Thanks for bearing with me.

I'm a little bit late.

I would like to call this meeting to order.

It's 7 08.

Will our city recorder please call roll?

Counselor Schimmel?

Here.

Counselor Falconer?

Here.

Counselor Martinez?

Here.

Counselor Marshall.

Here.

Mayor Wenzel.

Here.

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

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

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

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

To the Republic for which it one nation under God, indivisible, liberty investment problems.

Thank you.

There are no proclamations this evening, so we'll move on to item B on the agenda, which is public comment.

Public comment time provided for anyone wishing to speak to the council on any item not scheduled for a public hearing.

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

The public comment period shall not exceed 30 minutes unless extended by the council.

Our first person and only person as of right now signed up for public testimony is Mr.

Dale Feek.

Good evening, Mr.

Feek.

Good evening, Mayor Wenzel and Councillors.

Dale Feek.

May I have three minutes?

You may.

Thank you very much.

I have two topics.

Uh, one is the forest group permanent supportive housing update.

The second is uh current situation and what others have a right to expect us and what we have a right to expect from others.

The uh people on the agenda today is Jill Chin and Lisa Varn are representing the county.

It has to do with Forest Growth Permanent Supportive Housing Update.

I made a little bit of public comment about county.

You know, it's going to be Jim's automotive, they're gonna refurbish that and have a great program.

So it's great that you're supporting that, and the county is supporting you and you're supporting each other.

It's great.

Uh Mortimer J.

Adler, prominent philosopher, uh, has written the book called Aristotle for Everybody Difficult Thought Made Easy.

And he says, based upon everything that's been read, uh, that's the only book that's ever is morally sound, undogmatic, is Nicomedian ethics written in the uh fifth century by Aristotle.

And Adler updated it so it's current for women and blacks and everybody else.

Okay.

So, because of the current political climate, please consider his words of wisdom below.

What do others have a right to expect from us?

From Aristotle, everybody difficult thought made easy.

That we keep the promises we make to them.

That we tell them the truth when telling a lie.

Telling a lie would hurt them in some way.

That we're return anything we have borrowed and promised to return.

That we pay our debts to them, that we do not steal what belongs to them, that we do not injure their health, damage their bodies, or kill them.

And what's happening in the world, we really have to consider that.

That we do not interfere with their freedom of action when their conduct in no way injures us.

And eight, that we do not make false statements that would injure the reputation or give them a bad name.

Adler says all these things are more of the same sort can be summed up by saying that others have a right to expect from us that we might that we do nothing that might impede or obstruct their pursuit of happiness, nothing might interfere with or prevent their obtaining or possessing the real goods they need to make good lives for themselves.

That gives them a right to them, and is there a right to them that we are obliged to respect if we ourselves are just Adler also says we have a right to expect the same thing from others?

I think those are really things that all should be considered.

I sent this to the four mayors and counselors uh that I sent to before and to the housing authority uh of uh the county.

Thank you for giving me an extra minute.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

Feek.

Is there anyone else in the audience who may not have signed up for public comment who wishes to give public comment?

Seeing none, is there anyone on Zoom who wishes to give public comment?

Seeing none, we will now move on to item C, which is our 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.

Thank you.

The consent agenda was moved by Councillor Falkner and seconded by Councillor Schimal.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none.

The consent agenda is approved by the Forest Grove City Council in a five to zero vote.

Additions or deletions.

City manager, any additions or deletions?

No additions or deletions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Great.

Any proposed by counselors?

None.

So now we will move on to our presentations.

And just like that, folks, I caught us back up.

Look how great that was.

Amazing.

Okay, 7.15 presentations.

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

And first up, we have our Metro update.

And I'm gonna bring up Council President Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who used to be our Metro District 4 counselor.

How do I say your last name?

Palacios.

Welcome, Counselor Palacios.

Thank you for being our counselor.

Well, it's just such a delight uh to have an opportunity to uh be on this side of the dice again.

Um and I want to thank uh Councilor Palacios uh for joining me.

Um just last week passed the baton to him.

He's the new uh district four metro counselor.

We have a few updates and key slides that we want to share with you to just give you a flavor of of the things that the Metro Council is working on uh and that have an impact to the wonderful city of Forest Grove.

So I know that we have a PowerPoint we sent.

At least the anticipation.

I mean the only theme song I know is Jeopardy, but I don't think it's appropriate right now.

Well, uh in the meantime, um, and it's okay if we don't, we can just talk about what we would were planning to share on the slides.

I would love to give Counselor Palacios an opportunity to just uh introduce himself.

Um thank you so much.

Uh my name is uh Counselor Miles Palacios.

I see his pronouns.

Uh I think I was doing the math, but I'm just over hours in the motion.

Um veteran status.

But uh yes, I I live in Iowa.

Uh member of the Metro Council.

Great.

Thanks for coming out.

It's okay, Mary.

No problem at all.

We're just gonna get into it then.

Um, uh, I have three uh main things that I want to update uh the council on, and then I'll hand it off to Councilor Palacios.

The first will be the TV Highway uh transit safety project, one that the city of Forest Grove has been not just the great partner in, but an investor, which has been very important.

Uh also we'll share a little bit about uh the housing acceleration fund, which was the first action that the Metro Council took this calendar year, and then finally provide an update on uh the regional policy oversight committee, which is the new uh kind of uh oversight and accountability structure for uh the region's supportive housing services measure, which is uh this region's primary tool to address housing uh and homelessness crisis that uh is unfolding in every corner of the region.

Uh first I'll just touch on the TB Highway Transit and Safety Project.

Uh I think folks know that um the project is focused on bringing frequent express service from downtown Beaverton to downtown Forest Grove.

Uh TB Highway is the highest uh bus ridership line in Washington County, also one of the most uh uh fatal for pedestrians and has some of the most crashes uh in in all of Washington County.

Uh this project is focused on providing much faster travel times to riders, uh improving the bus waiting area so the station and creating uh uh a much much more of a of a destination and just general safer access to transit.

This means sidewalks uh and crossing uh across TV Highway, which is uh an endemic issue uh throughout the entire corridor.

