Good evening and welcome to the Urban Renewal Agency board meeting.

Today we are meeting uh in person this evening in the Cornelius City Council chambers.

The meeting is also being streamed live on TV C T V and via Zoom.

Language captions and translation services are available through Wordly for those uh who wish to use them.

You can use any smart device to access this service.

There is a QR code and instructions in the back of the room.

I think that desk where it sells at right now.

Um I'm gonna read this in Spanish now.

So um La Ciudad se compromete a brindar igualidad and el acceso a las reunions reuniones publicas durante esta reunión de traducción en vivo and wordly con audio in inglés y español y subtitulos.

Para sedes are servicio.

Uh QR disponible al fondo de la sala si necesita asistencia, it's a disponible para ayudarle y se la está yetras.

Okay, I will now call this meeting to order at 6 30 or 6 31.

Um so the first item of business is the consent agenda.

Uh it looks like we got one item on on there.

Do any members on the board have any items they would like to uh remove from the consent agenda?

No.

Is there anyone uh willing to make a motion a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Get it second.

Second.

All right, it looks like it's been motioned and second.

Um let's see.

Can I get a vote for approval?

All right, if you approve uh the consent agenda, can you please say aye?

Aye.

Any abstain?

No.

Okay.

Okay, it looks like it's approved by everyone.

Chair, yes.

Could you uh please uh request roll call?

Oh, sorry.

I got caught up on here.

That's not enough.

I had my notes, but I forgot to yes.

Uh my apologies.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Um member, member Vaughn.

Present.

Member Delane.

Present.

Vice Chair Cutting and Silencia.

Present.

Chair Lopez.

Present.

I'll present.

Thank you for that.

Okay.

Um so we just approved uh the minutes and the consent agenda.

And let's see.

The next amount the next thing on our agenda is the public comment.

Is there any public comment in person?

Any online?

No?

All right.

Looks like there is no public comment today.

And this next this uh leads us to uh public hearings.

Uh we do have a presentation.

I would like to invite John Southgate to present on town center redevelopment and the notice of site availability draft.

And there should be if you could press that button that's red right now lightly, and it should turn green.

Quick tap.

Perfect.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay, terrific.

Okay, terrific.

Good evening.

Good to be back before you again.

I had the pleasure of meeting with you at your um February meeting.

And since then we've been plugging away, sort of refining um our thoughts about how to approach the opportunity to redevelop the city owned uh properties in downtown um Cornelius, of which the headliner is the old Mercado, the old Hank site, um, as well as the uh former gas station at 10th.

And um well, we'll get into it.

Uh there's the possibility of a couple of other sites as well as part of that.

Um so here we go.

Oh, it worked.

I'm about the lowest tech person you're gonna meet.

So um for a job, that's good.

Yeah, I'm ahead of some people, I guess.

But anyway, so those are the sites, the the old SB gas stations, the hanks.

We put in the elementary school.

Uh I know that that you you have uh uh a specific idea about that that site for community center, which I think is gonna be great.

I thought it's worth at least letting developers know about that.

Someone out there might have a bright idea.

Maybe it'll be a community center, but there's the opportunity for some of the functions, for instance, the the some of the events in the Panquet Hall and the old hanks, some of those might might move over there.

I don't know what that might look like.

One of the themes you'll hear in my presentation is is I I really like to travel light in these development offerings rather than saying here's specifically what we want.

It's like here's our goals for the city.

Here's our aspirations.

You tell us, Mr.

or Ms.

Developer, what you've done, who you are, and what are your ideas for for one or all of these sites.

But but I don't want to presume there might be someone who has a crazy better idea than anything I might come up with.

So important to note the Western States building, which is in private ownership.

I think you all know that, but that's also going to be part of the offering.

We're just going to mention it.

And if someone says, Boy, I'd like to talk to the owners, we would put them in touch.

Chair.

Yes.

I think we should take a moment to acknowledge the Western states, right?

You you said that it's a in private ownership, but I think the the city has been actively pursuing for a number of years, looking at opportunities to re you know, the previous owners and now the new owners to redevelop that property.

And I think to the benefit of the entire community, we've invested a small amount of the public's money to draw attention to that and to also try to do something with that.

So I think I think we're doing something that the council has agreed, the commission has agreed this is uh in the best interest of the community to support the redevelopment or potential redevelopment of that property.

Thank you, Chair.

I think that the what the city is doing to support that is going to move the ball down the down the field for them.

So I think our I'm hopeful that that the assistance the city is providing, pretty modest amount of money, but it's it's gonna uh be, I think could even be crucial to a really good plan emerging for that property.

Um background.

Um I don't want to be a slave to the words here.

Um where I think where we're at now is um some of you have heard me say this, Peter's heard me say 18 times, but but in my experience when I do development offerings like this, I like to have one or several developers who say, John, I'm very interested, let me know when you issue it, because we're gonna respond.

And you have interest, we've talked to some interesting developers as well as um related professions like uh design firms.

There um there's interest, but no one is telling me I'm gonna respond.

Let me know you issue it, and and I'm we will respond immediately.

That being the case, the I I've had this idea, actually I'm stealing this idea from colleagues in another setting of something much simpler.

Um I call it a notice of site availability.

So it's like we have these sites, and boy, by the way, Peter, feel free to jump in and augment.

Um the city owns these sites, describe them, describe the zoning, et cetera.

And we're looking at this point for for simply letters of interest from developers.

So I'm a developer, I've I've done this project in this city, I've done this in Gresham, I've done this in Salem, whatever.

I'm interested in this site, and I I, the developer, would like to work with you, the city, to um to explore some ideas I have.

I'll tell you those ideas, but but they're not refined ideas, they're not architects' plans and all that.

It's just like, okay, let's start a discussion.

In doing that, we're lowering the lowering the barrier of entry.

So a good developer said, okay, I don't have to spend 50 or 100,000 preparing a response.

I just really need to write a letter of interest and then provide some background on who I am and why I would be a good partner to the city.

That's to me the heart of where we're going with this.

And again, feel free to interrupt with questions or interjections.

Um I just flipped the paper, but I realized I didn't flip this.

Um this is the different kinds of development offerings.

I'm focusing on it's a new term.

In fact, I think I might get it trademarked, but the notice of site availability.

Um myself, but also uh often with Peter, we've talked with a number of developers with uh architects who work with sort of cool developers that I think we want to attract.

Um actually this the second bullet was something that we learned at the very outset, our very first meeting that it's ideal from a developer perspective for them to get involved early on.

Don't go through a big planning process with the community and say, all right, we figure out what we want, now let's go find a developer.

They'll be boxed in, or they may say, well, John, this those are great plans, but I'd never build them, no one would ever build them.

So getting them involved through this NOSA through this simple LOI, we select a developer, and then we start charting a community process to come up with a plan and program.

Um making the point again about no clear respondent.

That that last bullet is also really important.

This is a difficult context, and it's actually getting more developed difficult with what's going on right now in the Mid East, um, not to be at all political, but whatever, the the price of oil is obviously iffy, and and any product that that uses oil to get here.

So we're the interest rates are are I guess starting to head back up for for new development.

So it's a tough challenge.

I think that's part of the reason why no one is saying, hey, I can't wait.

Let's uh I want to develop the Grande site, and I know exactly what it'll be.

We're not there.

Um I think I've covered some of these points.

Um the last point I want to stress is sometimes when with a development offering, uh there's five, eight, ten developers, all of whom are really good qualified.

I focus the marketing effort on them.

You know, we'll we'll publish it more broadly, and well, there'll be a press release, but but in this case, I want to just be crazy and and everyone who might be interested, like the brewer, Oregon.

There's a couple of uh beer brewing associations.

I want to reach out to them.

There's a place called Chef's Table, which um marries uh creative, talented but youngest cooks who need a help with money that will support them.

And in fact, the city of Beaverton use them, you probably know Beaverton, real turnaround over the last 10 or 15 years bringing in all these quality restaurants.

Um at some point I'm gonna ask you all.

I mean, in fact, actually I just tell them Peter, I'd love to have each of you, if any of you have an association you're involved with, or or just you have a friend who's always said, you know, I always want to do some X, whatever it is.

Um I just want to cast the widest net we could cast, see what's what ideas are out there.

Um my attempt to establish here's the overarching goal, what we're trying to do.

We're trying to create a walkable place, a place where you want to be, create a sense of place.

I like to go go to community pride as well.

I if when this is done 10 years from now, when we look back and phase four has been completed, I want you all and the people of Cornelius to say, boy, I live in a great place.

And in the last 10 years, back in 2026, they had this crazy, this crazy consultant who wanted us to do this offering, and and look what we have now.

I'll be happily retired somewhere.

Uh I had the pleasure of, I hope it's okay to mention we met with uh Peter's colleague Itzal this afternoon, who I I gather is sort of your social and and your media person and delightful person.

She had a great lot of great ideas.

So we're we're all starting to think through like what sort of images, as it says here.

This is image rich.

It's not, I mean, I could write a 30-page document development offering, and it'll bore you to tears, but I think this is going to be something quick that anybody could open and take a look at.

Oh, well, that's interesting.

Um I think those bullets speak for themselves.

Um Peter, again, jump in if I'm uh in that flyer that we send out to a large list, um, uh, I will want to.

So one of the important things is to mention, you know, what are the advantages that we have here?

One is there's a lot of cars that, you know, a lot of business there.

So this has a lot of visibility.

There's things going on in the city with the new residential area to the south, and I know there's some really important new multifamily projects that are in the wings in the near future.

Thank you, Barbara.

Um I also think it's important to mention the incentives, um, not as something that you're gonna just give away, but say, here's the here's a range we, the city of Cornelius, are willing to step up the point for the right project.

So you convince us that your project is really what we want, and that um it's not gonna be financially feasible unless we help with some sort of a tax abatement or a discount on the land price or flexibility in the terms of the land sale or um assistance with the STCs.

There's a number of incentives that cities can use.

You're not committing today to do any of that, but but we will say, oh, by the way, we will be a good partner for the right project for the right developer.

Um schedule, um we're starting, uh especially as of today meeting with Itzel, we're starting to work on the the document.

Um my proposal would be to come back with uh 85 or 90 percent document to you at your May meeting, your next meeting, and then meet uh issue it probably in June.

Um, and then um uh look at the responses in July.

Um I'll continue on.

One thing's I mentioned there's uh a soft deadline.

So usually when I do these development offerings, there's if you're not in by 4 p.m.

on such and such a date, you're out.

Well, in this case, I've done this once before, where especially with a uh a simple response requirement, a letter of intent.

If someone finds out about this after the soft deadline, say the soft deadline of June whatever 28th, um you don't want to say no to something and and rule them out just because they found out about it a little bit late.

Their cousin who lives in Nebraska heard about this, and the word gets to them belatedly.

Um and and because it's such a uh low scale requirement, I feel comfortable that that if someone says, hey, well, I submitted by your deadline to June 28th, how can we look at this guy who came in a week later?

Um, I think for the right project it's worth doing, and and we're not imposing on that first developer because he only had to submit a letter of two pages.

Um into the uh the August and September uh at that by that point, hopefully we will have gotten some good responses.

I guess I should say it's conceivable that we won't get anything that that any of you are satisfied with.

Um and uh that's another nice aspect of this approach because it's not going to be a mammoth effort or a costly effort for you to issue this NOSA.

Um but hopefully we'll get several great responses, some good developers submit LOIs, letters of interest, and by September we now enter an exclusive negotiate negotiating agreement, an EA with the two or three or four developers, depend on whether developer X that we want wants multiple sites or not.

