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1:25Test test test.
1:38[cough]
3:33going to go ahead and call this meeting
3:34to order at 6 PM.
3:38U for the record, all members of council
3:41are here. Sorry for not speaking into
3:44the mic. Um with the exception of Julia
3:47of of Deputy Mayor Hart, um I have not
3:50heard from her. Uh neither has Mr.
3:53Haley.
3:54Oh, thank you. So,
3:58seems like she's she's coming right in
4:01um now. So, um we'll go ahead and
4:06Okay. So, for the record, uh Deputy
4:09Mayor Hart has arrived.
4:13Uh so, items for discussion.
4:17Uh Mr. Haley mentioned that Norma Gene
4:21Rios who was going to do the MRJN
4:24presentation for item D um is not
4:28feeling well so she won't be able to
4:30join us today. So we will have to strike
4:32item D from today's discussion items um
4:36and we will go right into E as our final
4:39item for for discussion. Um
4:43please note that um Mr. Haley uh has
4:47added public comment to this agenda. Uh
4:50we typically don't have public comment
4:53during workshops. Um he did um you did
4:57send over an RCW that talks about public
5:00comment uh during council meetings. Um I
5:06read that and it's my understanding that
5:07it's regular meetings um after reading
5:11that RCW. I don't know if y'all have any
5:13other input irregardless since it's been
5:16posted on today's agenda. I would like
5:17to honor it. I don't know what y'all
5:19sentiments are. Um, but go ahead.
5:22>> I feel if there's going to be action
5:24items, as I believe there are a couple
5:26today, we should have public comment.
5:28>> So, yeah. And if there [clears throat]
5:30are going to be if there's going to be
5:31action items, we should leave. I believe
5:33that's what the RCW stated.
5:35>> Are we taking any action on any of these
5:38tonight?
5:39>> Don't believe so. I I
5:41>> the Oh,
5:43>> since I think that would probably be the
5:45only one.
5:46>> It doesn't
5:48>> Well, there is a sign on agreement for
5:49the for the team. That's the first one.
5:51Number eight.
5:54>> Um I think that would probably be the
5:56only item.
5:57>> Yeah.
5:58>> For for um Yeah. to take action. So we
6:02will leave the public comment for the
6:04agenda items and then at the very end we
6:07will call up uh folks to do public
6:10comment for general comment.
6:16Okay, moving on to public comment. Is
6:20there any public comment for today's
6:23active agenda? Hector, would you mind?
6:30Okay.
6:33Okay. Thank you.
6:40So, um,
6:42just to confirm for members of the
6:44audience, there's no one doing public
6:46comment for the active agenda. And I
6:47still ask to make sure since we're kind
6:49of getting into this rhythm. Um, Miss
6:52Ripley, I just saw you approach the
6:53podium. Did you sign your name?
6:56Is there another document on there? Oh,
6:58okay. Thank you for that clarification.
7:00Okay.
7:01>> Okay. Thank you. Just wanted to make
7:03sure I wasn't missing anybody. Okay.
7:08So, no one uh for the record, nobody has
7:10signed up for to uh to do public comment
7:12for the active agenda. So, we can go
7:14ahead and commence this meeting with the
7:16first item for discussion. Um and I
7:19believe action will be taken on this
7:20item. A sunny shark swim team agreement
7:24presentation. Miss Agiri. allow the
7:27interim city manager to sign the
7:29agreement for the Sunnyside Shark Swim
7:31Team to use the city pool for practice
7:34and events.
7:37Hello.
7:39Hi there. I sent in a presentation as
7:42well.
7:44Okay, so I'll just start while he gets
7:47that going. Um I'm Janet Degary. I am
7:49the president of the Sunnyside Road Swim
7:51Team this season. Sorry about that. and
7:53I'm also um the Mid Valley Swim League
7:55vice president. Um prior to those two
7:58positions, I've held various positions
8:00on the Sunnyside Sharks um board. Um and
8:03the whole time being a parent, that's
8:05kind of how, you know, they roped me in
8:06to being on the board. So, um I'm hoping
8:09with this presentation that I'll be able
8:11to answer some questions that I wasn't
8:12here to answer on Monday. Unfortunately,
8:14we had already had our information
8:16meeting scheduled when um we were put on
8:19the agenda. So, I had to carry through
8:21with our information meeting for parents
8:23first and then you guys had agreed to
8:25table it by the time I was finished. So,
8:27I hope that I can answer some of those
8:29questions for you tonight with this
8:30presentation. Um if at any point you
8:32have a question, if you'd stop and ask
8:34it then so we can get it clarified. Um
8:37and if I plan to cover it later on, I'll
8:39just let you know that. Okay. So, um,
8:42you can go to the next slide, please.
8:44Our beautiful pool. All right. So, um,
8:47just starting off with a fun fact. Um,
8:49the first written record of the Mid
8:50Valley Swim League, uh, was actually
8:52recorded at our Sunnyside Pool in 1975.
8:55So, just a fun fact. Um, and the Sharks
8:58are part of the Mid Valley Swim League,
9:00which governs the activities of the
9:02Sunnyside Rotary Swim Team. Uh, there is
9:05a Mid Valley Swim League board, and then
9:07we actually have our own for each team.
9:10Um, and swimmers are allowed to swim for
9:13any team bordering their school
9:15district. Um, there's a couple caveats
9:17to that and I'll cover that here in just
9:18a second. And, um, we are a nonprofit.
9:21We do have nonprofit status. Um, this
9:23season our Mid Valley Swim League teams
9:25are Nachis, CILA, Sunnyside, Grand View,
9:29Proer, and Oll. Um, you might be asking
9:32like where's the Yakama team? There is
9:34not a Yakma team. They either go to
9:35Nachis or they go to Cila. And so those
9:38teams are usually made up of almost 200
9:41swimmers each. Um and unfortunately this
9:45year Toppish will not be having a swim
9:47team. They do not plan on opening their
9:49pool. And their board decided even if
9:52the pool was going to open, um they
9:54wouldn't have enough time to form a team
9:55without having an actual set date for
9:58opening. Um so that actually leaves us
10:00open to accept swimmers in Tophenish,
10:04Zilla, Granger, Sunnyside, and Mapton
10:07because of that um school boardingering
10:09rule. Since Topnish doesn't have a team
10:11this year, they can actually come to us
10:13and usually Zilla would go to them and
10:16again they can't. So they're going to
10:17come to us because Nachis and CILA are
10:21completely full. Like they just can't
10:23take more swimmers. and as a league um
10:25it was discussed that it'd just be
10:27beneficial as a region if they had
10:30somewhere to go and obviously we do have
10:31a cap um for that. So if we were ever to
10:34reach that we couldn't accept outside
10:36swimmers as well.
10:38>> Okay, any questions on that slide?
10:40>> Yes, Mr. Dolan.
10:41>> Um
10:43when you have the the swimmers from the
10:45other
10:46>> uh swim teams, are they covered
10:50are they covered under our insurance?
10:52Oh, I actually get to that here in just
10:54a bit. I'll I'll answer that one here in
10:56just a second.
10:57>> Okay, perfect. Thank you.
11:00[clears throat]
11:00Thank you. And so our swim season runs
11:04from June 1st to July 30th this year and
11:08we practice Monday through Thursday. I
11:10know that was a question during the
11:12board meeting um if we went 5 days a
11:14week and we do not. Monday through
11:16Thursday our swimmers have Friday off
11:18and so a nice three-day weekend for
11:20everybody. Um and our practices are
11:22divided by age group. Um in the contract
11:25that we're proposing and has been in the
11:28years past, um there's a cap at 85
11:31swimmers per session. So we have a cap
11:35of 170 swimmers across the board and so
11:38we divide that accordingly um so that we
11:40never have that max in the pool. Um
11:43we've never reached that. We usually
11:45have about you know 50 in the first one,
11:4750 in the second or you know kind of
11:49similar in those numbers. um depending
11:51on where we cut off the age group. Um
11:53and we do have one home meet per week
11:56this year. Um we have a very interesting
11:58and kind of awesome schedule. Um but we
12:02only have the one home meet per week. Um
12:06and our registration is open April 1st
12:09through June 1st. That first day in the
12:11water, we cut off registration. Um, just
12:15because some people are on the fence and
12:17they're not sure if their swimmer is
12:19going to pass the swim test that they
12:20have to have in order to be on the team.
12:22They have to swim that short distance of
12:24the pool without touching the bottom.
12:25And so sometimes that leaves them like
12:27should I register, should I not? And so
12:29we allow them to register up to that
12:31day. Um,
12:33and that was another question like hard
12:36numbers, right? That's just something um
12:38we don't have until we close
12:40registration. So all right, next one.
12:43Oh, I'm sorry. Counselor Galvan,
12:46>> what what times are your are your
12:47practice sessions?
12:48>> Oh, okay. Sure. Um, we actually start
12:50our first practice in the water at 6:00
12:53a.m. This is um during regular, not the
12:55first two weeks. The first two weeks um
12:57I'm sorry, the first two weeks we're
12:59still in school. So, those are evening
13:00practices and that starts at goes from
13:025:30 to 7 and those are split in two.
13:06And our younger swimmers go first during
13:09that and then our older swimmers go
13:11last. Um, and then when we switch out to
13:14not being in school any longer, we still
13:16have the two sessions and it starts at
13:186:00 a.m. and ends at 9.
13:21>> 9:00 a.m.
13:21>> Mhm. And then our older swimmers come in
13:24early and our younger come in later.
13:28>> Yeah. We swap them because when they're
13:30in school, it makes sense, right? When
13:31they're out of school, get the older
13:33kids up and going. So, yeah.
13:35>> So, the public has access to the poll
13:37from 9:00 a.m. up.
13:39>> Correct. So in years previous um they've
13:42had swim lessons and so we're always out
13:44before swim lessons would start um you
13:46know so that's how that's always worked
13:48out. We've never um taken away from swim
13:50lessons and that is also u part of the
13:53contract we usually have. We don't
13:54compete with swim lessons. We don't
13:56offer swim lessons. We take the swimmer
13:58that already knows how to swim. Right.
14:00Yeah.
14:03>> Okay. Um and so in the past 5 years
14:05we've had between 100 a little 80 to 100
14:08swimmers. Um there was that time during
14:10COVID that was very interesting. Um but
14:13we've kind of hung out around the
14:15hundreds mark. Um and registration
14:18always spikes that week right before the
14:20season starts. It's like oh no I got to
14:22get my registration in. Right. So that
14:24was one of those other things where like
14:26hard numbers are hard to give. And I'm
14:28I'm not just saying like a little spike.
14:29We're talking like over half the team
14:31registers the week before. Um, and
14:35here's where we cover insurance. So,
14:37each of our swimmers must have an AU
14:39membership. Um, and our insurance goes
14:42all the way through AU. So, um, everyone
14:46that registers has to have an AU number
14:50before their registration is complete.
14:52And so, we make sure that's all covered.
14:54And that's covered at a $2 million
14:57insurance that we carry. Okay. Um, and
15:00then last year we did host the AU
15:02Central Washington Swim Invitational and
15:05we do have the opportunity to do it this
15:06season, but that's not part of this
15:08regular contract. Um, I know that was
15:10some people were unsure how that worked,
15:12but that is not part of our regular
15:14season contract. Just so everybody's
15:15clear on that one. Um, and that is an
15:18extra cost to our swimmers to
15:19participate in those things. Um, champs
15:22and invitationals are an extra cost to
15:24the swimmers to participate. It's not
15:25part of regular season. Okay.
15:28Any questions on that one? Did I cover
15:30your question, councelor Dolan? Okay,
15:32perfect. Thank you.
15:35>> Excuse me.
15:36>> Yes, of course. Um I was just thinking
15:37when back to uh the kids are swimming.
15:41>> Currently they're 5:30 to 7 and and then
15:44but
15:45>> and then later after school is out,
15:47it'll be 6:00 a.m. to 9:00. But also, do
15:50you have regular swim meet nights?
15:53>> Um so that depends on the schedule. I
15:55did already give that one to Mr. Mia and
15:58it's already posted on our website so
16:00families can plan. Um we actually
16:02determine that after our championship
16:05meet at the end of like this season. Um
16:07we all pull numbers and that decides uh
16:09what order we go in. Um but there's
16:11always that chance like you know
16:13Tophenish had to pull out. So then we
16:15had to rework it. So it was something
16:16that I waited to present to Mr. Mahia
16:18until the beginning of the year once we
16:20knew that for sure. So yeah.
16:25All right. Next slide. Thank you so
16:27much. Um, so we're now the only 50 meter
16:31pool from Yaka to Proer since Topish is
16:34closed. It was us and Topenish. They're
16:36closed. Um, so that really does leave us
16:38open for um, additional swimmers that
16:41want to swim in that 50 meter. It
16:44probably doesn't sound fun to you guys,
16:46but as um, athletes or racers, that 50
16:49meter is where it's at. That's Olympic
16:50size. So, we get swimmers that are very
16:52competitive and they want to beat their
16:54times. So then they can do um league
16:57after our season and you know qualify
17:00for like pre-Olympics and things like
17:02that. Um and our meets are 100%
17:05volunteer ran. All of our um families
17:07have to volunteer in order for their
17:08swimmer to swim. We can't make it happen
17:10any other way. Um it, you know, takes
17:13about 40 people just to run when we meet
17:15because we have our timers, we have our
17:17runners, we have our stroke judges. And
17:19it sounds like a lot of people, but once
17:21everybody's on deck, you notice it's
17:22really not because there's so much going
17:24on. Um, and I always say it's a family
17:27sport because like I said, if you're a
17:29swimmer swimming, you're volunteering.
17:31So, it literally takes the whole family.
17:32And sometimes it's not just like the
17:35parents. Like we have cousins out there.
17:37We have, you know, aunties and uncles
17:38and we even have, you know, younger
17:40siblings that are timing because maybe
17:42the parents don't want to. And so,
17:44younger sibling volunteers or just
17:46somebody that represents their family
17:47comes and volunteers. So, it's very much
17:49a a family sport.
17:52Any questions there? Nope. Okay.
17:58And then our fees. Um, so we do charge
18:03$150 per swimmer and that covers our
18:07contract with the city and then helps
18:09pay our coaches and that doesn't cover
18:11all of our cost obviously. Um, so we do
18:15ask we are asking that you keep our fees
18:18as low as possible just because we are a
18:20nonprofit. Um, and we'd like to continue
18:23to have a swim season and right now
18:25costs are already kind of hard for the
18:27families. So if our fees raise, which we
18:29understand, you know, every year there's
18:31usually a little bit of a change, um,
18:33then that's something that we would have
18:34to pass on to our families. Um, we do
18:37offer things like sponsorships to those
18:39families. they can go out and ask
18:41businesses for sponsorships. Um, we've
18:43brought on several fundraisers and that
18:46kind of helps offset um the expenses
18:49with donations and we also have our
18:51Shark Shack where we do concessions and
18:53we brought that back last year. It had
18:55been closed for a couple seasons um and
18:57that does help with some of our costs
18:59but honestly it's really hard because we
19:01want our families to go out and get
19:02those sponsorships. So, as a team we
19:05also can't ask for those, right? because
19:07everybody's kind of topped out at some
19:09point. Um, so if we can ask that the
19:12city keeps our fees as low as we can,
19:14then we can continue to keep that fee
19:16lower for our families and more
19:17affordable.
19:20>> Yes.
19:21>> Have Have you been able to keep it at
19:22the 150?
19:23>> So the 150 has actually been we've had
19:26that now since after a little after
19:28COVID. So the last three seasons we've
19:30been at the 150. We did have to raise it
19:32because we had a jump in swimmers and so
19:34we needed additional coaching. And so
19:36that's where it kind of gets tricky,
19:38right? Is like the more swimmers we
19:40have, the more coaches we need, and then
19:42like the cost just it's really hard for
19:45us to balance that. Um because we want
19:47to keep everybody safe and in the water.
19:49So yes, did that answer your question?
19:52>> It did. I mean it it's really important
19:53to keep them affordable.
19:55>> Exactly.
19:56>> And that's why we offered more um
19:58fundraisers this year than we have any
20:00other year. Um at the end of the year we
20:02did a feedback survey for our families
20:04and you know asked what we could do
20:06better or what we did right and one of
20:08the things was like the cost please like
20:10if you could do anything with the cost.
20:11So we have offered several fundraisers
20:14already before the season started to
20:15help um raise money for that
20:17registration fee.
20:19>> And I believe you offer um businesses
20:21right to
20:21>> Yeah. So that's under our sponsorship.
20:23We call that our banner sponsorship. And
20:25um you know the swimmer can take in
20:27we've got a sponsorship form they can
20:28take in and ask uh businesses uh to
20:31sponsor a banner and um that pays for
20:34their registration fee and then leaves a
20:36little bit for us and that usually helps
20:38offset some of those costs as well.
20:42>> Okay.
20:43>> Yes.
20:43>> Yeah. So you mentioned something about
20:45how it's been a little bit challenging
20:46if there's more swimmers. You know
20:48there's more coaching requirement and
20:50demand. So yeah what do you predict as
20:52like now knowing that top finish will be
20:54closed. Do you think that you guys will
20:55grow?
