Good evening.

I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Forest Grove City Council at 701.

Will our city recorder please call roll.

Councillor Gustafson.

Here Council President Valenzuela?

Here.

Councillor Shimon?

Here.

Councillor Falconer?

Here.

Councillor Martinez?

Here.

Councillor Marshall.

Here.

Mayor Wenzel.

Here.

We acknowledge the land on which Forest Grove is located located rests on the traditional village sites of the Atpalate, a tribe of the Calapua who originally inhabited the Twilaton Plains, including Forest Grove.

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

Will the audience and the Council please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice cross.

Whereas the National Trust for Historical Preservation created Preservation Month to spotlight grassroots preservation efforts in America.

And whereas Preservation Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our country's cities and states, and enable more Americans to become involved in the preservation movement.

And whereas historic preservation is an effective tool for managing growth and sustainable development, revitalizing neighborhoods, fostering local pride, and maintaining community character while enhancing livability.

And whereas historic preservation is relevant for communities across the nation, both urban and rural.

And whereas it is important to celebrate the role of history in our lives and the contributions made by dedicated individuals to help preserve the tangible aspects of the heritage that has shaped us as a people.

Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Forest Grove does hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as National Preservation Month in Forest Grove, Oregon, and calls upon the people to join their fellow citizens across the United States in recognizing and participating in this special observance.

Thank you.

In Forest Grove, Oregon, y a Sun Yamado Alagente de Forest Grove a unirse con sus Estados Unidos para reconocer y participar in esta celebración especial.

In testimonio de Local A Suspito La Presente Ya Echo Kel Sello de la Ciudad de Forest Grove, Oregon de Mayo de 2006, nuestra Alcaldesa Malinda Wenson.

Okay, so now is the moment that most of you have been waiting for.

I mean, besides for the few people who are paid to be here.

So all the people who chose to be here, this is the big moment.

Okay, I would like to bring up uh Natasha Triplett from our historic landmarks board member to do the honors.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

It is an honor to recognize Skib Mueller for his many years of dedication to preserving the history of Forest Grove by resenting with presenting him the Eric Stewart Award.

Skib joined Friends of Historic Forest Grove in 2011 and within a year became both a board member and board secretary.

Over the years, he has served as docent at the old train station, helping visitors connect with stories behind our community.

He has also helped develop the Forest Grove Deed Index and has conducted extensive research on local families and historic property.

As one of Friends of Historic Forest Grove's longtime face administrators, Facebook administrators, he has shared local photograph shared local history through Popular Throwback Thursday Post and helped digitize countless historic photographs and negatives.

In addition, Skip has been a longtime member and board member of the Valley Art Association, where he has helped preserve and digitize the organization's historical records.

And um wanted to thank Friends of the Store Forest Grove and Valley Art.

Thanks so much.

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

Okay, so let's start with public comment.

David Dion is first up tonight.

He beat you here, Mr.

V.

Thank you.

Uh first, I'd just like to uh talk about the land acknowledgements at the beginning of the meetings.

Um I've heard them both just in English and in English and Spanish.

I think it would be wise to consider uh also performing those in the language of the people whose land we are acknowledging.

Uh that said, I'd also like to talk about federal activities.

Um, right now, federal government is compiling lists, lists of immigrants, lists of political opponents, lists of the disabled, lists of minorities.

Already we are seeing, have seen for over a year what is done with lists of immigrants.

Our friends and neighbors have been targeted, abducted, brutalized, and terrorized by ICE because they are on the list of immigrants.

It is not the place of government, categorize and police the demographics of its people.

All too often the first step in systematic removal of rights and safety is the creation of lists of minorities and enemies.

I encourage every possible avenue of non-compliance with these efforts.

Do not help build lists of queer folks, people of color, protesters, and the disabled, fight back against the weaponization of these lists.

Technology, all people the forest.

Thank you.

You, Mayor Wenzel came up to me and you saw this book.

And he said, You need to read that.

I agree with you, you do.

But more importantly, or as important, I think you need to listen to Heathercox Richardson's daily emails.

You can listen to it because she records them, or you can read them, you get them on substack.

I listened to her be interviewed by David Rubinstein on the 10th.

It was enlightening.

I ended up getting it transcribed, and I studied it three or four times before coming here.

It's important for everybody to understand where we came from as a country and where we're going now.

Because there is a lot of things you can learn from the history of how we become what we are.

So I am going to give you a subscription to the Substack, Mayor Wenzel, and I'm encouraging all the rest of you to get your own.

So you're gonna do that.

And also, she wrote the book, the most recent C is Democracy Awakens.

Notes on the State of America.

And I had the privilege to go listen to her speak about that book in this uh in Portland a couple years ago.

Thank you for listening.

Uh Mr.

Feek, I appreciate your your offer of a gift, but I'm gonna decline it because I feel like there might be an ethical question about me taking a gift from you.

So I appreciate the thought, but I'm gonna decline it respectfully.

