Council adopts hazard mitigation plan; hears water system challenges

Good evening. Welcome to the Orting City Council meeting for September the 9th, 2026. My name is Scott Drennen. I am the Mayor of the City of Orting and I will be chairing the meeting of the Orting City Council. Meeting participation is both in person and virtual. For Councilmembers participating through virtual attendance, please ensure you are attending from a private place free of interruptions or distractions. This meeting is being held in person and through the platform Zoom. A link for virtual participation can be found on the agenda or on the city's webpage. We will start this meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Councilmember Hogan.

To the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll.

Councilmember Torres. Present.

Councilmember Williams.

Present. Councilmember Tracy. Present. Deputy Mayor Sproul. Present. Councilmember Holland. Councilmember Hogan. Present. Councilmember Reid. Present. Roll is complete. We have a quorum. Thank you.

Would Council entertain a motion to excuse Councilmember Hogan?

Yeah, I can go now. Did Councilmember Holland contact you?

No.

You guys are on your own. Motion to excuse Councilmember Hogan.

Two.

Motion made by Councilmember Hogan, seconded by Councilmember Tracy.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.

Councillors will be recognized with a raise of the hand for motions to move, seconded, comment, and question. When speaking, speak through the chair and identify staff by position. This portion of the meeting will have no motions made by the Council and will serve as an information and discussion meeting. Information will be presented to Council and the public to better understand not only current events and activities in the city, but to preview future potential agenda bills to be voted on at a later date in a Council meeting. The Council will have discussion following each presentation by staff and the opportunity to ask questions of the presenter. I will initially call on each Councilmember for questions and subsequent questions by raising their hand and waiting for the chair to acknowledge. Audience members will not be able to participate in this portion of the meeting. Council discussions will be followed by action items moving the agenda bill. First on the agenda this evening is WSDOT's Fist Passage presentation.

Do

we have a representative from WSDOT here this evening?

Yes, they're joining us virtually tonight.

Thank you. Yes, good evening.

Yes, I'm here to give a presentation. Let me see if I can share my screen with you. All right, can you all see the presentation?

Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Well, thank you all for letting me attend tonight. My name is Joey Brunel. I'm a project engineer with Washington State Department of Transportation. I'm here tonight to talk about the SR-162 Ording Vicinity Roundabout and Fish Passage Project that is located just southeast of city limits. So in this bundle, we have a bundle of three separate sites that we're putting together for contract advertisement. The first site is Carrick Creek. It's a fish barrier removal project. It's located just north of the Baxter Manufacturing there on SR-162. The second site is to the east of that, about a mile. It's also on 162. It's a Roush Creek removed fish barrier project. And the third site is at the intersection of Oroville Road and SR-162, where we got an intersection improvement project.

So

the purpose of these projects, Carrick and Roush Creek, they are, the existing culverts are barriers to fish passage. All of you might be aware that the state has a federal injunction in place where we need to replace fish barriers. These two sites are on that injunction list, so the state is required to correct these barriers. Then the third site, the Oroville Road intersection improvement, we're going to put a roundabout there. It's a safety and a mobility improvement project. So a couple of reasons why we're bundling these together is they're all pretty close together in about the same timeline for construction. So it's easier if we bundle them together to have one contractor because we minimize construction impacts to the public. We minimize risk to the schedule by having one contractor. And we reduce costs for all three sites. So I'm going to dig into each one of these projects in a little bit more detail individually. So our concrete there by Burley, or asked for manufacturing, the existing culvert is only about two foot by three foot. It's a pretty small diameter culvert. We're going to replace it with a 30 foot wide by 10 foot tall concrete box culvert. That's a pretty big box culvert, and the soils out there aren't the best. So we're having to do some ground improvements under the structure itself. So we're going to make some stone combs that go down about 20 feet under the structure. So keep that in mind when we talk about in a little bit about the water main that goes along SR-162. The existing culvert is located just to the west side of Baxter Manufacturing. We're actually going to shift it 500 feet to the east. And there's a few reasons for that. The culvert itself, the new culvert, we need to have about three feet of freeboard above the existing water surface elevation to the bottom of the culvert.

And

during construction, while we build this, we're going to build a temporary roadway on the north side of the roadway. You might hear us call it a shoe fly. It's going to be a two-lane shoe fly on the north side. So we'll have two lanes of traffic going through, for the most part, during construction. There will be times when we have a single lane closure where we'll have five or the other. So there will be impacts of traffic at some points. But for the most part, we'll have that two-lane shoe fly when we're installing the culvert. Construction is going to start late spring, early summer next year. So any questions on the car tree site?