Uh a few months ago, Metro for formally handed the project over to TriMet.

Uh TriMet right now is leading the project planning outreach and design, uh, and they will are the ones that will pursue the formal uh capital investment grant, uh the CIG grant with the Federal Transit Administration.

And uh right now, uh the most important thing that I would love your continued leadership on uh is that the region needs to be coordinated with our legislature uh and in legislative session.

Uh when you add uh the amount of money that has been raised by the region, it's about 100 million dollars.

Uh we would unlock 150 million dollars from the federal government, but we need is 50 million dollars, and it's the state's facility, it's the state's road.

Uh they uh at a minimum should be putting 50 million dollars in, and that would unlock 250 million dollars of investment.

That's kind of the value for the state there.

So um the TV Highway Transit and Safety Project construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2028, assuming we're able to uh secure the 50 million dollars um and service would be uh would begin uh by 2030.

Again, assuming we're able to move forward uh to plan.

And Councilor Palacios will soon take over and sit on the policy and budget committee.

But that's been one of the biggest projects that I've worked on as a counselor, and and I really want to thank y'all.

And I and I know Councilor Palacios is gonna crush it.

Uh the next is the housing accelerator fund.

Uh again, this was the first action that the Metro Council took in 2026.

We created a one-time $5 million grant program for cities and jurisdictions uh in the Portland metro area.

Uh uh these are uh technical assistance funds to support housing production, and you know, as you know, every city and the region is required to uh complete a housing needs analysis, and so there's a wide range of strategies and a whole wide range of things that a lot of communities are identifying.

Um the state is putting very little money uh to activate those strategies.

So the Metro Council activated uh reserves, and this will be a grant program that I really hope that the city of Forest Grove applies to.

Um and there's a wide range of things that are possible.

Some examples include uh pre-development activities that include site surveys, feasibility studies, area plans, and other activities that prepare sites for development.

Um also grants uh to jurisdictions that could support activities um like technical work around uh the acceleration of permit reviews, um uh again, uh site suitability studies, uh looking at your code and and how you're able to move housing forward and any other strategies uh that you that the city might be interested in.

So um, we're hoping that the application will be launched this summer.

Uh so just uh for Jesse and the team and for the council to be on the lookout.

I know that Forest Grove wants to build more housing so our families can afford to live here and continue to thrive here and plant roots here.

So I would love for the city of Forest Grove to get some money from that.

Uh and then lastly for me uh on SHS, the support of housing services measure.

One of my uh top priorities, even before I became the uh Metro Council president uh has been to collectively strengthen and improve uh the SHS system, uh the supportive housing services system, which funds the three counties uh in the metro area.

Um I want to make sure that uh voters know that every single dollar that we are spending is making the highest possible impact and that we're making progress in uh and making homelessness short, uh rare and non-reoccurring for people.

Uh a major step of the reforms that the Metro Council has led over the last 24 months is uh creating a new oversight committee, the Regional Policy Oversight Committee on Support of Housing Services for folks that remember, and it's okay if you don't.

Before this committee, we had two separate committees, the Tri-County Planning Body and the SHS Oversight Committee, kind of wonky, two different committees didn't always know how to talk back and forth with each other.

And um, we felt it was important to create single unified oversight.

Uh, and that includes cities, uh counties, members of the justice system, health system, uh, the governor's office has a seat at the table.

So really every layer of government, every sector of our homeless services response to truly create a strong regional uh uh program and system.

So far, we've completed four meetings.

Um, and uh I keep telling people that we have about uh 13 more meetings before the region needs to refer a ballot uh to renew the program.

So I feel a tremendous urgency.

And this measure is so important to this region.

Uh, and I want to show folks uh that that uh the money will make the the biggest impact possible.

Uh the Washington County area uh has two boats on this body.

Uh that is Washington County Commissioner Jerry Willie, who represents the county, and then cities in Washington County are represented uh by Hillsborough Mayor Beach Pace as the primary, and then Beaverton Mayor uh Lacey Beatty is the alternate place.

So that's kind of how Washington County has its voice represented.

Also, there is a Washington County service provider, which is community action, which is headquartered in the Hillsborough and Beaver area.

But anyway, I'm going to pass it off to Councilor Palacios to talk about parks and nature.

Thank you so much.

So this is my first presentation in general as counselor.

But I'm super excited that I get to talk about parks and nature.

For those of you who don't know, I uh have come just recently from a role in the last three years as a director over at the Twalton Hills Park and Recreation District.

And a lot of my professional career has been in space.

So very exciting for me to come into this role with a deep love for our parks and nature spaces.

So the opportunity to get to tackle this is really exciting for me.

This will be one of my main priorities in this term.

So the Parks and Nature Levy.

It is something that over the last 30 years, Metro has been known for the work that we've done to protect and restore the habitats throughout this region, thinking very clearly about our clean water, healthy fish, wildlife, and other opportunities for just the people of this region to also experience the beauty that is our community outside of our city.

A big part of how we are able to do that is the funding that we get from the levy.

This levy is expiring in 2028.

It has been around for about 15 years after it was first initiated in 2013.

As we continue to have the protection of these natural spaces as a priority for the region, not just for Metro, but for community stores, we are starting to think about what we need to do to get ahead of this next phase of the levy's life.

Originally it was approved as I said in 2013 to improve our parks and natural areas.

At that time, it was passed with a 9.6 cents per 1,000 of assessed value on homes for property taxes.

And the average household would be paying around $28 a year.

And it raised about $19 million over annually over the time that we've run, which has been invaluable to the projects in the region for these particular works.

However, as we think about that unchanged rate, we also need to recognize that there has been a massive development of what we do in terms of the portfolio for our nature and recreation park spaces.

Uh that were ready to go for community participation in the Metro region.

That is now around 20,000 acres as well as 2012 parks.

So currently these funds fund about two-thirds of all of our programs around parks and nature development in our operating budget specifically.

Two to three cents to help kind of just adjust for the reality of the change in what we are providing, what we have, and also just the growth of the region itself over these past 15.

