City Council - Regular Meeting

of the United States of America for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Real would you like to take a roll call, please? Yes. Thank you. Heather Watland here. Rob Toyer here. Michelle Bllythe here. Nathan Seth here. Tim Abrahamson at the ready. Licia Novak present. And Yavon Gardo Van Ornum has been excused for this meeting. Seriously. Mayor Vany, I move for approval of the agenda. Second. Question. All those in favor?

I I oppose. Agenda is approved. Thank you. Okay, we'll start our meeting tonight. We've got a couple of special guests and a presentation for tonight. We'll start off with the National Drinking Water Week award presented by the Department of Health Environmental Engineer, Ryan Deem. Ryan, if you'd like to step up to the podium there. Great. Thank you.

Okay. Hey everybody, can you hear me? Okay. Kind of sounds like you can. Okay, great. Um, okay. So, hey everybody. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Um, as was mentioned, it's drinking water week. Um, and yeah, my name is Ryan Deem. I'm an engineer with the state department of health, uh, specifically the office of drinking water. Um, and so what we do is we we regulate and we collaborate with public drinking water systems. So large cities, small communities, anything that's a public water system, we work with them. Um and so right now we get to celebrate those drinking water systems or rather the the people who operate and maintain those drinking water systems um and acknowledge all the work that they do in providing safe and reliable access to drinking water. So, um, today we are recognizing and celebrating Zach Rash, um, Brian Simmons, and Dan Peterson, um, for their work in responding to a number of relatively trying circumstances that the city experienced. They were nominated by Caitlyn Dwire with the city. Um, so first going back to or sorry, this award is for grace under pressure. Um, and so in 2022, uh, the Glenn Eagle Reservoir, the roof of that reservoir, uh, collapsed or caved in, sorry. Um, and so that's a pretty big deal, uh, to us and to the city. Um, and so it's scary because all of a sudden there's this pool of drinking water that is safe to drink and all of a sudden it's open to the environment. So it's a big deal. alarm bells are ringing and it's kind of like okay it requires quick action and and quick thinking and and that's exactly what was provided by the operational staff. Um first isolating the reservoir so that it's not potentially contaminating customers or

people and getting to someone's faucet. Uh and then secondly, probably more difficult, uh figuring out how to run a water system without the tank that usually stores your drinking water. Uh so it's it requires an entire reconfiguration figuring out how to operate. Um a lot of effort on their part. Uh, and then this is kind of a two-part nomination because right after the repair to the reservoir was made, uh, or roughly right after, uh, they brought a new source online. Uh, that new source caused some issues at first with their drinking water plant. They had to shut the plant down. And once again, there's an a big aspect of their drinking water system that's not working, and they need to figure out how to continuously provide drinking water to the general public uh while also fixing the problem. So, really impressive work. Uh and and you know, I'm I'm honored to be able to to work alongside these folks. Uh and and secondly, you know, not not like all of that like emergency response aside, I think we don't get to celebrate our our operational staff enough because usually they're doing such a good job that we kind of forget that there's all of this work that goes into maintaining and fixing things within our drinking water system. just turn on a tap and all of a sudden water comes out and we can drink it and we don't really, you know, think like, oh, I wonder how that happens. Uh, and so really there's there's a team that is constantly working and being proactive to try to preempt any problem that might occur so that they know what to do when a reservoir's roof caves in. Um, so yeah, once again, nice job you guys. Um, and I'm I'm really proud to be able to to give you this award. And if

everybody could please join me in congratulating Zack, Dan, and Brian. Yeah. Nice job. Great job, guys. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to our next portion of the special guest and presentations. Today we've got the Arlington Civic B winners, Daniel Jackson, if I

