Observing Government

Link to materials: Clark County Council Meetings | Clark County

Observer: Jackie Lane

Work Sessions

Council attendees: Sue Marshall, Glen Yung, Wil Fuentes, Matt Little, no Michelle Belkot

Work Session A: Fairgrounds Construction plan:

• Construction Plan: 041526-work-session-presentation-fmsg-portion.pdf
• Master plan had been previously presented to council
• Discussion on how food is provided during renovation. Permanent food court plus food trucks. Will have fewer than the 16 they have today as they don’t need 16 year round, working on that with vendors. Will have a kitchen available for use by customers renting space.
• Will have a new rentable space that can be split into smaller spaces, example for meetings, etc. They are getting requests for smaller spaces.
• (A&E in the presentation is Architecture and Engineering). Want A&E for future projects included now to prevent re-work later.
• Matt wants more information on each project. Asked a bunch of detailed questions. Kathleen Otto reminds them that they got all that information at a work session on the master plan on July 9 of 2025. Matt wants to hold this up because he doesn’t remember and/or didn’t bother to look at it before this meeting. Glen – its really not my duty to go through this with a fine toothed comb, I just want to understand the process… (FYI, Matt was at that earlier work session).
• They display the presentation from that meeting: 2025-clark-county-event-center-master-plan-presentation-final.pdf
• Only the main event hall is currently climate controlled, so the other buildings can’t be used most of the year. Also, many buildings are very old and will stop being useable if not addressed soon, causing lost revenue.
• Matt asks for revenue for each building. They will provide.
• Matt – this doesn’t contain any of the information he wants. He seems to be looking for a full on business case.
• The current food court is about to fail, and they lack climate controlled buildings. They will lose revenue when that happens. They have had activity every weekend during their event season for the last 2 years.
• Kathleen talks about the work, including public outreach, work for over 5 years to get here with this plan.

Work Session B: Fairgrounds Capital Project Financing:

• Financing: Presentation Title Mark Gassoway presenting.
• Funding source is state sales tax credit for regional projects. Comes out of the part of sales tax that goes to state, so not new tax. Was used for Exhibit Hall construction. If they don’t have a project they don’t get the money. Revenue can only be used for Fairgrounds, as that had to be specified in order to get this $ in the first place.
• Hotel/motel fee also used for this.
• Revenue from operations – example, the fair, other rentals.
• This work enhances revenue capability through year round use of more than just the exposition hall.
• Explanation of why issue debt to do this. How this maximizes the use of the money and allows the work to be done sooner. Discussion of the benefits of different bonding terms.
• All in support of 30-year bond issuance. (Michelle absent).
• Will prepare docs to come back to council in early August based on today’s meeting.

Council Time

Agenda: Clark County Council Meetings | Clark County

Council attendees: Sue Marshall, Glen Yung, Wil Fuentes, Matt Little, no Michelle Belkot

Agenda changes – added a request for a grant. Added and subtracted executive sessions.

ECHO systems analysis request – was brought up at 4/1 meeting, but tied 2 to 2 (Michelle and Matt against) so back. Request for $100K echo-combined-docs.pdf Wil adds a lot of information in response to Matt and Michelle’s objections at earlier meeting. Matt asks that actionable items come out of it. Approved 4-0.

Proclamation requests – of them, Per Jordan, it is ‘proclamation season’. Court Employee appreciation week. Corrections Officer Week. Peace officer memorial day. Older Americans month. Pride month. All approved.

Support for a wood innovations grant for Western Forest Products from the Federal government. Glen questions doing a letter of support for a for-profit entity (usually these are for non-profits or other government agencies). Legal responds about the appropriateness of this. Approved.

Councilor reports:

• Matt – update on Skamania hatchery (WDFW planned to close – due to funding issues. County supported keeping open). Got more funding but not enough. Matt toured with MGP, who is looking to see what she can do. A lot of orgs trying to save it.
• Matt – Opiaite abatement council got 12 proposals, which they are reviewing. Decision in next couple of weeks.
• Sue – Greg Kimsey will be getting a ‘call to service’ award.
• Wil – ECHO put together a panel of law enforcement officers, asked questions on how they deal with homeless issues. They are not prepared to deal with mental health issues. Need resources to deal with that and other homeless issues. Jail also dealing with capacity issues for homeless folks. Resources should be spread out across county, not just Vancouver. Glen added that the system relies on Law Enforcement when they should not be the solution. Importance of working across jurisdictions on solutions and best practices. Recording of the forum is available on CVTV.org.

Work Session request: North County Recycling & Transfer Station Siting Study update. Approved.

Policy updates: America 250. Jordan met with organizers. A lot of events are being put together. Also Service Days. https://www.visitvancouverwa.com/ or Explore History in Vancouver, WA | Clark County Historical Museum for info. No big fireworks display planned.

Executive Sessions (3). After action: Approved to Indemnify Kathleen Otto for costs related to lawsuit from Rob Anderson.