Cornelius City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting - July 6, 2026
Cornelius City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting - July 6, 2026
The Cornelius City Council held a work session at 6 p.m. focusing on a city facilities condition assessment and media training, followed by a regular session at 7 p.m. The regular session included recognitions, a Civic Leadership Academy capstone report, a quarterly strategic plan update, a GFOA Triple Crown award announcement, a council vacancy timeline, appointments, a public hearing, and resolutions. All votes were unanimous unless noted.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda, including routine approvals, was adopted unanimously with a motion by Council President Godinez Valencia and second by Councilor Lopez.
Recognitions & Awards
- Barbara Fryer (Community Development) was recognized for 5 years of service.
- Captain Kevin Richardson (Fire) was recognized for 10 years of service as a career firefighter/paramedic; he received a certificate and a service coin.
- Roland (Public Works) was recognized for 30 years of service as a fleet technician and utility worker.
- Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Triple Crown Award: The city was recognized for achieving all three GFOA awards (Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award, and Distinguished Budget Presentation Award) for FY ending June 30, 2024. The city is one of only 441 governments (out of over 3,000 U.S. cities) to achieve this.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the public comment period.
- During the public hearing on Ordinance 2026-05 (planning commission quorum), no one spoke in favor or opposition.
Discussion Items
City Facilities Condition Assessment (Work Session)
- Staff presented a facility condition assessment covering 20-year planning horizon, with a 5-point condition rating scale. Key findings: the Civic Center, Community Center (owned by school district), Library, Grande Plaza, Public Safety Building, and Public Works compound were assessed. The HVAC systems were identified as major cost drivers. The Library has a Toshiba system prone to early failure. The Grande Plaza has ~$17 million in critical repairs over the next 5 years. The Public Safety Building’s critical repairs will be addressed by planned remodeling. Staff noted that the total numbers are “shocking” but serve as a planning tool; they will seek to reduce costs through in-house work or competitive bidding. A non-functional solar collector at the Civic Center was estimated at $176,000 but may cost only $7,000-$10,000 to remediate.
Media Training (Work Session)
- Communication Manager Itzel provided a 30-minute condensed media training (normally 3 days). Topics included: media’s faster pace, unverified information, direct community communication via city channels, and best practices for responding to inbound inquiries. Examples included a recent sinkhole incident (actually a water main break) and sample email responses. Councilors were encouraged to coordinate with the communication manager before responding to media.
Civic Leadership Academy Capstone Report
- The second cohort presented findings on strengthening community engagement. They interviewed stakeholders (nonprofits, faith groups, businesses, Spanish-speaking families) and identified barriers: lack of information, fear, and mistrust of government. Statistics: Cornelius is 52% Hispanic/Latino, 65% white alone, median age 35. Two ideas: (1) Continue cultural programming at existing events to build connections; (2) Focus on one topic (e.g., boards/commissions) with pop-up engagement at community gatherings. Councilors praised the work and discussed using National Night Out as a recruitment opportunity for boards and commissions. The mayor suggested a pop-up booth with tear-off information on vacancies.
Quarterly Strategic Plan Update (Q2 2026)
- City Manager Brandon presented the second quarterly update. The plan has 4 goals, 20 objectives, 65 actions. Status: green (implementing), yellow (started), red (not started). Key actions: Goal 1 – Economic development: Notice of Site Availability (NOSA) for Grande site expected July/August; a community investment trust study funded by Metro. Goal 2 – Community engagement: Civic Leadership Academy concluded; plans to run it every other year. Goal 3 – Staff capacity: volunteer role descriptions in progress; training needs assessment complete; succession planning discussions begun. Goal 4 – Community identity: RFP issued for communication plan and brand; stakeholder engagement nearly complete. Councilor Baker noted the challenge of state funding and the need for a lobbyist by 2027; he offered to help at the state capitol.
Council Vacancy Timeline
- City Recorder Rochelle presented a timeline to fill the vacancy left by Councilor Vaughn’s resignation. The application period opened July 1 and closes July 22. Applications will be provided to council July 22. Interviews at the August 3 work session, appointment at the August 3 regular meeting, and the new councilor will be seated September 8. Council agreed to proceed without changes. The seat term ends in 2028 (two-year appointment).
Planning Commission Appointments
- Council approved the appointment of Dylan Sunderland to position six (term through December 31, 2028) and Brenda Gonzalez Pacheco to position five (term through December 31, 2027), effective immediately. Motion by Council President Godinez Valencia, second by Councilor Baker, unanimous.
Public Infrastructure Advisory Board (PIAB) Appointment
- Council approved the appointment of Ben Romittle to position six (term through December 2028), effective immediately. Motion by Councilor Lopez, second by Council President Godinez Valencia, unanimous.
Public Hearing – Ordinance 2026-05: Planning Commission Quorum Amendment
- Staff (Barbara Fryer) explained the amendment corrects a 2019 error to clarify that a quorum is a majority of appointed commissioners, not a majority of all seats. No public testimony. Councilor Baker disclosed prior involvement on the planning commission but stated no bias. The public hearing was closed.
Ordinance 2026-05 – First and Second Readings
- First reading: motion by Council President Godinez Valencia, second by Councilor Lopez. Roll call vote: unanimous in favor (4-0). Second reading and adoption: motion by Council President Godinez Valencia, second by Councilor Lopez. Roll call vote: unanimous in favor (4-0). The ordinance declares an emergency and takes effect immediately.
Resolution 2026-48 – Architectural Service Contract for Facade Improvements Grant Program
- Council approved awarding the contract to Unmarked Process Architects. Motion by Councilor Lopez, second by Councilor Baker, unanimous.