Toyosi,

and we've got Nolan and Krueger. If you guys would like to stand up and if you'd like to give your one minute presentation so um the Arlington we have been the Stilly Valley Chamber has been able to host the Arlington Civics be for the we're actually the Northwest Washington Civicsby um for the second year in a row part it teaches middle school students about civics And actually most of the time when I ask even an adult what a Civics is, they say it's a Honda car. So these guys are doing wonderful. Um they're going to give you part of their presentation is writing an essay about something they see in their community. And so these three are going to give you a one minute approximately 1 minute 30 minute presentation about what they saw in their community. And you guys are free to answer ask them questions when you're done. They get to do this at state on June 20th. So, um, my name is TC Damu and I live in Ever and one day I was walking with my siblings and I noticed that there were barely any little libraries and the ones that we do have are in terrible condition and they are not really easy to access for younger kids. Um, I looked around and I was asking my friends, "Do you have little libraries in your communities?" And they were like, "What are little libraries?" Little libraries are ways to share books and communicate and connect with your neighborhood by like books and like sharing genres. And um, the little library having my community really changed my life and helped me find the genre I love most. and I'm sure that it would help you and

your communities, too. Thank you.

Um, does anyone have any questions? None seen. I don't see any. Thank you.

Is it Is it working? All right.

Yeah. Uh my name is Daniel Jackson. I'm from Holler Middle School and I'm in eighth grade. And the topic I did in my in this local civics be was uh the need for financial literacy curriculums in our schools. And I go to rowing practice at Ever Rowing Association. Every time I drive down there, I always hear about uh especially we tune into the John Curley show sometimes and we always hear about we always hear about like them like telling us the end of the world that our generation doesn't know about financial literacy. And we were thinking about this and I even was was looking on the internet one day and I just saw this joke about these guys saying, "Well, I thank God I can solve for X instead of knowing how to pay my taxes. It really helps to me in this upcoming math season." And I was and I was and I was thinking about that and I realized like hey wait a minute this actually isn't really a laughing matter anymore cuz and that grew me to think we need more in-depth long-term and like overall financial literacy curriculums in our schools that goes over a wide range of topics that teaches our students about their own finances. There's an increase in debt traps, uh, credit card scams, an increase in un unhealthy spending, uh, loan defaults, and a lot of people just don't know about their finances and how to how our economy works in general. So, in order to allow everybody else and everybody, every student to contribute meaningfully and equally to our economy, we need financial literacy curriculums in our schools. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any questions from the council? I Oh, Heather, I

actually do have a question. Do you think that you foresee turning this into a potential club if the school district doesn't um pick it up? If the schools don't pick it up and turn it into a full-fledged U curriculum course, I do see that yes, it could potentially become a club for students to learn financial literacy. It in fact there even are extra classes in the college and high school levels for financial literacy. Though what I'm aiming for is full-on required financial literacy course in our schools. So although schools do temporarily or sometimes have it, I do think a club would be the second best option if a full course isn't implemented.

I got one quick question. Have you approached the school district about it? As of now, not yet though I though of course we can't. The first thing to do before action is planning. And yeah, planning is essential. Even and well, man's plan. God laughs, but planning is essential. And I do think that yes, although I haven't approached the school district yet, maybe in the future I could potentially have a momentum or the or the ability to to Yeah. No, that's what I was that was what I was getting at is maybe working with them and starting a plan to put something in place. Great idea. I appreciate it. Thank you. Anybody else would like to ask questions?

Oh, looks like you're good to go. Good. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Nolan Krueger. I go to Hower Middle School and I'm a sixth grader. Today I'm going to be talking about Highway 530 Island Crossing. Island Crossing. Whenever I go uh by there with my family, I see some improvements and some changes that should be there. Uh at Highway 530, Island Crossing, uh I've uh thought about building places that uh were new in our city and to improve and make a better foundation for our city. Um whenever uh I go to Mary'sville or Lakewood Crossing, I see um them getting sales tax and we miss out on that sales tax. And um the sales tax pays uh them for their city workers, roads, and construction uh sites. Um I contacted the developers I wanted to bring out to Highway 530, Island Crossing. Um, and I talked to Paul Ellis, Mayor Don Vany, and Nate Nearing, and they said it was a great idea. Paul Ellis said it was a good idea to uh contact the farmer farmers and uh bring local farm stands in to a Highway 530 Island crossing. Nate Nearing said we needed to go bring a champion to Olympia to go um help us get this signed uh for Highway 530, the Island Crossing. And I think this is good for our city because we need more places to uh be uh more outgoing and uh places to go out more.

