City Council - Regular Meeting

recording in progress

Wow. Thank you.

No Girl Scouts tonight.

Okay.

Good evening. We will call the Auburn City Council meeting for Monday, July 6, 2026 to order, and we will begin with a 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. So tonight's meeting will be held both in person and virtually. Now, if you would all please rise and join 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 Sean, will you please call roll?

Deputy Mayor Tracy Taylor. Here. Council Member Ammer. Here. Council Member Baldwin. Here. Council Member Lott. Here. Council Member Rakes. Here. Council Member Sturgis. Here. Council Member Clinton-Taylor. Here.

We do have one proclamation tonight, so I'll go to the podium, and I will ask that Matt Jennings, City of Auburn Parks and Recreation Board Chair, please join me. Mayor's Proclamation. Whereas Parks, Arts, and Recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the City of Auburn, and whereas Parks, Arts, and Recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's, And whereas Parks, Arts and Recreation encourages physical activity by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, fitness classes at the community center, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas Parks, Arts and Recreation is a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, and education at the Auburn Senior Activity Center, And whereas Parks, Arts and Recreation programming and education activities such as the Rec Teen Center, youth sports and food education are critical to childhood development. And whereas Parks, Arts and Recreation increases a community's economic prosperity, through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism through Auburn's large-scale events, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction. And whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide 37 developed Auburn parks, four open spaces, and 12 special use areas for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And now, therefore, I, Nancy Backus, Mayor of the City of Auburn, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month in Auburn and in recognition of the benefits derived from Parks and Recreation resources, and encourage our residents to get out this month and enjoy them as well. Dated the sixth day of July, 2026. And Matt, I will hand this to you with a thank you for what you do. And would you like to say a few words? I would please. Thank you very much.

Well, thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council, for recognizing National Park and Recreation Month. On behalf of the Auburn Parks Board, I'd like to encourage everyone to take advantage of everything our parks and recreation system has to offer. July is a great time to get involved. We just celebrated the 4th of July with Auburn festivities and Saturday in the park as part of America's 250th celebration. Whether you visit a neighborhood park, walk a trail, attend an event, or volunteer, I hope everyone finds an opportunity to enjoy Auburn's outstanding parks and recreation this month. Thank you.

Matt, thank you to you and all of the other parks board members for all of the great work that you do and the exciting things upcoming for the new theater and the new downtown park. In fact, I think there's going to be the naming of the new park coming up very soon. All right, we will move on to appointments. We have one appointment this evening for the Planning Commission. City Council to approve the appointment of Adeeb Altilal to the Planning Commission for a three-year term expiring December 31st, 2028. Is there a motion to approve? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the appointment of Adeeb Altaul to the Planning Commission for a three-year term expiring December 31, 2028. Thank you. Is there a second?

Council Member Sturgis. Thank you, Mayor. I second. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. We have seen Adeeb in the community. He is a fast-growing guy, man. He is always involved, whether it be at our events or, as a matter of fact, he was part of the appointment process. a process at one point, too, and the fact that he continues to stay involved in the community is outstanding and I'm really excited to have him part of the Planning Commission.

Thank you. Council, are there any questions or comments? All those in favor of the appointment of Adib Altilal to the Planning Commission for a three-year term expiring December 31st, 2028, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no. Motion passes. We thank Adib for his desire to continue working for the betterment of our city. Sean, do we have any agenda modifications this evening? No, Your Honor. Thank you. We'll move to public hearings. We have one public hearing this evening, and it is a public hearing for Astound Broadband LLC franchise agreement number FRN24-0004. Director Galb, do we have any staff report? No staff report this evening. This was discussed with the council at the last study session. Happy to answer any questions if they have any. Thank you. Council, any questions for Director Galb? All right. I will open the public hearing for Astound Broadband LLC franchise agreement number FRN24-0004. Is there anyone that would like to speak on the public hearing for Astound Broadband? Anyone like to speak on the franchise for Astound Broadband? One final time, is there anyone that would like to speak on the public hearing for Astound Broadband franchise agreement? All right. We will close the public hearing and move to public comment. This is a place on the agenda where the public is invited to speak to the city council on any issue. You can participate in person or submit written comments in advance. Did we receive any written comments for this week, Sean?

Yes, Your Honor. Linda Redmond provided comments and those were forwarded to Mayor and Council prior to the meeting.

