Yelm City Council retreat penciled in for June 12-13 at Quinault Beach Resort and Casino

Yelm City Council and the City of Yelm management team will take a business related trip to Ocean Shores in two months on Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13, at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino for its annual retreat.

According to Kathy Linnemeyer, Yelm city clerk, all of the attendees of the retreat will arrive at the resort by 10 a.m. on Friday, June 12. The first meeting of the short weekend will begin at 10 a.m. and span through 1 p.m.

According to Linnemeyer, the City of Yelm management team and Yelm City Council will use that time during the first meeting to work on budget discussions. The group will have a “working lunch” before the management team breaks away from 1 to 3 p.m. to “do some things on their own.” Meanwhile, the council will have “council-related discussions” during that time span.

“Hopefully, at that point at 3 p.m., we’ll be able to check into our rooms,” Linnemeyer said. “Roughly, from 3:30 to 6 p.m., we will all come back together again for some team building. This is all tentative. It could change slightly.”

Linnemeyer added that activities will conclude on the first day around 6:30 p.m.

The City of Yelm management team will then leave in the morning hours of Saturday, June 13, while Yelm City Council will have a room from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a facilitator to discuss council-related business.

“I think it will be a very packed day-and-a-half, just like it always is. Time will go by very quickly,” Linnemeyer said. “We will have at least one city vehicle.”

Linnemeyer also encouraged car pooling, and said, according to city travel policy, an available city vehicle is the preferred method of travel.

“If there’s a city vehicle available and you want to drive your own car, of course you can drive your own car,” Linnemeyer said. “You wouldn’t claim mileage for driving your own vehicle, unless there wasn’t a city vehicle.”

Additionally, Linnemeyer claimed that Mayor Joe DePinto will work alongside the retreat’s facilitator in order to do some planning. According to DePinto, the facilitator will go over expectations, discuss what looks good city-wide and more. He anticipates that an economic development component will be featured in the discussion.

When asked by the Nisqually Valley News about the cost of the Yelm City Council retreat at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino, DePinto did not provide an answer prior to the story’s publication.