City Council - Regular Meeting

recording in progress.

Good evening. We will call the Auburn City Council meeting for Monday, July 20th, 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 council meeting will be held both in person and virtually. And now, if you would all 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, would you please call roll?

Deputy Mayor Taylor? Here. Council Member Ammer? Here. Council Member Baldwin? Here. Council Member Lott?

Here.

Council Member Rakes? Here. Council Member Sturgis? Here. Council Member Taylor?

Here. Thank you. All right. Under announcements, mayor's proclamations and presentations tonight, we have no items. So we will move to appointments. And I am thrilled by the appointment that we have this evening. It is for our second municipal court judge city council to confirm the appointment of Sarah Watson to the Auburn municipal court judge position number two for a three-year appointed term from January 1, 2027 to December 31st, 2029. Is there a motion? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to confirm the appointment of Sarah Watson to Auburn Municipal Court Judge position number two for a three-year term expiring December 31st, 2029. Thank you. Is there a second?

Council Member Ammer had her hand up first. I think it was kind of one of these, I want to do it, I want to do it. I second, Mayor. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I think the city of Auburn is extremely lucky to have a leader such as Sarah step into this position in our Auburn Municipal Court. A lot of it has to do with our community coming back and saying, we need this in our community. And I believe Sarah is the right person for this, and I'm very excited for her. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments?

Go ahead, Council Member Sturgis. I just wanted to offer a comment in addition to. Throughout the presentation when you shared last with us, your empathy came through and also just your pride in being a local Auburn resident. And so we're being raised in Kent and then living here now as a homeowner with children in our schools. And just this being your home is so special and cannot wait for you and Judge Matthew to be able to build this together, take us into the future.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Well, I will share a couple. Council Member Sturgis, as you mentioned, Sarah is an Auburn resident. One of the main things that we wanted to do with moving back to our own community court was to make sure that the voices of the people, just like that, voices of the people of the city of Auburn are heard. And bringing in two judges that have similar philosophies of compassion and accountability and the belief in community is something that we really stressed when we were looking at these candidates. And Judge Matthew Leyva, who was confirmed a little over a month ago, has already started some of the work and was in on the interviews. And when Sarah came forward, I was so thrilled because this is a person that I have told numerous times, we're gonna get you in Auburn one way or another. This was the perfect opportunity and I am so thrilled to be here today providing you with the appointment that I have made and asking you for your confirmation. And by the way, this is Sarah's birthday today. So happy birthday, Sarah. And so if there are no further comments, all those in favor of the confirmation of the appointment of Sarah Watson to Auburn Municipal Court judge position number two for a three-year term expiring December 31st, 2029, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. The confirmation has been confirmed by a seven to zero vote. Welcome to Auburn. It brings tears to my eyes knowing that the people of Auburn are going to be represented by such great judges who have that compassion and accountability in their mind and want to make sure that the people in this community are served well. We look forward to it.

All right. Do we have any agenda modifications this evening, Hannah?

Perfect, we will move to public comment. This is the place on the agenda where the public is invited to speak to the city council on any issue. The public can participate in person or submit written comments in advance. Did anyone provide written comment, Hannah?

No, Your Honor.

No one online that's wishing to provide comment. All right. So we will move to in-person public comment. If you would like to speak, we need you to, first of all, hopefully you signed in on the sheet that is provided. And when you come to the podium, please give your name. your city of residence. And please keep your comments to three minutes, because Hannah will have the three minute clock going. And I will cut you off at three minutes and ask you to complete your comments. Yes.

Good evening. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Excellent. My name is Eva Hahn, and I'm a homeowner in our wonderful town of Auburn. In the last meeting, I brought up how the spying data economy enabled by our flock cameras will make our lives more expensive. And today, I'm excited to tell you that this is no longer a theoretical problem. As a quick recap, FLOC's official public statement on our Washington Senate Bill 6002 includes, and I quote, the law does not and cannot prevent a private entity from voluntarily sharing data. This was published after FLOC's CEO called anyone in opposition to FLOC deployments terrorists. Today, we're seeing a rise in private companies like DRN Data, who use ALPR data that Flock is selling to give insurers new ways of hiking up rates for consumers. Indeed, DRN Data sells unaccountable AI algorithms to automotive insurers for the purpose of writing quotes, investigating claims, and even enabling repossessions. These patented AI algorithms are subject to no oversight or regulation at all, and they're not even required to procure factual information. When I moved to Auburn in 2022, my auto insurance premium went up by over $200 just when I updated my address. If our flock cameras sell data that makes my rate go up even more, I'll be forced to confront the reality that living in Auburn is fiscally irresponsible. In other news, recently researchers Ben Jordan and John Gaines found that new Flock Condor AI cameras and older Flock Falcon cameras were deployed across the country with no access control configured at all. In a video they posted to YouTube for all of us to see, they showed how anyone can use a normal web browser to log into these cameras and watch their live streaming video without any username or password. And this adds to a problem that we already have of Russian hackers finding and posting usernames and passwords to correctly configured Flock cameras in America onto various internet forums. These cameras track people, not just cars. That is how Flock sells products like people detection alerts and guardian mode. The ACLU has caught Flock representatives lying to city councils and elected state politicians about these features many times. So as a city, we need to be extra careful about this. If any of Auburn's cameras end up hacked or completely open, then anyone at all can use them to track anyone else. That won't stop crime. It will make it way worse. Human traffickers, murderers, and thieves knowing where we all are at any time at all will not help crime. I implore you to cut the contract with Flock and to walk away from ALPR cameras. They're not the right tool for the job of making us more safe. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

Please, applauding public comment is not appropriate. Is there anyone else? Virginia, you'll be after her, okay?

My name is Deanna Hagan.

and I currently live and work in South Auburn. I grew up here, raised my kids here, and my mom owned a restaurant here for 30 plus years. The residents of Auburn have all witnessed the decline of quality of life in our city over the past 15 years or so. We've also witnessed the dramatic increase in crime, drug activity, and homelessness. All are easily found in current crime statistics. Which brings me to why I'm here today. I am so tired of feeling unsafe in my home and helpless in my home. The drug activity, suspicious behavior, RVs all over town, and homeless people everywhere is out of control. My husband and I live within .5 miles of four schools and many parks, so obviously we live near many children alongside illegal activity. The foot and bike traffic in our neighborhood can be extensive as people go from the drug house on one cross street to whichever RV or vehicles on the next cross street. Out my front window, I've seen homeless folks relieving themselves. Plethora of drug activity, garbage, abandoned and or stolen vehicles, among other things. This is constant. I also see the neighborhood children. Do you guys see that outside your front window? Because I do. Why are current laws and ordinances not enforced? From my understanding, Ordinance 6950 states that illegal campers face potential misdemeanor charges, fines, and up to 90 days in jail. The RVs are often the source of so much illegal activity, and they don't even have plates, let alone current tabs. I've been followed to work, yelled at. I've had to threaten a serial camper parked across from my house for years. with a restraining order and stocking charges after parking enforcement said, quote, he isn't doing anything wrong. And then in October 2021, drug dealers parting on the corner assaulted then tried to run over my husband. I could go on and on citing incidents. My concern and loyalty here lies with my family, my single elderly handicapped neighbor, with the children in my neighborhood. My loyalty lies with the law-abiding taxpaying citizens of Auburn. We home owners pay a lot of property tax dollars to live here, so why are we the ones paying the price for the criminal's bad behavior, for the city's apparent lack of law enforcement? Are the RV owners tracked? Is there any kind of database for follow through? I'm a working mom, grandma, and wife. There are many things I'd rather be doing with my time than pleading with the city to please do your jobs. But I have a desire for all of us to feel safe in our homes. I want to be able to have my grandbabies over and not worry about what's going on in the RV park just feet away from my front door. I'll end with this quote. Freedom for the wolves has often meant death to the sheep. Thank you for your time.

This nice gentleman offered to let me get it over with quickly. I'd like to thank the city attorney.

Your name and the city of presence.

