The St. Helens City Council on Jan. 7 authorized the city administrator to develop a request for proposals for the city's water taxi and voted to declare the tram surplus, moves framed by public criticism of the city's handling of tourism assets and questions about transparency.

The council vote to authorize an RFP for the water taxi followed an earlier failed attempt to immediately deem the vessel surplus. Council president Chilton moved to authorize the administrator to prepare an RFP and the motion was seconded and carried by the council.

Public commenters used the council's visitor-comment period to press officials over transparency and contractor performance. Tammy Magra read from a text and accused elected officials of redacting records, saying, "You're nothing but a hypocrite," and argued that a redacted review (she referenced the Jim Bant report) should be released to taxpayers. Brady Preheim disputed the council's stated legal rationale for withholding a report, saying the attorney-client privilege explanation was wrong and that "that's a total lie." Preheim challenged claims made about a tourism boat's condition, asserting the boat had "two new motors" that cost "$50,000" and needed specialized synchronization work.

Other residents raised fiscal and operational concerns tied to tourism. Patrick Berkley urged councilors to reconsider selling the boat, noting its potential emergency-use value in a Cascadia event. Steven Toske criticized prior tourism management and said the city should use waterfront development to attract higher-income buyers while expressing surprise that the police overtime budget had doubled without prior discussion.

On the tram, the council moved, seconded and recorded ayes to declare the tram surplus property. Council members asked staff to return with details about the tram acquisition costs and associated software for an "alien" exhibit referenced during deliberations.

Councilors framed the decisions as a way to either keep the assets in the community or move them out of the city's operational responsibilities. Some members favored owner-financing or lease options to preserve community use while others expressed concern about recouping past expenditures.

Next steps: staff will develop the water taxi RFP per council direction; the tram is now designated surplus and staff will report back with purchase details and software costs. The council removed two agenda items from the evening's calendar — a separate utility rate resolution and an Axon Enterprise agreement — so no votes on those items occurred tonight.