Good evening.

I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Forest Grove City Council.

Will the city recorder please call roll?

Councillor Marshall?

Here.

Councillor Martinez?

Here.

Counselor Schimmel?

Here.

Counselor Valenzuela?

Here.

Councillor Falconer?

Here.

Councillor Gustison?

Here.

And Mayor Winsel.

Here.

We acknowledge the land on which Forest Grove is located, rests on the traditional village sites of the Atphalati, a tribe of the Calapua who originally inhabited the Twalton 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?

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

And to the Republic for Richard Stand, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Testing.

I might just hold it because it's so far away up there.

So you all picked a great night to come to our city council meeting because we are going to honor and recognize one of our best employees, Leo Cortez.

Could you please come and join me?

Thank you, Leo.

You get to stand in the middle though.

I see you trying to come on the side, but we want you front and center.

Okay.

I want to share a little about Leo with all of you.

Tonight marks 20 years of public service for Leo Cortez, working for the city of Forest Grove.

Congratulations, Leo, and thank you so much for your service.

Oh, thank you.

Like we have the group, the best staff.

I'll keep going, sorry.

Leo has earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado.

Prior to his tenure here, Leo worked for the Las Vegas Water District.

They have water there.

Crazy.

Okay, Leo's current role in the engineering department is twofold.

He provides GIS services by analyzing all the data for water, sewer, and stormwater, finding and correcting errors, then submitting the corrected information to the new utility network platform.

Correct?

Correct?

Okay, phew.

Additionally, Leo provides inspections of civil infrastructure for new development to assure what is being installed is consistent with the design drawings by and city, county, and what other codes.

A big thank you to Leo for this dedication for his dedication and service for 20 years to the residents and the community of Forest Grove.

Okay, I'll say to be working for this city.

Okay, I'm gonna hold it.

It's a privilege to be working for the city for this time frame 20 years.

US like yesterday, but would I say thank you for the recognition?

You're welcome.

And we appreciate all you do for Forest Grove.

Thank you.

Okay.

I think I have to hold this out.

Okay, I'll just hold it.

I don't know how to pull this out.

Okay, we have two proclamations this evening.

Vietnamese American Remembrance Day, and then followed by Small Business Week.

Whereas on April 30th, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of the Republic of Vietnam, effectively ending the Vietnam War.

And whereas excuse me, 300 soldiers from South Vietnam and 58,000 soldiers from the United States, including over 700 Oregonians sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War.

And whereas the 90,000 Vietnam War veterans who call Oregon home have endured hardships that left an indelible mark on their lives, families and communities.

And whereas the state of Oregon has welcomed tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees and their families who have shown resilience, strength, and perseverance in overcoming adversity to become a vital part of our society.

Whereas the Vietnamese American community in Oregon plays a crucial role in fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation, and has contributed significantly to the cultural, economic, academic, political, scientific, and artistic landscape of our nation.

And whereas the 50th anniversary of April 30th, 1975, serves as an important moment for reflection on the sacrifices made by the previous generation of Vietnamese Americans, and recognition of that day ensures that the lessons of history will continue to guide future generations toward greater peace, freedom, and democracy.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim April 30th, 2026 as Vietnamese American Remembrance Day in Forest Grove, Oregon, and urges all citizens to join in the recognition of this cultural heritage celebration.

For the small business, okay, I'm gonna do the I'm gonna do small business week as well.

So whereas America's strongest economic growth in almost 40 years has been driven by resilience of small businesses that, despite a worldwide pandemic, continue to pioneer innovative solutions to our country's greatest challenges and create opportunities for families and workers.

And whereas small businesses remain the heartbeat of our community communities and the American economy, employing more than half of our nation's workers, inventing and innovating innovating to launch new technologies and create new American-led industries in reaching our main streets, making parts and products in America to fuel our supply chains and building our nation's infrastructure.

And whereas the City of Forest Grove recognizes and values the dedication and entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses that are the cornerstone of our local and state economy.

And whereas the city of Forest Grove supports and joins in this national effort to recognize and support small businesses to ensure that our community remains as vibrant tomorrow as they are today.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as Small Business Week in Forest Grove, Oregon, and urges all citizens to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements made by the small businesses locally and nationally.

Do you like it up here better, Council President?

Proclamation.

In Forest Grove, Oregon and Stamos a todos los ciudadanos a reconocer y celebrar los logros obtenidos for la Pekinas Empresas al nivel local and you council president.

Okay, now we're gonna move on to item B.

I'll give Council President a minute to get back to her seat.

Okay.

So now I'm gonna move on to item B on our agenda public comment.

Public comment is time provided for anyone wishing to speak to the city council on an item not on the agenda or on the agenda, but not scheduled for a public hearing.

I'm not liking my microphone.

Um 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.

Um I think that's it.

Let me just make sure.

Okay.

So we have one person signed up for public con comment.

Danielle Whiteworth, do you want to come up to the center table?

Please, and thank you.

Is that microphone on, Jamie?

Do you think no?

Okay, you can use that one.

Okay, perfect.

Thanks.

I'm gonna do my best to keep this within two minutes, but I'm probably gonna go a little bit over.

Um my name is Danielle, and I am a resident here of Forest Grove, and I was present at the detention in Forest Grove on the 21st, last Tuesday, I think it was.

Um I brought a poster here to kind of give you some visuals.

I don't know if he can see him from there.

So I am here as a concerned citizen who wants to bring your attention to a horrifying detention that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st at 7 a.m.

I want to mention that this detention was in collaboration with at least DEA, Oregon State Police, Twalleton Police Department, and ICE or CBP.

This was also in conjunction with another arrest that happened in Hillsborough.

This detention endangered the lives of our students and families who rely on our public transportation that provided to them by the school district.

Durango with Oregon Plate 711, JFA, that has been seen entering and leaving the ICE detention center several times, including mere hours after this detention at 1020 AM, sped off from this house in Forest Grove with a detainee in the back seat, and ran through a stopped school bus sign.

At that time, there were several kids, including a small child and their presumed guardian, ready to cross the street to board the bus.

This is absolutely horrifying and illegal, and proves how dangerous it is to all of our community members to have this secret police out and about on the streets, breaking our laws and not being held accountable.

On social media.

that same day.

This doesn't make any sense for a criminal law enforcement arrest and goes against our city and state sanctuary laws.

The family of the detainee and Forest Grove shared with us that the agents involved in the arrest unplugged all of their security cameras in their house before they trashed it.

That evening, the family was still not able to locate their loved one.

This all leads us to believe that sanctuary policies may have been violated.

And I am not okay with funding illegal law enforcement activity with my hard-earned tax dollars.

I hope that you as counselors and everyone in this room are also not okay with our tax dollars going towards this.

I want to emphasize that officials are lying to us about what happened or not being transparent at all.

There was a post made by a counselor stating that it was not ICE and a DEA arrest only.

If this was you and you still refuse to believe that ICE or C BP had anything to do with this arrest, then you are also the problem, and the reason the secret police keeps getting away with this unlawful activity.

