Water service rates and fees.

And we have Joe Gall, who is the chief utility relations officer and Kathleen Leader.

And I guess I'll I think I'm just gonna pass it over to you all to get started.

And if you want, you can use this one.

Do you want this one better?

She's gonna present primarily.

So all right, Mayor and Council.

Uh thank you.

Uh my name is Joe Gall.

I'm the chief utility relations officer for Clean Water Services.

I've been here at Forest Grove a number of times.

Uh you're used to seeing me.

You're not used to seeing Kathy, our chief financial officer.

So Kathy and I have been making the rounds to our different cities over the last month or two to talk about to update council and answer questions about our cost of service study, which we have wrapped up, which Kathy will get into, and our rates and our rate proposal for next year, and then just generally open it up for questions that you might have as elected officials as one of our member cities.

So with that, Kathy, if you want to get started.

Thanks, Joe.

So good evening, Mayor and Council, Kathy Leader, Chief Finance Officer of the Clean Water Services.

And just for an awareness, so Clean Water Services, we provide the regional sanitary sewer and surface water management services for your customers there in Forest Growth.

And today we're gonna talk a little bit about the update to our cost of service study for our utilities, our financial forecasts, and our rate projections.

Next slide.

So first we're gonna give us some of the historical rate increases of some of the history of the rate increases within the district.

We're gonna give you an update on the cost of service study itself and our and our process.

We're gonna define regional and local services because they're key to really some of the costing of services in in the area, and we're gonna talk about our 10-year rate forecasts.

So Cleanwater Services has a history of modest and predictable rate increases.

Um within the last 10 years, our annual rate increase averaged less than um 4% at 3.38% over that time period.

As you can see in um the so that mapping is of the rate we bill our um direct customers, so we do regional and local services for some customers.

That is our regional and local rate.

So it in 2026, that's $66.95 per month for an average um customer sanitary and storm service.

As part of the um the update to the cost of service study, we did take to our board just on April 14th the actual methodology that we put in place, and part of the change to this methodology is there are different rate increases depending on the utility itself or in the service that's being provided.

Um, so there are different rates that could be proposed.

And then they also adopted our reserve policy, which is a key piece of our financial forecast.

They all come together with what rates would look like based on planning.

Next slide.

So the updating of the cost of service study was really it was the request of our board and and the member cities, um, including Forest Grove.

And the last time we did a uh cost of service study was back in 2008.

And there was a feeling that our service levels between the two utilities had changed and also within the regional and local program.

So we went back and initiated this study back in 2021.

Um, and just recently in February of 2026, we uh worked with Ortell Wells and Associates, a consultant to help finalize that study, get the um the forecast out and rate development put together.

Um results of that study were that it was true that the local rates charge did not fully cover the local program for both utilities, sanitary and stormwater.

And for clarity, just not your local because you set your own when we say the local rates, it's for you'll see a map soon.

It's for the urban unincorporated areas and the small city plain gas.

We provide local regional.

So I wanted to be clear about which local rates are um and so the study itself provides the basis of our long-term financial planning and rate development for the district.

Next slide.

So there are three main objectives of this cost of service study.

First, it was to review and update how costs are allocated between the two utilities, and then also how there's allocated between the regional and local services provided by Clean Water Services.

And the goal of that plan is to fund operating and maintenance, debt service, and capital costs annually, correct that local service area funding deficit for our local customers, clean water services, and then use that as a basis to calculate updated rates and about impact customer bill.

So this is where what Joe was talking about.

So we are charged different rates based on the air service area that customers are in.

So the whole green area that's Washington County in total.

The blue areas, those are the cities that we provide the regional service only to, and they provide their own local service for sanitary and storm.

So that's Forest Grove, Hillsborough, Beaverton, Tiger, Sherwood, and to Walleton.

And Corning.

And then you see that TAN area.

That's the area that Clean Water Services bills directly for regional and local.

And it that's the unincorporated urban unincorporated Washington County, and it's the cities of Gaston, Banks, North Plains, King City, and Durham.

Next slide.

So what are we talking about?

We're talking about regional versus local.

So the regional services relate to construction, operating, and maintaining our treatment plants, our pump stations, our pressure lines, and our conveyance lines 24 inches and larger.

And it also relates to our compliance reporting and our oversight for our national pollutant discharge elimination system or NPEDS permit, and including that municipal separate storm sewer system MS4 permit.

On the storm side, we're also maintaining minimum stream flows and service area restoration enhancing stream corridors in the region.

So for local services that the district provides, those relate to collection lines 21 inches and smaller, and it's that design, build and maintain of those.

We also have on our storm side the design and build of our stormwater facilities themselves, street sweeping services, maintaining water quality facilities, and clean catch basins and water quality managements on our local.

So what we're showing here is based on all that uh cost of service study and the financial mapping.

This is our rate projections that we're talking about.

So this is the regional rate that we um in in 26, that's what we charge right now for the regional rate for sanitarian storm to customers in Forest Grove.

Forest Grove has their own local um rate they charge for local services.

Um and it's at 49.39 cents currently in 26.

Based on our um projections, our financial forecast, we are proposing in our 27 budget that we're proposing um a four percent increase in the regional rate.