Thank you. And did anyone request accommodation online this evening? No, Your Honor. All right. We will open it up to in-person public comment. If you'd like to speak, yes. So please come forward to the podium, provide your name, city of residence for the record, and please limit your comments to three minutes. And Sean will have that clock on a countdown so you'll know how much time you have left. I will cut you off if you go over the three minutes.

I'm Amy Witt, and I live in the city of Auburn in Rainier Ridge, right across the street from Lee Hill Park. Okay, so orientating wise up on the hill. Illegal fireworks have been a bad problem for years. Before I continue, can everybody hear me? Yes. Okay, thank you. This year it was horrendous. Not bad, not a little bad, absolutely horrendous. Hundreds of people were in Lee Hill Park on the 4th of July along with a content, content creator that streams his live activities online. You can check him out on YouTube. You can Google his name. He calls himself Neon, but it's spelled N-E. Scratch that. Mayor Backus received an email from me. She has all the information. But it's N-3-O-N, OK? Auburn's there. For 56 minutes, you can look at Auburn. You can look at the illegal fireworks filling that U-Haul truck. You can listen to all the yelling and the screaming. There's 40 minutes of signing of his name on motorcycles, helmets, shirts, tennis shoes. But what's relevant is at the very beginning when you can see that U-Haul truck with layers of illegal fireworks. And then... If you get to the 40-minute mark, you will see when they start setting off the fireworks. And at the 52 or 54-minute mark, you will see where the cops come in, and within a minute or two, the fireworks stop. Okay? But meanwhile, his group has been doing this for six hours. Okay? The video is 56 minutes long, but we felt it for six hours. There's blasts rocking the whole neighborhood, the whole hill. The fire department, one block away, number 34. I know they felt it. In fact, when they pulled out of their building, I waved at them all excited. Yeah, you're coming. And they waved back. Yeah, we're leaving. I was really disappointed. Meanwhile, there's debris all over this park that these people who broke the law put there. There's debris in the street. There's kids getting debris dropped on them. How can we stop this from happening? I talked to Stephanie today over in the parks and rec department, actually parks manager. She was awesome. She cut down some of my ideas, but she gave one that I want to put forward today to see it done as soon as possible. And that is, you might probably know the name better than I do, a ballard. Ballards? Yeah. But it's a post, in my mind, that's in the middle of the traffic area where all these private cars drive. Because I walk the neighborhood two or three times a day, and I talk to people, and I'm out of time. One real quick note. These city cars that go into the park, people who see that, I'm sure that they think to themselves, it's okay for me to drive in the park. And so all these private vehicles are going in there. Somehow we need to stop that kind of, ease with tramping on city property.

Thank you.

Thank you. Do I get a question and answer time here?

No, it's just public comment. It's not dialogue, unfortunately.

Okay, but you've got my email. I did.

Yes, thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Please come forward, give your name and city of residence for the record, and please limit your comments to three minutes.