Um and then we go into the pre-development.

So community meetings, refining the program, refining the design, coming back to you on a regular basis.

Um then this last uh well, second last bullet, just mentioned some sidebar things that are going on.

I think some or all of you are familiar with the community investment trust, which Barbara's working on to look at uh options for affordable um ownership, local ownership of commercial real estate, basically.

There's these two other incentives that I mentioned sort of in passing.

I don't think those require immediate action, but it's something to be paying attention to because depending on what developer comes to the door and which incentives he wants to use, you may need to consider the vertical housing is uh a tool for mixed use development that you control.

The opportunity zone is a federal thing, but I think we should be talking to Washington County Economic Development and others to make sure we're not preventing any incentive we might want to tap into.

Um I don't know how I'm doing for time, but um okay, great.

I actually this is the last slide.

This uh this repeats what I've said.

Development right now is challenging around the country, certainly in Cornelius.

Um we do have interest, but there's no one who's definitively committed to submitting hints this approach.

Um the NOSA, the note of site availability will um hopefully ferret out some interest that's intriguing enough for you to say, all right, we like this one.

Let's talk to this guy, let's sign him up, let's spend the next X months seeing what what might come out of that because we love what he did in Gresham or whatever.

I would love to answer your questions.

That's that's all my presentation.

Any questions by the board?

Board member Division.

Thank you for your presentation.

Um do like the idea of the NOSA, especially because I know when we you were here last time, that was one of the questions that I asked was just and things weren't as bad as we see it now, um, what developers were saying in terms of construction, because we see how it is and we see how much worse it's gotten.

Curious in those new conversations that you've had since that meeting, what sort of things have come up?

Because it sounds like we're having conversations, but specific specifically from them, do they mention any ideas or seeing this as a potential site, and if so, what's kind of stopping them from that next step?

I mean, obviously we're aware of what's going on, but is that specifically been said, or I know another thing we had talked about as well, is that Cornelius isn't as large as a lot of these other towns, and so I think we're asking developers to come in and create something new and unique, or maybe something that um is a lot smaller in terms of audience that they're used to.

And so that's a big commitment for them to make that investment as well.

So I guess I'm just curious to hear what sort of has come out of these conversations.

I I can't say that there's a new idea that just hit me beyond what we've heard and and reported in March.

I think housing and mixed use, there's there's always gonna be interest in that.

Um that is something that that will need to take that that could be an important component of a project, but two concerns I would have, and then talking with Peter, I think I assume you will have that it's got to generate tax revenue, and some types of housing are going to be tax exempt, permanently tax exempt.

I think that could be a concern.

I would have that concern.

Um, and then the other thing is simply that housing doesn't draw people to an area.

No one goes to, oh, this is a really cool area because there's apartments there.

I mean, a successful area has housing and and that helps put people on the street, customers and all that.

But um so housing didn't ring my bell.

I think that's probably the lowest hanging fruit of major types of development.

Um I think there is a market.

Um Peter and Barbara shared some of the work that was done, economic market analysis.

I think there's a market for a commercial, but it might be pretty modest in scale.

Um I think I'll go back to the NOSA.

I in the last couple months, especially last month, when I do talk with the developers, they all like the idea because uh because it is a much lower barrier to entry.

And I I think they get that, okay, great.

I've done these other projects.

I'm not sure if these will fit in in Cornelius, but I know how to do a nice project that really helps a city achieve its aspirations.

So I'm gonna convince the city of Cornelius to team up with me, and then let's see what sort of magic we could come up with.

That doesn't totally get to your question, but I'll add too that uh some folks that we've met with who have really uh creative models and and approaches and have done some really interesting developments that you can kind of see the fabric fitting here.

I think they they're just really busy, they've got their arms full and they just don't have the capacity.

So it kind of depends from one group to another that we who we've met with, kind of what their circumstances are too.

Um and Barbara will say, you know, we've we've heard a lot lately just about the ability to get financing for for bigger projects.

That's that's a bit challenging right now.

Um I think we want to also emphasize what John said.

We we have seen interest, people see the opportunity in Cornelia, so that is there.

So yeah, another thing I'll point out, thank you.

Um, is uh it really matters for a developer who's on the other side of the table.

So, what is your city manager like?

What's your community development department?

What's your city council like?

And I tell them, because this is my strong impression is that there's a real desire.

Look, we're willing to get creative here and we want to work, you know.

It it's got to be a fiscally prudent thing.

You can't just throw money at it.

Um and it's gotta be something the community will support, but an angel just got us wings, I think.

But um I think who you are, your your and your staff, it really matters.

And and so uh and I I've I've worked with all kinds of cities, and and so developers pay attention to that.

So yeah, I I think um it's it's interesting to hear the concerns about housing.

Um they're tearing down a Macy's to put up housing in a neighborhood surrounded by housing.

So somebody out there thinks there's an opportunity for housing in a commercial area.

So I think I think that's one of the things that we'll have to to balance our our ideas on and what who comes to the table.

Um I th I think we've talked, you and I, John talked about the opportunity that the Grande property is big, and maybe it isn't all in one.

Maybe it's done in phases.

Maybe we start at one end or the other and do something, and maybe it is a small commercial building with ground floor retail and commercial above.

Maybe there's a lot of opportunities.

That's a very large property, and we don't have to commit 100% of it away.

I mean, we're not we're not Hillsboro big, but if you think about what's going on around even 1850, there's still open properties there, but there's things going on, right?

Um our scale might be smaller.

And I think to your point, we we just landed three commercial national restaurants again, right?

So you got those three.

So obviously, people still think there's money to be had right in in the couplet.

So I I don't think uh and I and I still have people continuously come up to me and go, hey, I really wish our town was doing the X that you guys are doing, or why.

Um so I think people are recognizing our strengths, um, the diversity of our community and what we have accomplished along the couplet and still see that there's more opportunities there.

So I I think I think our brighter days are still ahead, right?

There's still plenty of opportunities.

So I think you find the right partner with the right interest, and maybe somebody gets done with another project.

I I I don't feel deeply concerned about it because look how long the Hanks property in Hillsborough has set, right?

It's that vacant and then it's set demolished and it's still sitting there, and they've gone through plan after idea for plan.

I think we would rather find a good partnership and get something going that's beneficial to the community and fits, right?

And I think that's one of our big strengths we bring to the table that we've you know, we've done that.

I mean, look at this beautiful library, look at our partnership with Virginia Garcia and the beautiful medical center.

So I think there's opportunity.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Yeah, I didn't have a question, just a comment.

Um I appreciate the fact that we're including the Western States property in this because I think of uh, you know, it's privately owned, but we're providing them a resource that they otherwise would not have gotten.

We'd be giving them exposure.

So uh I think we're being an awesome partner to those owners and just wanted to comment on that.

Sorry.

Um and this is more just um so I'm I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with how these calls go out in terms of to the developers and all that.

And if when we're reaching out, we've just been focusing local and how we can get um, you know, I see the beauty of staying local, supporting the local economy, but also thinking about that broader reach and seeing what all of how we can reach developers from different areas to get those unique perspectives, you know, so we're not getting the the same thing or I don't know if that's making sense, but what what would that look like for when we put this out?

Yeah, that does make sense.

Um the the networks I work in, some of them are are statewide.

Um but I think that that I mean I haven't talked with Peter about this yet, but there are sort of national trade magazines like the Urban Land Institute.

And I haven't even looked into how much an ad, I have no idea what's going on behind me.

Um I really appreciate that comment though, because this is sort of thing where I could see in the ULI having a half-page app with a really nice aerial image or something like that, and check out Cornelius, put a QR code or whatever.

Yeah, well, that's a good idea.

Yeah, I would definitely love for us to put our like extend our reach and just if we're gonna do this and um I want to make sure we maximize who is seeing that.

So whether that's in these um, you know, journals you know about or yeah, I feel like you're familiar with it, and obviously there's a cost associated, so we'll have to discuss what that looks like in the future, but I definitely think it's worth investing.

Thank you.

Great comment.

Okay, so I think it's getting close to our time.

But thank you, John.

This is exciting conversation.

Good luck with that.

We're all excited, we got good energy.

I think we all want to get that right project for this community.

So thank you.

And I think we look forward to hearing more about uh this uh thank you.

Okay, uh going on with the agenda.

It looks like there is no unfinished uh or new business.

Uh do I have a motion to adjourn?

And motion to adjourn.

Second.

All right.

It looks like I got a motion and a second.

Uh can I get a uh all those in favor say aye?

Aye.

That think that's all.

No one abstained.

This is city council meeting for Monday, April 6th, 2026.

We have a Zoom webinar.

We have TV C TV Live, and we have Wordly, the live translation.

The city is committed to providing equal access to public meetings.

Request for accommodations can be submitted to the city.

I'm gonna put this a little closer.

At least 48 hours before the meeting at CityRecorder at Cornelis or OR.gov or call 503 3579112.

I'm codigo de QR disponible at the fond of layers, it's a disponible para ayudarle.

The city is committed to providing equal access to public meetings.

Wordly live translation will be available during this meeting, offering English and Spanish closed captions and audio.

A QR code is available at the back of the room to access the service.

If you need assistance, it's a will be available to help you.

It's all as holding up the banner in the back of the corner there.

How to get on to Wordley.

Okay, you've done that.

We had an urban renewal board meeting at 6:30.

That brings us to our regular session at 7.

First up is call to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please join me.

And to republicans, one nation, under God, and invisible with liberty and justice for all.

I got I got a little tear in my eye, because you know, normally it's uh the city council and about six staff in here that did this the pledge, and it was really cool doing it with all of you tonight.

Thank you very much.

Uh staff, can you do roll call?

Councillor Lopez.

Present.

Councillor Vaughan.

Present.

Council President Gladines Valencia.

Present.

Mayor Delaney.

Oh, present.

Present.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, everyone.

I'd like to call this meeting of the Cornelius City Council Order.

Before we begin, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the many families and community members have joined us tonight to watch our young performers share their talents with the council.

This is one of the council's most favorite occurrences.

We are so glad to have you here and appreciate your support for these incredible students.

We know you're excited to see them perform and could care less about what we're talking about.

Oh, sorry, that was an ad lib.

Um that's not what the staff wrote for me.

And we are to our two.

These performances, the first item on the agenda after we take care of a few brief procedural matters.

We appreciate your patience as we move through these quick administrative steps.

Again, thank you for being here for supporting these young members of our community.

With that, I'll proceed with the first item on the agenda.

We already took care of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let me flip the page.

Announcements.

Announcements, announcements, announcements.

Okay.

Uh, if you happen to notice, we have an open chair up here.

We are uh vacant one city councilor.

Uh the applications for that will close April 21st, correct?

So if you have or had an interest in being a city councilor, the opportunity to fill a seat is open.

Also is on announcements for Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day.

Thursday, April 23rd from 5 to 7 p.m.

We'll be having a Council Creek Trail Crossing Open House here in the Cornelis Council Chambers.

That's the 23rd from 5 to 7.

Monday, April 27th, from 11:30 to 1, we'll have our joint state of the city event at the Forest Grove Auditorium.

Uh tickets still available, a few.

Are we also still a couple?

So if you want to see myself and Mayor Wentzel talk about what's going on in the cities, that's the place to be.

Thursday, April 30th, 4 p.m., we'll be doing the children's day celebration at the Cornis Public Library.

May the 4th, we have a council work session at 6 p.m.

And at 7, we'll have a council meeting.

