Okay, good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Tiger City Council meeting this evening on September 23rd.

Um I now call um Tiger City Council and the local contract review board and town center development agency meeting to order.

Um City Recorder Crager, would you please complete roll call?

Counselor Robbins.

Counselor Schlack.

Here.

Counselor Shaw.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tam Wolf.

Here.

Here.

Counselor Daducey.

Present.

Counselor who.

Okay.

So before we all um stand and I ask you to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I'd just like to make a couple of comments.

I think we all recognize that a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.

And uh we are certainly in a period of transition.

But through it all, um I believe deeply and um truly appreciate the commitment of council and our city staff to look ahead to the future and not the past.

So tonight we'll be discussing the next steps for determining who Tigered will have as their next mayor.

So whatever that decision, I am confident that city services initiatives and priorities will continue to move forward uninterrupted.

As an example, I would like to share that results of the national community survey were recently released and found a high majority of Tigered community members strongly believe that these facets of livability, which are natural environment, our utilities, parks and recreation, and safety are of excellent or good quality, as well as seen as essential or very important.

So what these ratings reflect are our parks, our police officers, our public works, our community activities that are delivered all by Tigered staff.

Staff improved our online accessibility for business licenses, and we continue to maintain a strong financial position as measured by our triple A bond rating.

So as a Tigered resident, I am proud of the great things that we are doing.

I also know that we have a lot left to do, and I look forward to approaching that work with authentic partnerships, a spirit of collaboration, professionalism, and a recognition that when we work together, we can continue to accomplish great things.

So thank you for that.

And would you all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Okay.

Council and uh City Manager Sockwell, do we have any non-agenda items this evening?

Okay.

Um we will move on to proclamations and recognition.

And our first proclamation, um, I would ask that Michelle Canoe and Jordan Dovalle Tinonian, if I hopefully I said that correct, um, come forward, and this proclamation is a week without driving.

In recognition of the importance of equitable mobility, I proclaim September 29th to October 5th as week without driving in Tiger.

Mobility is essential to health, opportunity, and community connection.

Yet many residents cannot drive due to age, disability, or the har high cost of car ownership.

Public transportation, sidewalks, bike packs, bike paths, excuse me, are not always available, making daily life more challenging for non-drivers.

By spending a week without driving, we better understand the barriers and how to improve transportation options for all.

This proclamation calls on Tigered residents to participate, reflect on the experience of non-drivers, and join in building an equitable transportation system that benefits everyone.

So Michelle and Jordan, welcome.

And you are from the West Side Transportation Alliance.

And I think Jordan, you wanted to speak or both of you.

So please welcome and go ahead.

Yes.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor Pro Temp Wolf.

Uh and thank you, Counselors, for uh taking on the uh the recognition of Week Without Driving, which starts uh next Monday.

Uh we're really looking forward to it.

Uh and just you know, kind of call to action that we encourage you to join the week without driving.

It's not a disability simulation.

It's just a little bit of a challenge, a time to reflect on your busy lives and the responsibility issues or putting yourself in the shoes of the Tiger residents, Washington County residents, Metro residents who can or do not drive for one of those reasons.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Well, thank you.

And I um I have the proclamation frame for you, and then if council will join me for a photo, we will I'll make sure I get the right one.

Thanks.

And then we'll do the photo.

So our second um proclamation this evening is about domestic violence awareness month.

And I invite police detective Ranel and community engagement coordinator Bauer, and they will introduce this proclamation.

Welcome to both of you.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem Wolf and Council.

Thank you for having us.

We have something very important to talk about tonight.

Every year in October, it's recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is something that affects every community everywhere, including Tiger.

And there's no one better to speak to it than Detective Rennell, who works cases like this all the time.

It's calls we receive daily.

So with that, I'll have her introduce Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

This October, we observe Dominic Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical, emotional, financial, and digital abuse.

It impacts people from every background, and too often survivors carry the burden in silence out of fear or shame.

These calls are among the most dangerous dangerous situations our officers respond to.

And the Tiger Police Department is committed to protecting victims, holding offenders accountable, and working with community partners to break the cycle of violence.

We honor the work of advocates, volunteers, and organizations that provide shelter, counseling, and resources to help survivors rebuild their lives.

As a community, we must continue raising awareness, learning the warning signs, and standing with those affected.

By working together, we can strengthen safety and support for all of those who are impacted by domestic violence.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Detective.

And it is very important.

And Council would like to present this to you.

And would you like a photo to excellently?

Okay, and then our last proclamation this evening is the Vietnamese American Mid-Autumn Festival.

And I am sure that Mr.

Two is here.

I thought I saw him earlier.

Yes.

So you can come on up.

And I am proud to proclaim October 4th, 2025 as Vietnamese American Mid-Autumn Festival Day.

Since the first Vietnamese immigrants arrived after the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese American community has enriched Tigered and Oregon through culture, faith, business, and civic life.

The mid-autumn festival, also known as the Moon Festival and the Festival for Children, is a joyful tradition marked by food, family, and celebration under the full moon.

On this day, I encourage all Tigered residents to honor our Vietnamese neighbors, celebrate their traditions, and recognize the lasting contributions they bring to the life of our community.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Chu, did you have anything you wanted to share?

Good evening.

On behalf of my community, thank you so much for recognize the Vietnamese American Miss Autumn Festival in two thousand twenty-five.

This year we will celebrate the mid-autum festival at Lacamakh High School on October 4, 2025.

We welcome all of you to talk with us that day.

Again, thank you so much.

And we are glad to be here with the city of Taiga.

Thank you.

And they do know how to put on a festival, so I do encourage y'all to go.

Thank you so much.

The call-in number is five zero three nine six six four one zero one.

And those wishing to comment should call now to get into the queue.

Anyone present wanting to comment should sign up on the public comment forms in the front of the room.

And it appears that we uh do have public comment this evening.

Um public comment submitted in written form.

There were ten written comments received, one on unsafe rental property conditions, six requesting an election public involvement to fill the mayor vacancy, uh, two mentioned specifically homelessness as an uh houselessness as an issue, one regarding uh houseless people camping on city property, one requesting a response regarding the city's work and environment, and one requesting new nuisance building developmental code enforcement related to a neighbor's property.

Um so for those that are in person, uh City Recorder Krager, I'm assuming this is my complete list at this time.

Um so um just as a reminder, the public comment protocol is up on the screen for those that will be giving um uh public comment this evening, and just as a reminder, uh you have two minutes, and that will go up on the screen as well, so you can uh check your timing.

And um, I think with that we will go ahead and get started.

And uh Roger Pottoff from Tiger is our first um speaker this evening.

Um welcome, Roger.

Thank you.

Um was this the last person's in solidarity?

So if the lights green, it's on, right?

Okay.

Um, thank you, City Council's.

Uh I appreciate the opportunity to address an issue that's been long standing.

This is not the first time that I have come before the council on this issue.

Um, but it and it and it lingers.

And uh there's been attempts uh to modify the code and the regulations, and in fact, that was back in 2022, and Mayor Snyder, before he left office, um, made comment that uh this was a fraud issue.

It was uncertain in terms of whether eliminating all of the regulations and just relying on the nuisance code without objective criteria as exists in other uh jurisdictions would be effective, and he encouraged uh the city, the council, to revisit this uh every year for three years.

And I know that there was a review after the first year, but it was really uh it wasn't like a public hearing type of event.

It was like asking staff, well, how many people have complained and etc.

And I can tell you that there's nowhere else in Tiger where the conditions that exist at 11650 Ann Street are replicated, and we live next door to that property.

There are over 40 uh chickens, ducks, quail, five goats, and uh it's it's it's an amazing situation, and I've spoken with the Department of Agriculture, Oregon Health Authority.

This is all within the last few weeks, and they are astounded, and they're watching this very carefully.

I thank you for uh your attention to this matter.

I think we do need to bring it forward again and take a close look at this as to whether it's working for the whole city or even just for one family and one street, because we are not alone on Ann Street in being concerned about this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Roger.

Our next public speaker for public comment is Elizabeth Sprague and Tiger.

Hi, thank you.

Um do not have anything prepared.

I was not planning on being here tonight.

Uh not dressed for it.

I was actually working um out in my yard installing new security cameras uh due to the continued harassment uh from our neighbor, Mr.

Roger Pottoff when we saw him driving this way, which unfortunately I know means he is coming here to likely discuss my home and my family.

Um we have had to call the Tiger police to come out several times within the last couple months.

Um most recent just a couple days ago.

My family does not feel safe.

Uh one of the instances I had to text my husband from inside our shed in the backyard because Roger was over our back fence filming me by myself in the backyard, milking our goats.

Text my husband to come outside.

He did, police came, all of that.

This behavior is not okay.

I'm just here to make sure you know there's another side to the story, and I'm sure there's plenty more I'd like to say.

Uh but like I said, I was not planning on being here tonight until last minute.

Elizabeth, thank you for coming forward.

Um our next speaker um is Mike Sprague of Tiger.

Hello, apologies for this having to come to the city council to plug in.

This is already you need to go green.

There you go.

Hello, apologies for bringing this to city council again.

This has already been done.

We work closely with the city to make sure we're in code compliance.

Ken Ross has been out to our property.

We have had someone, the neighbor report us for a new shed that we put in, uh, which is within code uh the size he has claimed that it is a dwelling for people.

It's not.

Ken Ross has been out there.

We have a meeting scheduled with the chief of police because they have been called.

He didn't get the uh what he wanted from the code compliance.

Uh we have a pest control company that comes out continuously and checks, make sure that we're taking care of any rats or anything.

Uh we have I have right here, I have at least three incident reports that I have called on him uh harassing my wife.

I sometimes have to go out of town.

I don't feel safe going out of town for her because of how he acts with her.

The last one, I was out in the front yard chipping up uh we get chipdrop.com, which is free chip uh bark chips from tree companies.

Uh I was out there chipping it up smaller because they have sticks in there and whatnot.

Uh he decided at 6, 6:30 to call uh to complain to the police that uh uh I was using heavy equipment, which was either my tractor, which is uh a large, large uh lawn mower, which has got a lawnmower on it, but it has a bucket hoe and a small little uh uh backhoe on it.

Uh this is used on properties all around our area.

Actually, in fact, it's uh we do uh work on the property on the other side of him.

We cleaned it up when she was injured.

Uh and this was a couple years ago now.

Uh, and then we are actually in two to three weeks going up to another property up on Walnut Street because his wife had a stroke and broke her hip.

This equipment is used on there, it's not overly huge, it can fit on the property.

Uh and our whole entire property is either edible or medicinal.

Yes, we have goats, yes, we milk them, and we have eggs.

Uh, but there is nothing that is unusual when I am out of time.

Apologies.

No, thank you, Mike.

Um, okay.

Um our final public comment is uh from Mary Hatley, I believe.

Thank you.

My comment today is I would like for the Tiger City Council to work on the concept of a um that a laissez faire government doesn't work.

It leads to a dystopian society.