And so you see right there, the regional rate would be 51.36 cents a month for an average household in customer, and that's an increase of a dollar ninety-seven per month.

So 27 is part of our proposed budget that would go to a hearing in June, and um it will be evaluated and adopted by our board at that point.

But it's the basis of our proposed budget this year.

Those rates that you see going out, those are projected rates.

So those are rates that right now, based on the current operating status and the capital program we have mapped out over the next five to 10 years, those are the rates we would see um and increases going out over that period of time.

Um 2031 at $60 for those are all projected currently at four.

Yes.

And so then if you the next slide, this is going to show you then down below there.

You said that the 4% is 4% each year of the on the increase.

Um, and you see in 2027, it has a dollar 86 impact on the sewer funding only.

So this is sewer operations right here.

And what we're mapping right here are our total costs, so operating maintenance, debt service, and capital, those are the bar graphs, and then the the dotted line, that's the the revenue collected um with those rate increases.

Um, and with the 4%, um, we're projected to run a slight deficit through fiscal year 30 and begin to cover costs in all years beginning in fiscal year 31 in that scenario region.

Similarly, on the surface water um management side, this is a similar graph is showing you operating costs by year, you know, operating maintenance, debt service and capital on the bar graph, and then the dotted line is rate revenue with um rate increases.

Once again, for swim, we're also looking at a 4% rate increase each year in um 27.

In um 27, that's 11 cents per month on an average utility customer.

Um in 2025, they should say that 15 cents.

Um these proposed rates at 4% cover all costs in all years.

So one of the one of the key drivers in our forecast and our rates is our capital program.

We have a significant capital program.

And here we're showing a mapping over from 26 through 31 of our current CIP, that's the basis of our rate projections.

And um, we're planning to spend in the current year plus the next five years, over 754 million in capital um projects.

90% of those are regional and 10% are local.

So a significant portion are regional in nature.

Next slide.

So similarly, um, on the surface water management side, um in the current and next five years, we're spending we're um planning to spend 11.7 million, 76% of that is regional, and 24% of that is local.

And so this graph is is bringing all of the um the overall sewer and swim program, regional and local together, showing you in our 10-year forecast what what it looks like.

So the bar graph is all operating expense debt and um and capital for both utilities, um, and the dotted line is the revenue, the the rate and revenue based on the rate increases.

And do want to note that in so in 2026, um we should we're projecting total overall um expenses of 273 million and revenues of approximately 246 million.

So in 26, we we are planning to spend about 30 million in reserves, and it really relates to some key capital projects that we have going on this year that are in high construction and and are um um cash flow going towards them.

So they're spending down some of those reserves on those projects.

Um then the our forecast is showing that we're gonna run a small deficit through fiscal year 30 31, um mainly due to the local program that for our customers, um, and then reserves will um be used to cover those deficits.

Um, and it's in if we do the rate forecast rate increases, um, we would project expenses and to meet reserves and start to replenish them beginning in fiscal year 32.

So you see how that line is going is above operating.

So that's helping bring back the reserves that the the that had been used for the local program over that period as we phase in their rate.

Okay, next slide.

And so this is showing it similarly, but really focusing more on the reserves themselves.

So for the blue line are our reserves, any reserves by year, um, and the dotted line is our target reserve.

So this was the reserve policy our board had um adopted recently on April 14th, and it's showing that um reserves will cover deficits through 2031, and then the rates will begin to replenish reserves starting in 2032 in this model we have right now.

And this is all based on current what is up, what does the capital program look like?

What is operating look like every year?

We will go in, we will update those and the actuals, and we will look at our capital program and adjust accordingly for rate and with the with the goal of meeting target reserves in that 10-year period.

So next steps for us, um, May 8th.

So the our budget documents are out and they're on our website also.

Um, but May 8th is our budget committee meeting um where the the review of the proposed budget and the committee will make an action to approve um the budget, and then June 9th, we're gonna be taking the the um approved budget to the board for adoption, and at the same time they'll be adopting our capital um plan and also our um rates and charges for the year.

And then finally, those rates that that are part of this proposed document that that are adopted, they would become effective July 1st of 2026.

And one what one quick one on that, so just for some awareness too.

We are also in the middle of a utility billing feasibility study um at the district where we're looking at um options of billing and and in particular um how we could offer a utility assistance or emergency assistance program in the complexity of our our system where a lot of our customers are billed by somebody else.

So we're gonna be looking at that and meeting with um stakeholders at the all the member cities and um another billing jurisdiction to get input.

Next slide.

I can do that.

Um my communications team wanted to insert this slide, mainly for the public who may be watching, but certainly for council members.

Um so you saw some big dollar signs uh in terms of capital investment, and I think it's always uh beneficial to actually go to one of our treatment facilities and get a tour to see what some of these uh improvements are in terms of the infrastructure and how these how much these things cost.

Lots of concrete at these facilities, which is expensive.

So there's opportunities at the Durham facility, which is next to Tiger High School, uh, which is not where your wastewater goes.

Um you can see the dates up there, but Rock Creek in Hillsborough, which is our other large plant on River Road.