So that's a bit about the levy.

And I'm also really excited to talk about a new opportunity for dollars in partnership with Metro and for our communities here.

So this is one of the ways that Metro has supported communities across the region by reinvesting funds collected through the regional system fee.

This fund particularly in particular has just now received additional funding for the fiscal year of 2026 to 27, which has also created opportunity to expand eligibility to include uh some of our uh mural installations or uh graffiti abatement projects.

Uh eligible projects would include uh neighborhood litter cleanups, large household item collection events, uh, and community uh recycling funds.

Uh the refresh fund is available year-round to local governments, um, nonprofit schools and business district associations.

Uh it's flexible, low barrier uh funding to support immediate cleanup in underserved communities, uh, and it can be used for a variety of different things.

So there's a lot of flexibility under the umbrella uh for community cleanup.

Uh awards can be up to $5,000 per project.

Uh and for this year, we have uh $20,000 that we can put in the fiscal year towards projects such as these.

Um the real important piece that we want to hammer home here uh is that in the last calendar year, we did not receive any applications for this particular fund from District Four.

Um, and we really want to make sure that District 4 is getting proper representation in these types of programs across the board within Metro.

Um so the or uh overall number of funds that have been distributed to Washington County is significantly lower than other parts of the region.

We've only received about 12% of the funds uh for this particular program.

Um I want to ask again for your help in promoting this opportunity uh to your partners.

Uh again.

We didn't really get anyone from District 4 last year, so we really hope to change that.

Is it an open application or is there a time limit or like an application time?

I believe it's a rolling application because we do talk about how it's uh available year round, but we can get back to you if that is not correct.

Perfect.

Um to help showcase what these funds could be directed towards.

Uh the city of Milwaukee used these funds to remove and dispose of abandoned RVs throughout their community.

Uh they also addressed uh through this uh eligible usage of the dollars.

They were able to address uh public safety issue uh and dumping nuisance.

Uh so just to kind of highlight some of the creativity that these funds could be used for.

Uh we've also used these funds for programs like in Happy Valley, uh, their large household item collection event in June.

Multnomah Villages Business Association awarded funds to assist with their uh installation of several murals, um, and then uh a few other projects as well.

Um but yeah, that is what I have here to highlight, and I'll go ahead and pass it back over to President Gonzalez.

Oh well, uh that covers uh we wanted to present today.

The counselor and I are happy to uh take any questions and support in the presentation.

Perfect.

Any questions?

Good counselor Falkner and then Councillor Schimmel.

Uh I just thank you so much for all of the updates.

And I I would I I just hope that we maybe this council can you know maybe encourage staff to really look, you know, look into those um grant opportunities.

I'm particularly interested in the housing acceleration fund.

Seems like um that's directly in line with a lot of the planning um that we have to do over the next couple of years with um housing capacity analysis and also HPS.

Um and then this you know, regional refresh fund sounds uh I I can think of a whole lot of I you know ideas for using those five thousand dollars right here in Forest Grove.

So I think we should definitely encourage staff to pursue those opportunities.

Great.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor Schimmel.

I concur with Councillor Feckner.

Thanks for uh just echo those and thank you, uh Counselor Gonzalez for your your service in District Four and the service you're already given as president and uh is welcome to I'm honored to serve with you and uh look forward to talking with you again soon.

Yeah, I just want to double down on these comments to staff, but also importantly to you, um, council president Gonzalez, uh overwhelming feeling of pride to have someone who went through Force Grove schools, lived in this community, worked a centro.

Um, you know, there's like this optics that politicians are bad and that people do it for the wrong reasons.

And you know, looking at you, I know that's incorrect, and I think you've been doing it for all the right reasons, and I continue to just feel very lucky that we are partners with you, and I'm excited to see all the things you're gonna do for our region.

So congratulations.

And well, as I hope that you enjoy working with us and that you find us to be a friendly council.

Um, and you know, I don't want to I try not to speak for other people, but I think you have a team here that values partnerships um and that is willing to work with you.

So welcome aboard and we're looking forward to continuing to do the work.

So thanks, gentlemen.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Next up we have uh presentation from the Force Girl Cornelius Chamber of Commerce on a tourism update.

So I will invite our chamber director, or no, maybe we'll both.

I have, yeah.

Come on up, Amanda.

Come up, Claudia.

Hi, how are you?

Thank you for the accommodation.

I know it says Claudia Yakos, but uh, I'll be giving the presentation today.

Yeah, you're good.

Thanks.

So good evening, Mayor Wenzel and Council.

My name is Amanda Yakos.

Um, I'm the chief operations and communications operations management for the Chamber of Commerce with Forest Grove and Cornelius, and I also see the day-to-day operations for the marketing aspect of discover forest grove.

Thank you again for the opportunity to share our vision for the next chapter.

Tourism and Forest Grove.

So when people think about Forest Grove, we want them to think about a place worth discovering, a place worth spending time in and a place they can't wait to come back to.

So tonight I'm excited to share how we're working together to make that vision a reality.

Why tourism matters?

Thank you.

Slide, Mariah.

Uh, when we talk about tourism, we're really talking about bringing new dollars into our community.

Visitors spend money at our restaurants, wineries, our coffee shops, retail stores, hotels, attractions, local events, these dollars circulating through our economy.

They support small businesses, they support jobs, they generate transient launching tax revenue.

Most importantly, they help create a vibrant downtown community that residents enjoy every day.

And tourism isn't separate from economic development.

Tourism is economic development.

And the beauty of tourism is that we're inviting people to invest in Forest Grove simply by experiencing everything that we already have.

Our vision is very simple.

We want Forest Grove to become known as one of Oregon's most welcoming, authentic, and memorable small town destinations.

So everything we do supports that vision.

We want people to discover Forest Grove.

We want to give them reasons to stay overnight instead of making this just a day trip or a 30-minute trip, something that they drive through and pass by.

We want to give, we want them to explore more than just one attraction.

We want them to share their experiences with friends and family, and ultimately we want them to come back.

The exciting part is that we're not starting from zero.

We have one of the country's premier wine regions.

