City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. It is June 22nd, 2026. I have six o'clock for our city council meeting, which I will now call to order. We have two council members not present here on the dais. One is Mr. Fantini, who will not be attending tonight. The other is Mr. McDougall. Mr. McDougall, are you online?

Yes, I'm here.

Perfect. All right. So we are only absent one. Thank you. Everybody, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We have some announcements tonight before we get to the one committee report. So we will jump in.

Mayor Walters. Yes. Excuse Mr. Fantini.

Second. Motion and a second to excuse the absence of Mr. Fantini. If there's no objection, hearing none, that motion is granted. Thank you. Okay. Back into the announcements. All right. First of all, as we've mentioned a couple of times, the planning, permitting and public works counter on the third floor of City Hall is transitioning to assistance for applicants and others by appointment only beginning July 6th. So as soon as we get back from our holiday break, you can find out more information at Anacorteswa.gov slash permitting, which is also where you can go to schedule an appointment. If you come up to the counter, there will be a window and you can schedule an appointment there. And in some cases, maybe even same day, but you won't be able to get instant assistance. You'll need to schedule an appointment. We are promoting our Adopt a Storm Drain program. This is through a national Adopt a Drain entity called adoptadrain.org. So if you go to wa.adopt-a-drain.org, you can find us on the map. You can find the storm drain in front of your house or business, and you can adopt that storm drain. You, by virtue of adopting it, get to name your storm drain. And that might be reward enough. And then all we ask is that you take care of it. Keep your drain clean, clear, and track your impact. And that helps us with regional reporting. The planning department is having a community open house for the critical areas ordinance update on Tuesday, June 30th. That's five o'clock right here in the council chambers. There's a web address there. And of course, why.gov slash CAO updates. If you want more information on that. On July 1 at 5 o'clock at the Plaza Behind the Depot, we are having a grand opening with ribbon cutting, with beer, a kickoff event for the expansion of the Depot Plaza. Please join us. It's going to be a fun kickoff to our July 4th week. And as a reminder, registration is required if you want to participate in the 4th of July parade. The town photo is at 10 a.m. The parade is at 11 a.m. At 5 p.m., Rock the Dock starts at Seafarers Park, and then at dusk, we will deploy fireworks. We will have all this information on the website, which you can find at anacorteswa.gov slash 4th. And on the 4th, please stay out of the fallout area. That's not radiation, but it may be firework debris right in front of Seafarers Memorial Park there, which is where we're going to be launching From a Barge, our fireworks show. That's from noon until midnight. All right, Council, we've got one committee report on the agenda. Library and Museum, who's got that one?

Mr. McDougall, do you want to report or shall I?

If you don't mind, please go ahead.

Mayor Walters? Go ahead. So Library Director Jeff Vogel was away last week, but Mr. Currier, Mr. McDougal, and I met with librarians Trish Wilson and Stacey Paul, who brought us up to speed on several topics. First, the Library Board bylaws and policies have been under revision, and an update may be adopted as soon as their July board meeting. Much of the change is just bringing the document up to date and making it reflect current best practices, including age guidelines for the children's and teen spaces, patron privacy, and specifically patron privacy for library cardholders under the age of 18. Trish and Stacy also provided us some background on the interlocal agreement with the school district that we'll consider later on tonight's agenda. And I see Mr. Vogel's here. We'll let him cover that tonight later. Looking at the ASD interlocal brought up the topic of libraries in the schools. The high school currently has a librarian in their building, but the middle school and elementary schools no longer do is our understanding. And so in response to our questions, Stacy gave, some input that there are libraries and library systems elsewhere in which public libraries provide regular library support to schools under several different models and anacortes could consider pursuing that kind of means of restoring building level library service for our kids But that would require some sort of creative staffing, possibly something modeled on the school resource officer that the city and the school district jointly fund. So something to think about there. Trish and Stacey shared with us an updated schematic of the new main circulation desk, which is still being revised to maximize efficiency for multitasking staff. and to provide a more clear and inviting entrance path for patrons. The staff are very much looking forward to realizing this project, which is entirely funded by the Library Foundation, possibly as soon as the end of this year. So that's a good thing. We did review the year-to-date expenditure report, and all line items are holding steady. No great concerns there. Kudos to all of our library staff. Finally, we got an update on the countywide library consortium. Four of the libraries in the county have now, I believe, signed an interlocal agreement to formalize their membership. Anacortes hasn't done so at this point, though I think the city attorney's office has reviewed a draft of that interlocal in case we decide to go that way. Staff are still weighing the benefits and costs of a new ILS, which would be required. That's basically the electronic card catalog that would be part of joining that system. One of the drawbacks is a $30,000 one-time roughly migration fee, and then there would be some ongoing much smaller costs to move books and materials around the library district. So we'll keep looking at that. The new ILS would be much more efficient for staff to use. I think the current one would remind us all of DOS systems we used in the 80s. And it would also broaden the materials available to our library patrons and reduce duplication of acquisitions. So it's something that's still under consideration. And maybe we'll talk more about that during budget season. And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Council, do you have any other announcements at this point? Mayor Walters?

