At a glance: Council approves consent agenda, adopts comprehensive fee schedule, and authorizes city attorney employment agreement

The Beaverton City Council approved multiple agenda items by roll call during the meeting. Three formal actions recorded during the session are summarized below.

1) Consent agenda: The council approved the consent agenda by roll call (7-0). During discussion Councilor Hassan highlighted an item in the contract review portion of the consent agenda: a contract change for sidewalk improvements at Beard and 150 First. Hassan noted that the city and partners have upgraded 88 crosswalks and intersections to ADA accessibility over the past two years and called the work a major accomplishment.

2) Resolution adopting a comprehensive fee schedule (Agenda Bill 25,050): After a public hearing with no members of the public testifying, the council adopted a resolution to consolidate and update the city’s fee schedule by a roll-call vote, 7-0. Staff said the comprehensive schedule resulted from a fiscal-sustainability subcommittee recommendation and consultant analysis; the presentation noted fees represent about 5% of general fund revenue (roughly $5.6 million of an approximately $110 million budget). Staff described the schedule as consolidating more than 75 existing resolutions into a single, transparent fee schedule, aligning many fees closer to full cost recovery, phasing in some increases, subsidizing others to reduce economic barriers, and removing some fees (for example, refundable deposits and obsolete media formats). The ordinance and associated materials noted some increases will be phased in over multiple years and annual CPI adjustments will apply.

3) City attorney employment agreement: The council held a public hearing required for the appointment, heard no public testimony, and voted to authorize the mayor to sign the employment agreement for the city attorney by roll call, 7-0. Councilors described the hire as the conclusion of a lengthy hiring process and welcomed the incoming city attorney.

Votes were recorded individually by roll call for each motion; each recorded vote on these items was unanimous (7 yes, 0 no). Staff said that in some cases council members had declared conflicts of interest for parts of the master fee schedule tied to business license fees; the city attorney advised the council on options and the mayor elected to proceed without discussion on the item and move directly to a vote to address the unique conflict configuration.