City Council Worksession

TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 1 CONVENE: 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Pro Tem Michael Althauser and Councilmembers Peter Agabi, Joan Cathey, Leatta Dahlhoff, Angela Jefferson, Charlie Schneider, and Eileen Swarthout. Excused: Mayor Debbie Sullivan. Staff: City Administrator John Doan, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Community Development Director Michael Matlock, Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Denney, and Planning Manager Brad Medrud. THURSTON Janine Koffel, Tumwater HOPES Coalition Coordinator, reported COUNTY HEALTHY Tumwater HOPES (Tumwater Healthy Opportunities for Prevention, YOUTH SURVEY Empowerment, and Success) is a three-year community coalition DATA promoting the health and well-being of children, youth, and families in PRESENTATION: Tumwater to prevent or reduce the risk of teen substance use and suicide. She acknowledged the support and the participation of Councilmembers Schneider and Swarthout over the last year. Tumwater HOPES has achieved some success because of its resiliency to pivot and demonstrate flexibility and ingenuity necessary for a community coalition to sustain and survive unexpected events, such as a pandemic. She acknowledged and thanked Tumwater Middle School teacher Renee Cruickshank for advocating and facilitating the coalition’s inclusion in the health education program at Tumwater Middle School and Bush Middle School to provide an intervention sport for students. The coalition also developed a youth coalition in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Washington. Keitha Bryson, a retired teacher from Highline School District and member of Tumwater HOPES, shared information about the Youth Coalition, THEE (Tumwater HOPES Everywhere for Everyone). Shelly Willis, Tumwater HOPES and Executive Director of Family Support and Education Service, described desired future efforts with the City Council on collaboration, engagement with youth, prevention efforts, and development of policies in support of prevention with Tumwater HOPES. Councilmember Cathey asked whether the coalition is advocating for establishing a youth coalition in Tumwater. Ms. Koffel explained that the information shared about Lacey’s Youth Council is only one example of how to engage youth. A youth council is a potential possibility the TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 2 Council might want to consider as a means of engaging youth. The THEE Youth Coalition could function as a sounding board for the Council to receive feedback from local youths or building on voter engagement by youth. Ms. Bryson added that two of the youth coalition members have applied to serve on the Youth Advisory Committee at the state level. Councilmember Cathey acknowledged that the Council has collaborated with the Tumwater School District on ways to promote diversity and inclusion within the community. Establishment of a youth council might be a way to implement some of the Council’s commitments. Councilmember Jefferson inquired about the status of working with local high schools. Ms. Koffel said during her first year with the coalition, the engagement with high schools was limited due in part to COVID, as well as because of data associated with Bush Middle School. The Healthy Youth Survey data focused on grades 6, 8, 10, and 12. The most recent survey relied on 2018 data to apply for funding. At that time, the need was the greatest at the middle school level. Councilmember Jefferson stressed the importance of working with high schools because of the number of bullying incidents resulting in some students relocating to other schools. Ms. Koffel shared that youth collation members include both middle and high school students. Next year, Tumwater HOPES is planning to serve high schools because the youth coalition will be much larger and is ready to move forward after working through its formative stages. Mary Ann O’Garro, Senior Epidemiologist, Thurston County Public Health & Social Services, reviewed needs and gaps identified in the Thurston County survey results. She noted that some of the results are concerning while some of the results are positive. Thurston County was ranked eighth healthiest in 2022 out of 39 counties in the state. Recent data reflects Thurston County is losing some ground with last year’s results dipping to sixth. Tumwater HOPES was able to obtain quantitative information by surveying Tumwater youths about positive things they would like to see in Tumwater. The results indicate a desire for an increase in youth involvement in equity work, prevention of bullying and “albelism” in schools, acceptance and safety of LGBTQ+ youths, system changes, prevention of gossiping and dis-inclusion, prevention of “R” slurs and other slurs, and acknowledgement of the importance of education. Data reflects that many children are bullied based on beliefs, perceived disability, and perceived gender identity. The community has a disparity and equity gap in how long students live based on race and ethnicity. Vaping and alcohol use has increased by youths in Tumwater TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 3 while marijuana use is comparable with Thurston County survey results. The Tumwater community has the same number of retail licenses for tobacco, vaping, alcohol, and marijuana establishments as Thurston County. The survey data is based on tenth graders. The focus on Tumwater is based on negative data results in the