I will just let you know how you can pay for it yourself.

Okay, perfect.

Perfect.

Oh, you already subscribe.

Daily emails, it's great.

She's a historian.

Extraordinary.

It has implications of what we need to do for democracy.

Thank you, Mr.

Feek.

Carol Allery.

Hello.

I just came with my daily.

How about lifting you up, right?

Right.

I was gonna say your smile is very lifting.

I've got four of them.

I'm gonna read to you.

And the first one is we've all sinned and we have all need a savior, and we cannot be saved unless we uh we realize we are sinners.

Romans, it is written in Romans 3 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory.

But good news, even when you are weak, sinful nature, Christ died for us.

The eternal eternity is a gift from God.

But the free gift from God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord in Romans 6 23.

And there is no longer proof of evidence of God's love for us.

Great, there's no greater proof of God's evidence of his love for us than Jesus' death on the cross.

For in Romans 5 8, it says He showed us He loved us that in it while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Praise the Lord.

Because of God's great love and mercy, we must proclaim the gospel to others.

They cannot believe unless we share the truth.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order for the world that they might be saved through him, for whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he does not believe in the name of the only son of God.

John 3, 16 and 18.

Thank you.

Have a good evening.

Thank you very much.

Did is there anyone in the audience who may not have signed up for public testimony that would like to give some?

I see.

Are you up for it?

Okay.

Mary Joe Murley, come on up.

Hello, Mayor and Counselors.

I'm Mary Joe, uh 1320 Cedar Street, Forest Grove, and I'm um building upon something that Skip mentioned to you all, and um that is very um important to me because I am one of the round table members that he referenced the uh Washington County's historical collection, which is now um locked up and inaccessible in for an extended period of time, and it is it represents so much to everyone in this room, or it should are as we always mentioned the land acknowledgement, and um that's part of what that collection represents.

The collection is um the whole process is going to be very very difficult for that collection to re-emerge.

It could take eight to ten years before it can't becomes accessible again.

There are constant there are constantly people who need access to that, and it is not available.

It is in the building at Rock Creek Community College, where the museum has resided for a number of years since in the 1980s, but it is inaccessible.

There are two staff people from the county who are um uh doing work to um to itemize the collection, just do the whole overview of what it contains, and that is going to take an extended period of time.

So the round table, the members of the round table, we are members of historic the small historical societies from around the county who were brought together by Washington County Museum many years ago, and to help um get word out to the larger community about the risk to that collection.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to give public comment?

Seeing no others, uh anyone online, please use the raise hand feature.

Seeing no raised hands, we are gonna move on.

There isn't there are no items on our consent agenda tonight.

So we're gonna move on to item D additions and deletions.

City Manager, do you have any additions or deletions?

No additions or deletions, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Counselors, any additions or deletions.

Seeing none.

On to item E, presentations.

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

Our first presentation tonight is from the historic landmarks board annual update.

And we're gonna call Natasha Triplett.

Nope, we're not.

We're gonna call Brian Pohl, um, our community development director up for that presentation.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

Apologize, I'm pinch hitting tonight, and Matt had some family obligations, and so he is uh at home.

I'm going to do this uh tonight to give you an HLB update.

Um by way of uh the 2040 vision plan, uh this HLB update and the historic landmarks board's charge in general relates to community connection, um, civic engagement and collaboration, and uh sort of seeking ongoing feedback on city projects and programs, um, which is going to be done in the historic downtown design standards.

Uh who is the HLB?

Um, as you probably well know, being the council, they are an advisory board serving the city of Forest Grove, um, and they are appointed by by you.

Um it is comprised of residents with expertise or interest.

Not everybody has to be an expert in historic preservation to be on the HLB, but they do have an interest, and uh you do have a very dedicated group of folks who uh both have expertise and interest in historic preservation.

Uh they work in partnership with the city staff to see the cities uh oversee the city's preservation of architectural heritage uh and cultural heritage, and they act as a resource for public education and public awareness on historic preservation.

Next slide, please.

Um the HLB's role is pretty interesting, you know.

Um a lot of your uh boards and commissions sort of act in sort of a legislative or sort of you know judiciary capacity or sort of uh more community-focused capacity, and HLB is unique in the in the sense that they do both.

Um they do review review new development um alterations, restorations on properties within historic districts, and and in that sense they act very much like the planning commission, um, except for historic properties.

Um they also recommend properties for landmark as a nation.

Um, they advise on preservation-related ordinances, incentives, and policies.

Um they promote historic education, and they collaborate with the state preservation office.

Um SHIPO, state or the state historic preservation office and other local organizations like Friends of Historic Forest Grove.

Uh a couple big accomplishments from 2025.

There's a window restoration workshop.

Um, Brian Petrowski from Classic Community College came down and gave up a demo on uh how to preserve historic windows.

