10 to 14 hours a day, and we have to provide them a space that allows them to also be well and thrive.

Absolutely.

And then and I love that our own um Beaverton Police Um department has taken the same approach with the public safety um facility and also the relationship that Washington County Sheriff has with the the Beaverton Police Department.

It's just that kind of collaboration and open and respectful relationship with each other.

It's you can tell that there's just a lot of really good working relationships and ways to support each other and love seeing that.

It's very evident.

Um so my question skews more towards the the ROVT.

And I think this is you know, we're kind of in this brave new world of technology.

The first time I was introduced to hearing that it was being used in public safety realm was in my hometown down in California, they were using it um around the 4th of July to track the illegal setting off of fireworks.

Um kind of interested in that one to see how that could be applied.

But there would be a call because it's always really hard to pinpoint, well, who did it?

The call it went off, and can't tell from two neighborhoods away where it originated.

Um is there any sort of policy developing around how and how not to use this technology?

And is that something that's being crafted one jurisdiction at a time, or is there something that's emerging as like national best practices?

I don't know where the legislation is on this, but my head goes to like weaponization of them or or other uses that might fall into a space that civil liberties might be um compromised.

And so I'm just curious as it is starting to emerge and be a benefit.

Are we creating guardrails around it as well?

Yeah, I'll start off.

Sure, thank you.

Yeah, there are national best practices.

We look at that.

We do send our folks to national training to make sure that they're keeping up to date with all of the standards through the FAA and some of the privacy concerns.

We're not out there utilizing drones uh randomly.

Even for things like violations, that's generally not what they're being utilized for.

They're utilized for public safety issues when we have people with weapons when we have people fleeing from uh situations like we saw in the video, uh, where they can if we have somebody in a backyard that is believed to be armed, those drones are not capturing video and uh monitoring like random community members.

They're going to those situations, helping our uh patrol officers and deputies on the ground be able to navigate those dangerous situations, and then any of that video evidence is stored as evidence, no different than our body cams where we're downloading those and and retaining those uh for public records that are and they're private uh while there's a criminal case that's ongoing, and then those could be a part of the criminal process as well.

So we really want community members to know it's not a random use of the this equipment, it is for uh calls for service when our staff are out there.

And it's legislated, and um there was actually a movement uh in the legislature this year to look at expanding use, but they didn't end up going all the way through it before the session ended.

But um, it is a constant um area that is trying to balance the privacy of okay, you're not getting video while you're going over other people's homes and neighborhoods.

It's primarily for this space and the areas surrounding it.

And so um please know that yes, there's consistent policy, and then there's legislation on the books, but it is constantly being reviewed and expanded based on the evolution of the technology.

And so those are conversations that we are all engaging in to make sure that we are balancing the privacy, um, the weaponization and the public safety use.

And I I do see some benefits like the street racing that um counselor Duggar mentioned that those can get really dangerous if some if you know folks are out there trying to respond to it and going at the same speeds and using those seems like that could be pretty effective and maybe a deterrent.

So okay, thank you very much.

Yeah, and uh I would just say, you know, I served on the city council when we approved body warm cameras, and it was intense, and I was a holdout vote for a long time because of the same concerns that we're we're addressing today.

I think uh how we address body worn cameras is moved the drone conversation forward, and I'd also say we have you know 30 years of military use under our belts compared to other things.

So, you know, I think the council's interested as you're doing this evolution.

I mean, we use them too in the the police department, so um, we'd like to continue this conversation, but as technology moves swiftly, it's really hard for us to legislate ahead of possible changes.

Uh counselor Kimmy.

Hi, um, thank you for coming in, Sheriff.

Um, I have uh three questions.

Um, maybe you can answer them all at once.

Uh, what is the cost to individuals for help me home equipment?

And um how many do we have that we can distribute?

And do you do you have a demo demographics of participants who's who's been using it?

Yeah, thank you, Sher.

I don't have the exact cost of the help me home program.

I do know that uh we are actually looking at updating the equipment.

The equipment they currently utilize is a little more costly, and it's an older GPS model.

Now that technology has evolved, we're we're talking about trying to evolve that to a more cost-effective model.

Uh many of our uh participants in that program are elderly folks that have Alzheimer's and may wander.

Um, and so that's really what it was focused for, but it's also all uh demographics that may have uh those types of needs.

And I want to say there are uh 22 people currently on the program.

Oh thank you.

Thank you.

I just want it to be more equitable if somebody can afford it and if they need help, maybe there could be some assistance uh financially to get those help.

Thank you.

Absolutely, I appreciate that, sir.

Counselor Kimmy will write checks up to the first six people uh right into city council.

And since he's wearing a blue tie for him, that means he means business, so he can't argue with me.

Um I want to thank you for joining us this evening.

Uh, I will leave you with with one thought though.

It is suicide prevention month and it is gun storage week, and you started talking about guns in your opening statement.

Oregon is the second highest state of veteran suicides.

74% of suicides in the veteran community involve a firearm.

And since you guys are the level of government at the county that deals with veteran services, I'd love for us perhaps next year to think about a storage or gun lock program.

I actually have the gun locks in our personal weapons we got from the sheriff years ago.

So just um think about how we could uh address that.

Washington County has one of the highest rates of veterans living here as well, and so we have a lot of responsibility in this.

So thank you for joining us this evening.

Well, thank you, Mayor, and uh I share your passion as a veteran like you are, and I look forward to that conversation.

Thank you.

All right, we are on to our second presentation of the evening, something slightly um more controversial than what we just had.