community. Suicide by youths in Tumwater is higher when compared to Thurston County youth. Youths experiencing bullying, slurs, and exclusion continue to experience higher suicide rates, which speaks to the importance and the need of positive work to influence outcomes. Mayor Pro Tem Althauser asked about the possibility of taking advantage of youth participation through the Tumwater Youth Program (TYP) to serve as a forum for City initiatives. Director Denney affirmed the existence of a youth council that works closely with the department on the TYP. Members meet with recreation staff and provide feedback on TYP programs and events, as well as sharing information on their respective experiences at school, their lives, and how they can be supported through TYP programming. Staff is also represented on Tumwater HOPES. Department staff members plan to continue working with the coalition to move initiatives forward. In response to questions from the Council, Ms. Koffel verified that the results of the healthy youth survey have been shared with Tumwater School District officials. Next month, a data work team will review the data in much greater detail. A City representative could join the team and share outcomes from the City’s survey. Although the coalition’s focus is on youth health and well-being, youth do not live in a vacuum and family, school, and community systems are also important. Councilmember Cathey remarked that the Council has discovered the incredible passion, intelligence, and great speaking and advocacy skills of high school students when speaking about the protection of the environment. The work of the coalition is important to youths who want to participate to make a difference. Councilmember Schneider acknowledged the role Tumwater HOPES plays in the community to address youth substance abuse, vaping, alcoholism, and suicide. He conveyed appreciation to the entire coalition team for making a difference in the community and in the schools. Councilmember Dahlhoff noted that as a former student of Tumwater High School many decades ago, she experienced many of the same issues and similar messages of support from the community. She urged action and follow-through rather than another decade passing and another TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 4 generation experiencing the same issues, feedback, and concerns from the community without any kind of resolution. Councilmember Jefferson questioned how the Council could improve its partnership with the schools. She asked about the status of the diversity position at the school district and whether the school district considers the issues seriously. City Administrator Doan responded that in many circumstances, young people are learning inappropriate, harmful, and dangerous behaviors at home and it is difficult for the community and the school district to correct those behaviors. He encouraged ongoing partnerships directly and indirectly, such as Tumwater HOPES and other organizations as the City lacks access to young people except through recreational programs. It will entail working with partners who have access to the school system that understand some of the issues young people are experiencing while developing programs supporting youths and families. He shared a graphic of the boundaries of local school districts. The boundaries of Tumwater School District extend well beyond the City limits of Tumwater. The City of Tumwater’s boundary encompasses approximately 18 square miles while the Tumwater School District boundary encompasses 117 square miles. Although the population concentration is within the core of Tumwater, the school district boundary extends well beyond the City of Tumwater, which speaks to the characteristics of the school district as a separate governmental entity that does not align with the City’s boundaries that can often create challenges. Ms. Willis reported the coalition leadership has discussed ways to collaborate with the Council and other key leaders to provide resources, funding, and development in the community. The coalition desires a partnership with the Council to consider federal and other funding sources that would support the community. Councilmember Agabi observed that the issues are essentially a global problem as he has also witnessed bullying incidents. As a City with a future new community center, it might be possible to offer programming for after school activities that could reduce incidents of bullying. Often, bringing youths together can reduce bullying incidents and other negative behaviors that often occur because of the lack of interaction between youths of different backgrounds, race, or ethnicity. City Administrator Doan noted that the design of the community center includes a room to create capacity in the community that currently does not exist. Ms. Willis advocated for offering a youth summit to give youth a voice. TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 5 Some training has been provided to youths on bullying and suicide prevention; however, more efforts are needed. She recommended collaborating with the Council to sponsor a youth summit. Mayor Pro Tem Althauser thanked the speakers for sharing the informative presentation while acknowledging that much work would be necessary. TUMWATER City Administrator Doan introduced Austin Ramirez as the City’s CRAFT Economic Development Manager. He introduced Aslan Meade with the INITIATIVE: Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC) and John Peters with Craft