Yelm council delays adoption of Thurston County hazardous-waste plan after questions on population data and equity language

The Yelm City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to decline adoption of Resolution No. 661, which would have adopted the 2025 Thurston County hazardous waste management plan. Council members said they needed more information about the plan’s population projections and language on racial equity before approving the county document.

The council’s action came after an overview of the plan by Kimberly Graham of Thurston County’s solid and hazardous waste program, who said the update mainly refreshed data in a plan that had not been substantially revised in more than a decade. “The only substantial change had to do with signage that needs to go in oil collection facilities,” Graham said.

Council member Mike Crossman said he spent substantial time reviewing the draft and raised two primary concerns: the plan’s population figures for Yelm and sections that reference racial equity. “I was concerned that the population demographics listed ... showed 13,000 in 2045,” Crossman said. “I’ve never seen that statistic anywhere. Everything I’ve seen has been well over 20,000.” He also objected to wording in the draft which he said described racism as a crisis without providing examples or proposed solutions. “If it is a problem, let’s tackle it,” he said.

Councilor Johnstone (first name not given) responded that the plan cites a county proclamation: “The Board of Health proclaimed racism a public health crisis on 03/02/2021,” he said, and noted the document references Thurston County’s racial equity work. Councilor Wood and others said the council needed clearer sourcing for the population estimates and an explanation of why demographic and equity material appears in a hazardous-waste plan.

Councilor Hess moved to adopt Resolution No. 661; Councilor Kaminski seconded. A roll-call vote produced three yes votes — Kaminski, Hess and Kinghiser — and four no votes — Johnston, Crossman, Richardson and Wood. The motion failed 4-3.

After the vote Mayor Joe Pinto directed that the item be passed to the council’s public services committee and returned to a study session so Thurston County staff can answer the outstanding questions. Kimberly Graham said she would follow up on the source and methodology for the population projections and other clarifications requested by council.

Discussion only: council members reviewed the plan’s chapters, asked for the data source for projected population and questioned how a county racial-equity reference relates to hazardous-waste operations. Direction: the council voted to refer the item to the public services committee and requested County staff provide written clarifications before a future vote. Formal action: the motion to adopt the resolution failed.

The council record shows the item will return for committee review and study-session discussion; no changes to city policy or county adoption resulted from Tuesday’s vote.