Okay,

we'll move on to the roush tree site. Like I said, this is about a mile to the east. This project will be replacing two existing three-foot diameter metal culverts. The structure here is a little bigger. It's 40 feet wide by 12 feet tall. The reason for that is since we have those two existing culverts, it's a braided stream. We're going to try to keep those braids within the new culvert.

Um,

it's just more natural that way for the existing stream. Trying to match what's out there now. This site has the same issue that we have at car tree. We need that minimum three-foot freeboard from the water surface elevation to the bottom of the, um,

the lid of the culvert.

So we're going to have to raise the profile of this site, too. We've got to raise it about five feet. And at this site, we had a house directly adjacent to the culvert with their driveway. And we had troubles tying in their driveway. So what we're going to do, we're going to shift an entire highway about 12 feet to the north. That gives us a little bit of room, uh, to tie that driveway in better to that house. And at this site, we're going to have a shoe fly once again, just like car tree. It's only going to be a single-lane shoe fly since we don't have as much traffic as we have with the intersection at Orville Road. So we'll have the single-lane shoe fly on the north side of the road. We're going to have a temporary signal system there, um, that will give traffic, uh, alternating, uh, times to go. So, this site, once again, just like car tree, will start construction late spring, early summer next year. Then the third site is the Orville Road roundabout that we're proposing. It's going to be a single-lane roundabout. They'll eliminate that stop condition you have now on Orville Road as it comes up to that T intersection. One of the benefits of doing the roundabout at the same time as car tree and the same project, we're going to widen the shoulders from the roundabout down to car tree. So you're going to have four-foot shoulders, um, for that four or five hundred feet. So that's a nice improvement. During construction of the roundabout, roundabouts have a lot of moving pieces, a lot of work. We're going to have to have a single-lane shoe fly during, uh, for construction. So there will be impacts, because they'll have a single-lane open, uh, for the duration of construction. We couldn't get away from that. Construction of the roundabout is scheduled for spring, summer of 2028. So a year after the, the two culpers. The reason for that is car tree needed to get constructed first due to some stormwater issues.

uh, 2027.

And extend until the fall. And construction at the roundabout will start in spring 2028 and extend into the summer. So what all of you might be worried about is the impacts of the city of Oregon's infrastructure. Uh, throughout all three sites, the city's water main, uh, is adjacent to all three sites. Within wash shots right away. So it's a conflict and, um, it's not to get relocated. So we're going to, the options were relocate the water main prior to wash shots project coming through or do it at the same time. Something I do want to point out is the city's water main is in our right away by franchise. So what that means is, uh, there's no property rights, uh, that the city owns. So any relocation costs are, um, the city has to cover. The existing water line is asbestos concrete main that's undersized and obsolete. So this project had the opportunity to upgrade about 1900 feet of water main. We got 1400 feet at the, um, the roundabout and cartridge site. That'll get upgraded to a 12 inch pipe. And that roush creek, you get about 500 feet.

That'll get upgraded to an eight inch pipe.

And the water main replacement will happen at the same time as the wash dot project. So right now, uh, we worked with your engineer, um, consultant parametrics. Uh, we'll get all the water main work in our contract. Um, it's all in the schedule, the working days. So we'll all go out together. So we did look at a few different options before we included this work in our project. The first option was the city could have had a separate project and relocated prior to the wash dot project coming through. Uh, probably not a really good option, but as I mentioned earlier, we had all those ground improvements at car trade where we're going down 20 feet under the culvert itself. That would require the water main to be bored 35 feet below a car trade. It's pretty difficult, uh, uh, access for maintenance and it's got a high cost when you got bored that deep. So, and the city would have had additional costs too. If you would have had a separate project, you would have had, um, traffic control. You got covered by yourself. You got repaving the highway mobilization and just the boring costs itself is pretty spendy.