Mr. Young.

Yeah, thank you. No, I just wanted to acknowledge Pride yesterday in Anacortes. It was the 2026 Pride. It was a massively wonderful event. In particular, it was people from all over Seattle, Canada, And it was just probably one of the best we've had yet to date. It was lots of people. I think someone said that they were hearing at least six languages being spoken at various times by various people coming in, the excitement, the kids, the families. And so I really wanted to thank Mason Cole, which is the Pride's director, and in particular, Jim Richardson, which has been such an instrumental force in bringing things together to bring people together. The theme was also about love and how love and whether it's parent, kids, friends. And so I really thought it was great. The board just did a massive job of bringing people together and being inclusive. The tribes were there. Swinomish was there. Tribal drums, they did a blessing in many ways. Swinomish Samish was there. Several churches marched in the parade. And it was just such a wonderful thing. Friday night was at Blackbird, where we just sort of began to assemble together people. Saturday night was at one of the restaurants in Tasha's Table in the back. It was fantastic. Sunday was at the Majestic Rooftop. And then from there, it was the parade, which was, again, very wonderful, and it ended up at the Depot. So we did get a preview of the work at the Depot. The Depot was superbly ready for Pride and all the people that showed up, music, kids, face paintings. So it was a stunning, wonderful event for our city, and I thought that it bode well for telling the world who our city really is in that it's inclusive, it's respectful of differences, but celebrating those cultural pieces that make us who we are. And so I thought it was a wonderful thing. And part of the lead up to that was Como did another special this year on Anacortes and Anacortes pride. And the last year I had the pleasure of being part of that interview and TV thing. But this time it was also, you know, we had Mason Cole and a couple of others. So it's just truly a wonderful grand time showing love. And the thing that I saw, I can't tell you the number of people I saw with tears in their eyes. And how freeing, particularly given the struggle that it seems like our world is going through. And so part of the goal there was just to show love, regardless of who you are, where you are, in the stratus of life and love. The thing is that you are all welcome here to Anacortes and I applaud my city for being so open, so welcoming. The police were there and the officers, so funny. But you know, the thing that I like about what it tells about our city is that although that we have different people and cultural differences and languages and people and thoughts about different things, Everyone felt welcome. Everyone felt they belong. And I can't tell you the number of people I saw and personally met with that had recently moved to Anacortes. And they considered this such a good omen for them in making the correct choice. So again, I want to thank the city for all the work, Parks and Rec, for always being a stellar partner to make sure that it is effortless and as flawless as possible to make sure things come forward. So thank you very much. Of course, you know, many of the council was there. And if the council wasn't there, believe me, they were taking a moment of relaxation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Young. And those of you in the chamber can check out our policy on inclusion, which is framed nicely and hanging on the back wall of the council chambers here. Any other Council announcements?