District, LLC. City Administrator Doan provided an update on the status of the Tumwater Craft Initiative and identified partners for their efforts to promote the initiative. Tumwater Craft has its origins in bringing brewing back to the City. The old brick brewtower represents the early days of brewing beer in the City. The Schmidt House was home to the original brewery owner. In recent years, redevelopment of the brewery property has been stymied by the current property owners and the lack of their willingness or ability to move forward to improve the property. Prior interests in the property included a potential water bottling plant followed by bank ownership of the property. To spark action and to look beyond the City’s frustration because of the lack of redevelopment, the City considered ways of utilizing and leveraging the City’s brewing history equity. During early efforts, the City learned that equity in the brewery existed around the concept of Olympia Beer and its popularity across the country. Initial efforts in 2011 by the City with the assistance of federal funding and in conjunction with Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) led to the completion of a brewery visioning process and action plan that considered alternative futures for redevelopment of the brewery property. In 2014, the City pursued zoning changes within the Brewery District, as well as considering some transportation infrastructure needs resulting in completion of a market study to explore demand for different types of uses on the north side of Custer Way. The City completed a study of the old brewery tower, which led to the donation of the old brewhouse to the City of Tumwater along with some trail easements surrounding the building. Another study completed in 2015 funded in part by the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB), the City, Port of Olympia, and South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC), documented demand in the country for brewing and distilling education, as well as cider making education and production. In 2016, the City TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 6 completed a Planned Action EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) funded partially by the Department of Ecology that considered all environmental and infrastructure requirements for development of the historic brewery property north of Custer Way. Unfortunately, the owners of the main brewery property were not willing to participate in the EIS. The Planned Action EIS documented some high to low moderate development scenarios. The main issues of the site are access and parking. One development scenario included a large parking garage located behind the historic brewhouse with access from the upper level of the garage. The Planned Action EIS was never used by the developer. The City subsequently invested in the E Street Extension project, in part because of the Planned Action EIS and a prior neighborhood study pointing to the need to extend E Street to help facilitate redevelopment of the brewery and increase transportation capacity on Custer Way. Today, transportation capacity has been exceeded on Custer Way despite the lack of any new development of the brewery property. Because of the lack of capacity to accommodate additional traffic, the long-range plan directed the creation of a new east-west connection enabling 60% to 70% of the traffic on Custer Way (generated from Lacey, East Olympia, and Yelm) to use an alternate route and freeing capacity on Custer Way to accommodate any new development. The project is extremely expensive at approximately $60 million. The City has completed a project concept and has solicited funding support from the state and the federal government. The City also joined with others to form an Innovation Partnership Zone (IPZ) for craft brewing, distilling, and cider-making. The IPZ serves to create the framework for future efforts and investments. With support from a CERB grant, the City completed a study on a start-up center for brewing, distilling, and cider-making. Next year will be the 20th year anniversary of the brewery’s closure. The legacy of the brewery in the City should be pursued quickly as many people are not even aware of the brewery. Today, Olympia Beer is no longer produced, which speaks to the importance of acting while people still remember the City’s brewing legacy. Washington State ranks fourth in the nation for the number of craft breweries. The state ranks third in the nation for distilling and was the number one ranked state at one point. Across the nation, states have relaxed distilling laws enabling a new industry. The state also ranks fourth in cider-making companies with New York and Michigan holding the top spots. Because of the abundance of heritage grains and orchards, TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 7 Tumwater is in the position of taking advantage of those agricultural products. City Administrator Doan cited some success stories for successfully changing the branding of a city and region. One example is the City of Walla Walla previously known as the home of a state penitentiary and now as the wine industry courtesy of Walla Walla Community College investing in and creating the Center for Enology and Viticulture Institute, a wine education program offering programs for growing grapes and winemaking. The Port of Walla Walla is a partner and operates an incubator program of buildings leased to start-up wine entrepreneurs and distillers. The