The second, uh,

uh, option would have been advertised, the city could have advertised a separate project and relocated during the wash dot project. Um, that's not really a good option for the city or wash dot because you would have had two different contractors working in a small work zone. Um, that's just a recipe, uh, for conflict between the contractors, uh, claims against the city and the state because one contractor might have been in the way of the other one. So just not a really good option for us. The third option is what we went with, that we worked with your engineering consultant, uh, to put together. And we partnered together and wash dot advertising the joint project to relocate the water main as part of our project. This cost savings was set up because we share our mobilization. We share on traffic control. And for the most part, wash dot will be paying for all the repaving. Because as I mentioned at card and rush, we get that profile adjustment. We're rebuilding hundreds of feet of road. The contractor can come in there and come in there at the beginning of the project. They can install the water main and any pavement that they were going to damage, we were going to replace anyways. So it's a cost savings for the city. Um, it minimizes schedule risk if you have one contractor doing all the work. And the best part of it for long-term maintenance for the city, the water mains itself are going on the structure. So it's easy for them to access them for any maintenance in the future. And it saves costs if you're not boring, uh, far down below the stream. So we worked with your consultant. We put together the responsibilities in the construction agreement by what wash dot will do and what the city will do. So wash dot, our contractor, will remove, deactivate, and dispose of all the asbestos, concrete, water main that's out there now.

service, uh,

throughout construction because we got, we got to make sure all the adjacent parcels have water service. Our contractor will install the new water main service line and disinfect, flush, and test the new system. So it's just a kind of a one-stop shop for installing that water main. The contractor will do all the as-built drawings that the city engineering department required. And wash dot will administer the contract. So we will have the inspectors out there, and we will process the payments to the contractor. So the work performed by the city is the city will continue to operate the water, uh, system that they do now. And, um, it'll work through us to tell the contractor what needs to be done.

Uh,

the city will provide assistance in just-in-time training for our inspectors. We don't do a lot of water main work, so our inspectors don't. Not all the inspectors have a lot of knowledge in it. But at just-in-time training, our inspectors are going to know what to look for during construction. Uh, the city engineer is going to be available for any questions or field changes during construction. Uh, that was key for us because questions always come up during construction. Um, the city will attend any pre-construction or pre-work activity meetings related to the water main work. So we'll make sure the-the city engineer is there and any concerns that the city has can get shared with wash dot and the contractor. Uh, and the city will provide on-site representation for connecting the live system, pressure testing, and, uh, bacteria testing.

So, the estimated costs.

So all this work in our contract, that's what you'll see in the construction agreement between the city and, um, state, is about 1.59 million. That estimate includes the water main construction costs, and it includes wash dot construction services, engineering charge of 20%, and the indirect, uh, costs are the markups we have to do. We have to include when we do work for a local agency. And during construction, uh, wash dot will, um, invoice the city for all of the construction costs. So we have that reimbursable agreement set up where, um, we can get that water main relocated, and we can just invoice the city. Do you have any questions about any of these three sites or the water main relocation work?

Thank you, Mr. Bernal.

Uh,

first question from Council Member, uh, Reed.

Yeah, the $1.5 million, that's the cost to the city?

Yes.

And the other question I have is the, uh,

completion date, uh, projected.

For the water line and the roundabout and the fish passageways.

Okay.

For Card Creek and Roush Creek, completion would be fall of 2027, and for the roundabout, that would be summer of 2028. And back to that first question about the cost, the, the agreement between the city and the state is at that $1.59 million.

Um,

I believe the total told to the, the council is slightly higher than that, because parametrics had some costs included on that, that isn't in that agreement.

Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Tracy.

Did I understand, uh, when those culverts go in, they're going to be, the, the tops are raised up five feet?

The roadway surface is being raised five feet, yes.

At both those locations?

Correct.

And so the roundabout basically is going to be raised at least five feet also.

We, we will tie back into the existing ground, uh, before you get to the intersection. So it's going to be a hump in the road? It'll be kind of a hump in the road. Yes, it'll be designed to, um, all design standards for vertical profiles.

Okay. Thank you.

Any further questions from council? Uh, Deputy Mayor Sproul?

Um,

I guess more for the city. So we're going to be assisting and training WSDOT for doing inspections. Do we currently have that capability?

I'm not sure.

Do we have staff now that can do inspections that we're going to be training WSDOT to do?

Yeah. Yeah. So, um...

I thought we had gotten rid of our inspectors.

Yeah.

I, I'm not quite sure where, where Mr. Brunel was, uh, coming from on that one that we were looking at bringing in an inspector for, for that, for our portion of the project. But, um, maybe you can review that again, Mr. Brunel?

Yeah, I can do that. And I got my design team lead here with me today, uh, Brayden, and we, I got parametrics. And I know they chatted about this quite a bit. So if you all can give some, uh, chime in on that issue.

