Good evening and welcome to the April 13, 2026 Tualton City Council work session.

Our first item on the agenda tonight is our police services contract with Durham.

The discussion we led by the Chief of Police, Greg Pickering.

Welcome, Chief.

Well, good evening, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

I am Chief Pickering with the Twalton Police Department.

Here tonight, just to give a brief overview of our the police services that we do provide to the City of Durham as we have uh began the contract negotiations uh at the this as we will be um the five-year contract that we currently have uh we are in our final year.

Absolutely.

So just a brief history.

Uh so Tuwalton began providing uh police services to the city of Durham on July 1st, 1989.

The original contract was for 13 hours a month for $41 an hour.

Um obviously, since since 1989, there's been a few changes in the contract.

Uh and so tonight, just a brief overview of where we are today and what we do provide.

So the current contract, uh right now, the the compensation is the salary and benefits of a mid-level officer.

So using the span of officers in the police department, um in finance, we use a um a mid-level officer and officer right currently that's uh at step right currently the current contract is an officer at step four.

The discussion for the new contract is an officer that's at step two going to step three.

Um that also includes a 10 percent over overhead costs.

Uh that's to help cover the cost of the vehicles, the uniform equipment, and other supplies uh that that officer would utilize uh in providing the services to the city of Durham.

The current contract uh provides 24 hour coverage, so it's 24 hour coverage seven days a week.

It also provides uh a dedicated supervisor, so one of our supervisors is dedicated uh to each of the districts of our patrol districts, uh and we consider Durham as a patrol district in itself, and so it has a supervisor that is a direct contact for the city of any questions that come up.

The contract also covers uh traffic enforcement and any uh subsequent follow-up investigations that would come out of of any type of call for service that were to arise through the city.

So what do they actually get from that?

So in their current contract, what they get is a fully a full service police department.

Um obviously the contract is for one officer for 24 hours a day, uh but most calls, as you know, calls for service are more than one officer response.

Uh so we treat them as though they're just a portion of the city of Tualton.

So they get a full service police department.

That includes patrol coverage, uh 24 hours a day, traffic enforcement, um, investigative support, so any investigative support that would come from either our detectives units um or any other units that that uh may be required.

Uh it also includes our school resource officers as um children who live in Durham attend Twalton schools, so they do get the the services of our school resource officers, as well as the administrative coverage.

So obviously the command staff, um, our records division, and we also do their alarm permitting.

So the contract does not cover code enforcement, so we do not do code enforcement for the city of Durham.

They handle that themselves.

So again, as I said before, uh the city of Tualton um is broken up into three patrol districts for the city of Tualton, and then the small little orange up in the corner is the city of Durham.

We consider Durham as a district four.

We do that for statistical purposes so that we can pull out stats that we need to.

We do provide Durham with a monthly report and then an annual report at the end of the year that I provide to their council.

So this allows us to gather those stats that we need for that for those purposes.

If we don't have four officers working, as you know, our patrol minimums are three officers at any one time.

We actually take Durham and lump that into our district one.

So our district one officer would cover uh the one district, uh which is pretty much the east side of I-5, as well as the city of Durham.

So uh as we get ready to move forward, just uh quickly kind of where we're looking right now.

So um the Durham contract again for 2025, this is for last year.

We service 701 calls in the city of Durham, which is an average of about 58 calls per month.

There was 98 traffic stops that occurred within the jurisdiction of Durham, which equates out to about eight a month, and there was 24 arrests of individuals in the city of Durham, roughly about two percent or two a month, which that all equates to about three percent of the total workload of the Twalton Police Department.

So that's really what I have for a presentation, really just to kind of give you an idea of where we are, where we've come from since July of 1989 to the services that we do provide today.

Uh and again, really what this is about is to see if there's any questions or comments or concerns as we move forward in uh looking to renew the contract with the city of Durham.

Christopher Chief.

Council President Pratt.

Um is it okay to ask what a mid-level officer with benefits would make?

Yeah, right.

So the what it equates to right now is it's just uh a little over 200,000.

That's salary benefits, and then you add that 10% for the So that's with the 10%.

That's with the 10%.

Okay.

Because I mean I just did some quick math, but your part of the budget is about 10 million, so that would be about 300 grand if we just did a 3% straight across the board.

Yeah, so it's about 3% of the call, just it's like 2.71% of the call out.

Um and it works out to about 2.14% of our annual budget.

So they're getting a deal, but I know they're a good neighbor, right?

They're a good neighbor, and they're yes.

Other questions?

Council Brooks.

Thanks for the information.

Um I'm not gonna make any jokes about the school children.

That's I'm I'm refraining myself.

I the question that I have is has Durham been happy with their level of service with us.

Yeah, and I'll I have frequent conversations uh with the city manager Jordan.

Um they're very happy with the service that we do provide.

Um like anybody else, they look at their, you know, their bottom line of their budget, and of course, their conversations around how do they continue to pay for this, the service that they do get.

I I can't say that they have reached out to the sheriff's office and other agencies to look at what it looks like, and they know that they're getting a good deal with Dwalton.

Okay, and they're very happy with the service that we do provide them.

All right.

I was I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't true, but thank you very much.

You bet.

Other questions or comments.

Um I just agree with Council President Pratt.

It seems to me they're getting a pretty good deal uh based on the rate and had lunch with uh the mayor Durham just last week, and he seemed very pleased.

Of course, we'll like to get a better deal, but no.

Yeah, but uh but there was no complaints from Durham about the service, and I think they are getting a fantastic deal given that to get in a 24-7 police department for the cost of one officer.

Right.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Right.

Uh that brings us to our next item on the agenda, our climate action plan update uh led by Amanda.

Welcome, Amanda.

Good to see you again.

Good evening, Mayor and Counselors.

Great to see you again.

This is on my first council meeting, so forgive me if there's any technology issues on my part.

Um my name is Amanda Watson.

I'm the Climate Action Program Manager for the City, and I'm here to provide um thanks for having me to share an update on our climate action plan and and the next steps.

So I'm gonna start with a brief recap of Tweleton's community climate action plan, which as you know is adopted in May of 2024.

Um the plan includes both strategies and actions to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and to adapt to a change in climate, which is to help our community prepare for those climate impacts we're already experiencing, right?

Things like um hotter summers and uh more severe winter storms.

Um so following the plan adoption in 2024, uh city staff developed an internal uh or excuse me, an initial two-year work plan that said what are we gonna focus on these first two years?

Um, outlining the actions the city would implement through the end of this current fiscal year.

So the plan goes through June of 2026.

Um the full community climate action plan has seven focus areas, which are these colored bars you see on the screen there, um, 28 strategies within those focus areas, kind of sort of high-level strategies, how do we meet our goals, and then 119 individual actions.

So it was really important that staff came together to prioritize how are we going to start with this plan.

Um the two-year plan included 33 actions, 20 of which that staff identified as being already in progress when that plan was adopted in October of 2024.

So we were already underway with quite a few actions, which is great.

Um, 13 were new.

The staff said we can focus on these next 13 in the next two years.

Um they covered six of the seven focus areas.

The one focus area we didn't touch on was economic shifts, which has just a couple of actions around um sort of business preparedness.

Um, but certainly we covered other areas of preparedness in um the two-year plan.

So how are we doing?

Pretty good.

It's uh I think good news overall.

The majority of actions are completed or underway in this two-year plan, which is fantastic.

Um, six are either fully completed or they are ongoing programs that are kind of on track and gonna continue to be implemented as we go forward.

Um 20 actions remain in progress.

Um of the 20 that were already in progress when that plan was adopted, um, three of them have completed.

So we kind of shifted a few into the green category, and the rest are continue to be underway.

Um there's seven of the actions haven't been started yet, and the majority of those five of the seven are not started because they're um related, they would have been funded through the charging and fueling infrastructure grant, that federal grant that's been on hold um awarded in 2024, but it's been on hold since the Trump administration um paused that that program, and so we haven't been able to uh move those actions, and that was a big part of um big focus in that two-year plan was wanting to move that um that work forward.