Mayor Walters.

Go ahead.

Thank you. Last week there was a North Star joint meeting that was countywide. It took place at Skagit County Public Health in Mount Vernon. So it's for Councils, Mayors, and County Commissioners. Mayor Walters, Ms. Cleland-McGrath and I attended in person and Ms. Hunt was there virtually. And it was an interesting meeting. We got to learn more about Martha's Place, which is mainly supported by the Catholic Community Services, but also the city of Burlington and the city of Mount Vernon have also contributed a lot of money to that. And I know of at least one Anacortes person that was homeless for a number of years that found housing there. And so that's great. Of course, it's open to all. So some of our own, at least one of our own residents has benefited from that. So we had a presentation from two of the Martha's Place staff and they, Martha's Place serves extremely low income people, people that are known to be chronically homeless, which means a year out of the last three years that they've been homeless. And so that has, they've had some rough bumps along the way, especially at the beginning. There were problems with drug use and diabetes. some other things, but mainly drug use, but things have kind of smoothed out. Their operations and the way they're doing things like with resident coordinators and keeping folks busy with activities and lots of health and wellness support, death and grief support, community meals, birthday meals. So they've really strengthened that foundation of being a supportive place. And they have a lot of long-term people there now. It's not just everyone coming for the first time. So residents who have been there for longer can sort of guide the new people. And they've established a culture of what is acceptable and what is not and of course things will still continue to happen but they've done a lot of work to to stabilize things and things are generally going quite well um we talked about some other things too but what i about the north north star has been in existence for about three years now at least like with a three-year strategic plan. And so they're starting to work on the next one, which will be for the next three years. But what I really wanted to talk about is there's a community recovery forum. And a lot of times we talk... North Stars for homelessness, but also for substance use disorders. And next Tuesday, actually, it's the same time as our critical areas open house. But June 30th from 6 to 730 at the Mount Vernon Library Commons, there's a gathering that's open to everyone, community members, families, people with lived experience, providers, employers. They're going to talk about recovery, dispel common myths and talk about local resources and on ramps to care. So if anyone's inclined, I think that's going to be a really, really good event. So that's it about that. I do have one more thing to mention that happened today was our tree preservation event. Also, someone coined the tree club today at the meeting, and I kind of like that even better. Mayor Walters was there, Council Member Hunt, at least one other person that's previously been on the Forest Advisory Board. So it's a group of local citizens that have experience with trees. and expertise and who really care a lot about trees. So our main goal right now is to look at our current approved street tree list that the city has been using for years. But we also had a presentation from a consultant from Osborne Consulting. And she gave kind of an overview of what other cities are doing in the face of climate change and different weather patterns, like the city of Vancouver, BC. They're addressing trees that are going to be more likely to survive with dramatic weather shifts. And so what we're doing, what our current task is, is to look at the current street tree list and and look at the Vancouver one and come up with ideas that are better for us going forward with more likelihood of surviving. And just some kind of more technical things about how to plant them and where and things like that. But it was really good. It was a really good thing to be a part of. And we'll have more information going forward about that. Thanks.

Thank you. Council, any other announcements? All right. Okay, so before we move on to our next agenda item, which is public comment, this is our last meeting of June. Next month is the fifth Monday, so we don't have a meeting next week on the fifth Monday. So this is our last meeting before the 4th of July, which is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. So we thought we would do a reading of the Declaration of Independence. If you have the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights hanging on your office wall like I do, I assume you have it memorized, counsel. No, we have we have printed it out, but we are each going to read selections from it. So I'll start. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.

Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and... Usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism. It is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny for these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained, and when so splendid, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with... Okay. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time after such disillusions to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers incapable of annihilation have returned to the people at large for their exercise. The state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states, for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to the laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and for the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept behind among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.

For protecting them by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states.

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.