20:56>> So, last year, Topish was closed as
20:58well. Um, but that started a little
21:00different. It looked a little different
21:01last year. They actually went as far as
21:03getting their team to register last year
21:05before they were told they wouldn't have
21:07a pool open. Um, so they were all those
21:10swimmers were anticipated to swim and
21:12then they were offered refunds and they
21:14could come this way if they wanted to,
21:15right? Um, so we only had about a
21:17handful of top finishers last year. This
21:21time now, they already knew that
21:23starting. So, we've already had some
21:24Topish swimmers um registering with us,
21:27which is nice because they were prepared
21:29for that move and knowing, hey, there's
21:31a nice 6 a.m., you know, practice time
21:34cuz that's some travel for those
21:35families as well. Um, so knowing that, I
21:38see our numbers growing a little bit,
21:39but like I said, we usually hang around
21:41that 100. I don't see a huge jump
21:43happening, but I might be surprised. You
21:44never know, right? Um, at this point,
21:46I'll be honest with you, we have like 12
21:48swimmers registered, so like I said,
21:50we'll see that spike. It hasn't happened
21:52yet. Okay,
21:53>> that's good. Thank you.
21:54>> Uhhuh. Is that
21:56>> I just another question regarding the
21:58the registration.
21:59>> Yes.
22:00>> Include all of their gear.
22:02>> It does not.
22:03>> So that is a separate issue.
22:04>> It is. Yes. Uh-huh. And during practices
22:07they can swim in whatever they like
22:09obviously swimwear. Um but during
22:12competition they have to have a black
22:13swimsuit. So that's another fee as well.
22:16And that's not something that's covered
22:18in the registration. That's just to pay
22:20for the cost of us renting the bull and
22:23for, you know, coaching staff.
22:29Any other questions on there?
22:32Kate,
22:34>> of course.
22:37>> You know, you've been doing a really
22:38good job doing this. You've done it for
22:40a while. My kids wins, you know, and u
22:42we appreciate a lot of work that you put
22:44into it. There's a lot. People don't
22:46realize how much work there is to
22:48organize all the parents and all the and
22:50the swim meets, but I want to give you
22:52kudos for that. You've done a good job
22:53with it.
22:54>> And we have a really great board. It
22:55It's literally not just me. I know this
22:57year I'm helping drive that ship, but
22:59honestly, without a great board behind
23:01you, it's really hard. Um, and that's
23:03always learned, right? So, I appreciate
23:06those behind me this year. Do you guys
23:08have any more questions that I can help
23:10clarify? I know you're going to be
23:11talking about the contract itself. Um,
23:13and I just want to make sure there's no
23:15outstanding questions.
23:18>> Any other questions? I know there was
23:20questions particularly about the
23:21numbers. I think it was asked.
23:23>> It was and I tried to cover that like I
23:25said, but it's just really hard to know.
23:28>> Mhm.
23:29>> So, it's not something we can actually,
23:30you know, project for this season just
23:32yet.
23:33>> Said you're also having a cut off,
23:34right?
23:35>> Um, we always have our cut off on June
23:361st. um that's registration cut off and
23:39we do allow our families um within the
23:41two week start time if for some reason
23:44it's not for them, it's not for their
23:45family, it's not for their swimmer, they
23:46get a refund, but we've already paid the
23:48city for them. [clears throat] So, we're
23:50out that cost as well. Um but it's
23:53something in our contract that we've
23:55agreed upon giving our numbers and so we
23:57do and we pay for them in good faith and
23:59sometimes it just doesn't work out.
24:01>> Mhm.
24:01>> Or you pick up another swimmer
24:03somewhere.
24:03>> Oh yeah, we did actually. I think uh
24:05last year we had like I said, you get
24:08those couple that come the first day and
24:10they're not sure they're going to make
24:10it. So I think last year we paid our
24:13bill in full and then we had eight
24:15swimmers that day that passed their swim
24:16test and then we had to pay for them
24:18additionally. Yeah.
24:21>> Good. Um what what does the city charge
24:24you?
24:25>> Um so we're part we're charged the
24:27season swim pass. Um whatever that rate
24:30is for um on the fee schedule, that's
24:32what we always go by. I want to say it's
24:346250 this this time
24:37>> $62 if we're in
24:39>> oh [clears throat] 62 sorry exactly 62 I
24:41don't know where I got the 50 but $62
24:44and that's what we're charged and that's
24:45just for a regular season I want to make
24:47that clear that doesn't you know handle
24:48any of the other events we may hold like
24:50invitationals that's over a couple days
24:52that's completely separate
24:57>> one thing about this too is that uh
24:59every swimmer also gets a season pass
25:01right
25:02>> so they get to swim on the team. Plus,
25:04they get to swim after on the weekends
25:05and all that,
25:06>> which is pretty cool.
25:07>> Yeah.
25:10>> And they usually bring friends with them
25:11that maybe aren't part of the swim team,
25:12but want to have fun in the afternoon.
25:14>> So, yeah.
25:18>> Any other questions for Mr. Giri?
25:21>> Is there anything you'd like to add,
25:23Hector or Mr. Haley?
25:25>> Um, we are working [clears throat]
25:27towards to uh we have a manager now. It
25:30was the offer was given today. Um next
25:33week we'll be working on getting our
25:34lifeguards. So we are working towards
25:36everything to make sure that we are
25:39ready for the swim team and all of the
25:41schools at the end of the year that uh
25:44have reserved the pool. Um so they're
25:47we're I'm working diligently to get it
25:50all taken care of. Um um and this year
25:54we will be having u our camera set up
25:58our computer. um now that we have a new
26:01uh development technician on site, she
26:03she is very knows about the pool. She's
26:06ran she's done the pool prior um and uh
26:10we're excited.
26:12>> Good, too.
26:15>> So, there's um [clears throat]
26:18>> action on this item.
26:19>> I could read the motion.
26:21>> Yeah. Okay. What's the desire of
26:23council? I move that we allow the
26:26interim city manager to sign the
26:27agreement for the use of the city of
26:29Sunnyside pool with the Sunnyside Shark
26:32Swim Team.
26:33>> I'll second.
26:34>> Got a motion on the table by councelor
26:36Galvan and I got a second by councelor
26:38Chavez.
26:40Is there any further discussion?
26:44No. Okay. Um, Councelor Chavez,
26:47>> yes.
26:48>> Councelor Zati,
26:49>> yes.
26:50>> Councelor Vasquez,
26:51>> yes.
26:51>> Councelor Dolan,
26:52>> yes. Councelor Gwin,
26:54>> yes.
26:54>> Deputy Mayor,
26:55>> yes.
26:56>> I two vote yes. Motion carries.
27:06Okay, thank you for that.
27:08Um,
27:10moving on to the next item on the agenda
27:15is B. change an ordinance from 2023
27:19granting Ziply Fiber Pacific LLC and
27:22Ziply Wireless LLC to NFC Northwest LLC
27:26or instruct staff to rewrite a new
27:28ordinance and bring it back to a regular
27:31council meeting. Instructs staff to
27:34rewrite or make a new ordinance for NFC
27:37Northwest LLC. Kind of what I just said.
27:40>> A little repetitive there. It's okay. We
27:44all know what we're doing.
27:45>> Yeah. make sure it's clear. Um, Mr.
27:50Haley
27:51>> Hector, go ahead and
27:52>> Yes. So, uh, back in 2023, obviously,
27:56Ziply Wireless came into, uh, the city
27:59of Sunnyside and asked if they would be
28:01allowed an ordinance for them to bore
28:04underneath so they can get their
28:05wireless cable into their fiber optic
28:08lines. Um,
28:11come to find out NFC is now or has been
28:15part of Zipley's uh, wireless, but uh,
28:20they so what they want to do is allow
28:22NFC
28:24to take the ordinance and make it their
28:26own under Ziply's, but take out Ziplo's
28:29name because somehow they're conjoined
28:32together. Um, and they just want to make
28:34sure that NFC is on there and it states
28:38that they're able to do the same process
28:40as Ziplies. Um, on your guys's
28:44documents, uh, was the letter from NFC,
28:47uh, stating that Zipley and them are
28:50together. Um, they would just like NFC
28:53to be stated on the ordinance. Um, and I
28:56can answer any questions uh, if council
28:59has any.
29:01>> Council, any questions for Mr. Mahia.
29:05>> So, um,
29:06>> councelor Vos.
29:08Okay, go ahead, councelor Goodwin.
29:10>> Simply fiber, there's there's still a
29:14active company. It's going to stick
29:15around, but this is just like like it
29:17says, right? An affiliate.
29:18>> This is their parent company, I believe.
29:20>> Yes.
29:22>> Go ahead.
29:22>> And just for clarification, so you said
29:24that we will be adding NFC Northwest
29:26into the language of the ordinance, but
29:28we will also be removing Ziply fiber or
29:30can that remain? So
29:32>> that be remaining in the
29:33>> that would be remaining on there. I
29:34would just be adding the NFC.
29:36>> Okay, perfect. That's where I just
29:37wanted clarity because it's I think it'd
29:39be cleaner if we just add it and not
29:40remove any.
29:41>> Okay.
29:45>> Any other questions?
29:50>> Okay.
29:52So, would staff like me to uh just add
29:55it to this ordinance or would you guys
29:57like me to rewrite it and bring it back
29:59to council for a updated uh ordinance?
30:05>> I think if we're not removing any
30:07language that's already intact right
30:10now, then we could move forward with
30:11just adding that that new name.
30:14>> Okay. Then I
30:16>> Were you changing anything else or just
30:17adding that that was it? I
30:18>> that was just adding their name. help.
30:21Yeah,
30:23>> I agree.
30:24>> Okay. I don't think we need a motion for
30:25this if this is just instruction,
30:27>> right? Instruction.
30:29Yeah, [clears throat] the contract
30:30remains the same.
30:32>> It's just a adding an affiliate name to
30:35the ordinance.
30:37>> Ordinance. [clears throat]
30:38>> I will do that.
30:38>> Thank you.
30:39>> Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Mia. Uh, any
30:40other questions before we we move on to
30:42C? No. Okay.
30:45Moving on to item C on the discussion.
30:49um municipal court presentation. I think
30:53we have some guests with us here today.
30:55>> Good evening. And I think you had a
30:57presentation, right?
31:01>> Um I think uh Jeff might work to to get
31:04that up here.
31:06>> Is it turned on for you now?
31:08>> It is now. Got it. I should have known
31:12that.
31:25Is that put these pieces of paper?
31:28>> While he's pulling that up, I I know a
31:30lot of you because I've been here
31:31before, but I'm Judge Lee, Troy Lee, and
31:33so I think there's three new members,
31:37>> I believe. Right.
31:38>> You're correct. Dolan
31:41audience, Mr. Chavez.
31:57And if we can't get it up, that's fine.
32:01Honestly, we did a PowerPoint point
32:03presentation for some who I just like
32:05talking to people, so I'm a little bit
32:07different anyways. And so I almost
32:10viewed this as more of a question and
32:12answer. I think it's coming
32:16and we also have it on our packet
32:23>> whenever you're ready.
32:24>> All right. And Miss Anquist was kind
32:26enough to do this PowerPoint
32:27presentation and I have the slides right
32:29here and so I'll talk a little bit about
32:31each slide. I think it works better if
32:33after each slide if there's questions
32:36because I think there's a lot of
32:37questions. I guess that's one of the
32:39reasons why I wanted to have this
32:40meeting. Um, all right. So we can go to
32:42the next. Let's just
32:48All right. Um separation of power
32:50slides. And I think we all know this,
32:51but there's executive branch,
32:53legislative branch, judic judicial
32:55branch. They're all separate. And you
33:00know, this is the that whole judicial
33:03independence, separation of power is
33:04something that's a hot topic every year,
33:06every time a new city council comes in
33:09all across the state. Um
33:12the general gist of it is is the court
33:15is the court and a city council and the
33:18executive branch need to be very careful
33:21about you know they control the budget
33:24and I understand that um but be very
33:28careful about intruding into the court's
33:30affairs just simply because it causes
33:34issues. I think those who were on the
33:36city council before recall a situation a
33:39couple years ago where um I think what
33:43happened was one of our cir clerk
33:45positions got terminated. We didn't know
33:48anything about it. And behind the
33:51scenes, just to let you know, um,
33:56somebody, an anonymous person, I I know
33:58who it was, went to a judicial
34:00independence committee and tried to get
34:02Sunnyside
34:03um, essentially in trouble.
34:07And I ended up having to talk to the
34:09judicial committee and ensuring them
34:10that I've talked to the then city
34:12manager and everybody knows what's going
34:14on. But they wanted the the state
34:17attorney general to get involved.
34:19>> Um, that was behind the scenes. I
34:22handled it, but be careful about those
34:25types of issues. Um, that being said, I
34:28kind of get it. I mean, I I I do get it.
34:31You have a position where I'm a contract
34:33position. Um, the court um there's a lot
34:37of expenses to a court. And so I do get
34:39that the flip side of that like why
34:42can't we control as much? Um I I do get
34:46that. Now the one thing uh people who
34:48have been here before and um I've said
34:51this before
34:53I view my position as the court as part
34:56of a team effort and I think I've even
34:58said that before. I I see the executive
35:01branch. I I worry about the jail costs.
35:04I worry about how things are benefiting
35:06them. So, I am looking at the these
35:08things. Um, I've never ever taken the
35:10tact of
35:12we're the court don't don't talk to us
35:15about things. We just do our own thing.
35:18Um, that also being said, uh, from the
35:20get-go, so I started here in 2022 for
35:23those that haven't met me before. And
35:28when I started, right when I started, I
35:32I invited everybody if there's any
35:34questions. I had an open door policy.
35:36I'm always available by phone or email.
35:39Um, not many have over the years taken
35:42me up on that. Um, but I am one that if
35:45there's issues
35:47with the court or people have issues
35:50with the court, I I'll address it head
35:52on. Um, and I'll find a solution. But
35:56all right. So, that's enough about the
35:57separation of powers. Does anybody have
35:59any questions?
36:01No. So on some of these I'm instru I'm
36:04I'm you know educating on some of these
36:07I know there's questions as well. Okay
36:09next slide
36:12I flipped it. So this is
36:15self-explanatory. Um the population uh
36:19that we're serving that are indigent it
36:21remains the same. It's maybe a little
36:23bit less in 2024. We don't have 2025s up
36:26there, but there's never going to be a
36:29huge change in people's indigency level
36:32here in the population we're serving in
36:35in the number of of defendants. There's
36:37you're never going to see a huge surge
36:39in those numbers. Right. Next slide.
36:44Um screening because I know this was one
36:46of the topics and so I imagine there's
36:48questions here. So,
36:52it's I model my screening after
36:56other cities and counties and dis and
36:59maybe more specifically district court,
37:01Yakma municipal court, but it's courts
37:03that I'm used to to practicing in. So,
37:07there's a screening form and it asks
37:09questions and the general idea is people
37:13answer these questions. There's nobody
37:15checking these answers. And so we when I
37:19first came on board we did that like the
37:23jail would do that. I think recently the
37:25jail was like please do we have this is
37:27take too much time. Do we have to do
37:28this anymore? And I changed the policy
37:30there. Um people coming into the
37:32courtroom would fill out those forms and
37:35I can tell you the great great majority
37:37of people based upon those answers
37:39qualified for public defenders.
37:43the
37:45now I changed it um partially for court
37:48efficiency and partially because it's
37:50not changing any of the assign basically
37:53changing the numbers is I will simply
37:57ask them do you can you afford an
38:00attorney no now I will say this I'm
38:05doing that on the record I'm even
38:06pushing it so what courts around the
38:10state now are doing and it's gotten to
38:11this point is with the screening of
38:14indigency is simply asking. There's
38:17courts there's many courts that simply
38:19ask can you afford um are you asking for
38:22an attorney? Yes. Okay. The court's
38:24going to appoint one. And there's many
38:26reasons for that. Number one is
38:31many many judges have gotten in trouble
38:33for even trying to ask questions about
38:35financial situations you cannot simp you
38:37can't ask on the record. That's what
38:39those screening forms ultimately are
38:40for. The
38:43uh second reason is because it seems
38:47like each year um something else the the
38:51state put something else out that you
38:53know allows somebody to el be eligible
38:56for courtapp appointed attorneys several
38:58years ago. What it was is if they
39:00receive any type of state assistance,
39:02it's automatic. you just it doesn't even
39:05you can't even ask any other questions
39:06and there's really no point to asking
39:08any questions because as soon as that
39:10state assistance such as um food stamp
39:13programs food assistance it's over they
39:16qualify under the state the
39:23as I was saying I was you know in
39:25creating those procedures I was trying
39:27to figure out well what is the
39:29difference if we do these screening
39:30forms is it has it really made a
39:32difference between how many people got
39:34assigned attorneys and I can tell you it
39:36was zero difference between those two.