It's the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, and I did not say that tongue in cheek.

I do know that this is a very controversial topic.

So please, thank you for joining us this evening.

And Scott, I know that you love to be a wonky man, but remember you are only talking to junior wonky people.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

There we go.

Mayor and city counselors, good evening.

For the record, I'm Scott Keller, a senior program manager, and I oversee our sustainability and recycling work.

And with me tonight is Elizabeth Cole, who is our recycling program coordinator.

We are here tonight to give you an overview of Oregon's new recycling modernization act and how the RMA impacts Beaverton now and in the future.

Honestly, right now, a lot of it's going to be in the future because a lot of what's happening at the beginning is funding has start to flow and infrastructure is being redeveloped, and some of the impacts will be on other parts of the state and behind the scenes work initially.

But we want you to have an idea of what's coming so that you can understand when we come and talk to you in the future.

There's a slide in this deck.

There's a lot of acronyms that we begin to use, and sometimes we properly explain them, and sometimes we do not.

If we slip up and say one of these without you knowing what it means, you can go back on this slide at some point and take a look at it.

So, first a little history.

How did we get here?

Oregon's Opportunity to Recycle Act was adopted back in 1983.

That groundbreaking law laid the foundation for our current system of recycling.

But in recent years, storm clouds gathered, and a global disruption of recycling markets triggered by China's national sword policy, made it clear the system needed an upgrade.

That update process began in 2018 when Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality formed the Recycling Steering Committee.

That group brought together local governments, haulers, recycling processors, end markets, and community members to develop a framework for what an improved recycling system would look like.

That vision became the foundation for Senate Bill 582, which passed the legislature and was signed into law in 2021.

The result, the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, which officially took effect on January 1st of 2022.

That led to four years of rulemaking, planning and other processes for by local governments and the EQ.

And now, just eight weeks ago, on July 1st, statewide implementation finally started.

We often use a train analogy to describe the RMA.

For over seven years, we've been building a brand new train right on the tracks.

And on July 1st, we turned the engine on.

It's moving now slowly, but just like a real locomotive.

It takes a while for it to reach full speed.

But once it does, the benefits and impacts of the system will come into view.

Our new system builds on the strong foundation of the opportunity to recycle act and takes it further with improvements that will benefit Beaverton and communities across the state.

The Recycling Modernization Act is a shared responsibility system.

Local governments, service providers, DEQ, recycling processors, all will continue to play key roles.

But for the first time, producers and manufacturers are also part of the system with a new responsibility to help fund it.

Over the coming weeks, months, and years, we will see recycling expand in multiple ways.

Around 150,000 Oregonians will have access to recycling services for the first time.

More locally, our recycling infrastructure will be modernized, making it possible for new materials to be added to our recycling lists.

A top priority is ensuring that recyclable materials actually get recycled safely and responsibly.

That means using end markets that protect human health and minimize environmental harm.

And we'll have a single statewide recycling list that reduces public confusion and allows for consistent education across the state.

You might be wondering how does this actually happen?

The RMA introduces an enhanced producer responsibility program, often called EPR for packaging paper and food serviceware products.

Under this new law, manufacturers are responsible for the waste their products create.

That means they share in the cost of managing that waste alongside local governments, service providers, and others in the system.

Now, Oregon isn't new to EPR.

We've had successful programs for years, like the Bottle Bill, Oregon e-cycles, paint care, a drug takeback program, and more recently, a mattress recycling program that kicked off in January of this year.

What is new is that Oregon is now one of just seven states to adopt an EPR model for packaging paper and food serviceware.

And we're the first in the nation to actually begin implementation.

How does it all work?

At the heart of it is a shared responsibility model.

That means covered materials like paper packaging and the food serviceware that I've mentioned must be managed from the point they're created all the way to the final destination or that product's end of life.

For the first time, we're seeing a significant influx of new funding into Oregon's recycling system.

The new system will reward businesses whose products are highly recyclable, and it places financial penalties on those who don't have responsible end markets.

The long-term goal is to reduce or eliminate hard to recycle materials altogether.

Here's how the system will work, kind of moving left to right on this slide.

Producers, and that includes manufacturers of all the products we've been talking about, and food serviceware of the brands that we all use at our homes and businesses on a daily basis, are now required to join a producer responsibility organization called a PRO.

Oregon's PRO is called Circular Action Alliance.

They collect fees from producers and are responsible for managing all covered products sold into the state.

Their management plan spans three years and must be approved by DEQ.

Every producer above a certain size pays a small fee for every pound of material they sell into Oregon.

Why does this matter?

Because with producers now helping to fund the system for the products that they create, we can begin to shift some of the cost burden away from local governments, businesses, and more importantly, our community ratepayers.

Local governments and their service providers must now provide, must now follow new statewide collection standards and participate in coordinated education efforts funded by the PRO.

Recycling facilities will receive funding to modernize, and a new statewide network of PRO-funded depots or collection centers will be established to meet RMA requirements.

Responsible end markets, the places that buy and reuse recycled materials must be identified and supported by the PRO.

They're also responsible for ensuring that materials are handled in line with the law.

And finally, oversight of the entire system is provided by Oregon DEQ and the Oregon Recycling System Advisory Council, which includes representatives from state, local governments, and industry.

Let's talk briefly about Circular Action Alliance.

They are the producer responsibility organization or PRO tasked with managing all of the producer obligations here in Oregon.

If you're interested in the details, CAA's program plan for 2025 to 2027 is available online, and it's roughly 400 pages long and developed through a year-long intensive process with three official plan drafts, public input, and a comprehensive review.