We have McMiniman's Grand Lodge, Pacific University, beautiful outdoor recreation, excellent restaurants, driving downtown arts and culture, year-round events, and strong regional partnerships.

Those pieces already exist.

Our job is to connect them into one compelling story.

So visitors experience all of Forest Grove, not just one destination.

So what exactly is our role?

Yes, we'll manage the tourism website, we'll create the digital marketing, we'll be promoting the businesses.

We'll develop visitor campaigns, but that's really just the beginning.

Our real responsibility is connecting people, connecting businesses, and connecting experiences, connecting regional partners, and making it easy for visitors to understand why Forest Grove deserves more than just a quick stop.

Everything we do aligns with the city's scope of work and focuses on increasing overnight visitation through coordinated destination marketing.

So tourism is never accomplished accomplished by one organization.

It takes collaboration.

We're fortunate to already have strong relationships with university, travel Oregon, explore Twilight and Valley, our regional destination DMO, travel Portland, our lodging partners, our wineries, our businesses, and our community organizations.

When everyone tells the same story together, our message becomes much stronger than if we work independently.

If every visitor follows a journey, first they discover Forest Grove, then they plan, they visit.

And hopefully they stay overnight while they're here, they explore even more.

And if we've done our job well, they return.

Every website update, every itinerary, every partnership is designed to move visitors one step further through this journey featured here.

We're fortunate because Forest Grove offers experiences visitors truly cannot find anywhere else.

Yes, we have wine country, but we also have America's largest premium sake brewery.

No one in this region can say that except forest grove.

Historic downtown, Pacific University, outstanding restaurants, arts and culture, McMinimens, cycling, retail, local events.

These experiences become even stronger when they're connected together.

Instead of asking someone to visit just one winery, we're inviting them to uh we're inviting them to spend an entire weekend experiencing forest grove.

This may be the most important shift in our strategy.

Rather than promoting individual attractions, we'll market the complete visitor experiences.

Think about a spring wine weekend or a sip and stay away, a university family weekend, holiday shopping, farm experiences, downtown dining.

The goal isn't simply just attracting visitors, the goal is extending their stay.

Because one overnight visitor contributes significantly more to our local economy than someone who simply drives through for just an afternoon.

Tourism shouldn't and isn't only happening during one season.

Every season offer a new reason to visit Forest Grove.

Spring brings wine, outdoor recreation, summer offers concerts, cycling, family travel, and events like the Concourse Elegants happening this weekend.

Fall celebrates harvest and university activities.

Winter highlights shopping, dining, arts, and holiday experiences.

That creates year-round economic activity rather than concentrating everything into just one season.

Our marketing strategy uses many tools working together.

Our website, social media, photography, video, search engine optimization, digital advertising, video guides, public relations, regional partnerships.

Each supports the other, creating a consistent story that reaches visitors wherever they're looking for travel inspiration.

We also want to make sure we're accountable.

Success shouldn't be based on opinion, it should be measurable.

That's why we've established clear key performance indicators.

We'll continue refining these benchmarks so the city can clearly see both progress and return on investment.

So when we step back and look at the opportunities, it's very exciting.

The Grand Lodge concerts, Pine Country, Sub Stewart State Park, just right nearby.

Same with the Banks Brennonia Trail, Pacific University, regional festivals, Washington County events.

These aren't separate opportunities.

They're all connected opportunities.

And our role is to help experience them together, encouraging longer stays and greater economic impact here in Forest Grove.

I'd like to leave you just with this one final thought.

This contract means much more than just marketing.

It's about building a destination, it's about supporting our businesses, strengthening our economy, increasing overnight stays, and helping more people discover what all of us already know that Forest Grove is an incredible place.

We have the opportunity to tell that story in a way that inspires people not to just visit, but to stay to return and to become lifelong ambassadors for our community.

Thank you.

And I am putting the floor to any questions that you guys may have.

Great.

Thank you, Amanda.

Any questions or comments?

Counselor Schummel.

I'm excited to see this manifest itself.

Uh I appreciate the intended to build out your the metrics.

That'd be really interesting to see how well various events and activities turn out.

Thank you.

Yeah, I just want to, I think this is a great presentation, Amanda.

You did a really good job with it.

Yeah, I think that you have the structures in place.

I think you have some indicators.

I think it's gonna be I'm excited.

I think you've done a great job.

So good job.

It seems to come.

Go ahead.

I'm gonna follow up with you about Pacific University and several weekends that I know that are on the calendar that you may not be aware of yet, but would be um really great times to sort of um directly market to a specific group of people who I know will be coming, and there's usually groups of 30 to 40 of them around town, and they're looking for all the things that you've mentioned.

So yeah.

Yeah, and you know, I want to piggyback off that because I remember at the chambers, Chris, the the tree lighting, right?

That some and I think I've brought this up a few times.

Uh the basketball team had a game and they were like, where were all these people?

So I think you know, it's not just like uh, you know, that partnership with Pacific.

I hope, I feel like it's really strong.

And we want to also like support the students there.

We want to support, you know, like invite the community to go watch their things.

And then also when families come and visit, you know, this is a community.

I think that's one of the things that makes Forest Grove so good, right?

Is that we tend to rally around each other and we show up for one another.

So I just agree with Councilor Falconer and just also want to say excited that it's back in local hands since we have a great temperature check on everything going on that we're able to really get a great pulse on everything that we can get everything on the calendar.

Great.

Exciting.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

And our next presentation is from Washington County Housing Services, an update from Miss Jill Chen, who's the assistant director.

And I'm sorry, I don't have your name on my agenda.

So sorry for not introducing you.

Thank you so much.

Um City Council members, really appreciate this opportunity.

Um good evening.

For the record, I'm Jill Chen, and I use she her pronouns.

My um the deputy director of the housing authority of Washington County, as well as the assistant director of the Department of Housing Services.

With me is Lisa Varen, who's our real estate division manager.

First of all, I want to thank you all so much for the opportunity to come again and um share with you this progress we've made in our Forest Grove Permanent Supportive Housing Project.

