Good evening.

I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Forest Grove City Council at 704 on April 13th.

Will the city recorder please call role?

Councilor Valenzuela.

Here.

Councilor Shimmel?

Here.

Counselor Falconer.

Here.

Counselor Martinez?

Here.

Councillor Marshall?

Here.

Mayor Wenzel.

Here.

We acknowledge the land on which Forest Grove is located, rests on the traditional village sites of the At Paladi, a tribe of the Calipoas who originally inhabited the Tualetin Plains, including Forest Grove.

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

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

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republican stand.

Okay, next on our agenda is item four, which is our police chief swearing in.

So a little bit as our city recorder gets ready, I would like to introduce you to Chief Marzilli.

He began his law enforcement career in Oregon, joining the Washington County Sheriff's Office in 1998.

Over 28 years, he advanced through the ranks from deputy to commander, serving in patrol investigations, jail, and professional standards.

He is known for building strong teams rooted in trust, communication, and accountability.

Forest Grove is so grateful that he accepted this job.

So if Police Chief Merzilla can please come up, or soon to be Forest Grove Police Chief, officially sworn in.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of Oregon.

The laws and ordinances of the city of Forest Grove.

Which I've been appointed according to law.

Congratulations, Chief Marzilli.

Okay, we have three proclamations tonight.

I'm gonna read all of them in English and then Council President Valenzuela will read the last one in Spanish as well.

So we'll we will begin with Arbor Month.

Whereas Arbor Day was first observed in 1872 with the planting of more than one million trees in Nebraska.

And whereas the Forest Grove community continues this tradition of environmental stewardship by conserving, preserving, and restoring our local urban forests.

And whereas our community appreciates the many benefits trees provide to our residents, businesses, and visitors.

And whereas the National Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Forest Grove as Tree City USA due to our community's commitment to effective forest management over the last year.

And whereas calendar year 2025 marked the 36th consecutive year Forest Grove has received Tree City USA designation, and whereas the Forest Grove Community Forestry Commission recognizes the stewardship of the Forest Grove community over the past 36 years to advance the city's urban forestry efforts.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim the month of April as Arbor Month in Forest Grove, Oregon, and encourages the community to support the spirit and tradition of the first Arbor Day by planting trees for the benefit of our community.

Okay, next up is the library.

So whereas libraries spark creativity, fuel imagination, and inspire lifelong.

Bless you.

Thank you.

And whereas dedicated library workers provide welcoming spaces that inspire discovery, collaboration, and creativity for all.

And whereas libraries provide free and equitable access to books, digital tools, and innovative programming, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of background, have the support they need to learn, connect and thrive.

And whereas libraries protect the right to read, think and explore without censorship, standing as champions of intellectual freedom and free expression.

And whereas libraries, librarians, and library workers across the country are joining together to create National Library Week under the theme Find Your Joy.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim April 19th through April 25th as Library Week in Forest Grove, Oregon, and encourages the community to visit the Forest Grove Library and celebrate all the ways the library helps our community find joy.

Let's go libraries.

And now we will move on to Child Abuse Prevention Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Crime Victims Rights Week.

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

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

And whereas children who experience abuse are uniquely affected because they are still developing and therefore suffer lifelong effects to their physical and emotional health.

And whereas sexual violence, childhood abuse, and interpersonal crime affect all people, but disproportionately affect those impacted by systemic inequities, and whereas when harm does occur, we are determined to respond by helping survivors by not only safety, healing, and justice, but also equitable access to services, a sense of hope for their future, and the tools to rebuild their lives.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim April 2026 and April 19th through April 25th, 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Crime Victims Rights Week in Forest Grove, Oregon, and reaffirms our commitment to supporting a coordinated and collaborative community of providers that deliver intervention and prevention services of violence and abuse all year long.

Thank you.

And here's Council President Valence Miller.

Okay, let's see.

Proclama.

Considering Oregon register tasks mass alter the violence domestic, aggression sexual and trauma infantile, el Promedio National, and considering infantile violence sexual son algonous problems of salute public serious yumerosos studies document the vehicle into the trauma and experiences medicine, emotional, psychological and conductual, con effects tanto a corto com a larger places, and considering that loss of abuse seven especially affect us because aun se están desarrollando su permanent in su salud physical and emotional que la violencia sexual infantil y los delitos interpersonales affect atlas, pero affect de manera desproportionada system.

Ahora, por lo tanto, la Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Forest Grove, for la presente proclama el mes de Abril de 2026 a la semana del 19 and 25 April 2026, como Mes de la Prevención del Abuso Infantil, Mes de la Concientization de la Agresión Sexual, Semana de los Derechos de Victimas del Delito.

In Forest Grove Oregon, Condado de Washington, it reaffirma nuestro compromiso de apoyar una comunidad coordinada collaborativa de proveedores que brindan services de intervención y prevención de violencia y abuso durante todo el año.

In testimonio de Local Assido Presente, Forest Grove, Oregon Place este Dia 13 Abril 2026.

Thank you, Councillor President Valenzuela.

We are now gonna move on to item B on our agenda.

But if Chief Merzalet's fan club wants to leave, it's a good time too.

Thank you all for coming and supporting him.

I mean, really, anyone else can leave too.

But it's a rip roaring show, so I mean, probably want to stay.

Okay, item B on our agenda is public comment.

Time provided for anyone wishing to speak to 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.

Let me make sure that's okay.

So first up, we have David Dion.

Thank you.

By definition, every elected official in the United States was in fact elected.

We do not live in a country whose elected fish officials have unlimited authority.

This council cannot violate the constitution.

Anyone on this council, if they should violate the law, would suffer the consequences of their actions.

Anyone on this council, if they should erogate themselves a power or a privilege their position does not grant, would find their decision lacks the force of law.

I can say the same thing about state officials.

Governor Kotec cannot unilaterally enact the law.

Our state legislature cannot countermand the Constitution, either of the United States or of the state of Oregon.

Criminal action are investigated.

Misuse of government resources carries consequences.

It applies the law in an openly partisan manner.

The federal government is wrong to do this.

No democracy is functional if its laws do not apply equally to all.

No democracy is functional if its government is not held to the law.

Any effort to prevent the rule of law from applying to the law's enforcers is an attempt to erase democracy.

Federal agents will come towards it.

They will come for benign reasons, taxation, land management, census, disaster.

All of these are good things.

Enforce the law.

Make clear the fact that the law will be enforced equally to all.

Thank you.

Okay, next up is Carol Allery.

This time I'm coming because I heard you guys are going to be doing fluoride, and we still have fluoride in our water.

And I have some concerns.

Yes, there are.

But we do live in a country right now that's very rich with people getting children, even poor children having their teeth taken care of.

One of the problems with it, and I gave you everybody I sent an email to tooth discoloring.

That's fine.

I don't care about that.

Tooth decay, it does weaken and enamel too much fluoride.

How do you determine what too much fluoride is?

If I drink 60 ounces or more, sometimes I drink 80 ounces of water, how much fluoride am I getting in those 80 ounces?

A skeletal weaknesses.

This is very big for people who are olderly.

We have a lot of elderly in chorus grove.

And we need to consider that joint weaknesses, risk of factor, neurological problems for babies, mothers having babies and uh being pregnant.

There's an impact to young children in the development of the brain.

Exposure to fluoride before birth, which leads to poor cognitive outcomes in the future.

Higher fluoride levels lead to low scores and IQ tests.

Okay, and by the way, if we don't realize organs like they're at the bottom on this here, um, high blood pressure.

We have significant uh between high blood pressure and water, which is too much fluoride.

Uh acne, well, I don't know what to say about that one, but seizures.

It's not that it causes seizures, but people who are prone to seizures will have that effect.

So I have a concern with that, and I wanted to share that concern with you.

I hope you consider that when you're looking at your fluorite and down the road and put that to practice.

Yes, we know there's good points, but we also have to look at what's bad.

And my prayer for you tonight is that you pray for truth and wisdom to guide this console in Jesus' name.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone that's in the audience who did not sign up to give public testimony who would like to do so?

Seeing none, is there anyone online on Zoom, a Zoom attendee who would like to use the race hand feature to provide public comment?

Seeing none, I'm gonna now turn it over to um we have a present.

Oh, it's present.

Wait, nope, I'm skipping to like two items.

Let's go back to item C the consent agenda.

Items under the consent agenda are considered routine.