Virginia Haugen, Auburn. I'd like to thank the city attorney. We spoke briefly about the issue of motorcycles, scooters, that sort of thing. And I know about the beginning of the ordinance. Thank you all very, very much. and particularly to council member Taylor for understanding that it was an issue as soon as she knew what was going on up at Lakeland Hills. I was born in 1942 and yes, I'm the oldest person in the room. And I have two books. My mother talked about the war. And she talked about the Depression. She talked about a lot of things. I lost my father when I was four years old. I am almost all German. And these two books tell the real story of what happened in Germany and other countries. And it's hard to read. It's very difficult, a lot of names. It's been translated, this one translated from German, and my grandson went to Germany with Auburn School District tour, and he doesn't know. He will never be able to read this. It's just so long. But I was overwhelmed by the information he came back with, and what he told me, just overwhelmed, and I have offered to have the pictures that he took put into a format that I can look at, because I know about World War II now, and some people just don't get it, and thank you very much.

Thank you.

It's 7.15 p.m.

There's a battery. Thank you, Virginia.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Eric. I live in South Auburn. My comment is in a follow-up to Deanna. I came here tonight because I started my research with a simple question. How does Auburn decide when outreach should end and enforcement should begin for an occupied RV on a residential street? I assumed the answer would be in the city ordinance, and it wasn't. So I reviewed the codes to your study sessions. I submitted a Public Records Act request because I wanted to understand not just what the law says, but how the city has chosen to implement it. What I found is that occupied RVs appear to exist at the intersection of three different policies, parking, camping, and homelessness outreach. That led me to several more questions. What event tells an officer, we've done what we reasonably can and now it's time to enforce the ordinance? Or does that point never actually arrive? At what point does continued outreach become a policy decision not to enforce the ordinance? How does Auburn define success? Is success someone entering treatment, accepting housing, or simply moving an RV from one street to the other? Because that's what happens in our neighborhood. Those are very different outcomes, and without a defined one, residents can't know whether the policy is succeeding or simply continuing. During conversations with Auburn police officers about why these situations continue to recur, one officer described the situation as playing whack-a-mole. On another occasion, when my wife asked what could be done, an officer responded, what do you want me to do about it? Now I want to be clear, I don't view either comment as a criticism of our officers. I view them as an honest observation from people responsible for implementing the city's policy. If the people responsible for implementing the policy are asking those questions, I think it's reasonable for residents to ask one as well. How does the city measure whether that policy is actually working? Council, I believe it was council member Baldwin said during the study session on proposed ordinance 6996 back in 2024 that officers need really clear guidance on what to enforce and when to enforce. I think she's exactly right. And I'll go further and say that the residents deserve to know what that guidance is. I think it's a reasonable expectation in a government that values transparency. If officers are expected to exercise discretion, what standards are they exercising it against? If there's a written decision model that explains when outreach transitions to enforcement, I look forward to reading it in the response to my Public Records Act request. If there isn't, then I believe this council should be asking itself a difficult question. Is Auburn enforcing its ordinances according to adopted policy or according to case-by-case practice? Because those aren't the same thing, and I'm not asking the city to choose between compassion and accountability. I'm asking whether those values have been translated into a policy that the public can understand, that officers can consistently apply, and that this council can objectively measure.

Thank you. If not, that's probably the conversation we need to be having.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Tracy Renish. I'm an Auburn resident. I've been here before, and I was here back in the COVID days and speaking about the homeless people that were on our riverbanks that were killing all of our wildlife out there. And here I am again because now we have homeless people in our neighborhood that I believe Deanna said, you know, the traffic, the traffic. I live in a neighborhood that is 42 houses and it's in South Auburn. It's the Southdale community. It is ridiculous the amount of traffic that goes through. And I call them the bicycle backpack brigade. It's ridiculous. I can't, I can't give you an hour of the day that doesn't exist in my timeline. And I'm talking 24 seven where we don't have traffic going to one house in our neighborhood. And this house, um, houses a lot of the homeless people that are out there and it's not owned It's not occupied by an owner. So the frustration is beyond measure. I have four dogs now. There's a reason I have four dogs, because I don't want anyone, I'm tired of them dealing with my home. I don't want them on my property. I don't want them in front of my neighbor's house, camping out, doing their business, business that needs to be done in a restroom. So what I did here today, when you brought in the new judge, congratulations, I heard a lot of words that were compassion. And I would like compassion for the taxpayers of this city so that we don't have to have people like Deanna and Eric come up here. and say their safety is their biggest concern. That is ridiculous. Safety should be our highest concern, not compassion, safety with compassion. So I have all the compassion in the world. I worked for several years with freezing nights in Puyallup. I have compassion for those that are unhoused. I don't have compassion for

ineffective policies.

Let's do something. Let's make it work. But compassion, moving them from one house to another, from one street to another, that's not it. And I really hope this council takes it seriously, all of you, because it's important. And I don't feel safe in my home. I have four dogs now. Yes, my time's up. Thanks so much. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Hello, everyone. My name is Jeff. I live in Auburn. I'm here tonight yet again to speak about ALPRs in Auburn. Of specific concern to me this evening is the city's business relationship with the $7.5 billion privately held flock safety. On June 15, I stood at this same podium and said that in the very best of times, the use of such technology should be subject at an absolute minimum to strict administrative and legal oversight, including regular audits and ethics reviews of every individual with access to these systems. Of course, I couldn't help but notice last week that on the agenda for the City Council study session, there was a whole 20-minute presentation of the, and I quote, FLOC audit overview. And I similarly could not help but notice that the presentation of this audit was more or less slides from FLOC itself. And by that, I mean that some of the slides even have the FLOC logo. There was even someone from FLOC to participate in the presentation. And I have to say, I feel like I'm being trolled. Seriously, because any intro to business student at Green River College will know that an audit led by the business unit that is being audited has no weight. That's a conflict of interest, and this is gaslighting. You can't audit yourself and expect us to accept the findings. And bringing someone from FLOC to speak on the matter is just insulting to us, we the people. It makes you all look at best incompetent as administrators, and that's a real problem when you are the administration. I don't know how this situation can be clearer. FLOC is part of an obvious nationwide invasive surveillance network being built around us all without our consent. Every day that passes during which you as individuals and as a city council fail to push back on that just makes it worse for us here. And in this context, as elected leaders in this community, a third party independent audit of flock safety in Auburn and anyone who uses it is the absolute minimum that you owe us. And just to make sure there's no misunderstanding, I am not talking about something from FLOC's own trust, FLOC trust and compliance suite. I am talking about an audit led by someone, probably a consultant or a consulting firm, not from here, not associated with law enforcement, and not associated with FLOC. You should take the cameras down and cancel the contract. That would be the obvious smart and right thing to do. But for tonight, I'm just asking for an independent third party audit. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, my name's Jess. I'm a South Auburn resident. Just briefly, I do not share my neighbor's concerns. but I am here to express concerns about the flock cameras. My understanding is that they are sold to cities with the promise of safer, more accurate policing. But per the manufacturer, that means 93% accurate. The problem with this is that we think of the flock cameras only in terms of what they can help with. For example, finding stolen cars faster is one of the most often cited claims, but not in terms of their harms. And I would like to suggest that we view this from a risk versus benefits paradigm. According to the Institute of Justice, there are documented harms of, for example, wrong people having been pulled over. And I don't at gunpoint and I don't think I need to remind the Auburn City Council about the risks of things like that for people who maybe not have been in the city for too long. I'm referring to the Brian Skimmer case where the officer was acquitted in that instance, but there were repeated officer involved deaths with the same officer where the city had to settle for several million dollars and and the final time the officer was convicted. There are also documented instances of people being held in jail for up to a month when they ended up being the wrong person. Not only is that deeply harmful to the wrongfully accused individual and their family, which I trust that all y'all care about, it costs the city money to detain that person. It takes the police away from things where they could actually be saving someone's life, i.e. with DUI patrols. And it costs the city money and whatever services if that person was a breadwinner and now you have to, you know, support them through like the food bank. It costs the city loss of income tax and it opens the city up to potential lawsuits. So please consider an objective audit like the previous speaker talked about. And then one of the things I just wanted to say, having been, you know, living in Auburn or near Auburn for a very long time, appreciate about the City of Auburn is the willingness of the city to look at the data and do what the data says even if it's not what other cities do. Like for example, when the City of Auburn got rid of certain traffic cameras because it was found that they weren't actually helpful and were costing the city a whole bunch of money. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Sarah Blum. I am a resident of Auburn and have been for 41 years. I'm here because I have heard and read about the flock cameras and the collection of data and the way that they can capture our identities and our movements. And I am not in any way supportive of that activity. So I'm here to ask that you do the audit that Jeff suggested, but also to cancel the contract and stop the invasive cataloging of people and their identities.