DEQ finally approved that plan earlier this spring.

Now Oregon is one of seven states that have adopted packaging EPR programs, as I've mentioned, but we're the first to begin that implementation.

Washington state is the most recent state to adopt an EPR program EPR program that will come online in four or five years.

So ten highlights of a modernized system.

Here in Beaverton and across the Metro region, we've had we've long benefited from a strong on-route recycling system for both houses and businesses, thanks to the Opportunity to Recycle Act.

We've had consistent access to recycling services for decades.

Number one, though, is that's not the case everywhere in Oregon.

The RMA is changing that.

System expansion will bring new funding across the state, bringing recycling to the first for the first time to many households, and as I mentioned a couple slides ago, enable more materials to be added because of number two, improvements to recycling processor facilities with higher tech sorting abilities.

Three, once sorted, the RMA will rebuild confidence that our materials are being recycled through new responsible end market programs to ensure human health is protected and environmental harm is minimized.

Four, we'll be bringing in the new partners to the system.

The producers will help share in the cost.

And five, a new focus on improving recycling access in multi-tenant communities, which sometimes are an afterthought across the state.

Six um local and state coordination.

We have been and will continue to coordinate with Metro, other local governments, DEQ to ensure consistent messaging and implementation.

Staff has been very active in planning meetings, state council discussions, and feedback on the program plan, and we'll continue to do that into the future.

That includes potential updates to Beaverton City Code and our admin rules to align with the RMA.

Staff are continuing to coordinate with the city manager's office, city attorney's office, finance department, CDD, all that are needed when something comes up that will help us bring this system to Beaverton.

One step in that process happened a few minutes ago on the consent agenda tonight was an item authorizing the city manager to sign a primary funding agreement that will enable us to receive funds from CAA in the future.

This fall, Circular Action Alliance will launch a statewide education campaign under the tagline recycle on that is supported by city and regional communications.

Number eight, one of the more impactful changes is the creation of a statewide recycling list.

Whether you're in Beaverton, Bend or Brookings, you'll be able to recycle the same materials.

Elizabeth's gonna go over that in just a moment.

Nine, planning is also underway for a new contamination reduction focus to reduce non-recyclables in recycling at homes, apartments, and businesses.

City expects to receive just under $300,000 in contamination funding for the next several years, each of the next several years, to assist with that new program and with these new goals.

And the number 10, there will be drop-off centers and depots located in Beaverton, the region, and throughout the state for PRO materials that cannot be recycled in our home or business recycling.

So I'm going to turn it over to Elizabeth who will walk us through some of the finer details on a couple of the matters that you might be interested in.

Good evening, Council and Mayor.

So yeah, one of the biggest benefits of the recycling modernization act is that there's a new statewide uh collection list.

And as mentioned, that means no matter where you live, work, travel within the state, you'll be able to recycle all of the same things, which is the first time that that's happened in Oregon.

And this will help to address confusion in our recycling system and make outreach and education more consistent across the state.

We hope that additional materials will be added to that statewide list as improvements are made to Oregon's recycling system in the future through this RMA process.

And to align with that statewide recycling list starting on July 1st of this year.

Um there were a few small changes made to our list.

You may or may not have noticed because they were relatively small for us.

They will be bigger for other areas in the state.

But a few items were actually added to our list.

So pizza boxes, your delivery pizza boxes, if they have no food on them, can go into your recycling bin.

If they have food, they can still go in your compost or garbage.

Paperback books can now go in your recycling bin, and plastic caps can now stay on your bottles if they are screwed on your empty bottle.

Um item was removed, shredded paper.

So no more shredded paper in your recycling bin, please.

And a few small messaging changes were made, mostly related to kind of just sizing of plastic containers and our scrap metal.

We used to say six ounces or larger on plastic containers, now we say two inches.

We're hoping it's more clear, we don't know.

And then uh type of glass that you can put in your red bin was expanded slightly.

So you can actually put in more types of glass now.

And then, as mentioned, our recycling center drop offs uh will be added throughout the state.

These will be staffed facilities that CAA will provide throughout the state.

There'll be about 30 recycling centers expected in within the metro region, and we hope for at least three within Beaverton.

Staff is currently working with CAA and the planning division to assist with locating suitable sites within the city for these depots.

And they will collect recyclable recyclable materials that are not easily sorted at recycling facilities such as plastic bags, lids, and several other items.

That concludes our overview.

There are many, oh no, that's the question slide.

Sorry.

Recycle on, as mentioned, is the statewide recycling campaign created by CAA to help Oregonians understand the recycling, understand recycling.

They collaborate with local government service providers and other groups to develop effective outreach materials and campaigns.

Staff will start to integrate their tools and design into our existing materials over the first program period.

This will help to create a cohesive look and feel to recycling education across the state with a unified recycling message.

We want to close our presentation tonight by sharing one of their short videos that is intended to re-introduce recycle on to the public.

From the Cascades to PDX, from the painted hills to your kitchen.

We recycle like we live here.

That's why recycling companies, governments, and brands are all joining together to bring change to make recycling better.

Like expanding services, so more people will be able to recycle.

You can find the latest updates at recycle on dot org/slash organ.

From Mount Hood to the Bent Under Desk.

Together, we can do this.

That concludes our presentation.

So there are many details in this law.

We're happy to answer any questions you may have.

Awesome.

Well, thank you for the presentation.

And now Scott, I would just say I'm really sad that Beaver 10 was not in that video.