There's some dates in June, July, and August for the public or any of you if you wanted to sign up uh to go on a tour.

Uh I usually find uh your feedback that these are really beneficial when you get behind the fence to really understand what we do and how we do it.

It's quite fascinating.

Um and I encourage folks to participate, especially during the summer when the weather's a little nicer.

So I think that's the last slide, and we'll take any questions.

Okay, any questions council might have.

Uh counselor Schimmel.

But thanks for the thorough information.

That's that's really helpful.

Um what I'm understanding is that the rates reflect all capital planning across the system or region.

Uh I'm curious what what upgrades uh locally here, local being forest grow are planned over the next five percent to the local system that we're paying for.

Yeah, the crosses into your area because you yeah, what what improvements are are in so I don't have a list handy, but we can follow up specifically and get back to the council um in terms of projects, both regional and local.

So you get the full picture and we can work with Jesse and his team.

Yeah, and the context is public education and correct uh relating our our local benefit relative to the system wide improvements that we're contributing to.

Uh in that respect, I'm I'm also curious.

Uh maybe Greg should be here to answer this is the characterizing the the intersect between public works system development with uh clean water services, how that relates or what what it's what how you what is on our fence, our side of the fence versus clean water services.

So we actually have a separate intergovernmental agreement that governs the operations of both storm and sewer, and um all of the cities in clean water services are talking about that right now.

We're looking at certain updates um with respect to operations and maintenance.

It's very clear in the intergovernmental agreement um and very specific about what the city maintains and what green water services maintains, and therefore what the rates go to on either.

Um as Joe and Kathleen mentioned earlier, we do have um uh the city levies its own storm and sewer charges in addition to clean water services, storm and sewer charges, and that's because we maintain a portion of both of those systems.

So I don't know, Joe, if you wanted to add anything more, but no, I think the operating IGA, which is we just started conversations with Forest Grove that coming to you over the summer um to finalize really clarifies who does what, who's responsible for what the last time um our IGA with Forest Grove was comprehensively updated was 2008, so it's long overdue.

A lot's changed uh since then now in 2026.

Um I think you'll see that there's an appendix to that document that very clearly delineates who's responsible for which parts of the system.

Um that will be helpful, both to the council but also to the public.

And then let's what last day was on the the billing side.

I have a favor to add uh because we've already it's already been teased to us that um the county might charge for services that they provide on things unrelated to clean water services, but we manage the billing for clean water services.

I know that's different by municipality, but it'd be helpful for that information to be um made available to commissioners on what cities are managing the billing on behalf of clean water services.

Um so that as they're going through their whole budget cycle, they they have a full picture.

Okay, I will definitely follow up.

Counselor Falkner.

So I'm I know that you know the Board of County Commissioners is the governing body for CWS.

Um and I was just, you know, I'm sort of thinking about you know advisory roles that you know, I I'm looking at the advisory committee, and I see that you know there's representatives that are you know, kind of like from all over the region.

Um, but it's not clear, I mean, it doesn't seem like any government officials are included in that advisory committee.

Um, I think that's interesting.

I you know, obviously that was a policy choice made by the folks who you know enter into those agreements.

Um if that agreement hasn't been updated since 2008 and we're looking at you know an updated IGA, um, you know, maybe some consideration as you know, as the region changes, um, you know, as the as the the popular sort of the makeup, the density changes that we know the way the urban versus rural services are sort of provided and what those cost, and you know, we've got some sort of use the term grandfather sort of urban unincorporated areas, and so I'm sure that there's tension, um, or maybe there maybe there should be a little bit more tension um between the various parties of those IGAs um to really sort of under at least understand better how these costs are being allocated, you know, regional versus local.

Um, you know, four percent across the board sounds very fair.

I don't know if that's true, right?

I don't know if my residents here in Forest Grove, you know, are maybe paying a little bit more than they should be.

And um, this is not an accusation, but this is these are the kind of questions that maybe you know, having better representation or at least you know, accountable representation, accountable to the residents of Forest Grove specifically.

Um, you know, it would be good for me to have a little bit more enlightenment, a little more education on that topic.

Um, but certainly my reserve residents, I think I think our residents would deserve that.

One quick follow-up on uh if you were looking at the makeup of our uh clean water services advisory committee, you're right.

There's different stakeholder groups.

There is one city rep.

Sherylyn Lombos has been a long time rep representing all of the cities on that board.

She is a non-voting member though, however.

Um there could be some changes in terms of the makeup, is what I'm hearing.

Maybe that needs to at least a conversation, a conversation should take place.

Especially now that we used to apply the rates the same across the service area.

Now we're we're getting into a uh we've got two different rate proposals basically for the seven large cities like yourself.

It's four percent for the regional, and then you do your local on top of that, and that's a that's your decision.

The customers in the urban unincorporated areas and the small cities are gonna see a we're we proposed a six point four percent total increase.

So we're now looking at things, and that's those customers are gonna see higher rates because as Kathy alluded, um, those local costs are not covering those loss, local revenues are not covering our costs.

So we got to get to where that's gonna happen, and we're gonna do that over a five to six year period, not all at once.

So we're starting to distinguish between different areas.