Um that may not sound that exciting, but if you were if you're there, it's actually really kind of cool to see somebody kind of do some of this stuff and talk about old windows and how they can be preserved and sort of some of the the merits of having old windows in uh historic properties.

Uh we also had Chris Kreen, uh former city attorney who's now retired out to do a training.

Um again, as I mentioned before, this at this board serves in sort of a legal capacity as sort of you know a judge and jury, if you will, on historic properties.

And so it's important for these members who don't see these very often.

Um they might see one case a year.

Sometimes I might go two or three years without seeing a single case come before them.

Um, and so it's important for them to kind of get the updates from legal on sort of how you conduct the hearing, what you have to disclose, you know, ex part to the contact rules and things like that.

So we did that in 2025, and uh we'll likely do that again either this year or next year.

Next slide, please.

Uh and so they have adopted a work plan.

Um, and that, as you probably well know, you had a work session on this.

The uh downtown historic standards and guidelines uh will be coming to this the HLB from the HLB to the planning commission to the city council.

Uh they'll also collaborate with the community for community engagement and the arts commission on other downtown projects, mainly the trash can designs for the covers or whatever, but historic pictures on the historic uh on the trash cans.

Um, and also to evaluate options for uh the next grant cycle with the order or with that available for any questions or comments.

Okay, thank you, Brian.

Any questions, comments?

You can go first.

Thank you.

Well, I have three questions just uh to check my understanding of HLB's role.

Uh the first, since they're they're getting involved in a downtown historic district, is around landmark designations.

Um my knowledge, we just have the hacienda building that's actually listed.

So, would they be recommending other uh buildings for historic designation?

And that kind of ties into another related to outside investment.

Yeah, so I I don't want to pretend to be an expert uh on the landmark designation by any means.

My understanding is that's a voluntary program that uh the city does not impose a landmark status on an individual building, uh, but that uh we create the historic districts uh that have some standards and everything to have new development restoration sort of fall into line with more historic fabric.

But um I do believe they they HLB will hear those cases for historic uh designation, but that that's an opt-in program.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Or related to the outside investments is many of them require our the eligibility is that it's a landmark or designated landmark.

So I'm curious what outside investments the HLB might discover in relation to our historic landmark or any prospects.

And then what funds are declared available in upcoming grant cycles because I I know some are out of depleted without further legislative appropriation.

Yeah.

I do believe that there are certain grants and funds that are available only to historic landmarks.

Um, and that's sort of irrespective of the districts, I believe.

Um that might be more of a conversation for offline for me and you if you want to meet about it sometime.

Um I want to do a little research into that because I'm just not that well versed.

I lost track.

Was that three?

Sorry.

Good enough.

Okay, I'm sorry.

I was like, I was trying to keep track, but I didn't want to cut you off.

Any other questions, comments for Brian.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

And next up, I'm sorry, one there's just come back.

I forgot.

No, no, it's not a question, it's just an acknowledgement that we do have our newest member from HLB, and thank you very much for presenting the award today.

I know we put you on the spot, so really appreciate that.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Okay, our next presentation is emergency operations plan by Chief Gearing.

Um, for those of you who do not know, that is our prior chief.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Good evening.

Good evening, council members.

Natasha, you don't have to stay for the whole meeting if you don't want.

Okay, just want to make sure you knew.

Okay, go ahead, Chief.

Thank you.

All right, the uh the agenda for tonight.

We're gonna talk about the Vision 2040 plan real quick.

We'll talk about the purpose and project objectives, talk about a little bit of background, then discuss the emergency operations plan, and then future work and next steps, and then uh be happy to entertain questions.

Uh next slide there.

Uh the uh 2040 goal statement is community growth.

The outcome is to improve public response in Forest Grove, public safety response in Forest Grove, and the action is to update the city's emergency preparedness plan in coordination with regional planning efforts.

Next.

The purpose of this project is to uh sort of fall within the national response framework, which guides how the nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies.

The national response framework is built on scalable, flexible, and adaptable concepts identified in the national incident management system.

The city of Forest Grove is required to comply with all directives specified within the national incident management system as defined in the Homeland Security Presidential Directive, and the incident command system or ICS as prescribed by NIMS ensures interoperability across multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency incident management activities through a unified command.

Next slide, please.

A couple of objectives that we want to take care of.

Our first objective is to be in compliance with ORS 401.032, which is the declared policy of the legislative legislature that preparations for emergencies and governmental responsibility responsibility for responding to emergencies be placed at the local level.

Next, please.

A little background on the EOP update process.

The city created a request for proposal and received five responses in 2024.

The city interviewed each vendor and selected the highest score, which was Stacy M.

Burr Consulting.

Stacey Burr Consulting has published over 250 emergency plans, managed and led numerous response operations nationally, and has broad experience providing services to numerous cities in Oregon as well as Washington County.

Stacy M.

Burr Consulting also produced the Cornelius EOP.

Next, please.

The EOP was adopted, or the current EOP was adopted by council in 2014.

