Board Meeting Minutes
Board Meeting Minutes
Call to Order
Chairperson DeVaney called the meeting to order at 2:00 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, Absent
Steven Jones, Ph.D., County Representative, Present
Juliet Potrykus, Large City Representative, Absent
Hilda
González, Ed.D., City Representative, Present
Jon DeVaney,
Member-at-Large, Present
Staff present: Marc Thornsbury, Executive Director
Changes to the Agenda
DeVaney asked if there were any changes to the agenda. None were requested.
Public Comment
DeVaney asked if there were any public comments. None were offered
DeVaney asked if there were any corrections. Jones moved to approve the August 13, 2026, minutes. González seconded. Motion passed 2-0.
Payroll Transfer Authorization for July 2026
Jones moved to approve the July 2026 payroll transfer. González seconded. Motion passed 2-0.
Vouchers for August 2026
Jones moved to approve the August 2026 vouchers. González seconded. Motion passed 2-0.
Executive Director’s Report
Thornsbury noted the Agency staff continues to work on processing the large number of public records requests received by the Agency. He added the requests covered a broad range of topics with a number of them large in scope and/or covering a time period of many years. Thornsbury stated staff has largely managed to keep up despite the challenging nature of the requests.
Thornsbury stated considerable staff time continues to be spent processing permits.
Thornsbury explained that difficulties with providing access to some of the video recordings of board meetings required staff to investigate video hosting services that would allow access in a manner more cost effective than hosting through its web site. He noted a provider had been selected that would likely cut hosting costs by half and work continues on posting videos and making them available to the public with the expectation all would be available within approximately a week.
Thornsbury stated staff just started preparing for an eventual update of the Agency’s regulations the feed into the State Implementation Plan (SIP). He added the first item is to lay out a framework for review of the existing regulations and cautioned this is just the very beginning of a lengthy process. Thornsbury explained the initial steps are focused on documenting areas where review and potential update appear necessary or warranted at the time issues are discovered, resulting in a list that can then be worked through with recommendations presented to the Board.
Thornsbury noted work continues with regard to recruiting and some updates to the Agency database. He explained the latter involves bringing elements of Agency operations that are currently maintained manually into the system resulting in improved visibility and reporting.
Thornsbury stated air quality has generally improved due to some rainfall and a reduction in the number of active wildfires, but cautioned there will almost certainly be some extraordinary events in 2026 and the impacts of wildfire in the lower Yakima Valley will show up in the monitoring data. He added there is hope the worst of the season is now past.
Thornsbury reminded the Board of the Governor’s burn restriction and note staff are gearing up for a relatively short, two-week residential burning window this year. He added the Agency is already receiving queries regarding residential burning and expects the first half of October to be busy.
González asked if the meeting recordings were hosted on Zoom. Thornsbury explained current meeting recordings are hosted by the Yakima Public Affairs Channel (Y-PAC) and the Agency has hosted earlier recordings on its web site. He noted the space requirements exceeded what was available so a dedicated video hosting provider was secured at about half the cost. González asked if the provider had already been selected. Thornsbury affirmed.
González noted Zoom is used to provide live access to the meetings and asked if the Agency had a license for its use. Thornsbury confirmed the Agency has and pays for a license. González noted Zoom has the ability to record meetings and asked if it could be used to provide access to those recordings rather than another service. Thornsbury explained Zoom creates a file that contains the recording of the meeting which must then be hosted. He added whether it is Y-PAC, Zoom, or another recording mechanism, the result is a file that must be hosted—by Y-PAC or a video hosting service—in order to be accessible to the public.
González stated creating a YouTube channel is relatively expensive and asked if that had been considered. Thornsbury stated YouTube had been considered along with approximately a half-dozen service providers before selecting the one considered the best fit and most cost effective for the Agency’s needs.
González noted most small agencies and municipalities do not have a person dedicated to public records requests and asked if a position in the Agency was assigned responsibility for responding to records requests and is the person certified to do so. Thornsbury explained he is the lead person and has completed the required training for public records officers as required by the state. He noted requests are typically distributed to others within their areas of expertise so, for example, financial related requests go to the staff accountant, compliance related requests go to the compliance supervisor, and permitting related requests go to the permitting supervisor. Thornsbury remarked that some requests are narrow and pertain only to one area while others are broad and may involve multiple people. González asked if Thornsbury was facilitating that process. Thornsbury affirmed, adding he insures requests are routed to the proper people given the nature and scope of the request.
Jones asked the name of the credit card processing company. Thornsbury noted it had been provided in the meeting reminder sent to the board members. Jones stated his e-mail no longer works. Thornsbury stated he had not been made aware of that fact and suggested addressing the matter with Jones the following week.
DeVaney asked about Agency recruitment efforts. Thornsbury noted the primary focus at present is on the compliance engineer position. He explained the objective is to have someone who can fulfill the compliance needs while also being able to assist with permitting needs when needed so there is some flexibility with regard to resource allocation depending on the compliance and permitting demands at any given time. Thornsbury added if that can be achieved, his intent is to move the other position to compliance to meet increasing demand so that there are, in effect, three full-time and one part-time compliance staff members.
Thornsbury noted his reluctance to fill the latter position until the former is resolved since the inability to do so would prevent shifting the other position over to compliance. He added that with a limited number of staff, it is necessary to make the most and best use of the positions and funds available so the Agency is better able to adjust to changes in workload.
DeVaney asked what stage the compliance engineer position recruitment was at. Thornsbury stated the Agency is currently accepting applications.
Jones asked if an outside person could be hired temporarily until a new employee is hired. Thornsbury described the difficulty in finding an available engineer with air quality experience because they are in demand and quickly recruited by others. He stated an engineering consulting firm could be retained, but their personnel are often skilled in other areas so the Agency would have to spend considerable time in training the person assigned and, at the same time, pay a premium for doing so. Thornsbury noted that unless the time frame is very long, the Agency would likely get a contract person to full capability around the time it would be ready to terminate the contract. He cautioned hiring an outside firm is typically more expensive than an employee.
Other Business
DeVaney asked if there was any other business. None was presented.
Executive Session
DeVaney announced an executive session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110(g) to review the performance of the executive director. He stated the session would begin at 2:17pm and continue for thirty (30) minutes.
The executive session concluded at 2:47pm and the regular meeting was resumed.
DeVaney explained the Board will continue the discussion at a future meeting in order to provide time to conduct an anonymous survey of agency employees. He added a request for additional information would be provided to Thornsbury at a later date.
Adjournment
Jones moved to adjourn. González seconded. Motion passed 2-0. DeVaney adjourned the meeting at 2:48 p.m.
Jon DeVaney, Chairperson Marc Thornsbury, Executive Director