Um who represents the urban unincorporated area.

So those those are the kind of questions I'm hearing from you that that probably is worthy of a conversation in this more complicated scenario.

Thank you.

So one question I had was, you know, given the circumstances of what happened last year with on with spending and accountability, how is there a plan?

And how are you going to ensure ratepayers, you know, that this increase is I mean, I I get it, I understand it, but what is that community engagement gonna look like and how are you gonna reach a good group of people who might be getting their news on social media or you know, I think it's great you're opening up the fit the facilities for chores, but I don't think that a lot of people do that.

I think you'll see just bluntly speaking, I think you're gonna see like, hey, there's gonna be this rate increase, and it's gonna be like, oh, well, who's you know, going to who's flying first class or who's you know what I mean?

And so I'm just I'm not saying that as like I'm not this is not a got you question, it's just more of like how do you come out of that and how do you rebuild that trust?

Like what is the plan?

Oh, here I don't think um well I will say that when we put our budget together this year for 27, we really did put a theme in there that we're back to do, you know.

We're very aware of that, we're very conscious of of costs, and we tried during this budget to um be very um cost conscious.

So for instance, in last year, we our actual rates were planned to be at four percent, but our board approved the three percent, and they asked us to find 1.8 million in savings in that year.

That was the difference in that rate.

And we did do that through um positions.

And and how we filled or or utilized positions that were open.

Um, and then in this this budget for 27, we were adding no new FTE in there.

And then we've also leveled out our capital program over that five-year period, and that really helps with that the rate itself too.

Because we have had years where uh capital projects have moved out and they kind of spike a year, and it really doesn't make it hard to do your forecast.

So we did we're definitely conscious of that and are really trying to be um conscious of cost and and work efficiently.

And and like I said before, um, each year we will go in and we will update the actuals in the in the in our our forecast, and we will update the the capital program and we'll monitor capital program, make sure that it is performing and delivering um and if not adjust accordingly.

I think you have like how is that?

Are you planning on very transparent?

I would say, Mayor, we're we're we're gonna be dealing this with for a number of years because people have long memory.

Um so there's not one thing that we're gonna be able to do and say, okay, we've we've solved this.

It's gonna be a continual effort.

Saying multiple times what we have done, what we will continue to do.

As you may know, um, we have a new general manager about to start in late May.

Uh Raheem Harji uh is coming from the city of Hillsborough, and we're very excited.

Uh he's gonna bring that city perspective into CWS, which I think will be very valuable.

That's gonna be one of his challenges in leading the organization in the new chapter.

Like, how do we restore public trust?

Um it's not one or two things, it's telling our stories in multiple ways through our own social media, through our website, more direct conversations with our city leaders.

Um I've been with CWS.

This is now about my almost my fifth year.

This first time we've come talk to you about rates.

Yeah.

We should be here every year talking about rates in terms of what the scenario is.

So it's uh I don't think there's one item that I can say magically we're gonna put that behind us.

It's gonna be a continual effort and commitment and to be as transparent as possible with the public to restore that trust, uh, which we lost over the last year, year and a half.

Um thank you.

Then I I hope you didn't feel like that was a gotcha.

It was not meant to be another.

I'm not the first person to ask that question, nor the last.

Okay, cool.

Well, thank you all so much for coming.

Yeah, I'm gonna adjourn this work session.

I'll give everyone a minute or two, and then okay.

I think we're gonna we're gonna kick off with our second work session, and this one is on economic development strategic plan scoping.

And we have our assistance manager, Kim Isell, and our economic development coordinator, Miles Glowaki.

Okay, I'm gonna turn it over to you, Kim.

Great.

Uh good evening, Mayor and Council.

Excited to bring forward the economic development strategic plan scope to you this evening.

Uh, as I know you're all aware, this is part of vision 2040.

It was also established as one of the goals in the 26 to 28 city council action plan.

This is an opportunity for council to give their feedback as this goes out to our general public and as we start getting bids um and make sure that we are structuring the plan the way that you would like to see it uh for when it comes back as a fully formed strategic plan.

So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Miles, who's been doing a lot of great work on this as well as bringing this to the economic development commission.

So it's pretty fleshed out for you this evening.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Uh here's our agenda for tonight.

The purpose we'll go over the vision 2040, some background, and then we'll get into the project goals and objectives, and then a last figure feedback after that section.

We'll get into the scope of work and the last for your feedback after that section, and then any, and then we'll go over next steps.

The purpose tonight is to gather your feedback on the scope, um, the draft scope that we have for the economic development strategic plan.

This plan touches a lot in 2040, such as three goal areas, and then a long list of action items.

I'm not gonna read them all though.

Oh, next slide, please.

So an economic development strategic plan.

It's a long long-term plan, five to ten years, and a roadmap that outlines how the community will grow its economy, support businesses, great jobs, and improve the overall quality of life for its residents.

And we're looking at doing an economic development strategic plan now because it was last completed in 2020.

It's um one of the top adopted the economy was this one of the top of priorities in the 2040 vision.

We've done the economic opportunities analysis.

Our business and industrial climate has changed a lot in the last six years, and the urban renewal agency and main street program have are picking off and getting going.