City of Walla Walla is also a designated IPZ, one of thirteen in the state. In Richland, Washington, the wine industry and the state invested in the Wine Science Center, which has leveraged wine to attract tourism to the city and region. City Administrator Doan identified a wheel of partners comprised of many entities the City has various relationships with to include suppliers, brewers, distillers, cider makers, industry associations, educational institutions, economic development interests, food and science interests, Thurston Visitor and Convention Bureau, and the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. The EDC administers the Innovation Partnership Zone (IPZ) in conjunction with other resources and partners. South Puget Sound Community College has expanded its educational program from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree. In partnership with the City, the state funded $200,000 in the last legislative session for a start-up facility and $753,000 for an Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) Certified Lab, the only lab north of San Francisco and west of the Mississippi River certified for alcohol content testing and chemical composition. Previously, the Legislature provided funds for a CO2 capture facility enabling small breweries to trap their CO2 and use it to carbonate their beers. The state also invested an initial $500,000 through the City to assist the college to purchase initial equipment for the college program. Prior to COVID, a significant effort by the State Department of Agriculture and WSU was in process to promote a “grain to glass” movement by promoting the production of different types of grains, malt, and other products that support brewing and distilling. City Administrator Doan reviewed an outline of the current plan for the Craft District. The college has constructed and opened its educational facility. A Market Building is currently under construction. Other planned buildings include a combination bank and coffee shop, restaurant, and an amphitheater. A component of the project includes the City and the developer disconnecting Tumwater Valley Drive and rerouting it to TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 8 another location intersecting at Capitol Boulevard. The old segment of Tumwater Valley Drive would be converted to a parking area with access to a trail segment of the Tumwater Valley Deschutes Trail. Construction is planned for a residential project on the property. City Administrator Doan shared images of some of the planned buildings. City Administrator Doan responded to questions on how the City plans to successfully implement the brewing and distilling brand when so many other areas in the state are promoting similar strategies. The City and its partners have invested in all the components of the wheel to assist in creating a “place” that is centered on brewing and distilling by taking advantage of facilities, the City’s brewing legacy, educational facilities, and local producers to create a center of excellence for brewing and distilling and expanding those efforts to feature other crafts and foods. The Council and staff discussed the City’s limited property ownership of the golf course wells and the old brew tower and problems associated with developing in Tumwater Valley because of flooding. The extension over Tumwater Valley from Cleveland Avenue to Capitol Boulevard at E Street is necessary to enable redevelopment of the brewery warehouse buildings. Councilmember Cathey conveyed concerns about the new configuration of Tumwater Valley Drive and the close proximity of the road to the Deschutes River. She stressed the importance of the City monitoring the situation to avoid impacts to the river. City Administrator Doan addressed questions about the lost opportunity for the City to purchase the brewery property and Walla Walla’s advantage of being located within a rural area of the state. At the time of the brewery property’s sale, the asking price was $16 million. The final sale at $4 million was the last offer based on negotiations between the bank (owner of the property) and the current owner. The City was never a party to the negotiations. The City of Tumwater’s location serves as an advantage for brewery and distilling tourism because of its proximity to Portland and Seattle within a one to two-hour drive. John Peters, Craft District, LLC, responded to several questions from the Council on how Tumwater plans to attract tourists to the City. Given that similar types of developments have been duplicated in other areas, Tumwater has a benefit with the college located in the Craft District with both a national and international draw, the City’s brewing legacy, and the new development of an amphitheater and a district that features not only brewing and distilling but all forms of crafts. The City’s location between TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 9 Seattle and Portland will attract tourists especially with the amphitheater playing a major role. The amphitheater, at this point, will be grassed with some terracing to be integrated over time. The company has been engaging in conversations with the brewery owners as there could be the possibility of future opportunities for a public/private partnership for the brewery property. City Administrator Doan described the Warehouse District as a place featuring craft beer, spirits, cider, craft food, and products. Today, the Warehouse District located off Old Highway 99 south of 79th Avenue