Yeah.

I could jump in, uh, Linnea from parametrics, uh, working on this project with WSDOT.

Um,

the specific point for the inspector, um, responsibility through the city is just to provide in-time training. So if there's any specifics, uh, on testing requirements or connections or kind of in the field questions that they might have specific waterline related, um, points that they need along this whole, you know, waterline, uh, construction, they can ask the city and staff that's available, um, as needed.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Linnea. Uh,

um, to add to this, our, our, our operations staff will be heavily involved in it. Also, also there will be a lot of isolation and restoration and flushing of the system. So I think that's what, uh, what, uh, our parametrics engineer, Linnea is, is pointing out. Um, I have our public works director here this evening, if you, if you, if you wanted to comment

on that at all,

on, on your, on your role in the project.

Sure. Uh, this might work for us. Oh, okay. Good evening. Thank you. Can you hear me now? Yeah. All right.

Um, I currently have the contract agreement that was sent over yesterday afternoon that

he's referencing.

And, and there are some things that we want to talk about internally to, to figure out some of those finer points. But it is in the contract that, um, as they mentioned, they're not real familiar with some

water main stuff.

And I think through JC and my staff, um, we can coordinate exactly, um, what it is they

need from us.

Obviously it's our system. So we want to be operating valves and ensuring that our pumps are running and our reservoirs are full and that customers are taken care of to coordinate any, any of those shutdowns. Um, I would anticipate, um, and it's not really defined in here. This was going to be a further conversation as we fine tune this before signing it. This isn't signed yet.

Um,

what it is specifically they need and what it is that staff can provide, like, like the mayor mentioned, we, we do have plenty of folks, um, on staff that, that can assist with things like shutdowns and tie-ins. There is a temporary water main portion of this. I think it was, it was briefly touched on where when they did, I've done a few of these projects myself and when they dig a hole that deep, it's going to be very impressive. You guys should swing by there when, when they get going, but we have to take the water main and move it completely out of the way on top of the ground temporarily. Then as they build the structure, we'll put it, remove that and put it back in place for a more permanent location in the future. So there will be a couple of swap outs, um, testing and reporting, uh, to the state, obviously for any back teeth, back teeth, we'll, we'll follow our normal back teeth sample procedures and pressure testing procedures that we have to follow through AWWA and the Department of Health.

Um,

so I, I don't, those are typically things we schedule well in advance. So everyone on our staff, as well as parametrics and, and washed out contractor will have plenty of, of lead time as to when those disconnections, reconnections and sampling procedures will need

to take place. Thank you. Yeah. Councilmember Therese.

So under, understand this correctly that this is just the 1.5 million is just for a temporary water line to, for those, for the roundabout over here.

All, to my knowledge, all three locations, uh, will require at least two for sure will require the water main to be essentially teed completely out of the way of this excavation. It's going

to be quite large.

And then when they're done and we're healing the road back together, they'll disconnect that pipe, which we will, we've, I've gone through the contract and through the plans to make sure that we're paying for the pipe both times. So when we, the new, the old pipe that they, not old, but the temporary pipe will be returned to the city, that it's our anticipation that we can disinfect those sections of pipe and wrap the ends of them and keep them at our facility for extra pipe for main breaks and those kinds of things. So we'll keep the temporary pipe in house and then install the permanent pipe to be then buried underground and under the roadway to, to kind of live in conjunction with the new fish, fish passage. So that's what, that's what the cost is, is both temporary abandonment as well. Cause we'll be hauling out some of that old AC and disposing of it properly, as well as getting a new permanent, um, restrained joint. Everything's going to be held together real good and, and ductile iron to replace that AC, which is okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

Any further questions from council? Okay. Seeing none. Uh, thank you, uh, uh, uh, director Davison. Uh, thank you, uh,

uh, uh,

for our presenters from parametrics and the state.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. This evening, uh, I have, uh, myself on the agenda for item number C for our water resource recovery facility update. Um, I had an opportunity to talk with each of the council members earlier today of some of the, oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, great. Thank

you. I guess I'm on there two times. Okay. I guess I'm on item B also, uh, schools on discussion, uh, just an update for council, uh, myself and administrator, uh, Wheaton, um, submitted a letter to the state DOT engineer, Andy Larson, uh, to review of a request to keep the crosswalk at lane in place. Um, so that's, that's under review by the state. I don't have any updated information on that.