Next slide, please.

So these are the outcomes that we're looking to accomplish with this plan.

We want to align and implement the 2040 vision.

Our plan should encourage equitable, sustainable and resilient economic growth, and with community partner input, outline economic development roles and responsibilities.

And we want it to be a practical decision-making tool so we can resource um resource accordingly and work with our partners and their resourcing.

Assess economic development incentives such as the enterprise zone, opportunity zones, economic improvement districts, and strategic investment zones.

And then with community partner input, that's current workforce development programs.

Next slide, please.

Well, that was a lot.

I just rattled off.

Um, and maybe we can put the other slide back on.

But these are the questions that we had with the council.

Do these proposed outcomes meet the goals of the council?

Are there any proposed outcomes that you'd like to remove from the list or any that you would like to add?

Well, I does anyone have a I have one thing I want to ask, but um our current urban renewal district.

It's not like I mean, did I just miss it in there?

But I'm just curious if there are any.

I just want to make sure that we're like using that effectively, like, and also with those with the new purchases, you know, that we have alignment with what will I know.

I just feel like I want to just double check that we are optimizing that our that the agency to improve the district, right?

To increase revenue and I didn't see it specifically in there.

I'm really excited about the industrial renewal urban renewal agency idea, Barry.

But I also want to, you know, we have to make sure that you know we've done some things, but we are continuing to grow that that district.

Councillor Schummel, thank you.

Uh I think I mean given what we've uh experienced publicly over the past year and a half term that's real development and the current political climate tech warehouse.

I think it's a key factor for me that you listed was the economic development, such as enterprise zone operation.

So I and I know this is probably implied, but maybe worth calling it out is how we codify our 2040 vision plan into our development code and our enterprise framework.

Just calling that out specifically.

So because those those are the tools that we have to I guess to contain you know the priority industries that we want to encourage in terms of jobs and so forth.

So I'd be curious to see what consultant might offer in terms of what we how we further adapt our development code and enterprise zone going forward.

Any other feedback at this point?

I'm not seeing any.

So we can move to the next.

Okay, thank you.

Um, this is the scope of work that we're gonna issue with the RFP.

And says at the top, they can suggest refinements to the scope, but this is the minimum that we want to see back.

Um there's eight tasks that we'd like to see, and I'm gonna go through each task and then um at the end ask you some more questions.

Next slide, please.

So task one is project management and coordination.

And that looks like developing a detailed work plan, schedule, and communication strategy.

Coordinating with city staff and the designated advisory bodies.

Set mile markers and establish clear timelines and provide regular updates and draft reviews.

I'll just mention here that a lot of the scope of work came out of the work that the EDC did on this topic, and they added some real value to our scope.

Task two is review of existing plans and conditions.

So we'd like them to review these documents, summarize them.

These are the ones that we have listed the 2040 vision, our EOA, our comprehensive plan, our housing and land use plans, our previous economic development strategic plan, and then business organs recently released strategic plan.

And then prepare an existing conditions overview that captures these addresses these, the demographics and labor force, business and industry mix, commercial industrial land supply, regional market context, and infrastructure and workforce considerations.

Assess our key industry sectors, employment patterns, and economic drivers.

Evaluate real estate and development conditions, including industrial commercial, and mixed use markets.

Do a SWOT analysis affecting the city's economic development patterns and analyze regional and competitive regional competitiveness of forest growth's role within the broader economy.

Task four stakeholder and community engagement.

So design facilitate an engagement process that works with our different stakeholders, our business owners, our institutions, developers.

We're asking them to workshop with some focus groups and advisory bodies, and then coordinate with our economic development partners.

And then we'd like them to document how that process informed the final report at the end so that we can see how community engagement is really affecting this strategic plan.

Next slide, please.

Analyze target and emerging industry sectors consistent with what we see in the 2040 vision plan.

Assess what barriers are to subtraction, retention, and expansion, and then evaluate regional competitiveness and some partnership opportunities.

Task six, urban renewal and industrial development opportunities.

So evaluate the feasibility of establishing uh URA to facilitate industrial development.

Talked about that earlier.

Evaluate opportunities related to the city's urban renewal area and development ready project properties.

I think this is what you were talking about, Mayor.

Um assessment of existing conditions and opportunities within the URA.

Evaluate the URA tools to help support the economic development goals, and then development strategic guidance for the use of the URA investments within the context of a broader economic development.

Task seven is implementation of the plan, and we're looking for a recommendations about actions and policies that translate strategies into actual implementation framework.

So we're looking for the who's gonna be responsible, the phasing and timelines, estimated resource needs, and performance measures and evaluation method.

And finally, the task eight is the final plan and adoption.

So prepare a polished draft and final economic development strategic plan, come present findings to city staff, the advisory bodies, and the city council, and then provide materials for public distribution so that we can highlight the work that we've done and the work that we have to do.

Next, please.

Yes.

Next.

Are there any work items that I'm missing or any work items that you'd like removed from the plan?

You got it.

Yeah.

I think I understood what you were saying.

That as we're developing this plan, can we do the timeline so that things that are timely now get done first so that they address the conversations we're having as the rest of the plan.