The current EOP is jointly operated with the City of Cornelius under primary direction of Forest Grove Fire and Rescue through a previous intergovernmental agreement between the cities.

Since the dissolvement of the IGA, updated EOPs for each city will be approved by the respective governing bodies.

The City of Cornelius EOP was approved on March 2nd, 2026, and the proposed updated Forest Grove EOP will ensure clarity and roles, proper oversight, and execution of emergency response in each community.

Next, please.

So what is the EOP?

The Forest Grove Emergency Operations Plan provides guidance and procedures for the city to respond to emergency situations resulting from natural disasters, human-cause incidents, and other events that overwhelm resources or require a coordinated response.

The EOP provides the base framework that defines operational priorities and the method of implementation the city will utilize to guide and support emergency management efforts.

Specifically, the EOP describes the roles and responsibilities of city departments and personnel when an incident occurs and establishes operating guidelines that support implementation of the national incident management system, including adherence to the concepts and principles of the incident command system.

Next, please.

The EOP is comprised of three main elements the basic plan, functional support annexes, and a hazard planning annex.

Next slide.

Essential elements of the base plan include a description of the emergency services that are provided by governmental departments and agencies and how resources are mobilized, an outline of the methods for carrying out emergency operations and the process for rendering mutual aid, an overview of the system for providing public information, emphasis on the need for continuity planning to ensure uninterrupted government operations.

These elements culminate with a comprehensive emergency management concept of operations, which outlines the relationships and responsibilities for city government and its departments.

The emergency operations plan is utilized congruently with annexes and supporting documents for the purpose of emergency response.

Next, please.

Functional support annexes are utilized to describe and identify paramount operational functions for emergency purposes not described within the EOP base plan.

Support annexes are not standalone documents, but rather build upon the base plan and provide additional details for complex emergency functions.

Support annexes describe the specific roles, responsibilities, duties, and actions city departments, emergency partners, and not and non-governmental organizations will implement within the city.

The emergency services annex describes response functions and capabilities employed by city departments and support agencies during a citywide incident.

Next, please.

The last element is the hazard planning annex, which describes and identifies critical operational functions based on all hazard planning approach not described within the EOP based plan.

The plan addresses special and unique procedures generated by a particular hazard.

The plan addresses the following three objectives.

Provide a concept of operation and list of responsibilities for personnel that manage response operations for the city by hazard, define methodologies and procedures necessary for rapid notification of city departments based on defined hazard, and identify actions that can be realistically accomplished within a few hours to a few days to mitigate compounding impact or total system failure.

Next, please.

What the EOP is not.

The EOP is not a disaster prevention guide for residents or visitors.

The EOP is not an emergency readiness guide for residents or visitors.

The EOP is not a step-by-step recipe for disaster response.

The EOP focuses on emergency preparation and planning at the city level with city resources and provides an overall framework for response.

Next, please.

The new updated EOP is organized differently and offers the base plan as a standalone document.

It provides a separate document for each of the annexes.

This makes for easier referral and clarity in roles and responsibilities.

Next, please.

Council roles and responsibilities.

They have not changed.

We asked council to set the tone and direction in the community for prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery activities, have a general understanding of the city's emergency operations framework, create or adopt local ordinances and plans that contribute to the emergency management mission, collaborate with community leadership, and establish partnerships.

Perhaps, next slide.

Perhaps the most important role of the council is to declare a state of emergency if necessary and act on emergency funding needs.

Next, please.

Create an emergency EOC callback procedure, create opportunities for position specific EOC training, update EOC position descriptions and checklists, ensure the EOC is operationally ready to open and conduct internal training exercises.

Next, please.

And then next steps is to uh it's promulgation of the EOP.

We plan to place a resolution to adopt the EOP on the May 25th council agenda for council approval.

That's the end of my presentation.

Happy to take any questions.

Thank you, Chief.

Any questions?

I have does anyone else have a question?

Okay, I have a couple questions.

So in the presentation, it said it was long over this update, it is long overdue.

And so I'm just wondering how frequently should we be updating that and how can we make sure we stay on that cadence?

In the thank you.

In the FEMA guide, uh it really says that it should be a work in progress.

So as we're going through the plan and uh uh preparing it, preparing the EOC, providing the checklist, uh providing training.

Uh if we see any changes that need to be made, if we come across anything, they should be changed.

So at any point in time.

It's like the Constitution.

Yeah, right?

Yeah, in theory.

Sorry.

Uh and and uh and uh if nothing else, in five years, we should uh make sure that it's uh current and review it in in five years and bring it back to council.

Yeah, and then just another follow-up question that I've heard throughout my time on council.

There's community members that you know want to be involved, and I know we don't have city resources to train you know, neighborhood like commanders and neighborhoods, but how I guess I'm just curious.

You know, we have experts and people who are prepared, and if there is a natural disaster or an emergency, it's gonna be a whole community.