Um,

and, uh, I see Chief Kerbalik here. There's really not much to talk about

with, uh,

extending the school zone this evening. Uh, what I do want to report is, is that some of the early signage that was put up, I think has been very helpful, uh, to notify citizens that they're entering into a school zone. You may have seen the trailer as you come into town announcing that a school zone schools back in school and, uh, to a pre alert, um,

citizens

are people passing through, uh, on the state highway that there's a school zone that they're entering into. So hopefully that will help out, uh, with the situation some on that. Any questions or comments from Council Council? Uh, that's my read.

Since we're gonna leave

that crosswalk in there and the cameras for the school zone, would it be possible to raise the school zone in that area to 35 miles an hour so that we're not slowing down to 20 for a small section?

Yep. Yeah.

I mean, right now, we're probably still writing tickets, a lot of them for 20 miles an hour when it could be 35.

35, 35. It's my understanding that the school zone speed limit is set by statute. It's 20 miles an hour. I could be wrong there, though. Looking it up. Yeah, all right. I'm looking it up. I'm getting to you right now.

Yeah, I think I brought that up a little bit earlier today.

Yeah, the letter that was written to maintain the crosswalk in its current location, it basically acknowledged that there will need to be safety improvements in that area. of the highway, and it's under review right now. So once we get word back, we'll bring it back to you.

Again, I don't think it works very well going from 55 to 20, back up to 35, back down to 20. I mean, we could leave it at 35 until the new school goes in all the way up to the school. We're probably going to have to put another crosswalk in at Whitehawk.

I believe that kind of defeats the purpose of having the school zone be, the school zone is intended to be a slower zone to protect the kids.

Well, I thought the problem was that we had people speeding through there at 60 miles an hour, and at 35, I don't think it is big of an issue. But that's just my opinion.

Okay, thank you, Councilmember Reed. Attorney Floyd?

Yeah, so, Councilmember Reed, if it is a designated school zone, state statute, RCW 4661-440, does say the maximum speed is 20 miles an hour. Okay.

The reason I asked, I got a ticket about 20-some years ago, 30-some years ago in Algona for doing 15 in front of a play area that had 12-foot cyclone fences on it. I thought it was 25. So, I thought it would probably be different, but that's a state law. The judge told me the city can make their zones whatever they want, but it's not city, it's state out there.

Yeah, well, if it's a state highway, that's when I've been working with Chief Gabrellic on this. If we're talking about the main drag coming in, that is a state-designated highway, so. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions from Council?

Okay.

CNN, we'll move on to item number C, the water resource recovery facility update. I had the opportunity to speak to each of you today about some of the challenges that we've been facing as we enter into the fall. Some of them are pretty substantial and may require us to look at extension of our emergency declaration to be able to work forward through some of the issues. I have Engineer Hungerford here this evening and our director, Davis, and to maybe update from their perspective the report that we had earlier today. Engineer Hungerford, I don't know if you want to talk about some of the issues we've discussed have been regarding, we have the curtain separation in the lagoon. We have a failure in our SBR, one of our SBR basins, and if you wanted to talk to some of,

okay. Thank you, Chief. Can you hear me okay?

I don't know what specifically was shared in the report, but specifically some of the recent events that the mayor was just discussing with relationship to the SBR basin. So one of the decanters, not totally sure what led to the failure, but there's a pipe between the floating decanter and the wall, and that pipe became separated. It's a PVC section of 16-inch pipe that's flanged on both ends, and it looks like the flange on one or both ends failed. And so what happened was that that pipe became disconnected and was temporarily supporting the decanter, and then as these decanters float, when there's no longer water in there, allowed it to, as the water level drained out, it fell. And that pipe is now physically disconnected from the flange and laying on the bottom of the decanter. So essentially what the decanter is is a mechanism that allows the clean water to be flowed over a weir and out through your discharge, through the EQ basin, through your discharge, which is disinfected with the UV disinfection system. I know a lot of you went on plant tours and got an opportunity to see the disinfection system in the basement. So that's where that clean water goes after you settle the solids, decans out. So that whole system is provided by, was provided by a vendor by the name of Aqua Aerobics. They're still in business. And so the recommendation I have to the city is to get Aqua Aerobics out here to do an assessment of that piece of equipment from where it comes out of the wall all the way through it to see, obviously, we need to source a new pipe. There's flexible connections where those flanges connect on each end to make sure that those are ready to be reconnected or if they recommend replacement.

