Good evening.

I'd like to call this Forest Grove City Council meeting to order on January 26, 2006.

Will our fantastic city recorder please call roll?

Councilor Gesterson?

Here.

Council President Von Zoila?

Here.

Counselor Shimon?

Here.

Councillor Falconer?

Here.

Counselor Martinez?

Here.

Counselor Marshall?

Here.

Mayor Wenzel.

Here.

We acknowledge the land on which Forest Grove is located.

Rest on the traditional village sites of the Atphalati, a tribe of the Kalapuas who originally inhabited the Tualetan Plains, including Forest Grove.

They are now part of the tri sorry.

They are now part of the Confederate tribes of Grand Ron.

Will the audience and council please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States owner.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on to item B on the agenda.

Item B is public comment.

Time provided for anyone wishing to speak to the city council on an item not on the agenda or on the agenda but not scheduled for a public hearing.

Comments are limited to two minutes unless additional time is granted by the presiding officer.

The public comment period shall not exceed 30 minutes unless a majority of counselors present vote to extend the time.

Zoom attendees may use the raise hand option to be called on.

So I'm gonna go through my list.

Excuse me.

Okay.

First on the list is David Dionney.

Can you please come to the table in front to provide public comment?

Good evening, sir.

Hello.

So I'm here to talk about ice.

And what I have to say is that this is no longer about immigration.

There is a masked paramilitary force in the United States.

Their stated purpose is immigration enforcement, but they have moved well beyond.

ICE is at best a rogue agency.

And we are proceeding as though legal and constitutional remedies are sufficient, despite the fact that the group we are talking about is functionally a group of terrorists.

They have repeatedly and openly defied the law, under orders from leaders who are openly and proudly defying court orders, Congress, and the Constitution itself.

At what point do we acknowledge that the duty of this council to ensure the public good conflicts with the duty of deference to federal authority?

When ICE arrives in force, what steps will you take to protect the citizens of the city?

When ICE begins to abduct and murder my neighbors.

As the invasion that it effectively is.

An army from treating enemy combatants.

The Forest Grove police are a force meant to protect us.

They are a force meant to protect me and you and everyone in this room.

If they are unequal to that task, in the face of extra legal aggression, there must be a call for help from the state.

If such help will not be forthcoming, there must be a plan.

The death of even one human being at the hands of ICE in this city is too many.

Acknowledge the scope of the danger.

Plan for the unthinkable and protect us with every resource at your disposal.

Thank you, sir.

Carol Allen.

My name's Carol Allery.

Oh, right.

Thank you.

And I'm here.

I you know you guys like information.

So I've got some information for you.

I have uh, I want to let you know, I wanted to hand out to each of you a form, and I found out that I can't do that because it's not allowed.

So I will email it to you with the information that I'm talking about tonight, okay?

Because now I have your email for everybody, you know, a normal one.

Um, all right.

So we are right now in America, 38 trillion dollars in debt.

That's gonna take us 32,000 years to pay off that debt.

I should have a respect uh kind of an idea of that.

Um, we have um uh all gold certificates in America that go around 200 to 300 trillion gold certificates that have been handed out to citizens.

But the if you look at what's there, the facts that are there, there are only 11 trillion.

So we have 200 to 300 trillion, and there are only 11 trillion amount of real gold around.

So, what are your certificates gonna do?

They're not much.

Also, we have seen countries over history Spain, Cairo, Great Britain, all who went ahead and gave up, like our President Nixon did, the gold standard.

And once they did the gold standard away from the gold standard, what happened was we started printing money, and every one of those countries came to a collapse because they didn't have control over their finances.

Everybody thought there was a need, and they needed that to be done.

And we need to be aware of that because our country is at a drinking point.

Because when you're that far into debt, you are also at a place where we can collapse.

And the reason I'm telling you this is there's a website that I have for you that I'm gonna you'll get with this letter that I'll send you uh tomorrow.

And you can look up the self.

I would hope you would take that into consideration because if you would read your read the Bible and blow the dust off of it, read the book of Revelation, it talks a lot about this kind of stuff.

All right.

Thank you, Miss Allery.

They'll feak.

I have two topics.

Vigilant Forest Grove, Library, right, and five attorney generals who spoke in Portland.

First topic.

Uh Counselor Falconer.

There were Senator Solman, former Mayor Callaway, Commissioner Treese, uh, school board members true accent, Grandusky.

There.

And it was very important to have a vigil and mourn for the people and remember the people that got killed.

Second thing is I sent to you by email, and you have active links.

I went to the as you did too, Counselor Falcon.

You went to the Revolutionary Hall in Portland and listened to the five attorney generals, Dan Rabird, and then ones from Maine, Hawaii, uh California.

Five of them, right?

California, five of them spoke.

I was in the front row, I videotaped it, and I put it on a link.

And I'm gonna.

So please read it.

You have it.

I'm gonna play for you a video clip that was on ATU based upon the uh on TV.

Here it is.

I want you to listen to it.

Oh, you gotta be kidding me.

Why isn't it playing?

I had it all set up.

Yeah.

Oh, sorry about that.

Here we go.

That's the volume door.

There was a candlelight vigil in front of the force growth library earlier this evening.

Organizers wanted to create a space for people to express their outrage, both with the killings and the federal government's immigration crackdown.

Alex Brady died defending another woman and she was being brutalized by ice.

Renee could die because she was defending her neighborhood against ice over and over.

The government is telling us these are our enemies, these are domestic terrorists.

We are not domestic terrorists.

We just care about our neighbors.

The group behind this vigilant indivisible group says the event is also meant to build solid area within the local community, even if the shooting happened in a different state.

Thank you for thank you, Counselor Falconer, for going to that and the other people did.

It was powerful, and we need to keep doing it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Feek.

Sorry about the technology problem.

I'm used to it.

I'm a school teacher.

Yeah, it happens.

Michael Johnson.

I wish I didn't have to keep doing this.

Um Michael Johnson, Indivisible Forest Grove.

I am a Forest Grove resident.

And like everybody here, I have seen recent events, and uh my stomach is turning over and more often these days.

Um if I were going to divide a way to destroy the public's faith in our system of law.

I couldn't do a better job than what these guys are doing.

They have convinced us that up is down, left is right, black is white.

Whatever they say is the truth.

When we can see with our own eyes, thanks thanks to cell phones exactly what what happened.

And before you think, well, you know, that's enough.

Remember what happened after January 6th.

We know what we saw on January 6th.

That was an insurrection, but by the time they were done with it, they had turned it into a peaceful gathering of uh patriots doing a tour of the of the capital.

We can't let that happen again.

We have to do whatever we can to preserve the system of law that we have in this country, otherwise we're not gonna have a system of law.

And the way we do that, and this is what I came here to do is thank you folks for doing every taking every legal step you can take to defend the laws of this country and the values of this country against a regime that frankly doesn't respect the law.

As for the rest of us, say their name.

Renee good.

Hey Renee good point of order, Alex, okay.

Remember it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Counselor Martinez, what's your point of order?

Um, the people are supposed to speak to the council and not to the attendees.

Okay, I didn't know that was one that you brought up for someone in the past.

When we were having a I've never found that in a rule.

It was that council president.

Um speaking one time and she was returned to the public and she was sat.

Okay, I'll t I'll take a look at our council rules.

I think his comments over.

Are we are we good to move on?

Or yeah, no, that's fine.

I just I know that was something that you brought up once with Claudia.

That's no idea.

That was yeah, I brought that up, and then the mayor asked her to Yeah.

Okay.

So this event did happen, but whether it's in council rules or not, I don't know.

Right, okay.

Okay.

We're gonna move on to oh wait.

I don't want to lose my train of thought.

Is there anyone in the audience who did not sign up for public?

Oh, wait, there was someone on the back.

I'm sorry, Beth.

Beth Jenley, uh, come up, and then I'll ask for additional.

Uh I want to thank the mayor and councillors Gustafson and Van Valenzuela for talking about the anxiety that the community is feeling.

I very much feel it too.

I feel like that we the public need clarification.

I heard the chief of police saying he may be obligated to respect that unconstitutional DHS internal memo that sets aside the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

In my opinion, that memo is very similar to the Amyel Bove statement from last June, where he advised the DOJ to say F you to court orders and continue ICE's draconian so-called immigration enforcement actions where the cruelty is the point.

So I ask you all, what is your advice to city employees and the public in general?

Based on that secret internal memo, do we just let ICE into private spaces with an administrative so-called warrant?

I say this cannot stand.

I call on the city council to affirm the constitutional right to protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

And in the meantime, I I know you all care deeply about all of this, but in the meantime, the situation is that once again the members of the public are on first duty to provide mutual aid and attempt to warn of and ward off ICE activities and do our best to protect public safety.

I know you all see this.

It's very painful to all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any additional public comments from the audience?