And that was a big part of big focus in that two-year plan was wanting to move that work forward.

So still a pause there.

So the next few slides, I'm gonna highlight starting focus area by focus area, a few of the actions, and you know, uh I won't go into every single one, but I'll I'll share some highlights as we go along.

So for the natural systems resources and infrastructure focus area, three of the actions are in progress and two haven't been started.

We're gonna plan to work on that first action, 1.1.7, creating park design standards that improve resilience to extreme heat, one of those risks we're already experiencing.

We're gonna do this in the context of the riverfront park project.

So it hasn't been started, but it's in our work plan.

Um actually starting right now, we're talking about that.

Um, and then 1.1.8, um, working with TriMet and Ride Connection to increase shelter at bus stops, hasn't been prioritized because the city's focus with TriMat has been on service continuity and service expansion right now.

So, you know, still a priority, but but not at this moment.

And the other three actions are on track.

The next category, health and safety.

Um, the both of those actions remain underway, and these are really ongoing areas of work that we'll continue to continue and expand on through work with partners like CERT and county emergency management programs.

But we are you know currently sharing information about shelters and emergency preparedness resources as needed.

The next category is building and energies, and one of those actions has been completed, and two are in progress.

Um, this first one, 4.1.7.

The city council, you actually heard about this in October of 2024.

Um the city developed a water management and conservation plan.

One of the pieces of that plan was developing tiered water rates, and the public works department is working on that right now.

It's a something they're working on this year.

Um, another really interesting area of work for this goal is a purple pipe project.

So Public Works is working with clean water services on this project at uh Twelleton Community Park that will supply clean stormwater for irrigation rather than drinking water.

So that saves us money and it saves us energy.

Um so that's a really great project.

And then finally, at this building, actually, the micro hydro in pipe project that is uh final stages, I understand, not quite switched on yet, but very close, um, also kind of meets our water conservation and energy conservation goals.

So super exciting stuff in that goal happening.

Um, and then 4.2.1 participate in the SoulSMART program.

Um SoulSmart is a program that recognizes national best practices in supporting solar energy energy installation in communities, and we actually received SoulSmart bronze designation in January this year.

We have the plaque right outside.

So as people come into this space for council meetings, they can see that the city cares about having solar in our community.

Um there's more we can kind of continue to implement based on recommendations from that, but we have participated, and unfortunately, that program is kind of on pause right now, so we got in just under the wire, which was great.

Uh the next category, urban form and land use.

We have three actions in the two-year work plan, and all of them are underway.

Um the first relates to work that the community development department is doing to implement state housing mandates, so kind of on track there.

Um, the second one, 5.2.2, updating Twaleton's approved street tree list.

The parks department is leading this work, and um they're very close to finalizing that as well.

Um, so I'm sure you will learn more soon.

Um, and then you know, this is a great uh update because it's Arbor month right now.

Um we are continuing as a city to partner with Friends of Trees.

Um just had a planting event on Saturday that I went to, and I know the mayor was there, and something like a hundred community members.

I know our volunteers services folks will probably be able to share even more about that.

But that work is ongoing and we continue to work with uh Friends of Trees.

They're a great partner for our climate work.

So the largest number of actions in the plan, um, the two-year plan were around transportation.

Um, three of those actions have been completed, three are underway, continuing to be underway, and then five are not started.

Um, the three that are completed, um, two of them actually relate to the transportation system plan that was just updated last year.

And that plan, that update really aligned with our climate action goals, and it looked at promoting lower carbon and active transportation options like electric micro mobility, which is you know, e-bikes, e-scooters, um, and active transportation.

Um, the first one, 6.1.1, again relates to state uh state action.

So the climate-friendly equitable communities rules and require 40% of parking spaces in new multifamily and mixed-use buildings to be wired for EV charging, and so we updated our code to align with that.

So we've completed that as well, which will we will see the impacts of that as new development happens.

The five actions, as I mentioned before, that are not started, are pending that charging and fueling infrastructure grant.

I know you're all very familiar with that, but if we have members of the public who are listening, as a reminder, this Twileton led a consortium of cities, and we received a $15 million grant back in August of 2024 from the federal government.

But we've been unable to access those funds since then, since the new administration paused the funding.

Our consultants, Thorn Run, I'm told they expect will eventually get that funding.

We just don't know when.

So we're hoping this is a pause, not indefinite, but just for now.

The grant would have helped us hire a staff person to coordinate this work.

So we really haven't had the staff capacity to kickstart it in the meantime, but I think we can continue to be opportunistic, you know, if there's other funding that could support this in the meantime.

But that's why these actions we haven't been able to move them forward yet.

The last category, consumption, and there's seven actions in our two-year work plan in this area, and all of these are in progress.

Many of them are ongoing programs, and so they'll kind of continue to be in progress, or we could say they're ongoing.

So these are things like our curbside compost program with our public services and the library of things that's run through our library.

For action 7.3.1, updating the public works construction code to require low emissions concrete and asphalt materials.

The public works department is actually just starting this with a requiring lower emissions concrete and sidewalk maintenance projects.

I believe this is something that you might have heard about recently for the sidewalk maintenance program.

Um but PublicWorks just uh had updated their code, and so going forward, they're gonna be able to learn from those projects on our sidewalks and see where else we might be able to also use those lower emissions construction materials.

So really interesting stuff happening there as well.

And finally, um, two of the actions in that 2024 to 2026 plan were about funding, and they focused on developing sustainable funding for implementing the climate action plan.

Um both of those have been completed.

So the first one was analyzing what options do we have for funding, and the second one was implementing those options.

So you you received that report from ECHO Northwest in February 2025, and then approved three new funding sources based from those recommendations in October of 2025.

Um those three were the Pennies for Climate Action Program, which I'll share a little bit more about next.

Uh privilege tax on PGE that increased that electric franchise fee by 0.3%.

I just received confirmation today that that is showing up on folks' bills, and as a you know, City of Twileton tax, 0.3%, so there that's underway.

Um and then you also approved a 5% increase to the building permit fee.

So we've implemented those first two, um and we're still working on the building permit fee increase.

We've run into a couple um hiccups and kind of how it was recommended, and so we're doing a little more research into that and kind of more to come when we can move that forward.

Um for the pennies program, this is a really um, I think an innovative model, a new model for us.

And this was a 99 cents optional charge on monthly utility bills that started in January 2026.

Customers can opt out via an online form.

And we did you know a couple months of public outreach or public uh information through our city channels and bill inserts to let folks know.

So what I have in this chart here is what we've received for the revenue and our opt-out so far.

You can see that people did receive some of that early communication and opted out before the program started if they didn't want to participate.

Um, and but people are continuing to opt out.

You know, I think as they notice the charge or have questions, they reach out to me and our billing folks.

Um, and so we have seen a few opt-outs.

Um overall, we're still seeing really good participation in this program.

So the uh the the fees are based on utility rather than each account, it's based on units.

So for a multifamily building, um, there'll be multiple units, and so I think we have roughly 12,000 units.

So that 534 opt-outs is less than 5% right now, which is still really, really strong participation, which is good.

Um, and we'll continue to monitor both the opt-outs and the revenue going forward.

Um then the PGE program, we receive our franchise fee from them annually, and so we will see the revenue from that um 0.3% increase in 2020, early 2027.

So as I'll go into next, we're developing a five-year work plan that will inform how we're using this funding.

Um, but broadly it can go towards things like you know, projects or program implementation, matching funds for grants, staff salaries, that sort of thing.

All right.

So this two-year work plan, as I mentioned, goes through the end of the current fiscal year.

So we're now starting on a process to identify what's that next set of actions, right, that we want to focus on over the next five years.

So that's roughly 2026 to 2031 if we're looking on a fiscal year basis.

So I wanted to share with you all sort of the proposed uh process for developing this plan, get your feedback, let you know how I'm hoping to engage you all in this effort.