Wednesday, May 6th, we'll have the state of the city for Cornelius City Council Chamber.

So right here again, and that's open to the public, no charge, just RSVP, so we have an idea how many people are coming, and that will be a community-based event.

And then Saturday, May 9th, from 10 to 11, we will be doing the ribbon cutting for the Mariposa Causeway down at Mariposa Park.

Okay.

Public comments.

I think we have one public comment right now.

Yep.

Jennifer uh Simperman, can you please come forward and once you're ready?

Uh is the microphone already on, City Manager.

Yes, just to remind you, you'll have three minutes for your comments.

If you wish to speak on any item not on the agenda, uh there's registration cards like this one in the back corner of the room, and you just turn them in to Rochelle, and she will get you styled up.

When you're ready, we'll start the clock.

Good evening.

Members of the Cornelius City Council.

My name is Jennifer Simperman.

And I have been a resident of Cornelius for nine years.

I'm here to formally document a systemic breakdown in administrative professionalism and transparency that is currently failing our community.

Effective governance relies on reliable communication.

Unfortunately, my recent attempts to engage with city departments have been met with significant delays and dismissive conduct.

Despite hand delivering petitions and written correspondence, I've had to initiate multiple follow-ups just to receive a simple acknowledgement of receipt.

Most notably, a 27-page notarized document regarding public safety submitted to the mayor over a month ago remains unacknowledged to this day.

When communication does occur, it often lacks necessary detail, provides in inaccurate information and ignores direct questions.

Furthermore, the city's the city website's practice of listing staff by first name and last initial only serves to obscure accountability.

This creates an unnecessary barrier for residents trying to navigate city services.

As Cornelius continues to experience rapid growth, our administrative systems will benefit from modernization to better align with the needs of a vibrant engaged community.

I respectfully petition this council to implement three specific reforms.

Number one, a standard five standardized communication policy.

Establish 48 hours benchmarks for acknowledging all resident inquiries.

Number two, digital transparency upgrades.

Modernize the city website with an easily accessible staff directory, including full names, titles, and direct contact methods.

Audit and training.

Conduct a formal review of how correspondence is tracked and provide staff with professional development focused on public sector ethics.

A rapidly developing community requires leadership that provides documented and respectful communication.

For the official record, I have submitted a formal letter of grievance and three exhibits, including a summary as evidence of these claims.

Thank you.

So they were there.

And due to the litigious nature of the initial contact, that has definitely restrained the ability of the council to respond.

And I think the direction you received was for your original inquiry was to uh seek uh through the insurance company, and I think you have a well-documented history of what came of that.

So I think that's uh one point, and I think the other point um the nature of using first name and last initial.

Umfortunately, in to this modern society, folks are targeted and harassed on a regular basis, and uh we found that in most cases we have to provide some level of filtering or shielding from direct access to the public for just such cases of uh profiling and uh bullying that we've seen um occur in the past.

So just to give you an idea, that's some of why that uh level of filtering is applied right now.

So that's how we've gotten where we are.

So it's not it's not specific to you, it's a result of uh societal behavior.

So thank you.

Um your three minutes are up.

Thank you.

That takes us on to consent agenda, city council meeting minutes, uh, the liquor licenses, a resolution, a whole pile of resolutions.

Seeing all that, council do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?

I motion to adopt the consent agenda.

Councilor Garditas have motion to have a second.

I second that motion.

Second by Councillor Lopez.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Abstentions, consent and pat agenda passes unanimously.

That takes us to presentations and appointments.

And I have the pleasure of our first presentation be the Cornelis Elementary School Choir.

Mr.

Garcia and your wonderful students.

You have the floor.

Hello, okay, perfect.

This thing is on.

Thank you, City Council for letting us come back for a fourth, I want to say fourth straight year of doing this spring concert at your city council meeting.

Um it is just as fun for us as it is, I'm sure for you to do this.

Normally I have printed out a um programs of the songs we're doing.

Unfortunately, I am now the parent of two small children, and the no time I have is now gotten to the negatives.

So I did was not able to make those this time.

So the three songs we're doing are very much a mix of new and old.

We are doing the classic Mr.

Sun.

Um Earth Harmony.

As this is a spring concert, I wanted to have a like a a song about Earth, about spring, and I thought Earth Harmony was a great song for that.

And then going back to about a hundred years ago.

So that is what we are doing.

I can I ask the all applause.

I'm gonna try to get through all three songs as quick as possible.

Uh so if all applause could wait until the very end of all three songs, that would be wonderful.

Uh, we also have two uh actors, I guess is be the best way to put it in Mr.

Sun in uh two students up here, as well as three soloists for spring spring spring.

So thank you very much, and we will get started.

Please shine down on me.

Oh Mr.

Sun Mr.

Golden Sun Hiding behind the tree.

These little children are asking you.

Please come out so we can play with you, oh Mr.

Sun, son, Mr.

Golden Son, please shine down on me.

Son, Mr.

Golden Son, please shine down on me.

Oh Mr.

Sun Mr.

Golden Sun Hiding behind the tree.

Please let the children are asking you.

Please come out so we can play with you on Mr.

Son, son, Mr.

Goldenson, please shine down on me, shine down, please shine down me.

Please shine on me, shine a little shine.

Oh shit, remember standings.

Makers harmony.

Listen for each of the green.

Oceans dance beneath the moon.

Rid whips play ancient tunes.

Make birds far moony.

After year.

Let's turn on me.

Little spring stones.

Little birds and air.

Sing like birdies everywhere.

Little berries time to sing.

Sing a song of sweetly drink.

Little birdies and trees.

Hear them singing in the breeze.

Little birdies on the wheat.

Sing a song of spring drink.

Oh, when those birdies come to town.

Tweet tweet, they pop around, they sing and dance on birdie feet.

Tweet, tweet, tweet that springtime beat.

Little birds on the sea, sing a song of sweet things, ring.

Hear them singing in the breeze.

They sing and dance on birdie feet.

Please take that screen time meet.

Let's all burdy stand along.

Sing your favorite screen time song.

Let's all bird time to sing.

Sing us on the song.

Sing us on the spray.

Spray.

Spring, thing, straight.

Thank you again once more.

Thank you again, everybody for attending.

Oh, can we get a one if you raise a hand if you had a solo?

Raise hand if you had a solo.

That includes you two girls, raise a hand.

Can we get one more bottom for our forward?

I have to say, I very much enjoy that.

It is very nice to hear all these young people singing and such a joyful tone.

I'm glad we were able to do this.

You know that's my feeling.

Um, you guys do a great job.

Um, the kids, you you guys belt it out.

You are doing an excellent job.

And I will continue with my uh uh critique from last year.

You're out singing the high school kids.

You guys really belted out.

That's I don't think that's a fair thing to say to the high school.

We didn't perform at the Christmas thing this year.

Yeah, but but you guys left such an impression that it's an indelible mark on that.

You guys ring the room.

You guys bring it to life.

So thank you for bringing that spirit, that energy.

Parents.

Thank you for bringing them out.

Um I can tell by your uh excited claps, you'll all be back next month, even if the kids aren't here for first Monday, right?

All right, thank you.

We're gonna take five minute break to let the kids file out and probably most of the audience.

Uh don't go away.

We've got Washington County, uh, both for Commissioner Willie and uh Commissioner Trees are both gonna be here this evening.

Proclamations, more things to come if you want to hang out.

So five minutes recess.

Next up is call the meeting back to order.

This is the Washington County update for on vehicle registration from Commissioner Pam Trace.

And Pam.

Left the room.

There she comes.

You're up, Pam.

Yeah, we'll we'll count this time against Jerry's time.

Good evening, please introduce yourself.

Do you have a green light?

Just tap it.

Once it goes green, you got it, and uh, as you can see by mine, you have to be pretty close.

So whoever's speaking will want to have the microphone, because if you go offline, you notice it fades away pretty quick.

So you have the floor, please introduce and begin.

Well, first of all, thank you for the entertainment tonight.

That was the best.

I think it was it was so much fun watching the kids, but it was also a lot of fun watching the parents and the loved ones.

And then a quick pick peek at you guys was pretty pretty heartwarming as well.

I'm Pam Trace.

I'm commissioner for Washington County District 2, and I'm here to speak with you about the vehicle registration fee adjustment that we are considering.

Good evening, Mayor, Counselors.

I'm Jessica Pells with Washington County Land Use and Transportation.

Okay, yes.

As Commissioner Tree said, we're here to talk about the potential vehicle registration fee adjustment.

Now do I point this at my screen?

Oh, there we go.

So just an overview of our presentation.

We're gonna just talk about what the project that prompted this outcome was the resilient transportation funding options project.

So I'll talk a little bit about that project.

And then we'll talk about the potential vehicle registration via adjustment and then our engagement strategy, which is what we're here tonight about.

It's got a little delay, I think, or else I'm not hitting it hard enough.

There's sometimes is it this is it the big button?

Yeah.

Next slide.

Probably, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, we can go to the next slide.

For some reason, we end up with this delay sometimes where it's like you push a button and then I was afraid to push it up too many times, and then we'll then it will go four or five slides ahead, and then you try to back it up.

Yes, thank you.

So next slide, please.

Okay.

So we call this RTFO, it's resilient transportation funding options.

And one thing we are really looking at, and Mayor Delane's very familiar with this.

I'm maybe you guys all as well, is the Mystip program we have in Washington County.

It's our major streets transportation improvement program.

And our budget, as many other jurisdictions' budgets, have been constrained.

Currently, MISTIP is um completely funded with general fund.

And I'll show you a map in just the next slide, I think, that has a bunch of projects that MISTIP has funded over the years.

But the really our goal with this project was to look at sustainable transportation capital project funding.

And partly that's because we've had reductions in general fund over the past few years, and MISTIP has taken reductions as well.

And transportation capital projects are really expensive, and we want to continue being able to provide transportation improvements throughout the county with this program.

And one way we wanted to be able to do that was to find sources of transportation funding that could be really targeted, sustainable, and kept for transportation funding in the future.

Okay, next slide, please.

Okay, so this map, if you can see it, um, shows our misstip projects, and missed up has been going on since 1986.

So there have been boy.

I just lost the number of projects.

I think well over a hundred projects, maybe.

I think so.

And so as you can see, the projects are scattered all throughout the county, every jurisdiction, rural, urban.

So it's really been the way that we do big transportation capital projects.

And so currently the project in Cornelius that's funded in our most current round of missed it funding is 19th Street improvements.

That'll be a complete street improvement from up to the Council Creek Trail and then back.

Yeah, to the bridge.

Yeah.

It's the intersection of Suspauer and Ren, right?

So that's the signalization that's happened out there to hopefully reduce the number of crashes.

So that's very directly beneficial to Cornelius, even though it's a county-based project.

Yeah, absolutely.

And then the other one showing is a forest grove project.

It's the highway 47 maple intersection there.

So it's a safety improvement in conjunction with ODOT.

Yeah, another major scene of multiple accidents.

Right.

Next slide, please.

So we've been working on the RTFO project for a year now.

We started, and so uh a little background on this as well.

This is a corresponding project to another project called General Revenue Options, and that's what run through our county administrative office.

They're looking at just all revenue options that could support general fund programs again because we are having constrained budgets, and we have to provide a lot of services throughout the county.

So they're doing a parallel project where we're looking just at transportation capital project funding, and they're looking at just all general fund sources of revenue.

So we did the same work plan for both.

We kicked it off, and then we started looking at what is the whole universe of revenue options we could explore.