39:40Some cities like King County, and it
39:43would have to be a bigger city. King
39:45County, their court system is huge. They
39:47do day court, they do night court, they
39:49just have way they just have a lot of
39:51cases. They actually pay staff people to
39:55verify information that people put onto
39:58forms um to see if they qualify.
40:01It's
40:03I'm always willing to try something out
40:05with the court. I can tell you it it's
40:07going to cost money. Number one, you
40:10need a staff person at and I'm just
40:12going to throw out figures, but 60
40:1570,000.
40:17I think you would see that the costs you
40:19would save on the appointment of
40:20attorneys, especially in this community,
40:22um which is has a high indigent
40:25population and poverty level,
40:28>> the um the costs are going to be just a
40:32small fraction of what you're paying
40:34somebody to do. And so, you know, it's
40:37one of the ways which courts are are
40:38handcuffed in a way by the state of
40:41Washington. Um but I'm always willing to
40:44try things out.
40:46I I don't think it would work that way
40:49though. Um does anybody have any
40:52questions about that? This was one of
40:54the topics that I know was addressed and
40:56so that's why I was [clears throat]
40:57>> I have a a couple questions. Sure.
40:59>> Um so the form, right, the most of the
41:04most of the courts and and and the
41:06cities used um I was looking at the MRSC
41:09and and some of the cities, you know,
41:11kind of changed it a little bit around,
41:12but it still follows that RCW10.101
41:15101.020.
41:18Um,
41:20and and when when my comments were, you
41:23know, why why aren't we doing this? And
41:25it it wasn't more
41:28I don't expect all of them to be
41:31screened for for accuracies. Um, but
41:35just the the the fact of having
41:37something like this in my opinion um
41:41would probably
41:43I don't know um deter somebody from from
41:46lying um just because I I know of a few
41:50individuals that um based on on their on
41:54the to you know 2026 federal poverty
41:56level they don't qualify but yet they
42:00were appointed uh an attorney. Um, so
42:05I'm not asking that we check them all.
42:09I'm just asking that, you know, there's
42:11there's a few questions in here on this
42:13on this form where it's a simple as, you
42:16know, what what your income is and just
42:19basing it off of the of the poverty
42:22level, you could probably catch a lot of
42:25them that will be lying. Um, and I
42:28understand that more more staffing,
42:29right? That's if if we're going through
42:31and and checking each of the forms for
42:34accuracies or any proof of documents,
42:38you know, that the court might suggest.
42:42And like I said, I'm willing to go back
42:44to the form. It just didn't make a
42:46change. Um, part of part of what I'm
42:48looking at, too, we're struggling. We
42:50have been struggling on under huge
42:53dockets. And a lot of that part of that
42:56has to do with how many defense
42:58attorneys we have and what their
43:00contract has said. So there's quite a
43:03few dockets. If anybody's ever been in
43:05here, it's not uncommon to have a 100
43:08cases on in one afternoon. And so I have
43:11to go very very quickly.
43:13>> Um arraignments, we've had 60
43:15arraignments in the morning from and
43:17trying to get done, you know, by noon.
43:19Sometimes we don't get done until 1 and
43:21then the other docket starts over. Um,
43:27I guess I'll get into this more with the
43:29indigency and and I know there's
43:31questions about the public defense
43:32contracts and things like that. Um, but
43:36there is a push for me to get court
43:38streamlined as long as possible. If if
43:42some of you recall when we first started
43:44trying to get that up and running and
43:46try to get the court more efficient, it
43:48wasn't uncommon to intrude upon the the
43:51city council time. So, I think there was
43:53a couple times where at come at six
43:55o'clock at night, we still had court
43:57going on and so I had to manage that a
44:00little bit better. Um, you know, I've
44:03been doing so some of my background,
44:05I've been an attorney and and most of
44:06the time a defense attorney, but I've
44:08also been a prosecutor, but I've been
44:09doing law for 26 years now, going on 26
44:12years. And so, in that time as a
44:16prosecutor and a defense attorney, we
44:19see it all the time. And I I see
44:22I see the concern there. There's a lot
44:25of times that any defense attorney is,
44:27you know, you you get clientele that
44:29have you free of charge because I've
44:31done a lot of public defense work over
44:32the years and then they get in their
44:35escalade and then drive off. That
44:38everybody who's been practicing law
44:40knows that happens. Um,
44:43I will say as I as I told the interim
44:47the other day is there's some reasons
44:50for that and some reasons we can't even
44:53ask questions about. Um,
44:57some of those people have income that
44:59isn't reported. Some people have income
45:00that can't be reported. Um,
45:04guess I won't get into it any more than
45:06that, but um, that's stuff that we're
45:09never going to find. um that's not stuff
45:11they're going to report on that sheet,
45:13but I'm willing to use it if if not only
45:15just to show that see here's our numbers
45:18here and here's you know with this sheet
45:20and it's you're going to kind of see
45:21that it's it's the same. The only
45:24difference I think would make um but I
45:26again I don't think it would make that
45:28much of a difference would be if we had
45:29somebody actually verifying information
45:31then you'd have people say oh they're
45:33verifying information. However, uh with
45:36another caveat there is how do you
45:38verify the absence of information? So,
45:41if you have somebody that that
45:45isn't working and you can't verify
45:47information, how do you verify that's
45:48not correct? The only thing you can
45:50really do is verify that receiving state
45:52assistance, which I think a lot of the
45:55population at least that we deal with,
45:57um they are. I will say this too that
46:01any any judge any court knows this that
46:05the kind of the
46:08criminal element so to speak that's a
46:11pretty small percentage of any
46:13population of any city of any county
46:15that you're dealing with. It's the same
46:17people over and over again. Um so you
46:20get to know those people in fact where
46:22they stand and if they're working and
46:24things like that. Um, in my experience
46:26down here, actually the people that end
46:28up hiring attorneys, because that's one
46:30of the other things that I look at, they
46:32said they were hiring an attorney from
46:33the get-go. They didn't want anything to
46:35do with public defenders. And usually
46:37those people are the ones that end up
46:39hiring.
46:40>> The flip side of that, I haven't you
46:42don't see that many occasions, and Miss
46:43Quist can correct me if I'm wrong,
46:45>> where somebody says, "Yeah, I want an
46:47attorney. I'm eligible." And then hires
46:49a private attorney. It doesn't happen
46:51too frequently. Um, but the reverse is
46:55definitely true.
46:57Um, any other questions,
47:01right?
47:02>> Wanted to add anything else, council?
47:04Well,
47:04>> I'll let him continue with the rest of
47:06the
47:07>> Okay.
47:12Um, this is what I was talking about
47:15earlier. I mean, this at least is what
47:16we got from 2024. It's it's the poverty
47:19level. Um,
47:22I looks Sunnyside 18.5 city of
47:26topenanish 18% I maybe that would be
47:30flipped but again we're dealing with the
47:32poverty level in a community overall
47:34we're not dealing with the poverty level
47:35of these um the individuals that we deal
47:38with on a routine basis in the courts so
47:42all right um next slide
47:46um criminal cases filing this is I guess
47:49what I I draw from here what I was
47:51talking about earl earlier is even with
47:53everinccreasing criminal cases. So
47:552023,400
47:572024
47:59little less than that 2025 all the way
48:02up to 1700 and we're probably on par
48:05more with that although with some
48:07changes to driving with suspended thirds
48:09made at the executive level. I think
48:11that'll dip down trying to save case
48:14loads. I'll get into that um when we get
48:17to that slide. Um criminal hearings
48:20held. That's where you start to see me
48:23trying to limit the number of criminal
48:25hearings to limit those docket sizes is
48:28400 more cases from 2024 to 25 but not
48:31that many more hearings. So um trying to
48:35limit the number of hearings just to
48:36limit the time and the expense.
48:40[clears throat]
48:40>> Right. Question
48:41>> any sure. So
48:44when we talk about case
48:47loads, right, we're use we're using the
48:50number uh on the on my left, I guess the
48:531770 for 2025,
48:56not necessarily the the the hearings,
48:59right? Cuz not every hearing needs a an
49:02attorney, per se.
49:04>> It it's more that if you have a case,
49:07then there could be four hearings, there
49:08could be five hearings because you deal
49:10with a lot of pre-trial hearings. Mhm.
49:12>> Um it it's very rarely probably that a
49:16case gets filed and then it's over at
49:18the next hearing. Maybe more so if
49:20people are in custody. Um I suppose just
49:23because there's an incentive for for
49:24people to want to resolve it. But um the
49:28criminal hearings held, it's always
49:30going to be much much higher than uh
49:32those criminal cases filed. And then as
49:34far as those criminal cases filed,
49:36understand that um
49:40not all of those have public attorneys.
49:44I mean, the great majority do um but
49:46some of those have private attorneys as
49:48well.
49:50Might might be a good time. I don't I
49:52guess I don't want to skip ahead in
49:53slides or anything like that because
49:55Miss Anquist took time preparing this
49:58but it the I think the hot topic right
50:01now and this is the hot topic in the
50:03state anyways is public defense and case
50:06load rules and things like that that is
50:08just it is it is destroying cities to be
50:11blunt and counties um with the expenses.
50:14So maybe this is a good a time as any to
50:16talk about that. Um, can I skip skip?
50:20That's probably what everybody's
50:21interested in more in anyways. I
50:23>> think you're right about that. I Yeah,
50:25those cases are because we're that's
50:27what we pay the attorneys is based on
50:30their case load. So,
50:31>> right. So, number one, um, we have this
50:36top onish contract that
50:39I think it's very good for the city of
50:41Sunnyside. I think they do pay their
50:44share. Now, over the years, it it's kind
50:47of I mean, let me give you an example
50:49here. When I first came on in 2022, I
50:52think it it wasn't until later 2022,
50:562023, where I was looking at things and
50:59I realized that Topanish actually wasn't
51:02under contract for the last like 5
51:04years, 6 years, something like that.
51:07Nobody nobody bothered to look at it. So
51:10then I I did a lot of efforts to get it
51:11back up and I actually modeled it after
51:14other places contracts and I I do think
51:16it it's good for the city of Sunnyside.
51:18Now, in that I will also say o over the
51:21years when we were kind of dealing with
51:22that and I know there's a lot of
51:24turnover in Sunnyside now um there has
51:26been for quite some time um
51:30you know but there was things such as
51:31well no we deal with it like individuals
51:35in Sunnyside telling us no we deal with
51:37it like don't worry about it to at times
51:40saying like oh we weren't billing like
51:42we were supposed to um so that's kind of
51:45finance's job to do that ultimately so I
51:47do think that city of componentish
51:49contract is is definitely profitable
51:52um and helps with the budget. So case
51:55loads so
51:57many years ago uh the state of
52:00Washington passed case load limits that
52:03it it it hurt it didn't hurt as much
52:07like it was
52:10perhaps a good thing. I I I definitely
52:12have my views of it. As I said, I I op
52:15I've operated under those contracts and
52:17those these same public defense
52:19contracts for probably about 18 years.
52:21So, probably nobody knows better about
52:22these contracts and what needs to be in
52:24them than than I do.
52:26Um, another
52:28my third caveat,
52:33the the court can't be involved in
52:36contract negotiations and can't and has
52:39to stay away from from public defenders
52:43and these public defense contracts and
52:45defense case load and where the numbers
52:47are at and especially financial issues
52:49just because court rule says we can't.
52:53they seem to always pass new and new
52:55rules saying don't don't get involved in
52:57that stuff and so we have to kind of
52:59stay side that being said I've always
53:01talked to people generally about how
53:04these these contracts and how these case
53:06loads numbers are supposed to go so kind
53:08of to get back on track um last going
53:12into effect this year is where things
53:15really are starting to hit with the case
53:16load numbers and that's why you're
53:18seeing it be a hot topic for cities and
53:20counties across Washington um that's has
53:24a 10-year plan to limit cases all the
53:26way from uh last year one public defense
53:30attorney could handle 400 cases to where
53:33the state of Washington wants it in 10
53:35years at
53:38120 which is is ridiculous. It's it's
53:42ludicrous. It's it would take so much
53:45money. I think um it was Yakimma
53:48Municipal Court or Yakima County said we
53:50would we would need 20 attorneys um to
53:54kind of deal with our case load at that
53:56limit. Maybe it was 22
53:59that um
54:02you have to couple that as as I as I
54:05said in the meeting the other day with
54:07there is an attorney shortage and it's
54:09real and it's it's very profound and
54:12it's hitting this area especially the
54:15lower valley very very hard. Um
54:19there's not as many people coming from
54:21law school. um there's not people coming
54:24into this area anymore to be attorneys.
54:28So, one of the things with with these
54:30public defense contracts and these
54:31public defenders, you have to be very
54:33very careful. Um because as I've said,
54:36if
54:39if cities are like, "No, you're going to
54:40do this, this, this, this, this." Or any
54:42court who's like, "Nope, it's going to
54:43be this way. It's going to be this way.
54:44It's going to be this way." Guess what
54:45they're going to do? The path of least
54:47resistance. And there's many pe many
54:50other jurisdictions waiting to kind of
54:52scoop them up. I mean, it's a fight now
54:54over getting public defenders to handle
54:57case loads. Um,
55:01even though I I'm you know, I wasn't
55:04involved in the contract negotiations or
55:06I don't I don't even know hows are set
55:09up, but I can tell you how things things
55:13should be done. Uh with those defense
55:15contracts, there has to be an
55:17independent person to count the numbers
55:19to make sure the numbers are being
55:20counted correctly. Um it's very easy um
55:26for I mean attorneys are human.
55:28Attorneys mess up anyways, but it is
55:30also very easy to double count numbers,
55:33to double count cases. I mean there has
55:35to be somebody that watches that stuff.
55:38And by by and large what I've seen from
55:40cities and counties that that employ
55:42those types of contracts is there isn't
55:46a lot of accounting. Nobody's checking
55:49and so um that that's creating issues.
55:53Um go ahead.
55:55I have a a question and in looking at
55:57you know the public defense services
55:59where I understand the it prevents a
56:02conflict of interest for you to manage
56:04you know the public defenders and
56:06whatnot but and Mr. Haley's been here a
56:09month month and a half. So
56:12who who's handling those right now for
56:16sunny side who's handling those numbers?
56:18That that's a good question. [laughter]
56:20>> I agree.
56:23So, I mean, it depends upon who's
56:25checking at the city level. Um, I I I
56:29believe Sunnyside is much like every
56:30other city that really there wasn't
56:32there isn't a lot of oversight. I know
56:35attorneys are supposed to do here's my
56:38cases for the month. I don't know if
56:40that's being done, but I don't know
56:41where they'd be going cuz again, I get
56:43over get to this a lot of turnover. And
56:46so, it seemed over the years since I've
56:48been here that it's this person, then
56:50it's this person, then it's this person
56:51doing it. Um, but each each attorney
56:56should be submitting monthly reports
56:58saying these are my numbers this month
56:59that can be checked. Not not quarterly,
57:03not yearly because then that's too hard
57:04to check. It takes too long to check. Um
57:10the court what the court's required to
57:13do and where it stops as far as I
57:15suppose what the court can do is we get
57:18number one quarterly reports from each
57:21attorney um saying that they're in
57:23compliance. Now it doesn't give numbers.
57:26It just says I'm in compliance with the
57:28case load rules period.
57:30As of this year, each attorney is now
57:33required on each and every single case
57:34that they do to put a little declaration
57:37at the bottom saying, "I'm in compliance
57:39with the standards." And I know what
57:41that ultimately is setting up. That's
57:42why attorneys have to be careful with
57:44those things.
57:46>> Speaking of the ster,
57:49>> I have a question. So, what is average
57:52case load for the attorneys?
57:54>> Um, average or maximum?
57:56>> Average and maximum. So maximum it was
58:00400 last year. This year then it's gone
58:03to
58:0520 300
58:06>> 31. No it's not at 300 yet. It's it
58:11equates to it's a weird formula that the
58:14Supreme Court came up with like 10% of
58:16each mean. So this year it's supposed to
58:20be at 31 cases less than that. So 369
58:26I guess would be what those numbers
58:28would be at. Then next year it drops
58:30down another 31 cases or whatever that
58:33mean is getting at the 10th year to that
58:36120 cases. I don't think our contracts
58:38are structured that way. I I think the
58:40Sunnyside contracts are for 300 period.
58:43>> Um so they're they're contracted under
58:45those maximums.
58:47Um
58:50whether they get to those numbers, I
58:53don't know. Um
58:55>> uh Mr. So
58:57>> um at the end of each month, I do
58:59provide a report that is generated
59:00through our court database. Um and it
59:02gives a breakdown of how many cases were
59:04assigned to each attorney. Um based on
59:07that report that's given to the city,
59:09the attorneys are responsible for also
59:11providing their own report that that
59:13needs to be verified with the monthly
59:15report that's submitted. Um how that's
59:18being done I'm not sure because that
59:19would be at the executive level but
59:21those those monthly reports are being
59:23provided
59:24>> and the executive being city hall
59:26somebody at city hall.
59:26>> Yeah.
