The City of Yakima (City) and the Yakima Area Arboretum (Arboretum) originally entered into an Agreement on or about May 14, 1991 which outlined the terms and conditions for the operation of the City’s arboretum property by the Yakima Area Arboretum.  The agreement term expired on May 24, 2021.  

Prior to the expiration date, both organizations were collaboratively working on a long-term operation and maintenance agreement for the arboretum property, but were unable to complete negotiations by the end of the original Agreement term.  Both organizations have agreed to extend the original Agreement’s term to August 3, 2021, or until a new operations and maintenance agreement has been signed, whichever comes first, with all other provisions remaining the same. 

The extension merely extends the original Agreement approximately three months to allow for negotiations to continue and the resulting operations and maintenance agreement will be placed in front of City Council for review prior to the new termination date.  The extension was not signed by the Arboretum in time to have been placed on the May 18th City Council meeting. The City Manager’s executed agreement is attached and is now submitted for City Council ratification.