Sorry.

I'm sorry to everyone on Zoom watching.

I'm not going to repeat myself though.

But basically, the question was about prioritizing some of the plan.

And I apologize.

Moving on.

I told you, Jamie.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Cool.

Thanks.

Come and adjourn this work session of the Forest Grove City Council.

Gonna give a minute or so for people to relocate.

Jeez.

Microphone.

City Council, no public comment will be taken, and the council will take no formal action.

And I'm gonna turn it.

This the topic is city discussion regarding federal activities.

And I'm gonna turn it over to our city manager, Jesse Vanderzannen.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

Uh, before going too much further, I would like to introduce our new chief of police, Dave Marzilli.

Welcome to your first work session with the city council.

Oh, the topic today is uh city discussion and ongoing city discussion about federal activities.

If you could go to the next slide, please.

Next slide.

So, really, the purpose of this work session is to provide an opportunity for council to discuss and respond to issues relating to federal immigration enforcement.

Um, one of the comments that came up at the last meeting to follow up on at this work session was to review and discuss state legislation regarding immigration to determine what if any impacts it may have on the city.

And so you'll see in some subsequent slides some bills that we have summarized that were passed this prior or just this past legislative session.

Next slide, please.

These are some partners that we continue to work with.

Um as we reported earlier.

Uh, we did do some uh grants with Adelante Meharis, Central Cultural, and the Resource Center with the Fairbanks uh School District.

Some other partners are Portland Immigration Rights Coalition, um, so or innovation law lab and ACLU.

Uh and locally, I know Indivisible has been pretty involved in this issue as well in terms of reporting and uh monitoring some of the activity.

Next slide, please.

A little bit of background.

Uh, and this was of course in 2025.

The city declared a state of emergency, appropriated 50,000 to community nonprofits.

I mentioned that I just mentioned earlier.

Declared Forest Grove, a sanctuary city by resolution.

Then a letter to Washington County to discontinue the use of Flock, which is a surveillance system.

Distributed a public flyer on how to identify a Forest Grove police officer.

That was also done by neighboring communities, Cornelius, Hillsborough, Beaverton, Tiger.

Immigration resources in all facilities.

We really kind of revamped our city website, providing a lot of different resources on there.

Next slide.

Following up in 2026, the city council codified the Oregon Sanctuary City into City Code.

We've had staff training on how to respond to ICE if they are on public property.

We sent a letter to the Attorney General requesting legal guidance.

We've done a couple public records requests to the Department of Homeland Security regarding ICE activity in Forest Grove.

We filed one in 2025 and another one in 2026.

We went over council roles and responsibilities in the emergency operations plan.

We recently completed marking all of our non-public areas.

So if you come into City Hall, the library, the aquatic center, you will now see signs that say private area and delineate those areas that are not open to the public.

Staff produced a training video, and we have now we haven't quite trained all employees, but we are getting very close.

We have trained all of the supervisors.

We sent a letter to the Oregon legislature regarding state legislation.

And last, a letter to the district attorney regarding the national effort entitled to fight against federal overreach and encourage the district attorney to look at the website and uh and and join.

Next slide.

So this really gets to kind of the one of the things to talk about at this particular work session are some of the bills that passed in the Oregon legislature this past session.

You may have read some press releases that were sent out in early April.

There was a package of eight pieces of legislation that passed and have subsequently been signed by the governor.

So these are now law.

They do have different implementation dates in some of them, so not all of them are immediate, some are several months out to allow communities to be able to respond to them.

So the first one was House Bill 479.

Uh it's regarding school safety and specifically it directed schools and colleges, so Pacific University here in Forest Grove School District to create alert systems for notifying parents and students of immigration enforcement on campus and requires verification of legal authority before granting access.

Next piece of legislation was House Bill 4111 or civil case protection.

And what that does is it bars the use of immigration status as evidence in a civil lawsuit.

Also makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers, updating their work authorization.

Next piece of legislation was House Bill 4114, and that was called the Protect Your Door Act.

That allows individuals to sue the federal government or other law enforcement agencies for 10,000 to 100,000 in damage if they enter private property without a warrant.

And then the last bill passed by the House, or at least sponsored by the House, excuse me, was House Bill 4138, the law enforcement accountability and visibility act.

And that requires that all law enforcement officers operating in Oregon be clearly identified.

It also bans the use of masks or face coverings with exceptions for undercover or medical reasons.

And we'll go into that one a little bit more in the subsequent slide.

So some of the bills that were sponsored by the Senate was Senate Bill 1538, educational equality, and that prohibits discrimination based on immigration status and education, requiring schools to admit all eligible students.

If that data will be used for federal immigration enforcement.

Um in detail and are seeking some clarification currently on that piece of legislation.

I would add that the implementation date for that, I believe, is July 1st.

And so we have a little bit of time to kind of sort through this.

We're also working with LOC on specifically how that might apply to Forest Grove and other cities.

And then Center Bill 1594, the OIRA expansion that directs the Office of Immigration and Refugee Advancement for OIRA to create model policies for responding to federal action.

Next slide, please.

So with regard to House Bill 4138, the city is in compliance with section one regarding identification.