59:27>> Okay. So I mean and and I'm with you
59:29right Sunnyside has has a broken system
59:31with everything that we do. Um we don't
59:34we don't have accountability. We don't
59:36have any any procedures. Um you know
59:39talking about standards. We don't even
59:41have a does anybody know what our
59:44adopted standard is? Um, you know,
59:46there's an RCW that that that says uh
59:50RCW10.101.030.
59:53The city is required to have adopted
59:55standards for indigit defense, including
59:58case load limits, qualifications, and
1:00:00oversight. I don't think we haven't I
1:00:04haven't voted for any standards since
1:00:06I've been here. Um, councelor Hart,
1:00:08you've been here a little bit longer.
1:00:09Have you ever uh voted on a standard,
1:00:13you know, for for the city to to
1:00:14operate? I don't I don't think so. I
1:00:16don't I didn't see anything
1:00:17>> probably long longer ago than just more
1:00:20you know more recently probably in the
1:00:21last 10 years sometime I'm sure
1:00:23>> and I think
1:00:24>> but I don't know it hasn't been
1:00:25addressed more recently
1:00:27>> and and given that the this the you know
1:00:30Washington state supreme court um gives
1:00:32one direction and then there's a
1:00:35different direction from um the uh
1:00:38Washington state board association
1:00:41which which direction is our defense
1:00:45group following, right? Are they
1:00:46following the 10-year plan or are they
1:00:49being aggressive in and in and you know
1:00:51limiting their case loads a lot sooner
1:00:53and following the the the other one, the
1:00:57WSBA?
1:00:58I don't know. We don't know. Well, the
1:01:01so the WSBA, they are the ones who
1:01:04proposed and on both occasions they
1:01:06proposed case load rules to the state
1:01:09supreme court. Um the state supreme
1:01:12court is the one that came up with these
1:01:14case loads and said courts shall do
1:01:16this. Um cities shall do this. Counties
1:01:18shall do this. It applies equally across
1:01:20the state. Um
1:01:22the WSBA didn't have any power other
1:01:25than lobbying for the state supreme
1:01:28court to do that. Now, it's a it's a
1:01:32probably a legit question or you know to
1:01:35ask
1:01:37does ultimately the state supreme court
1:01:39have the power to kind of legislate from
1:01:41the bench and say this is what we want.
1:01:43That's a different question. Um and I I
1:01:47don't know if there's any lawsuits. My
1:01:49guess would be some some would be
1:01:50forthcoming especially when we start
1:01:52getting into that second year, third
1:01:53year when numbers keep dropping a little
1:01:55bit more and then it keeps getting
1:01:57costly. Um, I I'll be blunt. I
1:02:01[clears throat] was against the case
1:02:03load rules, especially this second
1:02:05goound. Um, because it it's really
1:02:09limiting the power of cities to protect.
1:02:12I mean, is how I saw it. Um,
1:02:16I've been do, you know, I've been doing
1:02:18this a long time,
1:02:21like 20 years, probably 21 years doing
1:02:24public defense. And
1:02:26there was a time when when there was no
1:02:29case loads that attorneys were fine. We
1:02:33were fine. I mean, you you budget your
1:02:35time. You you work and sometimes you
1:02:39work to be blunt your ass off, but you
1:02:42were fine. Um it's
1:02:46Yeah, I you know, I I'm I'm not a a big
1:02:50fan of the case load, but it's something
1:02:52we have to deal with. Now what happens
1:02:53if a city doesn't
1:02:55h my guess is remember when I said each
1:02:59number one the attorneys are going to um
1:03:03on each of their notices of parents have
1:03:05to do that designation saying I'm
1:03:06complying with the case load. So that
1:03:08now gives a case uh for the state to go
1:03:11after and individual attorneys to try to
1:03:14get a little bit of money and say oh we
1:03:16could sue the city of Sunnyside for
1:03:18this. We could sue the city of Yakama
1:03:19for this. They're the courts involved in
1:03:22this. They're letting people go over
1:03:23numbers. So, you want to be very careful
1:03:26about that. Um,
1:03:29it's
1:03:31it's a problem. It's an issue. And if I
1:03:35I'm acting like there's no good answers,
1:03:38there's not. Um, I think you just end up
1:03:41having to
1:03:43to deal with it at some point. Um, maybe
1:03:47the court re-examines that. I think it
1:03:50that rule itself called for I think at a
1:03:52five-year term saying let's reexamine it
1:03:54and see if this is actually workable and
1:03:56there's been a lot of outcry over it and
1:03:58you might see it kind of start repealing
1:04:00back at that point but
1:04:03>> you know I'm I'm I'm with you right it
1:04:06it's Olympian it's it's the Supreme
1:04:08Court giving us unfunded mandates for
1:04:10cities um you know and and where does
1:04:14that leave a city you know where where
1:04:17we have case loads overload, right? We
1:04:20have a we had invoices come through from
1:04:22from attorneys um for 2025 for for case
1:04:25load overloads.
1:04:27That money has to come out of somewhere
1:04:29and and unfortunately the first pot of
1:04:33money that cities dig into is is is for
1:04:36the youth, for the pool, for parks and
1:04:39wrecks, right? That's the first thing
1:04:41that that that we reduce. So I think if
1:04:44if if at the same time we're able to do
1:04:48some of these other things like you know
1:04:50doing the form making sure that they
1:04:52they do need the the the defense
1:04:54attorney um you know coming up with
1:04:57adopt some standards right um so that
1:04:59way the defense attorneys that we do
1:05:01have know how to operate know what's
1:05:05going on right another question that I
1:05:07had is the the billing forish who's
1:05:10who's in charge city hall or or you guys
1:05:12here.
1:05:13>> The the bidding
1:05:14>> a [clears throat] billing cuz we
1:05:16>> Billing
1:05:16>> we build topish
1:05:18>> that's city hall
1:05:19>> city hall does the building
1:05:20>> has to be that's where point I think
1:05:23last year year before we were told oh
1:05:26this we just learned this wasn't being
1:05:28built correctly
1:05:30>> and it's it's it's I'm looking at the
1:05:31contract right now it's complicated
1:05:33right you got so many percentage so many
1:05:35cases it it's a comp complicated system
1:05:38so now my question um to interim city
1:05:41manager these invoices that came through
1:05:43for the case over the case overloads.
1:05:46How much are we billing that to to
1:05:48topenish? How much is the contract allow
1:05:50allowing us to bill Topenish for those
1:05:53extra um cases if you could find I mean
1:05:56I'm not expecting an answer right now
1:05:57but
1:05:58>> I have contacted Topenish uh to warn
1:06:03them that there's some catchup that's
1:06:06necessary particularly with the increase
1:06:08to the new defense attorneys. Another
1:06:11thing that we are addressing is uh city
1:06:13uh court security and that has to be
1:06:15addressed because we are using city
1:06:19police department for court security and
1:06:21that's usually means overtime.
1:06:24So we're going to try to modify that as
1:06:26well. So they're cooperative. They're
1:06:28saying we understand we're in agreement
1:06:29with this. You'll just have to give us a
1:06:31proposal. We'll have to talk more about
1:06:33it. I did have discussion with uh Chief
1:06:35Layman this morning about that
1:06:37>> and um I had mentioned to him in the in
1:06:40the records that I was able to obtain
1:06:42for I think it was 2025 2024 there were
1:06:45expenses that were coming out of the
1:06:47court budget to pay for the court
1:06:48security um since I think September. I
1:06:52don't think we've followed up with it
1:06:54all the way but it is a discussion that
1:06:56we've had. So just to clarify, there was
1:06:58a portion of their wages that was taken
1:07:01out from um from the court's budget
1:07:05>> that and that's my understanding.
1:07:06Usually with court security reason
1:07:08corrections I think there was a police
1:07:10officer just because nobody was
1:07:11available or something happened. Um but
1:07:15that for the court time we paid a
1:07:17portion of that salary and that for the
1:07:19court time
1:07:20>> and council I I just have a so
1:07:23>> go ahead may I um a minute ago or so you
1:07:26mentioned how the process works as far
1:07:28as the billing when you fill out the
1:07:30billing that goes to to city hall. You
1:07:33said that it was um what did you say
1:07:37that it was um the quarterly complaint
1:07:41uh uh what quarterly reports were then
1:07:44sent to the city hall?
1:07:46>> Um that was going to be for the cases
1:07:48that are assigned to each attorney each
1:07:49month. Right.
1:07:50>> Yes. Those are submitted on a monthly
1:07:52basis.
1:07:52>> On a monthly basis.
1:07:53>> Yes. and provided to um well at that the
1:07:56last person I was providing it to was
1:07:57Monica but every finance supervisor
1:08:00director at that point was being given
1:08:02those monthly reports.
1:08:04>> Okay. So that should have been showing
1:08:05up. It shows up where where the bail
1:08:08goes to somebody or refund of bail or or
1:08:11things like that. But I was more
1:08:14interested right now in the the
1:08:16attorney's uh case load.
1:08:18>> Right.
1:08:19>> Yeah. So how that works. But you don't
1:08:21have anybody that you're actually
1:08:23turning it into. It just happened to be
1:08:25that that was going to offset her.
1:08:28>> Yes. Um today I just submitted um there
1:08:31was one still sitting in her box. Um but
1:08:34I gave that to somebody over in the
1:08:36finance department who would said who
1:08:37said they would give it to Mr. Alamido.
1:08:40>> Mhm. Mhm.
1:08:41>> Okay.
1:08:43Cuz we want to make sure that they're
1:08:45getting reported somehow. We just need
1:08:47to know where that that that breakage
1:08:50is.
1:08:52>> Deputy mayor, is this something that um
1:08:54the finance committee has began
1:08:55discussing or plans to discuss?
1:08:57>> I think it's something we're planning on
1:08:59discussing to kind of figure out how how
1:09:02especially how it's coming how the how
1:09:04the reports are coming in, how they're
1:09:05being dispersed and being recorded, and
1:09:07how we're billing for them, how they're
1:09:09being built. So, so the first time that
1:09:11I saw that reporting was after our first
1:09:14uh invoice that came through for the
1:09:16case overload invoice.
1:09:18>> After that, that's when that's when
1:09:20Monica uh gave us somewhat of a of
1:09:22another report.
1:09:24>> Um I don't remember what she had said
1:09:26for 2025 and and why the reasoning was
1:09:30that we didn't catch it. Right. We
1:09:32>> Yeah, it was it wasn't a very good
1:09:34explanation, but it would have been
1:09:35because it was
1:09:36>> there wasn't a good answer at that
1:09:38point. So
1:09:39>> yeah but that is something we are
1:09:41looking into. So that conversation is
1:09:43really important.
1:09:44>> I and I will say this because this was
1:09:47the recent and sinquist said this is
1:09:49what what's being discussed. So
1:09:53to try and limit the case loads and
1:09:55trying to limit the costs u Mr. Everett
1:09:58the prosecutor was amending suspended
1:10:00thirds which are criminal charges to
1:10:02infractions.
1:10:04That's probably still met with
1:10:05resistance. you're always going to have
1:10:07one the the police or other sides having
1:10:11disagreements over that, but it really
1:10:13was to save costs. I I think what ended
1:10:16up happening and what the court found
1:10:17out about is attorneys were still
1:10:19counting those as cases at the
1:10:22arraignment stage of things, which
1:10:23probably leads me to believe that also
1:10:26what's happening is attorneys are
1:10:28counting those cases at arraignment,
1:10:29then it's going to somebody else and
1:10:30that same case is counting as a case.
1:10:33maybe K to because I we wondered about
1:10:36that
1:10:36>> about the the arraignments if if that
1:10:39was a separate and I think when we
1:10:40talked to um
1:10:42>> those just recently we had a
1:10:43conversation about that um so yeah we
1:10:47don't need that to be happening
1:10:49>> a a case so
1:10:51a case is a case is a case a case is
1:10:54through completion you know of
1:10:56>> you get the case
1:10:58>> go all the way through
1:10:59>> it doesn't happen in stages so the
1:11:01arraignment is one case and then the
1:11:03same case but it's not at the
1:11:05arraignment stage.
1:11:07>> Um,
1:11:09>> also those things though are you know
1:11:11what is a case is a creature of a
1:11:13contract. So I suppose a city is always
1:11:15I don't I've never been privy to those
1:11:17defense contracts but a city is free to
1:11:19say well
1:11:20>> we're counting as a case
1:11:22>> case agreement and one cases this you I
1:11:25as a practice pointer a city needs to be
1:11:28very very careful and specific about
1:11:30those contracts as any contracts
1:11:32>> um you know you are dealing with
1:11:35attorneys on the other end of it that
1:11:38can be nitpicky about those um going
1:11:42back to case load counting and those
1:11:44things, you know, I I would always
1:11:46always think a city or a county would
1:11:48want kind of a database or an Excel
1:11:51spreadsheet every month about these are
1:11:53the case numbers, these are the cases,
1:11:55>> and then you can see like, wait, the
1:11:57same case is popping up on here and then
1:12:00you have that answer. I I think it's
1:12:01just a a matter of not enough oversight
1:12:05and not enough probably being required
1:12:06under those contracts as far
1:12:08>> Vasquez has a question and then I'll
1:12:10come to you.
1:12:10>> Yeah. And you know like you said you
1:12:12going back to the case loads you know
1:12:14the attorney case load you said that max
1:12:16right now would be 369 around max and is
1:12:20this monthly?
1:12:21>> Oh no per year per year.
1:12:22>> Per year. Okay. Per year. And then you
1:12:25also said that you get like monthly you
1:12:27you see the monthly reports right of
1:12:29cases that are being signed to these
1:12:30attorneys. Um more or less do you do you
1:12:33see that they are hitting their max? Is
1:12:36is it pretty close to max or more or
1:12:39less? Like if you had to give an
1:12:40estimate,
1:12:41>> that's the tricky part is the court's
1:12:43not allowed to be uh at in a position
1:12:45where they can say, "Okay, you're
1:12:48>> I I don't have the ability to come back
1:12:50and say, "Okay, you're this is what your
1:12:52numbers are." I believe each contract
1:12:54does indicate for each attorney that
1:12:56they are responsible for u maintaining
1:12:58their case load. So, if they're getting
1:12:59close to a case load, it is their
1:13:01responsibility to contact the city and
1:13:03let them know, hey, I'm getting close.
1:13:05Let's figure out uh what the plan of
1:13:08attack is going to be there.
1:13:09>> Okay. Yeah. And like you said, judge,
1:13:11you know, like maybe it's just a fact of
1:13:14like figuring out an operation or like a
1:13:16system, but we definitely need to like
1:13:19have something where we can see and see
1:13:21those numbers.
1:13:22>> No, I I agree with that. And then,
1:13:25[clears throat] you know, it those that
1:13:27are always safe contracts need to be
1:13:29re-examined. However, again, we're in an
1:13:32attorney shortage.
1:13:33>> Yeah. So the minute places start doing
1:13:36that, it's like I'm just going here.
1:13:38>> Um
1:13:40>> and and that's not going to go away,
1:13:41then you're left with no attorneys. Um,
1:13:44>> yeah,
1:13:45>> you know, contract, I guess contracts
1:13:46that
1:13:47>> why an attorney would want to contract
1:13:50for 300 and I'm sure that was the push
1:13:52because then it allows them a portion of
1:13:54time to do private stuff and it doesn't
1:13:56put them up against the cap of now 369
1:13:59cases a year because at that level, what
1:14:02the state says, which
1:14:03>> again, I guess makes no sense, is oh,
1:14:06you're you can't work anymore. You can't
1:14:09do anything. You can't do any private
1:14:11stuff outside of it. Um, however, if if
1:14:15the contracts, which it sounds like they
1:14:17kind of do cap, you know, say, okay, you
1:14:20do 300. However, if you do more than
1:14:22300, we're paying you 150% of the value
1:14:25of a case, then that's going to give
1:14:28incentive to kind of get to get to that
1:14:30level because you start getting the
1:14:32more.
1:14:33>> Um,
1:14:33>> so just to clarify because I I' I've
1:14:36read different different articles. Um,
1:14:39for 2025, the case load per attorney was
1:14:42400.
1:14:43>> 2025 it was still 400 because this new
1:14:46round of limits hadn't hit yet.
1:14:48>> So,
1:14:49>> for misdemeanor. Yeah. And that's what
1:14:51we handle here. So then in and and
1:14:54basing that off of your of your clip u
1:14:56up there for 2025,
1:14:59we show 1770
1:15:02cases with five attorneys that should
1:15:04have given us 2,000 cases. So there
1:15:07shouldn't be a reason for a case
1:15:08overload in 2025. So then they build us
1:15:12two different attorneys for case
1:15:13overload 2025.
1:15:15>> That's Yeah. I mean, we're not privy to
1:15:17>> Yeah. No, I I mean that's things
1:15:23there should be oversight especially
1:15:24when something begins and
1:15:26>> Mhm.