And what matters here on Ann Street are health concerns.

If people want a farm five miles away, there is the urban growth boundary.

Have it there.

And I also want to mention that Roger is not filming Elizabeth Sprague.

He's filming the chaos that we're living next door to.

He's talked to epidemiologists, he's talked to so many people, knowledgeable people.

And they confirm his concerns.

And so why do we have to live next door?

It's a health hazard.

Okay, it's a health hazard.

And um, you know, I've got 40 41 seconds left, but I have nothing left to say other than please bring back some code into Tiger.

All the communities around us have code for this.

Tiger doesn't.

And going back to Mayor Snyder, let's revisit this, please.

Thank you for listening to me.

Thank you, Mary.

Uh okay, that um closes um uh our public uh comment in person.

Um, Mr.

Vang, are there um any phone um excuse me or video callers in the queue?

None at the moment.

Okay.

So then I think with that, we close public comment and we move to the city manager's report.

Mayor Pro Tim Wolf and members of the council.

We want to thank the people who came to our police and public works family fun day on Saturday.

We had more than 1,500 people show up, which is almost double our attendance from the same event last year.

We were blown away by the amazing interactions we had from kiddos trying on gear and getting in big trucks to parents and seniors, learning more about how we serve people across Tigrand, whether it's a street repair, maintaining our water supply, or responding to police calls.

We really appreciate people learning more about our first responders and showing up in such a big way as we work to continually build relationships and strengthen partnerships with the people we serve.

Thanks to our community engagement team, particularly Maddie Bauer from the police department and Jessica Love and Peyton Stang from Public Works and all of our employees, volunteers, and counselors who gave up a part of their beautiful Saturday to spend time talking about their work with the people they serve.

Thank you very much.

Back to you.

Thank you, City Manager.

Any questions, comments?

I know many of us were there with those enjoying a beautiful Saturday.

So Councillor Schleck.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank all of our teammates who participated and made that day a reality.

I was off in a corner by the police department talking about building a better Tiger the entire time, but I could tell from the just the amount of people we were getting in that far sort of far-flung corner that a lot of people were coming through, a lot of people were having a great time.

I still have my temporary tattoo from that day.

Very counselor Shaw, too.

So thank you all very much.

For everyone who made made probably one of the last nice days of this year, um, such a memorable event.

It was really great.

Thank you, Councillor Schlack.

Any other comments?

Um yes, kudos to um the Tiger teams.

Uh it was a great um event.

But I I do not have my tattoo still.

It is it is washed off.

Um so with that, we will move forward to um our consent agenda um consent agenda.

The consent agenda is used for routine items.

Information on each is available on the city's website in the packet for this meeting.

These items may be enacted in one motion without separate discussion.

Council members may request that an item be removed by motion for discussion and separate action.

So tonight we have just one consent item, a resolution to identify the city's voting delegate, and alternate to represent the city at the Oregon League of Cities Conference in 2025, which is coming up shortly in October.

Uh Councilor Robbins.

I move to approve the consent agenda.

Seconded.

Motion was moved and seconded.

Do we have any discussion?

Okay.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Um opposed.

Motion carries by um unanimous unanimous support of the uh council.

Um now we move to the uh local contract review board safety video surveillance solutions with related equipment, software, and accessories.

Um at this um, yes, welcome um Lieutenant Erickson.

Well, thank you, Mayor Pro Tim Wolf, City Council for the record.

Lee Erickson, uh patrol lieutenant with the Tiger Police Department.

Here tonight to talk about the upcoming proposed contract for Axon uh services, body worn cameras, tasers, in-car video, um, and uh a bunch of other related services that come with that.

This is the culmination of several months of negotiation, and it's on built on the back of several years of experience working with Axon and their products.

Next slide, please.

So um this contract is in support of uh council goals.

First, um cultivate tiger as a great place to live, work and play.

Specifically, strategy 3.3 broaden and strengthen community safety and resiliency.

So these uh systems allow us to um have tools that increase safety for the community and for us and uh create more options for us to employ in dangerous and critical situations.

Uh it also supports Strategy 3.4, provide meaningful community connections through programs, events, and other opportunities.

Uh specifically, this uh includes the My 90 program that we've been using for a little over a year now that allows for direct proactive uh feedback.

It solicits um feedback from people who call for calls for service from us to let us know how we're doing and provide us that um that feedback.

Uh also um goal four deliver resilient, sustainable, and well-maintained facilities that provide reliable and efficient services to our community.

Plan for future while maintaining current city facilities in a manner supporting sustainability and fiscal stewardship.

Specifically for current city facilities.

This contract and what we're what we're currently employing with Axon is digital evidence storage in the cloud.

So not having to maintain that infrastructure on site is a uh relieves a lot of stress and uh work for city staff as well as fiscal stewardship.

Packaging all of these services that we're using every day and plan to in the future helps us save money, uh, as well as strategy 4.2 build a solid foundation for the future of police and public works facility, which include a resilient emergency operations center.

So this contract includes integrated services and data fusion that will allow us to provide information to the emergency operations center into other emergency decision makers as well as routine decision makers to help inform us to make better decisions on an emergency or daily basis.

Next slide, please.

This also supports the community promise, the five E's equity, ensuring all voices are heard.

The My 90 program allows us to do that.

Environment using uh leading edge technology to reduce our footprint while responding to emergencies and calls for service, um, using that data fusion to make better decisions on where resources should go and how to use them.

Economy bundling the services, as I mentioned before, and equipment into one technology ecosystem to save money, time, resources, and efficiencies.

Engagement, creating opportunities to share with our community and solicit for feedback and excellence, keeping our department equipment and personnel in the best possible condition with support and training.

Next slide, please.

So our history.

Body worn cameras, we've been using for almost 17 years now.

We started with our motors because we couldn't put uh dash cams or in-car video systems on the the motorcycles.

We tried, it actually ran down the batteries on the motorcycles, and those things are expensive.

So we gave them real first generation body worn cameras and grew from there.

Um we also started about 10 years ago with our school resource officers and our canines deploying the axon body cameras in the body two.

And then in 2021, we went full deployment with all of our officers in body worn cameras with the current contract.

Um conducted energy weapons and tasers, first deployed in 2003 and continuing on up through all the generations of technology to the current Taser 7, which we have today.

Um, in this contract, we're proposed to go to the Taser 10, which is the most current generation of tasers.

Individual cameras, we use we've gone from 35 millimeter cameras with wet film to digital cameras, and now we use a capture application from Axon on our phones to do digital evidence in the field, and then it allows us to directly upload the video or the photos to the cloud wherever we're at.

We're also using Axon Interview to do interviews in the uh in the police department.

It's required for all measure-electing crimes and juvenile interviews, and so again, it allows us just to conduct our interviews and then uh put the digital evidence directly into the cloud.

And then, as I mentioned before, this cloud-based storage saves a lot of energy or saves a lot of resources for us.

It's all secured in the cloud.

Um, and we'll go into some more details on how that's secure here in a minute.

Next slide, please.

So, again, the current state.

Body worn cameras, they're required for all uniform personnel and our detectives when they're wearing their protective vests on pre-planned missions.

Um the fleet and bash cams, it's in it's in all of our vehicles now.

All fully marked patrol cars have these systems in them.

We're currently with Fleet 2, and we have Fleet 3, which is the newest version, in a limited number of vehicles to test it.

And so far, the the feedback on it has been largely positive.

Um, and again, that allows for direct data upload in the field.

We currently have Taser 7s.

We're currently using Axon Capture and Community Portal, which allows us to send an email link to uh community members to send in digital evidence that they may have to us directly.

It goes straight into evidence.com.

The officers are then able to see triage and add it to the case.

Axon Air allows us to record flight logs for all of our drones as well as stream the video from drones in operation so that incident commanders can make better decisions.

We've already talked about Axon Interview, My 90, Evidence.com.

And again, all of this is under one contract that we're proposing to renew.

Next slide, please.

The main advantages from an information technology standpoint is we're right now we're managing 55 terabytes of data.

That's 55,000 gigabytes of data in one spot.

That'd be a lot for the city to try and manage right now.

But it's all on the cloud, it's all secured.

Axon Community Portal already talked about.

That'd be a lot of staff resources for us to try and manage that here.

So if any of the devices break or there's any kind of problems with it, they're responsive.

And I can tell you from our experience over the last four years under this contract, we've had zero issues with that.

They're fully CGIS compliant with all of the records and maintaining data security.

It's instantly accessible and it's remote viewing by supervisors of live actions, whether it be with the body cameras, the in-car video, or the drones.

It also provides for real-time alerts.

So if an officer draws their firearm in the field or activates their taser in the field, supervisors can receive an alert and begin to live stream the body worn camera video from that officer through the evidence.com portal.

And then FUSIS allows for integration to monitor or to monitor information from multiple sources in real time while responding to emergencies and calls for service to again to help us make better decisions in a in a faster manner.

Next slide, please.

So data security.

I know there were some questions about data security and how the data was managed.

So just to reiterate the city owns all the data that we is produced under this contract.

That's by state law as well as by the terms of the contract.

Our data cannot be released without our approval.

All the data, every piece of evidence has its own audit log that's available to us at any time.

We can see it.

And they use a defense in depth strategy that combines proactive vulnerability management, continuous monitoring, and rigorous third-party assessments to mitigate risks.

I can tell you any time that there is an issue with evidence.com where all this evidence is managed, we get emails saying there's a problem, we're investigating.

Every hour we get updates, and then once it's resolved, whatever the mitigation steps that we're taking, we're notified about.

Next slide, please.

There's also some concerns about AI and employing that.

Axon doesn't use our data or any customer data for training or fine-tuning.

It's AI systems.

It does use AI and some other services, including some of the systems that we are currently using.

Respond and FUSIS, which is again that ability for officers for supervisors to receive alerts if officers are in emergency search situations and track their locations.

Also, redaction assistant, which allows our proper and evidence specialists to redact evidence to ensure privacy for public records requests or discovery requests.

We're looking at adding AI power translation service.

So basically, excuse me, through the body worn camera.

This is a service that would allow us to hit a button.

Are supported with that service.

Next slide, please.

So again, in conclusion, this is Axon's uniquely positioned to support us as we move forward.

We're not a super large agency like Portland or Seattle or any of those other agencies, but Axon is able to support us with our mission and provide us with the technology that we'd like to use.

We get technology refreshes, so that means we get replacement equipment at 30 months and at 60 months with new body worn cameras.

And at 60 months we get new in-car video systems, new body worn cameras, and new tasers.

This fits the district attorney's office recommendation that they want to see one system for all the digital evidence that's sent out to them.

All the other agencies around us are using Axon.

And this was supported with unanimous endorsement from the public safety advisory board when we first proposed it in 2021.

Excuse me, next slide.

So in conclusion, staff recommends awarding a contract to Axon Enterprise and direct the city manager to take the necessary steps to execute the contract for these services.

And I'll take any questions.