Anyone else wishing to give public comment?

Is there anyone on Zoom who would like to give public comment?

Please use the raise hand feature to be called on.

Seeing none, we are gonna move on to item D, which is addition.

Wait, consent agenda.

Sorry.

Item C.

I almost forgot the consent agenda.

Items under the consent agenda.

Oops, there's nothing on the consent agenda.

Okay, so I did get to skip the consent agenda.

I was like psychic and I didn't even know it.

Item D, additions and deletions.

City manager, are there any additions or deletions?

We have no additions or deletions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Any proposed by city counselors.

Oh, go ahead.

Let me ask a quick just a question on process.

Um, as one of your newest council members.

So I can also just bring this up in reports if it's if it makes more sense, but maybe not.

Um last la at our last meeting we had on our consent agenda um an item for proclamations.

And I hadn't noticed uh, so my oversight um that we did not have Black History Month included on our list of proclamations.

I'd like to add it um to the next meeting.

I don't remember how we hammered out with the with council rules how we would add a proclamation to the next month's meeting.

Moray, can you give us some guidance on that?

Thank you.

Uh you could make a motion at additions and deletions to add that proclamation at the next meeting, and then it would proceed like um yeah.

Okay.

Then I would then I would ask that we add.

So there's a motion to add Black History Month to the proclamations for February.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

It was moved by Councilor Falkner and second in by Councillor Gusison to add Black History Month to our list of proclamations and add it specifically for uh February meeting.

Uh any discussion on that.

See no discussion.

Uh what's all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Uh Black History Month will be added to proclamation for February in a vote of seven to zero.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Councilor Falconer.

Any other additions or deletions?

Seeing none, we're gonna move on to item E, which is presentations.

The council will hold questions until the end of each presentation.

Uh E1 is our Metro update from Metro District 4 Counselor Juan Carlos Gonzalez, also a Forest Grove graduate.

So a little shout out.

Right.

Uh Mayor Wenzel, members of the council, thank you for having me back.

Uh excited to share some presentation uh with you today, give you a quick update on Metro.

And uh I just want to open saying it's such an honor to serve you on the Metro Council to serve uh residents of Forest Grove to work with you and partner with you, especially in this time.

Uh next slide, please.

So just real quick for people that don't know Metro, I've shared this uh slide with you.

It shows uh the map of Greater Port of the Greater Portland region, um, close to two million people.

Uh, I represent District 4 as uh the mayor shared, which goes from Beaverton all all the way out here to Forest Grove, uh, the only directly elected regional government in the country.

But every major city has a Metro-like function.

So it's important to know and re-emphasize that.

Uh next slide.

Uh a little bit more about uh the district, uh, kind of have has a map there.

I know as uh Washington County residents, you know, you know the area well, but uh like to point out some of my uh favorite spots in the district and always want to encourage people to get out and enjoy this beautiful place that we call home.

Uh there's so much to learn and explore.

Next slide.

So, real quick, um uh about um some of the work that I'm doing.

Um again, I was elected in November of 2018.

Uh very passionate about housing affordability, about building infrastructure that uh serves our region, uh, and then making sure that uh we're able to meet our aspirations as as a collection of cities in terms of the global context.

Uh I uh I I have a few major assignments uh having been on the council for a few years.

One is I chair JPECT, which is our region's transportation board, oversees major transportation policy, major transportation funding for all for the major projects that are happening within the metro area.

Think IFi Bridge, Rose Quarter, TB Highway, Bush Rapid Transit, 82nd Avenue, Bus Traffic Transit, you name it.

Um, and have lived in Washington County for all of my life.

Next slide.

So I want to talk a little uh also about some emergency actions that Metro has taken uh and and I have taken over the last uh three months, really recognizing uh the turbulence that our communities are experiencing.

First, I want to take uh the time to thank Mayor Wenzel uh for joining me on a West Side Immigration Response Group, uh, which I coordinated with with Washington County Commissioner FICI.

We've brought together leaders from across the state to really think about the presence of ice in our state uh and specifically the West Side, which has been ground zero for immigration enforcement, as I'm sure many of you know.

So we've been evaluating uh uh different policy approaches from from leaders, including Governor Kotech, Congressman, Congresswoman Bonamici, uh, and A.

G.

Rayfield soon, which will be joining us.

But just wanted to let you know that we've been trying to elevate the needs of the West Side uh with our executive leaders at the state level.

Uh critically, too, the Metro Council um moved $500,000 in emergency fund to regional food banks in November.

Uh and then I led uh a resolution uh which received unanimous support from my council to move uh $500,000 as well to the three counties uh to support families that are impacted by by immigration.

So again, just trying to meet the moment, trying to meet uh the needs of of our communities, and I'm sure that Forest Grove residents have have already received some type of support through the nexus of the way the money has been distributed.

Next.

I want to also chat about uh housing production.

As I mentioned, it's uh it's been a major area of priority for me.

Uh I've talked a lot with you about the Metro Affordable Housing Bond.

Uh we have uh uh projects in the Forest Grove area that have been very successful uh in getting built and that that are now serving people.

The Affordable Housing Bond is approaching the tail end of its capital allocation.

So essentially most of the projects have already been uh built in construction.

The remaining are in planning and will be in construction soon.

If I remember correctly, it's like 2027.

We anticipate to have the final the last project kind of completed uh region wide, which is a huge deal.

Um thinking about kind of what that next step is because affordable housing again is is publicly subsidized rents and housing opportunities for people.

Uh the Metro Council also recognizes the the importance to create an environment where the private sector and other housing providers, nonprofit providers can also provide uh more housing options for people.

So uh for the last last year, one of the major policies that I worked on was creating a brand new housing production accelerator fund, uh, which is a five million dollar uh program that we funded from construction excise tax that we collect on projects in in the Portland metro area.

It's the same source that pays for our 2040 grants and things like that.

But um, this is as a result of the regional housing coordination strategy, which was a state mandate.

I know all the cities have also had to do local housing coordination strategies.

A lot of this work that the state has asked us to do are unfunded mandates, which I'm sure you all, you and your staff also know.

So Metro, I I really think that some of the biggest value that Metro brings, especially to our cities is when we can bring resources for you to do the work that responds to your community.

And so this fund, our staff, since now that it was approved, next steps are to create a grant program that cities will be able to submit um uh requests for to support planning capacity, code improvements.

I mean, you name it in terms of uh things that will actually help you build more housing, aside from just planning processes, which are important, but we've done a lot of them.

So I want to highlight that.

Keep keep keep that in your list, Jesse.

I want to make sure that you guys apply for that.

All right.

Next slide.

Uh our housing supports SHS critical, critical regional program uh that uh has an ambitious goal to uh end chronic homelessness in the metro area was adopted in 2020.

Um for the last two years, the Metro Council has been working with regional partners to really think about big SHS reforms around regionalization, around key performance indicators around what does it mean to have accountability and how do we actually help the people that are most impacted?

Because although we have passed a historic measure of money, I think the greater Portland region spends more per capita on homelessness than any other region in the country.

Homelessness has grown in the region, and more and more people are falling uh into really dire economic circumstances.

Um I think we can debate for hours what are the causes of homelessness, how do we fix homelessness?

But one of the things that was really clear to us was that we needed to overhaul our oversight structure.

Um our last vote of December last year.

So I think was that three, four weeks ago, five weeks ago now at this point, was to create a new single consolidated regional oversight committee for the SHS committee.

Commissioner Jerry Willie's here.

I want to thank him for his effort, his strategy in helping uh Metro from the Washington County lens and setting a better table for that.

As I mentioned, we have we had two separate oversight committees, one that had um like just different um different kinds of leaders at each, um, how they spoke together, who responded to what.

It was too confusing, too cumbersome.

And ultimately, we felt like it was really important to change that.

The council also decided to not go to the ballot.

We were considering to go to the ballot potentially to look at some uh broader reforms that are only achievable by vote of the voters.

We decided to table that for multiple reasons.

And I think it was a smart decision.

It was something that I had been advocating for, which is let's do as much as we can with what we've been given before we ask for more.

And when I talk to voters, they're like, absolutely, that sounds great.

Please fix this problem.

Um, so the current council president Lynn Peterson, uh, and then counselor Lewis and myself will serve as the three Metro counselors on that body.

So just wanted to let you know, Washington County will have strong representation on the Metro side.

Washington County commissioners um and the cities of Washington County will also have a seat each as well.

So next slide.

Uh I want to give a uh a kind of a closing update on parks and nature.

Um, I think many of you know uh Metro has pretty incredible portfolio of uh different natural areas.

Uh we're very close to approaching the 20,000 acre mark for the Portland metro area.

We acquire uh critical parcels that are next to tributaries, watersheds that I mean, ultimately with the goal of bringing salmon back into our rivers and into our creeks, which is a really, if you think about a remarkable goal to have the next generation have something like that.