Resolution 2026-49 – Intergovernmental Agreement with Metro for Local Share of Nature Grant
- The agreement authorizes the city manager to accept up to $902,000 in non-competitive grant funds for nature-related projects. Staff plans to use the funds for a public plaza at the future community recreation center (with a nature element) or for Tualatin River access. Motion by Council President Godinez Valencia, second by Councilor Lopez, unanimous.
Key Outcomes
- Adopted consent agenda unanimously.
- Approved planning commission appointments (Sunderland, Gonzalez Pacheco) unanimously.
- Approved PIAB appointment (Ben Romittle) unanimously.
- Adopted Ordinance 2026-05 (planning commission quorum) on first and second readings, both unanimous. The ordinance is effective immediately.
- Approved Resolution 2026-48 (architectural contract for facade program) unanimously.
- Approved Resolution 2026-49 (IGA with Metro for nature grant) unanimously.
- Council agreed to proceed with the proposed vacancy timeline as presented; no changes.
- Council received the quarterly strategic plan update and acknowledged the progress.
- Council noted the GFOA Triple Crown award and congratulated staff.
- Council heard reports from Council President Godinez Valencia (fireworks, safety, ICE detainments) and Mayor Delane (Metropolitan Mayors Consortium, TriMet funding, Interstate Bridge tolling).
- Executive session was held after adjournment for real property negotiations and exempt information; no final decisions were made. The meeting adjourned to executive session.
Meeting Transcript
The City Council meeting for Monday, July 6, 2026. Our work session is at 6 p.m. tonight, and we're focused on the city facilities condition assessment. And that's a staff presentation, multiple members here. So Peter Brandman, Susan Rush. So please introduce it. Okay, thank you, Mayor and Council. So as we've been telling you for a long time, we uh finally got done with our facility condition assessment, which we did in place of a facility master plan because we have basically enough facilities, and we have some build-out plans for the public works compound and some future remodeling of some of our existing buildings. But what we didn't know was what the condition of our buildings that we own were in. A lot of jurisdictions have been going to the facility condition assessments so that they can start planning and putting in money into their CIP to take on those repairs. Kind of like buying a home, you have the money for your down payment, you get in there, and all of a sudden the HVAC goes out, roof needs replaced, whatever, and you're hit with unexpected expenses. So I wanted to start off before I go into the all the slides to just let you know that the numbers are kind of shocking, but this is just a tool to let us know where the buildings are at, what kind of repairs they've identified that are critical, non-critical. Um they did it on a 20-year planning horizon. Um a lot of jurisdictions are moving to these condition assessments, and so what our consultant told us, which was Saison, is that we're not unique. Um it's just you know, a lot of deferred maintenance that happens over the years. Um it's really just a tool to look at managing our buildings and uh the best use of our finances. It gives us a starting point. We can use the tool then to keep an eye on maintenance or troubleshoot uh trouble spots, and then we can re-evaluate the priority list as we need to. Sometimes they might have identified an end of life on a particular element as maybe 10 years out, but we might be able to patch it by and get by for 15 years, so that's something we can constantly look at. Um, some of the documents in your packet that were provided to you was a heat map, which just gives a little visual assessment of major categories for each of the facilities, and those were on a rating scale of one to five in there. And then each of those main categories were broke down in the second document, just gives a little more information on those. Um so I wanted to provide that to you so that you can kind of understand where some of these um repair costs are coming in at. So the first thing we want to go through is um a little more in the purpose and the scope. Um this is going to support the city's asset management objectives, including establishing a consistent baseline of asset condition data, identifying major maintenance needs, and short to midterm capital planning. Um the systems that were evaluated were the building envelope, which includes the siding, roof, windows, exterior doors, lighting, parking lots, and sidewalks. There was also the interior, which are your typical walls, doors, floors, stairwells, um, stair finishes, uh, ceilings, elevators, and interior lighting. Um they also evaluated structural for foundations and walls and columns and supports if they were present. They looked at HVAC, electrical, including solar and generators, plumbing systems, utility connections being your electric gas and water, and the door access points, and then accessibility for ADA requirements and necessary improvements. The methodology they used was a rapid visual assessment. They didn't use any destructive measures at this point, and when they go into a building, they look from ceiling and work down. Then they go outside, get up on the roof, look at that, and work down the building. Um they used a standard uniform system, which is the uniform at level three, which is a little more in-depth. It's a five rating scale, five being the most intensive. So they used a pretty good level in there. They looked at assets assigned, condition ratings, estimated remaining useful life, replacement costs, and then uh criticality to facility operations. In the corrective actions categories, they used um they looked at critical repairs, non-critical repairs, and then functional improvements, current code, and then standard conditions. Some items were grandfathered in their current condition. Unless there's substantial work that gets undertaken, then those might need to be reevaluated and brought up to current code standards. On the condition ratings, they used a scale of one being excellent to five unsatisfactory, and that's indicated on the heat map that shows the broad categories. The cost estimating was completed by a third-party cost and construction management firm that was very familiar with the Pacific Northwest, and they provided the cost modeling. The FCI, which is the facility condition index, is the corrective actions from 2026 through 2030, and they take that and add it to the predicted renewals 2031 to 2035, divide that by the current replacement value, and then that gives them an FCI on each building. And in those categories, you have good, fair, poor, and very poor. Lower FCI reflexive facility in better condition with the lower maintenance needs and associated costs. Then they also looked at the current replacement value, and that is based on the cost model for the use type of each building and the factors, the cost models estimated cost per square foot by gross square foot of each building. It does include cost markups to reflect full design and construction costs for the current year's construction market. However, it does not include the escalation factor nor demolition costs of current building. The primary use of modeling CRVs for buildings is to calculate the facility condition index for benchmarking purposes. So when they looked at this and we look at all of the information, it's very consistent building to building. So it really lets us know where we need to focus on. And then with that, we can move into the CIP planning.
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