They are adopted with a single motion without discussion.

Counselors may remove items prior to the motion to adopt any removed items are discussed and acted upon following the approval of the remaining items.

What is the wish of the council?

Move to approve.

It was moved by council president Valenzuela and seconded by counselor marshall.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, please say aye.

Hearing none, the consent agenda is approved with a vote of six to zero.

Additions and deletions.

City manager, do you have any additions or deletions?

No additions or deletions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Any proposed by council.

Hearing none.

Okay, now we will move on to item E, which is presentations.

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

And our first presentation is the family peace, the Family Peace Center update by Rachel Schutz, the executive director.

Good evening, Rachel.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Yeah, you're fine.

Great.

Um, I'm a little under the weather, so my voice is not the sharpest.

But um, thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate it.

You received and your packet our annual report as you always do.

But that's what I'm actually really excited about because this is the report that is the final chapter of the Family Justice Center.

Um, so I had a, I mean, myself and staff and board all had a really wonderful time getting to put this together, and it was actually really fun finding all the old pictures.

Um, but I'm gonna take you through this and then also highlight aspects of Forest Grove at the end.

Um the first part just highlighting that uh the reason that the Family Justice Center came to be in the first place was an experiment that was put together by the chief of police of Hillsborough at the time back in 2013, 2014.

He took one of his officers and said, I want you to go around to all the places in Washington County that you would need to go if you were escaping domestic violence.

And I want you to take your children with you, and I want you to use public transportation.

And as the story goes, um, it took her a day and a half, and she came back to the chief and said, it's not possible to do that.

I can't get all the places that I need to go.

I can't make all the times that I need to be there.

My kids are hungry.

This is too hard to do.

And he took that experience and he brought it to the community and said, we need to do something better for survivors.

I'm really attached to that story because I wholeheartedly believe that it is the responsibility of service providers to navigate themselves, not make the people that are seeking services navigate them.

It's not their job to figure out how to jump through all the hoops.

We're the ones that are paid to do that.

And so that's how the Family Justice Center started was a community that said we need to do something different for survivors, and then they actually did.

That's what makes me so excited about this organization and everything that we've done is that commitment to not only doing things better for our community, but doing it together.

And so over the years, um, in total, we served over 31,000 survivors with over 54,000 services, which is incredible to look back on.

I'm gonna jump to 2025.

So in 2025, you can see up here, we got much more colorful with our graphs this year.

Um, we provided uh over 12,500 services to a little over 6,000 survivors, and what we broke out this year was the kinds of services that they received.

We've done that a little bit before, but we really wanted to highlight those items for you guys.

Um, and so one of the interesting things is our top three services.

This year, in 2025, above all other years, it was basic needs that were the highest needed service.

So, food, clothing, and basic need supplies, such as hygiene items, emergency items, things like that.

That went above and beyond even our confidential advocacy services, which are our agencies like the Domestic Violence Resource Center, Sexual Assault Resource Center, folks like that.

That really showed the pressure and stress that is on communities.

You guys know that, you hear about it all the time.

But one of the interesting things that happened with our data is this was the first year that we saw a dip in the number of survivors that were coming to the center, with the exception of 2020.

And we looked back as executive directors, we actually met and we looked back at our data and we said, What's going on?

Because this is the first year that we've seen a precipitous drop off.

And what had happened, we went back month by month and we saw a big dip in the number of people that were coming in when immigration enforcement increased in our communities.

And so, and it wasn't just people coming into the family justice center, it was people calling crisis lines, it was even people going to the hospitals.

We reached out to community organizations around us and asked them what was going on.

We reached out to other counties.

It was the first time that any of us can remember that we not only had open shelter beds, there were some shelters that were empty, and so that made a huge impact on our community.

The other really interesting thing that happened is even though our services dipped or the number of people that came in dipped, the number of services that were accessed by each survivor increased.

So, what we were actually seeing is people that were able to come in or people that we were able to reach, they had higher needs.

And we're seeing that now as we transition into the family peace center, which we'll talk about a little bit.

But as we transition in, there are more and more needs that are emerging in our community.

And that's something that I'm sure you guys are seeing too.

That's happening all over not just our county, but the state and the rest of the country is um the needs are going up and the resources are actually going down.

So something that you guys are also well aware of is um the amount of funding cuts that happened to a lot of community-based organizations, and that doesn't make need go down, that just makes need spread out more in more concentrated measures in the agencies that were fortunate enough to stay open.

So that's also something that we are experiencing.

Um go ahead and scroll down.

Um 2020, 18 to 2025.

Um, like I said, we served over 31,600 individuals that came into the family justice center with 54,000 services.

So, as you can see, what I was just highlighting, 2025 was the first year that we actually saw that dip outside of 2020, which was really remarkable for us.

Um what was also very interesting is you can see that really large gap between the number of services provided and the number of people served.

We actually like to see that.

We want to make sure that people are getting multiple services for every time they come into the Family Justice Center.

In fact, in 2025, our top three services, so basic needs, um, advocacy and legal support, that represented seven different agencies.

So that represented seven different locations that people didn't have to go anymore, which is also an exciting thing for us.

The uh I pulled out on our next page, I pulled out some of our data around some of the most utilized services.

So that's nerdy stuff that I'm really interested in.

But one of the things that I got really excited about was that idea of co-location.

So that big bottom number, 38,071, is the number of services that were accessed at the Family Justice Center that it without the Family Justice Center were in other locations.

And so those were delivered by agencies.

38,000 services were delivered by agencies that were previously located in other places.

So that's 38,000 times people didn't have to go to another location.

And that's something that I get really excited about, which starts to tell the story and show what the value of having agencies work together and work together in the same space.

Then I have a story that you guys can read, but I'll just highlight this person's name is Lisa.

Lisa means a lot to me.

I've known Lisa since I started.

Um Lisa has been on a really long journey with the Family Justice Center and now the Family Peace Center with her and her children.

And that picture at the bottom, I actually took both of those pictures, but that picture at the bottom is at her college graduation at Lewis and Clark.

And she last Thursday took her LSATS at the Family Peace Center, which was just an incredible thing.

And she is going to be a family law attorney and hopefully a judge in the future, so that she can help other survivors in the same situation that she was in navigating the legal system.

And so it's just that that means a lot to me.

I've watched her kids grow up, and it's just incredible that we get these opportunities through a center like this to be able to see people come through their full journey.

Lastly, I have some incredibly lovely pictures, and I'll just highlight this is from back in 2015, the original steering committee, and then pictures of the planning committee, our law enforcement steering committee, many of those law enforcement folks you may recognize still being here.

So that was just some fun things that we took a look at.

And then the next one is the construction of the Family Peace Center pictures.

Um that was just when we were searching for the building, doing a demo day celebration and then actual demo.

We didn't do much with those hammers that we tried working on.

Um, and then our opening day, which was January 21st, 2026.

Um, since we opened on January 21st, as of the end of last week, we'd already served, we'd already had more than 1,200 people walk in to the facility, which is only two and a half months worth.

Um, so our volume of individuals coming through is very high, um, which is very good.

And at the same time, like I tell you guys every year, it's hard to be in that position of um seeing an increase year over year over year.

But I'm actually more concerned when we see those dips, like I mentioned earlier.

Sorry.

Um, so for Forest Grove in 2025, we served 88 individuals with 182 services.

I took a look at so far in the two and a half months that we've been operating.

We've already seen 32 individuals from Forest Grove, which means we're on track to more than double the amount of people from Forest Grove that are receiving services.

Just this month, we've seen three families from Forest Grove for CARES Northwest alone.

And I was thinking about that as I was coming over here.

That's a really spectacular thing because I know I live here in Forest Grove, and I know if I'm trying to get out to Northeast Portland, particularly for a morning appointment, it's gonna take me about two hours.

And so that is a huge accomplishment to have something like that, something so critical, be right here within travel distance of our community.

Um I wanted to give you guys an update that you um were very generous in giving the Family Peace Center a grant this year, which is great to do outreach for Forest Grove.

And so far, we've connected with Gigi's house, um, St.

Vincent de Paul Centro for the new leadership of the community and senior center and taste and see local.

I had a great time at Taste and See Local, actually.

And also our library.

We have a great relationship with the library.

I love Bob.

And we're going to do another community event over there soon, which is fantastic.

But that was exciting for me to see that already we're so high in the number of Forest Grove individuals that we're serving.