Great, I think, Engineer Hungerford. Director Davison, did you have any comments this evening?

Yeah, I would just echo a lot of what JC was talking about in regards to the lagoon and the curtain. It would also be important, once we get to the levels, that we can do anything with that curtain. It's important to note that while our team was trying to dislodge, a portion of it had gotten stuck in some of the mechanisms in Basin 1. It had actually frayed and gotten in there, that as they were trying to tighten or pull, it was actually coming apart as they were maneuvering it. So it's really not anything you can look at and, you know, boat out there and take care of as you go. It just kind of deteriorates over time, and that's what it's done. Time has not been real favorable to that stuff out there. So the other thing to think about is if we do get the opportunity to get that lagoon down, we can assess that infrastructure underneath. It also has some T framing in there, aside from the anchors that are also drilled into the bottom. It would be an awesome opportunity to take a look at the lining itself. I know that we've had some discussions with the Department of Ecology about the need to beef that up and make sure it's robust. And two layers now is what's required, so that would be an additional opportunity. We also have been working through, and I think we had Glenn here, talking about the importance of controls and the SCADA system and those things being able to talk to themselves. And it's really been a challenge for staff and for parametrics, for that matter, to come out and troubleshoot things when perhaps it doesn't tell the story like we would like it to. You can kind of liken it to it's telling you something's wrong or something's not operating or it's coming on properly, but you can't dive into the actual analytics of what's going on without posting somebody up there and watching the process either fail or succeed without people being in. And we've had some challenges with that as well. The SBR Mixer 1 was pulled. I don't know if you're – I got a little bit more of an update, and we've sent that out for repairs.

That is done.

We're waiting on the sampling analysis plan, working with parametrics to submit to DOE for approval and then comply with the last step, which would be the actual sampling itself. Yeah, we've worked on the PMs on the blowers as well, so our staff is grinding through it and doing what we can to be proactive and try to really it's in need of some repairs. And hopefully, you know, wet weather's coming and fingers crossed. The last thing we want to do is have some other thing go wrong in there that then kind of negates all the successes we had with what Fire Mountain did for us. So there's still a need to get rid of solids and still a need to kind of keep our momentum on this thing and hopefully get it back to where we can just have a couple guys maintaining it.

Thank you, Mr. Davison. Council Member Therese.

Yeah.

So the flange fell off down to the bottom of the lagoon, is that correct?

I don't know that we've determined that fully.

I mean,

layman's terms, when I arrived there, the flange, if you can envision where the large 18-inch, I believe, 16 or 18-inch pipe bolts together with a flange real close to the wall, the concrete wall. It was loose and kind of wedged underneath it, so the whole thing was teetering with all the weight being this way on the bottom of it. And then when it fell, it kind of broke. But we have not been able to really determine. I'm sure JC has because that's what smart people are. But there was a flex fitting in there with almost like two little hinges that fit on both sides of it to kind of firm up that flex connection as it floats within the levels in there. I don't know if we've determined a cause other than just age and wear. But, yes, it broke free from the wall,

sunk underneath.

It was kind of floating free in there.

Did it affect the flow? Did it affect the flow?

It essentially took itself offline. I mean, it doesn't operate at that point.

It drained.

We had to drain it, decant it. Then it fell off some of the standards that Mary was talking about. They sit up on big supports, and the whole unit fell to the floor, which is typically, I think that's roughly about 30 feet deep, JC.

Oh, wow. Okay.

So did I understand that that's something you guys can fix yourself then? Is that something you can do?

No. No? You can't?

I mean, I don't want to say no. Well, of course, we probably could figure out a quick fix for just about anything. I think with a failure to that degree, especially, you know, this type of repair, we rely real heavily with our engineering partners here. And the determination is to get the best bang for our buck would be to get with aqua aerobics the actual design of, and let's fix it correctly. So we'll have to build a new system. It's going to essentially be the same but more robust. Instead of PVC, we're talking about some other pipe materials that may help last, perhaps fortifying those connections if we can, so that those hold a little better and then go through the rest of the components that are currently offline.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, I think the key to it is to find the root cause of the failure of what caused it and then correct it.

Right.

We're even looking at the process with the aeration, with the air moving through the tank itself is creating a lot of movement on that decanter. Maybe that could be a contributing factor. So I think some of that root cause work is happening right now.