Like what makes sense, and then we came up with these evaluation metrics to review the revenue options against, and then we ran through another analysis called implementation viability, and I'll talk a little bit more about these to see what is actually feasible.

And then we the outcomes of that were basically the vehicle registration fee increase, and then a couple other things that are potential, and then we're doing continuous work now to look at a medium and long-term options that could be implemented as well.

But this was the first short-term option.

So if you go next slide, please.

This is the evaluation framework overview.

It's just really showing it in a graphic way, what I just described.

So we identified the range of options, we had evaluation criteria, we evaluated those, and that really narrowed the list down.

So that the revenue options that went through the implementation viability analysis were a lot fewer.

And then we came to the strategy.

Next slide, please.

So this table shows that outcome of that analysis, as I said, this immediate opportunity is what really shook out.

And the reason for that is because the revenue potential is high, so it would raise more than five million annually.

And it has a pretty low implementation threshold because it's implemented by the state.

So the we don't really have to do anything locally beyond passing the ordinance, and then the state collects the money and then they allocate it back out.

Um this, and I think I I think I talk about this a little bit more, but this is a uh a revenue option that is shared with the cities as well.

And so I'll talk about that a little bit more when we get into the vehicle registration fee itself.

The other opportunities that potentially came up were fees for specific services, permit and license fees, that sort of thing, and I think all cities look at those as well as revenue option potential.

And I think the the thing with those is they need additional analysis to see if they're really worth doing the increase.

And again, that's sort of the administrative burden and how much would it raise versus how much it is to implement it or the burden on the payers and things like that.

Oh, thank you.

No, that's perfect.

Yeah.

So back in March, I think a few months ago, February, March, the project team came went to the board and we recommended the short-term funding strategy for board consideration, and that was one pursue a potential increase to the county's vehicle registration fee, and then two, consider evaluating cost recovery needs for the remaining short-term opportunities, and that is basically just look at whether the fees are actually paying for the staff time to administer whatever program it is.

And then the remaining ones on our list, which we're not showing, really showing here, but um, they're not recommended to be pursued because it was just not really worth worth pursuing those.

Okay, next slide.

Okay, and next.

This is just okay.

So just to set the stage a little bit, what is the vehicle registration fee?

I mean, we all pay it, so it's a flat fee paid by vehicle owners when registering or renewing your vehicle in Washington County.

So, what's important about it is that it is by statute, it's dedicated to only improvements within the right-of-way.

So it cannot be used for other general fund activities.

It is only for transportation improvements, can only be used in the right-of-way.

So, one downside of it is it can't be used for trails.

Um, but then if you have other road fund or I mean, actually, all road fund is within the right-of-way, but if there's another source of money you can use for trails, then you can sort of use that remaining money for within the right-of-way.

So it really is that sort of dedicated transportation funding that we are looking for.

It is a sustainable source as people will continue to buy vehicles versus something like gas tax, which is a declining source of revenue as cars get more efficient.

And then why do we have a vehicle registration fee on top of the state?

This is a really good question.

So in 2009, there was a uh bill passed in the legislature that authorized counties to adopt vehicle registration fees.

Those are shared 40% with the cities.

Um after that bill passed, we did some analysis to determine do we actually need to pursue this?

Would it be a good idea for Washington County?

We did find that county road fund revenues, which is primarily from state gas tax, and that is still the case, were insufficient to adequately maintain our pavement bridges and culverts to the levels we wanted to see.

As I said before, registration fees can be used for construction, improvement, maintenance, operation, public highways, roads, and streets, anything within a public right-of-way.

So in 2016, the Board of Commissioners adopted a $30 vehicle registration fee, and that's what we still have today.

Okay, I'm gonna turn it over to Commissioner Trees to talk about what's being considered.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica, and thank you for the the background here.

I think we'll go over what's being considered, but I will also want to uh kind of add lib a few other issues on the side here.

So the current vehicle registration fee is the $30 per year.

It's paid every two years if you're renewing your vehicle registration.

We we have the uh the headroom, if you will, the state sets the limits.

We have the headroom to go up to $60 per year or $120 every two years, and that's for most vehicles.

So this net change for each car that's registered is an increase of $30 per year or doubling.

Let's be let's call it what it is here.

Um, and again, it's paid once every two years, and the this potential increase would go into effect in January of 2027.

Before you advance the slide, I I just want to say one of the questions that we have had is you know, this is going to be a hard hit for people low-income individuals.

We recognize that.

Why don't we have uh a tiered approach?

Why can't we ramp this in?

What are some of the why aren't we doing this in a more um uh step-by-step approach?

And the reality is we're constrained again by the state.

The state doesn't allow us to do that.

However, that has been challenged by Multnomah County just within the last year, and we're looking toward continuing that challenge and looking for options to have a tiered approach for, but again, that you have to keep in mind that that reduces the amount of overall income as well, and we're aware of that.

But I don't want you to think that it wasn't considered, it's just that we don't have the option at this time to implement that type of approach.

Now, would you please thank you very much?

So every dollar here benefits roads and streets in Washington County.

40% of this revenue goes to the cities, as Jessica mentioned early earlier.

It's a sustainable source of funding for the MSTIP program, and it's a step toward local transportation funding certainty and resiliency, given the fact that right now things are so uncertain at the state and federal level.

So the the pie chart on the right just shows you the the split there that's available.

Uh the this is under the county's purview, but the city, as I mentioned, is a benefactor uh beneficiary in relationship to the amount that's raised.

Next slide, please.

So our existing revenue is about 10 million or excuse me, the yes, the existing VRF annual revenue is a total of 17.2.

It's split 10.3 and 6.9.

What we are projecting is what you what you would imagine double that.

It's it's the 34.4.

So that's that's just what it will look like as it as it plays out.

Next slide, please.

This chart is pretty busy, and you can see this in front if you crack.

Okay, so you can see what the different cities uh increase will be, and uh the response from our cities has been uh you know hesitantly positive.

And what I mean by that is everybody's recognizing that this is a hit on users.

It is a hit for the users that are actually utilizing the source that we're we're that the money will go back to.

That's that's the good news.

But it can it can be a difficult situation for people with uh limited income.

There's no question about that.

I wanted to also tell you that we in considering this, uh we when it went through the board, both Commissioner Snyder and I were assigned to discuss this with all the mayors in the cities throughout Washington County, and then based on those discussions, the mayors had the choice to ask us to come to city councils, and that's that's why we're here tonight because your mayor suggested that we come and talk to you directly about this.

Uh and I I do want to emphasize the fact that uh I'm hoping that this is an indication of how we communicate with our cities and our mayors and our city councils now and into the future by making sure that we're discussing this together and you have the option to provide feedback as well.

The decision has not been made, it is a proposal at this time.

Next slide, please.

So do you want do you want to go over this slide or would you like me to?

I can if you'd like.

You go ahead.

Okay.

Well, I think we talked about this a little bit, but this slide also has an image of sort of the numeric fun like factors of all the things that we have.

So for example, let's see if I can even see this.

We have 491 total miles of roads striped, so it pays for striping, it pays for street lights, it pays for culvert pavement reconstruction bridges, basically all the things, all of our operations and maintenance, and then so what we currently use our vehicle registration share for is operations and maintenance.

So that's paving culverts bridges.

Uh what we want to use the additional if we end up going forward with this potential increase, what we would use that that additional share for is capital projects.

I think I think it's also important to note that last bullet.

We talked about it, it doesn't apply to trails.

You can, you know, you budget your money in the way that you see fit, but it does allow for bicycle and pedestrian facilities that increase safety for all the travelers, and safety is a big component here too.

So I I just want to underscore that.

Yeah.

Next slide.

And here I think we don't need to belabor this point, but really what we're trying to get at is the sustainable transportation funding source.

We're trying to future proof it against general fund reductions.

We are trying to keep those local transportation dollars local.

We are trying to reflect good stewardship of community resources by continuing to invest in our transportation system.

I'm sure as you're all aware, as pavement conditions degrade, it costs more to bring them back up to a pavement condition index that's acceptable.

So we're really trying to stay above things, really trying to provide those complete street improvements, bike pedrout our county.

And so this is, and again, though there's a point on here about protecting projects from uncertain state and federal funding.

We will see what happens in the 2027 legislative session with transportation funding.

But what we heard in the 26 short session was some sentiment that cities and counties needed to bring more money into the game.

And as we know, we're all already strapped for money.

But this is one way that we can say we're doing all we can locally.

And next.

We've uh worked with other elected officials, the and we've met with chamber and WEA so that everybody is aware of what we're thinking here.

This is a a a real a really strong effort to be transparent about this and to provide the communication that we that we feel is important to provide.

We are also reaching out to the community with online open houses and uh community groups.

And if you have any additional thoughts about groups that we should talk with, please let us know.

We're we're we're in roadshow mode here, and happy happy to have these conversations because without those conversations, you really don't get the level of understanding.

And I recognize that you have public comment just like we have public comment, and uh you know, I want to be as supportive, we all want to be as supportive as possible as we go through this process.

And the key pieces I think are the fact that this is a tax or a fee, excuse me, it's a fee for services that pay for the the use of those services, and that's I think that's an important piece.

And I think we are at are we oh we've got one more slide.

So we've talked about this.

The this is in the uh time frame of doing the outreach, then in late spring, we'll have a board session to provide an overview of what happened through these discussions, and then in the summer, the board will consider the potential increase in an ordinance format.

Do you have questions for us?

Council, yes, sir Vaughan.

Uh a couple actually.

So you mentioned that there was a state limitation on being able to phase in the fee because I do worry about the shock of doubling, regardless of the dollar amount actually attached to that.

Um you know, Multnomah has 112 dollars.

Yeah, 112 per two years.

How are they at the like the middle mark of the 60 to 120?

Who's that?

Multnomah County, yeah.

Yeah.

So we you could choose any level.

So what we were actually the state minimum is $63.

So the statute is that we can go up to the lowest flat fee that the state assesses, which is $63 right now.

And then as Commissioner Therese mentioned, there's not currently a sort of exemption for low income.

But they the state has enacted a tiering methodology for miles per gallon.

So if your vehicle is higher in miles per gallon, you pay more.

And if you have an electric vehicle, you pay more because you're not paying gas tax commensurately.

So yes, we could choose any level.

I think the question was really about tiering.

Yeah, like being able to phase it in, you know, um, obviously money constraints are hitting everybody, like you mentioned.

Um but could there be a plan where you could, you know, maybe raise it to $10 a year for a couple of years with not in a double right off the bat, or is there something preventing us from doing that?

Or is there such an immediate need where that doesn't make sense?

We gotta kind of go all the way.

This this was briefly, this was briefly discussed.

And the the issue is that it's a difficult process to go through in an expensive process to do all that we're doing right now, and to do that on over the course of three years would be would be hard.

And um it was felt that we need the money now.

Uh so that's that's the other reason.

But we will take that comment back and discuss it further.

So counselor Vaughn, thank you for bringing it forward.

Thank you.

And then one other comment I had, and this might be more for the Department of Motor Vehicles, but uh I had a personal grievance with somebody at DMV the other day regarding vehicle registration, so it's kind of timely all you're talking about this.

Um if you have a vehicle that is not uh roadworthy, maybe having a major repair done, say a transmission replacement, and it's not been driven for six months or a year and six months.

When you go to register it again, I had to pay for a full two years, but only get about 13 months of the benefit of that two years because they backdated to the last registration you're supposed to have.

So for instance, my particular case at a vehicle that had tags expired um every August every year, right?