Is there anyone else that would like? OK.

Hi, my name's Cor and I've been a resident of Auburn most of my life. I've come here again to ask you to cancel Flock contracts and have the cameras removed. Many people share my concerns with illegal access, wrongful arrest, security threats that Flock has ignored, as well as infringement on our rights to privacy, security, and liberties as citizens of this nation. Criminals will always find ways to evade, exploit, and illegally access these systems. The many costs outweigh the limited benefits. I think taxpayers will end up paying more than will be saved through theoretical property theft production and could end up losing much more through insurance rate increases, cybercrime, on top of paying for these systems. There have been at least 21 incidents of police illegally accessing flock cameras to stalk their exes or strangers. Before anyone notices or intervenes, they can use this data to intimidate or harm anyone they choose. The list of wrongful arrests due to flock errors keeps growing. It gives a false sense of confidence to law enforcement and people sit in jail while officers delay or deny examining exonerating evidence. This could ruin someone's life. If someone's car is stolen, they can get a new car. If someone is harassed, assaulted, abused, wrongfully imprisoned, they could lose jobs, property, and relationships and deal with the long-term mental, emotional, and physical injury that they have to keep paying for. These costs could and often do drive people into homelessness and harm. This could perpetuate the cycles of harm that drive people to risk their safety and freedom in order to survive. These systems continue to be hacked and there have been Flock login credentials available for purchase on the dark web. People can find ways to exploit and blackmail people into financial ruin. Flock is aware of these security issues and has done nothing to address them. No matter what laws and regulations are put in place, criminals will find ways to evade and exploit them. The cost of flock cameras far outweigh the benefits. I feel much less safe with these cameras in place. This money could be used for infrastructure and social services that will directly benefit Auburn residents. People's concerns with homelessness on the street, could be helped by offering housing assistance and other social services to help them and avoid having to resort to crimes of survival and drug use. I think you know the data that it's more expensive to imprison homeless people than provide them with basic services that help them live lives with dignity and safety. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

My name is Debra Townsend. I live in the Terminal Park neighborhood of Auburn. I'm fairly new to Auburn. Thank you for allowing public concerns about flock safety and the cameras. So as I say, I'm kind of new. As I understand it, Auburn has a contract with Flock to collect data about vehicles being driven on Auburn streets, data which the Auburn law enforcement can use in investigations. Okay, take it from another point of view, another perspective. As I understand it, my city is paying Flock to run 24-7 surveillance on me and my neighbors. And I have to take it on trust that Auburn law enforcement will use the data prudently and that Flock will keep the data secure and private and will delete everything appropriately. That's a lot to take on trust, especially now when federal immigration agents are doing more and more vehicle stops all around King County, pulling more and more people out of cars and off to the detention centers. So I know everyone's aware of the recent state law that bans using license plate data for immigration enforcement. One of my concerns is that law governs Auburn, but doesn't govern Flock. If current FLOC contract still says that FLOC can release data about us to law enforcement authorities and government officials if legally required to do so, or if FLOC has a good faith belief, let's put quotation marks around that phrase please, a good faith belief that releasing the data is reasonably necessary to comply with a legal process. What I don't see is anything about FLOC informing the customer, which would be us, about what data it's going to share or is sharing with what law enforcement authority and what government official and when and why. And that seems like a pretty big gap, especially in light of the new state law limiting the use of license plate data. It seems to me that being bound by the contract with flock safety creates a risk that data being collected about the people of Auburn will be shared out to other entities and misused by those entities and that we won't have any way to even know about it until the misuse begins. And for me that risk is too high. I cannot trust that the surveillance data being collected about me and my neighbors will not be used against me and my neighbors. And for these reasons, I ask you please to cancel the contract that city of Auburn has with flock safety. The risk of the misuse of the data is just too high. Thank you for listening.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Raina Harrington. I'm a resident here in Auburn. I'm here again to appeal to this council to protect its constituents from what I think are unconscionable violations of our privacy collectively. Before I begin, I'm a former educator. I think historical context is important here. The Constitution of this nation was ratified in 1788. Three years later, the Fourth Amendment would be appended to that Constitution, and it reads as follows. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. 250 years on, we are seriously risking as a community, not just abandoning, but flagrantly and disrespectfully vacating the values of freedom and liberty that this country was founded on. This country's founders could never have foreseen this technology, but they foresaw how a doctrine of malicious paranoia would fuel abuses, because they had lived under it. It was the doctrine the British Empire used to fuel searches that led to disarmament and murder. So, here's a rundown of the harm we enabled by allowing companies like Flock, Axon, and others to trample our rights. So far in 2026, at least 24 police officers in the United States have been disciplined or fired for abusing their access to ALPR information, mostly for stalking. A study from California found that 37% of all ALPR hits from fixed readers were misreads. The Institute for Justice presently records 27 cases since 2018 in which innocent citizens were detained by police due to errors made by automated license plate readers, including at least one incident where a single person was targeted repeatedly. These are only the stories that made the news. This is an undercount. Flock, as I mentioned during a last meeting, admits that Washington's HB 6002 practically doesn't affect them, since they're the ones processing and storing the data. They can do whatever they want with it and share it with whoever they want. They're under no obligation to disclose who they share that data with or who they sell it to. On the off chance that they do delete it after 21 days, as required by law, how many derivative data sets does it live in on? in whose hands? Let me be very clear. The integrity of the city's officials is not in question here insofar as their use of the system goes. Assuming our police are perfect and that they're utterly infallible with regard to system errors, it doesn't matter. These cameras still endanger all of us by putting our whereabouts and habits in full view of anyone that can pay or compromise for these systems. Flock's product, Nova, a person tracking system, also exposes the fact that these cameras are not just tracking vehicles or license plates. It's faces, it's voices, it's everything. I'm not interested in Flock's assertions of integrity or security any more than I care to hear an Enron executive vouch for the bookkeeping of Enron. Ultimately, I would say that if I wanted to live in a security state where some corporate spymaster decides who to share all of my information with, there are plenty of much worse places in the world to live. Let's please be better than this. End our contracts with Flock and the abuses it causes. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lois.

I've lived in Auburn for about 33 years. Sorry, 33. 30 years. I'm only 33. Sorry, it's the first time talking in front of this many people. I, a decade ago, was homeless. With the help of friends and family, I've worked up to being able to start saving for my first house. Being surveilled by a corporation would not help that. It would make me more scared to be out in the open, walking to my first job. I just forgot most of what I was going to say. I have some experience with locksmithing. The most secure door you can have is a brick wall. The most secure server you can have is one that is unplugged. Please send the contracts with flock. The residents do not want it. It is not safe for them.

Hello, Amy. I have owned a home in Auburn for like 13 years. And yeah, never been to one of these. Flock apparently is a big thing right now, but can you bring flock to my neighborhood? Because I'm irritated. These people keep coming in to my neighborhood and going down to this one house for drugs, and they're camping in the backyard, and I'm just wondering what I can do. A few times, there's cops that are surveilling, and I'm like, thank you. I even wrote in, thank you for having the cops, but I don't know what to do. Do we need more cops? Do we need more flock? Apparently, that's not popular, but I want more enforcement.

Thank you. Thank you. Rock, paper, scissors, right?

My first time speaking, so please bear with me.

Well, for all of you that it's your first time, you have done a fabulous job. So thank you for coming and caring enough about your community to be here.