And also investments that protect open space and our clean air, uh, things that really matter to Oregonians.

Um we have been having conversations about our parks levy, which has to be renewed every five years.

Uh, I wanted to let you know that uh that's something that we're thinking a lot about.

Um we are struggling to meet all the uh service level needs that people have.

Uh for example, the number of rangers that we have at our parks.

Um there's this crazy story that I a crazy fact that I learned uh after some summer tours with uh the Metro Parks team.

But um our only rangers uh office site is is located at Uxpo Park, like far east Portland.

So, in order for and and rangers need to go to Shehan Lam Ridge multiple times a week.

So, in order to get to Shehalem Ridge out by Forest Grove and Gaston, they need to drive from their home, check in at Oxbow, get all their equipment, and then drive to Shahalem Ridge and then drive back to Oxbo.

It's like three hours in traffic.

And that's just the system we have, right?

I mean, it was before the West Side had really acquired a critical mass of site.

Something I'm really proud of that under hopefully under my leadership, the uh bringing more and more investments and regional assets to to the West Side has been a huge priority for me.

So we have more assets, we have more parks, we have more destinations.

The capital bond cannot pay for the services and the staffing and the maintenance.

And so we're looking at that and and what that might look like for uh for the voters to consider can I know we're in a very challenging cost of living environment.

Um next slide.

Yeah, and then just outside of Metro, I can't remember the last time I came, I became a dad.

So I don't know if I told you guys that.

I so I have a beautiful six month old baby girl.

Before I got here, I was able to stop by home, give her some kisses before bedtime.

It was awesome.

Um and yeah, just wanted to share that photo with you guys.

Uh it's been a heck of a journey.

She just started daycare two weeks ago.

So pray for us because the sniffles are crazy.

Um all the all the heads up that people gave me were absolutely true.

So uh thank you for having me.

I'm happy to take any questions, and I hope this presentation on Metro's work, the work that I'm doing in partnership with you and on behalf of the residents that we both represent.

Hopefully, are uh our are positive and inform you of what we've been working on.

Thank you, counselor.

Any questions, comments?

Okay, counselor Schimmel.

Yeah.

Well, thanks for the assets you've brought through our area, counselor.

On the um accelerator, yep, you know, I'm I'm hopeful that it'll uh consider factors unique to our smaller communities, such as our smaller lots that that don't pencil out and say for the housing bonds.

So I hope that those those metrics or those standards aren't don't carry over and they comprehend what we may need scattered sites to get even close to to those former measures.

Is that is that likely?

Yeah, I I'm I'm trying to like connect the dots exactly to what you're mentioning.

So the housing production accelerator fund will pay for the 16 priorities that are lined out in the regional housing coordination strategy.

That strategy had engagement with all the cities in the region.

So I I'm assuming that that the Forest Grove staff had the opportunity to contribute to the development of this broader plan.

The housing production accelerator fund was we all have these amazing strategies, but no one is giving us money to actually move them forward.

So the housing production accelerator fund was the council going into one of our reserves and activating that money to plan for the work.

Um my work with the staff has been to design a program that gives cities at different levels the ability to compete without necessarily being overshadowed by like a city of Portland that has 300 planners, right?

So definitely I think we want to have, and I made that number up, so hopefully people don't hold up to me.

I it's just it's express the sense of scale, right?

Um that um that cities like Forest Grove and even smaller cities than Forest Grove are able to apply for a grant that brings capacity, and it might be you know, consolidation of sites, it might be brownfield remediation, but it also might be we want to look at our code and and spend more time and effort looking at uh uh making permit times more reliable and things like that for for people that want to develop homes here.

And then just a comment on uh SHS, I'm I'm definitely a proponent of the regionalization uh as a good example is that you know the county can can brag about its uh rent assistance program, uh, but not it being restricted to the county actually restrict households from being in communities that they're familiar with or closer to family.

So that that's been a rural roadblock uh for families and sometimes finding units.

So I I'd look forward to that sort of regionalization.

Thanks, counselor.

Thank you, counselor.

I would also you know like to say congratulations, first of all.

Um exciting times for you, and then concur, well, maybe a little bit different approach.

I just appreciate both Metro um Washington County slowing down the SHS and really including mayors in the conversation, and you know, I just um encourage Metro and the county and local government to work together to make us I mean, I think we have good building blocks with our SHS, and I I I uh value the ability for us all to have a voice at the table and use the money most appropriately without getting into a power struggle.

So I really do appreciate slowing down that call to the ballot um to change that direction.

So thank you.

And thanks for coming.

Your leadership was very helpful to that.

The previous oversight structures, the two committees had uh they didn't have like formal city representation.

Right.

This new committee has city representation from each county, which is a huge deal and would not have it been achieved without the vocal leadership of mayors and city councils.

I mean, y'all are on the ground, um public safety is working, your libraries are working, trying to help people.

And I think what people want to see is us making the most of what we can with the limited dollars that people are are giving us, right?

So absolutely hear that, and I'm really happy it's where we landed.

Well, well, thank you so much.

I don't think there's any so you can go home and spend some time with your family.

Thank you.

Thank you, counselor.

And now we have our county update with our district four as well.

County commissioner, Washington County Commissioner Jerry Willie.

And former mayor of Hillsboro.

We'll just do lots of little shout-outs.

I mean, not quite as cool as a Forest Grove High School graduate, but former mayor of Hillsborough, you know.

I know.

It's up there, it's up there.

I know it's it's okay.

Um good evening, Mayor and Counselors.

Thank you very much for letting me have a little bit of time just to update you on what Washington County is going on.

Mine's not as fancy as Metro, and so I don't have any slides yet to just put up with looking at the we have to look at you the whole time.

I'm just kidding, just kidding.

Careful mayor.

Um anyway.

Sorry, sorry, Commissioner.

That's okay.

Um, you know, Juan Carlos really touched on some uh great items that we uh at Washington County have been working with them as well.

Uh the new certainly the new planning structure, the decision makers.

I will be setting on that representing the county at least for this year, and then we'll be transitioning.

But um, yeah, those are important things.

So we're very happy that uh that Metro has been working with all the areas, and and he was exactly correct in that the mayors of Washington County have probably been the most vocal in uh how that structure needs to look and to have mayor representation there.

So again, thank you very much for your participation and all the mayors of Washington County.

It's very important.

Um it's been a few months since I've been here, so I just I need to reiterate the fact that we were very pleased to pass the two levies, the public safety levy and the library levy last November.

Uh it's very important that the voters uh support those things as well as just understand what it is because it it wasn't status quo, it was raising the um the levy rate, and so it's very important decision to make that we can keep both of those um both those areas uh very very functional.

Um you probably know shifting gears to a little transportation, highway six was closed there for a while.

We made uh a declaration.

I worked with um our senator from Telamuk and uh Tillamook County uh to create a declaration of emergency so that um that allows the governor to and the state legislature to take action to access any available federal funds, whether that be FEMA or FWA funds to assist with the long-term safety improvements.

You know, if you've been around very long and you've driven highway six very often, you know that every year ODOT has to fix that because a portion of portion of it slides downhill.

So what they do is they go in and they put more pavement on it, which makes it heavier, which makes it slide downhill.

So it's not a very good solution, but it's the only one we have because we have some budget constraints on that.

So the uh the declaration also urges the governor and the state legislature to take action to increase the priority of Oregon 6 for state and federal funding to improve uh safety improvements as recommended by the Oregon 6 Wilson River Highway study, which was in 2023, and that study highlighted uh several options that we may have, very expensive options.

But the fact of the matter is where the highway is right now is not a good place to put a highway.

So it's going to be continually sliding downhill.

So we've got to find a different route.

It's going to be very expensive.

Um, but we're hopeful that we can get some federal money and certainly increase the priority with ODOT uh capital projects.

Um we are looking at uh you know, I hate to say it again, it's January, but we are uh starting back into budget season, and it's uh it's another year of budget deficits.

This year is close to five or six million dollars, which is probably the best it's been for the last several years.

Um I have been in office.

This is my eighth year.

This will be my seventh consecutive budget deficits.

Uh we've got over 120 million dollars out of our budget.

Uh a lot of it is due to unfunded or partially funded mandates.

Um, and but a lot of it is due, quite frankly, to uh inflation and just the cost of doing business.

So that's what we deal with.

We're gonna be uh doing that again.

We are trying to do, we're trying to make this budget process as transparent as possible, make it available for the mayors uh to have kind of uh their own our own personal meeting with them to go through the budget, explain what how that works, but also several community uh budget meetings as well.

So uh we're gonna do our very best to make it transparent because quite frankly, we cannot continue at this stage.

Um we are looking at what services are mandated versus what services are optional.

That's not a good way to run a county when we can only do mandated services.

So we will be talking about that over the next year or two, about what it is that we have to do to fix that.