But before we do that, I want to first introduce some of our partners who are sitting right behind me.

Uh set it up by transcending hope, Dina Valdez.

I hope I pronounced that correctly, and her team.

Um, they are one of their supportive services partner, and also I see Jonas there, and that's with Central Culturelle.

Just so pleased to have these folks as our partners, and I really appreciate um the time today.

Um so our agenda today is um wanted to do a quick setting of the stage about the impact of the county investments in our housing and homeless services, then talk more about our project, uh the current timeline, our partners, and seek feedback from you all in terms of questions or how we could work with the community better.

Next slide.

Um quick overview, and I'm so sorry.

This is tiny words.

Um, this is a map of the impact that the county has made in terms of its investments and housing and homeless services.

Much of this has been funded by what's mentioned was the Metro Affordable Housing Bonds as well as the supportive housing services measure.

So you'll see there's um you can call it our housing and homeless assets are spread throughout the county.

Much of this is in the process of being developed and or being constructed.

The map is a little bit dated, and we will be updating it since a few more projects has come online.

Um slide.

Um as you know, this is the project that is sitting at Jim's Auto Shop.

Um, and we are really pleased to come back and update you about the project.

It's at 3127 Pacific Avenue.

It will house 44 um homes, studios, and one bedrooms for households exiting homelessness.

Um the housing authority will remain the owner and operator, I mean owner and developer of the project.

Thanks as mentioned.

I'll keep partners of Central Coterel, Transcending Hope, Walsh Construction, Scott Edwards Architect.

And Care Oregon.

No forwarding at this point.

This site sits on the major corridor, commercial corridor, and provides strong access to transit, employment, community amenities, and plan down services.

A bit of history.

Our housing authority started the work on the Forest Grove Permanent Supportive Housing site by participating in the state, what is called the Permanent Supportive Housing Institute.

Almost about a year ago.

This was to help us refine the project.

As part of this process, the housing authority agreed with our community of Forest Grove and re-examined the needs of our population and focused on the uh the site and the importance of what was identified as amenities and centrality of the site.

And we moved it to this current location.

We entered the purchase and sale agreement back in December of 2024.

We have now purchased the site and are moving rapidly.

You'll see that the Housing Authority Board back in February approved a $2.5 million pre-development loan for us to move this project forward and advance it.

That's what we're funding ourselves right now with this.

Most recently in May, we were able to be awarded a 9% low-income housing tax credits from the state, plus a $4 million gap financing, plus rental assistance, and supportive services subsidies for 45 households.

This actually means we do not need to use our own SHS money at this point.

So we're leveraging all the services we've already provided and trying to bring more resources into our community.

Next slide, please.

We're here to come next, move next into areas of community engagement, design, and pre-construction.

And I will now turn it over to my colleague, Lisa.

Thanks, Jill.

Evening.

With major funding sources in place, our development team has been assembled as well.

So we've been doing RFPs and RQs and building our partnerships with our architect, which is going to be Scott Edwards Architecture, our general contractor, Walsh Construction, our resident services provider, Central Cultural, Case Management Provider, Transcending Hope, and our behavioral health partner and funder, Care Org.

Really a great team that we've assembled and we're excited to move forward.

Our selected architect, Scott Edwards Architecture brings a depth of experience that is well suited to this development.

They've designed more than 1,900 units of affordable housing, including workforce, senior, transitional, and permanent supportive housing throughout the region.

And they have a long history of working in Washington County.

They also successfully partnered with Central Cultural on Casa and Paro, giving them direct experience working with our culturally specific service partners and in Forest Grow.

And the combination of expertise and values is what made them a strong fit and why we selected them as our architect.

We've also selected our general contractor, which will be Walsh Construction.

They have extensive experience building affordable and permanent housing throughout the region.

In 2025 alone, they delivered 23 projects, including eight PSH developments.

They're known for high quality work, excellent communications, and a strong quality assurance and control program.

They're also clear communicators and they work with stakeholders.

Their values approach and track record make them a strong partner for this project and its complexity.

Slide.

Okay.

Early in this project, Hawk Centro in Care Oregon began working collaboratively to envision the project through the Permanent Supportive Housing Institute, which is sponsored by Oregon Housing and Community Services and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

For this development, Central Cultural will lead resident services, and we've recently added Transcending Hope to provide case management services.

This multifaceted partnership creates a service model that is culturally responsive, coordinated, and grounded in experience working with permanent supportive housing residents.

As this service structure is now in place, we're excited to have this team collaborate with Scott Edwards Architecture to design a community that will serve the city of Forest Grove and the residents who live there for years to come.

So over the next six to eight months, we see this project moving forward with community engagement, are working through our final funding approval with OHCS, executing MOUs with our service partners, and beginning schematic design.

We're also looking to a building permit schedule, which has us um submitting actually in the winter of 2027 with a summer 2027 issuance and a construction start in fall 2027.

So we are moving fast.

We're looking at about uh, I think we have about 14 months at this point to construction start.

And so um everybody is on board and ready to go.

So one of the key reasons why we came here tonight to present to you and give you an update was to also take this opportunity to get input from city council and from the community at large.

And we have a couple of questions here.

And uh we'd like to know what are some considerations that we should keep in mind as we move forward at this stage in the project.

What suggestions do you have for collaboration and community engagement as we develop our community outreach strategy?

And or do you have additional project questions?

I'll go ahead and leave that open.

Great, thank you.

Um, I do have some questions about the sort of the what you're anticipating needing um to do, and if you're in considering um or thinking that there would be any, are you are you seeking any variance, any variances, for example, any like land use variances and any need to come before this, you know, before the planning commission or the city seeking variances because something in our code is preventing you from delivering as many units as you would like to.

And before you answer that question, I um I think the last time we talked about this project together, I encouraged you to please let us know if you if in your pre-application um, you know, the design of this project, if there's anything keeping you from, you know, one of the questions I always have with with with delivering this, you know, this deeply deeply needed housing in our community is why can't we do more?

And so if there are things that the city controls, we don't control the money, we don't control a lot of things, but we do control a few things.

