2026-08-25 - City Council

Summary

Built from the official minutes. No video is posted, so there is no transcript or timing.

Called to order at 9:00 AM; Mayor Kruea presiding; all seven members present. Adjourned 11:02 AM.
Workshop: Brittany Park follow-up and the proposed maintenance agreement.
Executive session entered right after the workshop (9:13 to 9:48 AM) on the 21st Avenue PUD, Rock Fest promoter negotiations, DC Blox use of public right-of-way, and legal advice on pending litigation involving the Police Department. No votes were taken in session.
Golf cart parking ordinance passed first reading 7-0.
Facade improvement program ($150,000 first year, $10,000 maximum award) and vacant storefront incentive program created, both 7-0.
Several residents and business owners asked the city to keep enforcing laws on downtown loitering.

Workshop: staff recapped the history and status; the homeowners association cannot gate the community because of code, and the contractor stopped at a break point and could not finish. Details of the proposed maintenance agreement were reviewed; the full presentation is on the city's YouTube channel.

Executive session item 2: contract negotiations with the Rock Fest promoter. No action reported.

Executive session item 3: contract negotiations with DC Blox on use of the public right-of-way. No action reported.

Executive session item 1: contract negotiations on the 21st Avenue PUD. No action reported.

First reading of Ordinance 2026-52 (allow parking of mopeds, golf carts, low-speed vehicles and scooters in signed areas, at specified street ends) approved 7-0 (moved by Councilman Lowder, seconded by Councilman McClure).

Resolution R2026-14 created the program: $150,000 in the first year, subject to annual appropriation; maximum award $10,000. Passed 7-0 (moved by Councilwoman Hatley, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Conner).

Resolution R2026-15 created a program reimbursing certain city fees for returning vacant storefronts to use, limited to the ART and C7 zoning districts. Passed 7-0 (moved by Conner, seconded by Councilman Chestnut).

Public comment: Mr. Ballard, Ms. Fryar and Dana West asked the city to keep enforcing its laws and move people along rather than letting them loiter on city benches day and night, which they said deters customers.
Ms. Dixon said not all homeless individuals are the same and that there are "bad apples."

Executive session procedure: the motion to enter passed (recorded as 7 yes, but the listed names omit Chestnut). The motion to exit passed 5-0 because Conner and Councilman Render were present but not in the chamber for the vote.
Resolution R2026-13 accepting dedication of Bermuda Way North in The Park at 48th North (consent; passed 7-0). The road dates from the mid-1990s and will likely need maintenance sooner than typical dedications.
Motion M2026-86 appointing Cary Heise and Courtney or Connor Douglass to the Human Rights Commission for terms expiring February 22, 2027 passed 7-0.
Public comment: Mr. Hyman said hospitality tax fund uses should be addressed with emphasis on Family Kingdom; a family promoted the Hwy 15 Back School Bash.
The August 11 minutes were approved 7-0.