1:15:27>> Councelor Cecati has a comment. Just a
1:15:30comment uh for Jorge and I think that's
1:15:31where um like you mentioned there's uh
1:15:34the billing that gets submitted and it's
1:15:36I don't know if it's the finance
1:15:38department you know supervisor
1:15:39director's job to um cross reference the
1:15:43cases with um the billing because I
1:15:46think that would help out a lot on
1:15:48exactly why they're charging you know
1:15:51the overload when the numbers are not
1:15:55numbering the math is not mathing I
1:15:57guess
1:15:58>> but And that's one of the reasons that I
1:16:00pulled that item um from the consent
1:16:03agenda because I I wanted to know the
1:16:06numbers. I I you know, we're here to
1:16:08approve, you know, $20ome,000 and and
1:16:12not have any any sort of backup or any
1:16:14sort of numbers in front of me. I I just
1:16:17that's the reason I I I pul it. And you
1:16:20know what, we're two months after that.
1:16:23Um I know it's already been paid. I know
1:16:25that the city I wish that we we had a
1:16:28system to where you know we approve the
1:16:31consent agenda then the checks get sent
1:16:33out but unfortunately it it's not
1:16:35working out like that but um you know we
1:16:38do need a better system we we do need
1:16:41more accountability um and it shouldn't
1:16:44matter the the turnover if if there's
1:16:46some sort of you know set procedure to
1:16:49where the new person comes okay this is
1:16:52the procedure that we're that that's
1:16:53that's been happening this is the
1:16:55procedure that we're going to follow. It
1:16:57shouldn't matter who's in that position.
1:16:59>> So, what's the proposal? How could we
1:17:01work towards that
1:17:04>> in terms of implementation?
1:17:06>> Well, this is largely a finance
1:17:08department component and I guess at one
1:17:11time we did have some oversight on that
1:17:15and personnel changes uh that was
1:17:17eliminated or or diminished.
1:17:20Um,
1:17:22and as Troy has said, you know, uh,
1:17:26there's a tipping point where they could
1:17:28just say, "Well, I'm not going to work
1:17:31with you anymore, so I'm just going to
1:17:32go down the road." And now, now we're in
1:17:34trouble. So, it is a tight spot here
1:17:37between
1:17:40giving them what we think is right and
1:17:42them
1:17:44basically demanding what they're going
1:17:45to do it for. And so I I'm not sure that
1:17:49there's an easy way of solving that uh
1:17:51under the current labor [clears throat]
1:17:53or uh attorney shortage,
1:17:56which I've had other attorneys say that
1:17:58that is a with AI that might start
1:18:01changing here in the future.
1:18:04>> I guess AI will probably change all of
1:18:06our [laughter]
1:18:07>> Yeah,
1:18:08>> but in the short term, this is the life
1:18:12in the long term. So, I'm not dismissing
1:18:14the question, but when we do have a kind
1:18:16of a rebuilding of our finance
1:18:18department, which we're in the process
1:18:19of doing right now, that this will be an
1:18:21item that will be included in that so
1:18:23that we can have some better uh um
1:18:27double-checking accountability of court
1:18:29cases as they relate to actual fees that
1:18:32are being charged.
1:18:33>> And and I I think it's also a product of
1:18:35of telling people, telling attorneys,
1:18:38this is what's required of you. Usually,
1:18:40those are written out in a contract.
1:18:42this is what you shall submit and I
1:18:44don't know if it's in those or not but
1:18:46um
1:18:48the
1:18:50the double you know any double counting
1:18:53of cases like wait I counted this as
1:18:55arraignment because it's mine and this
1:18:56that shouldn't be happening at all um
1:18:59that's giving two cases for one case now
1:19:03most places will and I think we I think
1:19:06the contract does this anyways to be
1:19:07honest will um you know pay this is what
1:19:11you get for an arraignment day or an
1:19:13arraignment hearing. And so that's what
1:19:15the attorneys are doing. Now, I will say
1:19:18this that
1:19:21usually the attorneys come in twos
1:19:25and there doesn't need to be two
1:19:28attorneys. So, city's paying for two
1:19:30attorneys to sit there on each
1:19:31arraignment docket when all there needs
1:19:33to be is one. Um, I don't know how it
1:19:36got that way that it's just they work
1:19:39they the two sets attorney works in
1:19:41tandemss. So on Thursdays, every other
1:19:44Thursday you have Mr. Andrews and then
1:19:46on
1:19:47>> No, he's every Thursday. Mr. Andrews is
1:19:50every
1:19:50>> Oh, every Thursday as far as
1:19:52arraignments, as far as docket, it's
1:19:53every other Thursday. The um every
1:19:57Tuesday is either the McKinley's or Mr.
1:20:00Gesler and then his partner for the
1:20:03arraignment calendar. They usually come
1:20:04in twos and so I my guess is there's
1:20:08they're both filling out double time for
1:20:10those but I don't know what their
1:20:12contracts are either at the end.
1:20:14>> And the question is is it really
1:20:15necessary to have two there?
1:20:17>> No. So,
1:20:19>> I mean, no, I don't [clears throat]
1:20:21think so. But
1:20:23>> I pulled one uh also and it had uh
1:20:27I asked what was going on with it
1:20:29because it had everything exactly the
1:20:31same all the way across the line item
1:20:33and the only thing different was the
1:20:36husband and wife's middle initial.
1:20:39>> That was the same paid.
1:20:41>> All everything was the same amount for
1:20:43both.
1:20:45You know, you say they come in Tuesdays.
1:20:47That's Is that what we're doing? Is
1:20:48we're paying two attorneys the same
1:20:50amount for the same cases, the same
1:20:53>> I hope not. [laughter]
1:20:54>> Contractor.
1:20:55>> Well, it sure looked like it to me.
1:20:57That's why I pulled it.
1:20:58>> Contracts are written individually. So,
1:21:00um
1:21:01>> that's what I keep hearing.
1:21:03>> Right. So, the fee is
1:21:04>> to the penny.
1:21:05>> The fee is the same. Should be the same.
1:21:07It's a retainer that's averaging 25
1:21:10cases per year at $300 or 377 now. And
1:21:15the 25,000 we spent for 2025. Where did
1:21:18that come from, too? I mean, that was
1:21:21that was incredible to see that come
1:21:22across the table.
1:21:24>> I mean, it's like
1:21:25>> it sounds like how it's build. It's
1:21:27built a little bit different. So, it
1:21:28sounds like the city pays not in per
1:21:31case where you submit your cases for a
1:21:33particular month, but it's build at the
1:21:35300 for the entire year in the
1:21:38installment. So, I guess if you
1:21:40>> 300 * 377 divided by 12, that's the
1:21:43retainer every month. Now, if it's the
1:21:45same amount, it tells you that they're
1:21:47both charging out the arraignment. I
1:21:48mean, they're both
1:21:50>> that he's paying for two attorneys.
1:21:51>> And so, the idea is that there's some of
1:21:55this action going on with the amount of
1:21:57cases per month. It's not an exact 25,
1:22:00but that's what the average is of 300 /
1:22:0412 is 25. So, some months they might
1:22:06have more, some might say might have
1:22:08less. And so, then there's a true up at
1:22:10the end of the year when they've
1:22:12exceeded that number.
1:22:14And that's multiplied by the case rate.
1:22:17>> I mean, I'm I'm and I'm I guess I'm
1:22:21because I have been getting into
1:22:22[laughter] negotiations. I'm trying not
1:22:24to, but that's probably not the best
1:22:27system because then if you're under at
1:22:29the end of the year, you just got, you
1:22:31know,
1:22:31>> well, there's 300.
1:22:33>> There is a a qualifier in there that if
1:22:35we checked it and they and then and they
1:22:38actually did less, then they owe us
1:22:40back. But then that requires the
1:22:43checking.
1:22:44>> Yeah,
1:22:45>> that's one of the reasons,
1:22:47>> you know, and and more recently we, you
1:22:50know, this council voted to to increase
1:22:53their pay and I I that's the reason I
1:22:56voted no because I didn't have a full
1:22:57contract in front of me. And Mr. Haley,
1:23:00I haven't received the a full contract
1:23:02from, you know, from from your office um
1:23:04for city the defense attorneys. Um, I
1:23:08really think that, you know, going
1:23:10forward, council really looks at what
1:23:13you guys, you know, we're voting, um,
1:23:15and not just vote just because they're
1:23:18saying, you know, we need an increase
1:23:19and there's a a limit of attorneys,
1:23:22right? Because then just everybody's
1:23:24going to come to the city with with the
1:23:26handout and I want more.
1:23:28>> Well, what what they were addressing was
1:23:30parody among the attorneys. So, one
1:23:33attorney was being paid higher than the
1:23:35other four. And so, they were saying,
1:23:37"Hey, what gives here?" You know, why is
1:23:39that attorney making more? And so, if we
1:23:44uh the attorney that brought the issue
1:23:46up was saying, "Listen, if you don't
1:23:47give me parody, then I'm just going to
1:23:49go down the road and do business with
1:23:51another county." Well, that would have
1:23:53been, you know, catastrophic for our
1:23:56case load. So, we were really kind of
1:23:58stuck at that point to give them parody.
1:24:00So reviewing the contract wouldn't have
1:24:02really done anything because there's
1:24:05nothing in the contract that addresses
1:24:08that we could change. It was just saying
1:24:10the rate was not the same as the others
1:24:13and we think we should have the same
1:24:14rate. So that's what we did with the
1:24:17with the pro uh the provision that at
1:24:20the end of this year we're going to
1:24:21relook at all those and make some
1:24:24corrections and some clarity
1:24:27specifically uh defining what a case
1:24:29load is versus a arraignment
1:24:32and make sure that we have some real
1:24:35specific points in there that can guide
1:24:37us through this process beyond this
1:24:39year. But that's that's how we got to
1:24:41that decision. It wasn't necessarily a
1:24:43fun decision, but we didn't have a lot
1:24:45of other choices. We didn't
1:24:48>> I will say that what happened there and
1:24:52and it was I know that Bernie you're
1:24:55talking about um but it was the then
1:24:57city manager just kind of was asked and
1:25:00said, "Okay, here's your here's your
1:25:03contract. Here's your race."
1:25:05>> Um
1:25:07so not many people were involved in my
1:25:10face process. The good kind of the good
1:25:13news is for us though is those contracts
1:25:15with five of them,
1:25:17>> four of them,
1:25:18>> four of them are up for renewal this
1:25:20year. So maybe we can have a better go
1:25:23through the process to do a better job
1:25:25of seeing just how many cases, you know,
1:25:29what the bottom line is, you know, of
1:25:31course the the amount and all that, but
1:25:33we're really interested in keeping track
1:25:35of them not going [snorts] over their
1:25:37case loads if possible because then we
1:25:39don't have to pay them. We we don't get
1:25:42any information to go over anything.
1:25:45>> We're just handed a we're handed the
1:25:47bill and say, "Okay, everybody vote for
1:25:49this."
1:25:50>> And then you started out your
1:25:52presentation with be real careful about
1:25:54asking questions because that could be
1:25:57real dangerous.
1:25:59>> Well, not questions. I Let me I guess
1:26:01let me give you some context. So, in
1:26:04Yaka, I run a law firm and I tried to
1:26:06hire I can't hire anybody. Nobody can
1:26:08hire anybody. um I couldn't hire people
1:26:10for 130,000 plus benefit plus um a
1:26:15bonus. So 140,000. Mr. Everett tried to
1:26:18get somebody out of law school and even
1:26:20from law school. Mr. Everett recently
1:26:22tried to get somebody out of law school.
1:26:23They wanted 130,000 plus a bonus plus
1:26:25full benefits and so he couldn't hire
1:26:28anybody to help him out either. So
1:26:30that's kind of the backdrop of why I say
1:26:33that. I think it's good to ask
1:26:35questions. I just and
1:26:38you I guess you can only cater so much I
1:26:40suppose. Um
1:26:43but just be prepared and it's like he
1:26:46just said the immediate answer was I'm
1:26:49just going to go somewhere else. They
1:26:50have people have those options right
1:26:52now. These attorneys have these options.
1:26:54>> So you you but you have to you know you
1:26:57have to monitor these things and they
1:27:00have to be required and they should be
1:27:01required under their contract to provide
1:27:03monthly reports. I can tell you the
1:27:05things to look for. It's the arraignment
1:27:08doubling those. It's also always
1:27:11inevitably doubling up of cases once
1:27:14there's a warrant and somebody appears
1:27:15again. Is this now counting again? Is
1:27:18that person being rearrained? Are they
1:27:20counting it as a case again because
1:27:21they're at the arraignment for this
1:27:22person that they So, you can see how
1:27:24those numbers can start drastically
1:27:26going down. But it all starts with
1:27:28information and requiring information.
1:27:30And no matter uh which public defense
1:27:34attorney goes where, every jurisdiction
1:27:36is going to require that stuff. So
1:27:38they're not going to get out of that. Um
1:27:40so I don't think
1:27:41>> Mr. or sorry, councelor Galvan and who's
1:27:43who's in the finance? It's councelor
1:27:46Sati yourself.
1:27:48>> Yeah.
1:27:48>> Is this something that you can arrange
1:27:51to Leo
1:27:55or is it Monica? So just to do some
1:27:58cross referencing
1:28:00>> I think with with Leo taking a little
1:28:01bit more charge it might be might fall
1:28:03under Leo.
1:28:05>> Yeah
1:28:06>> cuz he's he's also talked about talked
1:28:09about that too at our one of the
1:28:12meetings we were talking about the
1:28:13defense attorneys and so forth because
1:28:15we did ask about the different
1:28:16arignments and how that breaks down. It
1:28:19was like, "What? That's just one case?
1:28:21That's one person. Why are you charging
1:28:24me for a brand new case? Every time he
1:28:26shows up in court, I have to pretend
1:28:28that's a new person."
1:28:31>> You know, that's what it was feeling
1:28:33like.
1:28:34>> The whole counting of cases. Usually,
1:28:36>> um, a couple things happen with
1:28:38arraignments to get around those those
1:28:40case loads and even counting as a case.
1:28:42either a paying somebody hourly to do
1:28:46the arrangements, having a dedicated
1:28:47arraignment person,
1:28:49>> paying for each arraignment, which the
1:28:50city is, but then they're also somehow
1:28:52it's turning around in cases and that,
1:28:56you know, that per docket amount. Um,
1:29:01[clears throat] you know, there's very
1:29:02rare occasions when something at
1:29:04arraignment can count as a case and
1:29:06there's just one occasion when it
1:29:07resolves.
1:29:08>> Somebody ever pled. Typically, we're not
1:29:10pleading people at arraignment and I've
1:29:12had it zero times here, but um that's
1:29:15really the only time because you just
1:29:16completed the case from beginning to end
1:29:18>> and so that's the one occasion where the
1:29:20state would say, "Oh, that's a case."
1:29:22>> Well, I think that's something to your
1:29:24to your question, Mayor. I think that is
1:29:26something that the finance committee is
1:29:28really wants to dig into
1:29:31as we're coming into these new new
1:29:33contract language just to kind of verify
1:29:36what it is we want to look for.
1:29:38who might call on you for extra help on
1:29:40that.
1:29:40>> No, that
1:29:41>> and Vanessa,
1:29:42>> that's fine. Like I said, I I try to
1:29:43give
1:29:44>> much as I can general information.
1:29:46>> Sure, General's good.
1:29:48>> Go too far contract. Yeah.
1:29:49>> Um because we are trying to deal with
1:29:50these court rules that
1:29:53>> all um
1:29:55>> but yeah, if anybody has questions, just
1:29:58call me, email me.
1:29:59>> Yeah, thank you.
1:30:01>> And I think I'll go maybe more
1:30:03constructive.
1:30:04>> No, I just had a question. Did we finish
1:30:06the presentation? I think we're
1:30:07>> you know what we got off topic and never
1:30:09should have waited on that that
1:30:11>> defense thing. Um I wanted to I guess I
1:30:13wanted to go into one more thing because
1:30:14at least it's what I heard and and
1:30:16>> be upfront with all this stuff. I think
1:30:18>> somebody had said well fine you know
1:30:20just close the court. You can't do that.
1:30:23City a city needs a court. And so
1:30:25there's two options for a city really.
1:30:27Uh number one is have their own court or
1:30:30number two have the county. And it's not
1:30:32that the county just takes it over free
1:30:34of charge. They bill what they want to.
1:30:36Um, one of the big buring costs over the
1:30:39last couple years is the probation
1:30:41department. So, if you look at that,
1:30:43probation services skyrocketed. What was
1:30:45it five, six times as high one here?
1:30:48That's because everybody, a lot of
1:30:51places contract with Yakma County
1:30:53probation and they decided we're not
1:30:55getting enough. We want five or six
1:30:57times as much. And you see that on
1:31:00probation services. I guarantee if
1:31:02Sunnyside didn't have a jail and just
1:31:04contracted with the county, you would
1:31:05see that at the the county jail at some
1:31:07point would be we want like triple the
1:31:09money now because they got you.
