City Council Meeting March 16, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND, WA — City Council reaffirmed their commitment to being welcoming, addressed a property surplus and potential affordable housing development on Cherry Street, and discussed future water rates at their March 16 meeting. 

The meeting began with recognizing the National Medal Day of Honor, and the Medal of Honor given to Marvin Shields of Port Townsend in 1965. His widow, Joan Bennett, received the recognition on his behalf and said, “I appreciate the town appreciating what he had done. He gave his life for this country, to Jefferson County, for Washington. I appreciate all of you. Thank you very much.” 

Washington state legislation impacts city

The City Manager’s Report was somewhat bleak with the results of the recent Washington State legislative session. City Manager John Mauro reported the Public Works assistance account, an account that funds low-interest loans, grants, and financing guarantees for local governments to repair, replace, or create essential public infrastructure. “It is $375,000 of backfill thrown into the general fund from the public. There's some bond revenue that backs that. So it doesn't look like they're going to have to send any of the funding they sent to jurisdictions,” Mauro said.

Mauro expressed feelings of misfortune that House Bill 2442 was quickly dropped and not reinserted. The city was following the bill of many things, in hopes to apply the use of local sales tax for housing. It would have also broadened the use of local real estate excise tax revenues and allow a new 0.01% local sales and use tax to fund services for families and children.  

SB 6354, a bill focusing on electric transportation, aims to expand electric vehicle (EV) access and funding. The final bill made a big increase in the safety of multimodal transportation, EV programs. There will be delays in some of the funding because of assumptions that some of those projects will not be completed in the timelines projected.

Though the so-called “millionaires tax” doesn’t specifically affect the City of Port Townsend, the final version of SB 6356 removes local public defense funding that would have helped the county and hinders the city’s ability to recoup revenue. 

One positive is the opportunity for a $62,000 Security Grant for firewalls that will not require the city to provide matching funds, as many grants do.

City updates Welcoming Resolution

Council adopted the resolution reaffirming the city's commitment to being welcoming, and clarifying their policy related to non discrimination in the city services, which was presented by the Equity, Access and Rights board. Some of the proposed changes to the Welcoming City resolution came from listening sessions with immigrant members of the community. 

A work group was formed to take feedback from listening sessions and formulate that into language that could be included in this resolution.

Changes include a new line that says the city will work with local housing providers to promote inclusive eligibility practices for undocumented people, and interpretation will be made available at public meetings whenever feasible. Public comments were in favor of the resolution, with commenters stating that  immigrant community members contribute to the city.

Council member David Faber said, “I also note, though, when we take action like this, we do potentially draw the eye of Sauron on the city of Port Townsend, and the fact of the matter is a policy piece of paper is not going to protect this community from the type of thing that happened in Minneapolis… I am willing to support this, because I do think action to send a message of support to our immigrant community is really important.”

Gravity Water System upgrades move ahead

The request of authorization to enter into engineering contracts for assistance with the electric Gravity Water System was granted. This work is part of updating the raw water rate model for the forthcoming year. 

Part of the capital spending plan is adding a pipeline to help fill Lords Lake. The city is 60% through the design process, and have realized that there may not be enough hydraulic capacity in the current pipe. “So, before expending two plus million dollars on that project, we want to get a hydraulic model done for big Quil. down to the lake,” Director of Public Works Steve King said. 

They are currently planning for upgrades without any current system manual, and part of their work involves creating a manual to ensure operating the pipeline is cohesive in the future. King presented a $500,000 estimate for on call services,and for national services line items in our budgets that we could use for small on call services

Cherry Street continues to pose issues

Next, the city presented the Cherry Street surplus, an empty lot that has been the source of controversy in the affordable housing debate. The former City Manager attempted to turn into low-income housing by barging an apartment complex down from Victoria, Canada, to turn into apartments with the help of local housing nonprofits. When this plan failed they were hoping to sell the property in order to pay off the outstanding debt and use the surplus for affordable housing. The likelihood of actually getting revenue from the property is small, according to King, and therefore wouldn't be able to pay their debt fully off. 

The Comp Plan’s new density allowances have created an opportunity to maximize that property value for affordable housing, and the city is hoping that they’ll be able to partner with a housing provider and create affordable housing on Cherry Street.  The city asks that any housing provider that is interested in meeting these objectives reach out. Public comment asked for objectives to include lockers, laundry, showers, and so include the whole continuum of care.

Progress on separating the sewer and water accounts is going well, but it’s tedious work, King said. In the future, water rates will function from two different rate models, establishing the raw water rate for the paper mill, and the city rate for domestic water. There will be public workshops as the rate models are being designed. Council authorized the city manager to contract with FCS Group (Public Sector Utility and Financial Consultants) to update the City's retail sewer and stormwater rate models in an amount not to exceed $100,000.