My name is Brian. I am an Auburn homeowner, and I'm also here to register my opposition to Auburn's contract in partnership with Flock. I am a resident some seven years this month, so I don't have the tenure that some of my peers do, and I regret that I haven't prepared as many robust remarks as they have. But on the other hand, that means that I'm also kind of forming my relationship with Auburn a little bit at this point. And that's why I want to register my opposition to flock and want to speak a little bit just off the cuff on that, because. I see the cameras in several places as I just go about my days in town. And when you compare them with other institutions in the city, like City Hall, for example, like the library, things that are wonderful and venerable, flock cameras give me a very different impression of Auburn. They don't make me feel safe or welcome. They make me feel surveilled. They make me feel exploited. They make me wonder, not about the city's commitment to public safety, but the various pitfalls that come with this type of approach that have been mentioned in much more detail by some of the other speakers today. I wonder who's being harassed because of these cameras. I wonder who's being watched that has no right to be watched. And I wonder if I'm one of those people. Not because I'm a law-breaking citizen. I'm a law-abiding citizen. But as we all know, flock cameras are not only used on those who have already violated the law. And they're not only used ethically or accurately. And so I may do absolutely nothing wrong and still find myself targeted one day. And if I don't, others will. And I wonder about them, especially the way that those cameras are used against populations that are much more vulnerable than I am for one reason or another. And as a result, I find that my relationship with Auburn weakens a little bit every time I see one of them, rather than strengthens. And the last thing I will say is to reiterate what I've heard from other speakers, which I already knew to be true, which is that this company has no commitment to Auburn. This company has no commitment to anything but its own profitability, and they have shown absolutely no credibility that they will use the technology or the data they collect from us ethically. And so I would ask this council to stop selling me to flock and start serving public safety in other ways. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Gerald Flood. I've been a resident for 38 years. I wasn't going to say anything. I wasn't prepared for this. But following up on Deanna and other southern Auburn people, we are afraid to be in our own homes. We have businesses that have closed. Homeless people come in there. I've watched people pee, have sex, and do drug deals right next door to my house. I've had a gun pulled on me. I've had to put up cameras and monitors and alarm systems because I've had stuff stolen. from my property and it seems like code enforcement doesn't do anything about it we've complained about a business been closed for seven years now and they've tried running different businesses and she keeps telling me that the city won't approve anything but she's never made any applications to any city official and it's getting ridiculous the amount of garbage the tagging there's Graffiti all over the building. And every time I've talked to the guy from code enforcement, it's been, oh, we're looking into it. We're going to have a meeting about it tomorrow. And nothing seems to be done. It's a shame that you can live in a place for 38 years and not feel safe in your own home. The incident where a guy pulled a gun, it turned out to be a pellet gun. But it happened to be one time that I walked out of my house without my weapon. It would have been a whole different situation because the gun looked so real. And it could have been a lot worse. But we're not getting the help to clean these businesses up that have gone out of business for whatever reason, either due to the taxes or the homelessness and the transients that come in and destroy the places. So that was it for me. I thank you for your time.

Do you have an address for the business that you're referring to?

I believe it's 815 Auburn Way South. It used to be Burger Ranch, which was owned by Deanna's mom. And now it's King of Pho. There is so much garbage, and I can show you pictures if you'd like after the meeting. And it's been going on for seven years.

Thank you. I just needed that for the chief to be able to have that address. Thank you. And it was Arctic Circle back in the 60s. Yeah, before.

Good evening. My name is Vicki Bates. I'm a 26-year homeowner here in Auburn. And just as several other Auburn residents have done over the past several months, I am back tonight to reiterate my concerns over the implementation of flock automated license plate reader systems in our city. Seemingly daily now, abuses of this tool continue to be reported across the country. There are documented reports of ALPR data used to track women seeking healthcare, Supplement employment background checks, respond to low-level crimes like noise complaints and phone use, verify student residence for schools, mistakenly accuse people of driving stolen vehicles, surveil protesters, and even more often, used by officers to track current or ex-domestic partners. The US federal government and other surveillance companies continue to work to expand the capacity and the reach of these ALPR tools. While I am grateful that leaders in the state of Washington have put some guardrails on the use of flock ALPR systems in our communities, this council's strong commitment to using these tools to the fullest extent possible should be met with sensible accountability. I urge you to approve an action calling for an audit of the use of ALPRs in Auburn. Your recent work on this topic centered on a presentation by a representative of FLOC who has a clear fiscal and reputational interest in advancing only self-serving information. Regular independent audits of the use of Flock and Auburn would, of course, provide more trustworthy information for concerned community members. I'd further ask you to involve community members, including representatives of those that have been expressing concerns, in identifying questions and data that would be important in a transparent review and ongoing communication with city residents. I remember during last year's community meeting the pride the city officials had in sharing declining crime data, particularly around recovering stolen cars. At the same time, I noticed, and it really stuck with me, that crimes historically against women and members of our LGBTQ committee were the areas that had increases, sex crimes, and rapes. It's not lost on me that the council chooses to spend over $60,000 a year on the flock tool while I've heard no proactive efforts planned to address these crimes that look to be on the rise. The least you can do is make use of the tool with more transparency and in a trustworthy way.

Good evening. My name's Rocky. I live in Auburn. And so good evening, council and mayor. I'm here again tonight in continued opposition of surveillance systems run by Flock, Axion, Motorola, or any other provider here in Auburn. I'm saddened, hurt, and frustrated by what I saw at last week's study session, where a topic on the agenda to discuss the need for third-party auditing of ALPRs included promotional material and even had representation from Flock on the panel. This was, in my opinion, a conflict of interest and deterred from the original motion by Council Member Lott of asking staff to review feasibility of a third party audit. Chief, thank you for adding search details to the flock transparency site. It was nice to see the addition so quickly. However, I also noticed that we don't have case numbers included. Since this is a mandatory field and case numbers are public record, we should include those. especially given the growing number of cases where law enforcement has misused ALPR data around the country. I'm not 100% trusting that officers make good and right decisions all the time. This doesn't mean I'm anti-police. I am for accountability for everyone, no matter if they have a badge or don't. I was and am upset that a majority of this council chose not to move forward with getting bids on a third party auditor coming out of the study session last week. Outside audits ensure nothing gets swept under the rug. Outside audits are commonplace when talking about data security and integrity. An outside audit can catch something before it becomes a more costly mistake. Why wouldn't we want that? I outlined these points in council to an email I sent in March, but what I would like to see included in any new business moving forward is the following. Number one, the city discloses what surveillance technologies our city uses and has access to, including vendor names and contract costs. Number two, we adopt We adopt surveillance oversight requiring public notice before new surveillance technology is acquired, community impact assessments, annual transparency reports reviewed by a separate third party, clear data retention and deletion policies in our contracts with heavy financial repercussions if not followed, restrictions on sharing data with federal agencies. And number three, that we audit existing surveillance contract and data sharing agreements for compliance with Washington's shield law and ensure that they are meeting data retention and deletion policies set forth above. I'd also like to add one final thing before I leave. And I don't have an issue or the same issue with toll cameras or speed cameras because they only capture my plate information when I'm driving in the toll lane or if I'm speeding. ALPR captures and time stamps every time I drive past one with no other reason than just because I'm on the road. We should not normalize cameras and systems that can broadly capture where we travel. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Yes, please come forward. Name and address for the record.