If we don't hold them accountable for their actions on our streets, how are we supposed to enforce those laws for every citizen?

They are not above the law.

Please hold them accountable.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No one else has signed up to give public comment.

Is there anyone else in the audience who may have missed the sign-up sheet and would like to give public comment?

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

There are no hands raised.

Great.

Thank you.

Okay, we're gonna move on to item C on the agenda, which is the consent agenda.

Items considered routine that 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.

Second.

Hey.

The consent agenda was moved by Councillor Falkner and seconded by Council President Valenzuela.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none, the consent agenda is approved in a seven to zero vote.

Moving on to additions or deletions.

City manager, do you have any additions or deletions?

No additions or deletions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Any proposed by counselors.

Seeing none, we will now like three minutes.

We're like right on time.

We will now move on to presentations.

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

Our first presentation of the evening is from our mayor's youth advisory council students that attended the National League of Cities student delegation.

Uh tripped to DC.

So if I could get Maya, Annie, Hazel, and Morgan to come up.

Well, just like bring another table.

I'm gonna get you hooked up.

Do you guys have well?

Yeah, I'll get you a chair and I'm should I not?

I'm like their teacher.

I'm like, let me get them hooked up, but I guess they I will stay up here.

Do you guys have did you have anything?

You just okay, but who did you send it to?

I have when did you send it to me?

But I was okay.

Yeah.

Hello.

I'm like getting my emails coming through.

Hang on.

Let me try another one.

Can I s I'm gonna send it to you, Jamie.

While while I'm doing this, can you introduce yourselves and see how uh yeah, hi, we're the we're a group of representatives from the Forest Grove Mayor's Youth Advisory Council.

Um my name is Hazel Kiblinger and I'm a senior.

My name is Annie Goff, and I'm also a senior.

My name is Morgan Tremblay, and I'm a sophomore.

And my name is Maya Andrade, and I'm also a senior at the high school.

Did you guys all understand?

Okay, so listen.

Let me bring the microphone.

Okay, let's pretend you have the PowerPoint and you guys can just chat.

So the deal is they sent it to my for people in the audience and watching on TV.

They sent it to my school email, and I have boundaries and I don't have my school district email on my city and personal phone.

I have two jobs, I have to keep it straight.

Which is fine.

So you guys can just go ahead and talk.

Let's just do that.

Do you have what do you have going on, Hazel?

Yeah, send it.

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay.

Yes, I think I do.

Perfect.

Problem solvers.

Everybody's patient.

Happy birthday, Hazel.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

It's also Hazel's birthday.

Yeah, my 18th.

So oh wait.

Can you guys are you is this through your school district email?

Or your personal one?

Can you send?

Are you guys like do they allow you to send outside of the organization?

Yeah, okay.

So maybe high school.

I do.

I'll just probably forward to the emails.

I was like trying to figure out why I hadn't gotten your email.

Yeah, I'm gonna go.

Okay, what are we?

Do we think we should just start chit-chatting?

What where are we at here, people?

We're just sending it.

Okay.

Well, as we are sending that, we just wanted to show pictures because like it's really awesome to get to tell these stories, but it was so cool to get to experience it and all the things we got to see and do.

We just really want to share that with you guys.

So thank you for your patience.

Yeah, thanks for sending it.

I think that's what it is.

I mean if anything we could just yeah, okay, perfect.

We can't get it.

No, it looks like it's not sending it.

Um so this was a three-day to Washington DC, uh, where we were supposed to be part of league of conference.

Um fortunately this year we weren't part of that because we couldn't secure the kids in time.

Um however, we still had a really great experience.

Um what we did.

Which was really cool because um that's something that you keep a lot of pictures about and hear about, but it was really cool to see it closed, and I wasn't I didn't think I would be able to experience great.

The most inspiring thing that was off me was probably the African American museum.

It showed that like even though there are a lot of uh pieces of our history, like I found it really inspiring to want to make changes.

Um another big uh what we got to do was kind of network with people.

Um so we couldn't really network with other students from the Oregon area, but um instead we met with a bunch of representatives of state, um Congress members as well, um interns, lobbyists, and a bunch of different people, which was also super cool.

Um it got us a real glance into what a government looks like national level kind of federal level.

Um and we also kind of got to see how there is a bunch of tiny parts that go into making a law and making a policy and also changing um different things at city level but state level and then explain.

Um we got to meet really cool people that told us about the really cool jobs that we had no food existed and we probably didn't know what they were at some point.

Um and what was really cool was that we got to meet with them for a lot longer than normal.

Uh for example, we met with Congresswoman Bonomichi for a good 30 minutes um when most of the other groups got five to ten minutes, and here we discussed policies, like questions with students because yeah, I think getting to meet with Bonamichi was the most powerful part of the experience.

Um it was really exciting to just be in her office and be in place, but also to care and what she took towards us.

Um we were sitting in her office, we made sure that all of us opportunity to share the things we wanted to bring up, and it was really empowering of our communities ourselves and our loved ones to see her and speak with first.

I felt very much like she for us that was really empowering.

Yeah, I thought like specifically I always had an interest in talking to Bonami about all the like next steps in women's rights, really like empowering me to want to do more for my like community and speak up about more things.

So I thought that was funny being able to talk to Bonami T and talk about all the issues that are pressed in our community now.

I think this trip was also extremely important uh because they gave the youth forest people a chance to see different things as we speak about opportunities.

Um but I think as we move forward, the biggest reason why we think this would continue is because I truly believe that the kids are our future, right?

The generations that are coming along are the generations that will lead us, and this experience opened at least for me a lot of doors, um, and also just kind of revealed that there's so much more things I can do outside of my community to continue to protect the rights of our community and just the people of America.

So I think that was super cool, and I think that time goes by.

I'm sure there are other people who are looking for an opportunity like this where they can jump into real world experiences.

Um, and that's why I believe that could continue.

It was also really cool with lobbying process when I came to this trip, I was like, I don't know what that means, like what are we doing, like very confused, but getting to meet with um lobbyists and speaking to them, and then getting to do that ourselves, hearing speaking up and hearing people all over our area, how those conversations had was really meaningful, and it was really cool because I know a lot of us are in AP government class.

We got back literally the next class lobby.

So not only did it help us have a better understanding, but I believe that us getting to share our experiences and what we learned also helped the other kids in our class have what our teacher was instructing us.

So it was really cool to meet at least those kind of acts that I wasn't even expecting on this trip.

Um which was just so cool.

I just could never imagine real um adaptability, and got a really expensive and to see like everything, and even though we're um I think another thing that I thought was cool is being in all those one conversations with the like higher up really taught me personally that these things take a lot of they're not immediate actions, so you have to like start now if you were one thing in the future generations, so that's what I think from have to like keep pressing and like you gotta take all your time and take it in.

You gotta really enhance all of your opportunities.

Exactly.

One thing we promised to bring back was kind of civic engagement that's bring back something for our community.