Um but in March, I go to pass DEQ, I get my tags, it's been inoperable for two and a half years, and I get a pay for a full two years, or I could I could not register it until August of this year, and then I get the full two years, right?

So there's like this weird thing with vehicle registration where you don't get to get your two years when you do it unless you're doing it on time.

And for somebody like me that has vehicle hobbies, it becomes very expensive.

I think this is something we might need to talk to our legislators about.

Yeah.

So that was more of a comment, not a question.

But thank you.

That's good information to have and to question.

Yeah, yes, Counselor Dennis.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna make a statement that you've heard over and over again.

I just sorry, I'm like sitting here and I'm like trying to process it all because like obviously from the logical perspective, I can see why we need the money, we're aware of everything that's going on.

Like I think we we see that side of things, but also have to remember I'm here to represent my community, and when I think about my community and where they're at, and especially right now, everything we've seen this year, there is no way that I could turn around and say, you've dealt with all these things, and we know that the economy isn't doing well, but guess what?

We're gonna double your registration every year.

So you actually instead of going to pay 60, you're gonna pay 120 on top of a hundred and twenty-six dollar fee.

So now you're gonna pay almost three hundred dollars.

Is that what I'm understanding?

So you pay this 126 combined vehicle registration for two years, and now I've got to pay an extra 120 dollars for the for the county.

So in total, I'm going to pass and then you have to pay $75, I think, for the DEQ test or something like that, right?

Or am I I think to give you an example?

Uh I just re-registered a couple vehicles recently, and it was a little over $200, like $211 to register.

That was the everything.

That was DMV, that was the current Washington County, and that was the Oregon, and that vehicle is not a high mileage, so I didn't have any supplemental.

I just paid the base fee.

So it's about $200.

So this would raise my $211 theoretical to be $241.

Yeah.

So it's a third, it'd be thirty well, that's $30 per year.

So it'd be two actually be $260.

So it'd be $270, we go from $211 to $271.

Yes.

That's a lot.

That's a lot of money that people don't have.

I've seen people have difficulties.

I've heard of stories where they can't go this month because they have to wait until they have all the money to be able to pay the registration fee.

So I'm aware of where our community is at.

And so I think it's really difficult for me to then turn around and say, well, this is what we have to do.

This is the only way we can do this because I'm sure you all have looked at other ways and you showed us those chart, but yeah, especially right now, I feel like doubling it just feels very um tone-death with everything going on.

Uh I understand that maybe doing the tiered approach would also be very expensive, but like I said, I don't have a solution other than I just am very concerned for what this would mean for a large part of Washington County.

Thank you, Counselor.

Um may I also interpret that you would prefer a tier uh one a first year, second year, third year increase.

Is if we were going to do this at all, is that what I'm hearing you say?

Or that would I just want to make sure that I'm representing what you're saying?

Yeah, I think that would be a last resort for me.

I'm the type of like where can we find what are because this always feels like band-aid solutions to me.

I'm just being honest.

It always feels like okay, we've got to do a tax, and then we gotta do more tax, so we need a bond, or we need this because that's the only way we can get money right now.

Um I'm a little more tend to be a little more on the radical side of like how can we actually take these systems that aren't working for us and completely redo them to create a system that can actually function and doesn't impact our community that much.

That being said, I don't have any ideas or solutions for you behind that, but this just doesn't feel like the right approach, but that's for me personally.

Yeah, I appreciate it, counselor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I was gonna just add that what what Commissioner Theresa was talking about earlier was sort of a legislative solution, and we are working with our government relations staff to come up with maybe a bill that we could float in the 2027 session that could look at some tiering based on um the cost of a vehicle, so that we could tier up per vehicle miles per gallon, and also we could tear down for the cost of a vehicle.

So and I think that would have to apply statewide, so it would take some work, and that's just an idea that we're gonna start running through with our legislative partners.

I think the only way that I would feel comfortable doing something like this is if there was some financial aid available.

So for example, you double it, you make the 120, but it's based on a sliding scale of income.

So if you can pay the full 20, great, this is what your money is going for.

And there are people out there that would do that, right?

Like I want to support my computing, I can do that.

I can do that.

But that doesn't mean that means because I want to do that that someone else can't.

And so if we could make that happen, then that would make a lot more sense.

I hear you, but we cannot make that happen because it's administered by the state.

So at this at this time, it all has to be statewide.

But that doesn't mean that we can't look toward options to push the state to have that type of service available.

So I I we're listening, and you're right, it is a very difficult pill to swallow right now.

There's there's no question.

Um, you know, if I look back, I wish we had in 2016 been more proactive about raising the fee at that time, and we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in now as much anyway.

So but thank you for your thoughts.

And uh I think what I'm also hearing is a nudge, if you will, to make sure that we are looking at legislative fixes along the way.

So thank you for that.

Councilor Lopez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just uh a couple things.

So just uh a quick rebuttal to what counselor Bob brought up.

Um I also know friends that uh not me, but people I know that uh won't register renew the registration right away, they wait a couple months, and yeah, they still use it even though their their tags have been expired, then they go and renew it, and you know they don't have to pay for those five months that they've used it.

So it goes back and forth.

So uh but uh can I can I get some clarification on what the state is thinking as far as an increase, how this could impact?

Would it be in addition to what we're asking here, or is this combined?

I mean, they haven't done anything yet.

I know they're still trying to plan that out, but how could that potentially impact uh the pockets of our residents?

So the state passed the HP 3199 in 2026 short.

So actually, no, it was a special session.

They passed a transportation funding bill that had some fee increases, it had a gas tax increase.

So that has been referred to the ballot.

And so it's not in effect, and it won't go into effect until the results of the ballot come through.

So if it doesn't pass at the ballot, then it wouldn't go into effect, and the state would be considering again a transportation funding package in 2027.

And I know that the governor's office is working on that.

They're supposed to be working on it this whole summer leading up into the 27th session because transportation funding is it's really difficult for the whole state and locally.

So I think you kind of answered the question when you said, or do you just not know?

And Counselor, I think at this point we don't.

Got it.

So that uh that doesn't mean that we're not watching it closely and that our GR team isn't watching it.

It will be on the ballot in May.

And so that we'll have more information after that.

Yeah.

And then just uh an additional comment, just similar to Councillor Goldida's uh I feel the same way.

It's just uh it's a tough time.

There's everything's uh expensive, there's inflation, there's gas.

Uh so every every dollar counts now.

But I also appreciate having well-maintained roads.

Um you don't have to go far.

Yeah, our big city next door, they're having issues uh maintaining the roads.

Uh work downtown and there's poholes uh in a lot of roads, and so I I do appreciate our well-maintained roads.

I know it's important, and it's something that you don't appreciate till it's not there.

So it's definitely something to weigh um to think about.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And I'd also add to that, you appreciate it when it's you you understand it more when it's not there.

And the other compounding factor, as Jessica mentioned earlier, is if we if it erodes too far, the cost to improve it doubles.

And and that's that's an even that just makes the problem more difficult.

So Mayor, do you have questions for us?

I I want to say thank you for coming out.

Um the reason I asked you is because I knew my counselors would have feedback and I didn't want the only opinion you got would be mine.

Um and I'd given you guys an earful already, um, plowing much of the same ground, right?

The concerns I mean the math, the math is easy, right?

It's a 28%.

If the state does nothing, it's a 28% increase.

That puts us that puts us on par with um one of the least favorite uh razors around PGE, right?

I mean, they're notorious now for their double digit increases.

So um as a representative of our community, I I told you before I can't sit in favor of this.

I understand why we're doing it, I understand what it would be used for.

Um you've got as have heard from me and all of the mayors about the erosion and the MSTIP being drawn in and drawn down along with the rest of the Washington County budget, right?

I mean, it's taken hits um over the years also, and we thought that was kind of a protected, right?

The mayors had the perception that that was protected, and it hasn't.

It's it's been reduced the same as other departments and the and you know, you you put it on the table and you say, well, do you want to cut the jail?

Do you want to cut the county sheriff, the DA, the libraries, the roads, you know, and everybody basically got some kind of haircut in the deal, right?

Um if you roll the clock all the way back to the way back days, MSTIP was something that was passed by a vote of the people.

It was very popular because it had a list of projects that would get delivered with the MS TIP.

That's where on 3F was our last version of it, right?

So that's where it got rolled into the tax base through the whole 54750 thing and started just being charged against the general tax, right?

Those those funds got rolled in.

So can't can't recommend, can't support the increase, especially at those kind of levels.

Um if we have to go there, if it does get drawn there somewhere.

Um I would challenge your idea of about having to come out and do this again and again.

Um to much the same of my testimony to the state.

We didn't see any rioting in the streets when we raised the gas tax two cents.

Right?

Because we knew we were gonna do two cents every other year for a number of years.

So if I think you if you do choose to implement this against our some of our recommendations, um maybe you just plan to be phased from the beginning and you're not going back out and going through the communication again.

Maybe it is ten dollars and twenty-seven, and maybe it's twenty dollars and twenty-nine, and then it's thirty dollars for full implementation, and you're just doing that every two years, and it's pre-programmed.

So that if you have to do something, maybe that gets us better to I mean, instead of 28%, now we're talking about closer to 10, 9 or 10 percent each biennium.

So we're still knocking on the door of the PGE level of an increases, but we're not egregious in our dip right at the beginning.

It won't allow us to jump in and get double the money at the start, but it'll also allow people to understand this is something we're forecasting, right?

It's kind of one of those deals.

Um I will take a moment to brag in that Cornelius is not one of the cities coming before you and talking about multi-million dollar budget cuts.

Correct me if I'm wrong, city manager, if we're headed there.

Um we run a projected CIP, we look at our costs, we're conservative on our incomes, and to that end, we can see where the lines cross, and we continue to look at what changes we make in programs to do that.

And I understand not all of your programmic changes have been your choice.

You have had unfunded mandates.

Um, my favorite one to quote is the medical examiner.

Who thought the state would stop paying the medical examiner and stop paying for the storage of people at the ME's office, that all of that would be pushed down to the county.

So Lord forbid you die in Harney County.

At least in Washington County, we do have a few shekels to rub together.

But it if you're in central Oregon, Eastern Oregon, I don't know what those guys are doing over there for a medical examiner.

So I understand not all of this is your choice, but um, you know, you won't get me standing in a picture or going for this, but if you have to do it and you choose at the county commission to do it, I would recommend that you do it in a phased approach over the next multiple bienniums so that at least our people can program and understand that this is coming.

Um, and then I think to to counselor Goodinus' point, you have to continue to look at operational efficiencies.

We have to be.

And I would challenge almost any city to look at the dollar per capita that the city of Cornelius gets and what our staff gets done with it.

I I think we're one of the most efficiently and most effective government bodies in this county area.

Um probably we could go even further.

Um, but I think that's part of it because Councillor Gornitas didn't tell the whole story, but you guys are heard it and I'll do it for the record.

Generally, 10% of our people don't pay their water bill because they can't afford it every month.

And out of that, another 10% of those people get their water turned off because they haven't paid it for three months.

And we've set up new systems where if you're qualifying you can get that abated a couple months a year.

And now we've also done the same with the garbage.

We figured out ways to do this.

So if you want us to stand beside you and go to the state and fight for um the low-income folks that would be most disadvantaged by any increase, I think you'll get us to stand beside you for that.

To ask us to stand beside you for the increase.

You don't need to save room in that picture, I think, for our council.

So clear enough feedback?

Very clear.