For imposing taxes on us without our consent.

For depriving us in many ways of the benefits of trial by jury.

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses.

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for inducing the same absolute rule into these colonies.

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments.

For suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury a prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our immigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war and in peace, friends.

We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved. And that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Thank you, everybody. Powerful words. All right, our next item on the agenda is public comment. Is there anyone who would like to engage in public comment after that? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to the consent agenda. Council, we have two items on the consent agenda. What say you?

Mayor Walters.

Mr. Young.

Move we approve the consent agenda items 5A and B.

Second.

Motion and a second to approve the consent agenda and all items on it. No discussion is allowed. Anybody want to pull anything? Speak now. Nope. Hearing none. All right. The motion is to approve the consent agenda. We'll proceed to the vote. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say no. The ayes have it. Consent agenda is approved. Thank you. Our first item of other business is a contract award with respect to the Senior Nutrition Program. Mr. Lunsford.

Mayor Walters, council members, audience members, thank you. Tonight we are here to talk about the Senior Nutrition Program at the Senior Center. Last week we talked about our contract with Skagit County that was void of the usual nutrition program in that interlocal. So this is where we're addressing that. Tonight we have a contract before us to join with the Skagit Council on Aging to provide meals for the rest of this year. Some of the items are they'll be replacing Skagit County for Meals on Wheels and Meals at the Center, also known as Congregate Meals. I think Ms. Hunt asked this question of Mr. Wolfswinkle and myself. Those meals are approximately 110 a day for Meals on Wheels. and approximately 40 plus or minus congregate meals or meals at the center per day. This is Monday through Friday with frozen meals on Meals on Wheels on the weekend delivered on that Friday. Citi provides kitchen facilities and office space for what would now be the SCOA staff and their volunteers. That's our contribution and utilities and such that go with that. And I would be remiss if I did not thank the SCADGET, I'm sorry, the Anacortes Senior Center Foundation and their many members for helping us throughout this process to not only identify, but help bring forward SCOA, SCADGET Council on Aging, to take this on at short notice. So this, if you choose to go forward with this, this would take effect July 1, that's when the existing contract with the county ends. This would allow for a seamless transition for meals for seniors in Fodago Island and to have the ability to get Meals on Wheels at their home and congregate meals at the center. So with that, are there any questions?

Mayor Walters?

Ms. Malton?

Thanks. Thanks, Mr. Lunsford. I meant to ask if this is close to the same amount we ordinarily receive for this time period?

This is approximately what we would pay. So we pay about 44 per year back. So the county in the past would give us about 105,000. And 44 of that would go towards the meals program. But they are only asking for, I believe, 11,000 in this contract. And that's enough, they believe, to get them through the rest of the the year. So I think that they're looking at efficiencies that they can maintain for the rest of the year. I think that they being SCO are trying to understand the process. They also have generous donations from the community. They have the county giving them money. They have the Northwest Regional Council giving them money, one-time gifts. So I think that helps bring down their costs to make it affordable for the communities just for this six months. Next year, we'll have another contract before you. Actually, hopefully before the end of the next year, we'll have a contract before you. And those figures, I do not know yet, because I think they're putting that together. So in fairness to them, I'm not able to give you a sense of what that will be for 2027. Thank you.

Yeah.

Any other questions, counsel? Any motions? Mr. Greer?

Sorry, it's quick.

I move that city council authorize the mayor to sign contract number 26-184-ASC-001 with Skagit Council on Aging in the amount of $11,317 to provide the senior nutrition program from July through December 2026. Second. Second.

Motion and a second to approve the contract as presented. Any other discussion? If not, I'll proceed to a vote. All right. All those in favor of approving the contract as presented, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes have it, and the contract award is approved. Thank you, Mr. Lunsford.

Thank you all.