Or name and city of residence, sorry. Ken Blevins, city of Auburn. This is completely different. I've only been here once another time, but it's so inefficient. I'm sorry just to say this, but Federal Way has got it going on. People sign up here. They do a sheet. It goes to the person and each person's called so that if you sign up, you get to go first. If you don't, if you still want to speak, it's, you know, freedom of speech. It's frustrating. I don't know who's coming what or what. You just show up and then who goes next? Anyways, the speed camera. I talked to you guys about it the first time I came here. Those little signs are this big. It is not compliant. I haven't got a phone call from anybody. Nothing changed. I'm going to make next steps for this. Next steps means that instead of spending three minutes here wasting whatever time I'm doing talking about this, I'm going to talk to a lawyer. I do want people not to be speeding, but we've got to know what's going on. People coming out of town, we have to be welcoming. You've got to see. This is a speed camera. Slow the heck down. It's too small. Get a bigger thing. Get compliant. Second of all, explosions for a month are going to affect the eagles, the bald eagles. In my area, it's a federal crime. It's not good. It needs to stop. I'm not against 4th of July. I'm for actual fireworks in communities even, in the neighborhood, small fireworks that bring communities together. But I'm not for huge explosions scaring my Ukrainian wife. And that's for other people, dogs, whatever. And that's fine. A couple days a year, Even a week, let's say. But for a month, it's ridiculous. Just because it's an Indian tribe, I don't care. It's a federal crime to affect bald eagles. That's going to be the next thing I'm going to deal with. Flock cameras. Come on, people. Just quit going on the internet and ask, can we just have the police chief come up here and say what it's done for Auburn? We're one of the worst cities along with Federal Way that have stolen cars. That's why your insurance is up. It's not because Flock sold something to somebody. Your insurance company is selling it to them. Your car is getting stolen. People are losing their jobs because they can't get to work. Let's get some common sense in here. Stop looking at these things that someone says this is happening that they're only getting the license plate They're allowing the cops to be alerted alert cops can go try to find them if they stop them They're probably gonna find that they're committing other crimes in these cars Okay, we want to stop crime you guys are talking about flock and these people have homeless drug addicts in their town or in their in their neighborhood and And no one's doing enough about it. This is safety. You've got to feel safe in your city. The small businesses have to feel safe. That's why it's not successful here. That's why we have a mall over there and nothing to do downtown. That's why we have people up in Auburn Hills that go elsewhere to do things that are fun and community oriented. Young adults are not here. They're not here. So let's address this. It's addiction. It's not homelessness. I came from Federal Way, and they wouldn't say the word, the A word. Oh, you can't say addiction. They're homeless. Not all people are homeless.

Mr. Clements, I need you to wrap it up, please.

So thank you very much. I'm sorry. I'm a little. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.

Hi, I'm Linda. I've been here about 10 years, and I wasn't going to speak tonight like some other people, but that bothers me. There's cameras on everybody's houses. We have ring cameras and things like that, and I totally support our police, but flock is different. And I'm going to say a couple names here. Orejo Guerrero. recently killed by ICE, Good and Pretty, also killed by ICE, and more. And you made my heart rate just raise. I'm a white woman, and I've got a lot of privilege, but there's a whole lot of people in our town that don't. And I'm sorry, I'm going to cry, because I just feel like this is unprecedented time in our country. And I just... I don't think we can afford to have flock cameras in our town because, like they've said, it's not that they're a part of our community. Our police chief is a part of our community. Our police are. But the flock cameras are not. And I appeal to you to look into it. I'd appreciate for you to look into taking the flock cameras down. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Good evening. My name is David Fairchild. I've been an Auburn resident for over 20 years, homeowner. Proud to be here. It's a great community. As a lot of people have said today and at other times during these meetings, it seems to be in decline. And I don't know exactly why that is. Obviously, I'm here to talk about FLOC again. The resources that you guys have put towards that particular technology and treat it as gospel could be better spent on certain other things. I wanted to give you guys just a little bit of history because I also watched the study session from last week. That was appalling. I don't understand why you guys won't do an audit of your use that is a third party audit and not you guys saying, and judge or police chief, I know you guys do a great job. But an audit that you do on yourself is meaningless. There is no value to that. That doesn't add to accountability. That doesn't add to any sort of transparency in what you guys are doing. So I want to let the people who haven't been in Auburn for so long, let them know that you guys have had flock cameras since 2023. So it's been three years. Has it helped at all in reducing crime? Has it prevented a single crime? It certainly helps in finding a stolen car, and I do appreciate that. That sucks. But it's also been used, demonstrably used, by ICE agents and DHS to go after some of our least supported members of our community. In 2025, in October 2025, University of Washington did a study, and they found out that Auburn was one of eight cities in the state of Washington that shared their data with federal agencies, including ICE and DHS. You guys turned off that setting. That's great. You guys didn't know that it was turned on in the first place. That's crazy. An independent third party audit would help restore trust from the community. So I really, really want you guys to do this. I saw a press release after that University of Washington study, and it said the city of Auburn remains committed to transparency, accountability, and protecting the privacy and civil rights of every member of our community. The third party would go a long way to meet that stated goal. I also, because I watched the meeting last week and I saw some of the comments, I was also appalled that there's a flock representative there doing a sales pitch. You guys already bought it. Why are they still trying to sell it to you? That's crazy. I also heard members of city council saying, oh, we don't have any issues at all here, so we don't need an audit. That's crap. After 6002 was passed, you guys had to reposition cameras because they were pointed at churches. You had private contracts with private flock companies that you had to cancel because they're against state law. Please, please. One final thing, if I can. Ten seconds. Watch the Supreme Court ruling from January 2029. Flock's data model is going to be ruled unconstitutional very soon. 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, well, go ahead if you want to speak.

My name is Jeannie Brandt. I've been a homeowner for 30 years in downtown, or Terminal Park area. This all started in like 2021. I have a mental health problem. lady that has schizophrenia. She tried to take my grandson, which I am raising, when he was five. She would bathe outside naked. She said I had put lye in her water. She's not well. The police did help me get her some mental health stuff she was taken for two weeks um they let her out she came home she took me to court for a harassment which was denied she um then um Left in 2023 when she tried to take my grandson because they said it was trespassing and I have video that she literally tried grabbing my grandson and taking him over to her house. She told the police officers that she wanted to take his snake eyes out. So they gave her no trespass for three years. Her family took her. And when this order was in 2023. She's now back. She just got back a week after she got back. She is now walking the streets at night again with dark sunglasses, a hoodie over her head.

My husband works nights. I don't know where to go or the help I can get because I am raising an eight-year-old now that I cannot allow outside. She has threatened to burn my house down. I can't do anything. It's words. She now has a sign on her front porch that says, Jeannie Brandt, town snitch bitch, posted on her house. I've called the police. I've asked, can you take that down? Can you do anything? They can't. It's freedom of speech. But if I put one up against her... I'm going to make her more manic and hurt somebody else. So I need to know where my rights are of living in that house for 30 years. And I've got 10 cameras now around my home because I'm afraid for myself and my grandson. And I don't know what to do. Now she puts her garbage cans out and says, my husband at night hissed them when he backs out of our driveway. And I don't know what else I can do. I've called the police several times. They've asked her, can you take this down? She says, get the F off my property. I don't know what to do. Sorry, I need you to wrap up. So anyway, I really need some extra security with the police driving down my road at night. If I could please get that.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak this evening? For the neighbors in that area that we're speaking tonight, I have asked Chief to please chat with you out in the hallway to see if there are other things that can be done. So if you are interested in speaking with the Chief from that neighborhood, he can meet with you out in the lobby. All right. We will move on to, do we have any correspondence this evening, Helen? No. All right. 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, please.

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

I second.

Thank you. Is there any question, comment, or any items that council would like removed for separate consideration? All those in favor of the consent agenda, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Sorry, I didn't give you any opportunity. The consent agenda passes and my apologies. I did not give the deputy mayor an opportunity to say there are claims vouchers Everything listed in your agenda and payroll and Public Works project. Thank you Is there any unfinished business? No. All right under new business I understand councilmember lot is bringing something forward under new business councilmember lot. I

Yeah, thank you very much, Mayor. For new business, I am proposing a motion to move to direct the mayor and the chief of police to develop and release a request for proposal for a third party independent audit of the flock system. And I've outlined that motion. I delivered it to the city on Friday around 2.

So you're making the motion. So just make the motion, and then you can explain it after there's a second.

Sure. So the motion is third-party audit of the flock system. All right.

Is there a second? Council Member Baldwin.

I'll second the motion.

Thank you.

Council Member Lott, now you can explain your motion. Sorry about that. So, no, this is I delivered the third party after the study session that we had last week. It was pretty clear this was an indication from the council was they didn't want to move forward with a third party audit. And so I decided that I was going to propose a motion and we can discuss it here. in public and vote on it and voted up or down whether the city wants to have a third party audit the flock system independent ongoing it would be an annual audit i've outlined the parameters of what i think the audit should be but i think the mayor and the chief of police need to develop the rfp and i think the residents deserve a third party independent audit the way the system is set up now it's essentially a self audit and i don't care If we have to turn in documentation to the state, it's still a self audit. The state does not hire a third party to review, review any information. And there's no obligation to review the information. There's only obligation to turn it into the state. And so that's what this proposal is for.

Thank you. Are there any comments from Council? Council Member Sturgis.