Absolutely. Hi, my name is Ava Hahn, and I live here in Auburn, sort of near Leskoff. We can all hear okay? Yes, yes. Awesome. I'm a homeowner and taxpayer here in Auburn, and I'm here today because I don't like how the Auburn City is currently paying Flock to track my every move and sell my data. We recently, as a state, passed Senate Bill 6002 recently. Currently that is the only law governing the use of ALPRs by municipalities such as Auburn. Unfortunately, when you look into that law, Section 5 allows FLOC to gather whatever data they want whenever any agency lets them in. Section 5 fails to define who FLOC is or isn't authorized to sell that data to. In fact, Regardless of the intent of the law or how good those protections are, Phlox's own analysis, they released a press release about, it says, in their words, they can gather whatever data they want, whenever they want, and sell it to whoever they want. That's their press release on their website. So these protections that we currently have are meaningless, and we're all very vulnerable to the data being sold here. So, because as it stands, anyone can still buy that data on us from these cameras that we have set up on every ingress in and out of the city. So, as it, where we're at is, you know, my and your and all of our boss, bank, And insurance companies now always know where we are and what we're doing. So imagine all the wonderful new rate increases on your insurance rates or what lenders decide to offer you going up. For whatever reason, whatever data they've purchased, whatever thing they can fabricate, we all know what their incentives are to charge the most money possible. And imagine all the new wonderful reasons why people are going to be withheld from promotion or fired from their job. given their boss can now buy this data that we're paying flock to collect. And of course, we could be the next innocent people that these cameras flag for the police to pull us over and tear us out of our cars because we've been falsely identified, as has happened in a constantly mounting by the month number of times, false positives, innocent people just pulled over because of the AI software running in these cameras. So as long as these cameras are up, I don't necessarily feel safe in Auburn. Luckily, Linwood, Everett, Redmond, Cedro, Woolley, Seattle, I believe Tacoma, and more towns across Washington are all cutting these contracts. So I'm here to encourage you to cut your contract with Flock as well. Pull the cameras down and let us live our life unsurveilled. I think Auburn is a wonderful town and I appreciate this city council and I think that we can trust each other here instead of using cameras that buy and sell our data to literally anyone. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Good evening. My name is Raina Harrington. I reside here in Auburn, actually just a couple blocks over. I'm here to implore this council to improve the protection of the civil liberties and human rights of the city's citizens in the face of surveillance overreach. This argument is about to sound very familiar. Section 5 of HB 6002 specifies that, quote, a third party vendor providing automated license plate reader services may directly access an ALPR system and data and does not constrain who they may share that information with. This renders the law toothless to regulate these cameras that are privately owned by flock who are merely paid for access and installation by municipalities like Auburn. With that in mind, it is the analysis of ALPR vendor Flock by their own admission per their dedicated webpage on Washington's HB 6002 that, and I quote, the law does not restrict private entities from deciding whom to share LPR data with. It is possible that the law does not and cannot disallow a private entity from voluntarily giving that information to police or anyone for that matter. The argument that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear falls on its face when they are permitted to sell this information to anyone. Insurers who may use your location to discriminate financially against you, employers who may use this information to manipulate and discriminate against you, or anyone for that matter, that can convince Flock to sell them the data. If you can think of anyone that should not have real-time access to your whereabouts, places you frequent, whom you connect with, or ways in which you are vulnerable to blackmail or coercion based on that information, then you have a reason to fear these systems. Examples of this technology's use in other countries demonstrates a bleak future for the United States if we continue to tolerate this invasion of our privacy. The model Flock is building on is one pioneered by the Chinese Communist Party, a camera and signals intelligence system capable of identifying and tracking individuals, vehicles, and objects and tying them to a national database to monitor their movements, behavior, and interactions on every street corner, flying on drones, and hidden in police cars. The surveillance system is used to enforce their totalitarian social credit system to suppress freedoms, prosecute a genocide against ethnic minorities, and fabricate tall tales on which to arrest and intimidate individuals. These cameras endanger us all by ensuring anyone who can convince, coerce or compromise their corporate operators will have all the information needed to target anyone with violence, manipulation or harassment. To say otherwise is short-sighted ignorance of how they have been used elsewhere or the vulnerabilities present no matter what flock may say in their servers and camera and computer architecture. I implore you to help us prevent crime in this community instead by meeting us humans with human solutions and solving problems with us rather than managing us. Render it obsolete by ensuring opportunity. Render it infrequent through prevention and education on prevention. Render it unpalatable to those who had committed again by earnestly working to rehabilitate and otherwise occupy them. On the 250th anniversary of this nation's liberation, I think it's once again time to cast down the tools of oppression and totalitarianism. and take steps as a community to make ourselves safer at the human scale rather than outsourcing that job to robots that make mistakes. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening?

Good evening. My name is Jeff. I live in Auburn.

I'm here this evening to reiterate my strong concern about the use of ALPR technology in Auburn, specifically the use of flock safety systems and to request the city cancel its contract with flock and permanently remove the surveillance architecture. I'm well aware of the argument that Flock enables police to work more efficiently. However, to date, no independent study demonstrates a link between the presence of Flock and improved outcomes to investigations by local law enforcement. Surely we can point to one-off anecdotes about this or that recovered vehicle, and we surely have lots of propaganda from Flock safety itself. But again, just to be clear, there is no independently verifiable evidence which shows that Flock makes anyone safer. By contrast, Independent Journal, the new American, described flock safety systems as, and I quote, the foundation for a surveillance state. Since the last time I stood here, we have learned as a country that flock safety cameras do not just capture license plates, they also have microphones listening which are capable of detecting conversation, which also tells us that these devices are always on. And we have also learned that not only do flock cameras capture continuous video and audio, including facial, gait, and voice recognition, but they also detect Bluetooth and as such necessarily track our mobile devices. And just to be clear, just because our city or our police department did not select track Bluetooth or perhaps opted out of gait recognition does not mean that these data are not being collected and analyzed elsewhere by others. It is now widely documented that federal law enforcement agencies access flock data and sometimes the actual cameras themselves at will, and what amounts to unaccountable, usually unconstitutional, and sometimes illegal surveillance. The essence of SCOTUS, Schmidt versus the City of Norfolk, points to this fact and highlights the adjacent fact that flock tracks phones too, not just license plates. The federal government is using this technology to carry out mass surveillance against ordinary citizens. And for that, I'm sorry, for reasons that are at best unclear. To date, within the city limits of Auburn, we know of at least a dozen abductions of our neighbors by ICE. And although it is hard to know for certain, it is reasonable to assume that this was made possible in part by flock data. The danger is here now. It is not on the horizon. It's not theoretical. It is here. They are targeting our neighbors and my friends, even as I stand here speaking, and they are using flock to do it. Despite what billionaires try to tell us, this is not all inevitable. We have the ability to stop it, but we must act quickly. And I urge the City Council to take the steps to protect the citizens of Auburn from federal government overreach and illegal surveillance before it is too late. Thank you. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? Final time.

