At the Tuesday Richland City Council meeting the council plans to reschedule three upcoming meetings and have a secret, executive session to cover the broad category of “current or potential litigation.” How potential does potential litigation have to be?

You can still watch the meeting on CityView Channel 192 and the City’s YouTube Channel but Zoom will be eliminated according to this week’s agenda and confirmed by City Manager Jon Amundson in an email to the Observer. If you have a hard time attending the meeting in person, “you may request to provide comments remotely,” according to information in the agenda.

The meeting changes are as follows:

Aug. 2, city council meeting will be moved to Aug. 1 so councilmembers can attend National Night Out on Aug.2.

Aug. 23, workshop meeting will be moved to Aug. 30 because the strategic planning consultant wasn’t available on Aug. 23.

Sept. 6 city council meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m. to provide extra time to discuss the strategic plan.

The council is only required by the municipal code to vote on the two regular meeting changes as workshops are considered special meetings.

Page numbers below correspond to pages in the information packet that accompanies the agenda.

1.Dr. LoAnny Ayers, President & CEO of United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties updates the council on the United Way.  Pg. 3-12

Public Hearing – You have three minutes to comment on the following items:

2. Proposed amendments to the 2022 budget. These include funding changes for transportation, fire, and wastewater. P. 117-121

Public Comments – You have 2 minutes to make a comment about anything you want. If you have a question, pose it and ask for a follow-up.

3. Approval of the July 5, 2022 city council meeting.

4. A $1500 fee is required to receive temporary construction water from a fire hydrant. This modifies the code to clarify the billing procedure.

5. This item cleans up the code references to binding site plans. The Richland Planning Commission was replaced by a hearing examiner for these matters. Other provisions in the code have to be updated to reflect that. Pg. 21-25.

6. Palouse Power will be paid $660.290 to replace the current streetlights with LEDs. Pg. 26-29.

7. This authorizes the staff to make grant applications to the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments for various transportation projects. Pg. 30-32.

8. Checks for June. Pg. 33-115

9. Rescheduling meetings. Pg. 116

10. Amending the 2022 budget. See Item 2.

City Manager, Mayor and Council blah, blah, blah

Secret, Executive Session to “discuss current or potential litigation with legal counsel”