So I'm just wondering how do we kind of reconcile that opportunity to involve the community with the limited resources we have.

Is there a plan to do that?

I mean, what do I tell community members who say, like, hey, you know, I have a hand radio, I can do this, or in my neighborhood I can do that.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Mariah, there's a slide at the end of the presentation.

Could you just pull that up?

Did I miss it?

I probably missed it.

Yeah, so um, that's a good question because uh we have to make connections in the community, right?

Um, because we cannot do this alone.

Uh we have uh reached out to some of our partners.

Uh there's a dialysis clinic that we've reached out to and provided some assistance and communicated with them on a reasonable plan for uh evacuation for their patients.

Uh we're also uh engaged with the uh Asher, which is the active shooter response.

Uh recently we engaged with uh departments in the county uh for wildland uh response.

We had a tabletop exercise, and we're leading the effort in changing the response cards for um uh larger incidents with multi-casualty um victims.

Uh so uh we are out there, uh we're in the community as well, at least twice a year, even more than that.

And so we're uh we're making connections.

And uh I would say that in in the next phase of of this plan, once we have it adopted and we're putting everything together and providing training, that we would uh it's incumbent on us to reach out to uh community groups and include them in that in that portion of the EOP.

Perfect.

Great.

Thank you, Chief.

I don't think there's any further questions.

No, cancer.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, we're gonna move on to our third presentation of the evening, which is our IT update by our assistant city manager, Kim Ezel.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council.

Just waiting for the presentation to come up.

We've got the very exciting presentation about our IT.

So tonight we'll talk a little bit about the background, progress report, and next steps.

If we can go forward two slides.

Uh, purpose of tonight, provide an update to council on the city's IT program and plans for the future.

Next slide.

This is connected to the Vision 2040 goal area community connection, as well as the outcome about increased partnership and collaboration amongst community organizations in the city.

I think we can all agree that we can't collaborate effectively with anybody if our IT infrastructure is not up to scratch.

And the 2628 council action plan also included an item to complete deferred IT maintenance.

Next slide.

A little bit of background.

In 2025, after the IT manager resigned, the city had difficulty recruiting for the IT manager role.

A lot of competition amongst not only governmental agencies, but also private business to manage the city's IT needs.

The city hired the IT services firm structured.

This was a limited solicitation procurement, approved in June 2025.

The structured contract expires uh this October, which is what is prompting this action now as we try to figure out what our next steps are so that we are prepared for that contract expiration in October.

Next slide.

Uh progress report.

So since structured was hired, IT services have stabilized and backlogged IT maintenance has been addressed.

Now I want to give a special shout out to Eddie Littlefield of the Light and Power Department, did a ton.

Michael Manglona, who is our PC Tech, is constantly working on all of these, as well as VJ Reddy, who is our systems administrator.

We could not have gotten to the place that we are without the three of their work.

Um that includes being able to update workstations for employees.

A lot of employees got their first laptop in a while.

Uh most of our computers have been updated to Windows 11.

We've had some critical cybersecurity upgrades.

Uh we're still in the process of updating servers, but many have been updated and entered into a regular patching cycle.

And we've been able to start identifying what our future projects are so that we don't fall behind.

Next slide.

So looking at next steps, we've really identified three possible paths forward for when our contract ends in October.

One is to re-establish that IT manager role internally.

The second is to continue to contract for private sector IT services.

Third option would be to enter into an IGA intergovernmental agreement for IT services with another municipal government.

Next slide.

So internal staffing, it does mean that we would have full control of IT services, but as we've all already learned, it is difficult to hire.

When you lose an employee like that who is a central linchpin, you become very vulnerable during that employee transition.

And when we have a small team of three, it can be hard to develop all of that required expertise.

We're finding more and more IT specialties are becoming more niche.

Um, so being able to have a deeper bench can be helpful.

The contract solution does have a deep does come with a deep bench of expertise, and the contractor does become responsible for continuing service if any of their employees transition out.

Uh it is the most expensive option, and it does mean that we have decreased internal control of IT services, would be a downside.

Third option is that IGA, depending on what type of government agency or other entity you're able to partner with, you can also receive that deep bench of expertise with greater knowledge of best practices and uniqueness of government IT that doesn't come with all external contracts, although you can certainly find it.

It does also include the downside of decreased internal control of IT services.

One other thing to think about when it comes to IGAs is it's kind of like how internal staffing can be difficult to hire.

You gotta have to find the right Cinderella shoe fits for an in uh for an IGA partner.

They need to be another agency that has some bandwidth, has some similar systems.

Um I think we might have been able to find that, but we'll we'll see.

Um so next slide.

Thinking about those options and conversations with some neighboring jurisdictions, we began developing an IGA with the city of Tiger that would come before council to provide some of those critical IT services.

As I was describing, it can be really difficult to find a good IGA partner because you need to have a lot of similarities already in common.