Good evening, Council. Rocky Salvador from Auburn. I'm back to continue my ask that Auburn cancel their contract with FLOC and remove AOPRs from our city. I took some time recently to review the FLOC transparency website for Auburn and was surprised to see that our most recent success story was from spring of 2025. I was surprised because I thought this technology was paramount to stopping and solving crime in our city. Don't we have anything more recent? I would like to see a running list published of all good this technology is doing. Otherwise, it's just a waste of money. I also found other interesting information on FLOG's transparency site for Auburn. Did you know that roughly 600,000 license plates per month of Auburn residents and visitors are getting scanned? And as of June 2026, Auburn had 588,605 unique plates captured and 651 hot list hits, making that a 0.11% hit rate. That's just .11 of a percent. As of July 5th, the hit rate for trailing 30 days was .04%. I hardly consider these numbers justifying infrastructure surveillance being deployed here and around our state. So, in the 16 months since the spring of 2025, we have roughly 9.6 million license plate scans with hit rates well under 1% and one success story documented on the flock transparency site. I'm not seeing where we can continue justifying having and paying for this technology. I mentioned transparency and accountability at the last meeting as something that is touted from the dais, but when it comes time to act, movement is slow. I have an action that could be initiated as new business at the next council meeting. I propose an ordinance that requires the flock and any other ALPR technology deployed by the city, the search logs, be published and openly accessible. Bonnie Lake, Des Moines, Sumner, and Renton, just to name a few of the local municipalities, are doing this. And I want Auburn to do this as well. If there's nothing for us to hide, there should be no issue with publishing the logs starting from the inception of the cameras. And this would directly speak to transparency and accountability. So who can write that up and submit it? One last point, on July 1st, 2026, the Institute for Justice published an article talking about motorists who have been pulled over, detained at gunpoint or jailed due to AR license plate camera errors. The report highlights 24 known cases, but admits that there is no comprehensive database of ALPR errors, so it's highly likely this is an undercount. The article goes on to say that while ALPRs are to blame for one third of the errors, two thirds of the errors are human. incorrect information, or officers misinterpreting what the AOPR data says. When officers stop thinking and fully trust a computer that's prone to errors and hallucinations, how can we fully trust that this technology won't misidentify any one of you? FLOC's own numbers state a 93% success rate. I need you to wrap up, please. Just a few seconds. Meaning it fails or misreads 7% of the time. For Auburn, that can equal 20 to 50 misreads per month. I need you to wrap up, please. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Good evening, Tina Simmons. I'm not currently really a resident anywhere. I'm still homeless, considered homeless here in Auburn, although I do have a couch that I sleep on in somebody's house. I'm just here to reiterate, I still have a claim for damages against the city to an injury I sustained to my face. I can't go into full detail because I'm already under contract with the King County Sheriff's Office in a previous incident and I can't go to the prosecuting attorney's office or file legally in the courthouse because of an existing matter that I'm directly involved with and in paper regarding a major crimes detective and everything who's passed away and stuff. So I just want to reiterate I'm still Just here, I'm not trying to harass you guys, but I'm trying to get this wrapped up so I can get the claim taken care of. I can get the facial injuries taken care of and be on my way because we still have, you know, this other issue going on. So I can't move outside of this area. I can't go into an actual courthouse and file against you guys. So you guys are kind of holding up, you know, the scenario for me to go ahead and get the damage to my face taken care of. And I can't sit there and give you all the medical records or anything. I can't just attach it to some claim for damages without anything from, I suppose you guys have an insurance company. I believe it's Washington City's Insurance Authority, if I'm not mistaken still. Is that correct? You have no comment, okay. But that's who I am to understand that is through your city clerk that you guys have an insurance company and I haven't been contacted at my mailing address in Seattle. So I just wanted to reiterate, I still have my claim for damages for the facial injury I took out here. and I have the medical records right across the street that I've already signed a release one time regarding the claim for damages against the city of Auburn for this incident just so I have that paperwork filed with the hospital too so they're aware that I have a claim against the city as well because we all pay Medicare taxes. We all pay property taxes or whatever. We pay sales tax. We have FICA and everything and so Even to sit here and be really rude to you guys and break HIPAA privacy, you guys still pay those Medicare taxes too. And I respect the HIPAA privacy law. And so I'm not just going to be really rude and in your faces or anything, but I'm just still waiting for that claim to be settled. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Hello, counsel.