Like I said, based on the rate that we're at now, we'll more than double what we saw in 2025 for individuals in Forest Grove that are receiving services.

So that was a lot of information and data.

Happy to take any questions that you guys might have.

Thank you.

Any questions?

I just have a comment, Mayor.

Go ahead and the story of Lisa was amazing and very moving.

And I want to thank you for the work that you do.

Because that story and many other stories with these wonderful outcomes are possible.

They are possible.

You know, when people focus on things like they shouldn't be riding the bus to get everywhere.

It's not possible.

And just pinpointing to those, you know, logistic problems that people may have that prevent them from seeking a safer place for themselves and for their children.

So by you providing that, you make all this possible.

And I want to really uh say thank you.

Thank you to you for the work you do.

I really appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I would just like to echo council president's comments.

You know, thank you.

Thank you so much for the work you do.

Um, and congratulations.

It is a success story.

Um, you know, helping one individual is a success story, but 31,000 people, and you know, really continuing to help and see like why are I mean, asking a question, why are we seeing the dip?

The outreach, the support.

Um, you know, Forest Grove is lucky to have you as a partner.

So we just say thank you.

Thank you for doing this incredibly hard work, but rewarding as well.

Thank you so much.

Just one more thing, Mayor.

Go ahead.

Yes, a few years ago, you had an activity.

Yeah, where participants of your program uh painted uh and they were brought to the library to exhibit.

And I just wonder if um that could be done again in the in the future, uh, because I think it's uh very important for the community to be aware of you know these things going on, these things happening, keep your eyes open, keep your ears open.

There's probably someone you can help out and reach out to.

Um so I think that uh that was a great activity.

And I would love to see it again, you know, in the future.

Thanks for saying that.

Actually, Bob and I talked about that, and he's remodeled the area where we had the original exhibit.

And he was like, we have way more room for art this time.

And so I would love to do it.

And I'll just mention it is April, so thank you so much, Mayor, for the proclamation.

Um, this year, the Voices of Hope Gallery is actually at the research.

Um, and so that's actually gonna be going through May 18th.

And if anybody would like to go, um, some incredible work is there.

And I would also really like to invite all of you and all of you to our grand opening of the Family Peace Center on uh the 30th.

So that's gonna be Thursday, April 30th at five o'clock.

And we would love to have you guys there um to see this whole center.

But yes, I think the art is an absolutely a thing that we can bring back.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

Thank you all so much.

I hope you feel better.

Thanks for coming, even though you're under the weather committed.

Okay, our next presentation is from the Library Commission annual report.

Hi, Morgan and Colleen's coming up as well.

Thank you all so much for having me here for um in recognition of National Library Week and as an opportunity to share with you a little bit about the library commission, the work we've been doing and what's ahead for us in 2026.

So I um going to be sharing our annual report and our newly adopted goals with you tonight, and happy to answer any questions as well.

I always like to start with a couple quotes.

You all may remember this from last uh last year.

Um this year I was thinking a lot about the theme about um find your joy at the library and the creativity and imagination that it sparks.

So my quotes are related to that.

We read to know we are not alone, C.S.

Lewis said.

Library store, the energy that fuels the imagination from Sydney Sheldon and reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.

Coolie.

Um the library commission currently is composed of myself as chair, Pam Bailey, vice chair, who you know is truly committed because she is here in the room tonight, even though she's not giving this presentation.

Uh Lauren Miller's our secretary, Kathleen Pulson, Kirsten Bayer, and Colleen Lorde, as well as our council liaison, Mariana Valenzuela.

We're so lucky to have her.

Um, you all know uh from multiple events, like the gathering of the groups that we are not the only supporters of the library.

One of the ways that makes our library and our town so amazing is that there are um so many groups of dedicated folks in town who give their free time and their passion to this amazing um institution that we have.

So um ourselves from the library commission, we also have the friends of the Forest Grove Library, the Forest Grove Library Foundation, you all, the Forest Grove City Council, and a wide range of community patrons and volunteers and philanthropists who help in all the ways that they can and help our members of our community find their joy here in our amazing building and with our amazing librarians.

So, how does the library commission fit into that little ecosystem of library groups?

We have a couple of specific charges from the city that I will go through quickly for you all.

We advise the city council on matters pertaining to the Forest Grove City Library.

We also advise the library director on matters affecting the operations of the library.

We advise, review, and approve library policies if they need to be changed, and then we would forward to you all for adoption.

We facilitate community involvement and input on the operations and policies of the library.

We also participate and cooperate with WCCLS, the Washington County Cooperative Library Services Program that we operate underneath, and we participate and cooperate with the friends of the Forest Grove Library and the Library Foundation, of course.

So what's new at the library?

You all had the opportunity here to hear from uh Colleen in October, but even in that short amount of time until now, there's a lot of exciting new stuff at the library that I wanted to make sure you all have seen, and if not, encourage you to go down and check out.

We have a refreshed children's area.

Um, that children's area came about in part because of a donation from a member of the community, a bequest from a member of our community, and then additional funds provided generously by the foundation.

We also have a refreshed fireplace area, um, which is looking amazing and still more to come there, which um was predominantly from the generation or the generosity, excuse me, of the foundation, and we're so thankful for them for that.

Um we also have new open and closed signage that you can see uh from the outside and is uh very exciting, I think, for for lots of folks who wanting it for a long time.

Um, and that is not all.

We also have two new folks at the library.

Oh, a new reference supervisor, Jack Buck, who's just joined us recently from Michigan, and a new youth services librarian, Amanda Woods, who is just barely started her job and already making a great impression, and we're really excited to have both of them on staff.

Um just an opportunity to highlight another um great partnership that the library has and um relationships they're building um with our community is to highlight all the many ways that Pacific University students, of course, very close to my heart are involved with the library right now.

The library has 10 uh work study students employed there from Pacific University this year.

It's been a long-term partnership, but that is an incredible number.

So many of our young people are having the opportunity to spend really valuable time interacting with community members in that library setting.

They also host um field study students from our nonprofit, masters of nonprofit leadership um degree right now, got volunteers and multiple art classes over the last couple of semesters have been partnering with the library.

You can see that group right there with some of the examples of their work behind them, but there's also larger projects that they've been working on and some exciting new projects that are coming soon.

So look for new art in the library from our Pacific students.

So I've got a lot of goals and they're all very wordy, and I've tried to keep it short for you all for 2026, but I'm happy to um expand on any of them if you're interested.

So we always are continuing to provide input on library staff's current projects and needs.

This year, for the first time, we have a new goal.

We're actually going to review the library's mission.

It's been over 10 years, I believe, since the mission has been looked at, and we just want to make sure that it's still aligned with their vision and the you know the work that they're doing day to day.

So that's one of our efforts.

We're also going to be inventoring and reviewing all of the policies.

It's been on our radar for a while.

We've kind of started that process, but this is the year we're going to get it done.

So there's a chance you'll be seeing more information from us if we decide that there are policies that do need uh revision and updates.

Because there's so much new activity happening at the library, all these new spaces.

We're also going to work with the library staff to conduct a user survey and try and get some feedback in this current moment about how folks are using the library and what they would like to see there.

We're really going to take a look also at the commission's kind of like presence and awareness in the community.

We have a couple of specific goals around that.

For example, we want to get up to full membership at the commission.

We're down one person and we have a couple of in-progress applications right now.

We're really interested in filling the student position on our commission that's been vacant for a couple of years.

So going to start doing some outreach for that.

And we also want to just review all the web pages on the libraries page and on the city's site and things like that to make sure that it's all as fully transparent and welcoming and informative for folks who might be interested in the commission and the work that all the different groups related to the library are doing right now.

We're not done yet, I'm afraid to say.

We're looking at art in the library, um, thinking about how we can develop guidance for public art accession and de-accession and display within the library.

Um we are, of course, celebrating National Library Week happening next week, um, including library appreciation.

And there's going to be some public-facing opportunities for folks who want to come in and contribute to thank yous to our librarians and some opportunities to write about what how you find your joy in the library, things like that.

So look for that coming soon.

We'll be hosting the gathering of the groups again this year.

So we will be sending invitations when we get close to that point.

Of course, supporting the Friends and Foundation, staying engaged with ongoing WCCLS structure and governance and funding decisions that are being made at that county level that might impact us here in Forest Grove, and looking for ways to stay engaged and participating in the further work that is to come around the city's Vision 2040 project and how the library and the commission can plug into that.