I think we kind of brought just a lesson that it might seem like we're stuck, especially now at those higher up levels, but the truth is that there's so many other steps where we can get involved.

Um, if we're not directly speaking to representatives or congresswomen, we can write to them.

Um, we can write to different lobbyists to ask about policies, we can write interns that have a more deeper scope into what's going on.

And so that was really good to bring back to our community and people know that although sometimes we feel like things are select, like Morgan said, it takes time, but there's ways that we can connect with you know, people that actively work every day to make well.

I I I think I just speak for all of us by reaching out with so much gratitude.

Um this is something that none of us could have done uh on our own.

It happened just ourselves so getting this opportunity that just wouldn't have something we we all will take with us lessons we've learned.

Also just as such a fun thing to explain as well as all the things we just amazing time feeling empowered.

Just want to express so much gratitude.

Exactly.

None of this could have been without um all of you guys and giving us the opportunity to come in caring for the city to see how this goes.

We've made the experience, and we can't wait.

Thank you.

And I'll open it up for questions, but um well, yeah, I'm not gonna I'll let I'll let them go with questions.

Counselor Falconer.

So it sounds like you did a lot, you experienced a lot, you went around a lot of places in the city, and I heard a rumor that you were getting pretty good at public transportation and navigating the metro.

And so I'm hoping that you can tell me a little bit of what more about that experience, and if you enjoyed it, if you learned anything and maybe brought some ideas home with you on improving infrastructure.

I think the first thing I see is that you're out with the mayor, who'll be out running around until 11 p.m.

Um and the trains are confusing.

Uh, but you'll get used to it, I guess a good 30 minutes into it.

Uh, since everybody's very busy in DC and there's no stopping in the city.

Um the infrastructure I was extremely organized.

Um, everything kind of had a specific time, people knew where they were going, um, how they were gonna get there, where to stop and stuff like that.

It wasn't too confusing.

I think again, after a couple minutes, you kind of understood bringing it back to the community.

I something I think that's really cool about it.

You're we're sitting the transit business outfits, we're just going back to dinner.

There's kids getting out from middle school and high school and college, and there's people and the most like expensive outfits I've ever seen going back from work and all in between, and just how uh how the community just is kind of like all things, and I just think something kind of cool about me.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Any other questions for the group?

Council President Valence.

Um have a comment.

You are so well spoken, so articulate that if you didn't really need a presentation.

Okay.

I was very impressed because you didn't you didn't even have notes.

Um I'm very happy that you were able to experience this, and I am certain that that will help you to make a difference in the future if possible to have a positive impact in the communities.

Yeah, I just want to say thank you.

I had the best time ever as well.

I've gone um to DC alone, I've gone as a city counselor, I've gone as a mayor, I've taken 35 students uh on a field trip to New York, I mean, multiple times, but this was completely different for me, and um such a good opportunity for both my worlds to like collide.

I mean, my worlds collide all the time as a teacher and a mayor and a mom, but um I don't know, I just had the best time with y'all, and I think that I was really proud and every environment you went into, you were prepared, you spoke, like you we did this.

I mean, and talk speaking about cancelled Falconer, I mean it got to a point, right, where it's like get us there, right?

Like you guys know how to get us there.

Um so even just those those life lessons of like now you can travel and you have the competence to use public transportation in large cities and know that you can do it.

Um I would like you to send your presentation so they can see the photos.

I I have the photos on my phone, so I know.

But I I think that they would like to see it.

And um, you know, and I just hope that whatever there's something that you take from you know your time, not only in DC but in Forest Grove.

Three of them are seniors, so they're gonna head off to adulthood soon.

And so take the things you've learned here and the experiences you had to you know make someone else's life a little bit better.

Right.

Okay, cool.

Thank you all so much.

Thanks.

Are you off to birthday dinner now?

Um, you took me up.

Oh, nice.

Very nice.

I like it.

Um do they like it?

Thanks.

It's a team effort.

Okay, our next presentation is our economic development commission.

You all do not have to stay.

You can link our economic development commission annual reports, and I'm gonna call up our economic development career, Miles Glowackey and the EDC Chair, Tim.

Is it Budelman?

I ask this each time.

Butleman, thanks.

I should trust myself sometimes.

Okay, go for it, gentlemen.

Wait, you uh plenty, but mayor counselors, thank you for having us here to uh give our annual report.

Skip through the main part on the vision plan.

I was trying to think just uh an hour or so ago, how long I've been on this commission.

It's I think it's been 14 or 15 years.

I've seen a lot of growth and a lot of change.

It's been really great to see.

Uh, with this 2040 vision plan, increase the volume and diversity of commercial uh business development, update the city's economic development strategic plan, which in my tenure I think we've done three times already.

Uh, increase industrial development, explore the creation of economic improvement district, strengthen partnerships with local small businesses, support workforce development programs, develop a long-term vision for the main street program, which over the years has really come out really strong, partner with property owners to attract businesses, incentivize programs to support retain small and local businesses, encourage and attract more events to downtown.

Years ago, we didn't have our uh our main street, our main street um crafts and all the farmers market.

Thank you.

Not the light.

I was trying to follow too.

I was like what that I was like, craft beer.

Oh, we've got some of that there already.

Um encourage and attract more events to downtown, increase wayfinding signage for downtown parking, which we've already done a great job doing over the years, update tourism strategic plan, uh, develop mute uh mural corridor public art cultural district celebrations, explore exterior and architectural design standards to create a visual identity, pursue grants to support tourism, placemaking identity, and planning, expand opportunities for affordable housing development.

Let's go to commission overview.

Purpose of the economic development commission is to encourage broad-based community representative and advise the city council on public policy issues affecting Forest Grove and Council adopted goals and objectives.

The EDC advises and makes recommendations to the city council on economic development policies and issues that support advancing the economy and prosperity to include the URA and the EDC's uh recommendations with grant programs and whatnot that we've gone through more in this two iterations.

Goals and objectives the EDC has established the following goals and objectives provide and promote strategic plan, provide oversight and review of economic development, make marketing strategies and products, enhance communication and understanding of economic development strategies, and build relationships between Forest Grove public sector, community, and business community.

Act as a forum for sharing information on best economic development practices, current issues, resources available to communities and businesses.

Encourage connection, coordination with other regional, state, national organizations working on the direct benefit of economic growth and enhancement for Forest Grove's economy.

Respond to additional matters relating to economic development as requested by city council and advise and make recommendations to the city council on economic development policy.

And on the EDC, we've been very grateful to have the opportunity to make recommendations, grant programs and work with you counselors as URA members to help brighten the community.

And it's been uh it's been received very well by the business community, and I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more of that in the near future should those funds become available at community.

The accomplishments in 2025 reviewed and made funding recommendations for the 2025 building improvement grant program, reviewed and made uh programmatic programmatic recommendations for the building improvement grant program, reviewed and offered suggestions to the economic development strategic strategic plan scope of work, reviewed and offered suggestions to the tourism management and marketing requests for qualifications.