Thank you, Lieutenant.

As council knows this is kind of our second round of conversation when we focused on uh FUSIS.

Um I appreciate um the additional follow-up from Councillor Who and Counselor Um Goosey.

Um I don't know if either of you want to make any additional comments.

Um Counselor Who.

Yeah, thank you to the chief and thank you for the presentation.

Thank you to the Chief and your team for answering all my questions relating to data privacy and for Chief uh having a meeting with me and Councilor Guducy to follow up on additional questions and provide additional document.

Right now I'm very comfortable with the direction and but just clarifying that uh we're not using FUSIS module anytime soon, right?

That's my understanding.

Correct.

We're not using FUSIS at any time soon.

Okay, yeah.

And so uh uh just something a comment made to our uh Washington County uh sheriff as well.

Um so in the future if we are heading down the direction looks like for using FUSES, I would really appreciate a public engagement process to discuss what that means for the city.

Um, you know, so in addition to consultation with our city manager and hopefully the council um because um I talked to the policy director of Central Cultural.

They mainly serve our Latino and immigrant community.

I talked with her a couple of times about their concern about using the surveillance technology in law enforcement.

And I I don't think they are they are objecting to it per se, but they just would like a a conversation about it before we go ahead with any more advanced technology like that.

So yeah, so I will cur uh encourage you to reach out to not just the business community, but a community like Central Cultural before we before it's clear that we're having done the fusis direction.

But other than that, thank you so much for your presentation.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Counselor Gaducey.

Thank you again.

I know I was your harshest critic last time, and so I appreciate everyone chatting with me about everything.

Um I've haven't had any issues with the hardware.

Axon's sort of been, you know, the leading edge, both with the military and with the police departments around the world.

Um the fact that it doesn't use the data to train our models is reassuring.

Um the fact that it's our data and the external auditing, all of that ends up sort of looping together and being reassuring overall.

Uh my primary concern overall is always mission creep and the fact that we don't have any sort of governance here in the city of Tiger in order to address that.

Um so really the way that it is set up now seems fine and appropriate.

I'm just looking ahead, even six months to a year.

The last time you brought this forward, FUCSIS wasn't a part of it, and it was a add-on, right?

And within these last few months, that's changed significantly.

Um so I would move that the city council approve the axon contract for public safety surveillance solutions with the condition that the city of Tigrade implement a technology and AI oversight framework prior to the surveillance technology beyond current body and in-car camera systems be deployed, like the FUCSIS and AI tech.

So I'm sure council noted the addition from um uh counselor Gujusi.

And so I appreciate that.

So just looking for a second.

I was second that so we have a motion and a second.

Is there discussion?

Counselor Shaw.

Thank you so much, Councillor Gaducey.

Just um that was fast and for my ear.

So if you wouldn't mind just repeating the addition you added um that we would be as a council um approving, that would be helpful for me.

Thank you so much.

So just to set the baseline, I hate committees with a passion.

And so if I'm proposing a committee or a framework, that means it's something I'm passionate about.

Um so I would move that we approve the axon contract for public safety video surveillance solutions with the condition that the city of Tiger implement a technology and AI oversight framework or committee prior to the surveillance technology beyond the current body in car camera systems that we're deploying.

So prior to FUSIS implementation.

Do you have your follow-up?

Go ahead and then uh perhaps just uh uh question if we could separate the two.

Um, but happy to have counselor Schlack answer and thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Yeah, I have concerns as local contract review board about awarding a contract and stipulating conditions of of staff work.

I'm open to having that conversation, but I would prefer that it come through the non-agenda item process on our council ground rules so that way staff can uh consult on what that looks like and we can sort of understand what we're approving a little bit more.

Council's welcome to proceed with the motion as it is, but um if there are four votes, I will not be one of those four votes.

Councilor Robins.

Thank you.

And my mic worked.

Um I think that to what you brought up is is a very good thing to bring up.

And as far as from what I'm understanding, this contract, does this contract allow the police department to start using FUSIS?

I realize it's it's not using it now, but can you just add it in or would you need approval?

The the contract includes FUSIS in there.

Implementation wouldn't start until probably November.

That's when the actual equipment and services would be turned on.

But again, we wouldn't start using FUSIS until we've gone through a further review process.

So that's sooner than what I thought, based on how this was presented, that it wouldn't be until you know it sounded like it was further down the road.

Um so I'm glad we learned that.

Um my concern is from the answer that we got from the additional questions about who will decide if or when FUCSIS will be implemented in the future.

Um it says as for the decision to deploy it, this should be a conversation with the city manager to determine if and when we could we would use this portion of the offering.

Until there is approval from the city manager, we would not move forward with its use.

So does that mean that city council is just out of this conversation now?

Mayor Pro Tem, if I may, uh Jamie McDonald, your chief of police.

I mean, the conversation that I had with the city manager about this when we were talking about uh putting together a framework for this, was that we wouldn't move forward with the use of FUSIS unless the city manager had um had approved it.

And the conversation that he and I had was that he would be consulting with all of you in what format I'm not sure.

Um, but consulting with all of you and letting you know or talking to you about whether or not to move forward with that component of the contract.

So because we can't divide it out, it's just part of the package.

Uh that was where we came up with to be able to move forward with it.

So we don't have any intention of of moving forward with using the FUSIS component in this until we feel that it's right for this community.

And you all are the ones that are most likely to tell us whether or not it's the right timing to be able to use that that part of the technology.

So we have no intention of moving forward with it.

Um as Lieutenant Erickson mentioned, the implementation from the contract renewal would happen probably in about November ish, meaning that that's when we would have the availability to use it.

We have no intention of using it at any time in the foreseeable future.

So I'm wondering um uh city manager stockwall.

I'm sure that that could be a process that you could um facilitate, but is council looking if we go back to the original motion um that we shift so that that has to come back and be presented to council in some fashion.

So we could let this die, right?

Vote and it just you know dies on the floor um with a nay is what I and then someone come back with a motion subject to council approval, you know, prior to implementation of the FUSIS is what I'm trying to get at.

So it's a little bit different, and maybe Councilor Geducy for Council to approve it, you're like, well, I want to see a framework for how this would work, and so we can work on that as a component of council approving it when it's prepared.

I guess I'm trying to move you forward with a contract, but recognizing I think there's still concern on council that we still have said, yes, counselor.

I see our city attorney nodding her head.

So is there more I mean uh we can vote on this right now, but if if Faust, is there a more appropriate motion to reflect why uh Mayor Pro Tem just mentioned?

So yeah, so thank you, Council.

So I would recommend exactly what Mayor Pro Tem uh proposed that there is a motion and a second on the floor.

So either that is withdrawn or voted on and dies, and then the condition would be subject to council's approval prior to moving forward with the implementation of FUSIS.

And then that could include uh the framework that Councillor Gaducy proposed or any other conditions that council would want to put on it at that time, if that's acceptable with the police department.

City manager.

Yeah, uh Mayor Pro Tem and Council.

Um I would love to work with uh the two counselors that moved and seconded this to come back with an agenda item in the future that clarifies that issue so that you can go ahead and prove the contract now and then we'll work through the council ground rules process on uh adding agenda items to to bring that back in a later date.

Thank you.

So then I think that aligns well with the um revised motion that says it comes back for council approval.

Um so do you all want to vote and have it die or counselor, you want to um withdraw your motion and restate it?

I don't quite understand the difference between the two.

So what specifically are the differences?

So what I think this does is instead of to councillor Robin's point, having city manager stockwell say green light go, what it's asking is it moves the contract forward, but it has to come back to council, and in the meantime, uh City Manager Stockwell will work with you and counselor who on what does that what does it have to be to then move forward?

So I think we're getting the contract out the door, but we're still have put in a breaking mechanism for fuses that requires it to come back before that's actually executed, if that makes sense.

And that you two will work with City Manager Stockwell before that comes back to council.

And yes, and Chief McDonald, for sure.

Um so does that make more sense?

Sounds good.

Okay.

Would you like to withdraw your motion and restate?

I would like to withdraw my motion and restate.

I have to restate.

Um, or someone counselor um okay.

I will move to approve approve awarding a contract of Axon Enterprises Inc.

for public safety video surveillance solution with related equipment, software, and accessory with the condition that um council approval is required before the activation of this fusis module.

I second.

Excellent.

Um is there any additional discussion?

Um okay.

All those in favor, um uh please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Um opposed, say nay.

Nay.

Um motion uh passed by a majority of the council.

Thank you both.

Okay, uh next item on the agenda is the legislative public hearing ordinance amending TMC 7.58 regarding exclusions.

Um I um open the public hearing so that anyone who chooses to testify by phone, video, or in person, may call now to get into the queue, and then you would call 503-966-4101.

And then I will look to City Attorney Rahala for a staff report.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council.

So this change is to allow for more flexibility in our exclusion process.

Uh currently the code says that an exclusion is for a period of 30 to 180 days.

This creates some situations in which it is too long and others in which it is too short.

So the proposal before you tonight is to take out those time frames and allow more discretion on the part of the police department and municipal court uh to impose timelines.

So uh I'm happy to answer any questions.

Uh it is supported by police department and library uh where a lot of the exclusions come from.

Uh it was brought forth uh in collaboration with those departments.

Very good.

Thank you.

So at this time, um, there were no written comments uh received by noon on Monday.

There's no current comments from this evening, right?

For anyone speaking to uh give comment um here, and then Mr.

Vang, is there any callers in the queue to testify?

No callers.

Um with that we will close the public hearing.

So now we will move to council consideration of ordinance number 25-06.

Question or um I will look for a motion.

Mayor Pro Tem, I move to approve ordinance number 25-06.

I second the motion.

Motion was made in second and uh to approve ordinance number 2506.

Any discussion.

Counselor Robbins.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Um just for everyone's understanding what this means.

Um an exclusion in this case is basically would it be fair to call it a ban from public property if somebody misbehaves or breaks public behavior rules?

Um I'm sure we can think of a lot of them, then they are excluded or banned from the property for any amount of time.

That could be hopefully not something like 30 minutes, but a day or two.

Does it go all the way up to indefinitely?

As in you may never come back.

So technically, and yes, thank you for the question.

Um so that is correct that it is a ban from public property.

Technically, in theory, it could be indefinite.

Uh I would say it would be very hard to justify that legally.

So the intent here is to really create flexibility, but not to create uh some kind of open-ended uh constitutional issue.

So that we are working on a uh matrix, behavior matrix that would kind of give us some parameters.

Also, in our code, there is the opportunity for both an appeal and a variance.

So if somebody is faced with an appeal or if somebody is uh given an exclusion, they have the opportunity to appeal it on the front end.

So upon issuance, they could appeal it.

A variance would be more part way through, they realize that they have the need to access this facility or property, and then they would appeal or they would appear before the uh municipal court and request a variance.

So even if in some super egregious situation it was an indefinite, I I can't think of a situation like that.

I would say a year would be the most likely uh long term, but even in that case, there would be an opportunity for a variance, and the person could present that argument to the municipal courts.