Any questions? Thank you. Any questions from council Tim? Yeah, just was wondering, did you get a chance to look at the comprehensive plan for island crossing when you had those discussions? Uh, I heard about it u a while back ago and uh I was uh going to look forward to look at it but I haven't got the chance to look at it yet. I was just going to say when you get ready to go to state you might want to peruse that a little bit and make sure that you have some some good information behind behind your your argument but very good well spoken. Thank you. Any other questions?

Okay. Thank you Nolan. Okay, at this time I'd like to open it up for public comment for members of the public who wish to speak to the council about any matter tonight. And please limit your remarks to three minutes and state your name and address. Uh looks like we have one signed up to speak. Is it is it Rick or Trac Tracy? Tracy. Okay.

Nothing more intimidating than following a sixth grader, eighth grader, uh, who are very well spoken. And congratulations to all of you. My name is Tracy Gore. I represent the Grahams in a potential condemnation for the roundabout at 180th and Smoky Point Boulevard. I have been practicing eminent domain law for 42 years. mostly representing the state highway early on and other condemning authorities. But um throughout my career of 42 years, I have represented thousands of property owners in reviewing the Grahams matter. Um I'm here to talk to the city very frankly, not about necessarily how we're going to litigate this matter, but how I believe the city needs to proceed. There's three things that I believe the city needs to do to keep this project moving forward. And I know that we're all um hoping that the project can move forward as quickly as possible. The first thing that I'm asking the city to do is understand that the rightin ride out entrance way that has been provided in the plans to the Graham property is a nonfunctional unpermittable entrance way. Um I spoke to Alex Day who is your rightway negotiator. He's quite delightful and was very um patient and kind in listening to me. But he did say in the end that well washd dot approved this what's called a rrow right in right out entrance. And when I looked up the Washington um wash dot's um regulations I don't believe that's going to be accurate if washd dot actually knew most

about the property. the ride in ride out is on a curved leg of a roundabout and the sight distance calculations is go are going to fail. So the way I see it um traffic engineers would never approve this type of entrance way um nor will the market accept it and the city shouldn't want it. You're making a beautiful roadway and it's something that shouldn't be interrupted by an um an unexpected driveway to a duplex. Worse is that the duplex has a very short front yard. So when you write in to the duplex, you are going to have to left out to go south. you will not be able to ride out because you're nose forward and then you have to back up to get um going nose forward to the south. Um I don't want to take too much time of the three minutes to talk about that, but I can tell you it's not a diminished access situation from the full

Thank you. time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any other public comments from anybody in the audience? Okay. None seen. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on to consent agenda. Mayor Vany, I move for approval of the consent agenda as noted. Second. Question. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to our first item of new business, the condemnation ordinance for 180th Street and Smoky Point Boulevard roundabout project. Jim Kelly.

Thank you very much, Mayor Vany and council members. This item before you tonight is to request a um condemnation or ordinance that will allow the city to move forward with condemnation of the Graham property. This is the property at the southwest corner of the proposed 180th and Smoky Point Boulevard uh intersection should negotiations fail. Any questions? Jim.

Jim. So, having a representative for the Grahams here today talking, my question is is are we actually doing everything we can in those negotiations or are we jumping the gun here?

We offered them a fair compensation package for their property. The engineering design of the project that was alluded to, this is a a city road. It's not a state road. So, wash has no governance over this road. And wash has plenty of places where it's putting right in right outs on all of its roadways. Take a look at 172nd. That's going from Smoky Point Boulevard down to 43rd. Turning movements are at controlled intersections. And uh what that does is that increases safety. It eliminates the uh the dangers of making a left-hand turn into c oncoming traffic. Um and and then also regarding the sight distance, there is no issues with the sight distance coming out of the driveway. So um I don't want to sit here and debate engineering. I can be more than happy to meet with you and show you the design drawings and the analysis and the turning movements that were made for this roundabout if you request.

Any other questions? Heather, thank you, mayor. um how much or how close is this going to be to their driveway and how much of their driveway are we going to take away? Because it sounds like the concern is getting in and out of the driveway to begin with since a big chunk of the property is going to be um used.