Um legislatively, we have some of the same things going on.

We um the courthouse is a big deal, it's over a hundred years old.

We've got to have a new courthouse.

That takes multiple stages and steps.

Our first one was asking legislature for 1.25 million dollars that we have to match in planning.

We got that, and we're hoping to keep that through the short season.

There is some discussions about pulling back some of that money because the budget at the state is um is not very good right now either.

So uh we're hoping we can keep on to that and make our first step towards our capital planning for replacing the courthouse.

At the same time, we're looking at uh an expansion of the jail, certainly fixing the jail as it is right now.

We're spending over 50 million dollars of ARPA dollars to uh bring the jail up to standards so it isn't closed because the HVAC system quit or because we don't have hot water.

I mean, just the basic stuff.

These are all things, capital improvements that have been deferred for years and years and years, and finally we can do that no more.

So we're doing that with the next step is also a study on um what a jail expansion looks like per capita, Worshing County has the smallest jail in the state of Oregon, and we are the second largest county.

So that doesn't work.

That's why you also see that we have um weekly uh forced um releases, and that's not a good um um plan for the future either.

So this is why we have got to be looking down the road, and this is this is probably eight or nine years out, but we can need to start that planning now as to what the jail expansion looks like.

Hopefully, we can do that sooner than that.

Um probably last, there's a couple things.

Don't forget, uh again, we're looking way out into the future.

Uh Worcester County Fair is in July.

So we've got to talk about that.

We just had a great 2025 was the largest attended fair that we had in history.

Every year it seems like we exceed um the number in attendance.

Each year it exceeds uh the amount of obviously vendors and attractions and all of those things.

It's a great, it's a great event.

That will be July 24th to August 2nd.

I'll be back before then, and certainly reminds you then, but it's a good thing.

And then lastly, uh two things.

Um COPAC, uh, as you know, is your economic development area.

It uh it includes um Corneas and Forest Grove, all the rest Washington, Western Washington County, and then Telamuk Clatzup and Columbia Counties, and that's our economic development organization that works on projects.

Uh recently they got some brownfield uh money for um Cornis, I believe, and they also got some money for North Plains.

Um that's what they do, obviously region wide.

They have they are experiencing a little bit of financial difficulty like everyone else.

There's an organization called the Columbia Economic Team that is Columbia County's economic development group.

They um decided to fold it up, and so they are in the process of dissolving that organization, which caused a pretty good financial hit on COPAC.

So you will hear coming up probably in the next month information about COPACs needing to increase dues.

As a comparison, your dues are 250 dollars a year.

They have been that way since the 1990s.

So we're a little bit behind in keeping up with inflation and everything else.

And then with the recent uh impact of the CET closing, we'll need to come back and uh the board will be addressing that, I believe, in the February meeting.

So that's an FYI for you, Jesse.

Uh and then lastly, uh really lastly, is um uh on the 15th of January, I believe I was in this room testifying with um in front of the Board of Forestry.

They weren't here.

It was strictly recorded.

Um, but and hopefully they'll listen to it because there was a number of uh citizens that had conversations, and basically what remember last year we had the habitat conservation plan was a controversial thing.

We in the timber industry were concerned, and Worshington County and certainly Forest Grove is the Forest Grove district, um, concerned about the reduction in harvest, forest harvest.

And it's not that we want to cut down the entire forest at the at the risk of our endangered species, but there's a balance.

The HCP didn't really achieve that.

It leaned uh hard towards environmentalism, uh, and that they have now come back and have said that they would like to have more habitat conservation areas, which are areas which are not are not uh for forest harvestable, and that um to stop clear-cutting.

And so both of those are very detrimental to the forest industry.

We've already lost the banks uh lumber.

Uh we've already uh and but then Stimson out by Hag Lake is significantly increasing their investment, and there's another one in Eugene that's increasing their investment.

We've got to do this if we want housing, affordable housing.

We can't have timber costs that are extronomical astronomically high.

So there's a balance in there.

So this is just a couple of things.

I've testified before the Board of Forestry many times, and I always use the old three-legged stool as what it is.

So I'm gonna tell you what my three legs were to protect the 17 species in their natural habitat.

That was one of the priorities developing the habitat conservation plan and the design and restrictions of the habitat conservation areas.

As identified in the HCP, there's more than sufficient areas of protected forests for the 17 protected species to live an enjoyable lifestyle.

Secondly, maintain an operable inventory, growing our forest with an annual net gain in our forest growth growth.

This will ensure not only a safe habitat for all the protected species, but provide the necessary sequestration in the above ground tree.

Projections reflect that after harvest, we will still have an increased forest capacity for sequestration.

The forces are number one area that absorbs our carbon.

And certainly we need to protect that, and the trees do that each year.

The point of that was that every year we cut so many trees, so many acres of trees, so many board feed of trees, and every year our forest outgrows the number of trees that we cut.

So we're very blessed with that because the trees like it here, and they certainly like it in the Coast Mountains.

Number three was honor principle number three, which is the greatest permanent value.

It's the essential that the ODF, Oregon Department of Forestry, complies with sustainable and predictable timber harvest and revenues.

This is the first point in the OAR definition for greatest permanent value.

This is not just about harvest.

GPV literally means healthy, productive, and sustainable forest ecosystems that over time and across the landscape provide a full range of social, economic, and environmental benefits to the people of Oregon.

So that was a portion of my um my testimony here to the uh Board of Forestry.

It is online uh as I presented it last week to the Board of Commissioners, uh, just for record.

So I think that's enough.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Any questions?

Yeah, I'll go with Councillor Schimmel and then I'll follow up.

Well, in the event that we this is the last we see you here after your your term concludes.

Thanks for your service.

Uh we're gonna make them come back.

Are you gonna make a conversation?

You serve until when next year, right?

Serve until until May, or is it well, unless there's a runoff at the December.

December, yeah.

Well, actually, the first week of January 27th.

So we're making them come back.

All right.

Yeah, well, you're gonna see me again.

questions yeah I'll go with counselor shimmel and then I'll follow up well in the event that we this is the last we see you here after your your term concludes thanks for your service uh we're gonna make him come back are you gonna make a you're you serve until when next year right serve until May or is it well unless there's a runoff at this point December December yes yeah well actually the first week of January 27 him come back all right yeah you're gonna see me again sweet all right counselors I promise so I'll have a chance to challenge you on a few things like the the budget I I was gonna ask in in light of the state's transportation bill could that or would that inform your budgetary conversations with regard to MISTIP or could you safeguard that um you know I don't at this point in time I don't think we have the numbers to be able to say yes or no to that MSTIP is a very important project and you know that we just this last year bonded 150 million dollars to backfill some MSTI projects so it's not like we are not fans and not vague supporters of that we just have to balance things out between what is an essential service and what can we maybe shave a little bit of the money off of and go elsewhere.

So it's a it's a tough decision.

Yeah and I would I hope you do pay attention to our process thank you Councilor Schimmel and I concur MSIP is vital to Force Grove and you know you know how I feel about it.

So and I'm gonna ask you another hot or maybe not hot question but just a follow-up question.

A number a few months ago the Forest Grove City Council wrote a letter to the Washington County Board of Commissioners asking you all to suspend your contract with Flock.

And I'm just wondering we didn't I haven't heard back so what is the the board's position on their contract with Flock at this point.

Have you guys made a decision are you continuing to work with them are you I I believe we've taken action on that but we have not suspended it.

I think we the action we've taken is we uh well the cities have control of most of that and the cities have done that um I don't think they have formally done that they have just pulled the plug so to speak um and I don't think the county has taken any formal action on that either and I don't know that we have a plan to do so I think the sheriff's office has been working with the cities that have uh those cameras and um I think everybody has pretty much decided they're going to pause but I'm speaking off the top of my head because I don't know actually if that's if if if what you're saying if you have any additional information uh feel free to follow up and I'll bring it to the council.

Um I think that's my only that's my only question and I we really do appreciate you coming out and we're gonna make you come at least 10 more times before the year ends I'm just kidding just kidding Commissioner just want to get the most out of you your last year here.

