City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Good evening. We will call the Auburn City Council meeting for Monday, 04/20/2026 to order. And we will begin with the land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge the federally recognized Muckleshoot Indian tribe, the ancestral keepers of the land we are gathered on today. We thank them for their immense contributions to our state and local history, culture, economy, and identity as Washingtonians.

Tonight's meeting will be held both in person and virtually. Now if you will please rise and join us 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. Please be seated. And Hannah, will you please call roll?

Deputy Mayor Tracy Taylor? Here. Council Member Amher? Here. Council Member Baldwin? Here. Council Member Law? Here. Council Member Rakes? Here. Council Member Sturgis? Here. Council Member Clinton Taylor?

Here. Thank you. Alright. We will move to appointments this evening. We have a few. The first one, item a is for municipal court judge. City Council to confirm the appointment of Matthew Laba to Auburn Municipal Court judge position number one for a three year appointment term from 01/01/2027 to 12/31/2029. Is there a motion? Council member Sturgis. I'd make

a motion to, excuse me, appoint Judge Mathieu Lambert. To confirm the appointment. To confirm, I apologize.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Ama. A second, ma'am. Thank you. Council Member Sturgis.

Alrighty. Yes, I would like to make a motion to confirm.

You've made the motion.

Sorry. The recommendation is to move to confirm the appointment of Matthew Leiba to Auburn Municipal Court Judge Position number one for a three year appointed term from 01/01/2027 to 12/31/2029.

Yes. So we've we have the motion and the second. Did you wanna speak to your motion?

Thank you so much. I'm very excited to vote in favor myself personally. The judge's qualifications and integrity came through in his presentation last week. What I really loved is that you could feel he's got a huge track record for fairness and community trust, especially with I haven't met too many people where you can reach out to every person he's worked with in the last five years and get such positive, feedback of how much joy there was in working with this person. But what I personally was able to take away was the the feeling of empathy weaved throughout, that his ability to use his head and heart in making decisions and helping folks to, improve their lives going forward so and being held accountable.

Thank you.

Are there any questions or comments from council? Councilmember Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. I was curious, Councilmember Sturgis, who did you have a chance to speak with?

Councilmember Sturgis. What are you talking about? Councilmember Baldwin.

In your recommendation you said that all the people that you heard from who had worked with them in the past five years had glowing feedback. So I was curious which individuals those

were. Our SFA today Ms. Member Sturgis. Okay. Thank you. In our special focus area today, when Candace, our Director of HR, gave the update on the Municipal Court and prepping us for tonight, she went through the reviews or the reference and the background investigation process that we did for the court for the judge and went through a detailed explanation of how his referrals came back and what the references shared about him. And so that was what my intention was with my comment. And then also I did say specifically what I felt in observing his presentation last week.

And I do believe that at last week's meeting there reference to glowing reviews coming from the not only the references, but others that Matthew Laba had worked with. Are there any other questions or comments? All those in favor of the appointment or the confirmation of the appointment of Matthew Laba to Auburn Municipal Court, judge position one for a three year term appointment from 01/01/2027 to 12/31/2029. Please say aye. Aye.

All opposed, please say no. The confirmation passes. Thank you. Alright, next Transportation Advisory Board, City Council to confirm the reappointments of Tyson Hiffman and Derek Rondfeld to the Transportation Advisory Board for a three year term expiring 12/31/2028. Is there a motion to approve?

Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the reappointments of Tyson Hiffman and Derek Rondfeldt to the Transportation Advisory Board for a three year term expiring 12/31/2028.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council member Riggs. I'll second that, mayor. Thank you. Deputy mayor Taylor.

Very excited to see this coming back in and congratulations for their reappointments to Tyson and to Derek. Thank you.

Questions or comments from counsel? All those in favor of the appointment of Benjamin Roll excuse me, down one too far. The reappointments of Tyson Hiffman and Derek Rondfeldt to the Transportation Advisory Board for a three year term expiring 12/31/2028, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Motion carries. Next is item C, Auburn Junior City Council. City Council to confirm the appointment of Benjamin Rolls to the Auburn Junior City Council for a two year term expiring 08/31/2027. Is there a motion? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. I move to approve the appointment of Benjamin Rolls to the Auburn Junior City Council for a two year term to expire on 08/31/2027.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council member Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. I second that.

Thank you, deputy mayor Taylor.

Once again, our student leaders coming through, a lot of kids are very interested in what governance looks like, and we harness and appreciate that curiosity, and I'm glad to see more of them get involved. Thank you.

Thank you. Questions or comments from counsel? All those in favor of the appointment of Benjamin Rolls to the Auburn Junior City Council for a two year term to expire 08/31/2027, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no. Motion carries. Hannah, do we have any agenda modifications this evening?

No, your honor, we do not.