My name's Cor. I've lived in Auburn most of my life, and I'm back here today to ask the council to cancel Flock contracts and remove the cameras from Auburn. Many people share my concerns with illegal misuse and access, wrongful arrest, security issues that Flock has ignored, as well as infringement on our right to privacy and security. Criminals will always find ways to evade and exploit these systems, so I don't think that the many costs outweigh the proposed benefit of reducing property theft. Additionally, our community has already lost crucial, beneficial community members to ICE activity that FLOC facilitates. There have been at least 21 incidents of police officers using flock cameras illegally to stalk exes and strangers. 12% of police officers admit to committing domestic abuse, and flock would make that easier for them. Even if there were rules in place and systems willing to hold them accountable, harm will continue to happen regardless of the consequences. The list of wrongful arrests due to flock errors keeps growing. Brandon Upchurch was wrongfully imprisoned after having guns pulled on him, getting bitten by a canine dog for a crime he didn't commit. Hugo Parra spent a month in jail with murderers for a crime that he didn't commit. The list goes on, and it reveals a pattern that police will trust this error-prone data in spite of evidence that would prove innocence. Property loss is stressful, but most people recover. The same cannot be said for people who experience assault and imprisonment wrongfully. Security researchers have been able to access security feeds on at least 60 cameras owned by Flock, download footage, and change device settings. 404 Media was able to access a camera as well. Flock logins have been found on Russian cyber crime forums. No matter what regulations and limitations you try to put in place, criminals will be able to evade these systems, conceal their identities, and use these systems to inflict real harm and financial loss. on anyone they choose. The costs of these systems outweigh the benefits. I feel much less safe with these cameras in my town. This money would be better spent on social services that meet people's basic needs so that they don't have to resort to crimes of survival. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? Final time, is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? All right, we will close public comment. And move on. Sean, do we have any correspondence? No, Your Honor. Thank you. 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, please.

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

I second.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. The consent agenda as listed in your agenda for this evening includes the minutes of June 15th, 2026 council meeting, June 22nd and 29th study session meetings, also payroll vouchers and it looks like the award public works project CP2518. Thank you.

Council, are there any questions or comments or any items that you would like to have removed for separate consideration on the consent agenda? 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 7020, an ordinance relating to nonconforming structures, land, and uses regulations amending sections 18.54.050, 18.54.060, 18.54.070, 18.54.080 and 18.70.020 of the Auburn City Code. Is there a motion to approve? Council Member Baldwin.

I would move to approve ordinance number 7020. Thank you.

Is there a second? Council Member, sorry. Rakes. I'll second that. Thank you, Councilmember Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. The proposed amendments to the nonconforming code will reduce unintended hardships on property owners and businesses while maintaining the city's long-term vision and consistency with the comprehensive plan. These proposed amendments had gone through quite a bit of review. They were first transmitted to the Department of Commerce on February 6th. No comments were received. The Planning Commission reviewed them at a public meeting on May 5th. They were reviewed through SIPA and approved. It was issued on May 4th. There were no appeals during the appeal period. The Planning Commission reviewed it with a public hearing on June 2nd, provided the recommendation to Council, and staff ultimately heard. a review of these at our study session on June 22nd. These, based on what we had heard previously, will create opportunities to keep things that are in a non-conforming state still in that state, allowing for people who are purchasing businesses or purchasing buildings to be able to continue to use them. And I think providing that flexibility is a beneficial thing.

Thank you.

