West Linn City Council Work Session - April 7, 2026
West Linn City Council Work Session - April 7, 2026
The West Linn City Council held a work session on April 7, 2026, starting at 3:00 PM. The meeting included public comments, proclamations, and discussions on the Operations Complex contract amendment, a proposed ordinance to repeal installment payment options for System Development Charges (SDCs), and the donation of the Lady B river tugboat. No final votes were taken; several items were scheduled for the April 14 business meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Gail Greenman (West Linn resident) described a project to add a bathroom and bedroom for her elderly, ill father. She stated that on March 25, 2026, the city informed her that water permits alone would cost $35,000 in SDCs. She argued that the charges did not apply because the addition is not an independent living unit, and that an ordinance from 2006 had not been updated in the publicly available code. She requested a waiver and a policy evaluation, emphasizing timeliness due to her father's health.
- Joe Greenman (West Linn resident, spouse of Gail) supported his wife's comments, noting that inaccurate municipal code led them to rely on outdated information, causing detrimental reliance. He urged the city to grant a waiver under existing provisions for unusual circumstances, hardship, or public benefit.
- City Manager John Williams responded that he would follow up with the Greenmans the next day.
Proclamations
- Arbor Month (April 2026): Proclaimed by Councilor Bonnington, recognizing the importance of trees and West Linn's status as a Tree City USA since 1993.
- Earth Day (April 22, 2026): Proclaimed by Councilor Breich, encouraging sustainable practices.
- National Library Week (April 19-25, 2026): Proclaimed by Councilor Groner, highlighting library resources.
- Distracted Driving Awareness Month (April 2026): Proclaimed by Council President Baumgartner, citing Oregon statistics (2019-2023: 28,699 crashes involving distracted drivers, 221 fatalities, 28,332 injuries; 1,987 crashes involving mobile electronic devices, 26 fatalities, 1,790 injuries).
Framing Our Future Update
- Danielle Choi and Doug Erickson (Communications) presented an update on the community education initiative. The OWL newsletter (16-page special edition) has been sent to the printer and will be mailed to all 10,000 West Linn addresses. They also introduced new materials (flyers, business cards, discussion guides) and ongoing weekly content (infographics, stories, one-minute videos) produced in-house by city staff.
Discussion Items
- Operations Complex Contract Amendment (Early Work Package): Eric Lesh (Public Works Director) and Morgan Lovell presented a $17,869,043 contract amendment for early procurement and site work (earthwork, utilities, long-lead materials) for the new city operations complex. This is part of the approved $45 million total budget. The amendment will be brought for formal approval at the April 14 business meeting. Council expressed support, noting the project is on budget.
- Ordinance Repealing Installment Payment Options for SDCs (Bancroft Bonding Act): Finance Director Lauren Breithaub and City Attorney Kaylee Klein explained the proposal to repeal the 10-year installment payment program for SDCs. Reasons include high administrative burden, low usage (only four agreements, three holders), and frequent early payoffs that negate interest benefits. State law (ORS 223.205) allows but does not require cities to offer this option. Current holders would be grandfathered. Council discussed impacts on developers, alternative financing, and staff time. They requested more information on practices in other cities and agreed to schedule another work session before bringing an ordinance forward.
- Lady B River Tugboat Donation: Jim Edwards (advocate) and City Attorney Klein updated the council on the proposed donation of a 40-foot historic tugboat for display in Willamette Park. Key unresolved issues in the donation agreement: Wilsonville Concrete Products (donor) wants to donate the boat "as is" with no warranties, including known lead paint and possible PCBs/mercury. The city would take ownership before lead encapsulation is complete. Insurance (CIS) indicated likely coverage but may require a loss exclusion until mitigation measures are in place. The draft MOU requires advocates to raise all funds upfront. Council expressed divided views: some supported accepting the boat as a historical artifact, others worried about ongoing maintenance, liability, and staff capacity. Council decided to bring the item to the April 14 business meeting for a final decision.
Key Outcomes
- Operations Complex: Council reached consensus to place the early work package contract amendment on the April 14 business meeting agenda for approval.
- SDC Installment Repeal: Staff will gather additional comparative data from other cities and schedule a follow-up work session; no ordinance was introduced at this meeting.
- Lady B Tugboat: Council directed staff to bring the donation agreement and MOU to the April 14 business meeting for a final vote, allowing a decision one way or another. The city manager also noted that a parks and recreation director recruitment is ongoing, with John LaGarza serving as interim director.
Meeting Transcript
All right, we good to go. Okay. Well, thank you all for being here. I am sitting in for our mayor, who is will be here shortly, but he is just um having left class this afternoon, and so he'll be here as soon as he can safely get here. So I would like to call to order this three o'clock work session of the city council of West Lynn. Um could I get a motion on the approval of the minutes? So the agenda, please. Second. All right, thank you. I said minutes, I meant agenda. And now we have public comments. Uh apparently. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, approval of agenda, roll call. Thank you. Councilor Bonnington. Yes. Council Breich. Here. Council President Baumgartner. Yes. Councilor Groner. Yes. Thank you very much. All right. Now we are on to public comments. Um we at least have two, I believe, who have already submitted. If anyone gathered, has not submitted a sheet requesting public comment, please do so. They can be found over on the table and turned into our um administrative assistant, Teresa Howard. Who is the first public commenter? Are they online or in person? In person. Okay, thank you. Gail Greenman. And um, just for people who aren't used to public comments, um, we'd like you to state your name and city of residence, and then just make sure the little lights on and the microphone and have it be kind of close to you. How's this? That's perfect. Perfect. And you have three minutes. Thank you. Gail Greenman, City of West Lynn, 19725 Sun Crest Drive. Thank you for the opportunity to provide um public comment. I want to give a quick overview of a project we are doing at our house, which is a bathroom and a uh bedroom addition for my elderly and sick father who recent is a recent widow. We lost my mother unexpectedly in September. And we're in planning at an active plans to move him 3,000 miles from the Washington DC area. Um it's just what it is. It's a bedroom and a bathroom. Uh on March 25th, we were alerted by our contractor, Metkey, who was alerted by the city that in just water permitting, we have $35,000 of permits just for that bathroom. That is 10% of the bedroom and bathroom project, and considerably more when we're just talking about the bathroom. That afternoon on March 25th, we got on the on the phone with the city immediately, walk them through what we had previously researched in terms of code, that this didn't these SDC charges did not apply to our project.
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