Tualatin City Council Work Session - April 27, 2026
Tualatin City Council Work Session - April 27, 2026
The Tualatin City Council held a work session on April 27, 2026, covering a legislative session recap by the city's lobbying firm Thorn Run Partners, a discussion on food cart pod regulations, a city manager's report, and council round table. The council directed staff to move forward with a market-driven approach to food cart pods and received updates on state and federal advocacy efforts.
Consent Calendar
- Consent calendar items (two items) were approved without discussion.
Discussion Items
2026 Legislative Session Recap and Federal Update
- State Update (Thorn Run Partners): Megan George (Deputy City Manager) introduced Tyler Jansen and Leah Navarro of Thorn Run. They reported that the city successfully defended its seismic reservoir project funding during a $900 million state budget shortfall, with final cuts of $128 million offset by $311.6 million in new revenue. The transportation funding package is expected to fail at the ballot; a new vision work group has been formed. Economic development legislation passed, including permitting reform and increased industrial site readiness funding. Data centers were excluded from tax breaks for two years. Council members asked about business incentives (Councilor Reyes), workforce development (Councilor Brooks), and alcohol tax increases for addiction services (Councilor Hillier). The team noted that the 2027 session will focus on budget constraints, economic development, land use, and transportation.
- Federal Update (Greg, federal lobbyist via Zoom): The city's application for $16 million in Community Development Block Grant funds for the Riverfront Park project was not submitted by Congresswoman Salinas for FY2027. The city will decline a $250,000 allocation for the 65th & Borland project due to federalization costs. The Tank Up project (community fueling infrastructure) funding from the Department of Transportation is stalled but being challenged. The CDBG program is maintained at $3.3 billion nationally. The railroad crossing elimination program may expire unless reauthorized. Tax-exempt municipal bonds remain protected but could be threatened in future reconciliation bills. Council President Pratt asked about alternative funding for Riverfront Park; Megan George noted state grant opportunities and a $2 million Metro grant application.
- Next Steps: Staff will bring potential capital project requests to council in June, a brainstorming session in July, and draft legislative agendas in August for adoption before a September trip to Washington D.C.
Food Cart Pod Discussion
- Presentation by Teresa Montalvo (Planning Manager): Current regulations allow only one food cart per site, limited to industrial and commercial general zones (along 99W). The only pod (up to 10 carts) is allowed in the Basalt Creek Employment Zone. A market-driven model (private development with city design standards) is used by Beaverton, Happy Valley, Sherwood, and Tigard. A city-supported model (city-operated or incubator) exists in Tigard, Eugene, and Milwaukie. Staff heard from 5–7 private developers interested in pods.
- Council Discussion: Councilors expressed broad support for a market-driven approach, citing speed and reduced city labor. Key points: desire for destination pods with permanent restrooms and covered structures (Councilor Sacco), flexible pod sizes (Councilor Hillier), and avoiding scattered carts (Councilor Gonzalez). Councilor Brooks suggested linking to future downtown revitalization work. Councilor Reyes preferred market-driven for immediate action. Council President Pratt supported market-driven but noted possible city land leases. Councilor Hillier raised concerns about impacts on police/fire services but agreed to proceed. Consensus was to fast-track market-driven code amendments and design standards, while considering city-supported models later under the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for downtown.
City Manager's Report and Round Table
- City Manager's Report: Sidewalk backlog project will begin homeowner notifications; contract award at May 11 meeting. A fenced dog run area (for K-9 units and to buffer a camping area) will be paid with forfeiture funds. Red light camera at Tualatin-Sherwood Road and Avery is reinstalled with warnings in May, ticketing in June. Earth Day event on April 24 had 70 volunteers planting 100 native species. The Van Raden Center will be retained for additional program capacity. A $2 million Metro grant was submitted for Riverfront Park. The Matthias property house will be demolished. Parks team improved athletic fields. Tigard Public Library reopening (with appreciation basket). Mayor and councilors reported on various external meetings, including the LOC Spring Symposium, St. Anthony's Action Assembly, Greater Portland Inc. prosperity council, and JPAC.
- Consent Calendar: Approved without discussion.