All right, thank you. All right, we will move to public comment. This is a place on the agenda where the public is invited to speak to the City Council on any issues. There is participation available both in person or submitted written comments in advance. Hannah, I do believe we have some written comments that need to be written into the record.

Yes. The city clerk's office received written comments from Jolene Rhodes, Billy Heatherington, Peter Hasagawa, Ronald Morgan, Bonnie Helms, and James Delay, all of which were forwarded to mayor and council prior to the meeting. And we do not have anyone online.

Thank you. That was my next question, and you knew that. Alright. Since we have the written comments in counsel, you have all received those. We will move to in person comments. If anyone would like to speak, please raise your hand. You come forward to the podium. Please give your name, your city of residence for the record, and please limit your comments to three minutes. And Hannah will start the clock right there, and that will give you notice of how much time you have left, because at the end of your three minutes, I will ask you to wrap it up. Is there anyone that would like to speak this evening?

Please come forward. Name and city of residence for the record.

Sarah Rose, and we live in Auburn, right down by Veterans Memorial Park. There has been a lot of crime out there, and I addressed it last time but it's getting low since they've been next door two houses down and they got the house, the drug house out of there. But there's been climbing ever since and it's getting really, really bad. Come around 6th Street to the alleyway, I think it's still an alleyway. But they come through it and they're speeding, they're high, and they won't stop.

And we need something done because now they're breaking into our house, breaking into our sheds, and then it's daily that's happening into our shed. And we want to get something done. And I don't know what else can be done but something needs to happen. Thank you. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? Yes, please come forward. Name and city of residence for the record.

Hi, my name is Cece Collins, resident of Federal Way. I'm here to express my support for a battery energy storage system project. This initiative will create hundreds of families of standing jobs in Auburn through construction and long term operation. Additionally, BEST will help reduce electricity costs for Auburn customers and contribute to cleaner air by enhancing our energy for infrastructure. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you.

I think we have someone that's that's go wants to be next. Hi

there. My name is Luke Anderson. I live here in Auburn. Good evening. I'm here tonight to express my support for the best ordinance.

As a neighbor, I'm interested in reliable and robust infrastructure that our community community can depend on. As extreme weather events and energy instability become a greater concern every year, strategies strategies like these are necessary to ensure our safety and ability to respond to emergency situations. It isn't any more complex than that, at least if I was only here as a neighbor. I'm also here as a journey inside wire electrician with the local forty six. Speaking as a professional and expert in building and maintaining systems like those being addressed, I hope I might contribute something different to the discussion.

From a job's viewpoint, my industry needs work. Construction generally has suffered for years now. Passing the best ordinance would open up our community for some desperately needed jobs that also build the infrastructure we depend on. From the view of an IBEW trained electrician, I'm here here to emphasize that the number one factor in a successful Bass build out is to lead with quality and craftsmanship. That is what the IBEW stands for. I'd be proud to build these systems to the highest standard and to do my part in keeping Auburn's lights on and affordable. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Peter Hasagawa. I live in Seattle, and I'm the director of strategic campaigns and renewable energy policy for IBW Local forty six. I work for Luke. I also serve on the Green New Deal Oversight Board for the City of Seattle, and we've through that, I've learned a lot about climate resilience.

We had over four hundred people die in the heat dome, and our members are being hired to install backup battery systems in wealthy people's homes all across our community. A lot of tech executives evidently don't want their power to go off. And as a union, we don't want to see people lose their power. We did a listening campaign with other unions. We heard testimony from home care workers who told us that for many of them, it's not easy to move the people who they take care of in the case of climate disaster or climate emergency heat dome, and so it's very important that we have backup power systems in our community. And that's one of the reasons we're asking you to support battery energy storage in Auburn. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is there anyone oh, we still have the line.

Hi. Good evening. Julian Lowe, local government affairs manager with Puget Sound Energy, Seattle, Washington. Good evening, mayor Bacchus, deputy mayor Taylor, council members. For over a hundred and fifty years, PSC has served the region by by providing safe, reliable energy for our customers.

Over the decades, we've modernized our grid and best our battery energy storage systems our way to continue that work. Tonight, PSC urges the city council to approve ordinance seven zero one four that provides a permitting pathway for residential, commercial, and utility scale best so we can continue providing safe, reliable, and clean energy to customers in Auburn and throughout our service territory. Demand for power is growing, especially during summer heat waves and winter cold snaps. During those times, PSC can use the energy stored in batteries to continue serving our customers instead of buying more expensive power on the market. This will help PSC avoid outages.

By 2030, the Greater Northwest region, including Washington state, will need nine gigawatts of new power, which is currently the size of the electric load of the state of Oregon. Best are an important part of PSC's plans to provide reliable power our customers expect while delivering more of the clean energy required by Washington's aggressive clean energy requirements. By 2030, PSC projects a need for 1,500 megawatts of energy storage or enough electricity to power several 100,000 homes. Currently, PSC's efforts include residential batteries like our PSE Flex battery program, where over 700 customers are providing energy under the grid with batteries and electric vehicles in their homes. Also, we are planning to build smaller community sided batteries and utility scale batteries.