And I I want to tell you that I appreciate the feedback.

I I and I speak for the whole commission when I say this.

I think that uh these are the discussions that we were hoping to have.

And I uh I appreciate it.

And part of part of not being tone deaf is listening to the people that uh really are in in the front row C tier.

And I and I I am very grateful for this opportunity, and this information will be taken back.

There's no question about it, and we will be discussing it.

Thank you for the offer to stand with us as we talk with the state as well.

So, and congratulations to you and your staff for the work that you do here in Cornelius.

And I do, I am very well aware through a number of different ways of the good work that you do and the efficiency that you bring.

So thank you.

Staff, mind if I just jump in real quick.

Yes, I just have to, since we're talking transportation, thank your team.

We reached out, it was a while back, but there's a 90 degree bend just south of town on Golf Course Road that goes down to uh a suggested 20 or 25 because it's 90 degrees, and then a relatively short distance of 55 before you enter the city limits at 25.

So people come in really hot on 10th Avenue, and we reached out to the county and just asked that they mark that as 35.

And we reached out to the county and just asked that they mark that as 35.

So between the 90 and 10th Avenue, now it's 35.

So I just want to thank your team for responding to that.

I think it's over time it's gonna help calm the traffic coming into town.

So thank you.

Great.

That's great.

Do you want to comment on that?

No, that that's all Stacy.

I think we I think we just say thank you.

Well, and and and similarly, right?

When we sat down as the county reps and the city reps and talked about what we were doing for transportation, and you looked at the thing and we said, hey, Cornelius is in favor of the 19th Avenue project.

Forrest Grove said, hey, let's do this thing down here at Maple Street.

And the county actually had on theirs, well, we'd like to put another roundabout in over at Wren and you know Cornelius or Suspower.

And the cities went nah.

So you but you guys listened, right?

You didn't you didn't go against that feedback and you went out and went with the the much more cost-effective solution is you just put a stop light basically, and it says, hey, it's a flashing light, everybody's gonna stop now.

Instead of being a one-way stop, um now it's a four-way stop, and that was much cheaper than the millions to put in a roundabout, and hopefully it has had.

I I think from the number of vehicles I've seen in the farmers yards, it's reduced the number of accidents.

But you guys heard us, you were partners with us, you you did something to improve safety, but you didn't go for the the gold-plated answer, and we were spending the money on a couple city projects instead.

So thank you for that.

That's great.

Great.

Anything else, council?

Cool.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for your really valuable feedback.

Yes, thank you.

Jerry, you've got no time now.

You got one minute.

No, come on up, Jerry, please.

Commissioner Woolley.

No, this is my show.

You're in his district now.

That's right.

The fine district four.

Thank you very much, Mayor, counselors, and certainly staff for being here tonight.

Um fortunately, unfortunately, the first item on my because this is when I kind of give you a little bit of a snapshot of what we're doing at Washington County, and I haven't been here for three or four months, so got some catching up to do, but the first item on my discussion is budget.

And um I heard the dialogue previously, so I just want to say that we are entering into budget season again.

This is my eighth year as a county commissioner, and seven of them will be dealing with revenue shortfalls.

Um this year's no different.

Uh some years have been bigger than others and more difficult, but it has required us to use your term, Mayor.

Uh look at efficiencies.

Um we have we are to a point where we have done a study on mandated fees services versus optional.

And that's kind of a sad commentary because there's a lot of optional services that we'd love to do and provide as a county, but the the bad news is the revenue stream is not there to support that, and so we have to find other ways to do that.

So um uh I think I was doing a little bit of a calculation at last year budget season.

Um we have cut over 120 million dollars out of our budget in the seven years that I've been doing this.

So um hard times, we try and find absolute cheapest way we can do some things, and we continue to do that.

We also have really reached out to try and be more transparent about this.

So we have um we have the board and the rest of the budget committee.

Remember, we have a budget committee too.

We'll get the proposed budget on April 27th, and then we have opportunities for outreach for uh public sessions with elected officials and also with the general public, two different meetings.

And so uh stay tuned for that, and you'll certainly get the invites to that, um, and we'll have good conversations.

Uh on the public safety side, a couple of weeks ago I was able to go to the sheriff's office and see some of what I think is gonna be the the coolest thing we've had for a long time, and that is how drones can help us provide uh more safety to our neighborhoods and get after the bad guys quicker.

So envision this.

We have uh we're looking at the sheriff's department and the and they're working with the cities as well uh and the fire departments.

Uh this is all a uh very um kind of a new technology.

We're gonna be looking at where we can develop pods that would have three drones on it, and then we also have uh several of our sheriff's car that already have smaller drones in them.

And what that does, it allows us to immediately assess a situation from the air to be able to contain the bad guys going from uh running or uh possibly calling in some of their troops.

Um and it also allows us to communicate to our deputies that are uh heading for that scene that the crisis situation of it.

So if it's not horrible, if it looks like it's managed okay, then they don't have to flip on the lights and the sirens and speed there and risk uh their own lives in doing that.

Um we've also uh already uh we've caught two people who were running.

Uh one was shoplifting from one of our local uh large stores, and uh we were able and jumped on a TriMet bus, and the drone followed him and the bus.

Uh, and then we were able to apprehend them on the bus.

And it was it was pretty cool because they're probably thinking, how the heck did you be able to follow me?

Um so we've got a couple of examples of that, and to me, that's technology that we absolutely have to invest in.

And so you'll hear more about the drones and um and how that's gonna help our public safety folks.

Um we had um what is a couple months ago we had the TV Highway Policy and Budget Committee meeting right here in Cornelius, and specifically it was to talk about what uh bus stops uh you were going to be recommending to TriMet.

Uh and we went through a very long conversation.

Um I think you probably know this, but we went with option B, which is stops at 10th, 14th, and 20th Avenue.

Did I get that right, Mayor?

Um and then the second part of that long meeting was uh conversations about what size bus, a 40-footer or a 60-footer, because the stations are going to be built to handle a 60-foot bus.

Well, then we found out that uh TriMed can't handle a 60-foot bus.

It's uh you get a 40-foot bus or um you get a 40-foot bus.

So uh that was an interesting conversation.

I think there'll be more of that.

Primarily it's because the Merlow Garage uh cannot maintain a 60-foot bus, nor can they maintain um electric buses.

So we're pretty well um we're pretty well restricted on options that we have.

But I that was a great conversation, and the challenge has been put out, and I can't remember who did that, but before our next meeting, um we are to go to one end or the other, either Beaverton um town center or forest grove, and we're to get on the bus and ride it 100 uh all all just all there and back.

So both directions monitor how many people are getting on and off and and um yeah, just and I've never done that, so that's on my to-do list.

We'll see what that looks like.

And then um, Commissioner Tries, you are I'm talking about something that you serve on Metro's Regional Waste Advisory Committee, and uh which uh deals with your transfer station that's in Cornelius that's coming on board.

Um that's I am very excited about that because quite frankly, the closest one I believe is down on Highway 30.

Um, and so um I'm hope that's you guys are looking forward to uh certainly providing that service to out here in western Washington County.

So just a couple of real quick things.

Uh tomorrow night, hops opening game for this season in their brand new stadium.

It's gonna be quite a deal.

Um I have uh I was asked uh to throw out the first pitch.

I don't know how many of us are going to be doing that.

I had back surgery um about eight weeks ago, so I have called in on the injured reserve, and I've gotten um my first um uh pitcher in this in the bullpen, and that's gonna be my 11-year-old grandson.

So he's gonna be throwing the pitch out for me, and it's gonna be fun.

Like I said, I don't know how many others, but it's gonna be quite a night, and the weather's gonna be very good.

So happy about that.

Uh we've got the Washington County Family Peace Center is uh open house in celebration is on April 30th.

Um you will be getting invites to that.

I would really encourage you to uh visit that if you haven't already.

It is a phenomenal uh addition to our um dealing with our domestic violence.

Um and just for your really fun stuff on Saturday, you can go to the county fair uh pig weigh in.

We're getting ready for the fair, you know.

The pigs have to be weighed in in the spring, and then they have to meet weight criteria and pigs are really funny.

They are not happy when they're trying to be weighed.

Um I also was appointed by the commissioners to um represent the county on the Metro Supportive Housing Services Regional Policy and Oversight Committee.

This is a new committee.

Have a big impact on how we spend our SHS dollars.

And certainly we've had one meeting, we've got one more next week, and then we go on a regular basis, and we will be dealing with a number of issues, which I think hopefully will allow us as a region, as a Tri-County region to be more consistent in the services.

Because as you know, uh Washington County has done a very good job with this.

Another county hasn't.

And so we hope that we can bring that into much more consistent work and get some uh bigger wins on this.

Um clean water services.

Uh, we have been interviewing for our new general manager, so I will be able to tell you some of that uh a little bit later when that is all done.

And then, of course, uh, I don't know if you saw in the news today, but um Mayor Wilson from Portland has asked Warsian County to uh provide six million dollars of SHS money uh to Portland.

That conversation will be had tomorrow in our work session uh about three o'clock.

It is um it is immediately become a hot topic.

Um so stay tuned for that.

If you got nothing else to do, tune in.

I think it's gonna be around three o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks.

That's all I got, Mayor.

Council, questions.

Jerry, how many hours have you booked for your ride on the bus?

I don't know.

What should I?

Um I just Googled it to make sure my estimate was right.

And though traffic conditions right now, they estimate if you walked out of here to the bus stop, it would take you at least 50 minutes just to get to Beaverton Transit Center from here.

So then to get back here would be got to wait for the next bus.

So you got another 15 minutes, 20 minutes, we're getting close to the end of the bus line.

You just to get back here is two.

That doesn't get you to Forest Grove.

Yeah, so you need another 15, 20 minutes to get to Forest Grove from here on the bus.

So you need to book at least three-ish hours.

Yeah, well for a round trip.

Uh, I think it's really going to be educational for me because like I said, I haven't done that before.

And um and hearing some of the stories uh from the mem the committee members about uh the difficulties they've had uh using our transit service um will be eye-opening to me as well.

So yep, it's a good investment of time.

I I'm gonna share some of my mayor's update with you so you can know what I've already talked to TriMan about.

I had the chance to pull them aside after a meeting the other night.

Um I I with no uncertain terms told them that they won't be designing their own bus.

Because uh they've got two million dollars in our 300 million dollar project for bus design.

And I told them that's unacceptable.

They will buy the same bus as some other major city from some other manufacturer that does what we need, which is a curb level front and rear entry.

And Sam was like, you know, you're right, we just need to find a bus that somebody else is already buying because that gives us quality and quantity of parts for easy access.

Right?

We don't need a Portland only bus.

That's what we've got now, and that's been part of our parts problems for the last 20 plus years.

So I told him you and I would have done it for a million, wouldn't we?

Right, right.

Oh, yeah, consult it and go over by the same bus that Arizona, you know, Phoenix, you know, Dallas, Austin, any of them are already buying that does that exact same thing, Denver, right?

So buy an existing bus.

B the Merlow project, um, if you listen to Sam talk, 300 million won't touch the Merlow project to replace it.

The project they did in East County was over 300 million just for a new electrified 60-foot bus service area.

But what I told him to talk about and think about, and he said they will work on this.

Maybe it's not a now for us.

Maybe 60 foot electric buses aren't now.

Matter of fact, electric buses are a boutique item right now.

They they they won't tell you on the record, but I have it from a uh certifiable source.

They have four electric buses.

They bricked for a month on the software update.

