Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. We'll begin the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Will staff please call the role. >> Council member Schmidt >> here. >> Council member Sum >> here. >> Council member Ingamman >> here.
>> Council member Taylor >> here. Mayor Elliot >> here. Next on our agenda is to adopt the agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda this evening? >> I'll move the agenda. >> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council
member Sumar to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. >> The agenda is adopted. Next, we have public comments. This is where members of the public can address the city council about any local government topic that is not included on our regular
agenda this evening. This is limited to concerns which are relevant to City of Newport affairs policies or practices. We ask that you come up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record, and to limit your comments to about three minutes. Generally, the council will not take any
action at this time, but will refer matters to staff if appropriate. Is there anyone who would like to speak during public comments? No, I'm I'm seeing nos. Okay, with that, we will move on to the consent agenda. Are there any changes to the consent
agenda tonight? >> Hearing none, I'll move the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member Ingamman to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, the
consent agenda is adopted. Sergeant Leget is unable to be with us this evening, so we will move on from the Washington County Sheriff's report to the fire chief's report. Good evening, mayor and council. uh for April or sorry for March we had 21 calls
of service one mutual aid in from Caj Grove Sle Park and uh M Health and then we had three mutual aids out one to St. Paul Park and two to Cottage Grove all for structure fires and then excuse me um this month the fire
department's going to go visit the kids club at Newport Elementary for a career day. Um probably going to be next week but we'll see how it goes. And then at the end of this week, the fire department should have at least 10 uh first responder inspectors all certified
to the state. So >> have what >> that >> have what? >> First respond >> 10 first responder inspectors. >> First responders. That's um what do you want to talk a little bit about what >> Yeah. So they can go through uh complaints for fire codes and stuff like that. Inspect buildings and stuff, you
know, for any fire code complaints, any compliance issues and everything else. So >> Okay. Thank you. I'll stand for any other questions. >> Do you want to speak to the hiring window that you that's open right now? >> Yeah, we did u put on the website that
we are hiring for uh firefighters. Uh the window is open till April 27th. So on the website you'll see our hiring process and you'll see that it's open for a month and then we'll go through the interview uh applicants. um we'll
look at their interviews, score them or applications and we'll score them. Uh they'll do a physical agility test and then there'll be conditional offers made to we're looking hopefully to hire about four people. >> Um once those conditional offers are made, then they'll go through uh medical
and they go through background check and a psych exam. If they pass all that, then they'll get to start the recruitment or recruitment process in uh Newport and go to the academy in August. And then they'll have about 10 months of
schooling before they can do anything. >> Oh, stop making it sound so fun. >> It is. >> But really, what's the best part about being a firefighter? >> Oh, all the time you miss >> the people. >> The people. Exactly. Now, just getting
out there and in the community, serving the community. >> All the I mean, all the fun stuff you get to train on, >> you know, big kids with big toys pretty much. Okay. Do we have any uh questions for the chief?
>> Can I apply? >> Next. >> So, the four hires that you have coming. Um how many of those are backfill versus net new? >> Uh right now, well, we're slotted to have 25. We're at 20. So, we're hoping
to get four in now. And then, you know, maybe next year we'll hire depending on how many stick around and stuff. Usually, it seems about a 50% success rate. You get four, maybe two, stick around because schooling is a lot um with a full-time job and uh family life.
So, it gets a little tough to balance everything. So, we usually lose about 50% and then we'll go through after that you might keep them around for three to five years and whether they move on to another, you know, they move out of the city or move on to another department or it's just too much for them. It all
depends. So, >> is the 25 target um based on population metrics or is there something else that you're targeting that from? >> It's just response. You know, trying to get an average response of uh firefighters to the scene. So, we usually target 25. I know years and
years ago we were slotted to have up to 35, but that was because of the relief association. So, it topped out by population and square miles, but now we're just targeting about 25 people. Okay. >> Thank you. Yep.