- Proclamations: Four proclamations were read (Mental Health Awareness Month, National Prevention Week, Police, Public Service Recognition). Councilor Sacco requested a proclamation for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month for the May 11 meeting; council agreed.
Key Outcomes
- Council directed staff to draft code amendments and design standards for a market-driven food cart pod ordinance, to be brought back for further discussion. The city-supported model will be considered in conjunction with downtown revitalization planning.
- Council approved the consent calendar.
- Staff will proceed with developing a 2027 state and federal legislative agenda, with council feedback in June, July, and August, and a September trip to Washington D.C.
- The sidewalk project contract award is scheduled for the May 11 council meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Recording in progress. Hey, good afternoon and welcome to the April 27, 2026 Walton City Council work session. Our first item on the agenda tonight is a 2026 state legislative session recap and for all update led by Megan George and the team from Thorn Run. Welcome, Megan. Hello, Mayor, members of the city council. I am Megan. I'm the deputy city manager in Towalton. And I'm gonna be up here for maybe 45 seconds before I yield the floor to our team from Thorn Run. But just to kick us off, we have now been under contract with Thorn Run for a couple of years and made it through our first long session with the team. Our short session, excuse me. We already did the long session, but they they do seem to smear together. So we've gone through the full legislative cycle in Oregon. So they are here to present the update from that short session, which concluded in early March. And then we have our federal lobbyist Greg in Zoom land, and he is going to give an update on our work on our federal agenda. I'll pop up back at the end to talk about next steps as we think about 2027, which it is not too early. In fact, we are ready to get going. So with that, I'll introduce Leah and Tyler. Welcome. Good to see you both. Thank you for having us here tonight. Good evening, Council uh Mayor, Council President. Um I'm Tyler Jansen. I'm senior vice president with Thornrun Partners. Um it is an honor to represent you in the halls of Salem. Um I'll let my colleague introduce herself. Hi everyone, Leah Navarro with Thornrun Partners, also vice president, and I work really closely with Tyler. Um so I we were here about a year ago and I was uh uh relaying with Megan right before this meeting. I think at that time you had a table of snacks laid out in the corner, and we were wondering uh whether or not uh the ethics commission was gonna let us continue to offer those snacks. Um that issue has been put to bed, you're allowed to serve snacks. Um, and so it's it actually is a meaningful win that it's important to celebrate when we get those. Um I'm going to, and is this our slide advancer right here? Yeah. Yeah. So we have federal up here first. Um why don't we jump ahead and we'll do state and we'll give uh our colleague Greg plenty of time to jump back and do the federal. Um for uh the uh as Megan mentioned, um this is our first short session representing you all. The short sessions have an entirely different feel than the long sessions do. Oregon runs on a two-year cycle. The long sessions are every odd year and they last for six months. The short sessions uh when they instituted them around 2010 on an annual basis. The short sessions were designed to be about policy tweaks and budget adjustments. Um it is like sprinting uh a marathon because it really does feel like you're compressing six months of work into a 35-day session. And so um for any sort of local government that deals with the plethora of things that you all have to deal with, uh short sessions really are about defense. And so to not bury the lead, I do want to say congratulations on um defending your seismic reservoir allocation from 2025 in a cuts budget, which is the budget that we experience this year and which we will be in at the state level through at least 2029, and it's going to get worse. Um any sort of preventing of a cut on a program or an allocation that matters to you is a huge win to sort of recap what that uh advocacy looked like when um the budget forecast came out at the end of the 2025 session, um, which essentially said that largely as a result of of federal decisions through HR 1, um the state's Medicare budget in particular was going to take a severe hit. Um the governor directed her agencies to start looking at any sort of programs that might be available for a cut. And the budget co-chairs in Salem, of which there are two, um, also directed their agencies to start preparing cuts lists. So in December of 2025, right before we went into a session, uh the director of the water resources department went before a subcommittee of uh the Ways and Means uh Committee and laid out a number of proposed cuts, including a cut to your seismic reservoir project. So it became very apparent that the number one priority is protecting what you have. Um I want to give a shout out, and if you have the ability to, please please thank uh Representative Walters, um Senate President Rob Wagner.
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