So I need you next time to advocate a little bit more for the research.

Some like, you know, we got to get some wins out of this stuff.

Um, I serve on Metro's garbage recycling committee and have really taken the council's um voice forward in those conversations around like depots.

The reason they're even considering three is like we absolutely lit them on fire because the original plan had zero for Beaver Ten.

Um and so just I think the the effort from your side of the house on staffing and our side on the council pushing is why we've seen some movement in these areas, and it's really important that we continue to do that.

And I'm glad they're finally recycling all the things that we all have been recycling for a long time.

Counselor Duggar.

Hey, can you uh thank you for the presentation?

Can you tell me a little bit about our communications plan for making sure our residents and our businesses know exactly like I wasn't aware of the paper and I'm the shredded paper, and I'm pretty sure I violated that at least once uh so since July 1st.

So I I uh shred my mail, as we all should be doing.

Uh but but it is a like look like what is the what is the plan?

Can you kind of talk a little bit about that?

It's it's evolving.

Um we certainly have not shared a uh kick kicked off a lot of information out to the public now, and we haven't begun we haven't really enforced um that shredded paper is no longer allowed.

So we will be communicating that um in the future.

Um partly relying a lot on CAA to help us with that information since they will be funding a lot of that communication.

So um the actual updated information plan is still ongoing, which I know is not a really satisfactory answer to you.

Yeah, no, I I mean I I understand that just I would ask, please, please, please.

Like this is a bigger part of this than I can emphasize up here.

Like, like that's one thing I think we all could do better about on all every single topic that we talk about.

But I would say please give that the attention that it deserves and like double underline it, like, and then when you think you've got a good one, do it again, right?

Like like like communication is super hard, and it is you have you have to do it a multi multiple modalities and ways, and then you've got to tell people so many times before they get it.

But I just I think this is an important one, and I want to make sure that we're surfacing this to the people that this could really be impactful if we do it the right way.

But that's gonna take a really strong communications plan.

So a lot of the funding for that is gonna come from the contamination funding, that 300,000 dollars that they've told us in the past.

You need to reduce contamination, but there was no money for it.

Now they're gonna give us a substantial amount of money each year through at least probably 2033 to kind of communicate that.

And our effort will be to starting with communication, teach people what you should be doing, not punish them for doing something wrong.

I think a sticker on the roll cards would go a long way.

You know, and I lived in Europe.

That's how they um communicated across multiple languages in the seven or eight trash cans I had when I lived in Germany.

You knew what to put in each one because the sticker told you.

Yeah.

And we know when the trash pickup schedule is, so I think Scott could go out on his morning walk and just put those every roll card as he walks by.

Counselor Kimmy.

Yeah, thank you for the presentation.

Just to follow up at Council Duggar's question.

So then where do you just use regular trash can for shredded paper?

Correct.

Or there are some facilities that will stake it, will still take it.

And eventually, I believe the PRO depots will take it, but they're not located yet.

But for the for the time being, um, shredded paper would go to the trash.

Um the reason being that most of the time, if it goes to the recycling facilities, they can't it breaks out of the bag and just blows all over the facility and it doesn't really get recycled anyway.

Okay, all right.

Thank you for that.

Uh follow-up is um is there any um fiscal impact to the consumers having all these recycle opportunities?

And is it gonna ever uh cost the city any more money?

Shouldn't cost us more, it will hopefully cost us less.

Um sometime later this year or next, we should be begin to see recycling processing fees drop.

Um so that the the what the haulers have to pay a recycling processor for that would no longer come from rate payers from the rates we'll be talking about next, and instead will be paid for by CAA.

How much that balance is um we'll still be figuring out, but it should minimize or slow the the increase in recycling processing costs by having the producers pay for it rather than the ratepayers.

So the fiscal impact of the city should be a savings.

Thank you.

Counselor Hussen.

Thank you.

This is actually, I was listening to Councillor Duggar's question in case you're wondering.

I went to the recycle on website, and then you can actually go to local recycling directory, and then it takes you to Beaverton.

Is this what we got in the mail already?

You did get something in the mail in June.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay for the July implementation.

So, yes, there's some timing.

So I kind of wanted to just really quickly mention one analogy we've used before as a dial, not a switch, because some of this education, we don't expect everybody to be like July 1st, it's changed.

There is going to be kind of a ramp up over this next kind of six months of education.

And yeah, so then we'll just do like a new one and I just wanted to clarify that.

I was like, oh, there's so much information on this website.

Wow, so thank you very much.

Glad you're checking the mail, Counselor Teter.

Yeah, thank you both.

This has been really informative.

I have got one question about the $300,000 that the city would be receiving.

Uh uh potentially for communication.

Do we have other uses that are already planned for that funding, or is are we still figuring out how we would use it?

We're DEQ wants our first contamination plan by the end of the calendar year.

Um so we are working on what that will look like.

It has to be for new work, it's not intended to fund things that you might already be doing.

Um, we're kind of figuring out what that is.

They have an approved list of if you choose from these options, it's automatically approved.

If you want to do something different, you can talk to us and seek special approval.

So we anticipate that now that the primary funding agreement is finished, we can then move to the addendums, which is um where contamination reduction will come in.

And so we'll know more on that in the next month or two, and definitely by the end of the calendar year.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

I really think stickers were geriatric millennials.

I don't look at anything that hardly comes in the mail or any of the other things, but like if we could get our our pizza places to put a sticker on the box that says you can recycle me now if there's no cheese on me or something like that with a little city logo, you know, a little two for one there, Scott.