Um, but fortunately for us, the city of Tiger has done a lot of the things that we are trying to do, they've just completed.

So things like a full phone system upgrade that we know we need to do in the next two years.

They have standardized employee workstation rollouts.

So while we have managed to upgrade many employees' workstations, it's a very manual process.

We'd like to be able to standardize that so we can get new computers out faster on a more timely refresh cycle.

They've also completed some cybersecurity upgrades that include some firewalls, CGIS, which is our community uh community, uh it's our criminal justice information system.

Um they are up to that CGIS standard that we are still trying to get to.

They have the same enterprise system that we have, Tyler EERP.

They have because they have completed these recent projects, they do have available stand staff bandwidth with the staff expertise.

And this last bullet I want to spend some time on this mutual understanding to pilot a shared municipal IT services.

So we are part of what's called the bug.

That's the broadband user group.

That's a Washington County wide organization where we kind of share access to internet and some other things, and we are in a five-year IGA.

One of the conversations during this last IGA cycle, which ended, which we just signed in the last six months, was do we want to have a collective Washington County shared IT services?

Is this something that we should join collectively?

And there didn't really, there wasn't a lot of traction around that idea.

But one opportunity that we could have if we share this IGA with Tiger is that we can kind of pilot what it looks like to have shared IT services across Washington County.

It's especially interesting because we're kind of on opposite sides, kind of.

We are on opposite sides of the county, but we're also the third and fourth largest cities in Washington County.

So we have some gravity that we can start putting together.

So it's an interesting opportunity to pilot that.

And that is the quick and dirty IT update.

Uh, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments?

Go ahead, Counselor Schimmel.

Well, you mentioned firewall and using an external service.

Could you speak to the compliance with uh now state law prohibiting data sharing or access to federal yeah?

And I don't think I can speak to the the technical pieces of that firewall or making sure that we're in uh maintenance, but it is one of the advantages to partnering with another local government is that they are subject to, especially in the state of Oregon, is that they are subject to the same requirements, and so we'll be able to build off of that for each other, and that's something I'm looking forward to.

Any other questions?

I mean, just a comment.

I think like Bravo for figuring this out.

IT has a bit like we've been struggling for, I mean, we've been struggling since I think for the last four years, to be blunt.

I mean, so uh thank you.

Thanks.

I'm hopeful that this is a good path forward.

At least it's a path forward.

Right.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Cool.

Thank you.

So we're gonna move on to our next what did I do with my we're gonna move on to our next item on the agenda, which is item F, public hearings, ordinances, and resolutions.

I think you're just gonna stay put.

Yes, I am yeah, my turn ordered for resolution 202613.

Yes, uh, thank you.

The item before you tonight is an IGA with Metro that extends Forest Growth's participation in the solid waste community enhancement program through December 31st, 2030.

The program was established by Metro to enhance communities that host waste management facilities.

For the program, Metro collects a fee of $1.50 per ton of waste collected at the transfer station and transfers those collected funds to Forest Grove to administer a community enhancement grant program.

The city receives about a hundred thousand dollars per year through this process.

Last year, funding was awarded for projects by the Family Peace Center, the Forest Grove Cornelius Chamber of Commerce, Forest Grove Elps, St.

Vincent DePaul, and Pacific University.

The proposed IGA is essentially the same as the current IGA with few changes.

The most notable change is that the CEP grant committee will need to add one community member.

If council approves the IGA, the full CEP committee will be briefed on implementing the change at their next meeting, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay, great.

Questions for him.

Okay, seeing no or hearing no questions.

What is the wish of the council?

Move to approve.

Second.

Okay, resolution 202613 was moved by Council President Valenzuela and seconded by Councillor Martinez.

Um discussion.

Hearing no discussion, will the city manager please read it by title only?

Resolution 2026-13 authorizing the city manager to endorse community enhancement grant program intergovernmental agreement between the city of Forest Grove and Metro.

Great.

Okay, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none.

Resolution 202613 has been approved by the Forest Grove City Council in a seven to zero vote.

Thank you very much.

And then we're gonna keep on moving with resolution 202614.

The resolution before you tonight adopts the city's investment policy.

Adopting the investment policy is an annual required operation of the city per ORS.

The investment policy applies to most city funds, but notably does not apply to the city's defined benefit plan investments.

The city's outside investment advisor has reviewed the policy and has no recommended changes.

The city's outside investment advisor advisor also had no recommended changes last year.

There have been no changes in state investment laws or investment best practices since the policy was last reviewed.

And so staff is recommending readoption with no changes.

I'm happy to answer questions.

Okay, any questions for our assistant city manager.

Hearing none, what is the wish of the council?

Move to approve.

Second.

Great.

Thank you.

Uh Councilor Martinez, seconded by Councillor Falkner.

Resolution 202614.

Any discussion.

Hearing none.

Will the city manager please read it by title only?

Resolution 2026-14 adopting revised investment policy for the city of Forest Grove and repealing resolution number 2025-40.