Current work plan, engage with the city's economic development strategic plan consultant to create, edit, and present plan to city council.

Review and make recommendations on the building improvement grant program and storefront improvement program marketing materials.

Review the grocery store location economic analysis.

Just on a side note, I feel like we've been talking about grocery stores for a while.

I'm sorry, I just had to make it like I got it.

Um review a boutique hotel economic analysis, review and make funding recommendations for the 2026 building improvement grant program, and engage with business thesis community to identify opportunities and weaknesses in the forest grove economy.

As an aside, I've as I've mentioned before, I've seen this city grow in leaps and bounds.

Uh, I was talking to one other member, like who would have believed a couple of years ago we'd actually get a Starbucks in town.

Um that was just monumental.

It it just met all the metrics of uh demographics for Starbucks.com.

And so Starbucks comes, so comes Marathon, so comes a national oil change company that will be coming soon, and uh some other logistics uh company opportunities that may be coming down the pike soon.

So enjoy any questions or comments you will have.

Any questions?

I guess I just have one question.

Do you think you know, within the EDC, the representation on that commission is based like there's criteria to meet?

And so I'm wondering about vacancies on EDC and if you feel those has the committee looked at those to make sure we're still on point, you know, with where we're going and what we want, and are those the right spots, or you know, how are we making sure that we're represented on that commission?

Right.

I I I remember I was talking with um Brian Pohl uh a long time ago when we were talking about committee size and and whatnot.

And and the EDC is kind of a different animal in that there's representation criteria that fits small business in one realm or fits a small restaurant in another, manufacturing in another.

So all of them have different criteria that that they come to the table with making the EDC what it is.

And we do have some holes.

We do have some holes that Miles and I need to fill, and um the new co-chair uh Tim.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks, Tim.

I just want to say thank you to my volunteers on the EDC.

They're a great group to work with.

Oh, great.

Well, thank you.

And the council liaison is okay.

That's all right.

Thank you, Tim.

Okay, Miles, I think you're gonna stay where you are.

Okay.

Okay, so next on the presentation is economic development program.

Thank you, Marin City Council.

I'm Miles Gluwaki, the economic development program coordinator for the city.

And this is a presentation on the economic landscape in the city today, um, and then what we've worked on this past year.

Um next slide, please.

Again, the vision plan touches a lot on economic development.

Um, again, the list you've seen it three times tonight.

Um, next slide, please.

These are the 10 indicators that I'll go over tonight, kind of highlight where how we've been measuring our economic growth.

Um the past, well, I found records going back quite a bit, but um, so I found records for the last five years, and then there's some before that too.

Next slide, please.

This slide represents our population growth.

We continue to grow um at 27,241 at last count.

And I think the slides from the US Cent says um over that five year span, our growth rate's been 3.17%, and our annual growth rate is about a half percent.

Next slide, please.

The slide represents unemployment.

You can see the peak unemployment during COVID.

Um, and we're seeing a slight uptick over the last two years in unemployment.

Um, and the numbers I've seen most recently are still hovering right around 5.2% for the year.

The median household income in Forest Grove continues to rise.

It's still behind Washington County as a whole, but it's above Oregon state.

Um it's currently at 87,933.

Next slide, please.

The Forest Grove poverty rate remained in the 15.3 to 0.4%, about 3,900 people.

Both higher than national and state averages, they're listed there.

The poverty rate includes university students, which tends to skewer the percentage upward for cities with universities.

I think on some of the other slides, our university population skewers some of our demographics as well.

Next slide, please.

So this slide represents all the employed people, not just working in Forest Grove, but that reside in Forest Grove that are employed.

And this is a different type of work that they're engaged in.

And 9% at the not private for not profit.

Next slide, please.

And there's roughly 6,843 jobs represented in the city.

I think the big ones that stand out to me are accommodation, food service, health care, educational services, of course, manufacturing at 10%, and retail trade at 10%.

I think those are both strong numbers of our economy.

Next slide, please.

So this is people employed inside and outside the city, and the kind of work that they're engaged in.

And that makes sense when we look at the mix of businesses that we have.

Next slide, please.

This represents uh Forest Grove residents educational attainment.

Um high school graduates is about 88%.

And that's not our high school graduation rate.

That's people in Forest Grove with a high school diploma.

And then bachelor's degree or higher at 36%.

Umregon as a whole has 90% is at 91.8%, and our bachelor's degree is free on par.

Next slide, please.

This one I pulled the Forest Grove business license list.

Um, we have 918 active business licenses in the system, and 628 of those have a forest grove address.

So as you know, a business that does business in Forest Grove needs a business license, even if they're not physically located in the city.

Um I thought this would be a good metric to track over the years to see how the number of businesses kind of changes and grows.

And then housing.

We currently have nearly 9,800 housing units, 338, 338 are vacant housing units, and 62% are owner-occupied.

Um, median sale price in 2025 was just over $5,000.

And then our industrial development industrial vacancy remains near zero.

78 acres of 290 total uh industrial acres that are available are entitled or under development.

There's 25 acres that are currently for sale right now in four different parcels.

Um there are 16 16,000 square feet under construction and another 635,000 square feet entitled for construction, indicating very strong for industrial parcels.

And then I just want to touch briefly on the enterprise zone.

Um talked a little bit earlier about it, earlier this evening, but the enterprise zone is a property tax abatement program for industrial properties and certain hotel motel facilities.

Um, this map shows the industrial properties in Forest Grove, and nearly all of them are within the enterprise zone.

And it works in exchange for expanding into the enterprise zone.

Eligible businesses receive total tax exemption for three to five years, depending on the program that they opt into.

And um it's it's intended to be a job creation tool.

And so part of part of the job, part of the criteria for the expansion is job creation and investment.

Next slide, please.

Um, we have five acres of 62 total commercial acreages entitled or underdevelopment.

There's 15,000 square feet under construction, which is all for school forest grove school district property, which is considered commercial institutional under our code.

Approximately 50,000 tile for construction, indicating strong demand.

And commercial rural state remains strong.

I've seen a lot of listings pop up the spring for commercial real estate property.

I think that shows that a lot of investments coming to Forest Grove.

I get calls frequently looking for office space and haven't been able to locate a lot.

So I think that's interesting that people want to move.

Accomplishments this year completed, presented and adopted the economic opportunities analysis.

We presented on the main street program.

We awarded multiple tourism event sponsorships.

We implemented an updated IGA with Washington County to collect collect the TLT on our behalf.

We secured funding for the economic development strategic plan and drafted an economic development.

Next slide, please.

Continue client relations and management of the theater property, finished up the downtown glow up, um approved seven storefront grant applications.

And then under the building improvement grant program, we received nine applications in 2025 and seven in 2026.

And then we made uh with the URA board a lot of improvements for next cycle.

And currently underway is a boutique hotel analysis and a grocery store analysis, and those will both be ready.

Um, I just want to thank all the partners that help make this work possible.

The list of most of the people working in this field together to advance forest grove's economic development.