To that end, um, we are really looking at how the library can contribute to the goal of having an engaged and connected Forest Grove community with inclusive spaces for all.

And we are already looking at ways that that is showing up in the library and in the way our citizens support it and use it.

Um, of course, very exciting that the library levy did pass in the last election and the opportunities that provides us possibly for expanding services.

But um, of course, all day every day, the library is serving as a gathering space for our community and a wide range of volunteers and thinking about how we can be a partner with community groups and other libraries outside of us, like the Pacific Library, the high school library, things like that to grow and expand that impact as an inclusive gathering space here in town.

So you can help.

You can always volunteer if that is your jam.

We have two book sales already on the calendar from the Friends.

Um, one is coming very soon, May 13th, 16th, and then October 19th through 26th.

You're always welcome to join the library program.

There's some really interesting new adult programming from Bob and their team over there.

For example, there's a really cool uh kind of crafting event happening on April 18th.

You can sign up for the library's monthly email newsletter if you're not already signed up for that and want to stay engaged.

Watch for your invitation to the gathering of the group groups.

Um, ensure your constituents here in Forest Grove know that there are library services available and sometimes things that they might not think of.

For example, the librarians provide free on-site notary services to anyone who would like to access that as well as printing and tax forms, um, all sorts of good things like that.

And then also know that there are policies to support um the library and our citizens and to ensure there is something for everyone at our amazing library and the librarians and the commission and all of us involved really do want to hear from our citizens and from our elected officials and anyone who's interested.

If you have ideas or concerns and you want to talk to us about anything, that's exactly what we're here for.

So thank you.

Um is generally the theme of what brings me here today to our, you know, thank you to our tremendous library staff and all the good work they do to my fellow library patrons and supporters who show up in all the ways that they do, and of course, to you all and the very important and supportive role you play on the city council um in this town.

So I appreciate you and happy to answer any questions.

Okay, thank you, Morgan.

Any questions or comments for Morien.

Yeah, I would just like to say thank you.

I mean, there's a so many like you and Pamela, like so many wonderful volunteers who show up for the library, but also show up and serve the community in so many ways.

And so just really grateful that we have such a great community that supports each other.

So thanks.

I mean, and Colleen does a great job of bringing you all together and facilitating and showing up herself.

So I think we're just really lucky.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

That'd be great.

Thank you.

And we have another commission update from our community forestry commission in their annual report.

And we have Dan Reardon and the chair, Mark Nagajima coming up, I believe, to present.

I feel like Mark, you've been the chair the whole time I've been on council.

I have not been the chair.

I have been on the commission forever, but I have not been the chair that often.

Please say that Mark has been on the commission from day one.

Be a founding member.

Yeah, I I was actually I appreciate the commission.

I was on the tree task force.

Oh culminated in um forming a forestry commission.

So how long ago?

I'm very close to being older than dirt, right?

We need dirt for trees, so there we go.

Well, thank you, Mayor, uh, members of the city council.

Mark has a day job, so I volunteered to kind of take the lead on this.

And uh Mark is here to answer questions and interject his thoughts.

Um, but we do have a brief presentation for you this evening.

Um, the first uh like purpose of tonight's uh presentation is just basically to update the city council and the community forestry commission highlights for calendar year 2025 and the commission priorities for calendar 2026.

Uh the forestry commission serves basically three fundamental primary functions.

Uh, one is to serve as the official tree board for tree city USA qualification, and as you heard in the proclamation, we achieve 36 years as being a tree city USA community.

Uh the forestry commission over also oversees the city's register of significant trees.

Uh the forestry commission periodically holds public hearings to consider removals from the register and makes recommendations to city council on addition.

And the forestry commission also makes recommendations to the city council on general forestry related matters, um, such as increasing the uh the city's urban tree canopy, which we'll highlight a little bit later.

Next slide, please.

So this uh the forestry commission uh relates to one um 2040 forest growth forward uh goal area, and that's community growth, and it's related to building and maintaining resilient, efficient, and financially sustainable infrastructure.

And the urban forestry can be thought of as being infrastructure.

Uh trees serve a specific purpose.

Um they achieve many goals and objectives, and it is certainly green infrastructure in the community.

So, what the forestry commission does is related to their efforts, expands the green uh infrastructure in the community and makes forest grove more climate.

So, in terms of 2025 highlights, um, the forestry commission held the Arbor Month tree planting at Thatcher Park in April 2025.

That was a beautiful day, as you'll see on the next slide.

Um but in addition to the Arbor Month tree planting, the Forestry Commission also began work on updating a tour of trees map guide for Old Town Forest Grove.

It's a map guide that has been very popular, but it was in need of updating.

So that's been a um a priority over the last calendar year moving into this calendar year.

And then again, as you heard in the proclamation, uh the city of Chief Tree City USA designation for year 36.

So these are just a couple of photos of the Arbor Day tree planting at Thatcher Park.

Uh we partnered with the city's parks department.

And uh shout out to uh Tom Martin who uh helped and his team uh planting the trees at uh Thatcher Park.

So this is just a um an image of the draft tour of trees map guide.

Uh one of the uh forestry commission members, Sashi Arakawa has taken the lead on it, and she's been going through with the help of the commission to identify where the trees that were in the prior map guide are no longer there, and um also discussing it additional trees to add to the to the freeze map guide.

And this just shows kind of a concept of what it'll look like uh once it's so another accomplishment during 2025 was that the forestry commission partnered with the city's light and power department to review permits for removal of dangerous trees affecting overhead power lines, specifically in Ulta.

Um there are a number of trees that are causing problems.

Uh the Oregon Oak tree, Oregon White Oak Trees in particular.

Um, and you can see from this image uh how close some of those trees are to the overhead power lines.

And so uh the light and uh light and power department has been working with property owners, the owners of some of these Oregon White Oak trees uh to remove them, and if they're on the city's register of significant trees, it has to go to the forestry commission for public hearing and a decision.

So several of those happened over the course of 2025.

And then this slide just shows the uh the 2026 priorities for the commission.

And I'll just turn it over to to Mark real quickly if you want to go over the uh the priorities uh that the so we we're going to complete the tour of trees and as um Dan said Sachi is really um taking it under under her wing and is doing a really super job building that that brochure.

So that that should be uh good.

Um she's also gonna help us with uh in a citywide tree canopy assessment, and so we look forward to finding out about that.

Um the annual Arbor Day tree planting will be this Thursday at 10 a.m.

at Lincoln Park.

I was gonna comment on the picture of last year's planting.

We made sure we adhered to um city procedure.

You'll notice that everybody was standing there in shuttles in the ground, but nobody using them.

So I just can't uh prepare and submit a tree city USA application for 2026.

Um we really partnered with the Parks and Recreation Commission on Tree Related Matters.

Uh evaluate the city's 2016 urban growth management plan for updating improved outreach and communications on urban forest related matters.

Um one other comment I was gonna make about 2025 is that there was a fair amount of activity uh in the town center on Main Street and surrounding um streets where um trees were overmature, causing problems, and so there was a uh large replacement program, not necessarily under totally under the uh forestry commission.

But um, I think as a commission we we recognize that um early on there was a lot of uh interest in making sure we plant trees because we thought we needed more trees, and maybe not a lot of thought to the life of the tree and what maintenance goes in into that.

So we do have an urban forest management plan, and um I think you you've seen some of the result of replacement trees and how we how we want to approach that.

So that sums up the forestry commission accomplishments for 2025 and priorities for 2026.

We'd be happy to answer any questions, council might uh and I just have a quick question.

Yeah, go for when do you expect the the map guide of the trees to be completed and published?

We're hoping.

Um we meet on Wednesday, we'll take a look at another version.

Um, and I'm not sure how long it will take us to to finish that, but we've probably by mid-year, if not sooner.

All right, thank you.

If it's completed this year, then that's something that we can uh use for uh tree city USA qualification as well.

Yeah, I think it's a really good idea, and I think it's something you know for tourism or for community members.

I think it'd be really cool if you all like I don't know, if maybe we worked with the pack and the chamber, and it was like trees and art, you know, we have murals, we have trees and a scavenger hunt, and then they complete it and they take to the chamber and they get like a treat, get it trees art.

Never mind.

Um you have to explain.

That's not that good, yeah.

It's not that good.

