Vancouver City Council

0:00 (upbeat music) - Good evening, welcome to Vancouver City Council. Today is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. We have just returned from executive session. We're now in our regular meeting.

0:58 Would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? - I pledge allegiance 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. - Thank you, Ms. Stoller, please call the roll. - Council Member Harless. - Present. - Perez. - Present. - Fox. - Here. - Paulson. - Here. - Hanson. - Present. - Mayor McEnerny-Ogle. - Present. - Move to excuse Stauber, Council Member Stauber. - Seconded by Harless. All those in favor say aye. - Aye. - Opposed? Motion passes, thank you very much. We have a quorum. This is the public hearing. This is an ordinance of the City of Vancouver relating

1:58 to changes to the bylaws of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority, adopting an amendment to section 2.09 of the bylaws clarifying the employment status of the executive director. Staff? - Thank you, Mayor, members of the City Council. I don't have a remote, so are you gonna run the presentation for me? That'd be awesome, thank you. Just while the presentation is queuing up, Mayor, members of City Council, for the record, I'm Jeff Towry, Deputy City Manager. This issue was before the Council two meetings ago and remanded back to staff for additional work. You had your first meeting at your meeting last week, and tonight I'll run through the staff presentation and open it up for questions, comments, and a public hearing.

2:56 So, we'll briefly review public development authorities, the history of the Downtown Redevelopment Association, and background, the city and the DRA relationship, opportunities for future collaboration, the prior Council review, and the proposed action for tonight. Next slide, Sarah, thank you. So, public development authorities are established under Washington state law. There are 70-ish or so, based on our last count, in the state of Washington, governance and operations vary widely. Some operate with separate staff and an operational infrastructure. Some depend entirely on the sponsoring city or county for staffing and administrative support. Our DRA has a separate board appointed by the City Council. Staff support has historically been provided by city staff and at least partially reimbursed by the DRA.

3:51 Our DRA was established in 1997 under that public authority. The Convention Center and Hotel opened in 2005. The charter was amended by the City Council in '06 to focus on the development and management of the Convention Center and Hilton Hotel. Those properties are owned and managed by the DRA. Next slide. The seven-member board of directors is appointed directly by the City Council. The DRA executive director has historically been an Atwell City employee, except for about two years of the 30-year history, and based on the recent DRA bylaw change. All the staffing and support for the DRA, including admin, finance, IT, and such, is provided by the city. City support expands the amount and lowers the cost of DRA debt through debt service guarantees and a pledge of lodging tax. There are currently two refinanced bond issues,

4:49 both refinanced in 2013, one where the city provides a debt service guarantee that matures in January 2044, rather, and then there are tax revenue bonds where there's a pledge of 2% lodging tax to support the debt payments. That matures in January 2034. Thank you, next slide. The city and DRA have been collaborating on a series of planned or proposed redevelopment projects in the downtown area, including the expansion of the convention center to grow capacity, attract more events into visitors, the redevelopment of properties owned by the city behind City Hall, and adjacent to the convention center, which may evolve into mixed-use development, active public space, and there's also been long-discussed proposed referring arts center that might be located on that city-owned property behind the convention center, and ultimately will require substantial investment by the city, next slide. Pursuant to the law, the city is responsible for overseeing and correcting deficiencies

5:48 in the DRA's operation, including board governance lapses. The city council amended the charter on three previous occasions to refine its mission and address changes to the DRA's operation and manage risk to the city. Previous ordinance was approved on consent by city council February 23rd and remanded back to staff on March 2nd to clarify the role of the DRA board in appointing the executive director, the amended bylaw language is in the current ordinance and it's intended to address the issues by retaining the DRA's role in the appointment process, next slide, and specifically we asked you to advance the ordinance that amends the bylaws for the DRA, clarifying the appointment status of the DRA executive director, setting a date, and today is the date for the second reading and public hearing, happy to answer any questions if you have them now or after the public hearing. - Councilors, do you have any questions of Jeff now?

6:45 - Thank you, let's go ahead and open the public hearing. Ms. Dollar, I have no yellow cards, do you have any cards of anyone wishing to testify on this? Are there any online registrations for this? Then I'll close the public hearing, bring it back to council. Councilors, what would you like to do? - Move to approve the ordinance. - Fox, seconded by? - Perez. - Perez, any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote please. - Council Member Harless. - Aye. - Perez. - Aye. - Fox. - Aye. - Paulson. - Aye. - Hanson. - Aye. - Mayor McEnerny-Ockel. - Aye, motion passes unanimously, thank you very much. That concludes the public hearing and the business of the council.

7:43 Council will now adjourn for a quick bite to eat. We'll be back for the community forum at 6.30. Thank you so much.