features Matchless Brewery and Triceratops Brewing Company, TartHard Cider, 8 Arms Community Bakery, Spud's Produce Market, Ila's Fine Foods, and Alaffia. The Warehouse District has created a gathering place for friends, neighbors and visitors to enjoy locally-made craft beverages and specialty foods and products. City Administrator Doan reported agriculture is also an important component of the potential success of Tumwater’s rebranding. It also represents an opportunity for bringing agriculture back to Thurston County. He introduced Aslan Meade with the EDC. Mr. Meade serves as the administrator of the Thurston Craft Brewing and Distilling IPZ. Mr. Meade reported he joined EDC in January 2016 with a goal to promote regional-scale agriculture. With some foresight, the EDC, Port of Olympia, and other partners began examining the loss of resources when regional agriculture declined and ways to support small-scale farmers and food manufacturers. Thurston’s Washington State University (WSU) Extension and Northwest Agriculture Business Center played an important part in those efforts along with the EDC as they worked on regional agriculture development initiatives. The pandemic provided more insight as to the true importance of resiliency for food production at a regional level. In terms of grain production, WSU has hosted the Cascadia Grains Conference at SPSCC for the last eight years with some disruption because of the pandemic. The EDC was approached several years ago by a group of farmers from the region (Lewis, Thurston, and Grays Harbor Counties) that had lost main contracts with National Frozen Food in Chehalis as the company ceased sourcing local foods and began sourcing all its products from Eastern Washington. The growers lost substantially as the commodities market is unpredictable because it functions on supply and demand. The farmers expressed interest in growing grains. WSU Extension began some field trials in Lewis County to determine the type of grains that could thrive in Western Washington. Grain samples were sent to labs in Pullman for taste studies. Some blind taste tests were also conducted during a Tumwater Brewfest. The EDC TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 10 and the farmers eventually entered into a contract with Great Western Malting in Vancouver, Washington and formed a growers cooperative for the first time in the region. The Port of Chehalis contributed some land for a facility and a rail spur to enable farming of grains in the region for brewing, distilling, and other uses. Funding was also secured through a legislative appropriation for storage facilities scheduled for construction next year. During the first year, farmers were able to cultivate 178 acres by contracting with Great Western Malting. During the second year, the contract doubled to 392 acres with this year’s contract for over 1,000 acres. The EDC is nearing its goal of supporting farms and developing supply chains. Mr. Meade shared information on the formation of a food hub in Tumwater on Port-owned property to aggregate food from multiple local growers and value-added processors to sell to local institutions (hospitals, schools, etc). A COVID-relief funded emergency food pantry is also offered of produce grown by local farmers. Councilmember Cathey complimented and thanked Mr. Meade for his good work and efforts. Mr. Meade acknowledged the involvement of the other partners to include the City of Tumwater and WSU Extension. Each success helps to build the program and demonstrates how all the partnerships, the research, and all the components have joined through the years enabling greater success each year. City Administrator Doan referred to ways to support entrepreneurs. Following the education program launched by the college, the partners considered ways to provide assistance to graduates who want to start a business. The concept of a start-up center was generated. The study for the center was funded by CERB, City of Tumwater, and SPSCC. The study examined the components necessary to establish a start-up center geared to existing small craft beer producers consisting of tasting room space and shared space and located in an area that attracts consumers, such as the Craft District to take advantage of the amphitheater, trail system, the golf course, Tumwater Brewfest, SPSCC, Heritage Brewing, and visibility from the freeway to assist in building audience awareness. The goal was to provide a co-location to enable small business owners to create relationships and share in marketing and collaboration. The study envisioned small tasting, production, and bottling/canning facilities in one location. SPSCC volunteered to lease its production equipment and canning equipment. The current plan is factored on SPSCC sharing its production equipment with small business owners with shared tasting room space. Conversations have been ongoing with Mr. Peters on ways to develop a facility that could utilize the state funding to develop a space TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 11 in the Craft District for up to five brewers, distillers, and cider-makers. City Administrator Doan responded to questions about changes from the original plan for financing and launching the project. The initial plan was developed prior to the pandemic and the costs at that time were based on a 5,000 square-foot building for five tenants. The City sought $1 million from the Legislature to help fund the concept but only received $200,000. Since funding was