>> It's fun, Josh. >> You should sign up. >> You just have to shave. >> Thanks so much for your report. Uh, next we have the engineers report. >> Thank you, mayor. Good evening, members of the council. Uh, two items for formal
consideration. Uh, first is a, uh, partial payment application for Meyer Contracting. Uh Meyer is our contractor for the 2025 street and utility improvements. Uh no active construction during uh during the the past few months. Uh but we did get some
documentation from Meyer uh that constituted some additional payment for work items that was constructed last summer. Uh so the uh this would be partial payment number eight. Uh based on the quantities that we've received and verified, they are requesting uh
$65,834 cents. We be asking or looking for the council to consider partial payment number eight. >> Okay. Do you have any questions on that? >> I'll move that. >> Thank you.
>> I have a second. >> I'll second. So, I have a motion of council member Sumar and a second from council member Schmidt to uh approve the partial payment in the amount stated by our engineer. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed
and the payment is approved. >> And the second item is pertaining to the uh water system uh interconnection project. Uh the uh A1 excavating has uh they've recently installed the uh flow meter that's going to measure the the flu water flow between uh Cottage Grove
into Newport. And uh they also took uh uh receipt of all the control panels for both the uh both the flow meter as well as the uh PRV valve, the pressure relief valve. So installation of those control me control panels started this week. I
think their weather is uh is getting them a little behind, but they are working to have that work completed in the next couple weeks and we should have an electrical service in from Excel uh by the end of the month. The last thing that they'll need to install is a radio
antenna for the SCADA system that uh communicates the uh communicates with the um control system at public works. So hopeful uh that we will have the the system up and running uh probably about midmay. Um but the uh item for
discussion or the item for uh council consideration tonight is an extension to their substantial completion date. Uh the current substantial completion date is on April 16th and because we had to wait a little longer for the control panels as well as getting that service
from Excel, uh the contractor has requested to extend that. um substantial completion date. Uh they've requested to move that to June 5th um just to ensure that we don't go through this process again. Um the final completion date and
the uh and the contract value is not going to change as part of this change order. And we have until the end of June uh is when the term for our grant agreement with uh the 3M as part of the 3M settlement. So again, we're we're
pushing up to that uh that time frame. We do have some contingencies if things uh if we if we don't get that uh antenna installed um in advance, but we're we're confident that we can get this uh work completed within that uh um within the
final completion date, but request the council to consider extending the substantial completion date to June 5th. And that would be under contract change order number two in your packets. >> Okay. Any questions on this at all?
>> Uh, just Mayor. >> Yes, Council Member Sumar. >> This is what we would call a supply chain problem. Correct. >> Yeah, I think you could characterize it that way. Sure. >> Okay. We're hearing about that widely across all industries. Are we going to see that for anything else that we're
expecting to happen this coming season? With most of our street and utility improvements projects, those are those materials are pretty readily available and readily available locally. Uh it's these control panels that that get shipped from um from different parts of
the country. They're all domestic, but that's that's the lead time that that we're dealing with here. So, we don't expect any for this summer. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yes. Council member Schmidt. So for the flow meter, just just out of curiosity, since we're buying in bulk from Cottage Grove, how often are those calibrated
then? Do you know or something of that significance? I I would say that we do we'll probably do that at least annually until we get a good feeling for what those uh flows look like and then work with public works to just to make sure that we have we're comfortable with
where that that level is. They can see that on a daily basis, on a routine basis. we can see exactly what flow water uh is flowing through there at any given time. So I think it'll be a matter of getting used to what that that norm will be and then we can see if things are changing uh unexpectedly then we can
get in there and calibrate that. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Council member, >> what's the status on the pipeline? >> On the uh pipeline on 17th Street. >> Yeah. >> Um we have uh unfortunately not made a
lot of progress. Uh the uh the owner of that pipeline is um uh provided us an analysis on what the uh what the impact to their pipeline would be uh based on the work that we need to do uh to
install the utilities and they've provided us some recommendations that we don't necessarily agree with. So we're continuing that conversation. mayor and councel. Um they provided a report. We were
scheduled to meet with them today. Unfortunately, that fell through. Um we do have a a meeting scheduled on Monday. Uh we'll be able to share our feedback in regards to the report that they provided um and the impacts to their pipe uh in installing the infrastructure
there. So, um it's been uh slow and frustrating um from from staff's perspective. Um but we're hoping to have some some movement soon. >> I think just to provide some clarity, this just relates to a pipeline that's
uh running along is it 17th um street and we started work there uh for some of our influent infiltration on the sewer systems. Um I think the pipeline is uh not exactly where we thought it was located and so we've just been working
with the owners of that pipeline regarding um finishing up that work there and uh what all that would entail. So that's the that's the pipeline question. So well we kind of jumped from water system interconnects which is a pipe to
a different type of pipe. So >> yeah, I'd like to move to authorize contract change order number two extending the substantial completion date to to June 5th, 2026. >> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Taylor and a second from council member Sumar. Any discussion? All those in
favor say I. I. Those opposed and the change order is adopted. >> And then just a maybe a quick update. We had our neighborhood meeting for the 12th Street area improvements project last night. Uh we we filled up the uh the fire training room uh pretty well.