Yep.

Uh all right, the idea factory is closed for the evening for you.

So thank you uh for joining us this evening.

We appreciate it.

And we are on to our public hearing.

Okay.

The next the next item on the agenda is the public hearing on resolution 4927, a resolution establishing rates for the collection of solid waste.

Anyone wishing to speak at this hearing should follow the instructed, including on tonight's agenda.

For those in person, please complete a yellow visitor comment card found at the table near the doors of the back of the council chambers, and give the card to the city recorder sitting at the end of the dais to my right.

Each member of the public will have uh three minutes to speak.

When you speak, please give your name and city of residence for the record.

Council members may ask questions of the presenter, the city attorney, or staff that will help the council maker members make decisions.

With that, staff presentation.

Hello again.

For the record, I'm Scott Keller, sustainability and recycling program manager, and with me is Elizabeth.

Tonight I'm here to give you a brief service update on a few topics that we may have talked about a bit last year or have come up since last year, and then discuss briefly a background for a proposed garbage service rate increase.

First, the service updates.

In the rate review process last year, counselors expressed a desire for expanded services for household cleanup projects.

In tonight's proposed rate schedule, we are suggesting a new service offering for home cleanup projects that are smaller in scale than drop boxes with transparent upfront pricing for the community.

They're short-term containers, varied sizes depending on the need, but smaller than the 10 to 40 yard drop boxes.

Service includes delivery and one pickup of the container.

It includes a fixed upfront pricing model, which is different than drop boxes, that you won't know what it's going to cost you until it's taken away and weighed.

And customers would have seven up to seven days to fill the container, and additional time would be billed by just securing it for an additional per occurrence rate.

So temporary cleanup containers is the first update.

Bulky waste services.

We've updated or proposing to update the pricing to reflect cost of service for the various categories, and introducing a new category of mattresses that will enable us to modify the pricing once the EPR program for mattresses pays for the full cost of the processing of those items, and that there are Beaverton area drop-off locations of which there are not any in Washington County yet.

We'll also be updating our administrative rules to reflect some upcoming changes to Metro's regional service standards.

The regional service standards are the minimum requirements that a city or a county must provide to their community so that there's some level of regional consistency.

Um, will be provided upon request to the property manager in a more consistent way than they've been done in the past.

And we as a city in the next year will be analyzing the cost of glass and motor oil collection, evaluating the volumes of glass and motor oil, the cost of and comparing that the cost of the current weekly collection with every other week collection, in that could we just adjust our service and provide some financial benefit to the community?

We'll be looking at the cost of that weekly collection versus every other week, as well as some incentive funding that haulers will be receiving from CAA from RMA factors that will help pay for the cost of that glass collection.

So we may come back to you next year and say we want to propose something different for glass or motor oil based on all that data.

Multifamily composting.

We've had composting available at single family homes since 2017, but we don't have an equivalent program for apartment communities.

This fall, we are planning to begin a pilot program at six to twelve multifamily properties to test some multifamily collection scenarios and gather data on the volume of material that they produce per unit, receptacle options, contamination rates, and a cost analysis.

Based on that data, we then would return to council sometime next year and discuss how, if, how, and when a program might be rolled out to apartment communities across the state.

And finally, as far as service step dates, the reduced rate program.

Two years ago, the council authorized the city to begin a reduced rate program that provides a 75% discount off standard monthly garbage rates for income eligible community members.

Beaverton's program is being phased in over multiple years with up to 250 participants added each year.

We are midway through the second year of the phase in.

We have 360 um households enrolled as of the end of July, and a projection of 500 by the end of 2025, and then another 250 that would join in 2026.

The program is self-funded by the system and provides an important opportunity to assist households with income challenges.

Once enrolled, a household qualifies for that discounted rate for two years, at which time they would need to update their income levels and could potentially be on in the system for an additional two-year period.

Now, turning our attention to monthly garbage rates, based on the analysis of detailed cost reports that haulers submit to the city, reviewed by a CPA firm knowledgeable knowledgeable about garbage services, and factoring in projected cost for the current year, staff is proposing a small rate increase to be effective on October 1st.

Staff is proposing a small rate increase to be effective on October 1st.

The increase would be approximately 2% for residential customers using roll carts, or about 67 cents per month for the most frequent container size used by 61% of Beaverton households, and a 1% increase for the commercial container customers and an $8 increase in the hall fee for drop box collection.

Our garbage rate is composed of several factors.

The chart in the bottom left of the screen shows the relative cost of some of those components solid waste, recycling, composting, franchisee admin and overhead, franchise fees that the city receives, and holler operating margins.

Your packet included that information within a little bit more detail where it separated out like solid waste, what part was collection, like labor and trucks versus processing or disposal.

But in the chart, we kind of combine some of those so it's solid waste all to its own.

The biggest component of our rate is garbage, and the biggest garbage cost is the disposal fee.

The Metro TIP fee, which is the baseline for the region's public and private transfer stations, increased on July 1 by 5.5%.

In addition, this year, there are a number of operational costs that are driving and contributing to this recommended rate increase.

That includes increased wages and insurance costs for franchisees, higher compost processing costs, an increase in fuel costs due to the end of a federal tax subsidy earlier this year, as well as planning for the third year of our reduced rate program phase in.

In 2026, we hope to begin to see some of the benefits of RMA with the glass subsidy that will be kicking in and the reduced processing fees we anticipate for processing our recycling.

So, how do we compare?

Tonight's rate tonight's proposed rate continues a trend of smaller rate increases annually rather than large increases that we've sometimes seen in the past.