Currently, the city policy states, quote, the regulation nameplate or an authorized sewn on cloth nameplate shall be worn at all times while in uniform.

The nameplate shall display the employees' first and last name, unquote.

And the policy also states whenever on duty or acting in an official capacity representing the department, employees shall display their department issued identification in a courteous manner to any person upon request and as soon as practical.

So currently in Forest Grove, we are we we require that a nameplate be worn at all times and that it be presented upon request.

So there should not ever be a time when we have a police officer that is not identifiable.

Uh the second part of the legislation uh has to do with prohibiting face coverings.

Um, and I might turn this over to the chief.

Currently, I don't believe we have a policy regarding face coverings, but I believe we are working with Lexapol uh on creating a policy.

So correct.

Uh policy currently doesn't cover wearing face masks um one way or the other.

Lexapol is a service that we work with that helps create our our policies and um they regularly update with legislative changes, they'll update the policies.

So we're just waiting for that.

But I don't as a matter of uh practice, we don't wear masks unless it fits those requirements during a tactical situation or something like that.

So I don't anticipate it being a difficult permission for Lexapol to create that.

And then next slide, please.

So Center Bill 1587 states that it restricts public agencies from sharing a personal from sharing personal data with third parties if that data will be used for federal immigration enforcement.

Specifically states that it does not apply if disclosure is required under public records law or by court order, or if the information is available to the general public.

As I mentioned earlier, we are seeking guidance from the city attorney to determine what changes Senate Bill 1587 may require of the city.

There's also some, if you read the bill in detail, it looks like it may also point toward um uh what they call data brokers as well.

And if we have services or contracting services with data brokers, so we're looking at that angle as well.

Um I would expect that there'll be you know quite a bit of effort put toward kind of interpreting and defining and figuring out exactly what the legislation says.

So, and then we depending on what it does say, it may require a code change with the city.

Um, we just don't know at this point.

And I believe that concludes our presentation.

So happy to have any questions back to you or comments.

Yes, yeah, okay.

Counselor Schimmel.

Well, a couple of areas of concern has been enforceability and reporting, and for for context, you know, I testified on a couple of the bills with a yes and yes, the intention is right, and there needs it needs to demonstrate enforceability with structural backing.

Um as I can assess the latter is not true for much of this legislation.

Um, and even by the one of the sponsors' own admission in an interview after saying that it was primarily for litigation at the victim's expense.

So my my concern is that the public is going to be very disappointed by legislation that is not enforceable, and there's no structural backing.

Particularly concerned about school district trying to provide verifiable reporting.

Uh so that that's a key concern is we'll have to go back and re-educate our public.

Um, on the reporting, you know, the the only reliable source we get is PERC so far that I could tell, where I get reports of our local observers uh declaring that there's been unverified uh observances, um, but there's no reporting of those up there.

But certainly they don't call the the police to report anything.

So there's there's this discrepancy and what the public might communicate either through their new newsletters or through social media versus what is actually verifiable.

Um I think's an example was this confusion with the presence of DEA on a narcotic uh arrest and a note I received suggesting that FGPD was present assisted and may have violated sanctuary law, which illustrates uh some education required just on that law itself that it doesn't preclude assisting on warranted uh situation.

So I think there's some necessary to have I don't know if it's updating, not just updating our um website, but doing some outreach maybe to the indivisible group or uh through the rapid response team just to make sure there's some understanding of what is enforceable with respect to specifically with respect to ICE.

We certainly control our own law enforcement agencies.

So those those thoughts that I wanted to express.

Yeah, I think uh my understanding about the situation that happened last week is that you know, people who have been legal observers or meager watchers have seen cars with that license plate and personnel.

So um working as ICE.

Um, and then there was reports that the person was taken to the detention center in Portland.

Um what I'm hearing though from law enforcement is that sometimes federal agencies, different federal agencies swap cars around, or I guess different agencies in all areas might, but in this situation that potentially, you know, this is a report where my understanding you should correct me if I'm wrong, but this is you know the information we were told.

And um so I think that it I think that to belabor your point, you know, this is what this is a really complicated situation, right?

So you have people who are trying to protect community members watching, and then there is an element of like who do you trust, who do you not trust, and they have their records, and so if they see a car, they're gonna believe.

But then from what I'm hearing is that potentially that car could have been turned over to DEA to be used because if Department of Homeland Security knows that it's been marked as a vehicle used for immigration, they would dump it to a different agency.

I don't know if that's true or not.

Yeah, yeah, go for it.

Um I don't know what the federal agencies do with their vehicles, but just in my experience as a matter of practice, if you have unmarked vehicles, um they could be rental cars, they could be pool vehicles.

Um I we've uh just a vehicle that's in a uh a motor pool that anybody can check out or anybody can use.

Um we have borrowed cars from car dealerships, used cars, and when that car gets burned, um they ditch it and get another one.

So if someone says, oh, that's a detective in a car, then they'll swap it out and get something different.

I don't know if that's what federal agencies do, um, but that's what my experience with local law enforcement does with the vehicle with it.

Also, for a long time, other agencies will go into other jurisdictions to do investigations, they don't always share when they're in that community doing an investigation.