Best have the potential to solve important energy challenges we all care about, like providing backup power when you experience an outage, help bet businesses manage their usage, and much more. BEST have benefits to Auburn residents and businesses. Installing BEST will help the men and women in our building trades who you've heard from this evening who live here in Auburn and throughout our region. I know you've heard concerns about safety. Safety for our customers, employees, and our system are paramount to PSC.

Our state's energy code has some of the strongest safety regulations for BESS, which were developed by first responders, engineers, and other key stakeholders in the energy industry. PSC also values our experience with Valley Regional Fire Authority, and we've had positive conversations about BES to date as well, thank convened thankfully by your staff. By committing to innovation now, our BES projects and other work to modernize the grid are creating a better better energy future for us all. I'd like to just extend a final thank you to Jason, Alexandria, and Gabriel for their diligent work on this. This is a very quality piece of legislation, and I urge your support.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? Final time. Yes, please.

Hi, counsel. Bonnie Holmes. I'm not from Auburn. My mom lives here. She's up on Lee Hill. My brother lives here with his wife and baby. I live in Yelm. You guys I don't know if you've been able to review. Puyallup just closed the school down for the rest of the year because the best caught on fire in their new portables. That was announced on Friday.

On the fifteenth, they were saying or excuse me, on the thirteenth when they were it was so this happened on spring break. Another kids were in the building. Thank God. But on the fifteenth, they were saying that there was so there was so much damage, water, acid, environmental, that nobody could even enter the building without personal protective equipment. So this was a single rack that burned as far as I can I asked Julian? He hadn't heard about it, but and it's news to me as of today. So I'm really gonna ask you guys to take a pause. There are no setbacks in your regulations. I like some of the best regulations. I like the 125% decommissioning.

I think that's great. It's stronger than the King County ordinance for sure. I appreciate the tiered system. I do think that we need to maybe put a cap on how much do we want all nine gigawatts of what we supposedly need to be right here in Auburn. Maybe we need to talk about that. That's not in the regulations. I've also sent you guys, some suggestions. Planning commission had talked about maybe doing a subcommittee and it sounded like we were a little confused about the process of could we vote on the regulations to put them forward and vote on a subcommittee but they couldn't do both so they just did one. So I'm gonna ask you guys tonight to make a subcommittee to study best, to talk about setbacks, to talk about actual responsible decision making and not listening to people who are paid to be here. I'm I'm here because I care about Auburn.

I I read all of the words on the board back here and it's sustainability is in there, the environment's in there. Yes. The economy's in there. These don't sustain jobs. They they bring in construction, maybe one person. A lot of them are monitored remotely by CCTV and battery monitoring systems. So there's not even gonna be serving people here in Auburn. These, like, need to be, like, taken out every few or five, like, five years and be, like, revamped because the batteries degraded so fast. You are talking about putting real risk in addition to the crime risks and the other problems that are already going on in Auburn. You're gonna add to them. We we don't know what we're doing right now. You guys need to stop. Tonight, ask for a subcommittee to be formed. I'm happy to also present additional information. You guys have been getting information to the community for a long time.

Everybody here has a responsibility to make a good decision tonight to protect the rest of the community. Don't Puyallup doesn't even have like regulations and stuff in place yet. Pierce County is working on that. This is your guys' opportunity to do it and do it the right way. Don't pass them tonight.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? Final time, anyone else like to speak this evening? Alright. Excuse me, we will close public comment, and we will move to the consent agenda. All matters listed on the consent agenda are considered by the City Council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Amher.

I second.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Consent agenda, consists of minutes from the April 6 city council meeting, claims vouchers back dated April 1, April 2, also April 8 along with payroll vouchers dated from March 26 through April 8 that are listed in the consent agenda in your agenda now. Thank you.

Are there any questions or comments from counsel or any items you would like removed for separate consideration? All those in favor of the consent agenda, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Consent agenda passes.

Moving to ordinances. Ordinance number 6,999, an ordinance relating to critical area ordinance update, amending section 16.10.010, 16.10.020, 16.10.030, 16.10.04zero, 16.10.05 zero, 16.10.07, 16.10.08 zero, 16.10.09, 16.10.100, 16.10.110, 16.10.130, 16.10.140, and 16.10.150 of the Auburn City Code. And no, I won't read those again if somebody missed one. Is there a motion? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

I guess I'll grab on

this one. Thank you, Mayor. Move to approve ordinance sixty nine ninety nine, please.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council member Baldwin.

I'll second.

Thank you. Deputy mayor Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. This ordinance will update Auburn's critical areas regulations, thus ensuring consistency with state law and best available science while improving clarity, predictability, and long term protection of critical areas.