Well yeah I I am continually asked what do I want to get accomplished in the last uh 11 months and um there's a lot there but we just don't have the money to do most when you said it was a six million dollar deficit I thought I wrote down 10 million but I like your number better so I hope it's well last year uh last year I think it was somewhere uh gosh I'm gonna say 15 million last year um this is this is a good number for us but it it's still another deficit number so we had cut someplace yeah well I wish you luck during budget season thank you very much don't cut MST okay thanks thank you thank you wish you wisdom yeah yeah the little last word okay our thank you commissioner our last presentation for the evening is on our TV highway access management strategy project as part of the East Forest Grove safety improvement transportation improvement project and I have community development director Brian Poole presenting and I believe hello Dan Reardon is on Zoom he's one of our senior planners yeah sorry thank you Mayor Wenzel and the members of the city council Dan Rudin senior planner with the Forest Grove planning division and uh as you noted uh community development director Brian Holes police with us uh this evening I don't know Brian is there anything you'd like to say before we jump into the presentation uh nothing right now necessarily I just think this is a really important project that's probably flown a little bit under the radar um with all the other uh other efforts going on and uh I want to mention that Dan is largely working from home right now and has kind of kept the ball in the air on this project it's an important project and when we talk about safety on TV highway we talk a lot about uh bike lanes we talk a lot about pedestrian access and things like that but sort of one of the things that we uh don't talk about a whole lot is how important uh access management is and we talk about access management we mean uh access onto TV highway driveways curb cuts things like that and every one of those single uh access points is a also a potential conflict point uh and so we talk about safety access management is extremely important and Dan's going to lead you through uh this effort right now where we are and where we're going to thanks Brian it is my pleasure this evening to present the TV highway access management uh strategy to the city council this evening uh next slide please so the purpose of tonight's uh presentation is basically to provide an update of the project provide an overview to city council on the work that's already been completed to date as well

Uh and so when we talk about safety, access management is extremely important.

And Dan's going to lead you through uh this effort right now where we are and where we're going.

Thanks, Brian.

It is my pleasure this evening to present the TV Highway Access Management uh strategy to the City Council this evening.

Uh next slide, please.

So the purpose of tonight's uh presentation is basically to provide an update of the project, provide an overview to city council on the work that's already been completed to date, as well as next steps.

And if there is time, I'd very much like to hear any thoughts city council might have with respect to access and access management along the corridor.

Any and any things in particular that you would like us to consider as we move forward with the project.

Next slide, please.

So this project focuses on two actions that are in the Forest Grove Forward 2040 Vision Statement and Action Plan, and that includes Action 2.10, which is partner with ODOT to improve the Highway 47 and TV Highway Safety Corridor, and action 2.28, which is to implement the East Forest Grove TV Highway Safety Improvement Plan.

Next slide.

And then and in it in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to acknowledge the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Uh the project was partially funded through the Oregon Transportation Growth Management Program, which is a joint program of both ODOT and DLCD.

Next slide.

So I'd also like to acknowledge the project team, uh, Oregon Department of Transportation staff, the lead engineering consultant, which is HDR, the lead community engagement consultant in viral issues, and staff from the city, including the engineering division, uh Greg Robertson, and the fire marshal Dave Nemeyer.

Next slide.

So as I mentioned, this project is follow-up to the East Forest Grove TV Highway Safety Improvement Plan, which was adopted by City Council in 2022.

And as Brian noted, access management is a key element of addressing issues on TV Highway.

And this was called out in the East Forest Grove TV Highway Safety Improvement Plan.

And specifically, the plan identifies access management as a priority for transforming TV Highway into a vibrant, attractive, and calmer arterial roadway that is pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

Next slide, please.

So in terms of what is access management, we can define access management to include transportation system design treatments intended to improve roadway safety and user mobility.

And access management is achieved by applying consistent design standards to regulate things such as vehicle turning movements, the location of driveways, driveway width, and required spacing between driveways.

Access management standards are applied based on roadway design, considering the number of travel lanes on the roadway, traffic volume, traffic speed, as well as land use is adjacent to the corridor and zoning.

Next slide, please.

So some examples of access management strategies include, and we're all familiar with these restricting vehicle turning movements, ride in, ride out only, consolidating nearby driveways, requiring site access from side streets where feasible, encouraging reciprocal access easements or agreements to allow travel between properties.

So basically linking uh parking lots so drivers don't have to go back onto the roadway corridor to access another site on the highway, and as well as closing some access points along a roadway.

These are all parts of what would be considered access management.

Next slide, please.

So there's definitely a need for the project.

The project corridor runs from Quint Street, Highway 47 on the west, to just east of U Streets, which is uh the Forest Grove and Cornelia City boundaries.

It's just over one half mile in length.

Along that one half mile stretch of corridor, there are 29 driveway access points.

And each one of these access points provide a potential point of conflict where driveway where drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians intersect, and there may be some safety issues as a result of that.

Next slide, please.

This slide shows the location of the various driveways along the corridor.

And these driveway access points do create uh conflicts between modes of transportation compromising the safety of drivers, pedestrian bicyclists, and persons using mobility devices.

Next slide, please.

So this project will specifically address the safety issues caused by the numerous access points along the project corridor.

As part of doing this project, we're going to gather information to better understand how each individual driveway along the corridor is being used and how safety could be improved.

And this information will be used to prepare policy recommendations for consideration by city council, which includes things such as amendments to the city's transportation system plan and development code.

Next slide.

Next slide, please.

The project timeline, we kicked off the project uh just a couple of months ago at the last quarter of uh 2025.

Uh since that time, we've been gathering information on the existing conditions.

Um and we'll also be gathering community inpoint, which I'll get into in a little bit more detail.

After we do the information gathering phase of the project, we'll be starting to do evaluation of different options for access management, which could lead to policy changes, development code changes, and the like for consideration by city council.

We expect that adoption of the plan will occur in the first quarter of 2027.

Next slide, please.

So community engagement is a very critical component of this project.

It's definitely a project priority.

And engagement activities include fostering collaboration to understand access management needs among the parties potentially affected by the project.

This includes business and property owners as well as residents.

We'd like to engage the residents that use these, use this corridor on a day-to-day basis.

And we're going to be facilitating engagement opportunities without barriers to without barriers to participation.

Engagement tools include an easy to understand project fact sheet that is in both English and Spanish, a project webpage, which is now live with a common form in both English and Spanish, so we can hear directly from interested persons on what their needs may be with respect to use of the corridor.

And all documents prepared for the project will be available for review on the project website.

And there is quite a lot of information on the project website already.

This slide just shows a snapshot of what uh the project web sheet looks like.

Uh the project fact sheet has the QR code so you can access the project web page in both English and Spanish directly.

And I encourage everyone to go out and take a look at it.

Next slide, please.

So tools for collecting information from the community include uh review of work products by a technical advisory committee made up of agency staff from ODOT from the Department of Land Conservation and Development, Washington County, Metro, representatives from various city departments, as well as Central Cultural.

We'll be conducting property and business owner meetings.

In fact, the first round of property and business owner meetings is this Thursday, Thursday morning.

And so we'll be working discussing uh this project directly with interested property and business owners uh relatively soon.

We'll also be facilitating resident focused group meetings and then holding a community open house when we get a further along with respect to potential policy recommendations.

Next slide.

So work completed includes the project web sheet, or I'm sorry, the project fact sheet.

Next slide, please.

The public involvement plan, which is up on the project web page, the existing plan and policy review memo.

Next slide, the existing conditions review.

And we're just starting to get into the access management evaluation memo, which is memo number three, which will be completed here within the next uh month or so.

But before that memo is finalized, we'd like to engage the business and property owners to get their feedback about the driveways, how they're used, uh, what considerations we should take into account as we develop and evaluate different options for access management.

After the access management evaluation criteria memos completes, we'll complete draft short and long-term access management recommendations.

And then after that is completed, we'll be conducting the community open house anticipated in May of 2026.

Next slide.

After that, we'll be finalizing draft and final development code and transportation system plan recommendations, and then getting into the adoption process with holding work sessions with the planning commission and city council and formal public hearings beginning in January 2027.

And then as I mentioned, we hope to have the final access management strategy adopted uh no later than mid-2027.

That's when the the grant uh project ends.

We have to basically have the um the final recommendations for development code and transportation system plan amendments uh by June of 2027.

Next slide, please.

So with that, that concludes my presentation.

But again, I'd really like to hear any thoughts that city council might have with respect to access along the corridor or anything in particular that we should include as we move forward in this project.

Thank you.

Great.

Thanks, Dan.

I'm gonna pass it over to Councillor Falconer and then Council President Valenzuela.

I just have a quick um thank you, Dan.

I really appreciate it.

Um one thing that I I probably appreciate the most out of your presentation is um you know, your slides you talk about the public engagement and specifically around um you know, focus groups and some of the you know concerns and sort of I think things that I would really really stress for our team as we're gathering information is you know that's probably gonna be the hardest to do, but also the most meaningful.

Um, you know, because I think you know, sometimes when I see things like closed crosswalks, I think that's you know, that's a policy failure, it's a design failure.

Um it means that we're you know we're restricting access rather than enhancing and protecting our most vulnerable road users.

And so I I would really, I guess, encourage you, ask you to, you know, usually when we do things like this and we gather this kind of data, um, we're often tracking some demographics, you know, some demographic information to the extent that people are willing to provide it.