So follow-up question then, thank you.

That's that's very informative.

Um would it be more reasonable then to say up to one year, or do you want that flexibility just in case?

I wouldn't be opposed to a year because like I said, I think all of our uh situations are gonna fit within that.

The intent was just maximum flexibility if council is comfortable with that, so I would be okay either way, whichever your discretion.

And and who decides the the sentence, the exclusion.

So uh the police department, so it has to be issued by a sworn police officer and exclusion.

So at the time that that police officer issues the exclusion, the determination would be made.

But again, it would be if appealed, it would be the municipal court judge that would have the final authority on that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any additional questions, comments?

Yes.

I just wanted to state for uh the council's awareness that I um had similar questions to counselor Robbins um that I asked uh city attorney Rahala before this meeting.

And um I'm fine with um passing the ordinance as is, but my personal preference would be to set an upper limit of of one year just because I have concerns about it being not that the city would misread it as indefinite, it's just that was my first read of it, and I just had concerns about how that read as an ordinance.

Totally understand the removing the lower limit though.

I'm fine with either in practice.

Mayor Pro Tem, I would like to um propose an amendment to um have it read instead of just I'm trying to see up to one year.

For uh to change it to say for a period of up to one year rather than taking out the time.

I will second uh motion to amend.

Okay, so just the amendment is on the floor.

Um so the vote will be to amend and then we'll go back and vote um uh on the amended motion.

Counselor Shahada, do you have another question?

Perhaps not a question, but a wonder um if there was a reason why it wasn't included in the first place and why there was maximum flexibility.

Because it seemed to me with the appeal and variance that answers the one year question, but um if that's the direction, I'm fine with it as well.

And there was really no great calculation with it, it was really just to delete the time frames and rely on flexibility.

But as I said, I'm totally comfortable with the one year maximum.

Uh okay.

Are we city manager?

Yeah, if I may, um this was something that I was involved in uh asking about after an incident that occurred at the Tiger Public Library.

And I uh would advocate for maximum flexibility on this uh situation because uh when it's too limited in a situation where someone has harassed a city employee and that city employee feels uncomfortable um being at work at that.

I just asked that we have a little bit more flexibility to make the the exclusion kind of fit the extent of the problem.

And it it seemed to me that it was too limited previously, and so we wanted more discretion on that because we had a you know a situation where an individual came in, exposed themselves, you know, had a uh harassing an employee, exposed themselves to that employee, um and we only had that limited amount, right?

Um we felt having a longer period of time with the ability to appeal if someone had uh understood the consequences of their action and had a commitment because otherwise then we have a situation they're free to come in, you know, they do it again, and then we as an employer have an adequately protected our employees.

And so that's just when I had uh talked to the uh police chief about it, um that was one of the things that you know I was concerned about.

So I just felt it's prudent to you know explain to you the seriousness of some of these situations uh that we have of people kind of uh uh taking advantage or abusing uh their access in a public facility.

I again I'm concerned about the constitutional limitations too, but I think there was enough there's there's enough context in place for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, City Manager, and just for the record, um I support an open-ended and um believe the judgment of those assigning the time would be appropriate, and if there is a a situation that it has an option to appeal or adjust.

So um so that is my stand just as an FYI.

Anyone else want to comment or we will move to the vote only on the amendment?

Um City Manager, thank you for providing that example.

And I think um I that's sort of the level of what I'm trying to think about, like where would we s start?

Like what is a reasonable expectation for a maximum ban?

And I think I'm trying to weigh that with protecting employees, ensuring we have safe public environments with recognizing that city property like the library is generally open to the public.

I'm not expecting the city to abuse this provision and just start expelling people willy-nilly.

And I think that's I don't know.

That's one way right now.

So I I see both sides.

Thank you.

Any confirmation?

Thank you.

Uh so City Manager Stockwell, are you requesting longer than a year?

Because I just it is City Attorney Rihalla had said um she was okay with a year.

Are you thinking that that's not long enough?

Um this subject that came up to me was an employee that asked to meet with me directly that was really concerned about their co-workers.

And so I think having that flexibility that if something uh was involved at this level and the police department came in and the police officer in consultation with their supervisors thought a time period longer than a year was justified.

Um I think that makes sense.

And remember too that I guess I'll add some additional context.

At times we have people that have done these similar things in other facilities and have been excluded from other facilities, and they come to our facility, and so there's this track record of having done that.

And so I think you want to take into consideration the full circumstances in there and give that discretion there with the ability to appeal or ask for a variance so that we can match that um exclusion to the situation.

Thank you.

Okay, are we good with questions?

So again, we are voting on the amendment.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed?

Nay.

Nay.

Nay.

Uh the nays carry, so we are moving forward with the original uh motion to approve ordinance um as written number 2506.

So now that I just said that, city recorder, will you please read the number and title of the ordinance?

Excuse me, do we need a separate motion and second to actually approve the ordinance since we were just I oh I only heard the amendment being motioned and seconded.

Oh okay.

This will be the vote on the ordinance.

Correct.

So ordinance number 25-06 and ordinance amending Tiger Municipal Code Chapter 7.58 regarding exclusions.

Okay.

City recorder uh Craig, would you please conduct a roll call vote starting with youth counselor um how it for an advice or advisory vote?

Excuse me.

Youth Councilor Helleck.

Aye.

Councilor Robins.

Aye.

Councillor Slack.

Aye.

Council President or excuse me, Mayor Pro Tim Wolf.

Oh good.

Aye.

Counselor Gerdusi.

Councillor Who?

Yes.

With that, the motion carries unanimously.

Um Councillor Shaw.

Oh, sorry.

Yes.

My apologies, Counselor Shaw.

Um now we're good.

Right.

Okay.

I know.

Uh uh ordin ordinance number 25-0 is it is um voted uh unanimously by council for approval.

Um okay, at this point we will move to the public hearing fiscal year 26 Q1 supplemental budget.

Um I open the public hearing.

Uh and I also are there uh budget committee members in um if you guys want to come forward, we'll have you have the opportunity during public testimony.

If you have questions, or you can just sit and listen and uh chill.

But just wanted to recognize and thank you again for your participation.

Um anyone that wants to um testify by phone, video, or in person may call and get into the queue now by calling 503 966 4101.

And finance director King will present the staff report.

So welcome to both of you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem Wolf and members of council.

Uh for the for the record, my name is Eric King, and I'm the finance director for the city.

I am joined here today with senior financial analyst James Kennedy, uh, who is here to help me respond to any questions that I am unable to answer.

Uh I am also joined uh by budget committee members in the audience uh who are also provide materials in advance.

Um thank you, uh Mayor Pro Tem Wolf for recognizing them in the audience.

Uh I do have a PowerPoint presentation.

Uh I see is not up there yet.

Um Network Administrative Aang.

Um do you have the PowerPoint available?

So it's not in the border, but um I'll try to see if I can get Carol to give it to me.

Well, I can continue on and wing it or wait for the uh presentation material.

Uh well, I I suppose before we get started, um uh tonight I'm here to present the supplemental budget for the city of Tiger and the Town Center Development Agency.

Uh these actions, the actions for these two items will be broken down to two separate agenda items uh with the town center development agency uh taking place immediately afterwards.

Uh for the community members that are under uh that are not familiar with the supplemental budget, uh it is an action intended to amend the adopted budget for the current fiscal year.

Um that is due to either unforeseen or unexpected circumstances during the time when the budget was developed.

Um I wasn't planning on going to the each uh line item detail in my presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions at the end of my presentation.

All the details for the supplemental items are included in the agenda packet and the exhibits.

I will give network administrator uh just a few more minutes.

Oh, there you go.

Thank you.

Uh could we go to the following slide, please?

Great, thank you.

Uh so first I want to talk a bit about carry forwards.

Uh so some of the first few items that you'll see on the uh PowerPoint are carry forward items that were already uh encumbered or under contract at the end of the prior fiscal year.

The funding for these items are from unspent funds from the um unspent funds that were appropriate appropriated in the prior fiscal year that were requesting to be carried forward into this current fiscal year.

So on this first slide, first slide right here, the significant item that I want to highlight is the carry-forward request for the River Terrace 2.0 planning project.

This is technically not a carry-forward because it is a grant funded project.

So we are just simply moving the revenue and expenses to this current fiscal year, and it's a net zero impact.

However, the other all the other items are carry-forward requests.

I also do want to address a typo in the PowerPoint.

The um the class comp study for 32,000 in the exhibits, it should it's correctly reflected as 90,900, and it's just a typo on the PowerPoint.

Um, but that is also carry-forward requests uh for um the class comp study that is already taking place.

Uh next slide, please.

Uh so a few things to highlight on the other uh for these departments.

Uh there's care forward requests from the IT department.

These are for projects that are uh that were delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and also with competing priorities.

Uh we did also have an unexpected uh carry-forward request for the police department for the Medaxo contract was which was the prior vendor for the photo enforcement program.

Uh there's a final bill of sale to decommission their old equipment as we then switch to um the new contract or aeromobility this year.

Um for public works, uh, most of these are equipment that have um already been purchased and ordered in the prior fiscal year, um, but they just have not been delivered yet or installed.

And so uh we don't expend the funds until that is all complete and we won't pay until it's also completely delivered.

Uh next slide, please.

Um a few items here for capital improvement projects.

Uh the all of these items are here, are just carry-forward requests that are moving from one fiscal year to the other uh due to delays in the uh project itself.

Um as many of you know, during the uh planning process for our capital project, uh we do our best to estimate the timing of when we expect to complete projects and move to um however the timing of the expenses aren't always exact.

Uh what you really want to look forward when you look at like our CIP page in the budget is what's the end of the project.

So many of these projects are already in flight.

They're they're not I don't have the detail on which project is going to end when, but uh in front of me.

Um but many of these are ongoing projects.

Um this list, um since the TCDA it will be a separate action, is that first item right there for Universal Plaza that is a TCDA separate item.

Uh next slide, please.

Now uh so this next section, uh, these are not carry-forward items, but these are new requests or transfers of budget appropriations.

So I'll go into a little bit more detail on these items since they are new items.

Um on the debt service side, um, this is a request to increase the appropriations for debt service for the um Tiger Triangle.

Uh this is for the um cinema site um the debt payments on on that bond issuance.

Uh for HR, there's a request for uh broker consultant um to help advise the city and negotiate on behalf of the city for uh improving our premiums for medical and dental um and insurance costs as those are continue to climb year over year.

Uh for the library, there is a request for um to expend funds uh that are received as donations from the friends of the Tiger Library.

Um so this is just the in and out.

Uh the funding comes directly from the friends.

However, we also have to recognize the expense on the city side as we uh they provide the funds to the city.

Um and then for the police department, uh there's a request for the axon contract, which you heard earlier tonight, uh, which did have an increase to their contract.

Um then the last item is is not a new well, it's a new request, but it's actually a reduction of funds uh for the Red Rock Creek stabilization project by 200,000 as TIFF funds for that project were used for the cinema site.