Um I'll be engaging with a work group of city staff with you all, city council, with external partners, advisory committees, and then informing folks in the general public who are interested in this work.

Um so using input from this engagement and these different stakeholders, um, we'll be developing a set of prioritization criteria that helps us um understand what do we what do we care about and and therefore what actions should we move forward.

So we're the idea is to develop criteria we can apply to those 117 actions in the plan, right?

Um, to get that short list, right?

So we'll apply the criteria to the actions, we'll check what that tells us in terms of results.

Is this the right list?

Do we need to revise our criteria?

Are we missing something?

Is it balanced, right?

We'll do kind of that check part way through.

When we have a list of actions, right, based on the criteria, um, we'll then develop some metrics, performance measures so that we can understand how are we making progress and we can communicate about that progress going forward, and then finally, you know, finalize, adopt this work plan, and then get to implementation.

Um, in terms of who will be involved, as I mentioned, I have a city staff working group across the representation from all of our departments, so we can be coordinated and we can provide input internally on that.

Um city council.

I'm hoping to have a few work sessions with you all, right?

Talking about criteria, doing that review of kind of the draft, um, and then finally, you know, adopting our final plan.

Um, and then external partners.

And this is a pretty big group, right?

We have a lot of different stakeholders that we need to have at the table to implement our climate action plan.

Um, it will be things like other government agencies, you know, Washington County, Metro, um, obviously our utilities, right?

PGE, Northwest Natural, Clean Water Services, as well as businesses.

So Twalton Chamber would be a really important stakeholder, and our nonprofit groups and community partners, right?

Riverkeepers, Friends of Trees, CERT, um, there's a large group here.

Um, and then advisory committees.

Um, this is sort of uh one way that we can get public input on this process without redoing that really robust public engagement work that we did for our CAP, right?

We got a lot of community feedback to develop the climate action plan.

So we don't want to ask the same questions the same group of people again.

We want to use that feedback, but the advisory committees will help us with this criteria development.

And so I'm planning to seek input from Tea Park, um the planning commission, the idea committee, um, because their areas of focus really align really closely with our climate action plan, but also to update you know other if the library advisory committee is interested or other um the arts committee, if they're interested, I'll also you know offer presentations and updates to those groups as well.

And then finally, general public more of um again, like informing them about this rather than doing extensive community engagement more broadly than the advisory committees.

So I think that's all that I have on this.

Um one thing one note on the criteria as well is that um you know I'm hoping to bring, hopefully, by the time we can have this work session with the city council, bring an early draft based on the stakeholder engagement we've done so far.

But I also, you know, I had the pleasure of meeting all of you when I first started, and we had some good conversations, and I have a little bit of a sense of you know, some of those early priorities too, right?

I heard from many of you you want to have some quick start actions that we can use to demonstrate the value and the impact of this work on our community.

Um I heard you know folks are interested in um actions that will have an emissions impact.

So we've already talked a little bit about criteria, and we'll definitely dig into that a lot more deeply the next time I'm I'm with you all.

Um I think that's it.

But I'd love to hear you know what questions or feedback you have about this proposed process to develop our next work plan.

Um, and then if you have any questions on the 2024 to 2026 update as well.

Okay, thanks, Amanda.

Questions, comment, feedback for Amanda.

Council Brooks.

Thanks for the report.

Um starting with the chargers.

Um I understand that there's a group of cities that have been in they mentioned it at the National League of Cities that they're in some kind of legal process together.

And I'm just curious if we are with that group or if we know about that.

I know we know about it.

I think we'll have to have our city attorney remind me exactly our relationship to it.

Yeah, thank you, counselor.

I my understanding is that it's uh there's a federal case that's pending in the Seattle federal court.

It's state of California at all, and that includes a bunch of states, including the state of Oregon and the Oregon Attorney General is handling Oregon's uh case uh for the state.

Um that case is pending, and we have reached out to a uh representative at the Oregon Department of Justice.

And uh right now there are no cities that are part of that coalition of states, but the states are trying to get uh one of their uh prayers for relief is to vacate the pause on CFI funding.

If they are successful, they anticipate that that prayer for relief will cover uh not only the states that are plaintiffs in the action, but any CFI awardee, including local municipalities, and that's the current status as we know it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Um I guess my next question is as far as criteria go, are we um can you help me understand exactly what that means?

Yeah, so the idea is um what are some how can we articulate our priorities in terms of what we want to take on, right?

So an example could be emissions impact or cost, right?

It's kind of a way of rather than picking um the actions we're most excited about about having some objective set of agreed upon criteria we can use to select among those 117.

So it's sort of how do we want to prioritize what what do we uh what's important to us as we think about what we want to take on in the next five years.

Does that help?

Yeah, it does.

Um I'm just curious too if the um one of the things that I'm really interested in seeing throughout is understanding what our baseline is right now from the beginning of the study and understanding um effort versus impact into our goal.

Thanks.

Yeah, that's that's definitely important.

And we'll get definitely get a lot more into um into criteria and you know, as I'm preparing for that work session, we can get a sense of what's most helpful for you to kind of set up that in-depth discussion.

Um but yeah, that's that's a good thing for us to keep in mind.

Okay, I appreciate your work and um I'm glad that we figured out this three-braided funding system, and I was bragging about it a little bit, and so um some leadership might be interested in talking with you.

That's awesome.

Yeah, that's great.

I've I have heard from other cities that are really interested in that pennies model.

I think we're the only one that I know of, you know, at least among the cohort of cities I talked to in Oregon with that type of climate funding, and so we may see that you know pop up elsewhere too.

Yes, the EENR committee, and I'm don't remember all the words for it, but I'll tell you soon.

So it's good, thank you.

Thanks.

Other questions, comments.

Uh-huh.

When we were talking about 11.7, um, the parks and the I forget exactly how you described what we were doing there, but are we also including preserving Hudges Creek, which is one of our only natural creeks that we have?

My understanding is that is part of the riverfront part project.

Yeah, that that goal was about um sort of preparing for extreme heat and how we we plan and develop parts so that they're safe places even on hot days and shade and access to water and things like that.

Um but I know that the parks team um is is looking at um habitat management and restoration and you know um invasive species control, all of that in as a context of the park too.

They're definitely definitely focused on the creek.

Okay.

Great.

And then um last one.

I think oh, and then as far as when we were talking about stakeholder groups, um I was curious if there's any students in the stakeholder groups, because there's a few environmental groups that are involved with the not only the curriculum for our public schools.

I know Mitch has a viewpoint, and then um, which the mayor is probably stronger at explaining than I am.

And then um I know that there's also um like extracurricular groups at the high school.

Um and then the other one that I was curious about was if there are going to be any um like I get emails from professional groups that are environmentalists and that are regional, so um they stem a lot of times from educational opportunities from local universities, uh work opportunities, and then just different kind of groups that are already available to us here, and just curious um thinking through something that would include some people that are because it's such a fast moving.

Yeah, I'd I would love to connect with both of those.

Um I was thinking Youth Advisory Council, you know, before that, but also if you have contacts at school groups that you want to send my way, I'd be happy to connect with them, and same thing with professional organizations.

So I'm still you know connecting with all of our community groups here, so I'm very happy to just let me know who who you'd like me to connect with, and I'd be happy to make that intro.

All right, thanks.

Council President Pratt.

Okay, on um 1.1.8.

Um, I have to give the mayor some kudos because he did get one um covered bus shelter for us.

Oh, he just part.

Sorry that I missed that.

Kudos, that's that's great to hear.

That one was tough.

Councilor Gonzalez, you have something.

Yes.

So thank you very much for the update information.

It was very nice to meet with you and talk through some of the things for the climate action plan.

Um my subject is around um 5.22, which is the updated toilet and approved treat street trees.

Yes.

And you may not have the answer now, but I'm hoping you will who are we working with?

I know that there's a lot of surrounding cities that have already done this kind of work.