We we control our review process, we control our code, and if there are things that you know, maybe this project won't benefit from some changes, but another project, you know, a few years down the road could could learn, you know, could benefit from what you all have learned through going through our process.

I'd really appreciate hearing that.

And I don't want you to feel like you're throwing anybody under the bus or holding us to the fire or anything like that.

This to me is like a real opportunity for some like you know, real hard conversations about hey, this is in our way.

We could have delivered many more affordable units for this community if we had this.

Yes.

Thank you for that question so much, Councillor.

We could have developed much more units.

We originally looked at this site for 60 units, not 45.

We scaled it back because of the funding limitations from the state.

Oregon Housing and Community Services could only give us 4 million as a maximum for any project under a 9% low-income housing tax credit.

We also maxed out on all the tax credits under 9%.

If we had delayed and waited right now under the Oregon system currently, uh, there is 1.58 billion dollars worth of gap funding requesting money from the state across the whole state, not just in our community in in Forest Grove.

So we scaled back, and you're right.

If we had if we were able to receive more tax credits and say got six million dollars of gap, we could have done 60 units instead of 45.

So we scaled back because we wanted to go out the door, get this done, and immediately start helping our community instead of waiting five, six, seven, eight years.

In answer to your question about pre-application and design and code, we are looking at some of those, and some of those variances may include things like balconies, backdoors.

We also know that I think code requires playgrounds.

This is a community that will not have playgrounds.

So there are some things we're going to be seeking variances for.

But we would like to come all in with Scott Edwards to sort of package all of it together and essentially work with Jesse and his team to make sure that we can sort of make it easier for both him and us in sort of expediting the process.

Lisa, do you have more to that?

Yeah, I can add, um, so we have a schematic, but it was the schematic that we applied to the state with, and now we're going to go back into a new schematic with SEA.

And so this is going to be an opportunity to really take a deep dive into those specifics.

But we do know permanent supportive housing is not a housing type where you want balconies.

It can create challenges for that population.

Um we also know that there are certain other requirements at the site that state law allows us to come back to the city and I think ask for two or three exceptions.

So we kind of have in mind that balconies and maybe uh a few other pieces like the playground might be might be in that.

But from there, we really want to start early with case management with your community development and planning team to really talk about where are we gonna, where does it feel right to situate this on the site?

Where does it feel right to um you know to um you know, for where the open space is going to be for the community and how people enter and leave the property and all those things.

So we're pretty early on, and I do think there will be opportunities where we'll be coming to the community for feedback and input and to the city first, really, to get a sense of what's important, what we're not thinking about that we should be thinking about, um, how we how building this property in a commercial corridor, what's important, even though it's residential, what might be important for how that looks, all those kinds of so um it's a it's a little early.

We have a short short list of things that we know are going to be um items that we might need exceptions for, but as we proceed, we absolutely can document and share that um with the council.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

Great, thank you.

Counselor Martinez.

So it um what I'm seeing is this is an exclusive community for a specific population, not an inclusive community, which I feel that's sad because it doesn't help people to integrate within the community at large.

And so I would say this is could you speak up a little?

It's sure it speaks very sorry about that.

Um it's intended for folks coming out of um homelessness.

So the people who will be coming into this building will be those that are referred through coordinated entry.

So I know in our community we have a number of low-income folks, but unless they're in coordinated entry, they are not gonna be able to necessarily be referred in.

Now, those folks who are in coordinated entry are already in the homeless system.

So I'm not sure, you know, total population.

Um, we are looking also for our partners, transcending hope, and central cultural for us to have uh the community integrated.

So the residents in this particular building will be part of the larger community, not isolated, because frankly, they do need to live in this community and be part of the members.

Absolutely.

A big part of having such intensive services and a permanent supportive housing model where we have both resident services and case management is really this integration, both as a community itself and cohesion and integration into the community at large.

So resident services includes how do you go grocery shopping and going on a grocery shopping trip?

Where's the senior center?

Hey, there's free events.

Um, how do we go to those free events?

How do we take the bus to the beach if we all want to go to the beach?

Um, this is really um an opportunity for people who've been on the outside of organized society to re-integrate, and that is part of the mission of the entire building.

And we have in this particular property, our goal is to create a community that's supporting each other and their reconnection to the broader community at large.

And that's really the goal here.

And I think you you touched on something really important, which is that it is not going to be community unto itself.

There isn't going to be a grocery store or senior center or a library or um other a restaurant, those things are going to be there.

People are going to be going out into the community and um really getting to experience and be a part of Forest Grove.

And that's really what our services team is going to be there to support and to scaffold for this pop this population.

Councillor Schimmel uh Congratulations on the the progress so far and um I've had confidence in the the team project team you have.

I've worked with several of them in the past.

So I think they'll all help you accomplish what you're articulating about the the integration with the community.

Um also congratulations on the funding.

That's great that we can uh secure outside funding to bolster housing here and just looking ahead to the the community and g engagement, you know.

I there'll certainly be some demystifying you know some people's perceptions of permanent supportive housing and the the services provided there.

Uh just one one thing on the the illustration is when you're speaking to the community is speaking of the talk reflecting on the perimeter of the property and the egress point, you know, where where only the residents uh are accessing getting to and from the property, but you know how how the what the perimeter plan is in terms of the outlying properties, and then on the on the engagement piece, I'm a real fan of co-hosting with local agencies.

Uh so for example, the partnering with the chamber on the business district engagement, uh working with discovering who the property management firm is for any outlying apartment on engaging those communities, you know, but basically finding that an already local trusted person, and then of course, you know, center cultural on the the broader community engagement.

You know, they've they've already established themselves through the senior center, and I think they've done a tremendous job of uh garnering positive uh community support.

Um so those are just three examples for those particular areas.

And we will want to reach out to the community, especially as we start doing the chavats.

Um, and you know, Scott out Edwards as our architect will be leading a lot of that in conjunction with the housing authority team.

So um stay tuned.

Thank you so much.

That's a great presentation and exciting.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on to item F, which is public hearings ordinances and resolutions.

Before we begin, I want to check with our city recorder.

