The Ellensburg City Council voted Aug. 4 to approve the city’s proposed community engagement plan for Comprehensive Plan Amendment 25‑02, which concerns Chapter 9 on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The plan calls for two public community conversations and a subsequent Braver Angels‑style "common ground" workshop to gather and refine community input for possible updates to the comprehensive‑plan chapter.

City Manager Heidi Baron and staff described the two community conversations (Aug. 20 and Sept. 6) as listening sessions that will feed a facilitated common‑ground workshop. Baron said staff has recruited facilitators with Braver Angels training and named facilitators including Maggie Chumley, Emily Jacobs and Elizabeth Dahl to lead the structured workshop. "The intent of that specific workshop... is intended to look at an issue in a community essentially and look at people from different sides or different parts of the issue and finding folks to come together to talk about finding common ground," Baron said.

The bulk of council and public discussion focused on the residency of participants in the facilitated common‑ground workshop. Several councilmembers and members of the public urged that the majority of workshop participants be city residents because the comprehensive plan is a city document and city residents pay city taxes. Other councilmembers and several residents argued that participation should remain open to county residents who live, work or have other ties to the city and that restricting representation could undermine the legitimacy of a facilitated process intended to include multiple viewpoints.

Councilmember Nancy (last name not specified) offered an amendment directing facilitators to ensure a majority of the 12‑person common‑ground workshop are city residents; council debate followed about whether pros/cons on the workshop should select representatives directly. After discussion and a second, the council did not adopt the residency‑majority amendment and instead approved the engagement plan as presented by staff.

Public commenters urged a transparent, fact‑based process and stressed the importance of keeping City Hall and staff neutral observers during the facilitated sessions. The council and staff emphasized that council members would act as observers rather than participants during community conversations and the workshop to preserve an impartial administrative record.

Action and next steps: staff will hold the two community conversations, compile input and propose a mechanism for selecting workshop participants from attendees, then report results and a recommended path for folding any agreed points into Chapter 9 back to council before proceeding to the Planning Commission.