Thank you. I'm not quite sure the right area to go in here, but I did just ask through email, I'd like to request more information prior to. Because in my experience, you do an audit if there are concerns, unless it's routine maintenance that was set up with the vendor or what have you, or part of your business planning, et cetera. We're mid-budget cycle. I'm still, I've asked multiple times, I still haven't heard, I hear the national news, I don't live under a rock, I understand the national concerns with flock. I still have, I feel that I have a very close view of several cases of where it's worked well because I am one of the city council members who's gone on the most amount of police ride-alongs because I like to see things happening firsthand. and see how the tool is being used. And I take this decision to heart. So I understand the concerns. I'm hearing the concerns. I still haven't heard one issue that Auburn has caused that would spark us having to go use taxpayer dollars when our responsibility is to be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars. And there's a lot of other things that need to be happening in the city. And so If we had cases where we have had officers misuse our data, if we've had cases where we've had immigration deport folks from Auburn because of their access to our data or us sharing data, then of course I would have concerns and be completely supportive of an audit. We have been fully compliant from day one in completing the proper reporting, doing the required by state law monthly reviews prior to them even being required by the new law. And demonstrated behavior by our Auburn Police Department has shown that they are using it appropriately to help create a safer community. And so I would like to get a copy of the contract because it is a vendor contract. I think that any of us who've worked in a corporate job understand that no matter what operating system we use, you have a contract with a vendor and there are laws or rules put in that that you have to follow. And so based on the education that was provided from us from the vendor last week on how the system works, I would like to be able to review the contract to see who owns the data, be able to have the facts there. And then also I would like to know what specific concerns about the city of Auburn are sparking the need for an audit outside of just fear of the system. I don't know the right way to ask for that.

So you're asking for a copy of the contract. I know that has been provided in the past, but we can get another copy of the contract. Okay. Other comments? I'll go with Council Member Ammer. Excuse me.

I'm looking down here.

Council Member Rakes and then Council Member Ammer.

Your microphone, please. I have no reason to believe that our officers have purposely did anything wrong, but I do believe that what would it hurt to do a third party audit for our residents to trust us? We do other audits within the city for our budget and our money, and I don't see this as any different. why we couldn't take all the precautions to protect our residents, and our residents are asking for this.

Thank you. Council Member Ammer.

So, I'm looking at the website where they share the data about flock and who access. My comment... I'm a big believer for transparency, so I agree. We want to do audit. Okay. I'm waiting until state create their firm and we have legal firm will come to audit us. I don't want this to be moneymaker because the audit, what they will get, same schedule we get, they'll not have access. They will not go sit with the police to see anything. They will get the same file with remove like the names. I think will be in my best interest to wait till the general attorney create the rules, have good firm to trust them to audit, which they'll be the third party. Again, I see a question in here, a comment about UW access. UW access because Auburn police have good faith and they love them. And they said, oh, you've been, their federal access, when the police reach out to them, The assistant chief said, hey, show me what we do. They never respond. So usually, when you submit, you exit the data to say, I want to help you to improve, and you don't ever respond. That's the issue. Because of that, I lost faith. I need to have good firm. I trusted being well-knowing. I don't want them to use as an experiment. That's my thinking.

Thank you. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate all of the comments that were made here over the last several weeks tonight. And I think that folks have a right to be skeptical. And there have been isolated incidents that have happened around the country, but I echo some of the sentiments that Councilmember Sturgis stated tonight because I was kind of thinking the same thing. We haven't talked, but I was thinking the same thing. I haven't seen any data that would support that that says that that's happened here in Auburn. I think you have a right to be concerned when it comes to any AI technology or any data system that collects any type of data on people. You should be concerned about your credit cards. You should be concerned about the cell phone that you use. I mean, the list could go on and on and on and on. I'm not saying that it's not warrant to be concerned. I'm saying that, you know, Yeah, I will say this. Long before flock cams even existed, I've been stopped plenty of times without flock cams. So I know firsthand how that experience feels. But at the same time, there's no data to support that our citizens' data that supports that our citizens here in this city are in any danger or in any way vulnerable being victimized by the system. And we could speculate. I mean, we could say what if about a lot of stuff. And maybe some of it's true, maybe some of it's not. But when you're asking us, and again, I work in a space where audits happen because I deal with a lot of federal contracts in my job, state contracts, and they audit you, making sure that every penny you spent matched the receipts that you submitted. And they come in and do random audits, and they don't tell you what they're going to look at. They just pick files, and they want them files, and they want to look at them. And you're not allowed to be in the room until they want to know what this is, and they call you in the room. So my point is that I trust our chief, I trust the chief assistant chief, the presentations that we gave. I think the lady from the flock was here last week because she was invited to be here. She didn't come here, in my opinion, to pitch anything. She came to answer any questions or concerns that folks had that maybe had not been addressed. And so I didn't necessarily hear her giving a sales pitch. And I feel sometimes that it's being implied, even though folks aren't directly saying it, that in some kind of way or another, there's some dishonesty or potential for dishonesty to go on. And I don't think that of any of my colleagues here or our police department or the mayor. And so I can't speak solely for what Flockham's motives are. But again, I just... don't see that there's warrant, in my opinion, of spending money to do an audit. Because if you were paying attention to what the chief said last week, the information that they would get from the audit anyway is the same information that's available right now. So what would they be auditing? If you have access to the information that's already available, what exactly would you be auditing? Because you're not going to come up with any additional information. And so I don't know what would be the point other than just spending that money to ease people's nerves. But that's the same information right now that you as a public have access to, that you can see yourself. Thank you.

Council Member Baldwin.

Thank you, Mayor. One of the things about being on council is that we go to different sessions, we go to conferences, and we go to those places so that we can learn from other communities, and we can learn from the experience of other communities. And what we have heard for an hour tonight In addition to the information that I had shared with this council last week is that there are known problems with this technology. And we can say that we trust our chief. We can say that we trust our officers. and we can say that we haven't seen any data to put us in that direction, how would we if we are not taking and doing a third party audit? We have not as yet heard from anybody that's a specialist in data privacy. We have not heard from anybody that's a specialist in engineering with large data sets. And I think that's the type of experience that we need to come in and evaluate the data that we are capturing and producing. When we hear that other communities are paying out millions of dollars in lawsuits because of errors with this system, I want us to learn from that without having to replicate it. When we have 20, 40, because we've had people coming for months now asking for transparency, asking us to do the right steps to make sure that they feel safe and secure. I think we have to recognize and honor that. We have a responsibility that we signed up to do. And we have heard multiple times now that this is not a perfect system. I think the bare minimum that we can do to be responsible in this space to make sure that we are dotting our I's, crossing our T's, and confirming that our PD is doing it right is to put an audit in place. And I think that the cost of that is worth it. So I support this. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else before I go back to Councilmember Lott? Any other council members that have not spoken? Okay. Councilmember Lott?

Thank you. So what I'm asking for here is not any different than what the city already does. Your microphone needs to be up. Your microphone. What I'm asking for here is not anything different than what the city already does in an accounting audit. We go through accounting audits. Nobody's concerned that the city is cheating the system. It's a regular process. And part of the audit system you go through is they suggest best practices and they look and help you configure the system. That's not been done here. And it's clearly obvious that hasn't been done here when we were already in the news once because the system wasn't configured correctly. And still, we have not had a third party come in and go through the system. And going through the metadata means going through and matching it up to a case number, looking at the time and day stamps. It's looking at our internal rules and seeing if we're complying with what we said internally, not the state. And the state system that's set up for 6002 We give them the data. We self-certify. The state tucks it away. They may or may not look at it. It's self-certified. Again, there is no third party looking at anything. And that's the problem. How are we supposed to evolve and get better if we don't have an expert, an outside party coming in and looking at the systems we set up and suggesting changes? This betters it for everybody. It confirms we're following the rules. It gives us new suggestions on how to ensure the system doesn't get compromised. And it's the right thing to do. And there's serious concern in the community without a third-party audit that self-certification is meaningless. And what... the majority of council here is arguing for is self-certification, and I feel that's meaningless.

Thank you. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. How long again, I'm sorry, I thought I heard earlier the cameras have been in place how long now since?