Next slide, please.

Are there any questions or comments?

Okay, questions, comments.

You have one I saw the headline and then you was curious on the on the income piece.

Does the data delineate income from jobs inside of Forest Grove versus externally?

It didn't.

Um I can look into that though and see what I can pull out.

The Oregon Employment Department has pretty massive database and some really really smart people that can pull information out for us.

Sure.

From industry we're encouraging here.

Um we did talk about the enterprise framework earlier about aligning it with our economic priorities.

Um and then I think I also noted earlier about the the IGA with Washington County on a TLT, the other teasing idea of charging in the future to cover a budget deficit.

So I I trust that we'll we'll watch that with our commissioners as they go through their budget cycle and and they're they're well informed of the various services that both sides provide that uh benefit the the same taxpayer.

Um just found discovered that as they were starting to tease that out as a as a way to help with their deficit.

And then just lastly, um I know you've got a lot of partners to touch base with um one other suggestion is the Oregon Business Institute.

I think they are the statewide chamber of commerce, and I've I've found that they've they provide a lot of valuable input on economic trends, competitiveness, uh, workforce development and such.

So thank you.

Counselor Falkner.

Um, one thing that kind of occurs to me as we're um you know, embarking on this economic development piece, and this sort of relates to the work session or the earlier presentation on that, you know, on developing that plan.

Um, you know, and the you know, rising income can be seen as sort of a positive thing, and also be an indicator of um displacement.

Occurs to me as we're um you know embarking on this economic development piece and this sort of relates to the work session or the work the earlier presentation on that you know on developing that plan um you know and the you know rising income can be seen as sort of a positive thing and also be an indicator of um displacement and so I one thing that I'm keeping top of mind as we sort of embark on these approaches you know to vote to both um talk about you know like we're going into our comprehensive plan and housing production strategy housing you know housing capacity analysis we're also talking about economic development I'm glad they're happening at the same time um or at least somewhat parallel tracks because I worry about um you know one down side to attracting a bunch of new business and new jobs is that you can unintentionally create upward pressure on your lap on your limited housing stock and so I want to make sure that you know as we are having this conversation on council staff is having unsiloed conversations about those two levers because those two really important things that I think the city you know can really have a big impact on um and so making sure that you know one hand is talking to the other as as we're sort of tackling these really big important problems um for the community so there's tension there and I think we can get it right as long as we're really intentional and mindful of those you know the of those opposing pressures thank you any other questions comments I don't see any thank you miles thank you and our last presentation for the evening is from our library director Colleen Winners and it's about the IGA with WCCLS thank you for waiting Colleen good evening hello so yes we're here this evening to talk about the um IgAs with Washington County and I have uh thanks to the city manager I have a presentation that we've worked on together to um inform you about the next what's happened so far and the next steps in this process so the for the 2040 plan of course um when you think IGAs no when you think library and IgAs I think you think about um community and accessibility and connection and those are the things that I highlighted um from this slide the purpose tonight is to again inform you of the status of the process for these IgAs and to tell you about some of the changes being proposed the next slide is sort of a history um I apologize for this glasses thing I wasn't going to tell you but I'm having cataract surgery this week and so my eyes are weird and so I take my glasses off and I put them back on so I apologize.

Here's a history of WCCLS and I would have you note that Forest Grove is one of the founding members of WCCLS of which we're very proud and many of you already know some of the background about WCCLS you know that it's the department of Washington County and that um it answers to the um board of commissioners um the funding of course is approved and appropriated by the board of commissioners and comes from um an operating levy that also from the general fund as well as an operating levy that funds WCCLS um the advisory um boards of WCCLS are twofold there's an executive board which um our city manager sits on and then the newly named library leadership group which was for many years the policy group and there was a recent decision to change it from policy group to library leadership board um that would be library directors and that's the board that I sit on um so just a reminder that it's funded by um both a county general fund transfer and a voter approved levy and you know that last November voters did in fact approve um another WCCLS levy um and then the each city then helps fund library operations and are responsible for all the costs associated with the building and construction we'll talk a little bit more um later on in the presentation about expectations about member libraries um next step um have you note that there are two IGAs for WCCLS one being about operations and one being about governance and over the last couple of years Jesse and I have been engaged in a process to review discuss debate um even Kim got in on some of those um all things WCCLS the structure and governance the funding the operations all of that has been um under review for the last two years um

Next up, have you note that there are two IGAs for WCCLS, one being about operations and one being about governance.

And over the last couple of years, Jesse and I have been engaged in a process to review, discuss, debate.

Even Kim got in on some of those all things WCCLS, the structure and governance, the funding, the operations, all of that has been under review for the last two years.

So the governance speaks to the governance, though, in fact, how decisions are made, and the relationship of the Board of the Commissioners, the Executive Board, and the library leadership group.

This IGA is perpetual unless a member ceases to be a party to the cooperative operating agreement, or if three quarters of the members terminated, that's important.

The other IGA is about the operating agreement, and that speaks to, and again, we'll be talking more about this in a minute, base service levels, service boundaries, insurance, ademnification, all that good and important stuff.

It's a five-year agreement, and it's tied to the operating levy.

All right, now we get to the good stuff.

Proposed revisions.

However, one of the cleanups that I think was very important is information about decision making, how that works, who's in charge.

Again, roles and responsibilities were discussed at length, and those are listed here: the executive board, the leadership group, and then the relationship to those groups with WCCLS.

And when we talk about WCCLS, we're talking about the organization that is housed in Hillsborough in offices in Hillsborough.

That's the reference here.

On the last, the last bullet on this page speaks to something you're aware of, but is very important.

Is uh one significant role that's in the works, which is the change to centralized collections.

Um we note that it's uh referenced in the IGA, but there's no definition of how it's going to work, and that would be because there is no definition of how it's going to work.

The um county has in fact hired a uh how is it named here?

A contractor to help make this transition.

Um, Forest Grove has had its first meeting with the contractor.

Um, and that's about all we know so far.

We'll keep you posted.

Um the next page talks about some more proposed revisions, and I think um the third bullet speaks to an important um new agreement, which is base service levels, and again, we note that Forest Grove already provides all of these, but not all of the member libraries did.

So being open 45 hours a week with free access computers and um have policies in place.

That's now a requirement to be a WCCLS library.

Um there was much work done on documenting service boundaries and service populations.

I think if I'm remembering correctly, this is our city manager's favorite discussion.

Um it was uh lengthy and um confusing, but we got it done.

Um next, the uh funding formula and amounts for all member libraries, and I think what we wanted to highlight here is that there is a change to the IGA, the language that speaks to this, which um in the past you can see the six bullet down speaks to the existing language in the current IGAs.

Um the change, the proposed change is uh potentially um, I think we think it's more transparent.

However, it doesn't have um much specifics about how it's all going to work.

You can see how the change from the current language to the proposed language.

Um it says how the money is going to be distributed, but it doesn't really talk about how much money or what were the specifics of that.