All right, our next item is an interlocal agreement with the school district for the student library card program. Mr. Vogel.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and members of council and audience. I'm Jeff Vogel, the library director. I don't have a slide. I'm hoping this is pretty straightforward. This is a renewal of our interlocal between the Anacortes School District and the City of Anacortes and the library to provide library cards to every student in the district. It's a pretty straightforward process, the exact same agreement that we had before. The school district provides us the data every month for the students, and we load them in using their student ID, which makes it really easy for teachers, for example, who want to do a lesson and get access to databases. The kids don't have to have their library cards with them. They know their student IDs. Makes it really straightforward. The school district is providing $3,000 a year to help offset some of the cost of this. This is a three-year agreement. And I would love for you all to approve it. And I'm here to answer questions.

Council, any questions?

Mayor Walters?

Son?

Jeff, we were trying to figure out, maybe Stacey knows, what percentage of our students or even just straight numbers, how many of the kids do get an Anacortes library card? Do they come and use it?

Yeah, we sort of got close to that data. I mean, right now there are about 2,400 students in our system. And the school district, we reached out to them and they said that this is an opt-out program. Program meaning parents have to opt out, otherwise the kids get automatically enrolled. Evidently about 40 students opted out, or parents opted out.

So hugely popular, used, and well-greeted by the public.

Yeah, so it's fair to say most students have student library cards.

Mayor Walters?

Mr. Young?

No.

No what?

No, thank you. Yeah, that was a pause. Okay.

Wow, you scared me for a second. Yes.

Part of this is that we're seeding the next generation. We're seeding knowledge, opportunity. We're seeding, if you would, students to learn and have access to knowledge, data, and so much more. So this goes beyond just having a library card for the sake of school. But it really does allow an access to a world that sometimes it's surprising how many students don't have access or can't see beyond the boundaries of Skagit County. Where I grew up, it was stunning. that the number of students that even for a whole lifetime never traveled outside of their local area. And for me, someone that loves to travel and sort of experience things and cultures, you know it's almost at a loss and i think one of the things about a library and particularly our library as it's so well loved is that it offers a world of opportunity and particularly now as we become even more ai enabled or access to docuseries or so much online even for the people who don't want to even read there there are um you know um There are libraries of books, audio books. So I love it. I think this is a wonderful thing. It's an investment in the future of the kids that we want. And I just think it's a wonderful thing.

Thank you, Council Member Young. We're here to eliminate barriers to access for sure.

Mayor Walters.

Ms. Kalina McGrath.

I'd also like just to put a two cents in that it's more than just a library card. I think that the Anna Clarice Library does an incredible job reaching out to the students early on, starting in kindergarten, being in the schools periodically for different events, providing books for summertime, providing the incentive and fun activities throughout the summer to encourage the students to read. I've got my two kids back here. They were lucky to go see the Declaration of Independence in December of this last year. They also... checked out a number of books about Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and one of which we've lost and paid for and just found, so we will be returning. But it's an important community that when they are involved at a young age, they are able to continue that through middle school and high school and throughout their life. So thank you for all the things that you guys do to support that library card program too. That's a really healthy relationship. So I appreciate it. And in that being said, I move that city council authorize the mayor to execute the interlocal cooperation agreement number 2-6-149-LIB-001 between the city of Anacortes and the Anacortes school district number 103. Second.

Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve the presented interlocal agreement with the school district. Any further discussion?

Mayor Walters.

Mr. Young.

I just wanted to add how impressive it is, and also that we have multicultural books at the library. I have some friends that are children's authors, and one year I collected all of them and donated a series of books to make sure that they were diverse to the library. I'm going to continue to do that, Jeff. You know how I do that. But it's just such a wonderful thing to offer the children a diverse spectrum of people and kids to imagine from. So I just wanted to throw that in. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other discussion? All right. We will proceed to the vote. The motion is to approve the interlocal agreement with the school district for the library card program. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. The ayes have it. The interlocal agreement is approved. Thank you very much. Thank you all. We will be back July 6th. No meeting next week. And for tonight, we're adjourned.