But I think it's a great idea, and I think that you know, having people walk around and like, you know, and I don't know if we can use TLT fund, I don't know, just some ideas of like really you know, having an and an identity to bring people and say, like, hey, spend the day in forest grove and put nature and art together or grab a bite.

Um, I don't know, I'm just looking for ways to bring people in the the grove, but you know, that's an excellent segue to one of my notions.

Um part of the main street tree replacement.

Um, I've suggested that maybe some of those locations aren't appropriate for a tree.

That's why we have problems.

And I've suggested they would be great places for public art.

Right.

So I'm hoping that we would see some public art on Main Street or surrounding street where the trees used to be.

I think PAC is discussing that.

And I don't know if you know this as well, but the council did put some of our TLT funds into public art.

Right.

And so I think you have a council that supports that.

I mean, I don't want to speak for the council, but yeah, agreed.

Okay, cool.

Well, thank you, gentlemen.

That was a great presentation.

Dance has another presentation after this, but Mark, you're free to go.

Okay.

Unless you want to stay for the comprehensive plan update.

You've had your share of that when you're on planning.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Dan.

Okay, so we're gonna move on to our final presentation of the evening, which is on the comprehensive plan.

So thank you, Mayor, members of the council, Dan Rurdin with the planning division.

So this is comprehensive plan part two.

I'm happy to be here this evening to advance this project.

Um dive right into it with uh how this particular project uh dovetails with uh Forest Grow Forward Vision 2040.

And it's very clear.

Uh action 2.8 is simply update the city's comprehensive plan.

And so that's why we're before the uh before you this evening.

Next slide.

So the purpose of tonight's presentation is to provide just a brief recap of the comprehensive plan presentation provided to city council on March 9th, and that's more for the audience, the general public, uh, so that they have some context in terms of what this presentation is all about.

And then another uh purpose is to present the staff's recommended approach for city council consideration, the approach for updating the city's comprehensive plan, and then also providing an opportunity for city council to discuss next step.

But so before I get into this slide, I just want to uh give a shout out to Jamie Zake and the city manager's office who did an excellent job preparing these graphics.

They were much better than the ones that I had, and we really appreciate it.

So hopefully this is more legible.

Um so this uh slide is basically just to show how the comprehensive plan relates to other policies, uh regional policies and state policies above the comprehensive plan, which is shown in green on this slide, and then but all of this basically dovetails from constitutional and federal uh requirements.

So the the more regional and state federal uh policies are above the comprehensive plan, and then flowing out of the comprehensive plan um are the local development codes.

So the comprehensive plan provides the the basis for the city's zoning map and the city's development code, and both of them are used to uh review land development applications uh to determine whether or not uh particular activities are allowed in certain parts of the community.

And then so hopefully at the end of the day, um, we have happy, satisfied community members um that have a clear understanding of what the um direction is for city growth within the uh long term within the next 20 years.

So, with that, the comprehensive plan is a 20-year roadmap.

Uh the 20 years is is very important because that comes out of state law.

Uh, we're obligated under state law to have a comprehensive plan that directs community growth over a 20-year time frame.

So the comprehensive plan is a 24 20-year roadmap based on the community's vision guiding how the community's vision for growth is achieved.

Next slide, please.

So, in terms of the the road forward with updating the comprehensive plan, a little bit of history.

Uh the first comprehensive plan for the city was adopted in 1982.

I should say the first comprehensive plan in compliance with Senate Bill 100, uh, which was the landmark Oregon land use planning bill.

Uh comprehensive plan adopted in 1982, was done to comply with Senate Bill 100 in the late 70s and early 80s.

Uh back in 2007, there was a community vision statement that was adopted with uh a lot of community input, and that provided the basis for the current comprehensive plan, which was adopted in 2014.

Um, so it's been quite a while now, a little over 10 years, and so things have changed uh since then.

Um is this council will recall back in 2025, not that long ago, uh Forest Grow for 2040 was was adopted.

So updated the community's vision statement that was adopted way back in 2007.

And so Forest Grove Forward will provide the basis for the next comprehensive plan update, um, which we would hope to have if things move forward as as planned, updated and adapted uh by 2020.

So two or three years.

So the comprehensive plan, um, in addition to showing how the community's growth vision can be achieved, also demonstrates compliance with the statewide uh Oregon land use planning goals, as well as the Metro 2040 growth concept.

There are 19 statewide land use planning goals, 14 of which apply to cities within the Portland region.

Um the slide shows some elements of the statewide land use planning goals.

Um, one is to consider the past, present, future uses of Oregon's natural resources.

Um it's often thought of that the uh statewide land use planning goals deal specifically with urbanization, but they don't.

Fundamentally, it's to protect natural resource lands, agricultural lands in particular.

Uh, but the statewide land use planning goals also provide guidelines and framework for local land use plans, and that's most important for us.

And then the statewide land use planning goals also articulate the mission of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, the state aid land use planning agency.

Next slide, please.

So the comprehensive plan is influenced by a number of things.

Uh, one is the city council goals and forest growth forward, that's the primary influence, as well as the Oregon planning rules.

But other things that are considered would be the urban reserve passive plan for the urb for the David Hill Urban Reserve Area, how that could affect the direction as in terms of how the community grows.

Uh, the metro regional transportation plan is an influence, clean water services plans for trunk lines, sewer lines, and sewer treatment facilities, the metro planning rules, another influence, and the Oregon climate rules, uh, the climate friendly and equitable communities rules that forced us to update our uh development code.

That's another influence.

Next slide.

So the plan is not done in a vacuum.

Uh, state planning rules and best practices require the proposed changes to the plan under goal review by multiple stakeholders and reviewing agencies, and these are shown on the slide.

Uh reviewers include the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Metro plays a role, the city council, of course, the planning commission makes recommendations to city council on comprehensive plan revisions, and then community members and special interest groups are also given an opportunity to weigh in on recommended policies that would be included in the comprehensive plan.

Under state law, the city is required to provide formal notice to the state Oregon Land Conservation and Development and Metro as well, so that they can make formal comments on the plan.

So it's pretty regulated in terms of how the plan is reviewed as things move forward.

So again, this is from the prior uh presentation.

This basically just shows the 11 chapters that are included in the comprehensive plan.

And the way the 2014 comprehensive plan was structured is that it's really based on each individual uh statewide land use planning goal.

Ummunity sustainability was an important consideration when we were updating the comprehensive plan previously.

Um that's related to a number of organ land use planning goals, not just one in particular, uh, but that is a key element in the comprehensive plan.

So, in terms of um different elements of the components of the comprehensive plan, as we discussed last at the last presentation, uh the city is required to do a housing capacity analysis.

Um it's currently underway.

In fact, we have our first project management team meeting scheduled for this Wednesday.

Um, and we are required under state rules to have the housing capacity analysis updated and adopted by December 2027.

And the housing capacity analysis includes several different requirements, including a community engagement, preparing a housing needs assessment, doing a buildable land inventory, a development ready lands analysis, and a residential land supply and demand reconciliation.

When all of this is done, once the housing capacity analysis is adopted, that will feed into developing housing production strategy that will specifically identify how the city intends to meet the state housing targets that are assigned to the city of Forest Grove.

So that will be a second step in all of this after December.

Next slide, please.

So in terms of other plan components, in addition to what is now the housing capacity analysis, used to be called the housing needs analysis.

We have the transportation system plan, the economic opportunities analysis.

The parks and recreation master plan, the water system master plan, the wastewater system master plan, the historic resources inventory, which, as you heard in the prior work session this evening, was up last updated.

The comprehensive plan was updated in 2023 2023 to include the downtown historic district.

And then the local wetland inventory is also part of the plan.

And each one of these things come forward to the city council for review and adoption in some manner.

In terms of the current status, the uh housing last housing needs analysis was adopted in 2019.

We're obligated to have a housing capacity analysis done in 2027.

Uh the transportation system plan was adopted in 2013, just prior to the 2014 comp plan being updated.

Uh our update is scheduled to begin in the not too distant future based on state funding, probably after 2027.

The economic opportunities analysis was just recently adopted in 2025, will likely be next updated in 2030.

The parks master plan is planned to be updated in 2026, 2027.

The water master plan was just recently adopted in 2022.

Next update will be 10 years after 2022 and 2030.

The wastewater stormwater master plan uh was adopted quite a while ago in 2007.

