Olympia Community Livability & Public Safety Committee Meeting – September 24, 2026

The Olympia City Council's Community Livability and Public Safety Committee met to review upcoming calls for art, receive a mid-year public safety update from Olympia Police Chief Shelby Parker, and recommend restructuring four council-appointed advisory bodies. Committee members present were Chair Danny Madrone, Kelly Green, and Ian Quinn (full committee). Note: The transcript states the meeting occurred September 23, 2026 at 5:30 p.m., while the meeting metadata indicates September 24, 2026; this summary uses the metadata date as instructed.

Consent Calendar

• Agenda approved as published by unanimous voice vote.
• Minutes from August 26, 2026 approved unanimously.
• No members of the public signed up for public comment.

Discussion Items

Upcoming Calls for Art Review

• Parks Arts and Recreation staffer Stephanie Johnson and Arts Commission Vice Chair Catherine Ransom presented two calls for art: the Arts Crossing Project and the new Murals in Parks pilot.
• Arts Crossing Project: Eight gateway locations within a mile of downtown Olympia; three are complete (West Bay Drive "Guardians", East Side Street "Unity" by Andrea Wilber Saigo, and Martin Way/Pacific Avenue, reinstalled after a car accident). A National Endowment for the Arts matching grant allows two new projects at once—Harrison/Division and Henderson/Eskridge. Capitol Boulevard is not viable (not city property and slated for redesign with the Capitol Lake estuary project). Sixteen community members attended the Henderson/Eskridge community meeting.
• Timeline: The NEA grant runs about two years; staff hope to bring a concept plan to council by June 2027, giving the selected artist a full year for fabrication and installation.
• Process: Neighborhood input questions (what do you value, what should people know, how is the neighborhood connected to Olympia) are handed to artists, who also participate in full-day workshops, site walks with a traffic engineer and historic preservation officer, and an evening community meeting. Each selection committee includes four representatives with neighborhood ties and one from Greater Olympia; a high school representative serves on one committee.
• Committee feedback: Members praised the selection committee makeup and encouraged pushing artistic boundaries beyond plinth-based sculptures (while coordinating with Public Works). Johnson noted Harrison/Division has limited space and may require vertical elements, and she hoped Henderson/Eskridge could accommodate something functional, while emphasizing the artist ultimately decides.
• Murals in Parks pilot: Focused on Yager Park and Sunrise Park; murals will be painted on boards (smoother than siding, removable for repair, and able to reduce certificate of insurance requirements for artists). The project emerged from equity, inclusion, and belonging work. Johnson stated the park sites were chosen partly because they are in low-income neighborhoods with nearby apartment complexes; Sunrise already has a mural on the grub garden. Arts Crossing is the priority due to grant timing, with Murals in Parks launching in spring.
• Artist eligibility language: After discussion, the committee agreed to remove the word "strong" from "artists with a strong connection to Olympia," leaving a requirement that artists articulate a connection to Olympia. Ian Quinn had suggested opening the call to "artists willing to work with communities in Olympia," while Kelly Green preferred retaining "connection" as broad. Johnson accepted the change, noting the call still seeks artists capable of large-scale sculpture and would be posted on CAFÉ (a national call for art).
• No formal decision was needed; this was a check-in and feedback item.

Public Safety Update (Chief Shelby Parker)

• Mid-year data (January–June 2026): OPD responded to almost 28,000 calls for service with officer response, filed about 3,400 police reports, fulfilled more than 2,000 public disclosure requests, and the Crisis Response Unit (CRU) made nearly 4,000 contacts—up about 30% over the same period last year. Overall calls for service rose about 5%.
• Crime trends (first half 2026 vs. first half 2025): Felony assault down 12%; rape down 21%; commercial burglary down 17%; auto theft down 28%. Residential burglary up by 8 incidents; criminal trespass up about 32%, often driven by businesses and property owners requesting response. There were 2 homicides in the first two quarters (domestic violence) and 2 additional deaths since (an ongoing dispute ending in gunfire) that will appear in year-end reporting.
• Arrests: 1,685 arrests year to date; 18 were juveniles (1.1%).
• CRU: 80% of its nearly 4,000 contacts were resolved by CRU alone; 20% were co-responses with officers. Self-initiated contacts totaled 973. Chief Parker attributed growth to community familiarity, internal deployment improvements, and strong staffing enabling proactive work.
• Staffing: 88 commissioned positions; 11 officer vacancies; 10 officers in academy/field training; 7 officers on leave (paid family medical leave, light duty, critical incident leave)—totaling 28 commissioned staff unavailable to the community, or about 70% service capacity. Patrol: fully staffed would be 40 officers; contractual minimum is 32; current patrol staffing is 28, four below minimum, requiring overtime shifts of up to 16 hours. The department has 4 community resource officers (not fully commissioned). The school resource officer position remains frozen; Chief Parker said OPD will return to schools "the moment" the Olympia School District invites them.
• Recruitment: A record 16 hires in 2026 (including patrol and CRU); a $25,000 lateral officer incentive (paid over time) and an employee referral incentive attracted 3 lateral officers. New officers require about one year to complete academy and field training.
• Illicit massage businesses: Following 2025 code changes, neighborhood police officers are conducting education and compliance inspections, prioritized by community-reported concerns, with enforcement possible when circumstances warrant; Chief Parker described the work as resource-intensive and ongoing.
• Independent Police Auditor 2025 year-end report: All but one recommendation implemented; the remaining item (a more holistic review of use of force incidents) is in progress. Implemented changes include: June 10 supervisor training and a new use of force investigation pocket card; a policy restricting simultaneous taser deployments unless the first clearly fails; transition to the Taser 10 platform (no drive stun); a July 1 body-worn camera policy (OPD 422.3.2.E) requiring cameras to remain unmuted after use of force until relieved by a supervisor; May training reinforcing a profanity prohibition except in limited deadly force circumstances; and an early August policy revision making profanity during deadly force encounters "strongly discouraged." Additional training covered canine deployments, behavioral crisis response, and the wrap restraint system.
• Auditor mid-year report: The 2026 mid-year review has been drafted and will be presented to the Community Policing Board; some incidents reviewed predate the policy changes described.
• Committee response: Kelly Green applauded hiring progress and the team's responsiveness to the auditor's recommendations; Ian Quinn praised high standards and the low juvenile arrest number; Chair Madrone expressed interest in the auditor's forthcoming CRU evaluation and thanked the Chief for the update.