And to get a head start, so could you share a little bit about if we're working with us, you know, look at a different cities plan and if so, what cities?

Yeah.

I can get back to you on that in terms of specific cities.

I know we're working with a consultant.

Um, I believe it's parametrics, unless I'm just remembering that because of the climate action plan.

I know Morgan Holand Associates also is was in the mix.

Um, so uh my understanding is they would have looked at kind of other cities lists.

I know when we had a meeting, they talked about Portland's list, for example, um, but I'll get back to you in the exact you know list of other ones they consulted.

Um in reference to 5.12, the expanding housing variety choice.

Um how is that going?

Are we having interest in ADUs throughout our city?

Um have we had many applicants and interests around that?

That's a good question, and uh you'll have to forgive me.

I'll have to get back to you on that one as well.

I don't have that off the top of my head.

So yeah.

I'll talk to our community development folks.

Well uh yeah.

Thank you.

Uh that's all the questions I have for right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments, questions for Amanda?

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

All right.

So we're a little ahead of schedule, and I don't see Joe in the audience.

So we'll uh flip around here and we'll do our council meeting agenda review and round table, and then give uh Joe another 20 minutes to get here.

Uh so on the consent agenda, is there anything uh glaring at folks that they would like to have something pulled off the agenda the consent agenda tonight?

Okay, not see any.

I have Councillor Hillier as the uh leading the pledge tonight.

We have five proclamations, so you each get one to do to do tonight.

Uh so the first one I have is uh Vietnamese uh American Remembrance Day.

We'd like to do that one.

Okay.

You want to do Parkinson's?

Uh older Americans month.

Parkinson's.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh the volunteer appreciation proclamation.

You can do that.

And Kristen gets autism.

All right.

Now if we're gonna remember all that.

Uh what else?

We got the pledge, we got the proclamations.

We'll go ahead and start the uh round table, and we'll start with uh our city manager Sherilyn.

All righty.

Uh a few things.

So we are testing the website pre-launch.

I know a couple of you are helping us with that.

Um we've got um tablets at several of our public counters that we're um getting feedback, and then we're doing two focus groups at the library, I believe, uh, this Saturday.

This this weekend.

Um, and so really excited about about um doing that.

Uh the library, speaking of the library has two significant programs in the coming week.

So on Wednesday, this Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The Oregon Humanities Conversation Project is to what do we pledge?

And it's associated with the 250th um birthday of the of America, and um it we expect uh a sizable crowd and the Oregon Humanities Conversation Project is a really intriguing um uh facilitated discussion that um if you get a chance um to be part of it, I'm sure you would find it worth your while.

Uh this Sunday, the 19th at 2 p.m., we're doing music at the hearth.

It's this group called Mel Brown and the B3 Oregon Group.

If you have a find them on YouTube, they're really great.

And that'll be that'll be a good time.

Earth Day is of course uh the 22nd of April.

Um on Friday, the 24th, we're partnering with River Keepers and Friends of Trees at Twalton Community Park.

Excuse me.

So uh that will um we have a big contingent of volunteers working on that.

Uh blender dash is June 6th, and that is always a wacky fun time.

We've divided it this year into two uh segments, so uh you can be at the 10 o'clock or the 1045, and hopefully it'll break down between uh different age kids.

Uh and we've got a big contingent of volunteers working on that as well.

Uh the water division is sending out backflow notices, it's that time of year again uh to get your backflow device inspected for the safety of our water system.

Uh the pavement maintenance work is set, slurry seal on 50th in Wilkie.

Um Edel out in our um business area, 120th Seneca Street, multiple parking lots, and then we've entered into an intergovernmental agreement with Washington County for them to uh pave Graham's Ferry as a part of their work.

So that's great.

Um the sidewalk backlog project is out for bids.

Uh this summer's work plan includes over around 150 locations, and that contract will be on your May 11th agenda with an update from the team.

So uh the CDBG fund uh funded project at the Juanita Pole Center is underway.

All the JPC programs have been moved to the Van Raiden Center during construction, and Sarah and Marilyn have done a great job, been very creative with the space and have been able to keep approximately 90% of 95% of the programs uh running through construction.

Um the parks team and Kate, our uh volunteer coordinator worked with a group from Marco Ideas Unlimited to plant 120 pollinator and butterfly friendly plants at Saras and Sari Sarion.

Is that how you say it?

I think it's Sarin.

Sarinin.

Yes, you're right.

So you better get it right.

I know, sorry.

Um that Wayside Park on April 2nd.

This is of course in alignment with the council goal related to B City programming.

And then uh summer pro summer camps have filled up.

We have 600 plus youth uh currently signed up for camp.

Uh just a real quick update on the 108th reservoir project, which we're calling Resi.

Uh it's our own personal nickname.

So on Thursday, this last week, the contractor poured the floor slab for the for the um reservoir project, the first of eight large concrete pours for the project.

Approximately 500 cubic yards of concrete, about 45 concrete trucks was poured for this slab foundation.

Uh the next big pours will be the wall sections starting in a couple of weeks with most of the reservoir shell to be built in the next few months.

So if you drive past there on 108th, um take a look at you can see action happening.

We're in really close contact with the neighbors, um, been working really closely with all of them in our communication.

So that's it.

All right.

Thank you.

Councilor Gonzalez.

Uh I have no new updates on anything, but I do have a question uh to uh city manager Cheryln in reference to the RFP for the sidewalks.

Um it's okay.

I do have a question in reference to I'm happy to hear that the RFP for the sidewalks is finally going out.

Um my concern is always around cost that when the RFP is issued out that my hope is that we don't go for the lowest bid or that we go for the the correct bid.

It's simply because we've had contracts increase adjustments often.

And in my space in the contract world, that rarely happens where we we we eat the cost if we've been bidding correctly and with concrete work.

Uh it's a pretty standard square footage cost and so on and so forth.

So my hope is that that contractor comes that contract comes to be an actual cost versus a variant.

So I'm just trying to just plan a seat here, and we don't know who's gonna be awarded, but when the time comes, I just want to make sure we at least address that.

We are on the same page in the desire for to make that happen.

All right, Councilor Brooks.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um March 25th.

Council President Pratt, Council Reyes and I went to a tour and pre-assembly, pre-housing assembly meeting over at St.

Anthony's and had a really interesting discussion.

And Council Reyes will be speaking at that.

And I'm sure that Council President Pratt has more to say.

On the first of April, I went to the LOC Women's Caucus Board meeting.

A lot of what we discussed was our plans for the Pendleton conference and the what we're organizing for our participation in the Pendleton Conference.

And there continues to be conversation around women serving.

And I don't even know if I want to, but there's an incident recently in Lane County.

Also, there's information that came through from the National League of Cities about a deputy mayor that was in Coral Gables that was looks like victim of domestic violence, and she was very involved with the Black Caucus and the women's caucus, her local party, as well as she was an environmental scientist, really young, bright, great lady, and she also did some consulting for the environmental group at the NLC.

So you know, there's so there's just that ongoing conversation about how women are feeling serving right now, and between intimidated and shut down, and then there's just this other kind of violence stuff.

Okay, on to better things.

On the uh third and fourth of April, I attended the TV F and R uh Community Academy, which was great.

Um I mean it started at seven in the morning, and we did the whole training, like people have talked about with the heavy boots and gear, but the real interesting part was the collaborative ideas that the chief has around working with EMS to uh more laser focus how uh fire people are going out to calls, especially with uh people having trouble accessing health care.

So, and then I went over to the um our local uh fire department and went out on calls.

I think there were five.

I didn't have any horrific experiences, but the first call that came in that we did not go on was um a suicide call by gun.

So that's another like this gun violence thing this week has been kind of crazy.

Um then I will they were really great and explained so much to me about where they're at and how they're working.

I got a chance.

They're also one of the only hazmat units.

They cover all the way out to the coast, and probably many of you know these things, but watching the drill and seeing them set up the fire station and walking through the case study with each other, doing the critique, and also talking about the number of younger officer, younger um service people that are in now, and um the change over from the older group of people retiring and after COVID, just making sure that we're connecting with our fire department.