The update is scheduled to begin in 2027.

As I mentioned, the local historic resources inventory was updated in 2023, and then our local wetland inventory was adopted in 1993 and reviewed in 2011 as part of the last comprehensive plan.

So with all of that background um and information, staff has come up with a recommendation for city council consideration on how to advance this project.

And the recommendation is to issue a request for proposals to retain a qualified comprehensive planning consultant to support the update of the city's comprehensive plan.

This would provide for uh an independent sort of arms leg review of the current comprehensive plan to help guide us through the process of doing a comprehensive plan evaluation and making recommendations to city council on a scope of work uh for the comprehensive plan update.

And the scope of work could include identification of specific plan sections requiring revision to ensure alignment with the 2040 vision plan, the city council action plan, and other established community priorities.

The scope of work would also include development of a sequencing strategy for projects related to implementation of the 2040 vision plan.

Scope of work would include creation of a community engagement methodology.

There are specific things that we need to do under state law related to community engagement as part of a comprehensive plan update.

And then the scope of work would also include identification of the appropriate state review and approval process.

Um there's a lot that goes into a comprehensive plan update, and so the planning consultant would help us navigate all of these different elements and come up with a cohesive strategy for moving forward.

Uh the planning process will include council work sessions at key milestones to further refine the scope as needed, provide policy direction to staff, and guide the overall approach for the comprehensive plan update.

So there will certainly be a role for the city council to guide the process as things move.

So the council may recall that the comprehensive plan update is budgeted at about 150,000 for fiscal year 26-27, specifically to hire a consultant.

Uh and the work recommended path forward on the previous slide builds on recent experience from other cities and counties that have recently completed comprehensive plan updates, such as the City of Milwaukee and Wasco County.

Uh, the path forward also considers the requirements of the Oregon land use planning process, which is fairly complex, and the complexity stemming from the comprehensive plans diverse and interrel interrelated components, and it's that interrelatedness that makes it things more complex, and where we really need to dive into what a efficient path forward might be part of.

So that's the staff's formal presentation for the uh comp plan update this evening.

I'd be happy to open it up to any questions that the city council might have at this time, and we'll take it from there.

Okay, thanks, Dan.

Any questions, comments?

Do we think 150,000 is sufficient?

Do we not think we need a budget?

Yeah.

Do we think 150,000 in the budget sufficient for the consultant?

I think for fiscal year 26-27, it should be adequate, but there'll be another budget in the new bien annual budget the following year, there'll be another request.

Okay.

Thanks.

Yeah, it sounds like I, you know, I agree with the recommendation.

I think that it's a big project that we need to update it.

We want it done really intentionally.

And you know, we don't think it there's just so much capacity you all have in community development.

So I think hiring a consultant's the way to go.

And I see heads nodding, so I think we're good.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Dan.

Wait, I don't think you're going anywhere.

No, not going too.

We're gonna switch agenda items, but poor Dan is in the hot seat.

And by to the library commission members, thank you.

Lynn's out of here too.

He's like, I'm out too.

He's out.

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

And we're gonna have resolution 202612 adopting amended urban planning area agreement between the Washington County and City of Forest Grove and repealing resolution number 201875.

So the draft, thank you, Mayor, uh, members of the city council, Dan Rutin again.

Um you have uh a copy of the uh the draft resolution in your packet this evening, as well as a uh staff memo uh providing some detail about the what the urban planning area agreement is and why it's being updated.

Um, I also have a PowerPoint presentation agenda item as well.

The one of the reasons for the PowerPoint presentation is that there's some maps that are being updated and the graphic image help communicate what's being done.

Um but I'll get into the purpose and the background and what the speci what the amendments are.

Um this agenda item also addresses a forest grove forward um goal related to community growth, uh related to um envisioning a well connected, safe and environmentally sustainable community with diverse affordable housing, resilient green infrastructure, efficient mobility options, and strong public safety, creating a vibrant, accessible and climate conscious community for all.

And the urban planning area agreement, as I'll get into, is specifically related to also the Oregon land use planning goals as well as the conferences.

So the purpose of tonight's presentation is to give uh city council an opportunity to consider a resolution related to revisions to the urban planning agreement already adopted by the Washington County Board of County Commissioners.

Uh the UPAA identifies roles and responsibilities for land use planning activities within the urban growth boundary that may impact both Washington County and the city.

And as the council knows, um, the urban growth boundary includes unincorporated areas that are still under county jurisdiction that will ultimately be annexed into the city of Forest Grove for urbanization, and so there's definitely coordination that needs to happen between the county and the city as land use activities move forward.

But I do want to emphasize that the required actions in the UPAA are not policy related, they're ministerial in nature.

It basically gets into details about how notification will be provided, how the urban um planning areas are modified, what happens when annexation occurs.

The planning commission reviewed the revised UPAA on March 2nd, 2026, and unanimously recommended that city council adopt a resolution accepting the revisions and authorizing the city manager to sign the revised UPAA on the city's behalf.

So the first UPAA was adopted back in 1988, a few years after the 1982 comprehensive plan was adopted.

Um the most recent amendment to the UPAA was in 2018, and it specified that all future urbanized areas after 2010 must be governed and urbanized by a city.

And so those unincorporated areas inside the UGB adjacent to the city of Forest Grove.

In order for urban development to occur, they have to be annexed into the city.

Um the UPAA, um other cities in the county also have UPAAs, and part of this was related to uh not perpetuating perpetuating things like Bethany or Aloha, having urbanized unincorporated areas.

So moving forward, urbanization has to occur within a city.

The 2018 update also added wording related to the planning activities required in the David Hill Urban Reserve.

So Oregon land use planning goal two, which is like called land use planning, requires coordination of comprehensive plans prepared by cities, counties, and regional governments.

And so the UPAA does just that.

It outlines the roles and respond responsibilities for coordinating comprehensive planning uh in the forest grove area of interest.

The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development also requires an agreement that identifies how comprehensive planning coordination will be implemented within the Portland Regional Urban Growth Boundary.

So the UPAA fulfills both of these.

So the 2026 update reflects changes to the city boundary since 2018, makes the Washington County Forest Grove UPAA consistent with others in the county, modifies the common boundary between the forest grove and Cornelius Planning Areas.

And that's probably the most substantive change, and I'll get into that more detail.

Next slide, please.

So the UPAA amendment, next slide, please.

There are two.

The first one is map amendments.

The UPAA is updated to reflect annexation since 2018.

Removes from the Forest Grove Planning Area an area that was de-annexed back in 2019 at the property owner's request, and some of you may remember that.

The urban growth boundary bisected property.

So there was a portion of an area that was inside the city limits but outside the urban growth boundary, and so that was the annexed city area inside.

The map amendments also removed from the forest grove planning area, part of a parcel that is mostly within the Cornelius Planning Area, and I'll get into that in a little bit more detail.

The area to be removed from the forest grove planning area would be added to the Cornelius area.

So this slide shows the map from the current 2018 UPAA.

It shows the the overall urban planning area, the David Hill urban reserve area, and the forest grove city limits, which is in the lighter gray area.

The cross hatched area are areas that are that were within the city limits with county land use.

So the map is being updated as part of this amendment to add the areas annexed to the city north of David Hill Road, where David Estates is located, Bailey Meadows, and the farmstead development.

Removing an area that was de-annexed.

That's number two shown on the map.

So this shows the location of that de-annexation area.

Number three is an amendment to the map to basically exclude areas that are outside of the urban growth boundary, designated rural reserve.

And so it makes the UPA our planning area consistent with the urban growth boundary.

And then number four is that Cornelius addition area that I'm so the Cornelius addition area, it's about two, there's about 2.6 acres.

It's within the Forest Grove planning area, south of Council Creek, right at the Forest Grove Cornelius boundary.

The overall parcel is 47 acres in area, of which about 18 acres are within the urban growth boundary.

That would be the orange and yellow areas on the map.

About 15 acres, the yellow areas currently in the Cornelius planning area.

And so there's a little over two acres that are still within the forest grove planning area, not all of which is developable.

Next slide, please.

So the area adjacent to Council Creek, this is near U in First Avenue, is constrained by some slope uh 10% slope area, which is shown in the beige area.

But more significantly, the areas constrained by floodway and floodplain areas.

And there's also a wetland area that's shown.

In total, about one acre of the 2.6 acres in the forest grove planning area would be really is what would be developed.

