The Yakima Arts Commission on June 5 approved a slate of artworks to wrap downtown trash cans and utility boxes, set stipend rules for artist payments and directed staff to collect final, print-ready files from selected artists within a day.

The vote follows a months-long call to artists and a second round of submissions. Commissioners and staff ranked designs by show of hands and agreed to prioritize pieces that received at least a majority of votes during the meeting. Erica McNamara, the commission’s staff liaison, told the group, “We have roughly $2,000 left,” and reminded commissioners that larger seasonal programs already account for most of the commission’s annual funds.

Commissioners said the selections will be added to the city’s art bank and used as the city calls for wraps. The commission agreed that stipends tied to trash-can artwork are $250 per artist per award; a single artist who submits multiple accepted images receives one stipend for that artist rather than a stipend per image. Commissioners also discussed how to distribute multi-panel artwork and whether a single image should be wrapped on all four sides or paired with companion images on opposing sides of a can.

During discussion members flagged a potential conflict of interest: a newly appointed commissioner, Sylvia Marcel, had submitted art earlier in the application cycle before her appointment. The commission decided to remove Marcel’s pieces from the current vote and to seek legal clarification on whether those earlier submissions may remain eligible; the group agreed Marcel should not vote on any item that could benefit her as an artist. Commissioner Risha Cosby said, “I disagree, but I will yield to the majority,” while the commission sought a legal check to establish a clear precedent for future cycles.

For utility-box wraps, the commission prioritized designs that use lighter colors at the request of the city utilities department; darker wraps can increase heat absorption on electrical equipment. The commission placed Ash Cardenas, Jacob Sanford, Eva Sanchez and Ellie Brown among the top-ranked utility-box selections (ties and vote counts were recorded during the meeting) and instructed staff to request high-resolution files from those artists.

Action items recorded during the meeting include staff obtaining final artwork files from selected artists as soon as possible (several commissioners asked for files by the following morning), verifying eligibility of any submissions from current commissioners with legal counsel, and adding all approved pieces to the city’s art bank for future use. Commissioners also discussed staging the production of wraps across fiscal years to match available budget and the city’s installation schedule.

Less-critical details discussed near the end of the meeting included how many distinct trash-can units are currently available for applying artwork (staff said not all cans are yet in hand), how artists’ multiple submissions might be distributed across multiple cans, and the technical plan to template and scale proofs so wraps print and apply correctly.

The commission adjourned after recording the selections and scheduling next steps; a motion to adjourn passed by voice vote.