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Council to draft support letter for Rexall building grant; members debate utility bills and potential joint testimony
Summary
Councilors heard a state‑legislative update on utility affordability and data‑center bills, discussed drafting template testimony, and agreed to delegate two councilors to draft and submit a letter of support for a historic Rexall (Antique Mall) building grant before the March 13 application deadline.
Milwaukie — Council members spent part of the meeting reviewing state legislation that could affect local utility rates and discussed whether the city should submit joint testimony. Several bills were mentioned by number, including a measure described in council discussion as the “get the junk out of rates” act (SB 88) and bills addressing data centers and energy affordability; councilors said they would prepare a short, adaptable city letter the council could use to comment in the second chamber as bills move forward.
City staff and councilors also discussed a separate, local request: the Downtown Association asked the city for a letter of support for a state historic‑preservation grant application for the former Rexall/Antique Mall building. The application deadline is March 13; councilors agreed they lacked time to return an item on a later agenda. Mayor Lisa Beatty and Councilor Khosroabadi offered to draft and submit a short support letter on behalf of the council; the mayor and councilor said they would circulate the draft to councilors but could not bring it back for a formal public hearing before the deadline. Joseph (MRC staff) had already sent a separate letter from MRC staff.
On legislative matters, councilors discussed several pending bills related to energy rates and data centers and agreed a short plug‑and‑play city statement about local utility affordability challenges would be useful to submit to hearings in the other chamber. Some councilors said they planned to submit individual testimony if they could not finalize a joint city letter in time.
The meeting record shows no formal council motion to adopt statewide testimony at this session, but councilors reached consensus to prepare adaptable language and to let Beatty and Khosroabadi finalize the Rexall‑grant letter before the application deadline.