1:31:11>> Um courts court's no different. So, you
1:31:15know, you have to have a municipal
1:31:16court. Um Topanish used to have their
1:31:18own municipal court. Then Sunnyside took
1:31:20it over. Now, I will say that they got
1:31:23in trouble because they didn't do it the
1:31:24right way because it takes months and
1:31:25months and months to get all that
1:31:27process going. There's statutes that
1:31:29apply to it. You can't just say we're
1:31:31done they're handling which is what they
1:31:32did. Um, I've talked to the county, by
1:31:37the way, because I always do my homework
1:31:39and so I I I talked to the county about,
1:31:42well, what if you guys took it over? All
1:31:45they would ultimately provide as a
1:31:46judge, but at our case load right now
1:31:50and what I'm dealing with and what I'm
1:31:52trying to manage and doing well, I think
1:31:56is um they would want one full-time
1:31:58judge, if not a judge and a
1:31:59commissioner, if not two judges. And
1:32:01they wouldn't provide a courtroom. they
1:32:03would still use this courtroom. They
1:32:05would still use everything else. All
1:32:06you'd be doing is tripling up the judge
1:32:08costs at the end of the day. So, that's
1:32:12not really an option, but I just brought
1:32:13it up as somebody said sometimes people
1:32:16think, "Oh, we'll save whatever our
1:32:19budget is. We'll just get rid of a
1:32:21court." Yeah, can't do that.
1:32:24>> Can't do that.
1:32:26>> Um, does anybody else have any
1:32:29questions? I got way I knew as soon as I
1:32:32started talking and as I as soon as I
1:32:34start got
1:32:34>> Well, is that that that particular
1:32:36PowerPoint is available if we want to
1:32:38just take a look at and maybe
1:32:40>> it's in our packet and [clears throat]
1:32:41we can just give you some calls if we
1:32:42go.
1:32:43>> Yeah, sure. A better question is I it
1:32:45it's probably more beneficial if
1:32:48somebody one-on-one talks to me about
1:32:50these things and
1:32:51>> very
1:32:53direct and
1:32:54>> I had a question on the on the graph
1:32:55funding. Um, does that include both the
1:32:59cities top and and sunny sign? And is it
1:33:01a yearly application that the the courts
1:33:04have to fill out or submit?
1:33:06>> Yes, it's a a yearly and I think you
1:33:08have to do one every quarter as well
1:33:10>> for the OPD midterm. Yes.
1:33:12>> Um, we have to reapply every
1:33:17>> Well, it reups every year, but you also
1:33:19have to do a midterm
1:33:21question
1:33:23report. I'm sorry. mid yeah midyear one
1:33:26um it's always the same um I think it's
1:33:30capped out why you keep saying 66,000
1:33:32it's capped out at 66,000
1:33:34[clears throat] um there's not a lot of
1:33:36funding with OPD and you brought it up
1:33:39earlier that you know they pass these
1:33:40case loads and and this huge public
1:33:42defense costs but there's no funding for
1:33:44it
1:33:45>> yes the state has not increased OPD's
1:33:48grant money um there was a bill to
1:33:52require the state there was
1:33:54a lawsuit. There was a case uh where
1:33:56they were trying to get the state to say
1:33:58that the state had to help out with
1:33:59defense costs. That was that was struck
1:34:02down.
1:34:04>> Um there was a bill in the legislature
1:34:06to kind of fund this what the state
1:34:09supreme court wanted and the state of
1:34:10Washington punted and said no, we're not
1:34:14[laughter] gonna
1:34:15>> So, it's a fight between the the state
1:34:16supreme court and the legislature, state
1:34:19of Washington.
1:34:20>> No, I get it. It's frustrating. you guys
1:34:22are trying to do the best that you can
1:34:24for for a city and you know
1:34:27>> there's only so much you can do.
1:34:29>> Oh, I to be honest I've never liked it
1:34:32because I've
1:34:33>> I've [clears throat] been doing it a
1:34:35long time and to me any kind of case
1:34:37loads is telling me that you know what
1:34:39we have to have case loads on you and
1:34:41caps on you because you're just not as
1:34:42smart as private attorneys who can do 10
1:34:46times that amount. You just really need
1:34:48some caps on you. And that's why one of
1:34:50the big reasons I never liked it. M
1:34:52[clears throat]
1:34:52>> Mr. Gavan, it's every two years for that
1:34:55grant application.
1:34:56>> You have to resubmit every two years,
1:34:58but do like a yearly report. You said
1:35:01like a
1:35:01>> I believe it's um I midterm
1:35:04>> I believe might so once a year.
1:35:06>> Once a year report?
1:35:07>> No, twice a year.
1:35:10>> Yeah, I thought it was every six months.
1:35:11>> Okay.
1:35:12>> It's a shorter report, but there's
1:35:14[clears throat]
1:35:15>> Yeah.
1:35:15>> Okay.
1:35:16you know, so with the grant money, I do
1:35:18see that it helps also like improve
1:35:20quality of like interpreting services
1:35:21for the defenders or clients. So, I'm
1:35:24assuming like a lot like a portion a
1:35:25good chunk of this money goes directly
1:35:27to them. Um, has that been working out
1:35:29smoothly from what you've seen?
1:35:31>> Well, they have separate grants for
1:35:33language assistance. I mean, we
1:35:35>> This one's all in one. It's
1:35:36>> Oh, did you include it in there?
1:35:38>> Yeah, that's what our grant falls under
1:35:39public quality of public defense
1:35:41services as well as interpreting
1:35:42services. So that's more than OPD's
1:35:45>> public defense grant. It's also
1:35:46including that language services.
1:35:47>> And I guess my question is more like
1:35:48interpreting services. I I'm I'm
1:35:50assuming it they're required or
1:35:53requested very often here. And has that
1:35:55been working out pretty smooth?
1:35:57>> I think so. I mean it's [laughter]
1:36:01>> I just received the invoice and send it
1:36:02to accounts payable. So
1:36:03>> Okay. Okay. I mean, it's it can run from
1:36:06I've seen reports where it's like four
1:36:08people have been requested for um
1:36:10interpreting services up to at least 12
1:36:12people. So, it just kind of varies
1:36:14monthtomonth.
1:36:15>> Okay.
1:36:16>> But they're supposed to do it
1:36:17independently and coordinate that with
1:36:18the interpreting services um company.
1:36:21>> What what she's talking about is so we
1:36:22have the court interpreter and we pay
1:36:24for those services, but apart from that
1:36:26then you have defense attorneys um
1:36:28billing for those services as well
1:36:30outside. And so it should go
1:36:33>> we've seen those go into
1:36:35>> we've seen those budget
1:36:37>> okay on our register
1:36:39>> some of this I will say that I I was
1:36:41looking at the budget numbers earlier
1:36:44and at at times I guess I couldn't make
1:36:48headtotails and we were told that oops
1:36:50this was going in the wrong place now we
1:36:52corrected it and it's here and that's
1:36:53where a lot of the chaos was lying and
1:36:55so it's hard to look at this and
1:36:59I might get an accurate accounting I
1:37:02Okay.
1:37:04>> Well, thank you and sorry that we didn't
1:37:06allow you to finish your presentation.
1:37:09>> Oh, it should be Miss Inquist put it
1:37:10together. So,
1:37:11>> yeah.
1:37:12>> So, it seems like finance committee will
1:37:14be coming together
1:37:17>> and trying to troubleshoot this. If any
1:37:19of us have any questions, you prefer a
1:37:21one-on-one discussion. So, any one of us
1:37:23can reach out to you.
1:37:25>> Yes. Ask me questions. camp
1:37:27>> either um me or Miss Anquist. If if it's
1:37:31questions about the board, if it's
1:37:32questions about me or what I do, if it's
1:37:34questions about public defense,
1:37:37>> we'll follow up on that.
1:37:38>> Make this as smooth as possible. And
1:37:39anybody that knows me knows that I want
1:37:41things to get done and I'm efficient as
1:37:43humanly possible.
1:37:45>> What's the average cost of that?
1:37:47>> Of who?
1:37:48>> Of meeting with you.
1:37:50[laughter]
1:37:51>> I know you have billable hours to turn
1:37:53in, right?
1:37:54>> With my contract. I don't have I don't
1:37:55double up. [laughter]
1:37:57>> There you go. That's That's the right
1:37:58>> good answer.
1:37:59>> That's the right answer.
1:38:01>> I like that answer. [laughter]
1:38:03>> All right.
1:38:03>> Thanks, Troy.
1:38:04>> Nice meeting.
1:38:05>> Thank you so much.
1:38:06>> Thank you, Judge and Vanessa. Thank you.
1:38:11>> It's next.
1:38:13>> Okay, moving forward. Um so, um MRJN is
1:38:18not gonna happen today. Think Mr. Dr.
1:38:21Hilly, you said you um you're putting it
1:38:23on the next workshop,
1:38:25>> correct? Uh I think it's June 3rd or
1:38:28something uh is the next workshop.
1:38:30>> Third is a Wednesday. So maybe the first
1:38:32>> in June. The first workshop in June.
1:38:35>> First work the June 3rd is a Wednesday.
1:38:38>> So um
1:38:39>> I'm assuming it be Monday.
1:38:42>> Yes. June 1st.
1:38:43>> Whatever the first Monday is.
1:38:45>> Okay. So, uh, since that won't be
1:38:48happening, we'll go down to what is e
1:38:51consideration
1:38:53of policy revisions to residency
1:38:55requirements.
1:38:56>> And there Mr. Haley,
1:38:59>> I had a larger discussion with the mayor
1:39:01on this and and so in addressing one
1:39:04item that was brought up at a last
1:39:06council meeting regarding residency as
1:39:08it relates to committees, the uh city
1:39:11attorney uh mentioned that there's some
1:39:14ambiguity in that as to define what
1:39:16committees might
1:39:19uh have some boundaries as it relates to
1:39:22residency.
1:39:24So uh I've submitted here some issues
1:39:27that have come up with other cities as
1:39:29they've tried to define what residency
1:39:32means and [clears throat] there's a I
1:39:35suppose a strict interpretation or
1:39:37there's a a broader interpretation. So
1:39:41the second half is saying
1:39:44uh some items that we might consider as
1:39:48it relates to creating a policy as it
1:39:50relates to what residency means and how
1:39:52that's defined. But in further talking
1:39:55with the mayor, there are other items
1:39:56under committee assignments as it
1:39:59relates to uh who how is voting members
1:40:02of council uh who sits as chairs and so
1:40:06forth. and it might require a larger
1:40:09revision. So, it was proposed that maybe
1:40:12a subcommittee of the council could be
1:40:14created to review several of these so
1:40:17that we're bundling them all together
1:40:18and having them all reviewed and having
1:40:21a little bit more continuity among all
1:40:24of the committee assignments and
1:40:25responsibilities.
1:40:27Uh, so that's that's where we could
1:40:29leave it here or we could go into some
1:40:31detail that I presented, whatever you
1:40:33prefer.
1:40:34>> Um, well, I'd like to know what you
1:40:36gathered. Um but um this came off the
1:40:39heels of a conversation I was actually
1:40:40having with councelor Vasquez I think
1:40:42last week. Um I was doing a uh out of a
1:40:46conversation from the rules committee.
1:40:48We were doing a quick audit of um some
1:40:51of the boards and commissions
1:40:54uh and I wrote down some of the existing
1:40:58vacancies
1:41:00on some of these boards and that's not
1:41:02reflected on our website. So, um I got a
1:41:05call from someone wanting to submit an
1:41:07application to the parks and wrecks, but
1:41:10only saw like a youth vacancy. Um but
1:41:13after talking to the chair, um Amy
1:41:17Rubio, um she mentioned there's three
1:41:19vacancies including the youth. So,
1:41:21there's one staff, one school district
1:41:24staff vacancy available, one general
1:41:27vacancy available, and a youth uh
1:41:29vacancy available. And then there's like
1:41:31two on planning. I emailed Mr. Haley, I
1:41:34think I copied you, councelor Vasquez,
1:41:36on that since I had the discussion with
1:41:37you. And um and then per my discussion
1:41:41with councelor Vasquez, all members of
1:41:44the economic development commission are
1:41:46coming up for renewal in June.
1:41:50Yes. So, um I in the email I told Mr.
1:41:54Healey if we can try to work on updating
1:41:57these vacancies to reflect
1:42:00um accuracy
1:42:02um especially given that one com
1:42:05commission is about to have all members
1:42:08expired.
1:42:10Um and then in having these
1:42:13conversations
1:42:14um there's been some confusion with some
1:42:17of the chairs of these um like the um
1:42:22for example Amy Rubio um mentioned that
1:42:26um I I believe it was you Hector that
1:42:30maybe showed up and then councelor um
1:42:32Chavez showed up and there was some
1:42:34conversation about who chairs that
1:42:36committee or that board and Um, in ELTC,
1:42:41for example, there's a chair, right? Um,
1:42:44in the climate resiliency board, there's
1:42:46you're you're considered a member as
1:42:48well because I think there was there was
1:42:50trouble trying to um fill in that board
1:42:54at the time. So, they considered her
1:42:56position a member
1:42:58>> with voting rights, right?
1:42:59>> With voting rights. Um, B parks and Rex.
1:43:02Um, uh, councelor Chavez, you're just a
1:43:04liaison with no chair permission or
1:43:07authority or voting authority. Um,
1:43:10weird.
1:43:11>> So, it's very, it's not cohesive at all.
1:43:15Um, the language around um, the SMC
1:43:18language on the existing boards and
1:43:20commissions is kind of all over the
1:43:21place and it really has given way to a
1:43:23lot of confusion. Um, you um, you you
1:43:27said on the economic development, are
1:43:30you a member? So I'm also like liaison.
1:43:33So I have no voting rights. However,
1:43:34recently I'm I'm like new the new chair
1:43:37right now only up until June until we
1:43:40get new members to apply and then we get
1:43:42to vote on who's going to be chair. But
1:43:44the only issue with that is that I have
1:43:46been able to witness that a lot of these
1:43:49new chair positions, they actually come
1:43:51in fairly new without any knowledge on
1:43:54how to run a meeting. and they do feel
1:43:56very um like it's a a big task and they
1:44:00have no tools like the city gives them
1:44:02no tools. they're kind of just given a
1:44:04title, but they're not really given the
1:44:05education or the steps on like what I
1:44:08need to do to do this correct or how do
1:44:10I do roll call, how do I and I, you
1:44:13know, Julia Hart's also been leazison on
1:44:15that committee and I know that she's
1:44:16seen um that it's been a little bit
1:44:18challenging and I was also speaking to
1:44:21mayor and I was telling her that I do
1:44:23believe that moving forward even like
1:44:25with getting new chairs in all of these
1:44:27committees, it would be very nice if we
1:44:28can get any resource like free resources
1:44:31from like MRSC see um anything from AWC
1:44:34any free resource that's that's we at
1:44:37our hands to kind of create like a
1:44:39workshop for the new chairs new members
1:44:43to do kind of like a welcome session
1:44:45because even coming into these boards
1:44:47myself and I I know mayor you know we we
1:44:51started coming into these positions and
1:44:53we we didn't really know how to start
1:44:55and we we felt like we were left out in
1:44:57the dark and we had to learn everything
1:44:59ourselves so even having that experience
1:45:01for ourselves I really wouldn't want new
1:45:03members, especially volunteers who are
1:45:05donating their time to have to navigate
1:45:08so much just to volunteer and just to do
1:45:11work. But I think that we should be
1:45:13putting um something together so that
1:45:16all of this can work more smooth.
1:45:19>> Yeah, the language Yeah, the language on
1:45:21these SMC's are is all over the place.
1:45:23So for example like adding residency to
1:45:26this like there's an there's a
1:45:27definition around res residency and then
1:45:29it still leaves off well at the
1:45:31discretion of the council and then for
1:45:33example the point of conversation last
1:45:36time was the climate advisory board and
1:45:38it lists like a few components of who
1:45:41should be filling in this board. Um and
1:45:45it doesn't list residency requirements.
1:45:48So on top of having conversations around
1:45:52um making these SMC's a lot more
1:45:57unilateral for example, a lot more
1:45:59cohesive like you know the residency
1:46:01could also be a point of conversation on
1:46:03this because all of these are all over
1:46:07the place and um the conversation ended
1:46:11with could we establish a subcommittee
1:46:15to start looking over the language and
1:46:18get it to a place that reflects where
1:46:20the council wants to take this moving
1:46:22forward. Um, since I believe it's going
1:46:25to take some some time to delve into
1:46:29into this and then bring it back to
1:46:30council and redline and add and take
1:46:33away so
1:46:36>> is it a subcommittee? Is that like a
1:46:38submotion?
1:46:43[laughter]
1:46:43>> It's not.
1:46:43>> Just just curious about that. Now you
1:46:46say you say Do you have your fun meter
1:46:48on tonight?
1:46:49>> No, because I'm not having fun yet.
1:46:51[laughter]
1:46:51>> Sorry. I I Councelor Galvan had his hand
1:46:54up. Are you
1:46:54>> Yeah. So, I'm still talking. Sorry. I
1:46:58just That was just one question. I'll be
1:46:59done in just a minute and I will
1:47:02>> I will uh
1:47:04you you just said that these this is all
1:47:07over the place and I've read it over and
1:47:08over again. I don't see where you're
1:47:10talking about it.