Uh there the amount of the property that we're going to be uh acquiring is 1,022 square ft. Um it it is relatively it's not a large uh piece of acquisition. The property to the on the northwest corner we that we just acquired was 3,400 square ft. It had a greater impact to the to the property. Um this we will still be within setback requirements for the house. Um it will shorten up the driveway and the parking access. Do you know by um about how much and what we are given? Not off the top. I don't have the plan set with me today. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? Okay. None seen. Motion. I move to approve the ordinance allowing the city to move forward with a condemnation proceeding. The mayor to sign the ordinance. Second. question. All those in favor? I I I. Any oppose? Nay. Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on to item number two, the cemetery board position appointments. Again, Jim Kelly.

Thank you very much, Mayor Vany and council members. Um this the there per per the city code there is a board that oversees the uh cemetery. They meet uh every two months with the cemetery staff and they play a vital role in the directing the future of the cemetery how how it's operating and where it's going. Three board members um had their terms come up this year. Two of them are not did not reapply. One of them did reapply. We also had several other uh citizens from Arlington who applied for the board membership. We interviewed with those uh those positions. We had Michelle accompany us and was part of that interview process. and we jointly came up with three recommendations uh as replacement members for the for the board. Um Annette Patterson, Erica Cogill, and Allan Wheel. Uh those are the three members that we are recommending uh for cemetery board appointment. Great.

Thank you. Any questions? Okay, none seen. Do we have a motion? I move to reappoint Annette Patterson and appoint Alan Wheel and Erica Cogill to the Arlington Cemetery Board. Second question. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? None heard. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to our third item, the lodging tax advisory committee appointments. Shelby,

thank you, Mayor Vany and council members. So we are working on the lodging tax advisory committee or also known as ELTAC appointments. So per the regulations for ELTAC um it must consist of two representatives from hotel or lodging industry, two representatives from businesses that are actively involved in activities eligible for funding from this tax funding and one city council representative who serves as the chair of the committee. For the city council representative and committee chair position, the mayor has appointed Yvon Gardo Van. For the hotel and motel side of the committee, we are recommending Rachel Rson uh who represents the hotel services group or Best Western. And then for the two individuals um serving as the businesses actively involved um in eligible for lodging tax funding, we're recommending Michelle Heder uh who represents the Still Gamish Valley Museum and Matt Bass who would represent um the Downtown Arlington Business Association in Windermir, Arlington.

Great. Thank you. Any questions? Okay, none seen. Do I have a motion?

Tim. Oh, that's me. Uh, I move to confirm the appointment of Ivonne Gallardo Van Orornum, Rachel Rson, Matt Bass, and Michelle Heder to the lodging tax advisory committee. Second. Second question. All those in favor? I I. Any oppose? None heard. Motion carries. Okay. At this time, do we have any comments or reports from council members? Okay. Oh, Heather.

Um, I have a comment. It is nurses and teachers appreciation week. So, I just wanted to say thank you to all the nurses and the teachers. Um, you're very important and we have some really, really great teachers in the Arlington School District. And I hope that you enjoy your week. Okay, thank you. Any others? Okay, none seen. Paul, do you have anything to report tonight? Nothing else this evening. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Uh just a couple of things uh for me. I spent last part of last Thursday and Friday down at SEAC with AWC, their legislative advisory commission. And we did have some very good communication and talks about some of the focuses that we're going to look at for the 2027 legislation. And most of it, I think we came to the agreement. In the past, AWC has picked up several different bullet points that they want to pursue. But I think this year we came to an agreement, let's pick the three biggest ones that affect the cities throughout the state and focus on those. And the biggest one that took the top of the list for AWC to focus on is the unfunded mandates that the state legislation has put on the cities. So that's the one biggest one. But then it's also to the next one was pretty much try to recoup some of the lost revenue the city's lost this year. Okay, that's it. Do we have any executive report session tonight? I don't think we do. No.

Nope. Okay, I think we're ready to adjurnn. Move to adjurnn. Second. Question. All those in favor? I. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you all.