Engineer Hunkerford? I've got a photo up there.

Better to explain with a photo if you can see it. But essentially, like Director Davison was explaining, is out of the wall here, so this is in the concrete basin, it's not in the lagoon itself, but out of the wall here, it's that flexible connection, and then you can see the pipe in the bottom here. This elbow is not associated with the system, so it goes from this flexible connection here, there's the pipe at the bottom of the basin that sits on this pipe support that was damaged, to this large, round piece of equipment here, that's the floating decanter. So the top of that opens to allow liquid to flow into it, it goes down through an elbow into this pipe, and then out through the wall there. You can see on the sides there, there's two shackles that essentially act as a hinge that allow it to move vertically up and down, but prevent horizontal movement, so it only flexes in an up and down position, so you don't get your decanter off tilt. But that's the after drainage photo there of the basin itself.

Councilmember Reid.

Is this the first time in this system that this has happened?

Yeah.

So is there a way we can, once this is upgraded, to get the other two cells checked out? I mean, they're probably going to fail soon, too, I would guess.

Yeah, so part of the process with Aqua Aerobics coming out is having them make recommendations. Your existing pipe is PVC. They have since upgraded to a stainless steel option of that exact pipe with the planges on each end. I think stainless steel is extremely expensive, but from a life cycle perspective, how long does the city intend to keep this process operating? PVC is going to last a long time, so if you're going to be replacing this in the next 10 to 15 years, PVC is probably a good option to consider depending on price. But like you said, what's the condition of the other two in the other basin should we plan maintenance to take those offline and replace the pipes as well?

Can we, Corey or you, can we get down far enough to look at the other ones without draining the whole system down as far as we're doing with this one, since it's not broken?

I don't know the specifics of the dynamics of each individual chamber.

All three are identical, correct?

I don't know if they're sized exactly the same.

Are all three? One, I think, is four. Okay.

I think what the hope is, Council Member Reed, is that we can get a handle on the system, on the whole infrastructure that's there, so that we can operate at a level that will allow us to do that kind of thing. Right now, when we lose an entire basin or we have such lagoon issues, it doesn't give us the luxury of any redundancy, if that makes sense. So I think absolutely it is in my, I don't know how far out this is, as quick as we can get, but yes, this would be under normal operating procedures, all things being equal. We would schedule these kinds of things, while the other two basins are running great, and like the mayor mentioned, we're aerating properly. It's just, we've kind of been, as we go to stay above water, so to speak, and I don't think right now we would want to do that. But in the future, absolutely, we want to take advantage of our ability to schedule higher level maintenance, as opposed to just fixing things as they go, yes.

Any other questions?

Okay, yeah, thank you. Deputy Mayor Sprawl?

So how many basins do we have operating right now?

Two. Two?

So when I went there, one was being cleaned out. Is that one now up and running?

Yep.

So, okay, so we're running on two, and we've got one down.

Yes, but as I mentioned in the list I have, there are various components. Blower one is on the fritz, but it's still able to work, but basin three is completely offline, so it's mix and match. But for all intents and purposes, we are processing wastewater into two basins right now as best we can.

Okay, thank you. Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Davidson.

I see no other questions. Okay, looks like we have roundtable discussion. Any items that council would like to bring up to discuss before our meeting, or would you have, is your desire to take a five-minute break and return at 6 p.m. for the business meeting?

Well,

we'll recess until 6 p.m. and start the business meeting at the time. Meeting of September 9th, back into session. This portion of the meeting will allow council to make motions on agenda items. Council discussion may follow once a motion is entertained. Audience members will have the opportunity to make comments on items that are not on the agenda, or may request to provide comment on an agenda item prior to the vote of a motion. Council, do we have any requests for additions or modifications to the agenda as prepared?

Okay.

Seeing none, we'll move on to this portion of the meeting. For public comments, this is an opportunity for the public to make comments to the council about any matter of city business that is not on the agenda. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone who would wish to speak this evening?

We did have one person sign up.

Okay.

Okay, first on our list this evening is Mr. Mason G. Hooper. Okay, I'll read in the public comment rules for you prior to your start. Please begin by providing us with your name and general location of residence inside or outside the city of Orting. If you ask a question of a council, the council's rules do not allow for back and forth dialogue. If action is requested, the chair will refer the matter to the appropriate administrative staff member or to committee. If you'd like to be contacted, please check yes. And I see you've checked that already, sir, on the information contact sign-up sheet. You'll have three minutes to speak. At the end of your time, you will hear an alarm. Please use that alarm as a notification to finish your thoughts. In a sentence or two at most, the chair will stop if the comment extends beyond this time. Mr. Hooper, you're good to go.