Advisory Body Restructuring Recommendation (Stacy Ray with Margot Morales and Genevieve Kenseco Chan)

• Staff presented a proposal following a citywide evaluation of the 14 council-appointed advisory bodies, guided by goals of meaningful input, equitable engagement, impactful volunteer work, and sustainability.
• Process improvements: Standardized onboarding; a criteria test; regular evaluation; two alternating recruitment cycles (Cycle 1 opening November 1, 2026 with April appointments; Cycle 2 recruitment July 2027 with January appointments); council work plans set in January informing advisory body work plans finalized in April/May with an official cycle starting June; and a proposed mid-cycle update to the full council.
• Proposed sunsets: (1) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), sunsetting March 2027 at the end of its work plan cycle, with its mission integrated into the Planning Commission (without growing Planning Commission membership). (2) Design Review Board, sunsetting at the end of its work plan cycle, with regular review work shifting to an administrative staff process; staff liaisons indicated the workload is at least net-equal and likely more efficient. (3) Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC), sunsetting February 2028 after completing the parks master plan update, with terms extended as needed; complementary work exists with the Olympia Metropolitan Park District, and future engagement may use the community collaborator model. Staff consulted chairs and liaisons on honoring accomplishments, retaining institutional knowledge, offering vacancies on other bodies to sunsetting members, and continuing special programs (e.g., Design Review Board awards of merit) through ambassadors/collaborators.
• Social Justice and Equity Commission (SJEC): Retained but with a refined scope focusing on one or two significant, meaningful work efforts per year, with meeting cadence and time commitments aligned to project needs, plus continued regional coordination. Staff noted attendance and investment struggles and the commission's history of being a "stopover" for policy referrals; the city now has an equity framework and equity-focused staff to support policy review. Chair Madrone recounted the commission's evolution from a human rights commission concept and its preference for start-to-finish work.
• Engagement toolkit: Staff described Engage Olympia, community ambassadors (formerly connectors), community collaborators (ad hoc, topic-based), and community academies (used most frequently by the police department), with work continuing on defined roles, stipend structures, and staff guidance.
• Committee discussion: Chair Madrone supported the SJEC scope and the sunset schedule, raised the need to address municipal code references (e.g., park naming recommendations currently assigned to PRAC) and OMPD considerations, and confirmed the DRB workload expectation. Kelly Green asked where equity-lens policy review would occur (answer: the city's equity framework and equity-focused staff) and urged thoughtful recognition of passionate current members, especially BPAC. Ian Quinn expressed readiness to act.
• Motion: Ian Quinn moved to approve the proposal to sunset BPAC, the Design Review Board, and PRAC and to refine the scope of the Social Justice and Equity Commission, along with the associated changes; the motion passed unanimously by voice vote (all three members in favor). The recommendation will proceed to the full council, followed by municipal code updates; Cycle 1 recruitment is targeted to launch in November.

Key Outcomes

• Agenda and August 26, 2026 minutes approved unanimously.
• Committee directed removal of "strong" from the artist eligibility language, requiring artists to articulate a connection to Olympia.
• Public safety mid-year update received; no formal action taken.
• Unanimous recommendation to the full council to sunset BPAC, the Design Review Board, and PRAC, and to refine the SJEC scope.
• October CLIPS committee meeting rescheduled to November 4, 2026, subject to Chief Flowers' availability.

Reports & Updates

• Chair Madrone announced the October CLIPS meeting will move to November 4, 2026; calendar notices will follow.
• Staff confirmed that reaction buttons are intentionally disabled for general attendees in virtual city meetings to limit interaction; presenters retain broader options.