Uh next slide, please.

On this slide, we have a few corrections uh to the budget.

So these are were inadvertent errors uh during the time of budget development.

Um some uh errors that were made due to um uh import files, issues with our budget software.

Um, as you know, we are still um fairly new into our current budget software.

Um so these were inadvertent errors.

So the first one I'll highlight is the the finance the vacation cash out.

Uh these are uh entitlements to many of our employees uh in our bargaining units where they have the ability to cash out uh their unused vacation if after they reach a certain amount of cruels.

Um and so that total comes out to 661,000.

Um and then for on the for the police department, um there was an inadvertent error to leave out um salary for uh for a temporary back, I believe it's actually a background investigator uh for 55,000.

Uh and that is a year over year align item that's been in the base budget for for a number of years um that's inadvertently dropped.

And then the last error was a sixty-eight thousand dollar uh addition to the police department's budget that needs to be reduced as that that's actually duplication.

Um so that is just a reduction of appropriations on for that program.

Um so overall in summary, um the first quarter supplemental will increase the overall city's budget by 4.5 million, um, which is net of 1.9 million dollars in transfers.

And so the way this is being funded is uh 4.26 million is from carryover funds from the prior year, which were unspent uh for the fiscal year 25.

470,000 uh is from grants uh and carryovers, and then uh 461,000 is from contingency funds.

And with that, um that concludes my presentation and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

So we have comments on that day.

Uh there are any power.

Mr.

Bang, I apologize.

My mic wasn't on.

Um is there are there any callers in the queue?

The queue is currently empty.

Thank thank you, sir.

My apologies for that.

Uh city recorder Craig, um, has anyone signed up in person?

No, no one said yep.

Um okay.

So at this time, um, I will close the public hearing.

Um I guess I should be gaving.

Um council will consider resolution number 25-3.

Um Mayor Pro Tem Wolf, I move to approve resolution number 25-33 to adopt the fiscal year 2026 first quarter budget supplemental.

I'll second the motion.

Motion was made and seconded to approve Q1 supplemental budget budget.

Is there any discussion?

Councilor Gaducy.

Just in looking at everything, the only main question that I have is with the vacation cash out correction.

Have we reviewed it and made sure that doesn't happen again?

Like what was the post-mortem after that?

Uh yes, we have taken steps uh to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Uh we are actually in the process of uh um implementing uh a different platform for our budget so that this doesn't happen again.

Um it was approved during our uh during the fiscal year 26 budget to have Questica or I think that's in fiscal 25, sorry, I'm gonna years cross now.

Um so we are implementing Questica Um, which will no no longer have any imports.

Um so the issue was we have Excel files that override when you import things, and so that was one of the errors that we had at the time.

Um but we we will not um have the issue going forward.

Thank you.

And just for clarification, when you were talking about the carry forwards, that means that these are all things that have been budgeted in the last cycle, but because they weren't implemented in time, we need to just update our current budget, so it's not that money is changing.

We just moved it from one year to the next.

So it's already funded things.

Correct.

So I think this last slide right here is probably the best explanation for how these carrier forwards will be funded.

So 4.26 million of that was funds that were unspent in the prior fiscal year that we are requesting to move into the current fiscal year.

Um there will not be any further drawdowns from our reserves to pay for any of these uh items.

Thank you so much.

Great follow-up, thank you, Councillor Gaducy.

Uh, additional questions from council questions?

Oh, there um yes.

Um and I can't remember your name.

Welcome.

Ian, come um, why don't I would like you to be on the mic, so why don't you come up to um thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Vertend, Council Gregory King.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

Just one quick question or two quick questions on the new requests.

Um could you please speak to why the the finance portion and the police department contract portion are um new requests in Q1 as opposed to having been included in the original budget?

Sure.

Thank you.

So for the finance request, so that was a item for um the purchase of a the due cinema site that you um that was uh shared publicly um a few months ago, but the execution of that sale didn't happen until the current fiscal year and and the sale of the of the site.

Um so a bond was issued um and um at the time the budget was developed, um nothing has been had been finalized.

Um regarding the other question on the uh uh the oh the axon contract.

Uh so there was a placeholder for an increase um uh during the fiscal year 26 budget development.

Um the increase was higher than expected.

Um and so that's how we came up came up with that request.

Okay, thank you.

So the the contract was in the budget.

It's just that the contract is 82,000 more.

Correct.

That is the incremental increase uh from what the contract uh what was what had originally been estimated for the contract.

Great.

Thank you.

No further questions.

Um appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

Um so with that, we will move with the motion that's on the floor.

Um all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed by signify by and saying nay.

Motion carries uh number 23-33 is adopted by unanimous support um by votes of the council.

Thank you all.

Um so now we will move uh to the town center development agency uh to order for the next three um agenda items.

I will now open the public hearing.

Um that is interested in testifying may do that by phone, video, or in person, and may call to get into the queue now by calling 503-966-4101, and finance director King will present the staff report.

Thank you again.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem Wolf, members of council, uh, and again for the record, Eric Kang Finance Director.

Uh so I don't have a separate staff report for this section of the uh agenda.

However, as we went over the PowerPoint slide in the prior um agenda item, the request for the TCDA or Town Center Development Agency supplemental budget included the the two items, uh one related to the uh universal plaza carry forward request as well as the the debt increase to the debt service payments for um to service the the bond issuance for the purchase of the cinema site.

And with that, um happy to answer any questions so as of uh now there were no written comments that were received uh for this item by noon on Monday.

Mr.

Vang, are there any callers in the queue to testify?

No callers.

Thank you, sir.

Um City Recorder Crager, has anyone signed up in person?

No one signed up.

Um at this time I will close our public hearing.

And now council will consider uh TCDA resolution number 25-06.

Uh Chair Pro Tem Wolf, I move to approve TCDA resolution number 25-06, a resolution to adopt the fiscal year 2026 first quarter budget supplemental to Town Center Development Agency Urban Development for Budget Adjustments to Capital Improvement Projects and Debt Service.

I second the motion.

Excellent motion was made and seconded.

Are there any discussions?

Councilor Gadusi.

I'm just all sorts of trouble today, I'm sorry.

Um were there any changes made to the map of the area for the redevelopment assistance projects?

And if not, why is there a random island in the middle of the centers or the city center urban renewal district?

Councillor Good, I think you're jumping ahead.

Am I?

Then never mind.

So this is just the budget supplemental.

Oh, then never mind.

I apologize.

He is eager to ask his question.

Disregard.

Disregard.

Gotcha.

How fast can you think, Director King?

That's my confusion.

Thank you so much.

I love it.

Okay.

Um so assuming no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nye.

Um TCDA resolution number 25-06 is adopted by unanimous vote uh of the town center development agency.

Um the next uh item on the agenda is the town center development agency redevelopment assistance process review.

Um and with that, project manager Farelli will give the staff report.

I'm ready.

Good evening, Chair Pro Tem Wolf and the directors of the Town Center Development Agency.

Sean Fairley, redevelopment project manager.

Tonight the board is being asked to review some proposed changes to the redevelopment assistance application criteria and scoring, and to provide any feedback and to confirm that you're in favor of the chair changes.

So redevelopment assistance is a TCDA program to assist development projects with uh funding gaps in our two tax increment financing districts shown there.

Um the first grant was made back in 2016.

In total, there's been nine grants, three in the city center and six in the Tiger Triangle, and those uh projects are shown on the uh map there.

We've made a total of uh 6.95 million uh in grants, those nine grants.

Um current application process was established in 2021, and it's basically as follows.

We'll go through it quickly.

Um developer submits an application and project financial information, including the funding gap.

Uh after reviewing the application and financial information for eligibility, staff writes a memo and a recommendation on whether to approve and at what amount.

Uh the Town Center Advisory Commission reviews this application and memo.

They receive a presentation from the applicant and they consider making a recommendation to the TCDA board.

Uh then the board reviews the recommendation and a development assistance agreement and decides whether to approve.

And the grant funds are um typically released when the project is complete.

We've had a couple of uh exceptions to that, but that's generally the model.

Um the redevelopment assistance grant program has been successful in incentivizing development that meets the goals of the two TIFF district plans.

Um as these areas mature, it's assumed that there will be fewer public incentives that'll be needed.

However, the high cost of infrastructure construction is often a barrier to the kind of mixed use and affordable housing projects that are envisaged envisioned by the plan.

Many areas of the TIFF districts lack necessary infrastructure, or at times they require building entirely new street connections where none none existed before.

Staff proposes changes to the assistance program that'll specifically focus um assisting projects with high infrastructure costs.

So there's two attachments in your packet.

Uh one is the revised application, and the second is uh redevelopment assistance criteria.

Uh first the application.

So the current form is shown with track changes.

And um here are some of the highlights of those changes.

Um it specifies that the purpose of the grant program is to assist with funding gaps that are caused by infrastructure costs and how those costs must be documented.

Um the maximum grant remains uh the lesser of one million or ten percent of the total project costs.

Affordable housing projects are still awarded higher points per unit, um, but they also need to meet other TIFF goals to qualify.

And the last change uh to highlight it uh makes explicit that temporary shelter projects are eligible.

Now the second document is the redevelopment assistance criteria.

So the seven criteria are the same, but this is uh a new document in that it includes detailed scoring.

Uh points are awarded through more objective scoring systems.

Previously there wasn't a lot of guidance.

Some of the um criteria are qualitative.

Uh so this um uh assistance criteria kind of gives us more uh to hang the score on.

Uh the TCAC reviewed these proposed changes at uh meetings earlier this year, and they did recommend approval of the changes.

Um happy to answer any questions and answers tonight.

We're just looking for a head nod to see if you're in alignment.

Thank you, um Sean.

So questions.

Uh Counselor who question, Mayor Pro Tem, but I just wanted to thank the staff and the TCAC.

I I sat through several of those meetings.

They went through this very carefully for several meetings, and so I really want to thank their hard work.

Uh I agreed that you know um having affordable housing is no longer a given because you need to prove that you are advancing the goal, you know, of sidewalk and stuff.

And I also appreciate including um shelters.

So now there's a more explicit um definition of why who who is eligible for receiving assistance.

So yeah, so thank you.

I I totally agree with this approach, but thank you for your work.

Councilor Shaw.

Great, thank you.

Um could you just give a brief for those who are watching what a temporary shelter would be and why is that been included?

Well, two examples of temporary shelter.

One would be the uh family promise.

That's uh uh temporary shelter for pr predominantly families, but also um uh individuals who are experienced houselessness.

Um and then the other example that has been funded was the Just Compassion project.

That's more of a traditional um uh you know shelter for providing beds for the night.

And the reason was included.

Um the previous uh criteria did not exclude um temporary shelter.

Um I think it was pretty you know not crystal clear, but could be interpreted as saying, you know, uh housing uh commercial properties um that uh shelter would have been included and has been included.