There's not a public hearing with this the first ordinance.

Okay, cool.

Hearing was completed.

The first we already did it in the last first reading.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

Just making sure.

Uh with that, I would like to invite our senior planner Dan Reardon up for ordinance two zero two six-zero three.

Good evening.

So, any additional questions since the last meeting when I see none?

Or I hear none.

You know, hands raised.

Okay.

So with that, I mean, we just move on.

Is there a motion on the move to approve ordinance 2026 oh three?

Second.

Thank you.

Ordinance 2026-03 was moved by Councilor Martinez and seconded by Councilor Shimmel.

Is there any discussion on this?

I see and hear none.

So will the city manager please read it by title only.

Ordinance 2026.

I'm sorry.

Ordinance 2026-03.

Amending the Forest Grove Comprehensive Plan Map to remove the Forest Grove General Industrial Plan Designation from Territory to be removed from the Forest Grove urban planning area.

File number 31126 0006 PLNG.

Thank you.

Will the city recorder please call for the vote?

Counselor Schimmel.

Yes.

Councillor Falconer.

Yes.

Councillor Martinez?

Yeah.

Councillor Marshall.

Yes.

Mayor Wensell.

Yes.

Ordinance 2026-03 was approved by the Force Grove City Council in a five to zero vote.

Thank you.

Resolution 2026-32 is next on the agenda.

And I'm going to ask our city manager Jesse Van Der Zannen to give the staff report.

Thank you, Mayor.

Members of the Council.

Uh before you this evening is resolution 2026-32 that approves an intergovernmental agreement between the county and the city of Forest Grove to administer the community development block grant program, or what we commonly refer to as the CDBG program.

Uh every three years, the county has to recertify with the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer the community development block grant program.

Currently we are on a consortium of 11 other cities with Washington County.

So they have to redo an IGA with all of their Washington County has to redo an IGA with all of the 11 cities.

And then once those that consortium uh is re-upped essentially with Washington County, then they can recertify with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer the program.

The resolution before you tonight.

Approved before, just with different plan years.

The plan years for this IGA is 2027 through 2039 with an option to extend from 2030 to 2032.

Uh and again, this just allows us to participate in the CDBG program and authorizes the uh county to administer it for us.

With that, I'd be happy to take any questions.

Great.

Thank you, Jesse.

Any questions?

Seems pretty straightforward.

Is I'll entertain a motion.

Move that we approve 2026-32.

Second.

Okay, thank you.

Resolution 2026-32 was moved by Councilor Martinez and seconded by Councillor Falkner.

Any discussion.

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none.

Resolution 2026-32 is approved by the Forest Grove City Council in a five to zero vote.

Next up we have our assistant city manager Kim Ezel with resolution two zero two six three three.

Um go ahead.

Sorry, I was gonna say something else, but I'm good.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh the resolution before you this evening would place a measure on the 2020 November 2026 ballot that asks electors of the city may issue general obligation bonds to finance a new police facility.

As background, the current police facility was constructed in 1977.

Since then, the police department has grown from 12 to 42 personnel, while the 12,120 square foot facility has remained the same size.

A 2016 analysis found 34 deficiencies with the current facility, including inadequate space for processing and storing evidence, which can jeopardize cases and the lack of a safe and private place to interview victims, which can result in sensitive information being overheard.

In 2018, an alternatives analysis was conducted to evaluate whether to remodel, expand, or replace the current facility.

The findings concluded that remodeling or expanding the existing building is impractical and more expensive than constructing a new facility.

Based on these findings, McKenzie Architecture designed a new police facility that is about 45% larger than the current facility and corrects the deficiencies identified in the 2016 analysis.

The construction of the new facilities estimated cost about 29.5 million dollars at current interest rates.

This averages to 69 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value.

For the average homeowner, the impact is about 193 per year or 17 per month.

Pending a successful election outcome, construction of the new facility could begin in early 2028 with officers moving into the new facility in 2029.

Thank you and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Hearing none.

What's the wish of the council?

I may move that we pass resolution 2026-33.

Second.

Thank you.

Resolution 2026-3 was moved by Councilor Schimmel and seconded by Councilor Martinez.

Any discussion.

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed.

Hearing none.

Resolution 2026-3 is approved by the Force Grove City Council in a vote of 5 to 0.

We are now moving on to item G, which is Councilor Council Communications.

And I'm gonna begin with Councilor Feltner.

Okay.

Unfortunately, this week, um, I have to miss JWC and Chamber.

Um, because I will be working and also flying out of town, but they both meet this week.

So I will look forward to learning what I miss and reporting back next time.

When does chamber meet?

Is that next Monday?

It's a board retreat, it's on Wednesday.

Um an all day thing.

Yeah, okay.

Don't worry about it.

And I it was a really great event last time.

Um, you know, that um the chamber retreat was you know full of ideas and information, and it was and I'm really sad to make that, but I'm sure I'll get report.

Okay, thank you.

And then the other item, um, I'm gonna actually just share my presentations with um Mariah, if that's okay, because I have um the other item.

This isn't La City liaison position, but I now serving as a commissioner um for the land development land L C D C Land Conservation and Development Commission.

Um, I did have my first set of meetings last month, and um there were a lot of really great presentations that I think that city staff and other counselors will find.

I've kind of highlighted the ones that you know the you know, obviously the packet is available online, but I warn you it was five thousand or more pages that I had to get through for my two-day meeting.

Um, and so I'm only sending you like this much of the presentations that aren't online and available.

But there were uh just to real quick the topics um that I thought you all would find very interesting and and timely were about data centers.

Um the middle housing Oregon homes bills, um the housing production strategy showcase, uh housing accountability and production office legislative reports.

Um so I'll be sending those items to you.

Great.

Thank you, Counselor.

Next up is Councilor Marshall.

Uh parks and rec meeting was canceled this month, so I have nothing to report.

Thank you.

And Councilor Martinez.

I have nothing to report.

Counselor Schimmel.

Uh CCC or sorry, CCE remains focused on uh promotion of the police facility bond as well as the open house uh planned in October.