Relative to other jurisdictions, you can see in the chart on the right that when you compare Beaverton to other cities, we have among the most comprehensive levels of service for the least cost.

And there's only one community that we're aware of that has lesser cost than Beaverton and the same levels of service.

So we think we're doing a good job, but we understand the concern that we have for the community members who are having to pay these rates.

So with that, that's a brief overview of the service updates and the proposed rate increase.

We're open to any questions that you might have.

Council, any questions of staff.

Okay.

With no questions, I will now open the public hearing.

City recorder, I do have a list of two people to speak.

Was there anyone else added?

No.

Um Jessica, we don't have anybody online.

All right.

I don't know if I saw Dave, you're up, and Kristen, you'll be second.

Uh oh, you were back there hiding.

Uh you'll have three minutes to address the council when you're ready to go.

All right, good evening, Herbeattie and Beaver and City Councilors.

Uh, my name is Dave Huber, and I am WM's senior public sector manager for Oregon, and more specifically for our Beaverton operations.

Thank you for your time this evening.

WM is North America's leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions.

We provide collection, recycling, and disposal services throughout the United States and Canada, but more specifically, we provide these services to over 19,000 residential customers and 180 commercial customers throughout the city of Beaverton.

WM also operates the Hillsborough Landfill and our Twileton Valley Waste Recovery Facility where dry waste material is repurposed and recycled.

I also have some exciting news as WM is opening our state-of-the-art recycling facility in Portland, where the most advanced technology will be used to sort curbside recycling materials and meet the new requirements that aligned with Oregon's recycling modernization act.

Soon the curbside recycling that we collect here in Beaverton will be sent to our facility for processing.

So all of you should have received an invite to the grand opening this coming this next week, so uh excited to see all of you there, hopefully.

Collaboratively, uh collaboratively, we work with Beaverton staff on the annual rate review process that helps provide integrity to the franchise system as well as transparency.

So the citizens of Beaverton receive fair and reasonable rates.

WM believes it is important to review the costs by each sector, uh, residential, commercial, and industrial, to assure each line of business is healthy through their own individual established rates.

Also, initiatives such as the Reduced Rate Program, which was implemented in 2023, and itemized bulky waste rates are all important and successful programs that have helped Beaverton align with its regional waste uh goals.

WM supports the proposed rates for the collection of solid waste, and we respectfully request that the Beaverton City Council adopt the rates as presented by city staff.

On behalf of all of the W employee employees who work here in the city of Beaverton and live in Beaverton, we thank you for your giving us the opportunity to provide safe and reliable services in your community now and as we look forward into the future.

Well, you know, if you come during uh and give public comment, the council can ask you questions.

So I do think there's a counselor that'd like to ask you a question.

Certainly.

Yeah, I was wondering.

So um uh I saw the new services, the particularly the temporary containers.

Um, can you I don't know if you were here for the last conversation.

Can you tell me how people are going to know about that?

Because when I've tried to navigate some of the websites before, not the easiest thing in the world, and you have to call.

And the reason I push so hard for those temporary measures is because people call and then you get routed to a Portland website which has different services than we have, and it was just very confusing.

So, can you tell me a little bit about your communication around those temporary um options?

Certainly, counselor.

So uh yeah, if if it if it is approved, what we uh plan to do is um you know, we'll we'll we'll do a couple of different things, but uh, I think one of the things that will be the most impactful is putting the notices on uh the customer invoicing that you receive, whether it's paperless or if it's you receive an actual paper invoice, uh, we can put the um updates on there.

There's a there's a nice section on the invoicing where we can uh uh provide uh updates, and then it can also take you to our local Beaverton webpage where we will have those services listed, and uh and then there's also a self service form on that uh particular Beaverton page that uh the customers here in the community can go to and request that service.

So that's that's certainly one of the things that we'll do uh as well as we can, you know, when when we notify the customers of the increase uh if if approved, uh we can put that in the in the letter as well, too.

Um, and then my only follow-up is and just because I got kind of nerdy excited reading about the services, but I was like, you know, I actually don't know how big three cubic yards is versus eight versus five, you know, all these.

So I was like, is there and then I I think about my neighbors, and I was like, these are great services, but like can we think about that too?

And and that's not a question for now as much as it's like help people quantify what three versus eight is, or you know, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, right?

Like, like you probably have to save a lot of operational costs just for people calling in because I was like, I don't know if I need three or eight or whatever.

So just something to think about.

I think that'll be really important part of this.

Because this is a big win for if we pass this.

This is a big win for our residents.

Certainly.

And we will do that.

We'll try to make it is is you know, for people that aren't in the industry and know what a three-yard uh three yards, you know, that yeah, totally.

Yeah, I know this is a public hearing, so we should be serious, but what counselor Duggar would really ask you is you've you can equate that to dog size.

So, in your thing, like what kind of dog is three, you know.

So, just so you know, and I would uh just comment that as somebody that pays with automatic enrollment.

If I want to look at anything, I have to log into the system, which I never do because I can never remember my password.

So you might want to talk to the web team about it landing in that initial email without having to log into the system the changes.

Perfect.

Awesome.

Thank you for joining us this evening.

Uh Kristen Leecher.

Yeah.

Welcome to the Inquisition.

I mean public comment part of the.

Yeah.

Um good evening, Mayor Beatty and Council.

Thank you for having me tonight.

My name is Kristen Leichner, and I am the company president and one of the owners of Pride Disposal Company.

We're located in Sherwood, and we provide services here in Beaverton.