So we're just making it clear where before it was more of a uh interpretation of what the criteria was.

Thank you.

Very good.

Counselor Gadusi.

Oh I don't know if I haven't noticed this before, but can you speak to the little island in the middle of the city center urban renewal district that is not covered for the redevelopmental assistant process?

Yes, that is a um uh basically took out the right-of-way of the um uh Park 217, I think.

It's got had a couple different names with the uh uh the flex space area down kind of off hot hall in 99 and 217.

Um that right of way was taken out um basically because uh when we amended the um size of the district back in 2017, uh there was a miscalculation uh by a surveyor, and we slightly went over the uh uh maximum that we could uh amend the district by the square uh the acreage of the district.

So for that reason we took it out.

Um not a great uh solution, but you know, we wanted to keep within the um uh the limitations of you know not uh um not expanding the acreage of the district by more than was permitted and um taking out right away seemed like the best way to do it excellent question.

Uh counselor, did you have a question?

Um just a comment first, thank you for the history lesson on that front.

I had wondered that before, and now we all know.

Um but also thank you for making the temporary um shelter um bed section more explicit.

I know that was one of my concerns when we last um reviewed a grant application specifically for just compassion where um the council agreed with that interpretation and I felt like it was getting a little on the fence, so I appreciate you um making sure that that was explicitly called out to align with the goals of uh the TCDA board, I should say, not the council.

Okay, so I think that um redevelopment manager Farelli is looking for just kind of a consensus nod.

So if everyone is um uh uh in support, um I think you have that unanimous um nodding up here.

Uh so thank you, uh Sean, very much.

Um and we will move to our next item.

Um and I think at this point, um oh no, we have one more uh downtown wayfinding plan um that is under uh this umbrella.

Great, thank you.

So we'll go to the uh the next uh PowerPoint uh wayfinding.

As that comes up, um I'd uh like to introduce a couple of uh the presenters tonight.

Um this is a Wendell Cater.

He is a community development project manager who started with City uh back in January, and uh some of you have met him.

Uh this will be his first council uh presentation for the night.

And also on the um online we have uh consultant, Jill Rosell from ALTA planning, and uh she helped us come up with the wayfinding plan.

So I'll uh I'll let uh Wendell and Jill take take it from here.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim uh Wolf and Council members.

Um here to give you an update on the downtown wayfinding plan.

Next slide, please.

Uh the agenda is a project overview, and then final wayfinding plan implementation, and then questions if there are any uh when we finish.

Next next slide, please.

Next slide.

The project extent is uh the wayfinder project is located in the city center TIP district.

It is funded by TIP dollars, and you can see the boundaries there.

Uh eventually, this program could be rolled out citywide depending on funding availability.

Next slide, please.

The wayfinding advisory team included representatives of the Town Center Advisory Commission, Bob Thomas Subak, uh Tiger Transportation Advisory Committee, the Tiger Downtown Alliance, and the Tiger Area Chamber of Commerce.

Next slide, please.

For public outreach, we have 692 community community members provide input.

Outreach included in-person events, flyers, social media, and online survey.

Uh that picture was one of the community engagement events.

Uh, I think it was held in Universal Plaza.

Next slide, please.

Uh you can see the public service survey results there.

There were four concept designs.

Umcept 1A had the most response responses at 307.

We use SurveyMonkey, farmer's market in community preparedness for engagement with the community.

Next slide, please.

Okay.

So with that being the preferred design concept that the community chose, we then um went forward with it and asked ODOT to review it to ensure that it would work um in instances within ODOT right away.

And they had some edits to comply with their standards.

Um you can see those here.

Really relatively minor.

The yellow color is not used in all of the signage.

It's only used in areas that would just be for bikes and pedestrians, um, not on ODAT right away.

Um the logo is now a pictograph, and there's a topper sign that you'll see um that emerges throughout the the actual design that's selected.

So next slide.

There you can see what was submitted to ODOT and and what they approved, and what the wayfinding advisory team then decided between the two options that ODOT um had approved.

So next slide.

And then we compiled the final wayfinding plan.

Next slide, which included um the design intent drawings.

So you can see there's um the city will be able to use these to get the signs manufactured.

These are this is the kiosk and the fingerboard.

We're also providing a couple of the kiosk maps.

Um it's just shown as a blank inset here, but um so these are as mentioned would be only in um bike and pedestrian um pass, not along ODOT right away.

Um next slide.

And here you see the kind of remaining signs, decision signs, secondary access, confirmation, turn, and then the three on the right are the pavement markers that are also a part of this plan.

Um go to the next slide.

Here you see the full sign family.

Um so um even with you know some of the design changes that happen.

There's a nice cohesive design throughout, and this would be the branding throughout the city potentially.

Next slide.

So the signed schedule.

Um the project team worked with the city and the wayfinding advisory team to generate and categorize all of the downtown Tiger destinations and considering what should be primary, secondary, and tertiary categories, which is really important when you're thinking about programming the signs.

And all of that information was compiled into GIS and a total of 80 specific signs were actually programmed within the TIFF district.

And so those all include directions, the again the destinations, including you know, character count and making sure there's a consistent um approach to the signage so that you can implement this as you move forward.

And the sign placement plan is of course a very important part of the wayfinding um plan.

If you can go to the next slide.

So this is just um a snip of you know what that looks like, and then you would be able to click into it and interact and find out exactly what the sign programming is and the location and um I will say there was a good deal of effort that went into looking at the existing signposts and making sure that we're consolidating wherever possible and guaranteeing that there's not a lot of sign clutter as um these get implemented.

And yeah, I believe really it's just intended to serve as a guide for you to implement these signs and next slide.

Speaking of implementation, next slide.

So implementation uh for fiscal years 2025-26, the CIP has funding for the plan, implementation, construction documentation, engineering, permitting, sign fabrication, and sign installation, and construction administration.

The goal is complete installation of downtown by fiscal year 2026-2027.

Uh we'll take any questions, if any, thank you.

Thank you all for the presentation.

Council, any questions?

Uh counselor Robins.

Hi, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, and thank you, um Program Project Manager Cater for your presentation.

I do have a couple questions about the the process.

Um we didn't submit the designs to ODOT for approval before going out and getting feedback.

And the reason why I'm asking is because it turns out that at least from what I'm seeing here, the most popular design, one A, they got 44% of the votes actually wasn't approved by ODOT.

And the one that the two that were approved was one B and one D.

Um, one B was second to last as far as what people liked.

It only 17% of people liking that one.

And so now are we going to have the public walking around and saying, I didn't pick that sign design.

Um, you know, it just seems like it would have been more efficient to have submitted the designs to ODOT, so then we weren't asking people to choose between signs that we had no possibility.

Not that we knew that, but you know, that just weren't approved.

Is there um they they were submitted to ODOT?

Um sorry, one over you.

No, no, go ahead.

Um, they were they were submitted um in February, and then we didn't actually hear back until like October was part of the issue.

There, I think there was a leg on um ODOT's response time.

And so we did work with them to be sure that you know the signs do hold to the integrity of what the public um wanted.

There was some issues with interpretation, and there was also just recently the M U T C D uh guidelines had changed.

Um that also impacted how people were interpreting the signage code, I believe.

I don't know, Sean or Wimbell, if you have any more to add to that.

Uh just for the audience, can you explain what M U T M U T C D is?

Yes.

Oh, geez.

What does that acronym mean off the top of my head?

Well, it's rules are about uh traffic signage.

They changed um in the mid in the midst of this um plan.

And so yeah.

ODOT uh not being timely in their comments, and then the change in some of these rules.

That's that's why the um uh the preferred uh design was not uh selected, but I think what has resulted is it is pretty handsome design and uh the wayfinding uh advisory team uh concurred it carries toward you know the uh not a tree but a leaf motif, which I think is nice and similar colors other than yellow, which turns out that uh ODOT doesn't like to see yellow on sign because that could be interpreted uh as a warning, I guess.

So I just have one follow-up question.

Am I to understand that they would have been the does the two designs that were not approved would have been approved were it not for the change in the rules with the MC acronym?

Mm-hmm, T C D.

Um I believe the at least like the pictograph, that was one of the big things that was kind of the the tree and the interpretation of the word pictograph was something that we actually kind of went back and forth a great deal on, and some people at ODOT actually think it works, but not everybody.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Robins, for the follow-up.

Um any other questions, comments.

Um, I think this item was an FYI just update on the sign.

So thank you all for being here this evening.

Um so I think now we are back to our council roles.

Um at this time, council will discuss um options for filling the mayor uh vacancy.

And with that, city attorney Rahala will lead the discussion.

Good evening.

And there is a slide presentation with this, please.

Thank you.

All right, so the question before council tonight is really to focus on the process for how we're going to conduct filling the mayor's vacancy.

So with the vacancy uh created, um council president Wolf stepped in uh automatically by our charter and became uh mayor pro tem.

So that is automatic until uh council appoints a new mayor to fill the seat.

It is important to clarify that the filling of the vacancy is only for the remainder of the term, so this does not start a new term.

Uh Mayor Lube's term ended uh December 31st of or ends uh December 31st of 2026, and so this will only fill the vacancy until that point.

So regardless of what approach council takes, this seat will be on the ballot in November of 2026 uh for a full four-year term.

So this appointment is for a term of uh a little over a year to fill that vacancy.

So our charter provides two ways by which to fill a vacancy.

Uh the first one of those is by appointment, and the second is by special election.

So council may appoint uh to fill the remainder of this term.

Uh that could happen.

So what we're looking for tonight is the process by which that could happen.

Um I do want to note special election is the other uh option.

I won't spend a lot of time on that because that is not an option allowed uh by charter.

Because the date, because the filing deadline uh for that election for the next special election was September 5th, um, we do not have time to have the one year gap uh that our charter requires.

So if it had happened just a little bit sooner, we would have been able to put candidates on the next special election.

Um but that is not a possibility right now, so we're solely focused on the appointments.

And City Attorney Rahala, I don't think you gave the date of the next special.

So if you could just clarify that just to really quantify why this isn't a possibility.

Yes, so the next election date is November 4th of 2025.

The filing deadline for that was September 4th of 2025.

So the next election uh the next election with a deadline that hasn't passed is March 10th of 2026.

The filing deadline for that is January 8th of 2026.

However, because the term ends December 31st of 2026, there is less than that year gap.

So thank you.

Uh so that is why the special election is not an option by charter.

So if we're going to focus on appointment, uh council has two options is either to uh make actually so let's go to the next slide, please.

So uh so if we're going to fill by appointment, council can either appoint a seated member or open a full process.

Uh if it's a seated member, council could either fill that tonight or could fill it at a future meeting.

So there's a couple decision points in tonight's process.

So uh so the first question of does council want to appoint internally or from an external process?

Uh I would say that's a good starting point for conversation.

And then we can move on from there because that will affect the direction that council gives staff.

So I'll I'll pause there for uh discussion.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, first of all, City Attorney Rahala.

Um let me ask the first question to council.

