At its June 4 meeting the St. Helens City Council approved multiple consent and action items, including an annexation for a Burlock Park property, a zoning map amendment, and two city leases.

Votes at a glance

- Annexation, 58909 Burlack Park Street: Council moved and seconded approval for annexation. Roll call recorded affirmative votes from Councilor Sandeep (recorded as "Aye"), Councilor Johnson ("Aye"), Councilor Anderson ("Aye"), Councilor Hubbard ("Aye"), and the mayor (voted affirmatively in the record). Outcome: approved.

- Ordinance No. 3309, zoning map amendment (property at 70/1771 Columbia Boulevard): Council moved and seconded an ordinance to change the zoning designation from General Commercial (GC) to Holton Business District (HBD). The motion passed on recorded "Aye" votes from council members present; the ordinance was authorized for signature.

- Lease: Columbia Learning Center — Makerspace expansion: Council voted to approve and authorize signature of a lease with the Columbia Learning Center for Makerspace expansion. Motion passed on council vote.

- Lease: St. Helens Senior Center: Council voted to approve and authorize signature of a lease with the St. Helens Senior Center. Motion passed on council vote.

- Consent agenda: Budget committee meeting dates (05/01/2025), council minutes (05/21/2025), OLCC licenses, and accounts-payable bill list were approved as part of the consent agenda.

- Release of Walker report (reservoir construction-defect investigation): Council moved to authorize the city administrator to release the Walker report on the reservoir construction defect and related settlement documents. The motion passed; staff said the contractors had agreed to a $600,000 payment without admitting liability, and the city will publish the report.

Items noted but not finally resolved in the excerpt

- Annexation, 35262 Fir Street (McFerrin): A motion was made during deliberations on this annexation, but the transcript excerpt does not include a roll-call vote for that specific motion. Councilors discussed seeking an explicit attorney opinion on whether a long‑dated waiver in the file satisfies current Oregon statute before finalizing the matter.

What passed and what it means

Council votes authorized staff to sign leases and to proceed with an adopted zoning map amendment. The release of the Walker report ends a period in which the city withheld the construction-defect report under attorney-client privilege; staff said the district attorney had previously upheld that privilege but the council chose transparency. The approved annexation for Burlack Park will change that property to city jurisdiction and subject it to city utility rates and zoning rules.

Council procedures and next steps

For items that passed, staff were authorized to complete signature steps and implement the leases and ordinance changes. For the McFerrin petition, staff will seek a legal opinion before the council takes final recorded action.