Um, and we've been providing services in Washington County since 1986.

So I'm here tonight to provide comments in support of resolution 4927 to establish new rates for the collection of solid waste in Beaverton.

There are five collection companies in Beaverton, and we all worked collaborative collaboratively with Beaverton staff and the rate consultant throughout the rate review process.

The franchise system in Beaverton works because there is transparency and accountability, and the rate review process is a good example of both of those things.

Pride Disposal is proud to provide jobs in this community with living wages and full benefits, and our drivers are members of the Teamsters Union.

We have been a longtime partner in the community, and we continue to be committed to providing excellent service in Beaverton.

These new rates will allow us to continue the level of service that Beaverton customers have come to expect and to deserve.

And I also just wanted to say from the temporary container perspective, we do provide those in other communities currently.

And what we like to explain to people is that one yard of garbage is the equivalent of approximately seven big black big black garbage bags, or it's kind of like a small pickup truck bed, just taller.

So that's kind of those are kind of the metaphors that we use to help people to understand what they're ordering when they are ordering.

Because right now we provide three and four yard containers, so that's kind of a good way of explaining it and happy to answer any other questions.

Councillor Duggar, do you have questions of this presenter?

All right.

City recorder, is there any more public testimony tonight?

No.

I will now close the public hearing.

What is the desire of the council?

Mayor.

Yes.

I move that the council adopt resolution 4927, a resolution establishing rates for the collection of solid waste effective October 1st, 2025.

Second.

It's been moved by Councillor Hartmeyer Prigg and seconded by Councillor Duggar.

Any more discussion on tonight's motion.

Councilor Teter.

Yes, I do.

I am very happy to see that this is a two per 2.1% increase.

I know people are not ever happy about rate increases, but I think standardized annual increases that are fairly predictable, smaller in scale, are a better practice than delaying rate increases for multiple years and having a large shock to the system if it's been three or five or even more years than that.

So I'm very excited for this.

I'm excited for the service improvements that are coming.

So thank you to staff and our service providers who've been working on this.

Counselor Duggar.

Yeah, I echo what Councillor Teeter said.

I also want to commend you, Scott and team, for the work on the temporary containers.

I know I've been a pain in the butt about that for a while.

But it but the reason I bring it up is because people ask me, and people also have to pay other haulers, other way services, uh hundreds of dollars.

And so now we're providing more services for our residents.

So I want to commend you and the staff with your work with the haulers of bringing options to the table, right?

We're we're providing more services.

I will in the future uh, you know, and and again, I'm gonna watch really closely on the communications of this because I think that's really important.

I will in the future want to talk about some contract changes around incentivizing performance uh of the haulers.

I think I think there's some innovation we can do there, but but that's a future conversation in future time.

But I just wanted to call you out and thank you for for the work in this.

I think this is really responsive to what we've asked for.

And if there's anyone else left that didn't know, Counselor Duggar really loves the temporary containers.

Counselor Hartmeyer Prague.

Thank you.

I I hadn't heard that.

Um I made the motion tonight.

If if you all recall a year ago, we had a really really robust conversation about this, and council pushed really hard on our franchise partners, on staff, on metro, right?

And we even brought Metro in for additional conversation.

And um, I think that this year is also a reflection of that.

It's really easy for me to really understand what these rate increases are for, the importance of us doing this year over year for consistency and also like this year with there's a lot of new things that are coming with it.

So I just want to thank you because I know last year we didn't make it easy.

And your partnership and your transparency, it goes a long way for us to help explain to our community when we do have to approve these rate increases.

So I will be voting in support this evening.

Councilor Hussen.

I don't want to repeat what others have said, but want to go on the record to say that um I am in support of this motion.

I appreciate that we are trying to be cautious and thoughtful and how we're raising uh doing rate increases.

We always have a little bit of um, I always have any sense of, especially now the dollar just doesn't feel like it's going really far.

So it feels really hard to talk about rate increases and to do rate increases.

And I appreciate the work that staff along with our haulers are doing.

So I want to thank you all for for being here and testifying, and I will be supporting this.

Counselor Tivon.

Again, I don't, I'm not gonna just layer like a layer cake um the praise on this, but just so happy to see it.

It's not just a couple of improvements, it's like improvements across the board and so much responsiveness and teamwork going into this, and I appreciate the public comment tonight, talking about it from there's a lot of different actors in this to make a system like this work.

Um, and also just on a personal note, when it relates to communications and both for solid waste and for the recyclables.

Uh it was the end of the holidays a few years ago, and we didn't know we were doing anything wrong, but we're taking all that cardboard, those cardboard boxes and just kind of smushing them down with their feet and folding them over and cramming them into the recycling bin and got a very nicely worded letter saying please cut these down because and then they explained why that was not a great way to do that.

And ever since then, the box cutter is is very close at hand.

Um, but that kind of education too.

I know that there's certain times like it the the waste moves on, and you can't really pinpoint who the culprit is if they did something wrong.

But I do know that there is almost nothing worse for someone who really takes pride in recycling.

I'm not talking about myself personally, because um I think I I I can always get better.

I have a very good friend who is extremely diligent about it.

Turned out she was doing it wrong for years and didn't know it and was heart sick about it.

So I echo the the conversation about just the back and forth of um letting us as as the folks that are filling those bins educating us so that we do it right.

But thank you so much for your work.

I will be supporting this motion tonight.

Uh thank you for everyone's comments, and I think in the effort of always getting better, I was one year ago old when I learned at the zoo that you can recycle tinfoil, and I had no idea why that had never occurred to me in 40 years on this planet that that was a thing.

