Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency Board Meeting Minutes
Call to Order
Vice Chairperson González called the meeting to order at 2:07 p.m. in the council chambers, Yakima City Hall; 129 N Second St.; Yakima, Washington.
Roll Call
Thornsbury conducted roll call and declared a quorum present.
Board members: Amanda McKinney, County Representative, Present (via video-conference)
Steven Jones, Ph.D., County Representative, Absent
Juliet Potrykus, Large City Representative, Present
Hilda
González, Ed.D., City Representative, Present
Ranie Haas,
Member-at-Large Alternate, Present (via video-conference)
Staff present: Marc Thornsbury, Executive Director
Changes to the Agenda
González asked if there were any changes to the agenda. None were requested.
Public Comment
González asked if there were any public comments.
Jean Mendoza stated she had requested an opportunity to present to the Board a project offering assistance to persons seeking to purchase an electric vehicle. She added this would significantly reduce pollution in the county and operate similar to the wood stove replacement project. Mendoza remarked the Board did not respond to her request.
Mendoza noted at the last meeting Nancy Lust had asked the Board to consider ways to increase inspections and enforcement. She added it did not appear the Board or staff had made any change to the draft budget to address Lust’s recommendation. Mendoza stated citizens spend time and resources attending board meetings and the Board has an obligation to consider comments from the public and, at minimum, provide reasons why action is not taken concerning recommendations from the public.
Mendoza noted Agency staff presented a preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026-27 in April and a similar draft budget in May. She stated the budget now presented differs from the previous budgets by over six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000), adding this was sufficient cause for the Board to delay adoption of the budget. Mendoza suggested adopting an interim budget and hold another public hearing to evaluate the revised budget. She added the difference of over one-half million is too great to ignore and noted the date appearing on the current budget was the same as the previous draft budget, making if difficult for a person to know which budget was being considered.
Mendoza stated the ending reserve balance for FY 2024-25 was shown as $2,062,568 in the May budget and the same item is shown as $1,459,621 in the June budget—a difference of $602,947. She added the ending reserve balance for FY 2026-27 was shown as $2,138,660 and the same item is shown as $1,535,620 in the June budget—a difference of $603,040. Mendoza asked whether three minutes was more important than one-half million dollars and urged the Board to delay adoption of the budget until an investigation could be completed. She stated the figures were not an error but intentional changes by staff.
Nancy Lust requested that her comment time be granted to Jean Mendoza. She added the discrepancy may have been an error or a logical explanation may exist for the change, but the matter warrants some investigation and explanation.
Mendoza stated Agency staff could have alerted the Board and the public to an error and offered an explanation, but assumed the Board and the public are so retarded [sic] they would not notice the different figures. She added staff chose to slip the change past people and that is very concerning. Mendoza asked how the public can trust information provided by the Agency when something like this occurs.
Mendoza urged the Board to find out why this happened and added the public places its trust in the Board to manage a $1.6 million budget. She stated $600,000 constitutes a third of the Agency budget and the public deserves to know what happened. Mendoza added the budget contains mathematical errors and stated an agency of this stature should provide accurate accounting of expenditures.
Board Meeting Minutes for May 16, 2026
González asked if there were any questions or corrections. Potrykus moved to approve the May 16, 2026, minutes. McKinney seconded. Motion passed 3-0.
Payroll Transfer Authorization for April 2026
Potrykus moved to approve the April 2026 payroll transfer. McKinney seconded. Motion passed 3-0.
Vouchers for May 2026
Potrykus moved to approve the May 2026 vouchers. McKinney seconded. Motion passed 3-0.
Resolution 2026-02 Adopting the 2027 Supplemental Income Assessment Rate
McKinney moved to approve Resolution 2026-02. Potrykus seconded. Motion passed 3-0.
Resolution 2026-03 Adopting the Fiscal Year 2026-27 Budget
McKinney moved to approve Resolution 2026-03. Potrykus seconded. Potrykus asked Thornsbury if there were any substantive differences between the presented and prior budgets. Thornsbury stated there were no differences to his knowledge with regard to expenses and revenues. He noted that after the public hearing, Mendoza had questioned the amount of reserve funds shown and during the meeting Jones had expressed concerns.