Thank you. Any questions or comments from counsel? All those in favor of ordinance number 6,999, please say

aye. Aye.

All opposed, please say no. Ordinance number 6,999 passes. Ordinance number 7,014, an ordinance relating to battery energy storage systems, amending sections point sections 18.07.020, 18.23.030, 18.35.030, Chapter 18.29, and establishing two new sections, 18.04.174 and 18.31.240 of the Auburn City Code. Is there a motion to approve? Council Member Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve Ordinance Number 7,014.

Thank you. Is there a second? Deputy Mayor Taylor. I second, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Sturgis.

Yes. This ordinance will create new development regulations for battery energy storage systems, also known as BESS. The proposed regulations have been developed closely with the community and industry experts with the intent of providing opportunities for infrastructure that will improve the overall reliability of the electrical grid while addressing considerations for safety safe siting, construction, and operation of BESS within the city of Auburn.

Thank you. I'm going to call on community development director Crum.

Thank you, mayor. Deputy mayor, city council members, just as a reminder for the record, Auburn City Code currently has no development standards or regulations for better battery energy storage systems. Through prior City Council action, There is a moratorium in place on the receipt processing and approval of energy storage systems. That moratorium will expire on 05/11/2026 so in a few weeks so tonight's council decision will determine whether there are regulations in place post that moratorium date of May 11.

Thank you. Questions or comments? Council member Amher.

So I'm in supporting the ordinance seven zero fourteen. I understand that the new technology can feel uncomfortable at first. We have seen this before. When electricity was introduced, people were scared of it. When cars first came out, people thought they were dangerous.

When the Internet started, many people were unsure about it. Over time, people understood these technologies and saw how useful they are. Right now, our code, as director indicate, doesn't clearly define how these projects could be reviewed, where they can go, or what safety standards apply. That creates risk for the city and confusion for the community. The ordinance give us clear rules so we can support innovation while protect our community.

That's about we can prepare and moving forward. It's smart. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Councilmember Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. In light of the recent fire that did happen, I believe, at Ferrucci Junior High, That school is, in fact, closed indefinitely, and that was something that had been shared with us. If anyone knows me, you know that I care deeply about climate issues. I care about resilience in our communities. I care about good, strong paying jobs within those communities.

And I do care about safety. And so trying to find a balance in that, I think that our our city has done incredible work to get us to the current iteration that we're at. But I would like to ask director Crum, can you tell us in the language as it stands today, what the status would be for schools that would be requesting?

Can you repeat the question?

Sure. With the code and ordinances that's being proposed tonight, if there was a school or educational facility, would that be, allowed, permitted or sorry. Would it be permit? Would it be allowed with permit? Would it be administrative or would it be not allowed for school facilities within Auburn?

So the proposed code would I'd have to double check. So it would be allowed as an so a type three facility? It so depends. Right? There's three different tiers. Mhmm. So so type three would only be allowed in institutional zones through a conditional use permit not administrative. But it might depend on the type of application you're you're speculating on.

Are there any other questions? Councilmember Sturgis?

I just had a question for director Crum in regards to the comment, the public comment in for the subcommittee. What is the status on that as where it landed or does it need to have approval from City Council in order to be created or is that something that the Planning Commission can just move forward with?

It does not require City Council approval. Where the meeting on April 7 ended is that a city or a Planning Commission is going to move forward with a exploration of a committee at their next meeting on May 5 that is on the agenda and the topic for discussion. As was mentioned tonight, there there was some desire for Planning Commission to continue to look at the regulations and standards and perhaps continue to refine and perfect over time.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Other questions? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have a few I mean, just a few thoughts around this. For one, it comes to safety and everybody questions whether or not these are safe, what they would do to a community. I know PSC has worked diligently with, VRFA in this. We've heard from VRFA on their stance with BESS and how they would respond, including all first responders within our community. And fewer outages obviously help our our grid.

I did a little research on some best energy systems right now that are in certain areas, one of which in Skagit County, Kitsap County, Snohomish in Arlington. We heard from Julian Lowe from PSC tonight talking about how safety is paramount. And coming from a union family, my mom, my dad, myself, I can't, in good faith, look at our our our union workers and say, sorry, guys. Can't do that. I'm in support of jobs, and I'm in support of clean energy energy for our community, and I'm in support of this ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there questions or comments from anyone that hasn't spoken yet? Councilmember Lott.

Yeah, when I looked into this, my concern was that there's a real startling lack of real world data. This is new technology, there's not a long history, there's not a track record of two scale large commercial operations, a lot of them over time demonstrating that they're not gonna have a lot of runway issues. And, you know, we talk about examples up here. Moss Landing, California, evacuated 1,500 residents because of a a meltdown, a runaway fire system, and it was the largest lithium ion cleanup in The United States for EPA's history. And so, you know, I don't wanna be a test bed for a new technology.