Thank you. Questions or comments from council? All those in favor of ordinance number 7020, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Ordinance 7020 passes. Ordinance number 7023, an ordinance amending the city's 2025 through 2026 biennial budget. Is there a motion? Council Member Amor.

I make a motion to approve ordinance number 7023.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Sturgis. Thank you, Mayor. I second. Thank you. Councilmember Amher. Your microphone, please.

Ordinance number 73 represents the fifth budget amendment for 2025-2026. We had discussion last study session and thanks to Director Jamie Thomas.

Thank you. Council, any questions or comments about ordinance number 7023? All those in favor of ordinance number 7023, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Ordinance 7023 passes. Moving to resolutions. Resolution number 5915, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Auburn and the Office of Public Defense to accept and expend grant funds for public defense improvement. Is there a motion? Councilmember Rakes.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve motion. I'm sorry. I move to approve adopt resolution number 5915. Thank you.

Is there a second? Council Member Lott.

I'll second that.

Thank you. Council Member Rakes.

Resolution number 5915 would allow the city to accept $50,000 in grant funding from the Washington State Office of Public Defense for the purpose of improving public defense services.

Thank you. Questions or comments from council? All those in favor of resolution number 5915, please say aye. Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no. Resolution 5915 passes. Resolution number 5916, a resolution authorizing the mayor to amend the Community Aviation Revitalization Board CARB loan agreement to the total amount of $1,320,000 with the Washington State Department of Transportation for project number CP2518 Airport T-hanger upgrades. Is there a motion? Council Member Baldwin.

I would move to adopt resolution number 5916.

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

I'll second that.

Thank you. Council Member Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. This resolution allows the mayor to accept and execute an amendment to the loan agreement to complete the enclosure of existing open hangars for the betterment of the airport. This authorizes an amendment for the low-interest loan agreement by 10%. which would be an additional $120,000 to the total amount of $1.32 million to upgrade existing airport-owned hangars. With these hangars, for folks who follow the airport, you know that there's incredible demand for the enclosed hangar space. We are able to charge a higher rental rate for those. And given the needs of our pilots in the region, I think it's a good thing. Thanks.

Thank you. Questions or comments? All those in favor of resolution number 5916 please say aye. Aye. All opposed please say no. Resolution number 5916 passes. Resolution number 5918, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute a collective bargaining agreement between the City of Auburn and the Auburn Police Support Guild non-commissioned unit for 2025 through 2027. Is there a motion? Councilmember Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to adopt Resolution 5918. Thank you. Is there a second? Councilmember Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I second that motion.

Thank you. Councilmember Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. The City and the Auburn Police Support Guild non-commissioned unit negotiated and agreed upon the 2025 to 2027 collective bargaining agreement. And this would allow us to move forward in that space.

Thank you. Questions or comments? All those in favor of resolution number 5918, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5918 passes. Counsel, we do have need for an executive session tonight. The City Council will adjourn into executive session per RCW 42.30.110 sub 1, sub i, sub 2i to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency is or is likely to become a party when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency. The length of time for the executive session is 20 minutes. So I'm going to say 8.01 by the time we get back there and get settled in. In addition to myself, the City Council, City Attorney Jason Whalen, and Director of Public Works Ingrid Gabb will be required to attend. There will be no action following the executive session. We are adjourned to executive session. All right, we will call the meeting back to order, and we will move to Mayor and Councilmember reports. Excuse me, at this time the Mayor and City Council may report on significant items associated with their appointed positions on federal, state, regional, and local organizations. We will begin with Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. And before I jump into our meetings and events and everything that was happening since our last meeting, I want to clear something up real fast. Auburn residents put their trust in us and we're here to serve them. So I take our responsibilities to serve both our city inside and outside of this chamber. So there's been a lot of issues we talk about here from transportation, public safety, housing, human services, emergency response. It doesn't stop here at City Limits. If you were at you heard that a lot from the presentations that we attended, that this moves forward, not only just here in the city, but continues through other jurisdictions. So when I attend a lot of these regional meetings, committees, conferences, it's not just to sit in a room, it's not just to listen, but it's to listen, learn, and build those relationships that make Auburn's perspective a part of the conversation. It's also about bringing information, ideas, and lessons learned back home so we can help inform the work that we do here. We heard that a lot also in the sessions that we all attended. Now for me, it's an important part of public service. It's showing up to these larger conversations, finding out what's happening, making sure our voice is heard here in Auburn. and staying focused on the people who trusted us to do this work. So I'm going to go back to June 18th, where I met with Councilmember Sturgis for a one-on-one meeting. We also met with a concerned resident on June 23rd through the 26th, along with Councilmember Baldwin and Sturgis and Taylor and Hannon, Amher, the Association of Washington Cities Conference. A lot of really good sessions. I took a ton of notes on... indigent defense, city budget and state tax structure, the ALPR camera policy discussion, misinformation on social media, fostering civility and public service, and lessons learned from that December floods. Great conversation in that session also. And then on June 27th, I also began the Washington City Elected Leaders Institute through AWC, where Councilmember Amherst and Sturgis and Mayer have all been through. I am so excited. through this work, through Wasele. I recommend trying to get involved in that next year. It is incredible, especially with a lot of the regional leaders here. I'm excited to work with Renton and Maple Valley in that space. And then, obviously, Saturday the 4th at Lescove, our city staff continues to just outdo themselves year after year. What a fun day at Lescove Park. It was fun, and a big thank you to Parks and Rec for making it such a fun day for all the families. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Ammer.