I would ask that, you know, in addition to you know, the kind of typical types of questions we ask people, we ask people to identify whether they um own a vehicle vehicle, have access to a vehicle regularly, or if they primarily rely on transit um or you know, movements around that corridor by bike or or pedest pedestrians, um, because you know, those are the people, you know, when we talk about impacted um folks, you know, of course we're gonna hear from people who are you know angry that we're you know changing their driveway or that we're you know restricting left-hand turns.

Um, but you know, what we what we might not hear um are the very close calls that that I know I have encountered.

I know the mayor's own family has encountered um along this corridor um as a pedestrian, as a cyclist, as a frequent transit fighter myself.

Um so I would just really really emphasize the importance of that and ask you um, you know, in in tracking public input, you know, uh to me, success looks like we are really um really you know really keeping an eye on you know who are the most impacted people and I would suggest that those are the most vulnerable.

Thank you, Counselor Cutler, Council President Valenzuela.

Hello, Dan.

Good evening, and thank you for your presentation.

So I also have a just very quick, I think I missed it.

When uh until when will that survey be available?

Well, right now the survey will be available as up until we get to the close to the adoption process.

So we intend to keep it open throughout most of the the duration of the project.

Okay.

We don't have a formal closing date.

All right.

And the again, you know, like uh my colleague uh councillor uh counselor Falconer.

I'm really happy about the community engagement part of this and the focus groups, of course.

Have you reached out to Centro or Adelante to uh to be able to have uh good participation from a diverse group?

We we have um in fact uh we have a representative from Central Cultural and our technical advisory committee.

Yes.

Um reason is that they wear multiple hats um operating this uh the the senior center.

Um they bring that to the table.

And so we want to make sure that we factor in needs for for senior citizens into the work that we're doing.

Um and then also Centra owns the old Casa Ampero, the old forest grilled in, and so they're property owner on the corridor.

So um, yes, definitely.

And um Adelante Moharis has also been identified as a stakeholder to engage in the project.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much, Dan.

Thank you, Council President.

Counselor Schimmel.

What do you mean, Dan?

Well, I actually wanted to just see if there's any objection with for my colleagues or Jesse if I sat down with with Brian and Dan.

Uh notably with regarding the intersection between this project and the um the TV Highway transit project and other community interaction with regard to signage uh intersections that were rejected by ODOT.

Uh so would be any objection if I can you could elaborate more on at this point, like what those meetings, like the time that you would want from staff and what you would be discussing.

I guess the point Yeah, I would probably have 30 minutes just uh to overlay the project's understanding or intersections and what where there is where one's solving the problem for the next or where I need to take as a liaison for the transit project, take that input into that committee.

Um and also there's there's there's been re requests to ODOT that were rejected that curious to see if there's opportunity to drop it in to either of these uh projects.

Yeah, I'm uh I don't Jesse or Dan, what do you what did you want to say?

Dan's also on the the technical advisory committee for the bus rapid.

Go ahead, Dan.

I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Oh no, no, thank you, Mayor.

Um yes, um we're we're we really want to make sure that we do solid coordination with all of the projects underway on the corridor.

Uh there's the the bus rapid transit project, there's also the safe routes to school project that engineering is overseeing to fill in the sidewalk gaps, want to factor that into the work that we do.

Um there's the the rapid flashing beacon, pedest enhanced pedestrian crossing that will be constructed soon.

We're gonna be factoring that in as well.

Um when we kicked off the project, we did a site tour, and we went out to take a look at the highway 47 and highway eight intersection specifically.

And so that in walking it, you get a totally different perspective, of course, and just driving through the the intersection and and the need for pedestrian enhancements, uh better signage.

I think that resonated uh with the group.

So we're certainly gonna be make making that case as we move forward.

Um the lead consultant on this project HCR is also doing some work with the uh the bus rapid transit project, so there's that connection there as well, so we can make sure that um both projects are coordinated well.

Okay.

Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with it.

I don't know how k other counselors feel.

I'm seeing heads on.

Did you have another comment or no?

I mean, I I got a list of questions that that I could cover.

Cover a near one-on-one.

Uh okay.

So I'm glad first of all, thank you, Dan.

How exciting is this that it's finally happening, right?

Dan and I have been talking about this for a long time.

And Brian.

So I'm just really excited.

I'm glad you brought up safe routes to school.

That's what I had written down.

We just really want to be moving pedestrians away from where we're moving cars, right?

I mean, there's just layered approach.

Uh I value what I mean, not all the time.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

We want to move cars away from the pedestrians.

Uh so just making sure that those um those two things, those two projects are working together and not um separate from each other would be and then but and I also want to talk about the community engagement.

I'm willing to help with any community engagement.

So if you, you know, if it's helpful for me to go walk around and canvas Rose Grove or be at 7-Eleven where there's three access points, three driveways, and a bus stop across the street.

Oh my goodness, on both sides going never mind.

I don't want to go on and on about that road.

It's just it's overdue.

So um, anyways, I'm just willing to help uh with this project in any way I can help.

Um, and that's all I really wanted to say.

And I'm so excited that it's really kicking off.

Okay.

Thank you.

I don't think there's any other comments.

Thank you, Dan.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Thanks, Brian.

Okay, we're gonna move on to item F on our agenda, which is public hearings, ordinances and resolutions.

Oh, wait.

This is really okay.

The public hearing for ordinance two zero two six-01 is now open.

If approved by the city council, this ordinance would amend the force grove code of ordinances to make updates to the city's liquor licensing process.

Do any counselors have a conflict of interest to declare seeing none?

City recorder Mariah Woods will present the staff report.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you for your time this evening, council.

This ordinance follows from a work session that was held by the council on October 27th, 2025, regarding updates to the city's liquor license issuance process.

Some efficient inefficiencies were identified that impact impacted both applicants and staff.

Um and many of those aspects creating the inefficiencies were found to be out of step with most other cities.

Um a lot of the extra steps also were found to add little value just because they're duplicative of a lot of the work that the OLCC already does.

Um and as the OLCC is the body that issues liquor licenses, um, they ultimately have uh final say in that.

Um the consensus reached by the council at that meeting was for some changes that would um make the process a lot more uh streamline the process.

Um those main updates are listed here.

You can see um to authorize the city manager or design to make favorable recommendations to the OLCC.

Um favorable recommendations would still be referred to this council, remove background check requirements for annual renewals.

Um background checks would still be required for new applicants, and um, in place of those background checks, the chief of police would be authorized to review the annual renewal list.

Um again, unfavorable recommendations would be referred to the council, and then to remove business license requirements for special event liquor licenses.

Um in reviewing the code, some additional changes were made.

Um are pretty standard.

Uh renaming the section title from liquor license issuance to liquor license review is just because that's more accurately reflects the city's role.

Um the code still had the OLCC's previous name, so updating that.

Um, and then again, some other pretty minor updates.

Um the renewal process was moved to a different section just because it made more sense there.

Um, and I believe that's it.

If the council has any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Any questions for our city recorder?

Seeing none.

Um, I will now nope, I don't is there can I ask a process question?

When it says call for proponents, that's not in blue.

Am I not doing the public?

I don't do the public hearing.

Okay, this is the public hearing, sorry.

So you should call it.

So I should do that.

Okay.

Um I will now call in persons who signed up to comment on the ordinances.

Comments are limited to three minutes.

Please state your name and address for the record.

Are there any proponents?

Any online saying none.

Are there any opponents?

Seeing none.

Anybody wishing to give other testimony?

Okay, the hearing is now closed.

Is there a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2026-01?

I moved that we approve uh ordinance 2026-01.

Second.

Thank you.

Ordinance 2026-01 was moved by Councillor Martinez and seconded by Councilor Marshall.

Um, is there any discussion from council?

Just a comment.

I mean, and this probably goes without saying, you know, I talked to a few businesses who either want to venture into alcoholic drinks or come in and are stalled uh because of the process.

This is definitely uh an important economic development uh measure that we can help our businesses grow and thrive.

So I'm glad that we we have this opportunity.

Not to mention makes it easier on yeah.

So it's a win-win.

Um discussion items.

Will the city manager please read the ordinance by title only?

Ordinance 2026-01, amending Forest Grove Code of Ordinances Title 11, Business Regulations, Chapter 110, Business Licensing, Section 110.070 through section 110.999, amending liquor license guidelines and repealing ordinance 2010-05.

Thank you.

Will the city recorder please call roll?

Council President Valenzuela.

Yes.

Councillor Schimmel?

Yes.

Councilor Falconer?

Yes.

Counselor Martinez?

Yes.

Counselor Marshall?

Yes.

Councillor Gustafson?

Yes.

Mayor Wenzel.

The vote is seven to zero.

The first reading of ordinance 2026-01 is um approved.

Thank you very much.

And now we're gonna move on to counselor communication.

I'm gonna start with council president Valenzuela.

All right.

So um a couple of news from the library.

Um new reference supervision uh supervisor has to be hired.

He's from Michigan.

Uh small family, his name is uh Jack Buck.

Um so uh we already have someone uh there were a lot of applications.