Are you comfortable with this as our first question?

Um do we um appoint internally or externally or open that up?

Does that make sense?

Okay.

So if that is the first um cut line, um I will start and give my opinion and then counselor Gadusi, if I could shift to you and we'll just work down um the line.

Um my opinion and um I have um opted to not um uh put my uh uh name up to be a um permanent mayor.

Uh this has been an amazing learning opportunity, uh but for me personally.

Um there are some specific projects that I'm really excited about, building a better Tiger is one of them, uh, plus a few others and um some of the other organizations that I feel so fond fondly about that um I will continue to serve on those as well.

So I share that because this isn't about an opportunity for me as much as um this council has set goals.

This council has worked hard on ground rules, we have um work to do on how we build um successful um council functions.

And so I would like to see a mayor um appointed from within because I think we have work to do and welcome um an outside um appointment clearly for a council opening.

Uh but I do think that it's important in this short year and for someone that has completed five elections, uh, those terms go very quickly.

Uh so it will be summer and candidates will be thinking about being mayor um uh very soon.

Uh so I do think that that we have work to do.

Um I would like to see a mayor within um our group uh lead us into the next year and really fulfill the important work that we have committed to.

Uh so that's my opinion, councillor Gaducey, I'll shift to you and we'll just go straight down.

And you have real quick.

Oh, um yes, youth counselor how it please.

Um I was just wondering if when everyone's going down the line, if you could just say whether or not you would be willing to take up the mayor position if we're if you like if we talk about wanting to appoint within council just so that I have an idea of what's going on, and hopefully other people want an idea of what's going on too.

I think that's a great question.

But just yeah, thank you for the conversation.

Um with that, counselor Godusi.

Thank you.

Um I'll start with saying that I've been very vocal about having zero interest in the mayor position.

So we'll start with that from the get-go.

We thank you for your service.

Um given the resignation, I do feel that the community does want more transparency in the selection process.

Um the next election that's allowed by the charter would be the November election of next year, it sounds like I would propose continuing as a pro tem until that time, which is not really one of the decisions, and I know put a lot of burden on you, but that's that's what I would propose.

Is that an option?

So there is a vacancy.

Let me pull up the charter really quick so I can get you the right language.

You can continue discussing.

I'll come back to you.

So with that, we will um move on to counselor.

Thank you, Councillor Gaduce.

Um thank you, Mayor Mayor uh Pro Tem Wolf.

And also I just want to take this moment to thank you publicly for stepping into this role and in very sudden circumstances.

I think um the council really appreciates the hard work that you've done in this turbulent time and getting us back on track.

So thank you so much.

Um I will not be seeking appointment to be Tiger's next mayor.

I am focused on making the most positive impact possible in my current role as a city councilor.

But I would like to take this moment to reaffirm my commitment to leading by example in this workplace and in this community.

I also reaffirm my focus on getting the essentials right.

Police, public works, housing, parks, our homelessness response, the budget, and other items.

Those are my priorities and the priorities against which I will evaluate Tigert's next mayor.

We have 406 days until the next election, and this council still has a lot to do to achieve its goals and rebuild trust with our city organization and community.

I'm ready to heal old wounds and get back to work.

Regarding uh whether I would prefer internal or external, I would prefer internal because I think that uh we are currently part of a two-year council cycle.

We set council goals and have issued policy direction, and I would like to see an internal appointment because I want the mayor to be someone who is part of those discussions who understands our collective vision for this period of Tigert City Council history, and I think that would be appropriate.

Plus, we will uh if we do that have to backfill an open city council position for the remainder of whoever who uh whomever's term is uh vacated by an internal appointment.

So there is still appointment to get um fresh perspectives on the council and as part of council discussions going into the next election.

That would be my preference.

Thank you, Councillor Schlack.

Um, Councilor Hallig, would you like to just give comment?

Yeah, thank you.

I also think that we have gotten so much input from the public over these past couple weeks that people really really want public involvement.

And I think that if it's not in the cards to hold a special election, then you know it's not in the cards.

It obviously what we do has to be realistic, but I think that there needs to be public involvement, and I think that holding the like the ability to apply for the position, I guess.

I don't really know how to word it to the public is would be really important because I think that it's important that we maintain trust with the city, and I think that if we do not at least have some sort of public involvement, then there's going to be a lot of backlash and people are going to be really upset.

And I think it's really important that we also, while understanding that it's important to value the council's goals and council's values, that we also need to make sure that we are thinking about what the people of the city care about and what they want.

And I think that that is really important.

So I that's my opinion.

Okay.

And thank you, Mark Mayor Pro Tem.

I think you've done an excellent job as well.

And want to thank you for taking up the helm.

Um I recognize that as having been involved in a number of community members with the charter process that was updated and voted by and approved by our community, that it negates uh the ability to have an election and appointment.

And because of that, and because of being the longest tenured counselor and understanding what the process would take.

Um, it takes more than even six months to a year to understand the different components of the city.

And because we've had disruption with the mayor's resignation, I would not want our city to be not able to move forward because we wouldn't have a counselor who understood some of the nuances and whether it's budget, economic development, housing, and so with that I would um opt for a seated counselor.

And also uh with that recommendation, I would like to be I would like to self-nominate or be nominated for the mayoral position uh for several reasons.

Um I think we need to have a fresh start from the past of those who are prior leaders.

I also think that um I believe in a shared leadership.

It's a servant leadership, and it's one that places the needs of our community and our council first.

It also is their defined responsibilities in our charter, and again, our community members took care to discuss and put in what those mayoral duties are.

There's four of them.

They're fairly administrative.

But I'm willing to be not only an effective leader, but a shared leader, and I would say that this council all deserves to have the equal authority to make decisions and to work together.

And I think that reflects both the respect as well as the inclusion of each one of us as counselors.

And also I would like to model the ethical behavior.

I'd like to maintain the fiscal responsibility and foster a supportive environment for not only just the staff for council and for public.

And I like to be considered as a as a nominee for mayor to help that piece that healing process move forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I I'm yeah, I agree that we need to appoint someone internally just for all the reasons stated, stability.

Mayor, even though mayor has one-seventh of vote, equal vote power voting power as the rest of council, the mayor does have a unique duty.

That person will be the public face.

And so they will be out there speaking, especially advocating on behalf of the building a better project.

So it doesn't make sense to me right now to have a somebody from outside to do that to have that role.

Also, the mayor has a unique role of coordinating our policy-making roles.

So it will make sense to have somebody who already is familiar with all the counselors and already have an existing working relationship.

And I recognize your point of um public wanted input.

But I just wanted to remind you that if we did appoint somebody internally from a mayor, there will be a new city councilcy opening up.

And that would be a I think that would be a perfect opportunity for public input.

And I'm thinking that maybe we should think about what that process should be like.

Um maybe we can have more public input.

Maybe we'll have a committee that would help us pre-select some candidate if we are fortunate enough to have a huge selection again this year.

So I understand your worry about um public involvement, but I think there will be an opportunity for the city, so city counselor's seat if we appoint somebody attorney from the mayor.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

And also I would like to put myself, I want to just throw in the hat and nominate myself as the mayor of Canada as well.

And are we ready to was that the speech or interest interest, or we will save that for later?

So uh what I would um like to suggest is that we um if there's anything you want to add, counselor who but I think to you, counselor Helleck's question, even if we end up with internal, the question of how do we get community interests, what are the questions look like?

We still haven't touched the process.

So I I think it is premature to kind of dive in to um uh your statement because I don't think we're there yet.

But I appreciate Councilor Shaw what you shared.

So if there's anything else you want to add, Counselor who I think we have a whole host of uh things to cover uh to honor that piece and move forward forward from there.

And the only other thing you counselor Halek that I would add to is um this position, you know, not pro-chem, but the real thing is so important uh to a city, and what I do not want is an appointment of this council to have a mayor who then is an incumbent on in the um on an election because I don't think that every tigered voter pays as close attention to everything that we do all the time.

And so I think it's really important that that is um a more open slate.

Um and certainly the council um I too am very excited about um having a committee that maybe interviews the first round of um candidates and then moves forward a smaller group for council to consider.

All those things are things council appointment will certainly be later along the line.

But um so let's pause on why I want to be candidate and let's uh finish with counselor robbins and then go back to the process.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um first off, I've been a city counselor for eight and a half months now, or is it nine and a half, somewhere in there, eight and a half, I think.

And I'm still learning things every day, learning who does what, learning what you know what we're supposed to do, what we're supposed to leave to city staff to do, um, what meetings I'm supposed to show up at and stuff like that.

And um, in addition, my son said I absolutely was prohibited from trying to be mayor.

So um because he wanted to see me some this year, so um I will not be seeking the seat at this time.

Um I want to just voice that I think we as a council have been somewhat stymied in doing the important work of the city this year.

And then we took a longer time than we should have, I think, to improve our approve our council goals and approve council ground rules.

Those went back and forth multiple times.

And it's hard to get any work done when you haven't even approved how you're gonna get that work done or the work that you want to get done.

So I am eager to get to work.

You know, here we are in September, we are dealing with this current controversy and the need to designate a new mayor.

Um I think that Mayor Pro Tem Wolf has done an excellent job.

Um, but I understand her just like me saying this isn't the right time for me.

And it's a tremendous amount of time and pressure to be you know the top face of the city, um, whereas we all are equal votes.

And I just want to make that clear that that's one of my priorities moving forward is to make sure council does act as an equal council where we all have equal votes.

Um and if we don't all agree, that's great.

We shouldn't all agree.

That's how democracy works.

Um we have received multiple requests for an election so that the public has a say.

Um we've already established that we can't do that.

I don't think appointing someone from externally is allowing the public to have a say.

It's just picking someone, you know, from the number numerous people who raise their hands, we're still just picking someone that we would pick.

Um and I think that would be unfair both to to the city to council and to that person who was appointed who was thrown in and has to be the face of the city going to all the events and in kind of following in the footsteps that we're trying to reset here this year.

So um I think the most efficient and fair option would be for the city to appoint internally.

It's going to be for 14 months, 14 and a half months, somewhere along there.

Um we can then get to work on the many projects that we have planned this year.

It's already almost the end of the year, and I want to get to work.

So City Attorney Rahala, do you have any follow-up from Councillor Gaduce's?

Yes, thank you.

So uh the so section 5.6 on filling vacancies does say that uh in the event of a vacancy, the council may fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term by election or appointment.

And then in the council president section above, uh it does say in the event the mayor is unavailable to serve, the council president will serve as the mayor pro temporor.

Uh so there is not an obligation in the charter to fill the vacancy.

I'm sorry.

Uh but the point that was raised about uh a vacancy being created that then is not filled uh is valid because council will then have to, if a current member of council is appointed, uh that vacancy would have to be filled as well.

So if the council president does become the pro tem for a long duration, the council president role would have to be separately voted on and appointed also.

So what what I'm hearing as a majority moving forward is there is an interest to appoint and counselor Godusi, thank you for that um unexpected um recommendation.