I'd rather see this out and see some hardcore real world data showing that it's proven technology before greenlighting in Auburn and have our residents face an issue where they have to evacuate because there's an accident.

Other questions or comments? Council Member Baldwin. Thank you, Mayor. Excuse me.

I think as we've heard tonight, it's clean until it's not, right? Because I think if you look at the school in Puyallup, the students may not be returning to that school this year. The Moss Landing site, I was looking earlier and there was an article in MIT that had come out in, I believe 2025, that was years after the original event, which referenced that people were still not allowed in, which I thought was interesting, and wanted to find more information about. I want us to do this. I do think we need regulations.

I do think we need to have energy storage systems in Auburn, but I want to make sure that we're taking the time to get all of the questions answered for the community before we do the hard commit. I think if we look at the schedule, our moratorium isn't currently over until May 11. I think we have time. If we wanted to have a little bit more discussion and go deeper, I know from my perspective, I'd like to have a few more conversations in light of what's happened in our neighboring community just about for those types of facilities where we would have either youth or people who maybe have physical disabilities or issues? Are there going to be supporting requirements to make sure that there are fire systems, fire suppression systems.

That was one of the things noted in the article about the Puyallup School, which was that the benefits in that circumstance were that school was not in session, that they did have fire suppression, and that it prevented it from spreading further in the building. However, as noted, you know, there are also concerns about being able to do that cleanup and get kids back in school. So I would like to be able to take time as a council and make sure that we are fully going through and looking at all of the use cases that we are putting into our new policy going forward for things like facilities where people maybe can't get away if there was an event. If we have, whether it's day cares schools or whether it's hospitals, there are different types of energy backup that exists and making sure that we're allowing the right ones to be in the right places where if there were any type of thing that could go wrong, that we are always putting the most vulnerable populations first and foremost in our considerations. And have we included in our policies things like those suppression systems?

And have we looked at those facilities where people maybe are not as physically able to evacuate if necessary? So from my perspective, I would motion

that we bring it back to the next study session for additional discussion. There is a motion to bring back to the next study session so that would be to table the motion, correct? Is that what you're asking?

I would like to table it for the next study session for some additional discussion, but bearing in mind that we do have that timeframe for our moratorium.

So, to table it to a date specific would be to our next council meeting for consideration which would be Monday, May 4. Is that correct? City attorney Whalen?

Yes, mayor. It would be for that date. This motion would require a second and would require a majority vote.

Is there a second on tabling the get back to this. Is there a second to tabling ordinance number 7,014 to the May 4 City Council meeting? Council Member Lott. I'll second it. Thank you. Council Member Baldwin, would you like to speak to your motion?

Yes. I think we've heard tonight that we have need for these facilities in our community. I recognize that and I want to honor that and make sure that we are putting a plan together that does it and does it well and that other communities look to us to say that's the model that we want to follow. And I think just in light of what's happened with our neighboring community making sure that we take a second look and make sure we haven't missed anything, that we're double checking our facilities that are covered and how that would be set up. I know I would feel more comfortable having a chance to spend more time with it before we make a decision tonight.

Any questions or comments to the motion on the floor to table? Council Member Amher and then Council Member Sturgis.

My comment, I'm scientist. I believe of reality and fact. We know about the disaster. No, it's on.

It's on.

I can speak with my scout voice. Mhmm. I believe in danger, as council mentioned that we need to be prepared for disaster. Again, monitoring air at any time will blow out. But in people, if they're not prepared, they cannot leave.

I'm sorry. I just realized that a motion to table is not debatable. Correct?

Okay. Yes.

My apologies, counsel. That is, it is not a debatable motion. So, all those in favor of tabling ordinance number 7,014 to the May fourth City Council meeting, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no. No. No. Okay, I believe it was three in favor, four against. Therefore, the motion does not pass. Alright. We still have the original motion on the floor, which is to, approve ordinance number seven zero one four. Council Member Sturgis, I believe you had comments you wanted to make. Okay.

Thank you. And I needed to start my comment with just a question for director Crum, if that's okay. I I know that this month is one year for me being as a council member since my appointment. And I remember hearing the acronym BESS early on and saying, what the heck is that? And so I know it's been at least a year or barely a year now that I've been researching it and learning about that.

So I would say valid, that's not a huge amount of time. But I know I've spent a lot of hours researching it since then. So just can you do you by chance recall off top which study sessions or how many study sessions and how many count that you've brought the best moratorium and best topic to us in the last year? Because I in my recollection, it's been a minimum of twice. And so I'm just feeling that we have had plenty of time to do our research and that we should have been able to be prepared for tonight is my opinion. So I'm curious if I'm remembering that correctly or not.