insufficient, a new concept was developed of a production facility at the college site with tasting space shared by the producers. The proposal has scaled both because of the market as well as the amount of the funding received from the Legislature. Next steps for the Craft District include construction of the market building within the next few weeks followed by the bank and the coffee shop. The residential project is scheduled to start this year. That project consists of 90 residential units of market-rate housing. The Development Agreement between the City and the Craft District ties the construction and relocation of Tumwater Valley Drive to both the market building and the residential project. The college has expressed interest in featuring a rickhouse within the Craft District. Councilmember Cathey requested a more in-depth review of the residential project at a future worksession. Mayor Pro Tem Althauser thanked the presenters and staff for sharing information on all the efforts. City Administrator Doan thanked the Council for having the faith and trust that the efforts could help serve as the future for the City. MAYOR/CITY City Administrator Doan reported the Thurston Climate Action Team ADMINISTRATOR’S (TCAT) has contacted the Council to engage in conversations about green REPORT: energy and climate change response. TCAT’s aggressive proposal calls for the three largest cities and Thurston County to move forward with a series of measures to address climate change. The intent is to meet individually with Councilmembers to lobby for budgeting for those efforts. He encouraged the Council to meet with TCAT but refrain from any budget commitments as the request to the jurisdictions is for $3 million, which divided by four jurisdictions still represents a substantial amount of money. Councilmember Swarthout reported she and Councilmember Agabi met with TCAT members. They focused the conversation on three main areas of interest rather than considering the entirety of recommendations in the TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 12 report. a. COUNCIL City Administrator Doan advised that the conversation is a follow-up to a COMMENTS: request to discuss Council comments. The Council has a set of extensive Council Rules, which provides guidance in terms of comments offered by Councilmembers both as a private citizen and as a member of the Council. He referred the Council to Rule 4.12 for guidance on Councilmember comments, as well as a subsequent section on rules pertaining to discussions at the end of meetings for other business. He referred to Section 28-2, the no surprise rule, which speaks to the Council’s respectfulness of avoiding surprises to either the Mayor or fellow Councilmembers. Rule 18 speaks to conflict of interest between personal and City comments, and roles as individuals and as Councilmembers. As an elected member of the Council, each member is a citizen of Tumwater as well as a Councilmember and that can present some challenges when speaking as an individual. He encouraged members to review Rule 18 for guidance. Rule 26 speaks to how rules are enforced. City Administrator Doan advised that the reference to Council Rules was sparked by a request by a Councilmember to discuss Council comments as they occur during a Council meeting. Councilmember Cathey requested clarification as to the definition of Council comments as it could pertain to comments offered at the end of the meeting agenda or comments during the course of a meeting. City Administrator Doan cited Sections 12.2 and 12.3 that speak to Council Reports and how the Council should address other business. The provisions speak to designating five minutes for each Councilmember at the end of the regular meeting to be used at their discretion for reports on activities or issues arising from their service as a designated City representative, as well as comments that are specific to City business, events, and activities. When the Council created the rules, the Council agreed to incorporate specific guidelines limiting comments to City business. Discussion ensued on what constitutes a City business or activity and how Council Rules are applied concurrently enabling comments that are specific to City business. The rules also include guidance of Council interaction during meetings and interpersonal behaviors. City Attorney Kirkpatrick shared that the Council Rules enable some latitude to the extent a Councilmember announces an event or activity in the City that benefit the residents of the City. Some guidance was incorporated to enable comments for Council Reports for City sponsored TUMWATER CITY COUNCIL WORKSESSION MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING June 14, 2022 Page 13 events and meetings. The presiding officer of the meeting would interpret the rules if necessary and that process is defined in the rules. Several Councilmembers shared how they rationalize whether their respective comments are connected to or specific to City business. City Administrator Doan encouraged Councilmembers to contact him or City Attorney Kirkpatrick for additional guidance on examples of comments that veer outside of acceptable Council boundaries. The Council and staff discussed dynamics of Council discussions, differences in opinions, voting, and the ability of moving on following a difference of opinions. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Mayor Pro Tem Althauser adjourned the meeting at 8:24 p.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net