So I think they really connect really well with our police department and the the TV F and R, and I think they also um would love to feel more integrated into the community somehow.

So if people have thoughts on that, um let's talk.

Then on the 8th, I did the recording for the state of the city like you guys did, and then uh also attended the regional water providers executive committee, where we uh discussed our plan for the following year.

That's like the driest drought since a long time ago.

I think he said I forget what he said.

So there, so we tossed around ideas about what we want to talk about in the coming year, and with the new director who's who's delightful, and she's been working there for a long time.

And then we I was at the PAB meeting the next night, and that was uh public hearing for our plan, and if there was any feedback, we did well with that.

Um then there was just updates on where everything is at, a discussion about the um great job that Lindsay did on the um podcast talking about the community development block grants that came here, and um and it was interesting.

The and the round table was interesting, um as far as just people going through a lot of changes with um staff, and then I just want to do uh Twelton Arts Advisory Committee update, which um I wasn't able to be up, but there's going to be three new signal box wraps, and there's location selected now, art selected, so we should be seeing something new in the community in June.

And I have some other community updates, but not for this.

Thank you.

Counselor Sacco.

Thank you.

A little closer there.

Um so we had the CCAA last week.

We had some great candidates come through for um budget and arts committee.

Um, and it was, you know, like always, we just have amazing volunteers out there in the community and excited to um put those in front of you all in the next couple weeks.

Um, and then we had the CAC where we um reviewed the college student projects and um some of them.

We haven't gotten to all of them, um, but it is um they're amazing, and uh the teams evaluated um elements um that folks liked, didn't like, um, and and what really represents to Walleton.

Um, so I'm excited to see what comes out of those conversations and see how they're implemented into the community.

Thank you.

Council Hillier.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have nothing to report at this time.

Council President Pratt.

Thank you.

Um, as Councillor Brooks mentioned, um, we did um our tour of St.

Anthony's, and they're having an event where um Councillor Reyes will be on the panel, and they're focused on um coordinating communication at the apartment complexes for emergencies and other things, and for um helping people on the path to immigration.

And the the thing I learned was the extraordinary cost it takes to go through that process.

Um, then um, oh gosh, the mayor and I went to Esticated at Clackamas County Cities Association dinner, and I got to take them.

We got there early, so we did a tour of the reservoir because he had never been there, so that was pretty fun.

And they talked about their development and because they're a small city, they have different issues, like they can't get a big grocery store there because their population isn't big enough.

So they have different growing challenges than we do.

And um, then I went to the Clackmas County Business Association Mayor's Forum where Mayor Buminick and I think just about every Clackmas County mayor's thought.

Two missed.

Two missed, okay.

No one's from like a swig.

Certainly Coswego and can be.

But it it was interesting, and um, there were some good questions, and it was interesting to hear.

There's quite a variety of priorities, so I thought that was very interesting.

Then I attended the um Lagos City Women's Caucus um board meeting, which was was very interesting, and um then the CAC meeting that Councillor Sacco mentioned and starting to go through those architectural studio projects was really um it was fun, I guess.

Um then I went to um Clackmas County Coordinating Committee, and um oh, we got to hear about the county um County Local Workforce Board, and they're a resource in Clackamas County to um help people with um employment workforce training, and they look they they try to focus on workforce training for jobs that are needed in the county, like healthcare is a big one, and they go through everything, like even helping people prepare resumes and train to do you know interviews and the whole works.

Oh then on the 6th, the mayor and I uh attended the um R1 Act meeting, which um suffice it to say I think that was the least productive meeting I've been in in a long, long time.

And then oh, yeah, the C CAA, we had a couple of candidates, and like Councillor Satko said, we're always so impressed with the quality of people we get and their um enthusiasm to be on the committees.

Thank you.

Uh early in the month I had the two meetings with our uh county chairs on the Clackmas County side.

Uh Chair Roberts gave a heads up that Clackmas County's budget uh is severely crunched this year, even more than last year.

So we'll probably see some cuts in county services in Clackmas County.

Um there was questions about the levy.

I think it's the levy for the uh Clackmas County Sheriff.

Um especially when it comes to the sheriff's responsibilities in cities.

Um so there's some discussions going on there how to uh better present that to the public.

And then he finally mentioned uh Mayor Wilson of Portland's request of Clackmas County for some several million dollars to help out the city of Portland, where if there are housing issues, and uh the chair basically mentioned you know, again, his budget situation uh and that uh it probably weren't gonna be too amenable.

And uh several days later, Clackmas County did turn down the city of Portland for that request.

On the Washington County side, um Chair Harrington mentioned that this week the library IGA is supposed to be going to the commissioners for their review and comments uh and that it should be heading uh should come back to them in May, and then once they've approved it in May, it will come out to City Councils to then approve.

So look forward to that.

Um also mentioned that the City of Portland's request for Washington County of their several million dollars and asked for our opinions.

Uh she listened to those, and then Washington County also voted against uh sending uh Washington County money to the city of Portland for homeless services.

R1 Act, total waste of time.

Mentioned that today at the coordinating committee.

Uh Mayor Who of Tiger put it great where he mentioned that it should he'd love to get those two hours back of his life uh because it was my opinion, it was a waste of time.

Uh we were supposed to pick on 10 additional projects for the CIP for ODOT.

We went round and round.

We got to six projects that we're going to add to the CIP for ODOT, but then a motion was put out to reverse that decision and start all over, which was approved.

So now we'll spend the next several months, hopefully coming up with the additional list of 10 additional projects on the top five required ones that we all did agree on uh for what for the region one.

And was that confusion if it was supposed to be project types or actual project?

It was total blue.

Um Saturday attended the Arbor Day uh Friends of Trees event over in Browns Furrier Park.

I want to thank Hartman Forbes, PGE, the ECIO and the Girl Scouts for helping out each in their own way.

Uh we had financial help from the ECIO who helped purchase the 1200 uh plantings that went in that day on different three different areas of the park.

We had some very eager Girl Scouts that helped me plant the mayor's tree.

It's a um uh was it a creek birch, river birch.

Especially uh one of the birches that's not susceptible to the bug.

Uh Creekside Birch.

I want to thank Tom and the parks crew that were out there helping out.

Uh and Jackie and Kate uh were out there.

It was good to see Jackie and post-retirement.

Uh the funny thing about the Girl Scouts is that the mayor's tree was supposed to be planted by PGE and the Girl Scouts, but the Girl Scouts were having no part of that.

They wanted to go and we did it.

So it was well, that was a lot of fun.

Uh today we had the Washington County Coordinating Committee.

TriMet presented their service cuts revisions.

Uh so they're gonna have a 5% cut for this upcoming fiscal year, which will they more than likely will go in effect in August of 26th.

Their board is having the second reading of the cuts on the 22nd.

Um assuming they're all gonna go through.

Uh fiscal year 28 cuts will be approved and implemented by August of 27, and it's an additional 5% cut to TriMet's budget.

That we share with Sherwood, that that line will be retained.

But combined with line 38 that goes through Lake Aswego, it will still stay as a peak hours only bus.

I did ask about the progress on the discussions with SMART on our other bus lines, and they could not tell me that yet.

Providing that dual service with TriMet when TriMet is not running here in town.

Uh engagement.

So Metro is going through their 50 year vision plan.

They're going through their update.

And I was having flashbacks on my Towalet and tomorrow days, where they're trying to you know galvanize partners to work towards their goals, which is a big thing that we did here in Tualton.

And mostly the partners were responsible for getting for getting a lot of our things done in addition to the city.

They have 23 members across the region, part of this future uh committee.

Uh Mayor Beach Pace is a member of the committee, uh representing Washington County mayors.

Um they are they have looked at the different cities' previous work in terms of visions, and we'll build upon that and try not to redo things we've already done.