You are remembering correctly. We have brought, the subject dedicated just to the subject of BEST twice. I don't remember the exact date, but it was sometime last year originally, I think in conjunction with the original action for the moratorium and then most recently.

Thank you. And that goes to my comment of this, you know, I would be fearful of our moratorium running out as not having thoughtfully planned regulations in place because the examples provided tonight of the Puyallup School Fire as well as the Moss fire in California are examples of counties or cities not having regulations in place. And when I reviewed the regulations that you guys have proposed, it seems very thoughtful, very conservative to make sure that planning and building is done in a safe way and that it's not done from a space of greed in corporate America. That's just my point of

view. Thank you. Councilmember Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to clarify that while we have had a moratorium on BESS, while our staff have been working on putting this policy together, I don't believe that council has had access to the full language of the proposed policies and ordinance up until April 9. So that would be what less than two weeks ago for the actual language that's being presented here tonight. I do think it's a reasonable thing to say if we're going to put this in place, it's one thing to talk about it. It's one thing to say, oh, we have a moratorium while staff works on it.

We can be in that status for a year. But when council has had the materials of what it will actually be for less than two weeks, I don't think that means that we have had a considerable amount of time to spend with it, look at it and see if there's anything that we would want to add, change, adjust or make recommendations on. I think staff has done a terrific job getting it to its current state, and I don't think that taking an extra session or two is egregious in any way, shape or form when it comes to making sure that we do right by the people that will benefit from putting these things in place from a resilience standpoint, from a job standpoint, but also making sure that we do it in a way that keeps our public safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Councilmember Lott.

Yeah, I'll add one more incident which is Warwick, New York and and maybe prior to my arrival on council this was studied. But they've had three fires at that facility, and one was after the lithium system was upgraded. And so I don't see this as some tried and true tested medium for Auburn and and I have you know, people can say that the science works and that it's been tested safe, but until I see to see a mass scale real world application and I see very limited or near zero thermal runaway fires, I think it's a risk that right now until it's a proven technology, we shouldn't be doing. You shouldn't be risking the residents.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor of ordinance number 7,014, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no.

No.

Those abstention. Right, we have four yes, two no, and one abstention. Therefore, the motion passes. Ordinance number 7,017, an ordinance amending the city's twenty twenty five through 2026 biennial budget. Is there a motion?

Yes.

Council Member Locke.

I move to adopt.

Move to approve. Approve. Ordinance.

Ordinance 7,017.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Amher. I second, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Lott.

Yep. Ordinance seven zero one seven is a true up of the fourth budget, fourth budget amendment for the 2025, 2026 biennium, and this is essentially a true up carrying us over into 2026. And this carries forward unspent 2025 budget authority, adjusted capital project budgets, recognizes new programs and new revenue sources, adjust existing programs and makes adjustments related to the 2025 flood impacts.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from council? All those in favor of ordinance number 7,017, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Ordinance number 7,017 passes. Ordinance number 7,019 and ordinance amending chapter 2.14 of the Auburn City Code to provide necessary updates and housekeeping amendments in preparation for the opening of the Auburn Municipal Court. Is there a motion? Council Member Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve ordinance seven zero one nine.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Rakes. I'll second that, Mayor. Thank you. Council member Sturgis.

Thank you, mayor. On 10/06/2025, council approved ordinance number seven zero zero two establishing the Auburn Municipal Court with an effective date of 01/01/2027. The proposed amendments authorize a second municipal court judge for the court, establish the salary of the municipal and pro tem judges, and address additional housekeeping matters. Passing this ordinance will allow the mayor to appoint a second judicial officer who will also be subject to council confirmation. Thank you.

Any questions or comments from council? All those in favor of ordinance number seven zero one nine, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Ordinance number 7,019 passes. Moving to resolutions. Resolution number five thousand eight and ninety five, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the city of Auburn and the Port Of Seattle to accept and expend grant funds for economic development. Is there a motion to approve? Councilmember Taylor.

Thank you, May I move to adopt resolution five thousand eight and ninety five.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council member Amher. I second. Thank you. Council member Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. This resolution would allow the city to accept grant funds to extend assistance to small businesses through resources such as Green River Small Business Development Center, enhance the economic development website and social media presence to attract new businesses, and collaborate with Kin Valley Economic Development Group on air and space workforce development.

Thank you. Any questions or comments? All those in favor of Resolution Number five thousand eight and ninety five, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution Number 5,895 passes. Excuse me. We will move to Mayor and Council Member reports. At this time, the mayor and city council may report on significant items associated with reported positions on federal, state, regional, and local organizations. And we will begin with our deputy mayor.

Thank you, since our last meeting, I had an opportunity to really kind of get deep in with our, community, both regionally and here, in Auburn. So I serve as the alternate on Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee. Around April 8, we discussed the proposed sewer rate increase coming from King County and the long term affordability concerns tied to those increases. On April 11, I attended the festival of Osaki along with several other council members on the dais today. I'm especially grateful to our student representatives who took us around and showed us and introduced us not only to their school, but also to some of their some of their traditions, and that was a lot of fun to learn and connect with them.

