Tualatin City Council Work Session - September 28, 2026

The Tualatin City Council held a work session on the evening of September 28, 2026, before the regular council meeting. Staff and consultants presented a transportation project prioritization framework, an update on the Washington County Cooperative Library System (WCCLS) memorandum of understanding, and a review of council compensation. No formal ordinances were adopted during the work session, but council gave informal direction on compensation items for staff to bring back later.

Discussion Items

Transportation Project Prioritization Overview

• City Engineer Mike McCarthy, joined by consultants Ashavila and Brianna Calhoun from Fair and Pears, presented a technical evaluation process to prioritize transportation projects from the Transportation System Plan (TSP) for the city's five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
• The process is designed to be objective and repeatable. About 100 projects were divided into three roughly equal tiers rather than a strict ranked list, allowing projects to be matched to available funding opportunities without implying a fixed order of construction.
• Evaluation categories included:
  • Network completion: active transportation and non-auto connections, sidewalk gaps, bike lane enhancements, ADA ramp retrofits, connections to schools and key destinations such as affordable housing, parks, the library, and grocery stores, new street connections, and reducing pedestrian barriers such as the Tualatin River, Tualatin-Sherwood Road, and I-5.
  • Congestion and emissions reductions: vehicle bottleneck relief, efficiency measures such as adaptive signal systems, and alignment with the city's Climate Action Plan.
  • Safety: five-year ODOT crash data, crash modification factors, speeding history, pedestrian and bicycle level of traffic stress, and crossing improvements.
  • Critical infrastructure: new or enhanced transportation infrastructure serving developing areas, primarily Basalt Creek and Cora.
• Councilor Brooks asked whether building materials and shade structures were factored into environmental impacts; staff said they were not currently factored. She also asked about the lack of measured speed data; staff explained citywide speed data is not available, but speed measurements are collected after resident complaints, and projects typically need observed speeds more than five miles per hour over the limit for a significant share of traffic to earn points.
• Staff discussed ODOT funding opportunities, including the ARTS (All Roads Transportation Safety) program and technical assistance grants. When asked how staff would choose among similarly funded Tier One projects, staff said they would consider readiness, project scores, and council input through the CIP process.
• Next steps: finalize the prioritization work product and use named projects in the CIP development around December or January.

WCCLS Memorandum of Understanding Update

• The library director, Sarah, presented the MOU between the city and the Washington County Cooperative Library System for a centralized collection project. The MOU is a working agreement rather than the formal, enforceable IGA, and it describes how WCCLS and partner libraries will collaborate.
• The initial MOU draft went to the executive board in May, the library leadership group in June, with two additional meetings in July, and the current draft went to the executive board earlier this month.
• The MOU language emphasizes preserving each library's community identity, including local purchasing supplements, staff expertise, and qualitative measures of success in addition to quantitative metrics such as hold times.
• WCCLS has issued an RFP for materials vendors; nine vendors applied, and a scoring panel will meet next month. Tualatin's Ingram discount, about 40%, was highlighted as an important local interest. Centralized purchasing is expected to begin with English and Spanish materials, with Chinese added later.
• Tualatin is grouped with Sherwood, Forest Grove, and Cornelius for project steering committee representation; Tualatin's representative is Adrian Domain Calkins from Sherwood.
• Council members asked about hold metrics, vendor selection, local collection supplements, collection profiles, foot traffic versus online use, and community advocacy. Sarah noted foot traffic is nearing pre-pandemic levels, while programming and social connection remain central to the library's role.
• Several council members raised concerns about MOU language, including the use of 'will' versus 'must' or 'shall,' WCCLS's final decision authority over local collections, the unmet August deadline for scope and format definitions, and the one-sided nature of good-faith communication language. It was noted that the IGA remains the enforceable agreement and provides a process for enforcing county obligations.
• No formal council action was taken on the MOU; the working agreement process continues.

Council Compensation Discussion

• Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Don Hudson presented current council compensation:
  • $750 technology stipend at the start of a term, grossed up for taxes, adopted in 2013.
  • Health and dental insurance with a 90/10 cost share: the mayor is eligible for coverage up to family, currently about $2,800 per month, and council members are eligible for single coverage, just under $1,000 per month. Council members who opt out receive a $100 per month stipend.
  • $20 monthly utility bill credit that was in place before 1986; a 1996 resolution designated it as per diem and stated council positions are non-lucrative.
  • The FY 2026-27 council compensation budget is about $67,000, with potential exposure of about $114,000 if all council members took insurance.
• A survey of 18 neighboring cities in Washington and Clackamas Counties found that eight offer technology-related benefits, only three offer health benefits, and eleven offer monetary stipends. Beaverton's mayor is full-time and receives about $11,000 per month; most surveyed cities pay $500 or less per month to mayors and $250 or less to council members.
• Council discussion included:
  • Councilor Brooks: preferred cost-of-living and inflation adjustments over renegotiating individual benefits, and cautioned against mixing compensation with a broader equity study.
  • Councilor Sacco: expressed concern that modest compensation increases would not meaningfully expand who can afford to serve and could simply pay people who would already run.
  • Councilor Reyes: described council service as a sacrifice and supported updating the technology stipend and utility bill credit, noting the $750 technology stipend is outdated.
  • Councilor Gonzalez: emphasized equity and barriers such as child care and work flexibility, and urged an honest look at what would help more diverse candidates serve.
  • Council President Pratt: suggested the IDEA advisory committee study barriers to running for office; Councilor Reyes preferred the budget committee or staff with HR/budget expertise for compensation questions.
• By informal show of hands, council directed staff to bring back options to adjust the technology stipend and the $20 utility bill stipend for inflation. Health insurance changes and broader compensation redesign were not advanced at this meeting.

Key Outcomes

• Transportation prioritization: no formal decisions; staff will finalize the scoring framework and use it in the upcoming CIP process.
• WCCLS MOU: no formal action; council received the update and raised legal language and transparency concerns for continued work.
• Council compensation: council gave informal direction to staff to return with inflation-adjusted options for the technology stipend and utility bill per diem; health insurance and any broader compensation changes were deferred.