Uh they're hoping to have this whole process completed by May of 27 the vision update.

Um last item on the coordinating committee was the Metro Regional Transportation Demand Management Strategy.

Um it's kind of interesting presented to the coordinating committee, but they're gonna approve it on April 16th at JPAC.

And what it is, I had to dig into it because I'd never heard of it before.

This thing has been in progress for two years since October of 2024, and is a strategy to resolve demand for driving alone and encourage use of shared transportation options in the metro region, which is sounds great.

Uh so what they're trying to do is improve system performance, increase reliability and equity equitable options.

And the piece I'm really interested in is once they adopt this strategy, they'll they will then uh start on a three-year work plan to support this plan this strategy.

Uh and again, you know, that part of the thing is you know, buses, vans, you know, getting people out of their cars, and I know on JPAC we're gonna bring up when uh Mayor Delyn and I discuss the JPAC uh strategy for Washington County is to look beyond the Metro region.

We have a lot of folks coming from Yamhill County, Marion County, uh, you know, driving down I-5 and Metro really doesn't look beyond its borders.

So we're encouraging them to look at that and you know, let's strategize on getting those folks uh into uh vans, buses, um who knows one day maybe light rail, who knows.

Um then uh last thing today, uh attended the aging task force.

Uh they're looking to grow their membership.

Um they're looking to take on some more um task in the coming year.

Uh so it was you know basically uh a check-in with them.

Um they're gonna formalize how they add people to the committee.

So it was pretty interesting, and we met in the van rating center, which haven't been in for a while because of the poll center being closed.

All right, so with that, we're done with the council round table.

I see clean water services now here in full staffing, so come on up.

Uh Joe and Kathy.

And this is a clean water clean water services uh presentation on rates.

Is this on?

It's turns red.

There you go.

Oh thank you, Mayor and Council.

Uh sorry, we were out in the hall.

We didn't have you were early.

So um anyway, we're slightly behind where we thought.

Um I'm Joe Gallum, the chief utility relations officer for Clean Water Services.

I was here a few months ago and we're back.

We said we'd come talk to you about rates and the cost of service studies.

So I brought um Kathy Leader, our chief financial officer is gonna be the person that's gonna give the presentation and is certainly the subject matter expert.

Um, Rick Shanley, our interim CEO GM for a few more weeks.

Is also here to answer any questions for you as well.

So we have about 10, 12 slides.

Um if there's something on the slides that pops out that you want to have a question, please don't wait until the end.

We want this more to be a conversation, not just talking at you.

So with that, I will let Kathy go.

Thank you, Jeff.

Can you be mayor and council?

Clean water services provides the regional sewer, sanitary sewer and storm water services for customers in the city of Tualet.

So today we're going to talk a little bit about our rate projections and forecasting and this year ahead.

So we're going to start out first talking about our historical rate increases that we've that we've done at the district.

And then we're going to give an update on the cost of service study that we and cost allocation process that we recently finalized at the district.

And key to that is defining then these regional and local services that we provide for the customers in our area.

And then finally, we're going to update the 10-year rate forecast for the group.

So Cleveland Service has a history of modest and predictable rate increases.

This graph here is showing you the combined sanitary sewer and stormwater rate for an average customer, residential customer that clean water services bills.

So it's the it has the regional and local component to it.

So over that 10 year period, we've had what average annual 3.38% increase in the rate over that period of time.

The last time we had done a study was back in 2008, and there was a concern that the service levels had changed not only within each of our utilities, but also with regional and local services.

So we started that study update in 2021, and it was a comprehensive review of all the different departments and programs within the district and how they allocate their time, the different utilities and regional local services.

And finally, this this cost service study is the basis of our long-term financial plan and rate development for the district going forward.

So three main objectives of the cost of service study was first we wanted to review and update how costs are allocated between the sanitary sewer and stormwater program and also the regional and local services within them.

We use that information then to prepare a 10-year financial plan where we are the goal of that was to meet our annual operating debt and capital needs to correct that local service area funding deficit that was there, and then ensure that the Clean Water Services maintains sufficient reserves to operate effectively.

And and finally, these this plan was then used to do some calculation of rates and um and looking at impact on customer bills.

So clean water services are gonna rate increases are gonna vary across the area.

So what you see here is a map and the green area outlined in black, that's Washington County.

And inside of there you see those blue areas.

Those are the uh customers that um we provide the regional service to, and they bill the customer directly for the regional, remit it to clean water services, and they have their own local program.

So that would be the Tualet and Forest Grove, Cornelius, Hillsborough, Beaverton, Tiger, and Sherwood.

I do the regional we provide the regional service for the um light gray, I mean excuse me, brown area, that is the area that clean water services bills directly, and we provide both the local service and the regional service to those customers.

And that's urban unincorporated areas of Washington County, and then the cities of Gaston Banks, North Plains, Durham, and King City.

So when we talk about this regional versus local service, this gives you an idea for the regional services.

We provide those to all of the customers in in our in Washington County.

Um and it relates to constructing, operating, maintaining the treatment plants, sewage pump stations, the pressure lines, and um convenience lines 24 inches and larger.

And on the um stormwater side, the compliance reporting oversight for the national pollutant discharge elimination system in PEDS permit, um, including the municipal separate storm sewer system, MS4.

And also the results in maintaining minimum stream flows throughout the region and service area restoration enhancing of stream corridors as that regional component.

So for those customers we provide local services to, um it's providing that design build, maintaining repairing sewer lines 21 inches and smaller, um also like cleaning inspecting lines, and then on the stormwater side, it's designing, building, maintaining repairing local stormwater facilities that and street sweeping program, maintaining water quality facilities, and cleaning the catch basins and water quality manholes.

So this graph here is showing you the for the regional rate for um both the sanitary sewer and stormwater for a average residential customer.

The um the the rates that um currently in 2020 fiscal 26 that the combined rate is 49.39 cents.

Um right now, fisco 27, these are the proposed rates that we are going to be putting into our budget document developing for the 2027 budget year.

Um it it was a 4% increase.

It resulted in a $1.97 in additional um fee on a monthly basis to a residential customer.

Um and as you look out in the outer years, when you're going 28 on, those are projected rates based on a current plan of capital spend and our operating.

But every year we go in and we update those operating numbers, we look at our capital program, and we would adjust accordingly.

So those are just projected numbers at this point.

But they currently it's um 4% on all out years for regional um service.

And just for an awareness, we do um very responsive to containing costs, and in this past year, you as you may have remembered, we had projected we'd planned a 4% rate increase.

We ended up uh getting approved a 3%, and the board had asked us to go back and find 1.8 million in savings, which we we did through some of the positions that we did not fill in the year.

Um we also in the 27 budget, we've added no new FTE.

And part of our capital program or that five-year period, we leveled up capital to kind of help with the maintaining the rate.

No rate spikes.

So this is a graph of the operating the costs related to regional sewer.

Um so the bars are the um operating maintenance, debt service, and capital plant um projected by year 2026 through 2035, and the dotted line is the revenue we project with the rate increase we're proposing at 4% per year over that period.

Um as you can see from the the graph, we we show a slight deficit through fiscal year 30, and then we begin to recover some of those costs beginning in 31 with the these plan rate increases and the and the existing spend.

And so it's also showing you there too, the impact the dollar amount impact by year for that program.

Similarly, this is the regional uh charge for surface water, and once again four percent per year over that uh 10-year period, and then it's showing you the dollar impact per month for an average residential customer.

It's mapping out the um operating debt and capital costs and the dotted line showing you that revenue forecast over that period with those rate increases.

And we do show with that four percent, we're covering costs in all years in that program.

So one of the big drivers for us is uh capital, capital spend.

And so what we're showing you here is this is coming from our capital improvement plan, the five-year plan, and it's showing in the current, so 2026 through 2031.

We plan to spend 754 million in capital projects, 90 percent of those are regional, so a significant portion of our rate is regional backed, and 10% is local.