Next slide, please.

So transitioning into the text amendments.

The revised UPAA would revise text to clarify required coordination between Washington County and city regarding land use matters.

Basically, it's to remove ambiguous wording.

The text amendments would also revise wording for clarifying the process for modifying the UPAA moving forward.

And then revising wording to state that any changes to the city boundary due to annexation automatically amends the UPA.

So when areas are amended, we don't have to go back through this process.

When areas are annexed, we don't have to go back through this process to amend the UPA formal happening.

And the revisions will also make the Forest Grove Urban Planning Area Agreement wording consistent with others in the county.

So in conclusion, in order for these changes to become fully effective, the amendments must be accepted by the city council after review by the planning commission.

As I mentioned, the planning commission reviewed the revisions in early March, and that the planning commission unanimous unanimously recommended that the city council adopt a resolution accepting the amendments and authorizing the city manager to sign the resolution on the city's behalf.

So that's um the uh staff recommendation is that uh the city council take the planning commission's recommendation and that city council approve a resolution to endorse the amendments to the 2018 Washington County Forest Grove Urban Planning Area Agreement adopted by the Washington County Board of Commissioners and authorize the city manager to amend the urban planning area agreement on the city's behalf.

So the next step, there is one more step after the UPAA is amended because of that Cornelius addition area.

If the city council um does authorize the city manager to sign the UPAA on the city's behalf, um staff will return to the city count to both the planning commission and the city council with a comprehensive plan map amendment to formally remove the city's comprehensive plan map designation from the territory that would be added to the court plan so that there wouldn't be two designations on that parcel, both for scroll.

So that's uh that's the staff presentation and staff recommendation.

I'd be happy to answer any questions that the council might have about the amendment.

Great, thank you, Dan.

Any questions, comments for Dan?

Yes, Councilor Shimmel.

Maybe apologize if this is out of place that the Cornelius piece of property that makes that sense.

Does the plan Council Creek Trail travel through that specific?

Um no.

The uh yeah, in that area, the Council Creek Regional Trail would follow the railroad corridor.

And so the uh no, it wouldn't affect that.

Councilor Feltner.

I have a question about what trigger, like what triggers an urban and urbanization, urbanization.

So, you know, what you're referring back to the the part of the your presentation discussing, you know, the 2018 resolution from the county that you know, any any area to avoid, you know, to avoid the sort of urbanized areas, unincorporated urbanized areas that those areas should be incorporated.

Um I'm just sort of curious, you know, are there specific triggering development activities that that ensure that would happen, or guess I'm just sort of thinking about like down the road.

What is this?

What does it mean for this parcel?

But also just a little bit bigger picture.

If you could just kind of explain, well, typically the the the trigger is where a property owner wants their to develop their property, they need urban services, so water, sanitary, sewer.

Um so and in order to provide those services, land for urbanization has to be within the urban growth bound.

Um and it wasn't entirely clear if to provide services if they had to come from the city or if the county could provide.

And if the county provides it, that's how those situations like North Beth and some of those other areas developed now would have to, in order to get those urban services would have to come from the city primarily.

Okay, so it's hookup essential to us to us to assist them.

Any other questions?

Okay, hearing none, what is the wish of the council?

Anybody move that we accept resolution 2026 12?

So moved by counselor martinez and seconded by councillor Falconer.

Any discussion.

Hearing none, will the city manager read it by title only, please?

Resolution 2026-12, adopting amended urban planning area agreement between Washington County and the City of Forest Grove and repealing resolution number 2018-75.

Great, thank you.

All those in favor of approving resolution 202612, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Hearing none, resolution 2026 is approved by the Forest Grove City Council in a six to zero vote.

Thank you very much.

And now you're free to leave.

Thank you.

Okay, so now we're gonna move on to item G, which is our council of communications, and we'll start with our council president.

All right.

So um, well, I do not need to present about the library because they did their presentation today.

All I ask is that you keep in mind the book sale days.

Uh, if you would like to volunteer, if you know people that uh would like to volunteer, your kids perhaps, and those are good things uh to do for the community.

Uh now for the uh policy advisory board, we met last week and uh we had just one important task, which was to approve the uh annual action plan for 2026.

So what this is about is that uh this action plan is first is one of two that must be sent to uh the Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD, uh, because they are the ones that give us the funding for us to uh yeah allocate that funding uh for home improvement services, etc.

Uh so we went through this plan and uh it was approved.

Uh we also uh they also have many activities.

This is something a little bit different, but important nevertheless, that this week uh from the 6th through the 10th, last week was the national community development week, and we did read a proclamation on our last meeting uh to acknowledge this uh for the fair housing month.

Um so of course the Washington County also um scheduled uh their proclamations for the 7th um last week, and uh there will they will be celebrating this.

The county will be celebrating this uh national community development week uh through different activities.

Um so um the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, uh anywhere but here exhibit is on display in the public services building, and it will be there until the 15th of April, so just a couple of days uh left of that exhibition.

Uh and then and it will be at the city at the Civic Center in Hillsborough from April 16th through the 30th.

So there's another opportunity to see this exhibit, and there will also be a documentary on um never mind that was on April 1st, so I guess we missed it, but the documentary is called No Place to Grow Old.

Because it's all related to housing and allocating funds to help uh the lesser fortunate of our communities to have a place, uh a roof over there.

So those are some of the some of the activities that uh they will be doing and I wanted just to uh with you very quickly uh something, but it disappeared from my screen.

So um okay, so that's all I will share with you uh this time.

Thank you, Councilor President.

Counselor Falconer.

Um HLB, um, I had a walking tour with Robert, whom you met earlier this evening.

Um we just walked around the historic downtown historic district.

Um he sort of you know pointed out some opportunities and maybe some um limitations around you know some of the guidelines and standards that we might consider when we see that draft in June.

Um so looking forward to having a long bigger discussion with you all about about what that ends up looking like.

Um JWC, I mean we meet later this week, cover for next time.

Um and then chamber, we had the ribbon cutting at Camelas.

It was well attended, and I know a couple of you were also there, and food was delicious.

Yeah, very good.

Oh yeah.

Great.

Thank you.

Um Council Gus and uh Councillor Marshall.

Um Forrester just presented um as far as uh parks and rec uh majority of our last meeting was spent um discussing um parking and what is um going to be maintained by public works or by the parks and rec committee.

And so they spent the lion's share of that uh meeting doing that.

Um they did mention that the East Side Park will be coming under construction within the next month.

Um also there's a cool thing coming up.

There's a pop-up at Kyle Park, and a guy named uh Mountain Bike Robbie will be there, and it's gonna he's gonna be basically doing classes and he's gonna have giant airbags that kids can um ride their mountain bikes off a jumps into.

What is that on May 16th?

And you have to sign up on uh on the Forest Group webpage.

Mountain bike Robbie.

It's mountain bike Robbie, is what they call him Coach Robin.

He's listed as Coach Robbie, but everybody refers to his mountain bike Robbie.

I love it.

Okay.

So um uh where do you sign up at?

What's that?

Where do you sign up at?

On the on the Forest Grove website.

Okay.

Yeah, and it's not for me, not for me.

Yeah, he's gonna he's basically it's gonna be they're looking for volunteers for it too.

Um so we did mention it to um NHS about doing it.

And so we mentioned it to the Lazelon for the high school to see if they can get kids to do that.

But um he's gonna go with some trail design kind of things.

Kind of give an idea to the community what the design is going to be like for Kyle Park.

Perfect.

That was about all we got from that one.

Thank you, Councilor Marshall.

And Councilor Martinez.

So um rural fire uh department.

Um it was mostly going over their budget for the last meeting.

And then um they're putting up their reader board that they've ordered.

So they're excited about that.

They're at Gels Kurt.

Uh and then for Sister City Committee, they're proceeding with the um 501c3 documentation.

And she had a rough draft at the last meeting that everybody they read through and made uh whatever changes were necessary.

And then so then um at some time in the next couple months or so, they will be requesting the c to come before the council with their request.

Okay, cool.

Thank you, counselor.

Um, and then counselor Shovel.

No meetings to report, but related to the TV Highway Transit Project.

The TriMet CEO accepted an invitation to come out this Friday with his project managers for uh I'd call a street level orientation on the challenges on TV Highway in our corridor.

And um I'm I'm hoping you know, Jesse or Kim, someone from from staff can participate.