Okay. I attend the Association Washington City Annual Conference. I know some people question the value of attending conference or whether they're a good use taxpayer dollar. I believe AWC is worthwhile investment because it provides training and issue that directly affect our city, allowed us to learn from our community and help from other community to help our community. and bring back idea and best practice that benefit Auburn. I was, I had the honor to serve in AWC scholar selection committee, so I get the opportunity during lunch, to go on this stage and ask for donation. We did a good job. Anyway, I believe everyone did an amazing job supporting this effort. If you are able, I encourage you to go please to donate to help another, to allow next year to get six students. I attend King County Regional Water Quality meeting. Again, we discussed affordability, which as a part of regional water service plan update include how to measure the impact of sewer rate on residents and what option may be available to improve affordability for households. We also receive update in water sewer capital Yes, that's what it was. And enjoy 4th of July. Thank you for the city and the staff. It was amazing. The weather was good.

I'm done.

Thank you, Councillor Sturgis.

Thank you. Yeah, just ditto and echo of the comments. So thank you so much. The 23rd through the 26th was a fantastic opportunity to learn and to grow. I guess the thing I would add in addition to the comments already shared, is just the opportunity to build relationships with other council members and elected officials and city staff across the state, getting to share those best practices or talk through challenges and learn from others, either challenges that they've had where it hasn't worked or it has worked and Being able to bring that back to the city is always wonderful. And then I am super excited because we officially got our graduation certificate or certificate completion and Hannon got her water bottle. I did as well, but I'm more excited that Hannon has her water bottle. So, but one of the other workshops in addition to the ones that have been mentioned that I attended was really understanding the revenue system of Washington State and city budgets and just a personal talking about our opportunity to come back and really be better for our community. understanding the constraints that cities have when we get such a small portion of the dollar bill compared to what the state and the county get. And so really figuring out how to, you know, we're so prudent in how we manage our budget, but figuring out how we can help community better understand how that works. And then also what we can control and what we can't control, making sure we're the best at it. So it was great learning. Thank you. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I, too, was at AWC. Some really good conferences. Actually, they're all good, but this year in particular was really good. It was really good. I think for me where a lot of the magic happens is those conversations over dinner with folks after a long day and just kind of sitting and talking through stuff, but also just getting to hear the human side of this because we all are passionate about the work that we do. So just being able to sit in space with people and just... be present and really hear people's hearts about their communities and what's going on. And they would also just enjoy some laughs and just kind of get to know people, especially when you get together like that, you see people oftentimes from the other side of the mountain that you don't get to see that often. So that was great. Did get a chance to go on the middle housing tour. I thought that was really good. Just different ways that they're tackling housing issues in Spokane. And it's a little premature, but I'm leaving in a couple of days for Birmingham, Alabama for the NLC for NBC Leo, which you all know I'm the chaplain for that constituency group. And so I'm excited for our summer conference. Never been to Birmingham. So I'm excited also just to go there with the rich history that that city has. And yeah, excited to be able to get with my colleagues from around the country here in a couple of days.

Wonderful. Thank you. Council Member Lott. Nothing to report. Thanks. Thank you. Council Member Baldwin.