And that's that's a very important change.

Lastly, um the next steps um are outlined here.

Um there needs to be multiple um there has been multiple reviews and conversations regarding these IGAs.

There's another one scheduled for um a week from Friday, and that will be an opportunity for the uh representatives of the member libraries to uh provide feedback from their city council presentations and any questions, concerns that have been identified from their um organization.

And you have questions.

I do well or comment.

I'm very concerned about the funding and the lack of framework for increase and assessed value.

Um Jamie, I don't know if you want to can we go back to slide well, you know probably what I'm talking about, right?

Colleen.

I think um that's a slippery slope, and I don't understand why there's why they're taking that framework out for an increase in assessed value.

What that allows that is so dangerous, and uh I mean, in my opinion, with uh a commission that has a 10 million dollar deficit, repeated deficit, uh um since I've been mayor and been working more with the county to make up for that deficit.

They've taken from MISTIP, which was voted on by community members in the 80s for transportation, because they say that they have that they can and they have this deficit, and so they're gonna take it from transportation for their general fund.

Um you know, so there's that, like they have a deficit, and I think you're I just don't I I mean I'm not okay with this all.

I think there needs framework.

Um furthermore, without framework, without having something in the IGA.

What if you I'm just gonna, I mean, there's no protections for library, right?

If you have a commission that doesn't want to fund it or thinks that's not essential service, like you know, I don't know.

I just think that if there's an increase assessed value, there just needs to be some sort of framework.

And I'm I'm curious why there isn't and what is being done.

Like, is there any other am I the only one saying this?

Is there traction from other cities saying, like, hey, we want to bring this language back, this framework for assessed value increase.

I don't think I can speak to that.

You can't speak to that.

I mean, I don't know the answer.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Well, I I think a lot of the cities are doing presentations just like this over the next couple weeks.

I think we're one of the first cities to probably approach um their governing council with some of the new language and the new framework.

And so um, and so we'll just I I don't know that I have a better answer for you at this point, Mayor.

Um, but the language is different, and as Colleen mentioned, uh, this is being presented to all the various city councils, and then there's going to be a meeting with the executive group and the leadership group the end of next week.

Is that correct?

The week from Friday.

The week from Friday to just receive feedback from the councils and how the you know what the presentations were and then and then go from there.

Well, I'd like to flag this part of it.

I think that just seems I just I'm not comfortable with ambiguity or like that it's there's not framework for an increase in the assessment.

I just think it's weird that you had it, they had it before, and now they're taking it out.

So I I just something about it doesn't feel great to me.

Yeah.

And if we're council present.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, the the whole thing, you know, if it's really um concerning that the one thing that is really the most concerning thing to me um besides the funding issues that may arise is losing the autonomy the library has in terms of collection, for example, of you know, being able to purchase um your staff being able to make the selections because all communities are different, you know, and there are different needs, and you and your staff know the community well and know how best to serve it.

And that it's uh that has always been a big concern, just losing that uh that ability to stock up your own library for your community.

Are there any go ahead, Councillor Schimmel?

I want to concur with everything you you said, Mayor.

It it and this is just a conversation at this point.

They've already demonstrated why they're doing this with Mystip.

Um and I think the consequence for us going forward as they continue this behavior, it certainly compromises their notions of transparency and and accountability, but they're passing their deficit on to cities by siphoning money from discrete levies.

I mean, that's that seems to be a travesty to the voters, but they're gonna pass that deficit on to us and in those discrete ways.

And I I don't know what our recourse is other than shaking a stick out through their budget process.

We'll talk about that when during my mayor's comments about the budget process.

But I didn't mean to cut you off.

Do you have to um but I don't want to end on a I want to share this, I just not about the levy or WCCLS, but one of my leadership students today said that he's skipping track practice because he had to go to TLC and film the commercial for summer reading program.

And I just thought it was so cute.

He was like, Well, I have like one of the leading roles, Miss Wendzel.

And anyways, so and I was like, Oh, so you have to go work with Lily.

He's like, I love Lily.

He called Lily the GOAT.

Greatest of all time.

So I just thought I wanted to share that with you and take it back to your stuff.

So thanks, Colleen.

Okay, and now I think this is like one of the first severity, but there are no public hearings ordinances or resolutions.

I think Jamie scheduled that on purpose.

She's like, Mariah, we're not putting any of those things on the agenda.

So we're gonna move to council communications.

I'm gonna start with our council president.

I have nothing to record, Mayor.

I there have been no meetings.

Um was the last time.

Thank you.

Counselor Falkner.

Um very short list.

Um had the chamber um meeting that um was pretty uneventful.

I guess I will just mention a couple things because it's sort of related to the JBWC Barney Reservoir meeting as well.

Um, you know, I think um the chamber is has set up workshops to be responsive to local um businesses who might be grappling with the new system for uh recouping tariff that the federal government illegally took from them.

Um and so if you need help by you finding all of your documentation and using that portal to to request those funds be returned to you, the chamber is um yeah, chamber can be a resource to you because apparently it is pretty complicated and difficult.

Um, and there's even confusion over who's allowed um to apply.

Uh relatedly, the tariffs and the unnecessary wars are of course impacting costs of materials for JWC.

So everything from building materials to all the chemicals that they need to use to make sure that we have safe drinking water.

Um, the price of all of those things going up, and it's reflected in the various um contracts that that may have.

So those are the two things that I would like to make.

Thank you.

Counselor Gutison.

Okay, the pack um meeting that I attended, they reviewed the strategic plan quite a bit that day, and they did discuss the the garbage cans that are falling apart, um apparently.

Yeah.

Um so they had intended on moving forward looking right for the photographs or some sort of art, and they said that the garbage cans are not holding up.

Okay.

We're pursuing, yeah.

Just brief update, we are pursuing warranty issues associated with the manufacture of some of the garbage bins.

We are seeing some failure reports and and it is concerning, and we're following up with the manufacturer.

Cool.

So what one of the things I know just based on the response after the garbage cans came out.

And I know, you know, there's there's lots of of different opinions on the garbage cans.

I I'm so glad that there's so much space in them to to put our garbage.

But um, if we are going to move forward with a different style, a different, you know, company, um, it might be a good idea to talk to at the very least the business owners and poll them to see you know what they're looking for, or maybe have we can have a couple choices and say, hey, these are the choices, and at least have have the downtown businesses look to see what they like and push it out to the community if we feel that that that is going to be a good move for us.

But I do think that the downtown businesses especially they I hear a lot of well nobody asked us you know because we didn't so maybe a little bit more communication there.

A question that they did ask um was if donations were acceptable.

So if somebody wants to donate to the PAM, not fundraising, but right there's just a canister and donations are they able to to receive donations and accept donations.

So that was a question that they had for us to answer.

Is it the same as fundraising really you know I'd have to reference the um the council rules I I believe I'll have to reference the council rules.

I think the answer is yes they can receive donations.