1:47:13I don't see where it's all over the
1:47:15place. It says very clearly unless
1:47:17otherwise provided no advisory board or
1:47:19commission may contain a majority of
1:47:21non-resident members.
1:47:24>> The ones that came up at that for it's
1:47:27that's what it says and we are breaking
1:47:30we're not even following our own rules.
1:47:32I don't see where that's out of out of
1:47:34place or all over the place. So I I uh
1:47:40I don't And then you mentioned something
1:47:42else about the city is
1:47:45makes a decision. Where does it say any
1:47:48of that? I don't see in that
1:47:51>> again probably why we need to do a
1:47:55>> I'll go to councelor Galvan. He had his
1:47:57hand. [clears throat]
1:47:58>> Is there a reason that the rules
1:47:59committee isn't isn't handling this?
1:48:02>> It could be the rules committee. I I
1:48:03wanted to open it up to see what y'all
1:48:07wanted to do with this. Um councelor
1:48:09Vasquez did mention a subcommittee. So
1:48:12that's if that was an idea, we thought
1:48:14I'd bring it back and figure out what it
1:48:16is the collective wanted to do.
1:48:18>> And another thing on the on the chairs,
1:48:20I know that Eltech is the only legal
1:48:22requirement to have a council serve as a
1:48:24chair, but I I really do believe that
1:48:26maybe um having the council member in
1:48:30that committee or board serve as as a
1:48:32chair. um you know there is resources uh
1:48:36councelor Vasquez there's AWC MRSC and
1:48:40it's just as much information as you as
1:48:41as you as a counselor want to want to
1:48:44take want to intake um you know there's
1:48:46there's free courses on there uh anybody
1:48:49can take not just not just a council
1:48:51member anybody you know the public can
1:48:53take um so that would be my suggestion
1:48:57is if possible maybe the counselor serve
1:48:59as as a chair just
1:49:02to maybe
1:49:04learn how to handle a meeting.
1:49:06Eventually, you know, one of you is
1:49:09going to be a chair um a mayor up here
1:49:11one of these days and and I think that
1:49:14experience uh really does help um when
1:49:16you're, you know, put to the task.
1:49:19>> There was a couple pen.
1:49:21>> Yes. So, you know, mayor um mayor, you
1:49:24know, um councelor Galvven. Um so, yeah.
1:49:27So, I actually volunteered myself to
1:49:29become chair for that committee. I
1:49:30volunteered myself because everyone kind
1:49:32of um just were they were looking at
1:49:35each other right like wait who's going
1:49:36to be chair so I just volunteered myself
1:49:38and I definitely personally I enjoyed
1:49:40running the meeting um you do get
1:49:41experience and it's pretty nice however
1:49:44I was just kind of like talking more on
1:49:46the basis of moving forward right moving
1:49:48forward with all these committees there
1:49:49are people who you know who get to be
1:49:52the chair of these committees and have
1:49:54no experience on of being on council
1:49:56have no experience with any OPMA or
1:49:59anything Robert's rules of Orders, no
1:50:01experience whatsoever, and there's no
1:50:03like no resources. And I have and I have
1:50:05received feedback from many of these
1:50:07volunteers that they would have
1:50:09appreciated, you know, maybe a packet,
1:50:11maybe um some direction, some guidance,
1:50:13and not just leave it heavily on a
1:50:16council member to always have to like do
1:50:20or or step up. And that's what I did.
1:50:23And I I I'm enjoying it right now. But
1:50:26[clears throat] but I just mean and you
1:50:27know and maybe that's another
1:50:28conversation. What if a council me
1:50:31member should chair maybe in the
1:50:33beginning to help the to help the
1:50:34upcoming chair, right? Kind of like give
1:50:37some direction. Maybe that would be nice
1:50:39as well. But I did talk about creating a
1:50:41subcommittee just because you know to
1:50:43give to share a little bit more insight.
1:50:45We were also talking about how these
1:50:48positions that are actually going to be
1:50:51expiring the 1 of June um they actually
1:50:54served for four years and four years is
1:50:57a big commitment. you know, we we we are
1:51:01up here for four years and you know, you
1:51:03guys are barely half not even halfway in
1:51:05one year. And sometimes when you
1:51:07volunteer to do something or you're
1:51:09ready to do something, you don't really
1:51:12take for account like the
1:51:13responsibility, the time and some of
1:51:16these positions are there permanently
1:51:18for four years. And what if and then you
1:51:20know throughout year two comes, year
1:51:23three comes and then some of these
1:51:24members stop showing up. some of these
1:51:26members of a family emergency occurred
1:51:28and they're not able to donate or
1:51:30volunteer their time and there's just so
1:51:33many things that have affected these
1:51:36committees that has not been able to
1:51:39that has hasn't been of help for the
1:51:42community for the city and I do think
1:51:44that maybe even going back and like
1:51:46streamlining maybe even the time the
1:51:48time the year the year amounts of like
1:51:52how long these people would be sitting
1:51:53on there and I was kind Even giving an
1:51:56an example of four years is a lot would
1:51:58be divided in half you know two years
1:52:00and if they want to continue to serve
1:52:02then they just reapply. And we were also
1:52:04discussing the topic of many of these
1:52:07people on these boards have been on
1:52:08these boards for many years and even
1:52:11like maybe kind of giving preference to
1:52:13people who want to come on in because I
1:52:16have also seen some members who have
1:52:18been wanting to become members of
1:52:21certain groups but the same people
1:52:24reapply and then it's kind of like um
1:52:27the the ones who reapply get kind of
1:52:29like dibs sometimes and not letting new
1:52:31people come on in which
1:52:33>> sometimes having fresh faces is
1:52:34>> which is very important to bring in new
1:52:37people so we get new ideas and maybe a
1:52:39new direction. So there's just like a
1:52:42lot that has been just ignored and a lot
1:52:46that's just been the same and and it's
1:52:49been staying the same and I think that
1:52:52maybe creating a subcommittee which I
1:52:54definitely am very interested of being a
1:52:56part of um these conversations um is
1:52:59very very needed.
1:53:01[clears throat]
1:53:03Oh, and then um
1:53:04>> and that this was just to share some
1:53:05insight of our conversation.
1:53:07>> Thank you. And then um just uh something
1:53:09you missed the um and then I'm going to
1:53:11come to you. I know you had
1:53:13there was no there's no language or at
1:53:15least I didn't see any language in there
1:53:18about how many if there's a limit to how
1:53:21many committees or boards people can
1:53:23participate in. So I I didn't see along
1:53:29with term limits um also committee or
1:53:32commission limits. [snorts]
1:53:35>> Go ahead. I think a good idea would also
1:53:38be it's our council maybe jot down what
1:53:42we want to see everybody because we all
1:53:44have different views, different
1:53:45perspectives of things and um you'd be
1:53:48surprised at how much we can come
1:53:50together and see that we have a lot of
1:53:52our own same things of hey maybe a new
1:53:55face uh maybe somebody that's has uh
1:54:00business here in Sunnyside just
1:54:02different things. I think that would be
1:54:03a good idea if we all jot jot it down,
1:54:06maybe put it out on our and table it at
1:54:09some time.
1:54:13>> Council Lean, you had your hand up.
1:54:16>> Um, yeah, but I forgot I lost my
1:54:20>> You had your hand up?
1:54:21>> I I do.
1:54:21>> Okay. Somebody had that.
1:54:23>> I don't know how. [laughter] Just just
1:54:25jump in there. Um, one of the things I'm
1:54:28thinking about too and and the
1:54:30subcommittee would be a good place to
1:54:31start. I think it really needs to start
1:54:32at rules and then I think a larger
1:54:35conversation [snorts] before we go to
1:54:37rules, before we start a subcommittee,
1:54:40before we do that, I think we need to
1:54:42sit down and have the strategic meeting
1:54:44and have it at there and say what do we
1:54:47want our boards and commissions to look
1:54:49like? Do we want if you have more than
1:54:51one person, you know, I have I have me
1:54:54on this committee and I have me on this
1:54:55committee and I have me on this
1:54:56committee. Am I not going to be
1:54:58influencing everything to be just like
1:55:00what I want?
1:55:02So if you're if you have just if you're
1:55:04only and it's really difficult, I've got
1:55:06to say to try to serve as a committee
1:55:08member on more than one, you know,
1:55:11that's why we're just supposed to be
1:55:12layons and occasionally a chair um as as
1:55:16council members. But I'm also talking as
1:55:18far as volunteers wanting to be on more
1:55:21than one committee.
1:55:23It's lovely and God bless them, but
1:55:25that's a lot of work. It's a lot of work
1:55:27to keep focus on on one committee, but I
1:55:30think we should do that at some sort of
1:55:32strategic plan meeting where we could
1:55:34just talk about some of these ordinances
1:55:36that we've been talking about with the
1:55:37business of the residency uh
1:55:40requirements or how we want to do that,
1:55:42who's going to be the chair. those
1:55:44things have been set a long time ago and
1:55:47they are due for a review and I think we
1:55:50but we need to really donate some actual
1:55:52time to it. So that's why I'd kind of
1:55:54like to do a retreat on it and just that
1:55:56one topic
1:55:58>> and even like a lot
1:55:59>> those S u SM9 C's.
1:56:02>> Yeah. And like how Julia is saying a lot
1:56:04of that language is outdated and it's
1:56:05not very specific. There's a lot of room
1:56:07for confusion within a lot of those. You
1:56:10don't want to make it too strict because
1:56:12you want to give yourself a little bit
1:56:13of flexibility, but it it's time for
1:56:16that flexibility to have a
1:56:18re-examination. I I totally agree on
1:56:23>> Okay.
1:56:24>> So,
1:56:24>> so what do you want to do?
1:56:25>> How do we want to move with updating and
1:56:27editing this to reflect
1:56:31what we want to do? Go ahead.
1:56:34>> I think that uh making this plan's
1:56:36great. We should start with number one
1:56:38and start working our way down and look
1:56:40at each each item.
1:56:43Uh when I was first looking at some of
1:56:45these, I thought, well,
1:56:48this one this one's pretty good already.
1:56:51Should we move on or should we change
1:56:53something in there? There was a the ones
1:56:56that I was looking at first were the
1:56:57ones that were changed by a previous uh
1:57:00administration and and I noticed that
1:57:04and I did consult some other people
1:57:05about it, but I noticed that the changes
1:57:08that were made changed and cut out
1:57:12voices from these people and put just
1:57:14what they wanted
1:57:17all the all the real estate contracts
1:57:19will stop at my desk as an example. Mhm.
1:57:23>> So the things like that to me, I don't
1:57:26know if that works for me, but I think
1:57:29if we start at the top, you know, the
1:57:31first one I see on here is citizen
1:57:33advisory boards that commissions
1:57:35created.
1:57:36>> We that was that was actually a
1:57:39ordinance that we that that was I think
1:57:42one of the first things we had to have.
1:57:44>> I have have copies of them.
1:57:46>> Yeah. And so you look at that and you
1:57:48say, "Well, maybe some of this wording
1:57:50is, like you say, outdated and we should
1:57:53look at it, maybe tune it up a little
1:57:55bit."
1:57:56>> But every time we have a workshop,
1:58:00dedicate the lion share of that workshop
1:58:03to doing nothing but looking at these
1:58:04and fixing them because there's a lot to
1:58:07do there. Um, I yield back.
1:58:10>> Can I just bounce in on what you're
1:58:13saying? I think you know redlinining
1:58:15going through and like we do redlinining
1:58:17things and saying okay this
1:58:18>> is this really what we want to say is
1:58:21this pertinent for the way we're doing
1:58:23business today. I think if we did that
1:58:26we could bring it back and then and then
1:58:28go forward you know making any changes
1:58:31if we were all looking at it that would
1:58:32make it a little bit better too. I I I
1:58:36like the idea of being able to to plug
1:58:38it in to a workshop, you know, where
1:58:40we're just going to work on advisory
1:58:42committees this week and then we're
1:58:44going to work on commissions and then
1:58:46the planning planning commission is a
1:58:49whole another a whole another egg. It's
1:58:51a whole another omelette. It's a it's a
1:58:54force within itself. So, you know,
1:58:56that's a different one you got to look
1:58:57at. Yeah,
1:58:58>> that's going to come up real soon.
1:59:00>> Yeah, it's going to come up too. So,
1:59:02>> but if you look at number two,
1:59:04>> excuse me for interrupting.
1:59:05>> No, no.
1:59:06>> Um, if you look at number two, governing
1:59:09law, every one of these has to be in
1:59:11line with RCWS.
1:59:12>> Oh, yeah.
1:59:13>> So,
1:59:14>> yeah. And there are
1:59:14>> you have to go slow and take a look at
1:59:16and say,
1:59:16>> and there are RCWs.
1:59:18>> Can you even say that? Does it align?
1:59:21And for that, I feel like we need um
1:59:26some legal advice on a lot of this
1:59:28stuff. And uh I wouldn't touch it until
1:59:31we did have that. Just uh
1:59:33>> just the other and if I may, one of the
1:59:36other things too is looking like uh
1:59:38George did here talking about the um the
1:59:41MS MRS
1:59:43>> MRSC
1:59:45>> uh talking about that and because they
1:59:47have a lot of that language too and we
1:59:49could use them as a as a resource.
1:59:51>> They're they're just a wealth of
1:59:53information.
1:59:53>> Yeah. So, am I hearing that the way that
1:59:56you all want to proceed with the um
1:59:59initial review and amendments or uh
2:00:04redlinining is bringing some of these
2:00:07back to workshop and looking at it
2:00:09together versus this coming to the rules
2:00:12committee.
2:00:14>> You think that's a good idea?
2:00:15>> Yeah. And I was about to say, you know,
2:00:17I guess it's it's up to all of us. I
2:00:19don't know how we all feel about that,
2:00:20but I do hear, you know, like councelor
2:00:22Chavez says maybe we should all jot down
2:00:24our ideas and maybe there's a lot that
2:00:28we have that we all have in common on
2:00:30what we want to see like taking like
2:00:32these committees towards a new
2:00:34direction. Um, so if everyone's up to
2:00:36it, I mean, it's going to be work, but
2:00:39>> it's work that hasn't been done.
2:00:41>> We could be a committee of seven.
2:00:42>> Mr. Haley, is this something that like
2:00:44each council member like if there are
2:00:46certain ideas that they have that they
2:00:48can email you directly and this would
2:00:50help you prep the agenda for that given
2:00:53workshop?
2:00:54>> Exactly. Yeah. You know, I mean, I kind
2:00:56of broached the subject here, so I'm
2:00:59just throwing it out there saying,
2:01:03should we look at this? And I hear you
2:01:05saying, "Yeah, we should." and and I was
2:01:07just dialing in on one of them, but then
2:01:10as you discussed, there's several more
2:01:12that need to be addressed.
2:01:15>> So, I'm just floating the subject out
2:01:17there and it sounds like it's a topic we
2:01:19want to address.
2:01:21>> I think so. [clears throat]
2:01:23>> Just like any other either now or never,
2:01:26right?
2:01:26>> Really?
2:01:26>> Is there any anybody who objects to
2:01:28this?
2:01:30>> Let's do it.
2:01:32the company that holds these and makes
2:01:36the changes to these. I forget what
2:01:38which company it is, but they they
2:01:40govern this and they once they change
2:01:42it, it's like there you go. Now you have
2:01:44your SMC's.
2:01:47>> What was that? What wizard are you
2:01:49talking about?
2:01:50>> Well, [clears throat] when you change an
2:01:51SM if you have an SMC and you change it,
2:01:55they are the ones that reward it and
2:01:58change it. You have to submit it for
2:02:01them. But then they change it and then
2:02:03then it becomes part of your city
2:02:06documentation. It's that this one won't
2:02:09be there anymore. It'll say what what
2:02:11the count what our little
2:02:14>> group
2:02:14>> group of seven came up with.
2:02:16>> We've done a bunch of stuff on that when
2:02:18we were doing rules and procedures.
2:02:20>> Remember George? If you change your
2:02:21count, if you change your CMC or SMC,
2:02:26it's it's going to be done by an
2:02:28ordinance and the attorney is going to
2:02:29draft the language for that ordinance to
2:02:32change.
2:02:32>> There's a one company that actually
2:02:34switches things over and keeps a record
2:02:36of each one and you have to apply.
2:02:39>> Yeah. Yeah.
2:02:40>> Publishing. Yeah. Something
2:02:42[clears throat]
2:02:43>> code publishing. And then they hold the
2:02:46record of it also that you made that
2:02:47change. [clears throat]
2:02:50That way any anybody
2:02:53in Sunnyside can look at that and say,
2:02:54"Hey, we it's on our website, right?"
2:02:57Yeah.
2:02:57>> Yeah.
2:02:58>> I yel back.
2:02:59>> What? Whatever.
2:03:02>> That's nitty-gritty. We We're trying to
2:03:04just set up a
2:03:05>> Okay.
2:03:06>> Is there anything else that you need?