The buses sat in the yard for over a month, bricked out because they couldn't get a software update they needed.

Since then, the buses have not been on the road very much because they're constantly breaking down.

It's not a ready technology for buses.

They're not there for prime time.

Diesel buses, diesel hybrids.

If you go to C Tran, C Tran bought diesel hybrids.

It's basically the range extension.

They have batteries on them that drive the bus, but just like every train that goes by this place, they use diesel to make electricity, and that runs the bus motor.

So the bus isn't starting and stopping a diesel motor or idling.

They use the diesel over the electric.

And it works just as well as it works for trains.

Trains are one of the most efficient ways to move tons and tons.

So there's a technology.

So what I what I talked to Sam about, and he he he thought this was a good idea is I said, let's look at a CIP program, right?

The capital improvement over time.

What what buses do we even need to replace now, if any, in our 300 million dollar project?

And then when we replace those buses, maybe they're diesel hybrid, right?

Maybe they're initially 40 footers.

And when do we get a 60 foot garage service area that has the chargeability?

When is the technology ready?

So maybe it's not now when we turn the you know the line on in 2030 or 2035.

Maybe it's in 10 years before we get 60 foot buses.

But if we build it to the plan we have now, which is a good plan, right?

We've got our stops picked out, we know what they need to be.

And let's look at where on the on the CIP is the right place to start inserting 60 foot buses.

Because their own argument, they don't we don't have the ridership to justify 60 foot buses.

They'd be nice to have, they give people more room, but we don't even at a 40% increase of our existing bus ridership, we could still fit all those people at peak times on a 40-foot bus.

And to add to that, we don't know where solid state batteries will be in the future because we've already seen so much of that evolution happening.

And so the longer you wait, the more likely you have a better electric bus.

Maybe they become they come up with a good way of doing it.

You know, they've got hybrids, they got diesel.

Smart's already got uh hydrogen hybrids and and other ones too.

So I think I think the bus is I think the the 40-foot diesel is the today answer.

We just need to look at where on the CIP program a 60-foot bus makes sense for ridership, and where does it go electric or hybrid or whatever?

Let's make the right decisions long term.

So that that's part of what I've been giving them feedback on, and hopefully you can provide some of the same kind of feedback as we we've got a good program.

We still don't have 53.

The state didn't kick in their $53 million, so that's not in the $300 million project.

So we gotta VMware.

We get some matching money that with uh funds that we've got to certainly identify as well.

I completely agree with you.

I think it's a um it's only logical that we would do that.

I I challenge the fact that we will have a brand new bus maintenance station in 10 years, because if it costs that much money now, you can imagine it's gonna cost a half a billion dollars later.

And so my question is, and I I ran this by Peter.

Um, why are we building 40 60 foot bus stops when we are 10 to 15 years out before we get 60 foot buses?

Um I don't know what the additional cost would be.

Maybe it's nominal, but still, to me, we're building 60 foot platforms out there for 40 foot buses.

And if we build one, I think that's the right question to ask.

If we're building a new one, like 20th would be a brand new stop, right?

Because right now it's in the lane, the stuff's not there, versus the Fred Myers one I brought up.

The Fred Meyer stops built.

It's 40 feet, it's got a cover, it's got electronics.

If we used it, we don't do anything.

But if we build it new, then build it with the idea of understanding what's the fractional difference in cost for a 60-foot now versus we know it'll cost more in the future, but let's make an educated decision about that today, right?

Do we buy 60 foot stop now or do we reserve the land and build it out to 60 later?

So I think I think those are good questions too, Jerry.

I really do to think about what's the right answer.

You know, the the field of dreams is a is a great thing, but it it may not be uh economically viable from our current position.

Completely agree.

Counselors, that bring any other questions, comments up.

Jerry, thank you for your time.

Thanks for coming out to see us.

Appreciate it.

Good luck on your uh grandson's pitch.

Yeah, will it be better than mine, trust me?

Uh long as long as we don't do uh like I always give Pete a hard time about, right?

Mayor True X, don't throw it in the dirt.

Okay, let's move along.

We're getting uh down to our last half hour.

We've had our Washington County updates.

Oh, proclamation for Arbor Day, it's me.

Good night, guys.

I understand you won't be hanging out.

Yep.

Good night, safe travels.

City of Cornelis, Oregon proclamation for Arbor Day.

Jan uh April 24th, my eye has really given me troubles.

April 24th, 2026.

Whereas in 1872, Jay Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees.

And whereas the established holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with planting of more than one million trees in about Nebraska.

Whereas Arbor Day is now observed and celebrated through the United States and the world.

And whereas Arbor Day is a time to acknowledge, educate, and celebrate the crucial environment services the trees provide, including prevention of soil erosion, cooling of our neighborhoods and surface waterways, prefecation of our air, oxygen production, and wildlife habitat.

Whereas trees are a renewable resource that provide paper, wood for our buildings, and fuel for heating, whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance economic vitality, and beautify our community.

Whereas tree, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal.

Now, therefore, we the Cornelis Oregon City Council do hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026, Arbor Day in Cornelis, and we encourage all community members to plant, care for, and support preservation of trees for current and future generations.

Dated the sixth day of April 2026, Jeffrey C.

Delane, mayor of Cornelis.

Oh, and please check with uh the operations and make sure if you're putting it in the green strip that it's the bright kind of tree and it's an approved tree.

Um be safe with that.

And don't plant it on top of the sewer in your backyard.

Thanks, guys.

So that's the proclamation for that one.

Um guys, my eye is just giving me a fit.

Can somebody do the child abuse prevention month, please?

We can do that.

City of Cornelius proclamation, I'm sorry, City of Cornelius, Oregon proclamation, child abuse prevention month and sexual assault awareness month, April 2026.

Whereas April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month.

And whereas Oregon sees higher rates of domestic violence, sexual assault, and childhood trauma than the national average.

And whereas a child abuse and sexual violence are some of the most serious public health issues, with numerous studies documenting the link between trauma and a wide range of medical, emotional, psychological, and short and long-term behavioral effects.

And whereas children who experience abuse are uniquely affected because they are still developing and therefore suffer lifelong effects to their physical and emotional health, and whereas sexual violence results in people navigating long-term mental and physical health impacts, and whereas sexual violence, childhood abuse, and interpersonal crime affect people of all ages, races, and orientations, and but disproportionately children and adults with vulnerabilities, communities of color, and those impacted by systemic inequities, and whereas the impacts of violence and abuse on individuals are expensive to our whole community, and the prevention of these traumas is the best and most cost-effective method of ensuring a healthy and equitable community for all.

And whereas when harm does occur, we are determined to respond by developing by helping survivors find not only safety, healing, and justice, but also equitable access to services, a sense of hope for their future, and the tools to rebuild their lives.

And now, therefore, we the Cornelia City Council do hereby proclaim April 2026 to be child abuse prevention month and sexual assault awareness month, and affirm our commitment to support a coordinated and collaborative community of providers that deliver intervention and prevention services of violence and abuse all year long.

Dated this sixth day of April 2026, Jeffrey C.

Delane, Mayor of Cornelius.

Thank you, Councillor Gordonis.

Appreciate your help on that one.

That takes us into recognitions.

Our first recognition is professional achievement recognition for Ryan Howe, Public Works Operations Manager, a level three water system, and level two wastewater system certification.

Quick comments.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just a brief uh Ryan, it might be deja vu because I mentioned uh last meeting or the meeting before about one of these achievements, but I wanted to formalize it a little bit because he he achieved another one with longtime employee retirements in recent years.

We saw some important certifications walk out the door with them.

Ryan has stepped up to achieve some important and not easily achieved certifications.

So the water level three is required by law when a community reaches population of 15,000.

And so we now have Ryan as our level three certified water operator on staff.

And so we're good until we get to 50,000 now.

And then on the wastewater side, Ryan recently passed the level two for wastewater conveyance.

So we have been meeting that requirement through an IGA with Clean Water Services and for the past couple years or so.

And um so Ryan's achievement means that um we're covered internally again, and as with water, when we reach 15,000, we'll need a level three, and Ryan's already working on that.

He reached these important milestones through long dedicated experience and book learning.

He's also pushing newer team members to pursue certification so we can build our redundancy and knowledge base.

Uh so please help me thank and congratulate Ryan, even though he's not here.

Okay, you have another one there for our city recorder.

I do.

This this person next to me here.

So Rochelle has made uh Rochelle Bateman, certified municipal clerk, CMC, has made achieving the two important certifications for a city recorder or clerk a priority.

There's so much that goes into city recording, most of it behind the scenes, all governed by law, record management and retention, elections, public meetings, records requests, and drafting policies, just to name a handful.

It can take years for some people to achieve them.

And Rochelle has achieved the CMC in just over a year and a half.

She is also well down the path to achieve the other, which is MMC Master Municipal Clerk.

Please help me thank and congratulate Rochelle for this achievement.

Congrats, yeah.

Um public hearings, we have none of this evening.

I know everybody's happy to see that we'll be going to the last page, page four.

We have no unfinished business.

That takes us to our piece of new business, which is resolution number 2026-25, the Davis Street name, no report.

Barbara Fryer, community development director.

So we have no report.

Has everybody read through this?

Do you have any questions we need to pull staff forward for?

It's such a complicated name.

Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Councilor Gordinas.

I make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-25, a resolution of the Cornelia City Council naming the park at 1980 North Davis Street as Davis Street Park.

And this action takes effect immediately.

Motion by Council Good Ninja is to have a second.

Second.

Okay.

Second on Council Lopez.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Abstentions?

Passes unanimous.

Takes us to reports.

City councilors, do any of you have reports this evening?

Yes, Councilor Vaughan.

I got the opportunity to hang out with our Yak a couple of weeks ago, uh, the youth advisory council.

Thank you, Itzel, for the invite.

Um, I I really enjoyed my time hanging out with them.

I got to learn a little bit about what they did.

And uh, you know, not only uh it was a mini Toastmaster session for me, because I got to practice my presentation skills with them.

Um, but uh it was uh it was a great group, about half of them I would say were really engaged in and asked me questions.

And um I was super pleased to see how they're engaged with the city.

Um I didn't really realize what the YAC was doing kind of behind the scenes, and to be able to see them, you know, helping with the flicks in the park and that sort of stuff, and you know, helping come up with the movie list and uh a lot of them had good feedback too, I thought for the the movies that were suggested and were really involved.

So uh thank you again for inviting me, and uh, I would recommend if any of you get the invite to to take her up on that.

Great.

Other counselors?

Yes, Councilor Goodness.

Yes, I would just um add to the my monthly statements of reminders that ETSAL has done a really great job of updating our website with a ton of resources specifically related to immigration.

So if anyone needs those, please don't hesitate to look into that area.

Um there's lots of videos, and I also just want to remind folks about our different resources that we have within our uh city.

So if you need help with your water bill, if you need help with your um uh what's the right word?

Not trash, but uh waste and recycling waste and recycling, thank you.

Um please make sure you reach out to the city and Erica is usually the one that's answering those calls, and she's amazing.

So I just appreciate all the staff.

And as it gets nice out there, just remind a community that children are out there, they're playing around, and they're not always the most um what's the word, or aware of their surroundings, and so it's kind of up to us to just be a little bit more careful and make sure you slow down and really keep an eye out.

So that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nothing this evening.

Um, actually, for the mayor's report, I think I gave most of it.

The big the big uh off-site meeting it did was the uh, like I said, was going down meeting with Metro and got a good chance to talk to um other leaders about transportation.