Thank you.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none.

Resolution 202614 is approved by the Forest Grove City Council in a seven to zero vote.

Thank you.

Okay, so now we're gonna move on to our council communications.

And I'm gonna start with our council president Valenzuela.

So I have nothing to report.

The policy advisory board has cancelled the meetings toward the month of May and the month of June.

So I have no meetings.

My only announcement this evening is that I've had my third grandchild.

Really?

Little boy.

My bad.

Okay, next up.

Congratulations, by the way, Council President.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Councilor Feltner.

Well, HLB was my only meeting.

Um, and so again, just wanted to welcome our newest member, Natasha.

Thank you for joining us and helping out tonight.

Okay, and we're gonna move on to Councillor Griffson.

I nothing to report.

Okay, thank you.

Um Councilor Marshall.

Nothing to report.

Thank you.

And Councilor Martinez.

So rural fire board, they've tentatively finished their budget.

And um they have a new um bookkeeper, Amber Woodford, and she's doing a fabulous job.

She's really doing it well with uh good job for the the department.

So she's a former student of mine, and her dad's a former firefighter for Forest Grove.

Just a little.

That's it.

Cool.

Thank you.

Um, I think that leaves us with Councilor Shummel.

That's the report.

Okay.

No, we're like way ahead.

But this is the wild crazy ride we're on here.

Go uh City Manager's reports.

All right, thank you, Mayor.

Um, I do have a few things to report.

Um Metro's vision, uh, excuse me, Metro's future vision survey.

This is Metro is going through a planning process for the next 50 years, very similar to the 2040 process that they went through in the late 90s, early 2000s.

They've got a survey that they have promulgated.

The city will be putting that survey on our website, probably also putting something out on social.

Um, it's for the entire region to participate, not just for City of Forest Grove residents, but for all of the municipalities and unincorporated areas inside the metro boundary, are encouraged to participate.

The survey is open until May 31st.

So be looking for that on some of the um city's communications.

Um congressional directed spending requests.

Um I think I reported earlier that Congresswoman Bonamici did submit a request on behalf of the City of Forest Grove for TV Highway.

Uh that request is pending.

Um the Senate has made their request, but there has not been any kind of reconciliation between the House and the Senate yet.

So I don't have anything further to report on that, except that TV Highway is still in the running.

Um couple things to follow up from earlier uh during the work session.

We the farmers market, as everybody know, has started.

Uh last week was the first Wednesday, first farmers market of the year.

Um, as part of the farmers market, the city has what's called an MOU or a kind of a long-term street closure permit with Adelante Mejaras.

A couple key things that are different uh this year.

Um just a couple changes of note.

One is is that 21st between uh Maine and A due to the discontinuance of the Festival of the Arts that will not be closed as part of the um first Wednesdays.

Um then secondly, the city was collaborating with Adelante for some additional road closure barricades and signage to improve safety.

Last year there were some concerns on South Maine next to Pacific and also on North Main.

So we're collaborating with Adelante on some additional signage there, so look for that.

Uh couple things coming up.

Um the city is doing two studies.

One is a grocery store analysis for our urban renewal properties, the other one is a boutique hotel analysis.

The grocery store analysis is complete.

The boutique hotel analysis is near completion.

So they're propagating the executive summary now.

Staff is reviewing it.

Once both of those are fully complete, uh, we'll summarize the results and we'll have a urban renewal agency work session, probably sometime in June.

Um we heard from ODOT they are going to start construction on TV Highway on the A and B mid Block Crossing, likely in late May.

Uh, just for a reminder, this is the pedestrian crossing that will go north to south across uh just south of Rose Grove and then uh go south to the uh the bus stop uh across Pacific Avenue.

We will have what's called a rapid flashing beacon or a flashing light that you can press to alert drivers to stop while you're crossing TV Highway.

Um we recently were in touch with the railroad.

Uh I want to give a shout out to Oregon Department of Transportation, Odot.

Uh they were um uh assisted us in contacting the correct folks at the railroad uh to talk about the design for the safe routes to school project that the city is looking at doing over on Mountain View.

Sometimes getting the right person at the railroad is very key to being able to finalize the design, run some concepts by them.

So a big thanks to Odot for kind of brokering some of those communications.

Um the emergency intertie, the water in t inner tie, that's the one that's being installed on the 72-inch line from joint water commission that goes to Hillsboro.

This is to add some redundancy to the city's water system.

Uh that project's going great.

It's gonna be fully completed in June.

Um, the uh public works administrative building is going really well.

Uh kudos to Crystal Strassel and also Greg Robertson.

That project is actually ahead of schedule by about a month.

It's currently under budget right now, so we're very happy with that.

Um the Friends of the Library book sale starts this Thursday through Saturday.

So if you're looking for some books, please go to the library.

If you do get a chance to stop by the library, Pacific University's art class is displaying their artwork.

Um, it's it's wonderful.