2:03:07Um, Mr. Haley, or you wanted to add? I
2:03:10know you said that you had
2:03:12>> No. Um, I I'm giving you financial
2:03:15report that just was done today. Uh
2:03:17Monica told me today that she has
2:03:19cleaned up 2024. So that's records of
2:03:2224. So she is targeting uh I think the
2:03:26end of May, maybe early June to 25.
2:03:31But this was this is a transition period
2:03:35with our software with Springbrook and
2:03:38introduced all sorts of complications.
2:03:40Took a lot of work for them to kind of
2:03:42sort through and compile it. But here's
2:03:44the final numbers for 24.
2:03:47Um, doesn't tell you where we're at now
2:03:51because she's working on that. So, but
2:03:53just to give you a hooray, she got her
2:03:56done
2:03:57>> uh for 24.
2:04:00Um, there's there's where we stand last
2:04:03for last year. [laughter]
2:04:06And then I just wanted to affirm that u
2:04:09making progress on um attorney search.
2:04:13Uh my goal is to have uh three attorneys
2:04:17to uh choose from. Uh my authority uh
2:04:21allows this decision to come through my
2:04:24office through my research and and um
2:04:28evaluation which I will bring to the
2:04:30council then for contract approval.
2:04:34um
2:04:36the uh city finances and the city clerk
2:04:39is starting uh uh the and I use the word
2:04:43apprentice so that she could know that
2:04:46she's still has a lot of training to go
2:04:49through. Our apprentice city clerk is
2:04:53scheduled to start May 27th. No,
2:04:56>> she will then um be a city employee and
2:04:59qualify for um a boot camp as they call
2:05:05it for city clerks that's put on by the
2:05:08uh Washington clerks association and
2:05:11that'll be a week-long uh activity in in
2:05:15I think Tacoma. Yes, Raymond.
2:05:17>> So, you said she's starting on the 27th
2:05:20but won't be here for another week,
2:05:22correct? because she she has to be a
2:05:25city employee to go to this thing and
2:05:27this event is held once a year and it
2:05:29just happens to be in June. So, you
2:05:30know, we we got her squeezed in as a
2:05:33city employee um uh so that she can
2:05:37attend she will be no she won't be here
2:05:41but in the meantime we have uh
2:05:43interlocal agreement with the city of
2:05:45Tapenish who are providing us guidance
2:05:48and clerk work. Uh Heidi Rios Rios is
2:05:52helping us with that. She's also
2:05:54assisting us on uh public records
2:05:56requests and kind of guiding us through
2:05:59uh clerk activities. She has a computer
2:06:03uh that gives her access to the city and
2:06:06so she can do work from her desk in
2:06:08Tapenish. It's really helpful. Yeah,
2:06:11it's thanks thanks to Tapenish for
2:06:13helping us out. They're also providing
2:06:15uh a resource through their attorney
2:06:17because we don't have an attorney to
2:06:19review an attorney contract. So, uh
2:06:22they're providing that service as well
2:06:24on our behalf.
2:06:26>> You answer that one.
2:06:28>> Well, I think he answered that my
2:06:29question. That was my concern as to who
2:06:31was doing the the city clerk uh job
2:06:33right now because I know that if if we
2:06:35miss a a request, it could be $25,000 uh
2:06:40in in fines [snorts] um that we could
2:06:42get. Um so, want to make sure that we do
2:06:44have somebody that that that's going
2:06:46through the emails and and doing the the
2:06:48public records. I guess the initial the
2:06:51initial response for now.
2:06:53>> I'm I'm monitoring the previous city
2:06:56clerk's uh emails. So, I send those off
2:06:59to Gabino and I believe that they are
2:07:02also coming directly to Heidi. Is that
2:07:05right as well?
2:07:08Heidi now has access to um our public
2:07:11records system and she is uh now
2:07:14monitoring those and uh responding to
2:07:17some of them.
2:07:18>> Right.
2:07:19>> Heidi.
2:07:19>> So Heidi Real House of uh
2:07:22>> Topish
2:07:23along with Cababino along with Cababino
2:07:26and
2:07:26>> he is over fire station.
2:07:27>> He's in the fire station.
2:07:28>> He told me at dinner he he wouldn't do
2:07:31that job.
2:07:33[laughter]
2:07:35>> [cough]
2:07:37>> knowing how hard it is.
2:07:38>> He did get citizen of the year or
2:07:40whatever award for he did.
2:07:42>> I told him he has to he can't just lay
2:07:45it on his law.
2:07:46>> I did my best to talk him into it, but
2:07:47he he [clears throat] wouldn't touch it.
2:07:53>> Oh, thank you. Um, so
2:07:56there's nothing else. We can move on to
2:07:59the final portion of the of today's
2:08:01agenda, which is public comment.
2:08:08>> [clears throat]
2:08:09>> while he's getting that. Are we going to
2:08:12do agenda on Thursday this week for next
2:08:16week?
2:08:18>> There's no council meeting next week.
2:08:20>> There's no Yes, there is 11.
2:08:23>> Oh my goodness.
2:08:24>> Hang on, girl.
2:08:28>> Yes.
2:08:29>> So 9:00.
2:08:30>> I think it's on my calendar.
2:08:33Right. Oh, no. It's actually not on my
2:08:35calendar.
2:08:36>> May 11th.
2:08:37>> It was on the agenda.
2:08:39>> Yeah, it was on the agenda.
2:08:40>> Um, no. Um, she's talking about the
2:08:43meeting before the
2:08:44>> Oh,
2:08:44>> before the agenda. Yeah,
2:08:46>> that sounds
2:08:46>> But yes, the other one was on the
2:08:48agenda.
2:08:48>> Yeah.
2:08:50>> So, in the
2:08:51>> Okay,
2:08:52>> go ahead.
2:08:54>> Um,
2:08:56>> uh, so com public comment um for
2:08:58non-aggenda items and we have a few
2:09:00people who have signed up. I'll go ahead
2:09:02and start us off with um Tony Sto.
2:09:13>> I'm here concerning the shooting across
2:09:16my street
2:09:18park. I'm Tony Sodto from Sunnyside. I
2:09:21want to commend the police department
2:09:23for being there so quick. I was on the
2:09:26phone to dispatch explaining to her what
2:09:29was happening and those people were
2:09:31there in a hurry and then all of a
2:09:33sudden this guy comes out running in the
2:09:35back of my fence and out the other
2:09:37property. Uh they did an excellent job.
2:09:41They were out there finding evidence uh
2:09:43looking for stuff and talking to people.
2:09:46Unfortunately, when this incidents like
2:09:48this happen, it becomes a circus. And
2:09:52then along comes the clowns and the
2:09:54gawkers. I mean, come on. You know, they
2:09:58were picking up evidence from from right
2:10:00there in front of my house. They had put
2:10:01those little things that they put up
2:10:02there. Well, you know, it so happens
2:10:05that we one of your council members was
2:10:07up there and he went right through that
2:10:09street and those policemen was still
2:10:11looking for those bullet casings that
2:10:13were out there. I mean, they were all
2:10:15over the place. I mean, people should be
2:10:18more aware of what is happening. Those
2:10:20those policemen were trying to get
2:10:22evidence and stuff that happened there.
2:10:24And it was a kid that was shot. The
2:10:26people that were right next on my
2:10:28street, that was the parent of the kid
2:10:31that was shot. That's a human being. And
2:10:34it becomes a circus. And even worse than
2:10:36our council member was there. So it's
2:10:40awful. People should not this person
2:10:42should be recommended for that. Do you
2:10:45know what I'm talking about? It's bad.
2:10:46Um, don't be concerned for me or for for
2:10:50what happened, for empathy or for
2:10:51concerns. Be concerned for that parent
2:10:54that that got shot and that's a human
2:10:57being. And if this councilman should was
2:11:00thinking that he was it was his
2:11:02neighborhood and um he he wanted a gawk
2:11:06fine, but then he should have been more
2:11:07concerning to that parent that his her
2:11:10kid got shot.
2:11:13So what I'm saying more empathy and more
2:11:15concern I don't want it from anybody but
2:11:17that lady needed it. It was her kid that
2:11:20was shot.
2:11:22Thank you.
2:11:24>> Thank you.
2:11:29>> Next up on our list is Vicky Ripley.
2:11:34>> Okay.
2:11:35>> Next up on our list is Teresa Hancock.
2:11:43Yeah, Teresa Hancock Sunnyside. Um,
2:11:46uh, I just want to say that while I was
2:11:49on still on council, I got many, many
2:11:52complaints from people about kids riding
2:11:55their motorcycles without helmets up
2:11:58around the hill. I watched as we were
2:12:01helping Mr. Dolan, uh, Sharon, Vicki, we
2:12:04were out helping a a senior citizen
2:12:07rehab her property so that she wasn't in
2:12:09violation of city code. And here comes
2:12:12these kids on these motorcycles, no
2:12:15helmets, as fast as they can, curvy
2:12:18roads, and
2:12:21and I have called and I have talked to
2:12:24Rob, and I will continue to talk with
2:12:25Rob. I know Rob cares. I'm not saying
2:12:28that this is Rob's fault or anything
2:12:29else, but today or um I guess it was
2:12:33today. Yeah. 6 10 hours ago, somebody
2:12:36posts on there, they have pictures of
2:12:38these kids on these illegal motorcycles
2:12:42on the road riding and these kids don't
2:12:45have helmets on. Some people are
2:12:47excusing it, saying, "Oh, it's just kids
2:12:49being kids." It's breaking the law. I
2:12:52don't care what the what you want your
2:12:55kids to do or how much you don't want to
2:12:57parent. If someone is, say me, if I'm
2:13:01driving on on Crescent or what one of
2:13:03these roads and I hit one of these kids,
2:13:06I've got to live with it the rest of my
2:13:08life. Their parents didn't get them off
2:13:10the road so that I didn't, you know,
2:13:13that I didn't have this accident. We
2:13:15need to enforce these laws. There's
2:13:18pictures of these kids. They're
2:13:20identifying themselves on Facebook. We
2:13:23need to do something about that. They,
2:13:26you know, they're saying, "Well, would
2:13:27you rather they were shooting people or
2:13:29gang banging?" Those aren't the two
2:13:31alternatives. It isn't writing and
2:13:33breaking the law or being a gang banger.
2:13:35There's other things. And hopefully we
2:13:37get a Boys and Girls Club here, but in
2:13:40the meantime, the parents still need to
2:13:42be parents. So, um, I hope you guys take
2:13:45this seriously. has been going on for
2:13:47over 5 months, lots longer than that,
2:13:50but for 5 months I've been advocating
2:13:52for this and and and and to get this
2:13:54stopped before there is a real tragedy.
2:13:56And there's going to be a real tragedy
2:13:58here.
2:14:01>> Thank you.
2:14:03[clears throat] Up next, um, and the
2:14:04final person on the list is Sharon
2:14:06Dolan.
2:14:10>> Is there anybody online?
2:14:13>> Hello, council. A lot of my questions
2:14:15were answered in the court stuff, but
2:14:19one question I have is when the
2:14:22budgeting was going on for 2026 at the
2:14:25end of 2025,
2:14:27the court gal did a presentation and
2:14:30talked about the revenue and the funds
2:14:32coming in, but she a a former council
2:14:36member asked what are the court's
2:14:38expenses and she didn't have that
2:14:41information when she was doing her
2:14:43presentation.
2:14:45and the election happened and that
2:14:48council person wasn't on council
2:14:50anymore. The
2:14:53so that information I don't believe
2:14:56council was ever given. Maybe I missed a
2:14:58meeting about what are the expenses of
2:15:01the court. Where do we stand? Are we
2:15:03losing a lot of money? Are we making
2:15:05money? Where do we stand? And so I think
2:15:08the finance committee needs to ask for
2:15:11that report. what what was the year-end
2:15:14expenses of the courts? What is the city
2:15:17looking at? That's one thing. Another
2:15:20thing is um and I don't remember if it
2:15:23was at the end of the year um or at the
2:15:26beginning of the year with the new
2:15:27council, but it was because of all the
2:15:31financial woes and we don't know where
2:15:33we are. It was stated that
2:15:36um and Monica Hoffetter agreed to it
2:15:39that a quarterly report would be given
2:15:41to council
2:15:43and I'm wondering finance committee do
2:15:46you have that and when will that be
2:15:49available to the public because I would
2:15:51like to look at that that's all I have
2:15:56you maybe answer that sir that
2:15:59particular about the quarterly report
2:16:00because we are working on having that
2:16:02soon,
2:16:04>> right?
2:16:08>> We make every effort to get that
2:16:10reporting towards that.
2:16:12>> It's uh it's on my list. [laughter]
2:16:18>> Leo's a busy guy.
2:16:20>> He's a busy guy. [clears throat]
2:16:23>> Okay. Um there seems to be no one online
2:16:26wanting to make a public comment. Um is
2:16:29there anything else for the good of the
2:16:31order?
2:16:37I confess. Uh
2:16:38>> oh. It was me. I went up there. One of
2:16:41my constituents called me. I had her
2:16:44>> Oh jeez.
2:16:45>> Had her son in my class and they called
2:16:46and said, "Oh, there's somebody shooting
2:16:48up here." So
2:16:50>> I did. I went up there. I did not cross
2:16:52any police tape or any police lines. I
2:16:54stayed in my car except to talk to one
2:16:56of our officers because I know him
2:16:58pretty well. And
2:17:00you know, I got I don't have pockets
2:17:03full of casings anywhere, so I don't
2:17:07>> I didn't know.
2:17:08>> She's kind of uh she she gets excited
2:17:10sometime. I told her I I told her that
2:17:13she when we were sitting together one
2:17:15night at a council meeting, I said,
2:17:17"Tony, you need to write a book and I'll
2:17:21be your first customer and buy that
2:17:23thing because she's great. She's very
2:17:26entertaining sometimes. I I love sitting
2:17:28with her. She's just
2:17:31And I I saw the scare on her face when
2:17:33we drove past because she was out in her
2:17:35yard. We were going to I was going to
2:17:37stop and see if she's okay. I used to
2:17:39live across the street from the house
2:17:40she lives in now. And that was a crazy
2:17:44crazy thing that happened up there.
2:17:46There was over a hundred markers in the
2:17:48street down this on the north side of
2:17:52the park. They had all their markers and
2:17:55all the casings everywhere. And and when
2:17:57I talked to the officer, he says, "Yeah,
2:17:59they were down here shooting each other
2:18:0120 yards away and nobody got hurt."
2:18:04>> I don't know if she's talking about
2:18:06somebody getting shot, but um there was
2:18:08>> didn't indicate anybody was injured.
2:18:10>> Oh, there was well over 150 casings and
2:18:14no one got killed. I was thanking the
2:18:16little Lord for that.
2:18:18>> [snorts]
2:18:18>> So, I just wanted to see what what the
2:18:21possibility is to update our our website
2:18:24with some of the contact information,
2:18:26numbers, email addresses. Um, even for
2:18:29for city staff. Um, I was just at a an
2:18:33appointment earlier and and they
2:18:34couldn't get a hold of anybody and and
2:18:36um code enforcement. Uh, they had a
2:18:40concern and I emailed uh you, Mr. Haley
2:18:42about a a fire hydrant that's being
2:18:44blocked by some fencing and so it should
2:18:48be in your email. So I was just
2:18:49wondering what you know what we could do
2:18:51to update the the the city website to
2:18:53have those phone numbers and emails
2:18:55updated.
2:18:57So if there is any code enforcement
2:18:59please uh if you guys are directing to
2:19:01me and then I will uh direct them to uh
2:19:04my building official and my building
2:19:06inspector and myself to take care of
2:19:08those. Um, we haven't received any calls
2:19:13or anything for the uh fire hydrant. So,
2:19:16if if it is a concern, please please uh
2:19:19allow me to be able to rectify that and
2:19:21get that taken [clears throat] care of,
2:19:22>> you know, and I forgot that you were in
2:19:23charge of code enforcement, but I just
2:19:26>> and that's okay. And I shoot it to him.
2:19:28>> Yeah.
2:19:29>> So, but yeah, there is a lot of outdated
2:19:32information and um I did include that in
2:19:34the email to Mr. Haley, too.
2:19:36>> Brought brought that up too.
2:19:37>> Yeah. So,
2:19:38>> and and we are working on uh getting the
2:19:42code enforcement. Uh we have it uh
2:19:44posted in house. There are uh three
2:19:47applicants uh that will be interviewed
2:19:50and um and if that those three
2:19:54applicants don't work out, then we'll
2:19:55post it out to the public. So, just to
2:19:59give you a heads up,
2:20:00>> we're required by contract to do that.
2:20:02>> Yes.
2:20:04>> All right.
2:20:06So, um,
2:20:07>> I I just want to throw a shout out to
2:20:10this guy right here because he put our
2:20:13numbers up there for our constituents to
2:20:16constituents to call us and I've been
2:20:19getting a lot of calls. I got to start
2:20:20wearing my phone around now.
2:20:22>> You were getting calls already.
2:20:24>> Lots of them.
2:20:26>> Okay. Thank you. Um, okay. Without ado,
2:20:30um we will um wrap up this meeting at

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