2023.

So I guess my question, I think I've spoken enough tonight, but why now? I mean, they've been in place since 2023, and by now, if between now and then, that's three years, I think we would have had enough evidence or data to show, wait a minute, now we've had these things for three years, and we have a documentation of all these different incidents that have happened. And so when the cameras have been in place for three years, and I trust that the police haven't done anything shady with the data or information, that's a long time for cameras to be in place in our city. And for us to now, for whatever reason, and folks have a right that want to have audits and want to have it checked, but they've been around for three years.

Thank you. Council Member Amor and then Council Member Baldwin.

No, just comment about the bill 6002, then that means the need to go to speak to the state to update it to require the third party audit. Because as a city we're following what need, I think the city of Auburn already they have the data. My concern, I will repeat it again, unless they have certified agency, they should not access this data. And they think there is even law who's allowed to access police data.

Thank you. Council Member Baldwin.

Thank you.

I think it's important to respond to Council Member Taylor's statement. that these have been in place for three years and what issues have there been so far? And I think the reality is this is a newer technology. And as Council Member Lott had mentioned, when it was originally configured, there was an error. There was data sharing that was happening with agencies that could bring harm to our community. And we corrected it. The point of seeking an audit is that when you learn there are ways you can improve, you commit to improving and you commit to doing better. And what we have heard from our residents who have taken the time to come into this space as sometimes first time speakers, what we've heard from emails, what we've heard from phone calls, is that they want us to do better. And I think that's what this comes down to at the end of the day, is if we're going to have this technology, we have to make sure that we're using it right. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments before we move for a vote? All right. So I will read the motion. Motion is City Council to direct the Mayor and Chief of Police to develop and release through the City's standard competitive procurement process a request for proposals for an independent third-party firm with demonstrated expertise in automated license plate reader systems, data privacy, and law enforcement technology compliance audits to conduct an independent compliance audit of the City of Auburn's automated license plate reader program. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. No. No. OK, it looks like it is three in favor and four against. The motion does not pass. All right, we will move on to ordinances. Excuse me. Ordinance number 7024, an ordinance granting to Astound Broadband LLC, a Washington limited liability company, a franchise for wireline telecommunications. Is there a motion to approve? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve ordinance number 7024. Thank you. Is there a second?

Council Member Ammer. I second. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. This ordinance would allow Astound Broadband LLC to continue to operate their existing fiber optic telecommunications facilities located in the public ways within the city limits. Astound provides telecommunication services that include telecommunications capacity and dark fiber transmission of voice, data, and other electronic information, non-switch dedicated and private line services, and high capacity fiber optic transmission services to firms, businesses, and institutions.

Thank you. Questions or comments from council? All those in favor of ordinance number 7024 please say aye. Aye. All opposed please say no. Ordinance number 7024 passes. Resolutions. Resolution number 5912. A resolution authorizing the mayor to execute on behalf of the city a first amendment to the least dated October 7th 2024 with Rainier Flight Services LLC. Is there a motion? Council Member Ammer?

I make a motion to adopt resolution number 5912.

Thank you. And second? Council Member Taylor, did you want to? I second. Council Member Taylor? Thank you. Did you call me? Because I saw that you had wanted to make the motion, so I just wondered if you wanted to second the motion.

I second that motion. Thank you.

Council Member Ammer?

Approving this resolution will allow the city and renear a flight service to amend the lease to renear flight Flight keep the space it needed and the airport get back needed office space for it for the staff So it's good when when I recommend councils to approve it.

Thank you All right. Are there any questions or comments from council? I All those in favor of resolution number 5912, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5912 passes. Resolution number 5917, a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Auburn and the Cascade Bicycle Club to accept and expend grant funds for the operation of city bicycle programs. Is there a motion? Councilmember Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. Motion to adopt Resolution 5917. Thank you. Is there a second?

Council Member Baldwin.

Second.

Thank you. Council Member Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. Resolution 5917 would authorize the Mayor to sign a contract with the Cascade Bicycle Club up to $190,000 to go towards the continued implementation of bicycle education programs for Auburn youth. Thank you.

Questions or comments? All those in favor of resolution number 5917, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution 5917 passes. Resolution number 5917. 5919, a resolution authorizing the mayor to certify the application for, and if awarded, accept and administer a Public Works Trust Fund loan from the Washington State Public Works Board to finance construction of the East Valley Highway Widening Project. Is there a motion? Councilmember Baldwin.

I would move to adopt resolution number 5919. Thank you.

Is there a second? Deputy Mayor Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. I second.

Thank you. Councilmember Baldwin.

This resolution would authorize the certification of the application for, and if awarded, acceptance of, a public works trust fund loan for up to $10 million to partly fund the construction of the East Valley Highway widening project. Thank you. Questions or comments from council?

All those in favor of resolution number 5919, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5919 passes. Resolution number 5920, a resolution accepting a grant award from the state of Washington via the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Is there a motion? Council Member Sturgis.

Thank you, Mayor. A motion to adopt resolution number 5920. Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Ammer. I second, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Sturgis. Yes, this is exciting news. The Auburn Police Department applied for and received a grant award of $3,860,372.06 from the state of Washington under the Public Safety Funding Program to provide financial assistance with the purpose of supporting officer hiring, retention and training, as well as broader law enforcement and public safety efforts. Thank you.

Questions or comments? All those in favor of resolution number 5920, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5920 passes. And I do want to say thank you to Chief Callier and Assistant Chief Betz and the entire department for all of their work in order to get this grant. Resolution number 5921, a resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board for grant funding assistance for renovations at Brannon Park as provided in Chapter 79A.25 RCW, Title 286 WAC, and other applicable authorities. Is there a motion? Councilmember Baldwin.

I would move to adopt resolution number 5921. Thank you. Is there a second? Councilmember Taylor.

I second that.

Thank you. Councilmember Baldwin.

Resolution number 5921 would authorize the mayor or designee to submit an application to the Recreation and Conservation Office for a grant for improvements to Brannon Park.

Thank you. Questions or comments? All those in favor of resolution 5921 please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed please say no. Resolution 5921 passes. Resolution number 5922, a resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board for grant funding assistance for playground replacement at Veterans Memorial Park, as provided in Chapter 79A.25 of the RCW, Title 286 of the WAC, and other applicable authorities. Is there a motion? Councilmember Taylor, I saw you last time, so I'm going to get you this time.

I move that we adopt Resolution 5922.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Baldwin? I'll second. Thank you. Council Member Taylor?

Thank you. Resolution 5922 would authorize the mayor or designee to submit an application to the Recreation Conservation Office for a grant to replace the playground at Veterans Park.

Thank you. Questions or comments? All those in favor of Resolution 5922, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5922 passes. Resolution number 5923, this is going to sound like a repeat, but a resolution, I love these grants, a resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board for grant funding assistance for playground replacement at Terminal Park, as provided in Chapter 79A.25 of the RCW, Title 286 of the WAC, and other applicable authorities. Is there a motion to approve? Council Member Sturgis?

Trying to share the love here tonight. I was like, okay, never mind. Yes, thank you. Motion to adopt Resolution 5923. Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Baldwin? Happy to second.

Thank you.

Council Member Sturgis? Thank you. Resolution 5923 would authorize the mayor or designee to submit an application to the Recreation and Conservation Office for a grant to replace the playground at Terminal Park. Thank you. Questions or comments?

All those in favor of resolution number 5923, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no. Resolution number 5923 passes. And Director Krueger, go get all the money. All right. We have come to the place for Mayor and Councilmember reports. 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 Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. Tonight, I've got just a couple on my calendar. July 15th, I participated in the Regional Transit Committee meeting. A lot of discussion and conversation focused around Metro's future service planning, of course, coming to the table saying, when is our east-west route coming on that? And then, of course, rider safety discussion around service that's reliable, accessible, and responsive to the needs of our community. On the 16th, I attended my second Wasselli session through the Association of Washington Cities. Super excited and grateful to be a part of this cohort with the other electeds across the state. I'm working in conjunction with Renton and Maple Valley. We did some work around listening and problem solving, hearing what other teams are planning to make their projects for this cohort. I think our team is going to tap into Councilmember Ammer and Councilmember Sturgis a little bit to see if we can find something that aligns there. And then on July 18th, I believe Mayor and Councilmember Baldwin and Ammer will talk about the King County Scholarship Athlete Fund breakfast. I volunteered in an organization that is near and dear to my heart. I love it so much. It's the See You Later Foundation and their golf tournament. If you're not familiar with See You Later here in Auburn, they inspire youth and support families as they struggle through cancer diagnosis and a treatment plan with a child by offering personalized care, transformative experiences, and a community rooted here in Hope. Extremely successful day and just super proud to be a part of that organization. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Rakes. I have no report tonight. Thank you. Council member Baldwin.