And I do want to say it has been an honor, although you know, brief, but certainly to serve in this capacity.

Um I love the city.

We have some fantastic goals.

Um Councilor Schwak listed those out and some new areas that we care deeply about and and whether that is an economic development or really focusing on houselessness.

A lot of the comments around wanting an election is how are we managing that area?

And that is also something that I'm um very committed to uh look at how we work with our regional partners and our neighbors um to sit to manage that.

So what I'm hearing is that we will move forward with an internal appointment, and I hear that we have two counselors that are interested, but I'm gonna put a pause button on the counselors, and now we're gonna go to process.

So what does that look like to ensure that is there an opportunity uh for uh questions that we want to um ask our our council members?

Um is there an opportunity to get questions from external partners?

Um so what are you all thinking about that?

And with that, counselor Robbins, I'll flip to the other side and I'll have you start.

Can you repeat the question?

How do we do this?

So we can go to the next slide.

Yay.

It's almost like you had this Christopher scripted.

So the next question then is really what does the process look like?

So typically for an appointment, council has uh either come up with interview questions, come up with uh written questions that they would like.

Really, it's what kind of information does council want to gather.

Um does council want to do uh something we haven't done before, some community town hall or something this is entirely at council's discretion, and then uh what does the timeline for that look like?

So uh staff is here to take direction on that and happy to gather your feedback.

Thank you.

Um I don't want to take a long time to do this because we have a lot of steps to accomplish, right?

We have to appoint a mayor.

Um and then hopefully we don't have to appoint a new council president because you'll continue that.

Um but then we're going to have to start recruiting and advertising and starting the process of appointing somebody to fill a council seat.

Um so I would move to continue fairly quickly.

I don't think we have to decide tonight because I would like to, you know, allow some people time to reply, send in some emails and not have those emails be.

I said I wanted input, and then you went and voted without me even getting to have any input.

Um so I'd like to you wait at least a couple weeks since we don't have a meeting next week.

Um it might be interesting to have a couple questions submitted from the public if that doesn't take too long.

Um I think we know each other and know our priorities and know how we work well, so that part is you know, I feel comfortable with that.

But it would be interesting to hear, you know, if anyone really is interested and wants to have some some input, send us an email.

So I'm fine with that.

Yeah, I would be excited by the process to have some questions submitted by the community.

I'd be curious um how they would be chosen.

Um, because we certainly, if we had hundreds of questions, that could be a very long uh interview process for both myself and counselor who and I also agree with counselor robbins um having it on the more expeditious side because we do have lots of projects we'd like to move on.

Uh so with that I would welcome questions as well.

Youth counselor I don't really have anything to add.

I just took I agree with everyone down the line.

Um but I do appreciate you really pushing on we need outside input, and that was very valuable, and I think it's really guiding these conversations.

Thank you.

Um I totally agree.

I was um I know that there's time set aside uh on the October 7th agenda so that we could do this kind of part one, part two.

Um and I love the idea, and I'm sure that um either city attorney Rahala or city manager uh Stockwell can come up with how do we random, you know, pick questions, but have that kind of um opportunity for council to have questions as well as work on um gathering that input from um our community uh and then go from there.

Uh and so I don't have anything to add.

I don't know if there's a time to have uh an opportunity to start earlier and have a mini forum here in City Hall that gives people that opportunity to meet the two of you and just ask those questions where council would be present so that we could hear the your responses.

That's another option we can talk about or see if there's interest in that.

And with that, uh counselor Shaw.

I'm just imagining the headlines of who versus Shaw on October 7th, you know.

It's gonna must sue television.

We get along great.

I know, I know, but orderly still uh political junkie like me, that's how I read it.

Um just to clarify, really respect you both as colleagues.

I think either of you would serve um with honor and distinction as our next mayor.

So all kidding aside.

Um being serious, I want to be very mindful of the precedent we're setting right now in terms of appointing a mayor.

Um I don't recall the last time a mayoral appointment has happened in Tiger District.

Of course, we can all recall the last city council one, and I imagine we would sort of defer to the process we had on less than a year ago at this point for a city council vacancy.

I feel like what we set tonight as the expectation will be something that future councils may have to look back to.

So I want to be really mindful of what we're doing.

I want to be very mindful that since we are appointing internally and there is um uh there are a lot of uh community members submitting public comment about wanting their voice heard that we make sure that this mayor is set up for success and viewed up as a our legitimate duly appointed um mayor.

And I also think it's really important that we have two members of the council who have presented themselves as a city councilor.

Um, but I want to make sure that community members understand their vision, their values for this new role that they are seeking as tigered mayor.

So I fully support um having questions.

I mean, this morning it was like four or five a.m.

and I woke up and I'm like, how am I gonna choose between Councillor Who or Counselor Shaw potentially?

I wrote down twelve questions.

I'm like, these are the things I would need to know in order to make that decision.

So I would love to have at least one of those incorporated to the many questions I'm sure we will get.

Thank you.

Counselor Gaducey.

Thank you.

Um so there I dug into it and there is precedent.

So there have been mayors that have died while in office um during those times there was an internal appointment.

Um I don't remember who it was.

I think it was before Dirksen and uh like one or two before them.

So are are there uh are there dates on that wall?

That would be great.

No.

Um so in the past there have been mayors that have passed away while in office and they have sort of voted internally.

That said, I would still push for us to do the regular election next November and continue to have you as a pro tem.

Um and I know that there's a reason why councillor who likes the word shall rather than may and things like the city charter, but it was there.

Thank you.

So I feel like it's clear as mud right now.

Um so what I hear uh from a majority voice is um we will make a decision at the October 7th council meeting.

Uh we would like questions from community members so that we have an opportunity for that.

Uh councillor Schlack has prepared questions, so I also invite counselors um to um submit questions.

So then the question is um uh do we then have an opportunity for you both to share your statements, your values, your vision, so we hear that, and then have open questions during the council meeting before council starts.

And if these are in the weeds logistics, we can talk about this offline and then you know, publicly post that ASAP this week so people know what's coming up.

Uh direction thoughts, city attorney Rahala or City Manager Stockwell.

Yeah, thanks.

Um so it would be helpful to know how many questions you're looking at, and if they're if you would like the questions shared with the candidates in advance or uh whether you want us to just surprise you the night of.

Um but knowing the number of questions, we can kind of help structure the meeting, so that would be helpful.

That's a great question.

Um and counselor Schlack was fast with the hand up, so I'm gonna start with him.

Um back to sort of precedent or recent memory, I thought the format from the city council process worked well where there are five questions provided ahead of time and then five questions on the spot.

Um, you know, of course, pre-selected, and I want to be very mindful to the public to make sure that um counselors uh who and Shaw do not receive those five questions ahead of time.

They're not part of the those deliberations just for for the sake of fairness.

Um that's that would be my my recommendation.

So we'll have to propose questions get directed to a staff member is where they should go versus hashtag council, but we'll figure out that and make I'm sure uh uh a press release or announcement some uh time soon.

So any other questions, thoughts, comments?

Counselor Shaw.

Uh thank you all for this very robust conversation, thoughtful conversation.

So for clarity, October 7th will be um there'll be questions, five that we'll know about five that are unknown for both counselor who and myself, you know, it'll be within the time frame of that evening for October 7th.

That is my um uh assumption or my vision for the night, and then council will vote that night.

So on October 7th, we will be moving forward.

Now, obviously you um we will not likely do the swearing in um that evening, but that would happen very quickly after that.

Um is what I mean I'm looking at, yeah, City Attorney Holloway nodding on that.

Yeah, so uh our charter does require the oath be taken before the before a member of council can assume any of the duties.

So we can either have uh in the past we've done it both ways with a ceremonial appointment separate from the actual appointment, or we can just do them one at the same.

So I believe you all took the oath prior to the first council meeting just so that there was continuity in case something disastrous happened at 1201 on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

So we can do it that way and we can have the uh selected candidate take the oath immediately with our municipal court judge or our uh city recorder take that oath or we can have the municipal court judge here we can do the ceremony um we can also separate it we can do whatever you want to do we can separate it and have the ceremonial oath taken at the following meeting uh if people want uh friends and family to be able to come for that uh it is whatever council wishes I mean there's part of me um although uh I I guess I would do two part because it's a big deal and I um as counselor Schlack said you both are extremely strong uh council members and that is something to be celebrated and honored and so um I would like to have the vote done and then very quickly have a follow-up ceremony the thing that's different is we are all functioning uh voting council members as opposed to having that kind of funky first week of January where you don't have a quorum of uh council members so I that's um indifferent to me if we have a um uh swearing in at the very beginning of the next meeting or if you do it privately and then just ceremonially I don't I don't care about that so I'm sorry.

I thought you were gonna say something I was just gonna say I um yeah I I agree with that sorry I didn't mean to say that I'll I'll add also with the 10 question format it was like 30 minutes per interviewee last time so I think we can get through a lot that evening in terms of content and all of that.

Maybe we should have a fast button so we guys give them a speedrun public comment timer.

You can tell I'm not running so and appreciate the clarity thank you very much.

Okay additional questions comments um city attorney Rahala does that seem to make sense or that does make sense thank you I think uh anything else we can work out behind the scenes um two final notes um we will want to close the opportunity for public comment uh probably a weekish in advance so that staff has time to reconcile and uh do that so um council's agreement on that and then uh special thank you to uh Brian Rager who was able to answer tonight's quiz question uh it was mayor jimai who passed away and then Jim Griffith was appointed that's what I was thinking of Jim Griffith then I forgot about Jim Nicolai I remember that now so thank you and thank you Brian um for closing and honoring um those men for serving the city so thank you.

Um okay so I think we have a plan.

Yes youth counselor how it just want to check and make sure is it gonna be like a big announcement for people in the city to submit and ask questions.

I want to I want to make sure that everyone gets a chance to because I think that maybe like one and a half people tune in to the full meeting if that every week so I know but I I just want to make sure that everyone actually knows that this is an option so that no one you know hears about the new appointment and says why didn't I know about all the questions I could ask because I'm sure that if it wasn't super clear.

So I also believe that we can promote promote and promote and there will still be people that say why didn't I know about this how come you didn't tell anybody that'll always happen.

That always happens.

And I do think that more than one and a half actually tune in.

I don't know I think they are so to that point I'm I am certain that there will be um social media um push or uh some kind of push out to our community um that um and and you know for those that are paying attention good on them and then I'm not trying to exclude anyone but hopefully through social media through a push out from the city uh that will get that attention um and this is an important process so I do hope people are paying attention and thinking about that.

And I also hope um youth counselor um howc that there's an opportunity to get a youth question so um if there's a way to um promote that and we can maybe work with you on how to do that through Tiger High and um see if there's a question.

So um I'm great at talking I do it all the time.

So okay so I think I think we're set for this evening um great conversation um and uh again appreciate you both for really stepping up to do this really important um position and I think with that we are adjourned so good night tigered and thank you all for being here