The Yakima City Council convened on June 18, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. (public hearings at 6:00 p.m.) in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included a public hearing on a street vacation, approval of several resolutions and ordinances, and discussion of a new budget committee and a potential one-day fireworks ban for July 4th. Votes were taken on numerous items, with several passing by a 6–1 margin.
Oh, here we go. Good evening, and welcome to the Aquam City Council of June eighteenth, twenty twenty-four. Called a meeting to order. We have roll call, please. Berg. Here. Brown. Here. Fires. DCO. Here. Glenn. Present. Herrera. Here. Roy. Here. Thank you. Please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. Language commission. See again necessita in the UN interpreter to number this one. Thank you. Next on the agendas public comment. There will be thirty-five minutes allotted for public comment this evening. If you wish to address the council, you may fill out a form in the back. Bring it up to the city uh the city clerk. You'll have two and a half minutes. When you come to the podium, please identify yourself and the city in which you live. As the records indicate, my attendance and participation is exceptional. Over the course of the last four years, I've contributed to the housing action plan, which was a multi-year undertaking to create a plan to effectively address our community's unique housing shortage. I have made it my goal to make housing more affordable with smaller lot sizes, tax amendments to remove barriers to ADU regulations, and numerous tax amendments prioritizing multifamily housing. During my time on the commission, we've also curated draft changes for levels of review for various zones to reduce the workload on a very small and overburdened planning staff. Also during my tenure, we started tracking certificates of occupancy in addition to just permits approved and numbers of new bedrooms created so that we are more able to identify our progress towards our 2040 comprehensive plan. I was notified by the city clerk last Thursday that the nominating committee would not be reappointing me for a second term as the bylaws allow. To say I was shocked and disappointed would be an understatement. The planning commission has an enormous and arduous task ahead in the mandated comp plan update. Mayor Byers, you speak frequently of your planning commission service, so I know you're all too familiar with how much important work lies ahead for this committee. If I'm not being reappointed for a second term on July 1st, this will leave the commission with over half of its members having served less than 30 days in this capacity. This in no way sets the planning commission up for success as it relates to the enormous undertaking of the comp plan update. I'm at a complete loss as to what could have led the nominating committee to recommend not reappointing me. Given the current scrutiny this council's under with regards to welcoming all citizen input, I'm certain that the committee wouldn't be playing politics with such an important commission. Therefore, I'm asking to reject the nominating committee's recommendation and reappoint me to fulfill my second term on the planning commission. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wallace. Next is Joe Mannermann, good evening, council. Um my name is Joe Mann, uh lifetime resident of Yacima. I would I would like to talk about the vacating of Fourth Street for St.