Stop by and have a look.

Um from Light and Power, uh, they completed installing some underground wires in preparation for Poplar and Heather, excuse me, in preparation for Heather Street, uh that is being extended from Mountain View over to Poplar to put the uh street lights in.

Uh Light and Power completed some underground wires.

And I think that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, members of the council.

Great.

Thank you.

Um, I also have a few things to go over, but I don't think it'll take me an hour.

This is like the earliest the meeting, I feel like has ever gone.

I'm like my in my in 12 years.

In the entire time I've been on council.

I'm just shocked.

Okay.

So uh the first farmers market was last Wednesday, and I really you know really like going to the farmers market.

I go and hang out the city booth and I go hang out with the police uh station, the police booth.

Um but it's really informal conversations from community members.

And you get a lot of feedback.

And so, you know, there's some questions about data centers uh and things going on like that, but then also about park maintenance.

Um, and then our website when we did the website refresh, there used to be information about specific parks and kind of the history, and I think that some you know what I heard from a community member is that that went away, and I think that we need to double check that and specifically with uh Abbey and Abigail and in Abigail's park.

Uh, that came as a donation, right?

And so we really need to make sure we don't lose um the history of that.

And then, you know, I'm always gonna plug that, and we all know that that we need more maintenance with our parks.

Um, the other thing I want to say about the farmers market is I'm gonna be kind of I don't know.

I think that you know, the farmers market's a really good opportunity for education for the police facility bond.

And I think putting the city with the police station next to each other is like crucial to doing that.

Um, and I think you know, being able to have an open house at the same time and maybe having the comms team, maybe you know, the comms person from the police station together and then police and council, you know, because the other I'm gonna be really blunt with y'all too is I think that we should all sign up to work one of those at least, or maybe have two counselors at because then we can we have a different role than staff has, right?

We can advocate, we can talk about it.

So just want to encourage that.

I did attend um Pat Truax's funeral a couple weeks ago, and uh very sad, but also I thought was very Pat, and you know, I'm sure she had some role in planning that was a great event and a lot of horse grove community members and staff showed up.

Uh region one act, which is our ODOT elected and community member and volunteer transportation group.

Oh, that the last three meetings have been entirely frustrating.

ODOT's going through their SIP plan, their capital investment plan.

We had uh decide on five projects, and then they after we had done that, they came back to the to each act and said, Oh, give us a 10 additional projects for after we do those five projects.

And they didn't really give us any criteria and it went back and forth like buckets, like buckets would be like paving or safety improvement or or specific projects like the Boons Bridge.

Anyways, we didn't like three meetings, we never got anything out of that.

Like never came out with any additional projects to elevate to uh ODOT, but what we came out last Monday was that we needed to decide on a plan or a process, so we were ready to do it next time.

Um really really frustrating.

Us should I go into another frustrating thing?

Um, so then I know, right?

Um I met with I got was reached out to by individuals from Oregon State University extension program and 4-H.

They're funded, they have a line item in the Washington County budget.

And what that group does, the service they provide, um, is not only just 4-H, but Master Gardeners and some other things, and I think they didn't know how long, but they felt for a very long time they'd been funded through the county.

But given the county's budget deficit of $10 million this year, um, they have been encouraged to ask for their own taxing district on the May 2027 ballot.

That was the date they gave me.

Um, so they were trying to see like what I thought about that.

Um, you know, and I so I just told them like at this point, I can't endorse one way or the other that I'm worried about taxing compression and I'm curious about some of these other things with the county.

They did ask, um, I think too, we're gonna go our levy, like we're gonna go for our operational levy that same.

If my dates were correct when I was meeting with them, I believe we're going for the levy at that same election cycle is one concern.

But they did offer to present to the council.

I don't know if that's something you all are interested in or if we should just wait.

I think you know, my suggestion to the council based on the meeting I had with them is that we wait to see if there's traction because I don't think they're really getting support.

I don't know.

They needed a first our meeting with all the mayors in Washington County, then they're gonna go back to the board of commissioners, and then so I think we could wait for now.

Um, and then if it gets closer and they are gonna do that, we could have them present.

Okay.

And I'm gonna go to the Metro is having a meeting at the Hidden Creek, the Hillsborough Rec Center, Hidden Creek, I think what is it called, Hidden Creek Rec Center, uh, for their long-term strategic plan.

And I'm planning on attending that Thursday from four to six, so that Force Grove is represented.

And also a friendly, just two reminders about our upcoming meetings.

Tomorrow we have a budget committee meeting.

Is that at Light and Power?

Yeah.

It is at the Light and Power building.

So we get to like take a little field trip to a different city venue.

And then our next in an earlier presentation, it said our next city council meeting was on the 25th.

But I believe our next city council meetings actually on Tuesday, May 26th, because Memorial Day is the 25th.

Um, and with that, that's all I have.

So at 8.06 p.m., I will adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.

This is the earliest ever.