Thornsbury stated this prompted staff to review these amounts and no problems were found in the current and prior budgets. He explained prior to two years ago the Agency budget had only reported prior year budget, current year projected, and proposed budget amounts, but did not include actual figures for the prior year. Thornsbury added actual figures were included starting with the previous [FY 2025-26] budget and when that transition occurred from a budgeted amount to an actual amount, there was an error that resulted in an overstatement of the amount of reserve funds held by the Agency.
Thornsbury noted because the current budget reserve fund balance is built on the previous balance, the prior error affected both years. He explained the discrepancy did not change any of the budgeted revenues or expenses and was limited to the reserve funds only. Thornsbury stated when the error was discovered, it was corrected, but because each subsequent year was based on the prior year balance, the correction had a domino effect, resulting in the amount shown in the final budget as presented. He emphasized the correction does not represent a change in the fiscal state of the Agency, the amount of funds that are expected to be received, the anticipated expenditures, or anything else.
Thornsbury objected to the suggestion by Mendoza the correction was an intentional attempt to deceive the Board or public concerning the financial condition of the Agency or that it was a subterfuge. He added staff were prompted to review the circumstances, found the error, and corrected it. Thornsbury expressed his belief it was the most comprehensive budget produced in some time despite the unfortunate impact of the earlier error.
McKinney remarked she found the statements of Thornsbury to be accurate. Motion passed 3-0.
Wage Adjustments
Potrykus stated she had conducted research on how other boards address cost of living adjustments (COLAs) and found they typically approve across-the-board COLAs. She asked if that answered the staff question as to whether the Board approves COLAs or doing so was within the authority of the Agency director. Thornsbury clarified the question was how the Board wished to handle the matter and expressed ambivalence regarding the method chosen, noting in the past COLAs have been implemented by the director as described by Jones while the last two years the Board has been provided a staff report and COLAs were adopted by resolution. He noted board members had previously made conflicting statements concerning the matter and staff only seeks clarification from the Board without advocating for any specific mechanism.
González asked if Thornsbury sought approval of a COLA. Thornsbury stated the question was whether the Board wished to have the director effect the COLA subject to the limitations of the budget or a staff report and resolution brought to the Board for approval at another meeting.
McKinney suggested the resolution be left without an amount specified so the amount determined through discussion of the Board could be written in at that time. Potrykus concurred.
González asked if Thornsbury sought a motion. Thornsbury stated if the Board is making a long-term decision concerning how the matter is to be addressed going forward, a motion would be appropriate. However, if the Board is only addressing the coming fiscal year and wishes to discuss the matter again next year, an informal recommendation would be adequate.
Potrykus moved to have the Board adopt cost-of-living adjustments with a staff report and resolution, sans the amount, presented to the Board. González sought clarification the Board is establishing how COLAs will be addressed going forward. Potrykus affirmed and noted boards typically adopt COLAs so it does not appear staff is granting itself an increase. McKinney seconded. Motion passed 3-0.
Executive Director’s Report
Thornsbury stated staff has been involved in collecting data and noted the inclusion of charts as requested by Jones. He added work continues on several permits that are currently in queue and explained time is also being spent preparing materials for the pending permit process review by the Board. Thornsbury noted work is also being done in support of future data collection and reporting efforts including procedures and system enhancements. He added efforts are under way to develop text that provides information to the public and industry and addresses many of the questions frequently asked of the Agency.
Thornsbury stated staff is considering development of a flyer to assist industry in knowing when, and under what circumstances, it should engage the Agency. He explained this could be provided to cities and the County as well as economic development, and other agencies that engage with industry and could, in turn, get the information to the people that need it.
Thornsbury stated staff continue to work on processing existing permits and addressing current compliance issues. He explained staff has been working on providing additional information and guidance to permittees and others—particularly in regard to common questions fielded by staff so the latter spends less time responding to similar recurring questions. Thornsbury noted this will be an ongoing project and explained this would allow staff to use its time more efficiently. He added staff believe this could help the Agency engage with the regulated community earlier to the benefit of both.
Other Business
None.
Adjournment
Haas moved to adjourn. Potrykus seconded. Motion passed 3-0. González adjourned the meeting at 2:37 p.m.
Hilda González, Vice Chairperson Marc Thornsbury, Executive Director