Thank you. On July 15th, Wednesday, July 15th, I attended the cities and schools meeting. And in that session, we heard from our different partners in the area, Green River College, Auburn School District, the cities of Pacific and Algona. And kind of the topic of the the main topic of the night is in the space of how we can partner together for getting our students in touch with workforce programs so that way they can be confident that as they get through school and move on to the next phase of their lives that they can be in a good family supporting job that can help keep them in Auburn if they choose to stay. In addition to that, I attended the South King County Scholar Athlete Breakfast on Saturday. That was a great opportunity to get out and support all of our regional school districts and their sports programs, meet some of the athletes themselves, as well as hear from some classic Seattle area sports heroes, Dan Wilson and Jim Zorn, who gave us a great rundown on what we learn by being a part of a team. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Lott.

Nothing to report.

Thank you. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mayor. Just one report. I did have this bit last week in Birmingham, Alabama, representing the city as well as being on the National Board for the National Black Caucus of elected officials serving in the role as the chaplain and got a chance to sit with colleagues from around the country and the two themes for that conference was around housing and policing and it was really exciting to hear some of the innovative things that folks are doing around the country with housing. Got a chance to tour the city of Birmingham and see some of the different housings, and talked about different codes and zonings that they've done there to accommodate the growth of that city, as well as got to hear from local mayors in the surrounding areas, Congress as well. And one thing I'll leave with, for those of us that go to NLC know our executive director, He gave a few minute speech and the way he closed that with was he said as I travel around the country and I'm going into these different meetings and I'm sitting in different meetings and council sessions, et cetera, he said can we please bring back the civility. And I thought that was timely. And he talked about remembering that we're all in this together and that there should be a mutual respect for one another, a mutual respect for this dais, and just remembering why you came to City Hall. And it's no us and it's no them. And so he encouraged folks to really Go back to their cities and really think about how we interact with one another. The respect that we share or the respect that we give to one another because everybody's not going to always agree with some of the choices that we have to make. We're not always going to agree on which way to vote left or right, but at the end of the day, there should be a mutual respect for you first as a person, second as a council member or leader in this community. So again, I thought that was a fitting way to end. He talked about some other things, but he ended on asking all of the council members and folks represented there to just remember the civility.

Thank you. Council Member Sturgis. thank you mayor thank you clinton for sharing that um i uh will just share um uh deputy mayor taylor and i both met with uh master builders association of king and snohomish county um a week before last uh to um had some really great conversation with matt height and hate i always say his last name wrong Regarding middle housing, zoning, it's great because we got to hear what are the challenges that the developers are facing when they're trying to pick which city to come build in. And he was very complimentary of our city team with the predictability of our permitting process, which is a big deal for our developers to be able to know what they're up against to time those projects accordingly. But he gave us some great education on middle housing and opportunities here in Auburn. So I was grateful for that time with Deputy Mayor and with Matt. And then also, I guess I would just add for the See You Later Golf Tournament, I got to play. We had a team. I always name my team Friends and Neighbors in Auburn. So we got to play. I did play the best golf game of my life. That does not mean I played well. But I did also make a 40-foot putt that I had to call my dad and tell him. But what I love so much about, you know, there's a lot of nonprofit golf tournaments that our local public Auburn golf course holds. And what's so special about these is that to see these local organizations be able to come raise money for events their cause and see how many local Auburn business owners show up to support these and the fun ways that they get creative and how can they engage at their whole with the community in order to raise money. It's just, it's a really special, opportunity that makes you proud to be part of this city. And I had a light calendar because the focal of my week the last two weeks has been bridal party stuff for my daughter for her upcoming wedding. So I've had a house full for the last week and a half. And my two nieces are here in the audience for their first city council meeting. So light calendar report for tonight.

Thank you. Council Member Ammer.

As of July 7, myself and Council Member Cheryl Rakes, we attend Last Bird, where we approve the policy for 2026 up to 2028, and we had to – I want to look to the note – We did. Oh, one of the things I want to say to the mayor, I want to say thank you for the team for working hard, especially for the retiree with the change insurance and medical. I have to give credit to the HR because the majority of retirees, it was hard to find good insurance for them. That's one of the things I want to say. Second, July 4th. 2014, we had a FERFA meeting. The good things, if you haven't drove near the new fire station, the 36th, it looks amazing. I know they have a camera because they drive all the time. It's amazing. It will be open soon, hopefully in the summer. Then after that, they had the King County Children and Youth Advisory where we approve what we think is the six priority area will be shared with all the city and council for the youth. Thank you.

Thank you, excuse me Just a few items. Auburn Airport Days on Saturday, July 11th. Kudos to Director Galb and her team of volunteers and to the entire airport team. It was another great day. It's not called Auburn Airport Days anymore. It's Young Eagles Day. Is that correct? Young Eagles Day at Auburn Airport. At Auburn Airport. And there were 190 flights given? Yes. 291. 291 with 19 pilots. So that is a significant amount of time. Each ride was at least 20 minutes each flight. And these are young people who hopefully will get excited about flying. aerospace and flying and being involved. We need more pilots. And so hopefully this gives them an opportunity to get that first sense of excitement about flight. So kudos to everyone who was involved. Thank you to all the volunteers. had a meeting with our new group of interns last week. We went over and got ice cream and then came back here in council chambers to so they could ask questions and I could ask questions of them. They are a stellar group of young people. Hopefully some of them will decide that local government is the way that they want to go for their careers. and that they're finding out that there are a lot of opportunities within local government that can provide great careers for them. On Wednesday the 15th, I was very excited to attend the groundbreaking for State Route 167 Stage 2B project. And this marks the start of construction of the fourth and final stage of the State Route 167 completion project, the last expressway contract for the Puget Sound Gateway program. So very excited to see this next connection coming in that will connect our communities. It provides economic vitality. Being in between two ports, we know how very critical it is that we have great roadways for freight mobility. And so this is just another exciting opportunity. This started in 2015. with the transportation package that was passed in the state legislature back then. So Representative Jake Fye was there to speak on behalf of the legislature. And it's hard sometimes to realize how much we're paying at the pump. to see some of these projects come to fruition is a really good indicator of how that money is being used. Cities and schools, Councilmember Baldwin has already spoken about The King County opening fair was last Thursday, and Mayor Wright of Enumclaw invited other local mayors to come out to the opening ceremony. So I wanted to say thank you to him. And then that evening, attended at the White River Valley Museum, the Boho opening reception. It is talking about the 60s, if And when they say, if you remember the 60s, you weren't really there, or something similar to that. But it was a wonderful event. There are three outfits, costumes, if you will, that Mopop has loaned to the White River Valley Museum. One from Janice Joplin. one from Stevie Nicks and one from Mama Cass Elliott. So I encourage everyone to go the Those things will be on display for a couple of months. I encourage you to go down there. And then also the South King County Scholar Athletes Breakfast on Saturday morning, and then Saturday evening I attended Celebrate 18, which is the CEO is Dr. Natalie Ellington, and her daughter is Carmen Goers, who is is our Human Services Committee chair. This is for young ladies aging out of the foster care system. And so it's an opportunity for them to celebrate their 18th birthday as opposed to just being kicked out of the system. There is a great deal of work being done to support them to stay in the system and then what happens after that system is no longer available to them. Kudos to everyone. It has grown exponentially. The last three years, four years, it has been at the Auburn Community and Events Center. They outgrew that space, and so it was up at Green River College this year, and it was a standing room only crowd. So thank you for all of that great work. We have no reason for an executive session this evening. We are adjourned.