Well, I think my counterparts have well explained the benefits of going to the Association of Washington City's conferences, which I enjoyed as well. But while I was there, I also had a chance to sit in on the Growth Management Planning Council conference. caucus and meeting that we have, I think about for a year. In that meeting, we approved our work plan for the year, which was a bit overdue. And then we also had our first briefing on the King County designation of countywide and regional centers, which I expect we'll see perhaps a motion on that come September. So continuing to serve the community and show up in those spaces that help our city. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Rakes.

Thank you. I did not go to AWC this year. I had gone my first few years of being on council, and I have now decided that I would focus more at home with the residents. And I had an amazing event that I filled in for mayor for. It was with the Titans Mighty Special Needs Baseball Team. It was so, I can't even explain how wonderful it was. I got to sit in the dugout with them. They are the only special needs baseball team around here and so they don't really have teams to play with and so they get select baseball teams to match up with them and when they get there, there's three disabled kids and three select kids or how many, you know, they mix the teams. And I have to tell you, the select team was so special and so good to those kids that it was very emotional and touching. And I did go over and thank them and found out that they were mostly from Auburn. And so I was happy about that. And so I'm getting ready to go to another baseball game of theirs this week. And I think the highlight of my time there was one boy brought a fan that fits on a bucket. And his grandma had got it for him. And he was so excited that he could cool off his teammates that he had to tell me about 10 times. So it was just a great event. I wouldn't trade hometown events for anything. And then I have to say, too, about the Parks Department. It was wonderful, good weather, lots of people, and my dog didn't bark once. I'm happy about that.

Great.

Thank you.

have to agree hometown events are amazing it's also good to be able to interact with excuse me other communities to ensure that what we have here at home is the best that we can provide for our communities so just a few of the events I also attended the Association of Washington City's annual conference, and I was honored to be elected as the secretary for the executive board. So I will be serving this upcoming year in that role. And then it is a Succession role and so following year as vice president and then ultimately as president of the board I look forward to working with my colleagues across the state as well as sharing the great ideas that our Council members and our community members bring to us here but it was a really good conference filled with a lot of different a lot of different opportunities for learning and seldom did any of us sit in the same sessions. There were always concurrent sessions. I went to, let's see, from Vision to, no, we did have Jen Francis, our Economic development manager was there to help with from vision to impact leveraging sports tourism to drive community and economic outcomes mobile tour so proud to have Auburn represented in one of the breakout sessions and I also attended increasing community support for city issues how to make sure that we are informing our community of of the issues that we are facing. I have often said, you may know the decision I make, but you don't know the options that I had when I made that decision. And so having better ways to communicate with the community about why and how we're making those decisions, I think will be of great benefit for us. Also attended a mayor in a mayor council form of government roundtable. I think council members had a similar roundtable at the same time because, as council, you know, there are two forms of government in the state of Washington. It is the mayor council. Council form of government and there is a city mount city manager council form of government and with a city manager form of government city manager is the one that runs the city and has seven bosses in the form of the City Council and a council Mayor council form of government is a separately independently elected mayor and what they call a strong mayor with seven council members working together. So it's always good to hear from our fellow mayors and fellow council members what they're experiencing. So again, another opportunity. I have to say kudos to Council Member Amer for taking on a function that I have had for the last couple of years in that Center for Quality Communities, the scholarship. Portion this year the goal was to raise $15,000 and I believe we raised over $18,000 so that means there will be more Deserving students throughout this state that will have an opportunity to receive a scholarship through the Association of Washington cities and I will encourage us to all find young people in our community and to apply for that scholarship. We've had one applicant so far and I want to see more young people applying for that. After I returned home, I went to the Pride Pancake Breakfast at First United Methodist Church of Auburn. They are a very welcoming church, and it was a great time. Great music, great auction items, and they raised money for a great cause here in the area. And then on Sunday, it was Pride at the Farmer's Market. So thank you to those who came out, and thank you to Nia for her great work in making sure that that was coordinated with our farmers market. And of course, the 4th of July is a huge thank you and shout out to Parks, Arts, and Recreation for an amazing event. But it doesn't just go with Parks, Arts, and Recreation. It takes our entire team, our police department. It takes Public Works. It takes... every department to ensure that we have a successful homegrown celebration. And so I want to say a huge thank you to everyone. I want to say thank you to all of the people who came out to celebrate that day. Perfect weather, beautiful car show, great talent. great vendors, so it just doesn't get much better than being at the 4th of July Festival at Les Cove. Fireworks is another issue, but I will not go into that this evening. Not my favorite part of the 4th of July. Anyway, with that, we are adjourned.