And similarly for the surface water management over the current next five years, we're planning to spend 11.7 million in capital projects, 76 percent of those are regional, 24 percent local.

So, once again, regional is our larger program and spend yes, yes.

Um, can you just give me um an example of what the capital projects would be for the for the sanitary program?

Um the slide right before this.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Um we completing um there's construction at Forest Grove.

We're building um primary clarification out there, in part to help with a new copper limit.

Um, one of the big projects is actually at the Durham Advanced Facility, which is close to here.

We're building new digesters, which are necessary for our solids treatment process.

So that one is more of a capacity-driven project.

And there's an awful lot in conveyance projects.

So we recently completed, we did an e-space and master plan, which you are all in, and then we completed the West Basin plan, which showed some significant needs for capital spending on the conveyance part as well.

So there's some trunk line projects as well as some pump station projects that are driving driving those.

And some around here.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, definitely.

Okay.

Thanks.

Yeah.

You're welcome.

I think there's at least two, if not three pump stations that are either in design or going to be in construction down in Basalt Creek.

Just to serve the Toragon area.

So there you forgot we were supposed to be asking during some.

Oh, either way it works.

Will you please go back to slide 11?

And I'm just curious if the digester and the projects that you're talking about right now, it looks like FY31 that maybe you're saving up for some things that are coming in 32, potentially with the projected income there.

So I'm just curious, is that true?

I mean, I I know that I would guess that agencies like yours have to plan ahead for all the replacement and all those things.

So I was just curious.

And when you yeah, and when you see as we roll out the full um sandy and swim that there's reserves being spent, so the idea being in that in after year five, we start to build back up some of the reserves that we spent on these projects.

And so it's the projects that Councillor Brooks asked about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And some of the some of what you're seeing in the dollars and the out years, I would we've we flattened.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Kathy.

But we kind of flattened on today's dollars.

We're averaging about 120 million.

So those are escalated costs.

So when you go out five years and you escalate three percent.

3% for inflation.

Um that's part of why you're seeing Bayer numbers in the out years.

The others are some of the bigger conveyance projects and the pump stations that we initially thought might have to happen sooner, but growth has slowed down some.

So we every year we spend a lot of time um trying to get our crystal ball as close as possible.

And so we'll evaluate those each year again and see where they where they land.

Awesome, thank you.

And I know this is a little bit separate than the budget, but I just want to um make sure I understand that each of these projects benefits all the like I don't speak your language exactly, I apologize, but each of the projects that you're speaking about, whether we're interconnected, right?

Like what happens for local or regional, we're all interconnected and it supports us all, so we're all we're all supporting for ourselves and our neighbors.

Is that true?

Correct.

Yeah, thank you.

Watershed-based approach.

Thank you.

Mayor, I do have a question as well.

Sure.

Um I also forgot that we have to need to ask questions along the way.

So thank you so much for this update on, and I know we're still going through it.

Can you share a little bit with me about the human element?

I'm more concerned about not even a concern, but can you share a little bit about your employee retention and training program?

Because those add heavy cost, especially when the heavy equipment kind of projects.

That's question number one and number two, and I'm sorry, this is the safety record of Clearwater Service.

I think our well, our we have we have a robust safety program.

Um I think our safety record is excellent with respect to that.

As far as retention and training, um we have budget-wise, we we've kind of flattened that from last year to this year, so we're feeling like we're in a in a good spot.

But there are significant dollars, that's really important for not only retention but for recruitment as well.

I think um there's certain areas that are really hard to find people, um, and particularly some of the technical areas, and so we have to be competitive and make sure we've got good programs that we can advertise.

We have leadership programs, um leadership cohorts every year that we that our internal staff and and they move through the program and and mentorship programs.

Am I answering your question though?

I'm not sure I'm not sure.

So I I I was gonna clarify.

So thank you for those that information.

Um with um with rising cost everywhere, you know, employ employment is probably one of the highest costs.

And maybe you can give back to me on upper to sit your the retention percentage that your organization has.

Because that also leads to future cost, and because training is the most expensive thing we have to do, is we have to retrain somebody, a new person over again.

It's probably small numbers, but I also want to get on the record on what your training looks like.

It looks like you have a good uh growth trajectory for a good career for people.

Yeah.

Um, so that of course hopefully would help for safety and culture and all those kind of things.

But I would be very interested to know what that retention and uh the training and the safety record for for clear water services.

Okay, and we do we do track those numbers, we have metrics and yeah, wonderful.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Look forward to that information.

Okay, you bet.

So this is the slide that I mentioned before.

This so this is total costs for sewer and stormwater, regional and local.

So this is mapping our whole um utility operation over that starting 2026 through 2035.

It's showing you then the lines that are the expenditures and then the dotted line is the revenue collection based on rate increases.

And when you look at 2026, we are anticipating we're gonna spend about 30 million in our reserves as we um got some of these big capital projects that are in construction mode right now.

And similarly, we do right now.

We're mapping that we're going to be spending reserves through 20 um 31 with the rate increases that we're proposing.

Um in outer years, we'll we'll see um it'll go above it'll the line will go above the operating expense, and that's when you're gonna start replacing some of those reserves that were spent earlier on to get to our target reserves in that time period.

And this is the other side of that.

So this is our reserve.

So the blue line is reserves um starting in 2026 through 2035.

The dark line is our target reserves, and we do show that um over that period through um 2030, we would be spending down some of our um reserves through 2031 for operations, and then we start to to build those back up with the rates, hopefully kept it a more level, predictable amount over time within with inflation.

And next steps for us, so tomorrow, April 14th, we are going to the board and they're going to adopt the cost allocation methodology that was the basis of our um our forecast and and rate development, and also our reserve policy.

So both of those are going to the board tomorrow.

On April uh 20th, the proposed budget for fiscal 27 where we talk about that rate, the rates for 2027 will be built into that budget.

That that document will be out for public view on um Monday, April 20th.

And then um on May 8th, we have our budget committee meeting where they will review the proposed budget, amend and approve a budget that goes then for a public hearing with our board on June 9th, um, where they'll consider adoption of the board and the rates at that time too for one year.

Um and that those rights would be adopted in July 1 for that fiscal year 27.

And just for an awareness, so we currently have a utility building feasibility study that's going on, and a key part of that study isn't asked that we look for ways that we could provide uh an option for emergency assistance or customer assistance program for the customers throughout our Washington County, there is served by the regional only customers and the regional local.

Just wanted to put a plug if you've not had a chance to tour any of our facilities, the Durham facility, which serves Tualeton uh close here.

There's a couple, actually, three opportunities.

Um Saturday, May 16th, Friday, June 12th, and Wednesday, July 8th for any member of the public that wants to tour the facility, any of the counselors, um others.

Um I think we have a big group of Tualetin folks staff coming in May to tour Durham who have not been through the treatment facility.

That's really where you get a sense of how we do things and why things are so expensive in terms of capital projects.

I was um very amazed when I joined in terms of how these projects the clarifier, how what is a clarifier, first of all, and how expensive is a new one, and it's always much more expensive than I ever imagined.

So we want to just put that opportunity for education about what we do for you and members of the public.

And then I think we'll open it up to any questions you might have questions.

Council Brooks and Council President Pratt.

Um I had two questions.

I'm gonna do my easy question first.

Easy for me to articulate question first, is um can you talk about since we're looking at doing purple pipe project?

I remember doing the presentation on the purple pipe, and it was very exciting, and it's been a really long time ago.

Um so can you just give me like a uh like just a really top level of the purple pipe project so that people can understand it and why it helps the whole regional system?

Technical expert over here.

Yeah, purple pipe, um recycled water.

Um we are recycled water is a big component of our compliance strategy.

So at one point in time we were doing this dam raise that became extraordinarily expensive, and we're not doing that.

So one of the real keys to thermal compliance is is recycled water, and we're fortunate we have um a lot of recycled water out of our Durham plant, and we are looking to expand and continue to grow that program as much as possible.