I also joined the National League of Cities Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on April 20, where we continue to work on advancing conversations around the back to basics bill and the importance of sustained federal investments here in our local infrastructures. And closer to home on April 14, I participated in Valley Regional Fire Authorities Governance Board interviews where we selected a new fire chief. And on April 18, I joined many volunteers at Clean Sweep, helped paint and spread wood chips at Game Farm Park, and it was really fun to be out there. And lastly, I would briefly like to acknowledge a community member, a little personal for me because I served with her on the See You Later Foundation board.

So over the weekend, I attended the service for Amy Hatcher. And while I wanna be mindful of the mayor because she's also probably gonna say something, I wanna speak to her community heart, her willingness to give, and what she has done and established in this community. It's a sad story. I'm deeply hurt and sad for her family, but she lived a long and beautiful life, and she became a very dear friend and it was a beautiful ceremony. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Rakes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Your microphone, please. Sorry.

I attended all last week the Main Street Conference in Oklahoma along with our mayor that was there for a while. It was very good to see how they wanted the government to get involved with the Main Street program and the suggestions that they had. I will say it was

a very good conference. Thank you. Council Member Baldwin.

Thank you, mayor. As noted by our deputy mayor, I was attending the Viseki celebration, which was beautiful and colorful and we got to enjoy many delicious things while there. And as noted, thank you to the students who took us through and explained the meaning of the cultural traditions that they shared with us that day. I also attended the Good Eggs Breakfast where we heard a presentation from Clint Stein, who's the Columbia Bank Chair, CEO, and President, which was fascinating to hear what's going on within that industry. And then on Saturday, April 18, I also attended our Clean Sweep where I had the pleasure of doing a lot of plantings at Veterans Memorial Park.

So hopefully it's looking a little bit better in the neighborhood and something that we can look forward to. Believe our local master gardeners are going to also be doing some plantings there in honor of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States. So things to look forward to this year. Thank you. Thank you.

Councilmember Lott.

I don't have a lot to report other than I I did go to the clean sweep and I had to laugh because it was the exact same park and the exact same duties as last year. And so I've actually saw other people there last year and and had a good time as we loaded up the dumpsters with with hedge trimmings and proceeded to get pretty dirty. So it was a good time.

Thank you. Council member Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. I did too as well attended the Good Egg Breakfast last Wednesday and it was interesting to hear from the CEO from Columbia Bank on his insight about the current economic landscape from a national perspective and as well as regionally and locally, and some of the trends that he's seeing happening. And he shared with us some of his kind of personal insights on where he sees things going over the next few years. I thought that was real interesting. That's part of my day job too, so it was really great to hear from somebody who's working in that industry on the direction that things are headed or look like they're headed in the next few years.

Thank you. Councilmember Sturgis. Thank you, Mayor. On April 8, I had my biweekly one on one with Deputy Mayor, so thank you very much. And on April 9, I attended the ribbon cutting, that the DAC put on for Hawkers, which is the new sports bar down on Auburn Way, and Main Street, which was fantastic.

Really excited to have them. And they are not just Seahawks. They are pro all Seattle sport or Washington sports. So they've got a little bit of everything in there. On April 10 and April 20, I had open office hours and met with a total of six constituents, in the community, learning more and hearing more about the concerns from, the BES project as well our regulations as well as, the EIS study happening in, the Mount Rainier Vista area.

And then I was out of town last week. Today, we had our special focus group meeting for municipal services, and, we revisited having emergency management come back onto a study session, in the near future to give us the recap on the floods in tandem with our parks and rec as well, so that we can get a good recap of the key learnings and the successes and the true impacts. And then we also talked about an upcoming study session. Parks is going to really showcase the senior navigator role and do a deep dive into all of the services and resources that are available for seniors with that role that we have that's funded by a partnership grant. And then Chief Collier reviewed with us the some follow-up from council member Baldwin's questions last week with the reporting for aggressive use of force or use of force in which I'll be following up with through email.

And then also is working in preparation to have our officer wellness program overview at the next study session. And then Candice gave a great update on our court, again, reminding us about, tonight, the appointment, but she, had some great discussion with us on prefiling diversion research and how to really bring together a focus group with the new judge, with the mayor, with law enforcement and some of the human services team to make sure that we've we're doing some planning for diversion in addition to community court and standing up the court.

You. Council member Anmer.

I have a lot to read, so be prepared. I was selected by AWC board during their meeting on action day to serve on the forensic investigation council and was officially appointed by government, Bob Ferguson, and my meeting will be this Friday. I'm so excited. I will come back to report. And finally, I get my appointment from the King County Executive Jeremiah for the Children and Youth Advisory Board as I will be represent Sound City Association.