Uh we had it was it was well attended. I think there was a lot of a lot of good discussion, a lot of good feedback from from property owners. Obviously, a project a project like this is uh is a pretty is a pretty big deal, especially when it's happening right outside of your door. Uh so they were there were a
lot of concern. Hopefully we put some of those concerns uh at ease. And I'm sure that not all of them are, but as we work through the project, we'll we'll try to continue to communicate that uh uh with the public, make sure that they have an outlet to be able to uh communicate with
us as well. Uh we are hopeful to bring those plans to the uh council for approval at your next council meeting uh on April 16th. Uh as well as Third Avenue. We are race to the finish line here. Uh and then we will advertise
those projects, solicit bids, and then hopefully bringing those bids back for council consideration uh at your second meeting in May. Thank you. And thank you to the neighborhood for coming to that meeting. It's always great to have sort of robust
involvement and have people hear about these projects in advance rather than being surprised when equipment pulls up outside your door because I know you talk to each other as well if there are people who can't get there. So, um, thanks to everyone for coming out and attending that. And we, we do this with
the hopes that the neighborhood will come, uh, with their questions and get some answers. So, thank you. Any, uh, Council Member Sumar, >> Mr. Engineer, do you think that these kinds of questions that you were answering, are they going to apply to broadly any of the projects that we have, or was there anything very
specific just to this particular project? Is it something we can learn and get a frequently asked questions kind of a dialogue and and just be prepared in the future? >> Certainly. Yeah, I think it's a combination of both. There's certainly there's certainly certain questions that
are that are posed each time that we do these projects. There's there's information that we like to get out in front of each project that's very similar and then but there's always those sight specific uh conversations as well. I I think providing that frequently asked questions is a is a
great idea. I know each project that we do uh with the city, we put a page on the public works site on the website and then we can we could develop something uh similar for the for those uh um interested property owners. We could provide that at that forum I think would
be a a good outreach >> because we're going to have a couple more projects. >> Certainly we're going to have a couple this summer. uh and they'll and but we also try to do like bi-weekly newsletters and and get those in in folks hands and and post on the on the social media outlets for the the city
trying to reach people where they are. So, >> okay. Um with that, I think we're done and we'll move on to the superintendent of public works report. >> Uh good evening, Mayor Elliot and council members. I have nothing formal this evening, but I do have two quick
updates. Um, we've started street street sweeping for the spring. So, um, if you have the ability to park in your driveway, um, you know, until the till the sweeping is done, that's appreciated. It helps us get a get curb to curb and do a nicer job. Um, and then
also, um, we're getting to the age on our water meters where the batteries are starting to die in the radios and that's how we read them. Um, so if you get a hanger on your door that says we need to make an appointment, um, you know, give us a call back. It typically takes 15
minutes to a half hour depending on, um, the how accessible it is and and what exactly we need to do. So, um, but if we can uh, you know, if we can go get by with just hanging hanging a notice one time, it helps us, you know, not driving back, dropping another one off, dropping
another one off. So, um, nothing nothing really that you have to do other than call us and, uh, be there to let us in and, uh, and then we're back on our way. So, >> great. Thank you, Council Member Sumar. >> What is the battery life?