So we all have room to be better.

I will not lament on any of the garbage because I think for the last eight months I've had so many conversations between Metro and the council with our haulers to be at this kind of first monumental step of leading the county in what we're doing about reducing rates for low-income families and uh servicing more of our multifamily because Beaverton is 51% renters compared to cities around us.

So it's uh an extra step that the city council always has to take under consideration.

With that, will the recorder please call the roll.

Yes.

Counselor Tivnon.

Yes.

Counselor Teeter?

Yes.

Counselor Kimmy?

Yes.

Counselor Hassan.

Yes.

Counselor Hartmeyer Prigg.

Yes.

Counselor Duggar.

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Thank you.

Okay.

The next item on the agenda is the first reading of an ordinance.

On September 16th, 2025, during a regularly scheduled city council meeting, a public hearing will be held regarding an ordinance amending Beaverton Code section 2.06.415 and 2.06.435 relating to the voter pamphlet statement.

With that, our last agenda item is council new business.

Any council new business this evening?

Counselor Hartmeyer Prague.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just an invitation to our community to come out to the Beaverton celebration parade this weekend.

I wore my animal print theme has something to do with me.

I don't know where you were going with that.

So you know, come out, come celebrate.

Yeah, the elected officials will be out in the wild.

So please come join us.

Uh Counselor Husson.

Yeah, I have two very different updates.

Um the first one is I have been um Councilor Hartmart Prague was able to join one of the meetings, and Counselor Kimmy, we convened some city counselors across Washington County just to talk about like how are we feeling about what's going on.

I don't want to share too many details here for a lot of different reasons, but um I would say that several city counselors really felt um a need to really make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect our immigrant communities, which I know we're all really trying to do.

But there also felt like this sort of solidarity of like we're in this together and we really want to um you know stand up to the federal administration.

So if any of you want to talk offline about any of that, I'm happy to tell you a little bit more about what's been going on in those meetings.

We've also been getting briefings from uh different groups around um ICE activity because that has been really active.

So point one.

Uh point two uh I think many of you know that I have been really actively speaking up about what's been happening abroad.

Um and that has been really difficult for me.

Um, and often, you know, had to sort of navigate how to just to be in the spaces with people that were suffering so much.

Uh a couple weeks ago we partnered with other organizations to ask um our federal delegation to to support block the bobs.

Thank thank you to a couple counselors, counselor Duggar, Counselor Teeter, um, different folks have reached out to different people asking folks to sign on.

Um we have gotten Congressman Bonamichi's support on it.

Um, and we're continuing to speak up about the issue because it has um you know now been called by all the right people a genocide.

Um I did want to take a moment.

I had some folks in the community that shared photos of people that they had lost, and I would be remiss if I didn't share them.

So I'm just gonna pass out a couple of pages that I was able to print.

There was one photo that was probably too triggering that I won't be sharing.

Um, but if if you feel compelled to to see uh what's happened, these are people who have been killed, and um they are related to Oregonians that live just right here in this community.

So uh if you have any questions about any of that, I'm happy to talk with any of you offline.

So and uh I was told that we will have um to shift really quick from that.

Uh really great things to throw at the Beaverton celebration parade because the bracelets didn't throw far enough.

So thanks, staff.

And no crap candy.

It's a rule.

Kids don't like it when we hand out Tootsie rolls.

Counselor Tivnon.

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to the code enforcement team.

I found myself on the wrong end of that this weekend.

And uh the individual who came over did not know who I was.

Turned out I had a tree that its leaves had gotten very long and we're kind of half blocking the sidewalk, and I just didn't notice it.

And um, he's out writing an email, he was going to check because they got the call.

He drove out uh just to assess the situation, and he was writing an email and sitting in his car by my mailbox.

I happen to go out to get the mail.

He came out, we had a conversation, I let him know I get it cleaned up, you know, that day.

And he's like, it's he was just very um approachable about it.

The customer service couldn't have been better.

And uh I I just I wanted to really call that out because I'm sure that can be very difficult work sometimes.

And so to keep that kind of a positive attitude and just treat it as neighbors helping neighbors was really wonderful to see firsthand.

Um, so I'll I'll follow up.

Uh I I did note his name.

Um, we'll follow up just so we can get him give him a shout out.

And that and for the record, I have uh trimmed the tree.

Well, also for the record as a reminder that our code compliance is complaint driven.

So the code compliance officer didn't know who counselor Tivnon was, but I'm sure the neighbor that complained did Counselor Duggar.

Um Thanks.

Uh reminder, Saturday after the parade is also I believe Lagerfest in downtown Beaverton.

Um but also for those of you in the the two people watching on TV or the internet.

Uh uh believe it or not, summertime is a slow time in downtown as far as the business.

It's very easy to go on a Friday night and see it bustling.

But I've been having a lot of coffees and with constituents, trying to grab a beer, a glass of wine, something like that.

And I would encourage you all to do the same, but do it on like a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night.

That's when our businesses are struggling.

Um and I think I just want to kind of use the the chance on the dice to just remind people please go out and support those local businesses or mom and pops doing their best, particularly on the slow nights, right?

Fridays, I think most of them are doing okay, but but if you get a chance and you're not sure, go out to dinner on a Tuesday night.

You won't see us though, because we'll be here next week as well.

So I'm gonna call it.

Yeah.

Uh thank you for joining us this evening.

I will now close the meeting.

All right, we are adjourned.

All right.