Uh also Carolina, um the youth services librarian accepted a position in the city of Tiger.

Oh yes, yes.

She did a beautiful job.

She did she's so good.

Just so full of energy and her vision, you know, for what needs to be done.

Uh, but yeah, she accepted a position with the city of Tiger.

So uh of course uh needed to hire someone to replace her, and there are 71 applications.

Oh so obviously the position is closed.

You know, they're going to highly desire.

Yeah.

So those are the two news that I have because I've been uh very, very sick, and I was unable to attend that meeting even via Zoom.

So, but those are the important news that I have to share with you.

On Thursday, uh, we're meeting at the Washington County building in Hillsboro to hear the presentations uh for those seeking funding for different projects.

Um I wanted to give you more more specific.

Um, yes.

So we're going to uh have a quite a few presentations from different cities from different organizations.

And again, this is gonna be on Thursday, January 29th from 9 o'clock until about 3 p.m.

And then we will go ahead and vote on um evaluate those applications by Monday.

So those are the two things.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

And I'm sorry that you've been so sick.

It's been terrible.

It's no, it's been like a month deal for you.

Yeah.

About a month, yes.

Okay, we're gonna move on to Counselor Falkner.

Okay, I do have a couple things.

Um HLB is tomorrow, so I'll report on that next time.

Um the I attended the, I don't know if you all any of you were able to attend the TriMet service cuts meetings with electives that they held.

Um Forest Grove isn't directly impacted by any service cuts.

Um, I guess the one thing that stuck out to me is that you know TriMet staff really, you know, they're how they're having to make some really hard decisions.

Um, and there are other communities in the service area that are that are really having to grapple with some, you know, some very serious issues with regard to very complicated um cuts.

And I guess you know, it's just really important to understand that you know, 30% of riders at on TriMet have no other option.

And so those cuts hurt deeply, and and we're very lucky in this community that our you know, line 57 isn't impacted by that.

Um, I also just wanted to note that you know, they went through uh the exercise of you know, eliminating pretty much I mean, based just all discretionary funding.

So you're not gonna see any more advertising TriMets, you know, that they've they're there, they've cut um, you know, layoffs, hiring freezes, travel restrictions, you know, no sponsorships.

So, you know, they're really time kind of doing the service cuts as a very last result.

And it this isn't, I mean, they just have done what they've just done one wave.

They're gonna do another way.

I mean, yeah.

This is in order to yeah, to get to the right.

You know, if I may through that check really quick, you know, this is not that people are driving more, you know, it's just that there are a lot of people doing remote work, for example.

So there is less demand, you know, after the pandemic, it did decrease the demand for public transportation, unfortunately, because that I think that having trimed and the MAC line and everything, something that we all felt kind of really good about, you know.

Well, and not to mention just transportation dollars generally, and um and so look for in your inbox, you'll probably also see some appeals from groups like Oregon Walks, um, because you know, of course, the legislature is is looking at needing to make some transportation cuts and some of the safe routes to school dollars, which are already very, very small, um, are potentially on the box.

So I would I would strongly encourage you to take a look at that.

I I have personally signed on to the letter um to try to defend safe routes to school dollars because like I said, there's just not very many of them to begin with, and so it seems sort of wild to me that that we would be cutting something that we're hardly spending money on anyway.

Um the uh as Mr.

Feek mentioned, I attended the AG's panel in Portland.

Um it was it was a good panel.

It was um, you know, I think the most important thing was that they were communicating, you know, to the public about um all of the activities that they are taking, because I think a lot of times AGs operate sort of in the background, not nearly as much cameras on them, um, which is sort of what they're supposed to do, right?

And so this was an opportunity for them to you know have a public-facing interaction.

Um, they note that you know, together collectively, they've you know, the our attorney AG has either brought or signed on to more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration for illegal actions it has taken, and one more than 80% of them in court.

So it just sort of goes to show you the lawlessness that they're dealing with um as upheld by the courts.

Um the last thing I want to just bring, um, I was I are to the the Barney Reservoir JWC.

I think I reported a few months, I don't know, several months ago at this point now because the letter, I can't remember what the date of the letter was, but it was the letter from the Bureau of Reclamation about no longer considering any seismic improvements to the to the dam at Hag Lake, um, and instead maybe even considering restrictions.

And what that means is lowering the water level, and what that means is potentially not allowing people who are allowed to use the water to for municipal purposes for agricultural um purpose for irrigation purposes for all the things, not just access by boat, which you might be thinking, um, but actual no, like restricting jurisdictions who depend on it potentially as a water source from accessing the amount of water that originally they are allowed to use.

So I think it's probably right for um maybe a work session at some future date about forest groves water reserves.

Um generally just a bigger regional conversation about water because it's pretty messy, it's complicated.

I am learning a lot.

It's like a fire host at those meetings.

Um they go for hours and and I'm learning more than you know.

Uh anyway, so I think it would be really good for us as a council.

I hope that that's there is our consensus for us to do at a later date in time a work session on this topic.

Yes, not heads nodding.

Okay, there's consensus.

Thank you.

So we'll add it.

I think that is it for me.

Yeah, chamber was canceled because of the holiday, so I'll report.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Councillor Feltner.

Counselor Gusin.

Um, I don't have a lot to um talk about.

I was at the PAC meeting and they discussed their 20-year anniversary celebration.

So they're trying to figure out like when to have it, where to have it, what you know what it should be.

So I mean, if anybody has any ideas, just throw them out there because that's a really exciting um celebration.

Um, and they're also having their retreat on the 28th of March.

Um I don't know if I'll be I won't be in person because I will be um out of town, but I may be able to um dial in remotely, but if I can't and somebody else wants to attend the retreat since it's a retreat, um let me know, mayor, if you have somebody you want somebody to be there because it's a retreat.

Um remind me about that in February.

I will try.

Yeah, thanks.

Um okay, so moving on.

Counselor Marshall.

I had Torks and Rec, but I was not able to go because I was sick.

Um so I will be reaching out to Ann tomorrow to get information on what was going on at the meeting and bring it back.

Yeah, well, I'm sorry, you're under the weather too.

I hope none of the rest, anyone else gets sick.

That's brutal.

Um, counselor Martinez.

So I attended the sister city committee meeting last week.

Uh from now on, the adults from Japan will only be coming on anniversary years.

The students will be coming every year, mostly because of finance.

That's every five years, every five years.

Uh the students will be here October 28th to November 1st.

Uh we talked about different people of contact concerning host families.

And the sister city committee is talking about becoming a nonprofit.

And the process of research for that.

So that was a good thing, a good move for them to make.

Oh, and then I want to pass this out.

This is information that I put together from comments that I made in December, and it's just supporting information.

So I just want to pass this down.

Thank you.

There's the information on both sides.

Counselor Martinez, did you say the date?

One minute can October 28th through November 1st.

That wait, that would be this year.

I gotta go back.

Okay, October 28th.

Got it.

Thank you.

Um, and then is there any additional?

Wait, you're done with your commentary.

Yes, okay.

There's just these hand.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

Thank you.

No.

Okay, go ahead, Counselor Schimmel.

Yeah, two updates um and Jesse checked my numbers.

We're upwards of 350,000.

So that'll come into the next URA meeting for adoption.

Uh so that was, I think, uh growth from the previous cycle.

So we're seeing some good interest.

And then on the TV highway transit project has resumed.

Uh it's transitioned, the project management from Metro to TIMET now.

Uh just the overall timeline has a has in building in 2028.

Uh the funding risks include the 82nd Avenue as a priority.

So that any state funds is going to prioritize 82nd Avenue.

Uh the other risk uh is uh federal funds uh as well as the state budget and what what happens with the transportation bill and and any lottery bonds.

So there's there are some some significant risks to that that project.

Uh some questions are uh the milestones for the municipal funding installments.

Yes, I don't know if you know if you already have those dates or you're you need them.

Okay.

What was the oh from the 75,000?

There's two 75,000 installments.

Um and then if if those funding risks follow through are are do are those funds returned to us.

I got some information, but not an answer to that.

So I need to follow up on uh whether those monies are returned if uh the project doesn't go through.

Dr.

Emmett seems optimistic.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh City Manager, your report, please.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of the council.

Um just following on what counselor Schimmel mentioned.

We do have a URA building grants work session scheduled for the next meeting to review the building improvement grants.

Um also, just as a prelude to the next meeting, we've invited ODOT and they've confirmed to come out and give an update on uh TV Highway.

So specifically the pedestrian crossing uh near Rose Grove, and then also uh any U Street uh design uh updates.

Also, the county is confirmed to come out and give us an update on highway 47 and Maple and Fern Hill.

Bonneville Power is also gonna be in town this week looking at that project and what some of the relocation would look like to make sure that it stays on track for construction this summer.

Uh big thanks to Keith for Keith Horman, our director of Light and Power for coordinating that.

