Auburn City Council held their biweekly City Council meeting virtually and in person on Monday, March 16^th. All Councilmembers were present virtually through video. Mayor Nancy Backus was the only one in person at City Hall. The public is encouraged to watch the meeting via live stream, or call in on the phone.

First on the agenda was an appointment. City Council appointed Waylon Menzia to the Transportation Advisory Board for a three year to expire in 2022.

Next on the agenda was a public hearing for Right of Way Vacation v1-19 which is an alley near B St. NE. One resident said that if the City keeps vacating alleys, that the downtown area will start to get harder to get out of. They stated that the city will get more “dangerous” due to this alley vacation.

After that was the Audience Participation portion of the agenda. One citizen came to speak in person and said that they were tired with the Coronavirus pandemic and they say many people are losing business to this pandemic and they also stated that they are tired of politicians telling them how to run their life. There was one written communication that talked about safety hazards that the City is allegedly ignoring.

Next on the agenda was the Finance Ad-Hoc Committee’s report, which included Payroll Vouchers totaling $5,089,829.16 and Claims Vouchers totaling $2,350,443.64.

Then the council approved the consent agenda which includes the minutes of the March 2^nd Special and Regular City Council Meetings, the Payroll Vouchers, and the Claims Vouchers.

After that was Ordinances and Resolutions, the first of which was Ordinance 6759 which vacated the alley right of way mentioned above. The Ordinance passed 7-0. Next was Resolution 5502 which approves the Lodging Tax Grant Disbursements as recommended by the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee in the City of Auburn.

Lastly was Mayor and Council Reports. Deputy Mayor DaCorsi, CM Trout-Manuel, CM Baggett, CM Brown, CM Jeyaraj, and Mulenga had no report for the evening. CM Stearns talked about a meeting he recently attended virtually. Mayor Backus said that the Auburn team has been working for the safety of residents during the CoVid-19 pandemic. All city buildings are closed to the general public Monday, March 16th at 5pm, the only exception is for City Council Meetings and Study Sessions. The public is encouraged to watch/listen to these meetings virtually. CM Stearns and Trout-Manuel thanked Mayor Backus for her continued leadership through this pandemic.

City Council Study Sessions begin at 5:30pm and are held in the City Council Chambers at Auburn’s City Hall. Currently the public is highly encouraged to attend the meeting by clicking on the link or calling into the meeting at the phone number listed below.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/420306048

Meeting ID: 420 306 048

One tap mobile
+13462487799, 420306048#

Dial by your location
+1 346 248 7799

If you are unable to make the study session, you can watch live on Comcast Channel 21, or on Auburn’s YouTube channel watchauburn. If you miss the livestream, the meetings are recorded and hosted for future viewing.