Thank you.

My name is Mason G. Hooper. I live in Village Green within city limits, right back sort of near where the drainage basin is. I wanted to actually start with something I didn't include on the form and thank the mayor for requesting an extension of or the permanency of the crosswalk at the school zone. I also wanted to ask that the council consider adding additional signage within Village Green, as it can be very unclear where in that sort of turnoff the school zone begins. Is it within Village Green, right there where the students still go, or is it specifically once you're on the road? Outside of that, I've been seeing a lot of, and I'm sure I've spoken with some of the people here online, discourse regarding the flock cameras. And I wanted to say that irrespective of the legality of these cameras, irrespective of how they're used, I fear that the growing prevalence of these types of mass surveillance technologies will have a chilling effect on First Amendment protected activities. And I don't just mean free speech, but other aspects of the First Amendment, like free association or free travel. The idea that just because I can see you from the public street, that the founding fathers contemplated mass surveillance as we have it now over all streets, I don't really think that that tracks, and I think that people will exercise their rights less often because of that. I know that it's worth sacrificing some of our rights and freedoms in order to have protections, but I have to question, is this sacrifice worth it? Is the continual degradation of our Fourth Amendment privacy really adequate? Thank you. I yield my time. Sorry, it's the first time I've done this.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

The flock issues will be on the next meeting of the Committee of Whole, just for your information.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone online who would wish to comment this evening?

No, ma'am. Okay, great. Seeing none.

We'll move on to the next item on our agenda, the consent agenda. Item A, claims voucher list dated September 9, 2026. Council in the amount of $1,126,973.33, which includes voucher number 59046 through 59096, or excuse me, 98. The electronic fund transfers in the amount of $10,768.11 for a grand total of $1,137,741.44. Payroll voucher. Payroll electronic deposit transmissions in the amount of $288,967.13 for the ground total of $288,967.13 for the period covering August 16th through 31st,

2026.

Meeting minutes, special meeting August 25th, 2026, and council meeting August 26th, 2026. Council, are there any items that you would like to have pulled from the consent agenda this evening?

Move to approve that consent agenda is prepared.

Second.

Motion made by Council Member Tracy, seconded by Deputy Mayor Sproul.

Move.

The motion was to move as prepared. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Aye. Motion passes.

Next item on our item of business is new business, AB 2699, Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is to discussion of the state-approved, FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan as prepared. This evening I have Police Chief Grabelik to answer any of your questions this evening. Council, do we have any questions for this agenda bill?

Okay.

Seeing none, I will entertain a motion to begin discussion.

I move to adopt resolution number 2026-25, adopting the Region 5 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan 2025-2030 edition, and the City of Orting Annex to Region 5 Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Second.

Motion made by Council Member Williams, seconded by Council Member Williams,

Council Member Tracy,

motion to adapt resolution 2026-25.

Comments from Council? We're seeing Council Member Williams can speak in favor of the motion, and then Councilor Tracy. Oh, thank you. Great, thank you.

Council Member Williams, any comments?

Just we've went over this, you know, with quite a bit of scrutiny, and Chief Grabelik has done a great job in presenting it. I think it's just time to pass it.

Thank you.

Council Member Tracy, any comments?

I agree 100%. It would have been done a lot sooner if Pierce County would have got their act together and got it taken care of there. So we've been trying to get it through for quite a while. So I'm just glad we're finally getting there.

Good job. Thank you.

Any comments or questions from citizens?

Okay.

Council Member Hogan?

I just want to thank Chief and staff for the hard work on this process. It's taken a long time.

So thank you.

I totally support it.

Great. Thank you.

Any other comments from Council? Any comments from the audience? Seeing none, all those in favor?

Aye. All those opposed?

Motion passes. As prepared.

Okay.

I have the next item on the list, Executive Session. Any items for Executive Session this evening? None. We do not, Mayor.

Okay, great. Thank you.

At this time, I would entertain a motion for adjournment. Move to adjourn. Second. Motion made by Councilmember Williams, seconded by Deputy Mayor Sproul. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed?

Motion passes. Go Hawks. Thank you.