Um we're always looking for partnerships with cities, um, HOAs have approached us for some things, and certainly the ag community as well.

So it's it's a it's a it's a win-win um in a variety of ways.

It's it's very sustainable, it's cost effective for compliance.

Um we are in the process of completing a recycled water master plan that helps us develop the strategy to implement that um so we know how much we can meet compliance needs as well as we've created some tools to help us define the value of recycled water because it can be expensive, especially in the urban centers.

But when you look at all the environmental benefits and the compliance benefits, um it's it it is very cost effective, and having a tool that actually puts numbers to that is something we're gonna be utilizing a lot as we evaluate all the different projects.

I think I know what you're gonna say in a second, potentially.

Oh, well, I if I can interject the um we'll be in front of council at the next council meeting, April 27th with an intergovernmental agreement with Clean Water Services uh for the Purple Pi project, and so we'll have a presentation about what it means going into uh community park, the new riverfront park, and the Lake of the Commons, I believe.

Yeah is yeah.

Which is very exciting.

And Twalton Country Club is a customer of ours.

They use recycled water to irrigate uh the golf course.

Great.

So that was my first um question.

I'm looking forward to that presentation.

Thank you.

Um I'm also curious when we have that conversation about innovations around recycling water, since it's a big conversation right now with the the larger conversation around data centers, etc.

Um the other question I had was with the um with the when we're doing new development in the Basalt Creek, for instance.

Is there like a breakdown that we can understand about how the tax system goes because we have those development um building development taxes?

We call that SDCs and those kind of percentages and how that affects what the ratepayers are paying.

Is there information on that maybe that you could even send or yeah, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, definitely.

Well, in the currently the SDC that that we it's I don't have it in front of me, 7,300 something, but um it's split 96 for 96 regional, 4% local.

Um, but jurisdictions have the ability to set their own rates to cover their local program also.

Yeah.

And we are actually in the process of updating those SDCs now that both of the East and West Basin master plans are completed.

That's our next project.

And when now that we've gotten the cost allocation and rate projections done, we're gonna start the SDC.

Okay, so you have your own SDC and we have our own SDCs, and so you wouldn't tell us how we compare to other cities or if we're covering what we should be with ours.

You might have your own.

I don't know if you guys do your own.

Okay.

Um no, they you you probably they probably charge our rate, this component of local and regional, and the regional is uh set remitted to us, and the local stays with um the city for their projects.

But I will say, because we get those questions often from cities and developers, it's time for us to look at our STC methodology.

It's been a long time, and after this project, that's the next heavy lift that we'll be working with all the cities in the development community.

And do you think when we go through that it will change any of what we just saw?

I mean, it it could if development happens and in the SDCs collected in, and if the rate went up in a larger proportion was going to new development and develop what's happening, yeah.

Okay.

And then my final question is um about I think that the um quality of our treatment centers and the whole fact that we have this one um basin is just an amazing opportunity that we have here and had a lot of great planning and foresight, um, which I don't always think is going on with every single thing, like maybe transportation.

I mean it it could if development happens and in the SDCs collected in and if the rate went up and and a larger proportion was going to new development and develop what was happening yeah okay and then my final question is um about not I think that the um quality of our treatment centers and the whole fact that we have this one um basin is just an amazing opportunity that we have here and had a lot of great planning and foresight um which I don't always think is going on with every single thing like maybe transportation so um but at the same time I'm just curious because I understood that there's maybe some uh increase in um things that you don't want in the water um toxins or whatever from further up um the channel of our river and um and then I also just want to hear what you you want to say about that and then I also want to thank you for taking good care of our river um as we're doing all these improvements on the river and um helping our city face more forward to the river so I just want to really appreciate that from I think we're the only city that has a downtown that's on the river of the river basin and you'll be able to get to it easier to within the park so yeah and see that it's there but I'm just curious about that increase of I I guess one avenue I would point out is we do have a a natural systems group um they spend a lot of time looking at the watershed as a whole and what we can do with the tributaries and other impacts um to partner with other groups and try to really do the best things that we can do beyond just building you know hard infrastructure we love our Durham plant we love that you're coming to tour it but anything that we can do to enhance water quality in other ways with tree shading and and those types of things are are really important.

So does that kind of cover yeah I'd like and I would just like to know about the increase um specifically so I'd love to get some information about that and maybe like top ten things we could do to help protect our river oh I think oh yeah okay to do that thank you my name's Bridget okay thank you Council President Pratt hi um I'm gonna go back to an uh prior issue um counselor books and I both had um the opportunity to go out to your um Jackson bottom and get the training and it was fascinating and um well first of all what a mess our river system or I mean raw sewage was dumping in our rivers before clean water services was formed and and secondly that um how much our river depends on you know the stormwater runoff from your system and um the need to have a robust system but um a year or so ago there was some bad press and um I know we had asked about um the billing the possibility of billing being separate like through clean water services instead of the city and is that just something you do with the local um communities that you serve not the region we part of this utility billing feasibility study that will be a question to ask and the consultant they'll be going out to all the member cities and all other stakeholders asking certain questions trying to find out you know how we ways we could bill okay and pros and cons risks what it would cost whatever yeah yeah but one of the alternatives is what if we took over all the billing and we didn't partner with the seven large cities and what would that look like what are the pros and cons what would it cost things like that.

The other is okay if we're gonna continue to partner with the cities can we improve that situation that that situation compared to what it's been that needs to be looked at.

And we should have results of that study by fall of this year.

Oh great and then um on your second slide you were showing um the 3.38 percent increase over the 10 years and that was for regional or no that was for local and I was wondering if regional was comparative.

Yes and they so that that was a combined regional local that's the total rate increase but previous to this date we always increased each component regional local the same percentage okay so it would be the same thing.

This is a change going forward that there would be a different rate for local versus that's the big methodology change is actually going in and and right sizing the so we're getting the right revenue for the right program.

And that's where you're gonna see a shift a little more on the local side.

So let me make it real for where we are King City residents assuming that our rate increase gets approved they will see a 6.4% increase because the local rates need to go up and they will actually see over the next four to five years fairly high percentage increases because the local is not governance costs.

So their fee their rates are going to continue to go up at a higher rate than I think what we propose for regional rates for Chihuahua.

Now your regional rate, you put your local on top of that.

So we don't have that figure in there to be a good thing.

No, I got to you're you're doing your regional portion of it.

Yeah, it's it just the your 3.38 is really close to what um salary increases were over that time, so the 4% is a little hard, but I'm really glad that you're looking at assistance for the people.

You know, some people really struggle, and it's harder and harder.

So I'm glad you're having looking at a program like that.

And we always remind folks to look at the actual cost, not necessarily just the percentage, because that 21% for the local sewer is a pretty big number that people are focused on, and that translates to $2 a month for the average rapier.

And that all adds up.

So even if it's four and a half dollars a month for CWS, that's on top of your PGE bill and your Northwest Natural Bill and your water bill.

And any increase is very difficult in today's time.

It's really tough for everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Other questions.

I just tapped two, and Council Pratt took away one of mine.

It was about the effort on billing, that Clean Water Services takes it over and takes it away from the cities or does a better job of compensating cities for billing.

Most of your all your slides focused on residential.

What's going on with commercial?

It would be the same, but EDU based, right?

Right.

Yeah, same rates.

So same rates, didn't we?

Same rates, but it's not a good thing.

Commercial is not seeing a higher or lower, about the same.

Yeah, same rates.

All right.

Right.

Uh those are my two questions.

Anything else?

All right.

Appreciate you coming out tonight.

Thank you as always.

Thank you.

Great to see you.

All right.

All right.

With that, that wraps up the work session agenda for tonight.

So we're wrapping up a little early.

Uh we'll go ahead and recess uh the work session.

We'll call back into uh session at 7 o'clock with our normal uh city council meeting and where we're gonna have we have a lot of our volunteers out in the hallway with uh volunteer appreciation and other things on our agenda.

So we'll be back at 7 o'clock.