And then lastly, um the county's also gonna present on Council Creek Regional Trail and pending construction efforts uh for for the summer.

Um couple couple other updates.

Uh I want to give a a big thanks to uh the various panels that helped the city out today for our police chief recruitment.

We had two interviews.

Uh we had a really good community panel.

We also had a technical panel of um other police chiefs and the district attorney's office uh and just a lot of people took a lot of time to invest in that process, and I want to thank our partners uh for that.

Um human resources is uh kind of if you will tallying up the results, and there'll be more to report soon.

But uh it was a really good process.

We had a lot of good feedback and good comments back, and so again, thank you to the community and and to our partners.

Um today we closed on the woodfold property, and so we are now the official owners.

The funds have been transferred, and so I think the urban renewal agency board can be looking forward to some strategic sessions coming up about the properties that the URA owns.

The city is also hired uh Johnson Economics to look at some uh market analysis of uh both a boutique hotel and also a grocery store.

Uh mindful that now we do have additional property uh in the inventory of the urban rural agency.

So those will be a couple more data points that we can bring to that.

But if the board would just kind of start thinking about what those potential possibilities are, and we'll bring back some more information for that.

Um we are currently scoping and would welcome any comments.

Uh we're gonna be talking, having a conversation with the economic development commission about the economic development strategic plan.

This is really kind of pursuant to the last city council work session.

So any potential scoping items that you might uh think about would be most welcome on that.

Also, we have started the scoping process for our communications and branding plan.

We're in the process and have a draft uh RFP for that.

Um and then last, Kim and I are gonna be following up with the presentation from Centro and the Senior Center and some of the improvements that need to be made there.

Kim and I are gonna be meeting with the senior center and central leadership tomorrow.

And I think part of that conversation, not all of it, but part of that conversation is gonna be centered on what potential improvements might qualify for a C D BG grant.

Uh and if so, uh whether the city wants to move ahead with the C D BG grant for some of the senior center improvements.

So with that, that concludes my update.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Jesse.

Um that's really really exciting about the Woodfold property.

Um I mean like it it provides the framework of a good long-term tenure plan of revitalization and investment in the URA.

So I think that's just great news.

Okay, I'll flip my page.

Uh I attended the Metropolitan Mayor's Consortium meeting on Thursday.

And uh Mayor Pace from the City of Hillsborough presented Senate bill one, I think it's gonna be numbered 1586, which is the Oregon Jobs Act, and she was asking support of MMC on that bill.

And um I only got to listen to 10 minutes of the discussion before six periods started, but there was a pretty much a split of municipality mayors said, like, hey, I don't think I can support that for these reasons, and then some other mayors saying, hey, we want to join on.

Um I guess and I'm gonna and I stayed out of the conversation because I did not know enough about it to have an opinion.

And I think it's always best not to say anything if you don't know.

But I did send it to um our assistant C Manager Kim and to get some more information.

And I don't know if we want to look into that to see if you know, another like have a work session to see if we support it, if we want it to not support it, but um it's gonna be one of the things it's being presented by I think Senator Salman and Beach Face, and it's about land use and industrial use.

So um I was I think I don't know how what the council wants this direction.

I can just have staff brief me and then or I don't know if we want it to come back to council for a work session.

Is there any thought on that?

I mean if you if if I don't know if they could brief me, and if I think there's something chew on and maybe bring it back.

Um I probably would not go out and endorse it without either as a group, the MMC supporting it or without you all supporting it.

So that's where I stand with it, is that I would probably just remain silent unless the city wants to take a position.

So maybe do some research and let me know.

How about that?

Um speaking of the state legislature and the session.

We have I think just in the last eight years, we hired a federal consultant to lobby for funding for federal projects.

And one of the things that's been bugging me for a while is that we don't really have staff capacity to follow like our state legislation.

Um I don't think we need this, let's be real.

The state doesn't have money, they're not gonna give us money.

But what I feel like we need to protect ourselves again is on against this unfunded mandate.

Or also I mean, just I don't know, I just wish I guess what I'm trying to figure out is what's a way, what's the best approach for the city council to track legislation and be able to come back to council and advise and chew on and have a discussion about what's good for force grove and not good for force grove.

I don't really have an answer to that.

I just want you all to question first is the school district have a kind of advocacy, or do they have a point person or do the may the mayor's consortium or the year that can we tie in with something that exists?

Well, the the LOC exists, right?

And then MMC as Metro Mayor's Consortium, and that's primarily what we get briefed on is the bills and that are good for cities or what our position is, and um so I mean we can still continue to use that.

How I feel about that sometimes is that force growth has this unique position within Metro of being part of Metro and being lumped into that, but really being a rural, you know, like we're the Westward.

I don't know.

Sometimes I feel very conflicted about how we're represented, right?

And what our voice is.

And then on the flip side, you have LOC, which sometimes I feel never mind.

I'm just gonna get myself in trouble, so I'm gonna stop talking.

Okay.

As far as far as information, both our our Senate and House representative do it.

So providing the information in their letters, but the point I think you're making is a the right one is the advocacy is ensuring that the language and the bill and that's that's almost like someone just someone who's actually getting into the details that's very yeah, yeah, and I don't want to do that.

I don't think I have time to do that.

Well, there's certain things I will get into that.

That's enough for you.

Okay.

We'll think about it and then we'll come back to it.

Um that was my update with that, and then there's some so I want to say an over.

Oh, I have a request for staff, and I don't know if it's for Jamie, but it I would appreciate if when people invite us to things, you know, we get on our calendar, and I'm speaking we, but this is what I think.

Like all of our council meetings are scheduled onto our calendar, but then when we get invited to town halls or like news end visitors or the stay of the city, none of that goes into our calendar.

It's an email, it's an email to us, I think saying, hey, you you know, this is this opportunity.

Um, I'm requesting that everything goes as a calendar invite because it's really hard for us to keep track of emails, our council calendar, our school district calendar, our family calendar.

And so I'm not saying that, and I want to be really clear.

Because something comes to your calendar doesn't mean you have to accept it, but I just want to make sure that we have one system for putting, and I think that one way to achieve that is staff liaisons.

If there's an event, they send that event to Jamie.

Jamie adds it onto her calendar.

If Merc, you know, so this Wednesday is a town hall, uh, Congresswoman Bonamici is doing town hall at Force Grove High School on the 28th at 6 p.m.

When that invitation came from um healthy, right?

Then Jamie could put it on our calendar instead of sending it as an email.

That's just a wish, a want, if that's a an okay thing.

And then there's another town.

Oh, for the record on Wednesday, I'm gonna have the closing remarks, and so if y'all want to come, that'd be great.

Uh so Wednesday is Congresswomanchi's town hall at Forest Grove High School, and it starts at 6 p.m.

And then on Friday is a town hall meeting with representatives McLean, Senator Solomon gonna be there as well, and attorney general and the attorney general.

So that's and that that Pacific University, that does need an RSVP.

So that was sent out in a link or with a link to RSVP.

Um, and then the state of the city is going to be March 12th, doors open at 5 30, the program starts at 6, and that the theater in the grove.

So those are all things that you know could be on your calendar.

Um, so your topics for the state of the city, and what I did uh is I just try to couple you up with your commissions so that way you knew you had a general idea.

So um Councilor Schimmel economic development in the city.

No, nope.

Um you don't get that.

You get economic development.

Okay.

Are you EBC?

Yeah.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Oh my god.

I had a whole system.

And then Counselor Falkner is transportation and pedestrian safety.

Counselor Martinez is public safety.

And then uh Councillor Gus Councillor Gustison, I would like you to talk about the PAC.

It's great, so it's their 20 year, and then you can also do the Festival of Arts and the mural, like the money they use over TLT.

So I think that'll be good.

And then Council President Valenzuela, the new uh the children's area library renovation and the library.

Well, how much time do I need to speak?

I just yeah, I think just like a minute.

I mean, it's not anything long, it's just I just want to get your faces.

I want like we are a team, right?

And I want we all do our parts, and so I just want to give you the opportunity.

It's force broke stay of the city, so I just want whatever you're comfortable with.

I want you to be seen.

I want your work to be highlighted, the things do you care about.

Wonderful, and I I am so looking forward to it because last year was so beautiful.

Are we having entertainment?

Well, I think well we were trying to do a couple things, but I think there's gonna be some entertainment.

We do have a couple pieces of entertainment and remembrance at theater in the grove.

Yes, I will do my best to sell that place station.

I promise.

I won't let you down.

I don't.

I won't let you down.

But we have the URA properties, we have all that stuff.

So I think it's gonna be good.

Okay, and that's all I have.

So I'm gonna adjourn this meeting, but none of you are allowed to leave because we need to do the police station work session and get out of here by 9 30.

Okay, I'm gonna adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.

We get in like 10 minutes.