And both these rule, I'm so honored to represent our city. Deputy mayor mentioned our meeting with FIRFA where we had the interview and select the new fire chief. I also this is where the excitement I attend the public work and utility tour on Friday. It was v p VIP tour I was the only council who respond. The weather was so great, so I encourage all the council members who have not scheduled it yet to do that because it's different.

We went to different places. It was very helpful to see the facility and understand how things work, especially what are treatment and how different from side to side. And we often take these services for granted, and we forget how much work happened behind the scenes. This tour really helped me to understand a lot of things. And it was again also good opportunity to show appreciation to our staff and that we appreciate the important work they do every day.

So I'm really appreciate them, and please say thank you to them. Besides, I just wanna say that I find my hidden spot in case zombie will attack. So you may want to take this tour. The

zombie attack. Bet you haven't sat through many council meetings where that was a term used in the council meeting. Thank you, counsel. Going over a few of the items, Deputy Mayor mentioned the Public Issues Committee through the Sound Cities Association, where I am the representative for the City of Auburn. There was significant discussion, as we had mentioned in the last council meeting, about potential rate, sewer rate increases.

The current monthly rate for the King County portion is $62.66 which end with a 12.75% increase would raise that amount to $70.65 per month. The sewer rate is forecasted to continue rising by double digits through 2032, resulting in the monthly sewer rate doubling by 2032 and more than tripling by 2042. SCA members have expressed concerns about how multiple years of double digit rate increases, particularly when compound with other utility rate increases, impact affordability for ratepayers. The SCA Regional Water Quality Committee that, Councilmember Amher serves on, The caucus has suggested that SCA submit a sewer rate response letter, and that is being worked on right now by SCA staff. There was also discussion of perhaps providing an SCA position on the Sound Transit Enterprise Initiative.

Staff are tracking Sound Transit's Enterprise Initiative and possible impacts to SCA members across the region, and there is expected by the May by the Sound Transit Board. There was question as to whether PIC members may be interested in recommending that the SCA Board release a statement calling on Sound Transit to prioritize a regional system. I also attended the ribbon cutting for Hawkers Bar and Grill on Thursday, April 9. Very excited to have them in town. Friday, April 10, I attended the King County Regional Homelessness Authority board retreat where we were there to strengthen relationships with the new King County executive as well as the new Seattle mayor and foster deeper connections among board members and staff.

We wanted to make sure that new board members understood KCRHA's kind of wild history, I will say, key milestones that have been met, as well as where the agency is today and where it is heading. Ensure To board members understand the Built for Zero framework as the guiding approach for regional efforts to reduce unsheltered homelessness and to align on board committee structure, there was discussion of creating a finance committee, which I think is a very good idea to make sure that there is a smaller group that is intensely focused on the finances. Right now, of the finances for King County Regional Homelessness Authority do come from the City of Seattle and King County with, some funds coming in from the East Side. City of Auburn does not fund KCRHA right now, although I am a representative for Sound Cities Association on the KCRHA board. And the reason for that is because the dollars that we have are limited in the City Of Auburn to work on removing people from homelessness and those dollars right now are better spent at the local level.

When KCRHA has the bandwidth and the capacity to move more than just within the city of Seattle. We will have that discussion council on whether we want some of the funds to go to KCRHA. But right now, until they can provide the same or better services than we have been providing here. I don't see a need to spend our dollars in that way. On Saturday, April 11, I attended the special celebration of Indian art and culture.

Mayors from throughout the region were invited to the celebration at the Indian consulate by consul general Gupta. It was a lovely event with much singing and dancing and celebration of the arts. I did attend Sunday through Monday, the Main Street America conference where I was able to attend how to leverage heritage tourism with revitalization, which I thought was a very timely topic, appropriate topic since we are colocated with the Muckleshoot Indian tribe. Preservation isn't just about buildings. It's about people, and we wanna honor the relationship people have to place.

On Wednesday, April 15, I attended the Mount Baker Middle School AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, presentation by students in sixth through eighth grades. I was in the audience with parents, teachers, faculty. That was an amazing presentation. I was so proud of our students and the successes that they are having in the classroom. So kudos to them.

Also, congratulations to the new Valley Regional Fire Authority chief Tim Day. He will do a wonderful job in replacing chief Brad Thompson. Don't forget empty bowls on Friday, April 24 from eleven to one at Grace Community Church. Celebration of life that we had for Amy Hatcher. You did a beautiful job, deputy mayor.

I I can't top that, but also a celebration of life for former miss Auburn 2022, Helen Carey Everett, passed away at the age of 22 from a very aggressive gastric cancer. So our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of both Amy and Carey. Thank you to everyone that was involved in Clean Sweep, and we have no reason for a closed session or an executive session this evening, so we are adjourned. Thank you.