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Record of Proceedings

Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee Meeting - September 8, 2026

City Council & Commissions — Tuesday, September 8, 2026
BodyOlympia, Washington
SessionCity Council & Commissions
DateTuesday, September 8, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 11:01

Original source
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0:02

All right.

0:04

All right.

0:05

Well, hello, everybody.

0:07

This is the C Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee meeting.

0:12

Today's Friday, September 4th.

0:14

We're just a minute or two afternoon.

0:17

And my name's Danny Madrone.

0:18

I am the lot representative and I am calling the meeting, uh calling the meeting to order.

0:24

I'll just do a quick roll call of executive committee members who are here.

0:28

We have uh Commissioner Craig Unsold from the Port of Olympia.

0:33

Uh and we are anticipating that um Olympia City Council Member Paul Barrett will be joining us as well.

0:39

And for ex-officio members, I see that we have Rachel Grant here.

0:45

Um did I miss anybody, Natalie?

0:48

I think everybody else on here is staff.

0:50

So if you don't mind just going through the roster of staff that we have with us.

0:55

Great.

0:55

Yes, we have uh Pamela Braff with the City of Olympia, Susan Clark with the City of Olympia, uh Melia Schwartz with Thurston County, and John Wolf with the Port of Olympia and myself, Natalie Weiss with the City of Olympia.

1:13

Um and um until we've got Paul back, we just got two voting members here.

1:19

So Craig, I'm gonna look to you to make a motion to approve our agenda for today.

1:24

I move that we approve our agenda for today.

1:28

Okay, excellent.

1:29

And I see that Paul has joined us.

1:30

Welcome, Paul.

1:32

All right, all in Oh, yeah.

1:34

Can you hear me?

1:34

Yep, I can hear you.

1:36

Thank you.

1:37

Good.

1:37

Yeah.

1:38

Uh would you like to second the motion to approve?

1:40

Sure, I'll second that.

1:41

I'll second that.

1:42

Excellent.

1:43

All in favor?

1:44

Aye.

1:45

Aye.

1:46

Excellent.

1:47

Um, our our first uh uh decision we need to make is to approve the minutes from June 5th from our meeting on June 5th.

1:54

So I'll entertain a motion to do so.

1:58

I uh I will move that we approve the minutes from June 5th for the um sea level rise committee.

2:05

Response quote collaborative.

2:07

I second it.

2:09

All in favor?

2:10

Aye.

2:12

Okay.

2:13

Um we're on to public comment.

2:15

Uh Zach, have we had anybody sign up for public comment for this meeting?

2:21

We do not have anybody signed up for public comment.

2:24

Okay.

2:25

Easy peasy.

2:26

Um, see if we have any announcements from staff.

2:31

I know we have some reports after the business item, but are there any announcements that we need to work in right here?

2:37

No, okay, great.

2:38

Well, we'll just move on to our one business item, which is approval of the 2728 sea level rise collaborative work plan and budget.

2:45

And Natalie, I'll turn to you to uh lead us through this uh discussion.

2:50

Yeah, thank you.

2:52

So we are here today to adopt the 2027-2028 work plan and just to quickly remind people what's on the work plan.

3:01

Um, I'll just read through what the key items are and the attachments are all were also in the staff report.

3:08

So uh the first main project that we'll be working on is evaluating and recommending long-term public financing mechanisms.

3:15

Again, this will be a continuation of a report that we finished back in 2024 and is really the main um project that we'll be leading in 2027.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Environmental Protection█████████████████████████████████████████████54%
Procedural██████████████████████████31%
Emergency Management████████9%
Grant Funding█████6%
Summary of Proceedings

The Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee met on September 8, 2026 to approve the 2027-2028 work plan and budget, receive updates on grant proposals, monitoring reports, and partner activities. The meeting was chaired by Danny Madrone (Port representative). Voting members present: Commissioners Craig Unsold (Port of Olympia) and Paul Barrett (Olympia City Council). Staff and ex-officio members also attended. Note: The transcript references the date as Friday, September 4th, but the provided meeting date is September 8, 2026; this summary uses the official date.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved the meeting agenda (motion by Unsold, second by Barrett, unanimous).
  • Approved the June 5, 2026 meeting minutes (motion by Barrett, second by Unsold, unanimous).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public signed up for comment.

Discussion Items

  • Approval of the 2027-2028 Sea Level Rise Collaborative Work Plan and Budget: Natalie Weiss (City of Olympia) presented the key items: evaluating long-term public financing mechanisms (continuation of 2024 report); modeling peak flow reduction for combined sewer separation (grant-funded); monitoring activities and publishing the first monitoring report by end of 2028; pursuing state/federal funding opportunities; and administrative/logistical support. The Executive Committee discussed no questions, then moved to approve (motion by Unsold, second by Barrett, unanimous).

Reports and Updates

  • City of Olympia (Natalie Weiss):
    • Submitted a BRIC grant proposal to Washington Emergency Management Division for midterm sea level rise strategies along First Landing (design/engineering if awarded).
    • Received final report from AECOM on long-term monitoring strategy, including vertical land motion study and updated sea level rise projections (maps available upon request).
    • Began contract with KPF for climate resilient design guidelines (2025-2026 work plan item; ongoing through fall).
  • Thurston County (Lendy? and Amelia):
    • Completed 2025 greenhouse gas report.
    • Planning phases for capacity-increasing projects (long-term).
    • Thurston County Emergency Management to host Flood Awareness Week (Oct 19-23) and the All Hazards Exposition (Sept 26 in Lacey) — outreach events.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved the 2027-2028 work plan and budget (unanimous).
  • Directive: Chair Madrone asked Commissioners Unsold and Barrett to champion the work plan within their respective jurisdictions to keep elected bodies informed.
  • Meeting adjourned early (approximately within the first hour).

Meeting Transcript

All right. All right. Well, hello, everybody. This is the C Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee meeting. Today's Friday, September 4th. We're just a minute or two afternoon. And my name's Danny Madrone. I am the lot representative and I am calling the meeting, uh calling the meeting to order. I'll just do a quick roll call of executive committee members who are here. We have uh Commissioner Craig Unsold from the Port of Olympia. Uh and we are anticipating that um Olympia City Council Member Paul Barrett will be joining us as well. And for ex-officio members, I see that we have Rachel Grant here. Um did I miss anybody, Natalie? I think everybody else on here is staff. So if you don't mind just going through the roster of staff that we have with us. Great. Yes, we have uh Pamela Braff with the City of Olympia, Susan Clark with the City of Olympia, uh Melia Schwartz with Thurston County, and John Wolf with the Port of Olympia and myself, Natalie Weiss with the City of Olympia. Um and um until we've got Paul back, we just got two voting members here. So Craig, I'm gonna look to you to make a motion to approve our agenda for today. I move that we approve our agenda for today. Okay, excellent. And I see that Paul has joined us. Welcome, Paul. All right, all in Oh, yeah. Can you hear me? Yep, I can hear you. Thank you. Good. Yeah. Uh would you like to second the motion to approve? Sure, I'll second that. I'll second that. Excellent. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Excellent. Um, our our first uh uh decision we need to make is to approve the minutes from June 5th from our meeting on June 5th. So I'll entertain a motion to do so. I uh I will move that we approve the minutes from June 5th for the um sea level rise committee. Response quote collaborative. I second it. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Um we're on to public comment. Uh Zach, have we had anybody sign up for public comment for this meeting? We do not have anybody signed up for public comment. Okay. Easy peasy.

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