I think the council roar referenced that if they were going to do a fundraiser and do actively fundraising uh that they would have to make an estimate of staff time there's a um the forum to fill out and that would have to come before city council of whether they can just accept a donation that's made without a request I can double check um but uh I know they've done that in the past.

So okay and just to confirm so if if one of the um the stations at the market had a jar there that said donate to um the public arts commission that would be acceptable I would like a consensus so that we are all on the same page.

Somebody I don't know the answer to that.

Let me I if you'll give me a moment I'd like to look into it and then get back to you.

So okay perfect.

And then um the next thing is the Family Peace Center um their open house is on April 30th and it's gonna be amazing.

So the event goes from 4 30 to 7 p.m at the Family Peace Center and the ribbon cutting will happen at 5 p.m.

There will be snacks there will be um networking there will be a tour of um their new building and everything that's going on inside.

So I really encourage everybody to attend um that event um on a um a less happy note um for for me anyway Rachel um twits is is retiring from her position at the Family Peace Center.

So at the end of this year I believe it is um her executive director position will be um somebody else and she's moving with her family um they're going on to you know other other goals and objectives for their family so um this year is her last year with the family peace center I know I know I know um but yeah so it's a good opportunity to see her too and I think that's all I have great thank you counselor marshall uh for stream meeting we had um a representative from the nature conservancy come out to demo a tree canopy measuring tool that they use for the Portland region and they want to include forest grove into that region um they'll be coming out with more information on that but it was a cool thing they actually broke it down to um specific spots in the city demographic um uh everything was broken down like with the fine tooth home so it'd be it's gonna be cool when they can move it out to this area but um they're looking to do that within the next two months to kind of work with the for uh with the forestry committee to kind of get that going and that was the only meeting I had and that was most of that meeting was that that um that tool that they were going over great thank you counselor martinez so I attended the words of hope words of hope and healing national crime victims rights week um event that was last week it was very good the one there was a young woman who shared her journey um from abuse um that her and her daughters suffered and the the healing and the hope that they found with the organization it was very good and um yes the the um event this Thursday and then um intended the chamber event this afternoon where Mayor Wenzel and Mayor Dahlin shared all the great things that our cities have done that's it.

And we had an opportunity to do a site walk of the 47-8 intersection and particularly the the marathon project that was had blocked a lane of traffic and had pedestrian workabout work around.

And that was an unfortunate illustration of uh pedestrian hazards during construction.

So it was it was helpful for the general manager to see or see how important it was that during construction of TV Highway project that that we provide adequate barriers that emphasize the the dangers inherent in that that particular intersection.

We also took them on a drive through the whole forest grove TV Highway Corridor from east to west.

So they got to see you know all the the various uh stations or parts at parts of that uh that corridor that are important to us, namely U Street and Brian came prepared with uh an illustration and a list of all the projects in the next three to five years and when and what how they happen.

So that was informative for for them to understand how they their project intersects.

Uh and we also mentioned the decoupling Pacific Avenue study, uh not knowing when if and when that happens, but that would certainly affect um their project.

Uh so that's the that related to that project.

And then I intended uh the the transportation access management plan focus group, and I'm not gonna steal anything from Jesse, but I there's uh uh a woman who who lives in the the Quince um apartments uh just north of uh the that intersection I mentioned, and she was testifying to you know four uh near misses uh in the recent past where she was almost hit in that northbound slip lane, um, and the drivers were visibly aggressive um despite to render flag them that there was a pedestrian there.

So um, you know, I've been had some interaction with what Jesse and and Greg about you know, communicating with ODOT about striping that doesn't exist, signage and such.

So you know, that's something I'm gonna keep uh appealing for and maybe reach out to our legislators if we don't make progress, but uh you know that's one of those areas where you know they're they fear for their lives, and I know there's projects forthcoming, and I hope we can find a remedy for getting pedestrians completely away from that intersection.

Um, but it it it seems like it just we continues to be a persistent safety risk.

Sorry, can I just real quick I ask you you want to get pedestrians away from the intersection?

I'm confused what well, what pedestrians are asking for is that we improve the safety there.

Okay.

I think you want like safety.

The avoid collisions, not eliminating crossing.

Correct.

Okay, thanks.

Yeah, I apologize.

Well, I I guess what what I've trying to study the circumstances there, there's not much to do to improve the intersection for pedestrians apart from tunneling underneath it.

Uh you know, the signage and striping will well at least provide some awareness.

Um if if there's some way to get pedestrians completely away, when for example, when we put in the the mid-street crossing that um between 47 and mountain view, that is uh part of the solution to get pedestrians over to a safer way to cross.

Um, but they they still have to traverse to that intersection to get over.

And as soon as Marathon uh gas station is activated, that's more vehicles going in and exiting, and in all cases that drivers are going westbound, they're looking left when they entered the slip lane, or when they're exiting marathon, they're looking left again.

So the so that yeah, so that I it's it's just a concept of you know, can we get pedestrians away from that intersection because of increasing dangers there?

Um in the meantime, it's can we do basic things like striping and signage uh to uh to accommodate and you know, even if if if it re if it warranted uh you know that using city resources with the permission of ODOT just to get it done.

Um so that that's something that I uh um I want to explore with the staff, and then they can come back to us and ask for some of an official decision if we need to spend money just to get that done sooner.

Does that help?

Yeah, I still have concerns about uh when you eliminate sidewalks, when you eliminate crossings and you ask people, especially people who have you know mobility challenges, whether they've got devices or not, um, what you do is you end up adding you know, up to you know, quarter of a mile, half mile, even a mile if you're asking people to go from an intersection where they live directly across the street, especially to a place um where they might need to purchase food um to go all the way down to a mid-cross to to add essentially a half a mile walk.

Um, you know, I've I've been in the situation that you're talking about.

I understand that concern to me the the answer is not eliminating crossing opportunities for pedestrians.

The the solution is making those situations safer, and there are ways to do it short of tunneling or bridges.

And I would just I would just say that I'm not this is maybe not a forum for debate.

I would just suggest that you don't you definitely don't have my I I am not on board.

We're not debating that I didn't say eliminate.

I I'm saying it's it's an unsafe environment.

If if there's a ways we can get pedestrians around that intersection, but I didn't I did not say eliminate.

Okay, when you say removing pedestrians from that crossing, I say putting that pedestrians moving them.

Yeah, I didn't say remove, I didn't say eliminate.

I say get getting pedestrians away from the intersection.

That is that is that I'm that I'm not understanding that phrase because that to me says remove the case.

If there's an alternative pedestrian safe path that is not in the intersection, that is half a block or longer.

So it's not it's not eliminating.

I'm not gonna say eliminate.

I okay, we're gonna just because we're going back.

Okay.

Yep.

Um Council Schimmel, did you have any other okay?

So I'm gonna turn it over to Jesse for the city manager to get everybody followed my list.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

Um, in response to the previous question about the public arts commission, just read to you from the council rules.

It says boarding commission shall not fundraise unless authorized by the council.