It's just not um, it's not required, it's not even normal protocol unless you're gonna be asking for assistance from somebody to do that.

So when federal agencies or other local agencies or statewide agencies that do enforcement, they kind of move around and they don't tell local law enforcement.

In this case, I think the confusion was there was a a state e-plated vehicle that is publicly owned vehicle, like all the state vehicles are registered.

Uh that was another agency's law enforcement officer working with the DEA, and I think that's probably where the concern that it might be Forest Grove police was involved in that because our police cars have the same e-plate just like every other police car in the state has that e-plate on it.

Clarify, okay.

Thank you.

Any other comments or discussion items?

We have some time.

Is there um we have there was consensus last year, earlier this year to have a monthly work session?

And so since we have the time now, is there another topic that you would like to bring forward for next month's meeting?

Um taking ideas now or um go ahead, Counselor Schimmel.

Well, just I don't know if it's another work session.

Just want to reinforce the public education or outreach on what we're we've learned from the legislation, what is practically enforceable, and you know, clarify I don't know if it's clarifying some of the the information on to delineate uh FDPD.

No, I guess it's a vehicle from government or a federal agency vehicle might be uh another step.

Uh and then the the reporting is is always going to be a dilemma because uh even if ice picks up again.

Uh that that was always a problematic before uh because not everything police weren't being called or 911 wasn't being called, and not all of the the engagements or enforcements were reported through PERC.

Um and I particular, like I mentioned earlier, I particularly worry about the school district where a hundred percent of the time before ICE was not on campus, so nothing changes for school districts in it in the future.

So how to just how do we I want to wrestle with how do we reconcile that with our partners with the public with the legal observers with the rapid response system?

And I know part of it is building trust, ensuring people have trust in our local law enforcement that they don't have to doubt that you're you're breaking sanctuary law.

They can they can assume the best and actually help us provide additional information to help us.

Um those are just thoughts.

I don't know what how that translates into discussion or just what staff um might discuss.

Yeah, I guess I'm gonna ask for more clarification.

Do you think that there's a work session on those topics or more like that you want to update information on our social media or website on those topics?

Yeah, at this point, it's not a it's not a work session unless there are new circumstances that either staff want to report or that come up.

So I'm just gonna provide any feedback for their next office staff.

Yeah, I'm wondering if there's um a comfortable, I mean I don't know if it's comfortable or not, but is do we think we need to continue with the once a month work sessions or do you think we can do you think we should pause on those and um re state reinstate that if we need to have a work session?

Any thoughts on that?

I think before when we talked about having these work sessions, we were going to put them on the agenda knowing that we could cancel them instead of trying to throw one on the work session because all of a sudden we decide we need one.

So I don't I mean, I'll go along with the majority, of course, but um I think leaving them and then just canceling if we don't need one.

Okay, well, I guess we'll just go.

I'm just thinking that so we'll start planning.

May I just be like pretty honest?

Like we meet Wednesday to plan the next meeting.

So I guess by I mean, so do we just want on on the first meeting of the month during council comments or mirror comments?

I mean, I'm also trying to thread this needle of giving staff enough time to plan, right?

So I I've been liking having it them know the topic a month out because there's also other things that they're working on.

So do we think for next for May?

Do we need to have go ahead, Counselor Falkner?

Depending on the answer to this question, um, I mean, we noted that we sent uh Freedom of Information Act request, but I don't know that I've received any information about what the response has been.

Did we get the public records back from we've received we have not received any public records from the Department of Homeland Security?

But did they acknowledge our request?

They did acknowledge receipt of the request, yes, they did.

And they sent us they sent us a receipt of request essentially.

Um, but they did not give us a timeline of when they would when they would respond or anything like that.

So but they did acknowledge a receipt.

Yes.

And we sent we've sent two requests.

Anytime we've heard of any alleged ice activity in Forest Grove, we've sent a request to DHS.

Is there a timeline that they have to adhere to?

I mean, what's our timeline for public records?

I'll look into that, Mayor.

Um, I I don't have a definitive answer now, but they did not give us a timeline in their response to us.

Huh.

Months ago.

I'll have to verify with the city recorder.

Um the first request was sent months ago in 2025.

It was right after it was the the day after the work session.

Um and then the second request was sent in 2026.

I'll have to check with the specific date with the city recorder.

Um but it was basically just re-upping it.

Let me check with the city recorder and get back to the council.

So um we hadn't heard a response, so we said admitted another request.

So or we hadn't got a response, excuse me.

Maybe at the very least, our next work session on this can stay on the agenda for next month and we can ask um both for a little bit more research on you know the time within which they're uh they're supposed to give at least maybe give us a window of of response.

I mean what I don't know what the federal regulations say about you know when they should at least give us an estimate of how much time it would take to respond to our request.

If the council would like, I'll just um the city recorder is currently up, but when she gets back, I'll have her uh find the answer to the questions and send it out to council.

Okay, not a problem.

Okay.

Okay, sounds good.

Okay, any other comments?

Is that fine with everyone?

Keep it for next month.

Okay.

Sounds good.

So I'm gonna adjourn this work session and we will reconvene in 20 minutes.

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