So more details on that to follow.

Uh and then the the TV highway project won't meet again until September.

Great.

Thank you.

City managers report.

So a few things to report.

Uh the next big outreach event for the police facility is barbecue with the blue on Saturday, this coming Saturday, July 18th.

That will be uh from 11 to 1 at Rogers Park.

Um National Nike by the National Night Out Bike Bonanza is scheduled for August 4th.

That'll be in Lincoln Park from 6 to 8 p.m.

Um, so there'll be lots of fun for families and the bike wash, a bike safety course, and some prizes.

Um the following evening uh during the farmer's market, which is Wednesday, August 5th, there will be police facility tours during the farmers market from 5 p.m.

all the way until the end of the farmers market.

So if you go to the farmers market and you want to look at the police facility, please stop by and take a tour.

Uh for the Civics Academy, the applications uh open on August 3rd, so a couple weeks from now, and classes begin on September 2nd.

Um and then as Counselor Schimmel mentioned, the community open house uh is tenderly scheduled for Tuesday, August 20, excuse me, October 27th.

Um let's see, a couple other things coming up.

Uh the public works administrative building uh remodel and expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.

So we are a couple weeks ahead of schedule.

The if you've seen some construction on TV Highway, the uh next to just east of Quince.

That's the Rosegrove midblock pedestrian crossing.

This is one of the projects that was included in the East TV Highway Safety Improvement Plan.

Uh is one that the city has lobbied for, and ODOT is currently constructing that right now.

It's a mid-block pedestrian crossing uh with a refuge island and sidewalk modifications and what they have some called massed arms that have been completed.

So that project is ongoing.

The Northwater Transmission line, uh, that's the what we call the emergency water intertie.

That connection was recently made.

Um that's at the uh over by the Neil Armstrong Middle School.

Um so that connection was made, so everything went well on that.

Um some good news in terms of parking downtown.

Uh kudos to public works and their crews.

They did finish restriping the parking in the town center area.

And uh we had mentioned to the council previously that we were looking at adding uh 16 additional spots, but we were actually able through Greg and his staff uh were actually able to add uh 20 additional on street parking spaces.

So very happy about that.

Additionally, we've installed some wayfinding signs that have been added to find the public off street parking.

So you'll see some new signage there.

Those are all common and consistent signs.

Couple grant applications.

We have to go through a two-stage process for what's called the building resilient infrastructure and communities grant.

That's a 20 million dollar grant that we're applying for for the water reservoir project.

Uh the first step in that is you have to do what's called a sub application, and that sub application has to be approved by FEMA to be able to go to the next step and actually apply for the grant.

Uh, we have successfully submitted the sub application and it was accepted by FEMA, which means that we will now be officially be able to apply for the grant itself.

Um, the application for the US uh Department of Transportation Safe Streets for All, what they call the SS4A grant was successfully submitted.

That was for 14.76 million dollars, and that was for TV Highway as well.

And a couple updates about the library.

Uh the friends of the library uh had a record May book sale.

They raised $6,900.

Um, and there's been a total of $1,362 signups so far for summer reading.

So we are doing quite well there.

And then the last update is the East Side Park is currently under construction.

The concrete is being poured and the playground equipment will arrive any day.

So we are looking forward to completing that East Side Park the summer.

So with that, that's all I have.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Um, so the MMC, I was placed on the homelessness and public health subcommittee.

So we a small group of us met and identified priorities uh for the legislative session.

And one of the main priority that I advocated for was substantial infrastructure funding, supporting housing production and land readiness, um, and a housing investment in road sewers to enable housing.

I think that in a community our size and on the MMC, sometimes I think in a lot of these regional groups, like just really advocating for small communities as my job because other things get pushed to the front, and then add back transitional housing and sober living, rehabilitation recovery services, workforce development.

That's just the kind of tie up, maybe a loose end.

That was when the discussion that about the alcohol revenue and that Oregon currently has the largest alcohol deaths, and the um those taxes on alcohol should be related back to treatment, and then also supporting behavioral health unit.

So that's that will end up going back to the larger MMC group to make sure they're okay with it.

But basically, we just try to divide into different legislative topics to give our priorities and then um see if that works.

Today, the WCC Mets, that's Washington County Coronating Committee.

Um just a few notes that the Council Creek Regional Trail.

The timeline has been pushed out, but it did just recently get approved.

There is approval from some sort of the draft amendment was received, and so there is movement.

Um they're gonna start that process.

That the raise grant does expire in December of 2028.

So that's when the trail needs to be opened by the identified some U Street median crossing in Forest Grove, and then also some maintenance.

They did contract out.

This might be like something Greg wants no public works, but supposedly they are working on they contracted out for trail maintenance right now as they wait for construction to make sure vegetation and there's wildfire mitigation.

Um that was a big presentation, and I think it's nice to hear that there's finally some movement on that.

And then the other one that will be interesting to us is that um reliance the transportation funding, they're gonna how they're gonna adjust that vehicle fee adjustments is gonna be a phase in approach of ten dollars every year for the next three years.

They're gonna how they're gonna adjust that vehicle fee adjustments is gonna be a phase in approach of ten dollars every year for the next three years.

Um so that's what the commission decided on, and then 60% goes to the county and 40% goes to the city, but that's based on population, so there could be flex uh fluctuations in how much the city receives based on our population.

Uh and then I just also wanted to um say thank you to the downtown association.

I attended the July 4th celebration, the fireworks celebration, and gave some welcoming remarks.

And I think that the nonprofit did a really good job of bringing people back, it was warmly received by the community.

Um the firework show lasted over 30 minutes, and so I know that that was a lot of work and probably by a few people who put that together.

So I did want to publicly thank them.

Um specifically Counselor Guffson and her team of volunteers.

And with that, I'm gonna adjourn this meeting.

Oh, and just remember that we do not have a first meeting or second meeting in July or first meeting in August.

So we're on our month um recess for the summer.

And with that, I'm gonna adjourn this meeting, but we I'm gonna ask everyone stay put because we have a work session.

Okay, so meeting adjourned.