So what I would encourage is maybe have the pack check with the staff liaison and and uh see if we might be able to fill out the form and find out a little bit more about what the pack would like to do and then go from there, if that sounds all right.

So what would what would the question be that I am asking for that on the well I think if the pack is looking to fundraise, I think what the council rules pretty clearly say is it needs to be authorized by council.

And so if they are looking to fundraise, I would encourage them to work with the staff liaison to fill out kind of whatever requisite material there needs to be to and bring it before council to get to get authorized to do so.

So just to clarify um have them just bring a proposal to allow them to receive donations because it isn't, I mean it's kind of like you know, what's fundraising versus donation?

You know, fundraising to me is an activity, but it can be you know made a tomato, right?

Well, I think when it in the scenario you said they would actually be putting a jar out asking.

So that's not a donation, but like a donation would be like someone for some reason come whatever says, hey, I really like this program, and it's not requested, right?

But like to me, when you're giving me the scenario, I'm like, okay, I'm fine with them receiving donations.

But then the scenario was that they were actually gonna ask for donations.

And to me, that's fundraising.

And so I think there's a form per what I'm understanding is that they just need to fill out the form.

And then it would come to before council.

I guess put on the consent agenda.

Yeah, so that works.

Yep.

Uh just a few things, uh, a couple dates coming up.

May 1st is the start of the annual diaper drive at the police facility.

Uh it's three weeks long.

So if you have any diapers that you would like to donate, uh please bring them to the police facility starting May 1st.

Um May 6 is the start of the farmers market.

So look for that next week uh on Thursday, and then on May 9th at the Forest Grove Library, uh, there's gonna be a preparing and guiding your teen driver safety event.

Again, that's May 9th at the Forest Grove Library.

Uh a few other things.

Um I mentioned earlier that Public Works will be applying for two grants and is still working on two grants.

One is the Safe Streets for All for Improvements to TV Highway East of 47.

The other one is for building resilience and infrastructure grant that's for the city's additional water reservoir.

That's up on Watercrest.

And so we'll, and then we'll be meeting with Clean Water Services about it.

Some of the topics that were brought up during the work session with regard to uh the billing structure, et cetera, those are part of the IJ, and those are going to be topics of discussion.

So we will be working with Clean Water Services on that.

Uh the data dashboards for police and fire have been updated that have the response times for 2025 to current.

So if you would like to look on that, you can go on the city's website and check that out.

Uh Light and Power, the Bonneville uh power administration's poll relocation project, those are the polls that need to be relocated so the Maple Fern Hill and 47 intersection can begin.

Uh BPA started that poll relocation project today.

So that is um getting going.

Uh there's a lot of coordination that's being done with Light and Power for that.

Uh, they are gonna have to uh de-energize the adjacent substation.

Uh they're also gonna have to reroute some power because that's a fairly major power line.

So when they take those polls out, uh they will have to do some type of reroute and de-energate.

None of the power will shut off, but it is gonna have to be very clear closely coordinated with Light and Power.

I'll keep updating the council as that project progresses.

Um the pool deck is going really well.

Uh they're a little bit ahead of schedule, so that's encouraging.

Uh we got four proposals for the parks uh mass parks open space and master plan.

Uh that was uh proposed uh and the deadline was last week, so we received four proposals.

We'll be going through those proposals um here in the coming weeks, and uh last but certainly not least, the public works uh facility.

If you haven't had a chance to drive by, uh it's it's looking great.

The new facility is for the most part done.

Staff has relocated into the new facility, which is allowing the old attached facility to be remodeled.

Uh once that's going to be done, and that's expected to be finished sometime in September, October, uh then the entire facility will be done and we will have a ribbon cutting.

So that's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you.

Great, thanks.

Uh Jamie, do you need to share?

So Jamie's coming in clutch, and I think I had sent her some photos from the MYAC trip to DC, and so she's gonna share them with you all so you can see.

Um so thank you, Jamie.

I probably could have texted you too, if I was like gonna bail them out.

Yeah, so that's Supreme Court, like after Hill Day.

So they were all in their business attire.

And then this is our um small group meeting with Congresswoman Bonamici, where and uh Michael Skipper from CFM was there.

And we were like, are we gonna lobby?

Are we not gonna lobby?

But um Congressman Bonamici was just so gracious.

Um, she made sure that each of them got to ask a question, and she gave really thoughtful answers.

Uh you know, I've told staff this her her Bonamichi staff came in, I think three different times.

Like you have a meeting, you have a meeting, and she was like, I'm not ready yet.

So it was really really nice.

And then after this meeting, uh, we went to dinner at the Democrat, the Democratic Social Club, which was like on the hill, very close at all.

Very like, I mean, I think they they had no idea who any of the people were.

Um Democratic House members and senators and lobby consultants and lobbyists.

But I was like seriously fangirling.

Um, but you can't take any photos there.

There's like no cameras are allowed.

It was really cool.

So thanks, Jamie, for that.

Okay, I just have a short update.

Um, I want to swing back to the Washington County Commission.

The Washington County budget meetings.

Um a little frustrating because they, you know, they have this deficit we all know about, and um a lot of not a lot, but very critical services that residents of Forest Grove depend on partnership and funding with Washington County.

So you know, like, hey, what's going on?

Like, are we gonna and we got an email a couple weeks ago saying, hey, we're gonna have a budget informational meeting for elected officials on April 23rd.

And then numerous folks said, hey, we're gonna go to LOC the spring, LF League of Oregon Cities Conference in Pendleton.

So we're not gonna attend.

So then they changed the meeting to May 11th.

And so we have a council meeting.

The city of Twalton has a council meeting.

And then in addition to this, uh last week, Chair Harrington said we were supposed to have our Washington County Chair plus mayor meeting today.

Or maybe it's not today.

I thought it was today, but she canceled whichever one.

Let me double check my content.

Oh, so maybe it was supposed to be hang on.

Oh no, she oh, so that's what it is.

Oh, we were supposed to have a Washington County Chair plus mayor meeting on the 11th at 3 30, but because they're having the informational budget meeting, she canceled it.

So that's where we are with the the budget meeting with the county.

Uh just and I wrote them back right away saying, like, hey, this is you know, these scheduling things, so I don't know what they're gonna do about it.

Uh I did attend the candidate just as a community member.

Um, I just want to give a shout out to Forest Grove Indivisible.

They've been hosting candidate forums.

Um I I did attend one.

I attended the one for Washington County District 4 and um chair Grace.

So that was interesting.

And I don't really think you guys talked about the Family Peace Center.

Um, yeah, so and I just would like to thank uh Claudia Yakos, um, Evelyn Orr, Amanda, the Chamber of Commerce for hosting the city updates, and you know, of course, our city staff who comes in, Stephanie Joyce comes in and gets this place ready for the chamber, I think on short notice.

Um, so that was great.

But other than that, that's all I have.

So with that, and then a record, I think this is the earliest meeting I've ever chaired.

I'm gonna adjourn this meeting of the Forest Grove City Council.

Legit think it was the earliest meeting.