Uh something that was just conjured up in my memory is authorizing Greg to study turning Pacific into a two-way, which may affect their plans um through our corridor, at least from the B Street to Maple.

So uh maybe we'd talk off offline about what that in particular and what message we would want to convey to them as far as the timing of our study on that.

But it was it was encouraging that the CEO who's you know, try uh like I reported last time TriMet just took over the project management.

So for them to come out and you know walk the corridor with us, um uh was encouraging.

Great, thank you, Councilor Shimmel.

And then I'll turn it over to our city manager report.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

Um just a couple things.

Uh internally, it's been just lots of budget meetings.

We're preparing for the May 12th budget meeting.

It is our goal, an aspirational goal to have one budget committee meeting this year on May 12th.

Um generally the budget message is going to center on kind of any mid-biennial uh reconciliation or adjustments that may need to be made.

Uh so if it's outside of the parameters of either year one or year two, we'll of course bring it to the council's attention.

Then anything that may have been unforeseen, um changes in operations, etc.

So kind of a mid-biannual report, if you will.

Um couple other things.

Um Councilor Marshall also mentioned mentioned the East Side Park.

I would just add that the master plan is currently out for RFP, and we're receiving proposals for that.

So look for more information on the parks, recreation, and open space master plan.

Uh we had a meeting with CFM, our federal affairs consultants, uh, the public works director Greg Robertson and I on Friday.

We are looking at two different grants.

One is called the Building Resilience Infrastructure Improvement Grant or the BRIC grant.

The other one is the Safe Streets for All Grant.

Uh one of the grants was previously delayed, it's now back online.

Those grants we're looking at applying for for the BRIC grant.

Uh that would be for the water reservoir project that's in the water master plan up on Watercrest, and the other one would be for East TV Highway.

That would be the Safe Streets for All Grant.

So those are both in progress, and we're planning uh with CFM on applications for both of those.

On the public works note, uh, the new portion of the public works building is nearly complete.

So what will happen now is the staff will move into the newer portion and the uh contractors will go in and remodel the old portion of the building or the northern portion of the building.

Um if you haven't had a chance to drive by, please do so.

The project is coming along uh quite nicely, and when it is all said and done sometime this summer, probably in August, September, then we will look at having some kind of ribbon cutting with the council.

Um and then last, uh previously reported on this, the housing authority of Washington County issued a RFP for 60 units of permanent supportive housing on 3127 Pacific Avenue.

Uh the submittal deadline was at the end of March.

Those proposals are being considered.

Uh, once a designer and a contractor is selected, I'll report further to the council.

Other than that, that's all I have.

Thank you, Mayor.

Great.

Thank you.

Um, speaking of CFM, our federal consultants, I would just like to, you know, recognize and give a shout-out to Michael Skipper.

When we took the MYAC group to DC, he arranged a meeting with um Congresswoman Bonamichi.

And so the students had a half an hour in her office, they each got to ask a question.

Her staff came in multiple times, like, hey, you have another meeting, but she was really gracious, and you know, that was facilitated through the FM.

And so I just want to give them another shout out.

And well, I don't want to like speak because I don't want to jinx it, but I think you know, we're working on getting some funding for TV Highway and also the Festival Street.

So more to come on that.

Um, I just want to say a huge thank you to all of City staff, but specifically to Joyce and Stephanie.

Uh, we have not met since the state of the city, and they just worked really well.

They put on a great event and thank you to all of you for participating in the event.

The MYAC, Luke Thompson, the head choppers bringing the hype, the energy theater and the growth for hosting it.

Um, you know, I just think that I don't know.

I mean, I just thought it was like such a good like they had a really good vibe, right?

About how we all come together, and it takes a lot of us in this community, but we when we show up for each other, uh, we have good results, and I think that's was really done well.

Um, I'm not gonna report too much about the DC trip with the MYAC because the MYAC students are scheduled to present at our next council meeting, and I'm gonna let them do their job.

Um, okay, so then Region One Transportation.

Oh my goodness.

Okay, so CIP funding.

We were asked earlier last month to send our top five projects in the group vote.

It's I5 Rose Corridor Improvement, uh, which never got funded through House Bill 2017.

Then TV Highway Investment for the Bus Rapid Transit Project, the BRT, and then Sunrise Corridor Phase 2 Expressway 205 to 192nd, and historic Columbia River Highway Street Trail completion and arterial safety investments.

Those are the projects we sent.

And then we had another meeting.

We've actually had two meetings, and I don't feel like we've gotten anything done, but they wanted five additional projects, but they want specific projects as a backup.

Um, and we had kind of had buckets, or no, maybe they wanted no, and initially they had asked us for buckets.

So we had some like safety.

So, like, for example, well, I don't want to own my notes, but I had said um paving projects, bridge paving or safety projects, dirt jurisdictional transfers, and paving were the three that I would add as are like in the queue.

But then some of the criteria changed with ODOT.

After a two-hour meeting, we really didn't have anything.

And apparently ODOT's gonna give us to the end of the month.

Uh, this is supposed to be like um a quarterly meeting, and I've met with region one transportation like three times in the last month, and don't think anything's really come out of it.

So hopefully we get that squared away.

Uh I met with Washington County coordinating committee today.

Um, and we allocated some misstep funding for Tigered Um for some grants, safe route to school grants, and then also had a presentation.

Is anyone and I was it was one of those things that I had a question, but my class was gonna start, so I had to drop the Zoom meeting.

But they're doing a visioning for Metro.

And I know uh Mayor Pace from Hillsborough is on it, but I was wondering is anyone from Forest Grove like representing that our rural kind of very west side of Metro on that vision.

They said there was 22 people, but some had dropped out.

And I really wanted to ask the question, but uh Jess wasn't done presenting, but didn't really have the opportunity.

I'm just wondering, do you know about that?

So I have heard about the project.

Um, and I believe that we do have a staff member that is involved, but let me double check on that, Mayor.

Yeah, just I just want to make sure that I think that it's important for Forrest Grow to be represented either by staff or by elected.

Um we got an update from TriMen about their service cuts.

They did provoke um based on community engagement, they revised a little bit.

So they're gonna merge line 58 and 19.

That's in the Gleason line area, because if they initially did the line 19 cut, there's access to a medical facility would no longer exist.

And then in the Tualet and Sherwood employment area, they're gonna retain 97 and merge it with 38.

Um, so there's still gonna be more cuts coming from TriMet.

Their goal is a balanced budget in three years.

So look for more cuts on that.

Uh we did have consensus earlier this year, actually, probably in 2025, about our second meet work, our second council meeting of the month, having a conversation or a work session on immigration.

So I was gonna propose that we the work session on the 27th be about the new the immigration bills and just see if how they align or if we need to update our sanctuary city code or and or also have a discussion.

Some I think Multnomah County just did this, and I think Hillsboro says ICE can't stage on city property.

So I don't know if that's something we want to look at as well.

But I don't know if while I'm finishing up my mayor's report, if any of y'all have ideas about that immigration work session.

Um open to suggestions.

Mayor Wilson from Portland came to the Washington County Board requesting for funds for and you know, just so you know, I did get a hold of our our district four rep and the chair and said, hey, we're not, I'm not in support of that.

Um we have needs in Washington County.

And fortunately, it was unanimously they voted him.

They said no.

So, but that's that's some good news.

Um I'm gonna end my mayor comments with some very saddened news.

Uh Mrs.

True X, Pat True X passed away on Saturday evening.

I mean, there's lots of things I think that in time I'll be able to say about Pat.

But um I think for over 57 years, she showed up every day for this community as a teacher, as a volunteer, a founding member, the public arts commission.

Uh it's a huge loss.

It's a huge loss for our community.

Even last week's Saturday when I went to visit her and she was on hospice.

As soon as I came in, she reminded me that I'm speaking at the PEO.

She had Pete get me the address for the PEO.

And she told me, Melinda, that's a service group you should volunteer with.

And so not only did she serve our community really well, she brought others up with her.

She taught us all how to give back to the community, what it means to be a community member, and consistently always encouraged us and everybody to do that.

And so um Forest Grove is definitely a better community because of her.

And I know that I don't think I would be in the seat without her.

So our condolences, my condolences go out to Pete and John and James, Lori, her granddaughter, Sydney and Aaron, um, and her friends who are like her family.

So uh with that, I'm gonna adjourn this meeting.

Okay.