Yakima City Council Study Session - June 11, 2024
Yakima City Council Study Session - June 11, 2024
The Yakima City Council met in a study session on June 11, 2024, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:03 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting covered a Juneteenth proclamation, a resolution on ambulance services, the Clean City Program, downtown business improvement districts, the Cascade Mill Site, and ARPA fund allocations. Councilmembers present: Mayor Patricia Byers, Assistant Mayor Matt Brown, Councilmembers Reedy Berg, Janice Deccio, Rick Glenn, and Leo Roy. Councilmember Danny Herrera was absent.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Joey Anderson, City resident, updated on landlord-tenant issues: a certified letter revealed his landlord operates without a business license; Code Enforcement referred the case to L&I, which he called "worthless." He urged the city to investigate slumlords.
- Corie Ratliff, downtown business owner, invited the public to the 3-on-3 basketball event and noted inconsistent parking warnings under the new ordinance—she received a warning only after parking downtown for eight hours on a test day.
- Joe Daniels, City resident, read the Mayflower Compact and delivered a religious and historical critique, invoking slavery and calling for repentance.
Discussion Items
- Juneteenth Freedom Week Proclamation: Councilmember Deccio proclaimed June 10–19, 2024 as Juneteenth Freedom Week. Mr. James Parks, President of Yakima County NAACP, accepted and invited the public to festivities, noting free meals for seniors and kids.
- Resolution R-2024-107 – 9-1-1 Ambulance Transport Services: City Attorney Sara Watkins explained that the resolution acknowledges Section 12(d) of the Yakima County Professional Services Agreement, requiring the city to provide 365 days’ notice if it withdraws from the countywide ambulance structure. The motion carried 6-0.
- Clean City Program Review: Public Works Director Scott Schafer and Solid Waste Manager Trace Bradburn presented the three-year-old program. Objectives include graffiti abatement, homeless encampment cleanups, and community partnerships. Performance metrics were shared: in 2023, a recent cleanup collected 56.86 tons of garbage, 7.18 tons of tires, and 0.73 tons of appliances (actual total estimated at 85–90 tons). Future goals include city-wide weekly curbside bulk pickups, a tire recycling agreement with Liberty Tire to reduce costs, and an interlocal agreement with WSDOT for right-of-way cleanup (currently stalled). The program is funded by utility tax earmarks totaling ~$750,000–$770,000 per year. Councilmembers thanked staff and expressed support for the bulk pickup idea.
- History of Downtown Business Improvement Districts: Assistant City Manager Rosylen Oglesby reviewed the history of Local Improvement District 1001 (1974), the Parking and Business Improvement Area (PBIA, 1996), the Downtown Yakima Business Improvement District (DYBID, 2008/2011), and the North Front Street PBIA (NFSPBID). The city contracts with the Downtown Association of Yakima (DAY) for maintenance and beautification at $175,000/year, but assessments average only $172,000, requiring city subsidies. Over seven years, the city contributed ~$787,000 beyond its assessment. Councilmembers raised concerns about service accountability—e.g., pressure washing not occurring for years—and unclear boundaries. DAY Executive Director Kurt Wilson acknowledged communication gaps and promised improvements. Discussion included possible boundary simplifications and dissolving the largely inactive NFSPBID.
- Cascade Mill Site Parkway Update: City Engineer Bill Preston and Planning Manager Trevor Martin provided an update on the 225-acre site. A binding site plan is under review, which would allow flexible lot creation. The site is zoned Regional Development (RD) and has ~1 mile of frontage on Highway 82. The city has LIFT (Local Infrastructure Financing Tool) funding that must be used by 2036. Environmental cleanup continues: a remedial investigation is underway for municipal solid waste (MSW) for which the city is a potentially liable party. The property owners are also conducting their own feasibility study. Councilmembers discussed the long timeline (20–25 years to build out) and the need to market the site.
- ARPA Funds Allocation Update: Ms. Oglesby reported that the city received $26.2 million in ARPA funds. Approximately $7.69 million remains un-obligated (must be obligated by Dec 31, 2024, spent by Dec 31, 2026). She proposed reclassifying three completed city projects totaling $805,776 as revenue replacement, and designating the remaining $7.69 million as general fund revenue replacement. A $2 million set-aside for the YWCA women’s shelter—contingent on their fundraising by July 31, 2024—was left for future council discussion. Council consented to bring back legislation for the reclassification and revenue replacement, excluding the YWCA amount pending further review.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution R-2024-107 (ambulance transport acknowledgment) adopted by a 6-0 vote.
- ARPA directive: Council directed staff to bring back legislation reassigning $805,776 from three completed projects to revenue replacement and designating the remaining $7.69 million as general fund revenue replacement. The $2 million YWCA shelter commitment will be revisited later.
- Meeting adjourned to a special meeting on Friday, June 14, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at the Yakima Convention & Event Center (motion carried unanimously).
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome. I'm going to call to order the uh Yakim City Council study session for June eleventh, twenty twenty four. We'll start with roll call, please. Bird? Here. Brown? Here. Present. DCO. Here. Glenn. Here. Herrera is absent. Roy? Here. Thank you. Next on the agenda is public comment for the study session tonight. We have public comment for 15 minutes. Each person will be allowed two and a half minutes. If you want to make a public comment, you need to fill out a form in the back and bring it up to the city clerk. And when you come to the when you come to the platform, please identify yourself in the city in which you live. First person on public comment is Joey Anderson. Good evening. Joey Anderson, District 2. The last time I came to this horseshoe was back in January. We were facing a very bad situation. And presented them with a packet that they photocopied, and which I got a certified letter in the mail last weekend that my landlord is operating a business without a business license. And since Code Enforcement came out to my house in January and evaluated my trailer, they had pretty much passed the buck off onto Ellen I since it's a mobile home and not a stick frame home to where my case is still open. But L and I, you know, pretty much the same completely worthless at this point in junction. You guys need to start investigating slum lords. And I do mean slumlords in this town. There's been too many talks of different real estate owners that are not conducting businesses like they're supposed to. The landlord landlord tenant laws that you guys should also, code enforcement should be helping making sure that these rental businesses are up to date on all code compliances. This is ridiculous. So like I said, I don't know who's mining the mid and how much of a workforce that you got here running in city hall, but it seems like a damn skeleton crew. It needs to stop. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Next is Corey Radcliffe. Hello, everybody. My name is Corey Ratliff, owner of Mama Cory's Kitchen across the street, just in case you didn't know. Um so on a good note, um, we are hosting three on three in downtown Yakima. Um we're bringing it back to the streets um right in front of Mama Corey's, all the way down to the library, um, and then part of second on both sides. So we're inviting for us out there um in the community trying to get um sponsorships and such. So I wanted to make everybody aware if you just in case you didn't see my email. On another note, um, we are not, or they are not um consistently sending out warnings to the people parking um in front of or to the west, I I guess, of uh the restaurant or really anywhere. Um, this is the first time I've seen an orange sticker or orange note on anybody's car since we went into enforcement, and that was today. Um, there's quite a few of them. We're still have currently a little bit of a problem.
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