Um couple of the quick updates I kind of pushed on there is um analysis.

I think we need the data.

Um one of the things that uh I've been representing through Washington County, um, Commissioner Savas out of Clackham's County meeting is that the only transportation authority at the JPEC table is TriMet.

Yet there are a lot of other smaller organizations providing transportation, not the least of which is smart out of Wilsonville, um, Sandy.

There's there's transportation all over, and matter of fact, we do have um the city of Vancouver set at the table of JPAC, yet CTRAN doesn't ever present or talk to us, and they have apparently some pretty cool stuff going on over there.

So I I think that was kind of a general push that we're pushing back, and they're like, well, you know, the feds didn't tell us we have to, and I said, Well, and Clackmas and I both said the same thing.

That that doesn't mean we can't be smarter or better.

Just because we're federally compliant that we have a transportation representative, maybe we need to expand it out and include one of the other, you know, let the small groups rep pick a rep and have them set somebody, even if it's a non-voting member, but they be at the table to be able to provide feedback and a and a vector from their lens of a small transit provider.

And then I basically hit them with the data.

I said, Do you need to show us?

I said, you need to show us how you're the most efficient and effective form of transportation provider in the region.

And by the way, how do you compare against other regions?

Right?

Are you traveling?

Are you getting more people over more miles at a lower cost?

You know, to me, that seems like the metrics of performance.

Then others are doing it.

Well, how what is smart getting done, right?

How many miles are they covering?

How many, you know, people are they transporting?

Because what we basically heard is in the argument about the cut services from uh Twalaton, they were gonna cut a whole line.

And when you cut a whole line, you don't lose just the line, you lose all the ancillary services that are within a half mile of that.

So lift, you lose lift.

So for those that are disabled or need that extra help, that's gone.

If the line's gone, that service is gone.

Even if it's only daily or every few hours, that service is gone when you kill the line.

So um basically Towalleton was like, it's great, we'll take all of our money and we'll buy SMART to come do our services.

And SMART said we'll give you twice the service or half the money that TriMet's providing.

And then TriMet reversed the decision and said we're not killing the line, we'll just reduce the service.

So I basically hit them pretty hard and Clackamas climbed on, and so did the cities of Clackamas County.

Basically said, you need to show us your performance metrics, and then how do they compare?

You know, if you want us to go to Salem and argue for things, if you want us to uh side with you, you got to show us how you're doing a better job.

Because right now we all we have is anecdotal discussion.

We don't have any data.

So and then, like I said, all the stuff I talked with, you know, Commissioner Willie about buses and bus cost and bus futures.

And they they it it felt like they heard it.

Now we'll see what they do with that.

Um so that that's all I had for an update.

City manager.

Thanks, Mayor.

Just a couple of things.

I uh did have a conversation with our library director, Maria Aguilar earlier about the uh temporary pause to open open session or open availability to the Drake Learning Center, and she's available to provide a little background and update and status if you'd like.

Council, we've got 15 minutes left.

Do you want to hear a little bit on the Drake Learning Center from Maria?

You're on Maria.

Right.

No, it's no surprise.

We talked about this ahead of time.

And she even knows how the microphone thing works.

Welcome, Maria.

Hello.

I wrote out something, so I don't forget.

Um, but in the end, you can ask me any questions.

Um good evening, Mayor and City and City Council.

Thank you for the opportunity to update you on the city council's uh the Drake Learning Center's open lab and the reasons for the temporary pause and the hours and the next steps that we have in the library.

Uh before I begin, I want to acknowledge acknowledge that communication regarding the POS could have been clearer for um for the city council, for the city manager, for the community, and I take responsibility for that.

My intent was all has always been to act carefully and responsibly on behalf of the city.

And I thank you for your patience as we address these details.

The little bit of background.

Um you may recall that this uh Drake Learning opened in September of 2024 and in February of 2025, we started the open lab hours uh once a week, and this gave the community members hands-on access to tools like the 3D printers and the laser cutters technology that most people don't have at home or are interested in getting, but they don't quite know where to start.

Um it directly supports our library's mission to connect, inspire and empower the community.

The program has grown steadily with expended hours driven by community interest and strong volunteer support.

Um we took a pause, we were doing two days a week, and we were looking at having three days a week to include a weekend because that was what the community was asking for.

On February 18th of this year, I made the decision to temporarily pause the open lab hours after staff member raised liability concerns.

And these concerns include included questions about the volunteer roles, the training, supervision, and participation waivers.

Um I consulted with our human resources and our insurance provider, and I paused the program to ensure that we had the appropriate safeguards in place.

Um I did have another concern uh from a different staff member regarding the um air quality from the laser cutter, and we did take steps immediately to ensure that we were monitoring the um the release.

We bought equipment to monitor the different materials that were being used so that we were following all of the rules, and then we made a decision, even though everything that was emitted was within range because staff were concerned about the smell.

We just focused on using specific material type to reduce that um what's the word?

Yeah, the emissions.

And I and I think the the the question, and I I they sent in notes to Peter was um perception versus science, right?

Um we have um code limits, there's there's things that are very specific, and then there's uh perception, right?

Ooh, that's stinky.

Yeah, it's stinky, but is it actually dangerous?

Is it actually something right?

So there's there's there's there's criteria for that.

So I just want to make sure that we're being sufficiently um responsive to both the the public's interest and to the necessity for safety, right?

We don't want to be doing anything that's um immoral or illegal.

That's always been an easy one to go.

We don't cross that line, but then it's it's where do you do in the gray between okay, we're code compliant, but then maybe something's stinky.

Especially with 3D printers, yeah.

The PLA is obviously very stinky, but the admissions that they give off are unless you've got those printers going like 24-7, you're you're within compliance, and even then they sell the hard covers that you can put on top of the printer that kind of help with that as well.

But the smells will probably always be there to be honest.

And I think the smell was more related to the laser cutter than the 3D printer.

Yeah.

Right, and I and I think that's part of it too, right?

If we need to get the right kind of exhaust system, monitoring, or if we need to exhaust, maybe we need to look at the large picture, make sure it is it necessary, or is it just nice?

And then if we do make sure that we're accounting for it for multiple 3D printers or multiple laser cutters so that we can budget in and do the right thing.

Because I think that's where if the grant group is coming in and they're going, hey, we need to do this because it was an oversight in the original design of the space, then let's do it.

But if it's not a necessary by data, then it's uh it goes on the nice staff column, and then maybe we start talking more about how do we you know address the community's desire to be in there.

And to your point, right, it's all exposure, right?

It's how much for how long.

Um then we then we can make administrative choices.

So please continue on.

Yeah.

Um, so during the pause, we reviewed the liability considerations, updated waivers, and evaluated training and supervision practices.

And um we're in the process of addressing those uh covers for the 3D printers so that they are safe when we're not in there at someone if they happen to walk in, they're not um poking around and breaking something or getting injured.

And that was in coordination with uh human resources with staff and the insurance provider.

Right now we are on track to resume our open lab hours by mid-April.

The volunteers are um excited to come back.

And luckily with the increased funding from Washington County Library Services in the new fiscal year, we do have some additional aid hours that are going to allow us to uh better staff the space and have more flexibility in terms of the services that we are providing.

Um as well as additional funds to purchase any new equipment to further the benefit to the community.

And I know that the uh library foundation is actively looking for some grants to just support in any capacity that they can because that is that is their baby.

So they're they really want that to uh succeed.

And the open lab represents exactly what the community learning should be.

A hub where anyone regardless of background or income can engage in learning across science, technology, engineering, and math.

STEM has Steam has always been the focus.

Sparking creativity, building skills, and opening doors.

The pause took longer than anticipated, but our goal was to address these concerns thoroughly and to do this right, and I'm proud to work with the team to make sure that we are there.

And I'm happy to answer any other questions that I may have not addressed.

Council.

No, I I think it's great, Maria, that we have some kind of timeline that we're working to.

I think that's I think that's part of what the some of the questions were, right?

With it this the lack of an open communication plan, uh as a scope and timeline, um, having that helps us communicate to the people.

And like my email said, I think um, you know, the questions were asked last month by uh a member was you know we don't have the math and science scores that our community can be proud of.

They are abysmal.

And this is one vector that we can use to help address those.

And if we can get kids excited about technology through laser cutters or 3D printers or even fiber arts, right?

The sewing equipment and the stuff from there, those are pathways to to better careers to to getting them excited about the sciences.

Um we gotta we gotta do what's necessary.

And um I I put in there too, if there's something with my um industrial engineering background or tapping into my what network of folks, please don't feel like you can't reach out to me to ask for some help.

I've built all I did was build labs in different parts of my career for Intel.

So I'm very familiar with building lab spaces.

So if we need to do work, um, I think I can rally some folks around those needs.

So let me know if there's something I can do to help, okay?

I will.

Um, I do just want to mention that um we did have the Drake Learning available for like specific library programming that were staff led.

It just wasn't open and available for anybody to come in.

So, like the sewing machines were still functional.

Um, people were still using drills with very specific projects, so that aspect of things was available to the different age groups.

Yeah, and I think having we've got the technology, right?

We've all got these these badges, you got library cards.

I think it would be very looking in a program where somebody can use their library card as the access key to get into things that they've trained or certified or pass some kind of and be able to free lab.

To me, that seems like more like the PCC system that my that my youngest son was using where he qualified for 3D and he could go up there and then he could he could free access the lab because he'd pass some kind of certification and test.

So I think having those abilities and having those kind of you know technological locks, you know, on the on the equipment might be some things we look at so that way we can have it.

I would love to see the place open the whole time the library's open so that you could free access if you're qualified.

Uh I was just gonna ask about the volunteer sides if we were tapping into Intel's network because I know that for volunteers they actually pay us $10.

Is it might be more than $10 now?

I don't know what the current benefit benefit program is.

Um all of that's changed under the new Intel, so it may or may not exist anymore.

Oh, that's true.

The last I heard they were taking a pause, they were making some changes, but yes, we do tap into Intel Benevity.

Um we do have volunteers.

Um we did have an encore fellow, and he stayed on even after his um program ended.

He's he's still on our team.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Any other questions from council?

Cool.

Maria, thank you for giving us the update.

If you'll I feel much more informed, um, and uh I hopefully the rest of the council will too, and we can openly communicate our plans for the reopening of the the Drake Learning Center.

That's great.

Cool.

Anything else from staff?

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Maria.

Just one other thing.

I I wanted, especially because she's here, I just wanted to note um an effort that Barbara Fryer has been spearheading our community development director.

It's a partnership with our neighboring jurisdictions that I've probably mentioned to you and our one-on-ones just as updates and to inform and support the community in building accessory dwelling units or or ADUs on their property.

It will be a sustained education effort to provide the community with what they need to increase safe housing on their property in Cornelius, Forest Grove and beyond.

And we're planning for a workshop in Forest Grove in May.

And so the first one will be in Forest Grove, and then another in June in Cornelius.

And that's just the starting point.

The other jurisdictions are equally excited.

And I think it's going to be a very rich joint program.

We'll also be able to work on identifying ways that we might even identify in low barrier lower barriers to uh constructing ADUs.

So please let your friends know when you see when we post the details.

Um and we should have those at your May meeting.

Um thanks, thanks to Barbara for spearheading that.

That's all I had.

Great.

Thank you, Barbara.

Um anything else for the good of the order?

Do I have a motion to adjourn?

I motion to adjourn.

Councillor Godiness, do I have a second?

Second.

Councillor Vaughn with the second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Abstentions?

We are adjourned.

Thank you.