>> Uh, 15 years roughly is what they kind of figure. So, the the original ones were put in in 2011. So, >> I was going to say it's been a very long time since we made the switch over. This is this is one of those type of projects that I think has benefited public works quite a bit by making this
opportunity to read these things remotely. You can drive down the street and read them rather than have to go into each house. So, this was a very big step forward for for the city. >> Yes. >> Okay, >> Matt, I I sent to you you responded to
my email, but when are those courts going to be open at Loveland? Well, the m the nets might be up uh right now. Uh but uh I I didn't get a chance to check in with uh staff this afternoon with all the meetings that were going
>> certainly by next weekend. Should be any day now. All right. Pretty soon. Yeah. >> Get your pickle ball fix going. So, >> yeah. Between patching and uh sweeping and everything else, it's uh >> So, you don't want you don't want to get in way of pickle ball. I've learned. >> Exactly. Exactly.
>> And being outside. All right. >> That's right. Well, and I think too on the street sweeping, just so people understand, they're not really just out there to make the streets look pretty. The street sweeping is really important to keeping our grit chambers more empty,
not getting uh sand or salt or more chemicals out into the river. It's to get debris, leaves, branches, twigs to keep all of that from getting um down into the river. And that's that's it's a
really important component of river health and um I tell you I'm sure the wershed would love it if we would street sweep every week. I mean that's how important they see this as being. So uh it is a good thing to get that done and um just want to good job getting them
out there to do that. So thanks Matt. >> Um next we have the administration report. Mayor, members of the council, no formal updates for tonight, but happy to uh stand for questions. >> Any questions? I think we're good. We'll move on to
mayor and council comments. I just wanted to remind people that this sort of uh mini lunk link mini bus program is supposed to start in about a week. Um it'll operate on Tuesdays. It's a very short time frame. I was 9 to noon, 9 to
2, something like that. They have set pickup spots in Newport. One is at the transit site. Um that's about a block and a half uh north of City Hall. The other is at Red Rock Apartments, which is over on 10th Avenue. But if you live
within a few blocks of those pickup spots, they can swing by and pick you up and drop you off. And it's a little bit of a personalized service. You can explain where it is you'd like to go, whether it's to groceries or a doctor or pharmacy or shopping. Um, you just let them know where it is you want to be
dropped off and then, you know, schedule your pickup time to uh return back home. I'm pretty excited about this. They stay uh fairly local, so it's basically from here down to Cottage Grove, and we're in the cycle. Uh St. Paul Park is part of
our Tuesday operation. So, there'll be stops um in that community as well. So, watch for information from the county on this. This is a program that's actually being operated by them, but it's one more component of transit and transportation in Newport and I'm really excited to see us doing a lot more of
that uh since we had that co break where we didn't have anything going on to help people get around. So that's my announcement. Council member Ingamman, >> I have nothing. and Council Member Taylor, Council Member Schmidt, Council Member Sumar, >> I attended a community advisory committee meeting and we one of the one
of the things we did was provide some updated equipment availability for the city and one of the things is a mower of some kind, Matt, from community advisory. It's a the mower mower
adapter of some kind. We just asked for a a brush mower for like invasive species removal to split with the wershed. >> And I'm happy to say that myself and the rest of the committee approved that. And then there was another another piece of
equipment that we looked at which is the >> street sweeper. >> The street sweeper and they're going to look for a different source of funding for that, but we think we'll be able to provide that also. So, we talked earlier this evening about street sweeping and the com the uh the county is so involved
as the mayor mentioned that they're helping us provide some additional equipment for that. So, it's it is a big deal for us. >> This equipment is more expensive than you could imagine. >> Yes. And they're helping us fund that. So, that helps >> all the residents of Newport.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Bill. With that, I take a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move. Second. >> I have a motion from council member member Ingamman and a second from council member Sumar. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed were adjourned. Thank
you everyone for watching.