City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. I now call the 03/03/2026 regular city council meeting to order. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you everyone at this point we will take a moment to take roll call of the city council members by position number please say here when the clerk calls your name councilmember angulari

here

mayor Thompson deputy mayor Aldergs here council member curd

here

council member miles here council member dock here council member alcabra

here

all present with the exception of mayor Thompson who is absent and excused thank

you clerk next up we have the meeting agenda approval are there any changes to the meeting agenda for tonight alright I don't see any so next we have public engagement opportunities Coming up on the first Wednesday of the month, we have the coworking events for business owners. Join a dynamic day of coworking, collaboration, and networking. Startup four two five coworking is designed to foster collaboration, inspire innovation, and provide valuable resources to help you thrive in your entrepreneurial journey, from 10:30 to 2PM at Bothell City Hall on the first Wednesday of each month. Next up, we have the artist meet and mingle. Artists of all kinds are invited to hang out enjoy snacks meet fellow creatives swap ideas and help grow Bothell's artist community you'll also learn about the call to visual and literary artists at Triangle Junction happening tomorrow, Wednesday, March 4 from six to 8PM at the Bothell Library.

Lastly, we have human service grants applications are open. We are now accepting human services grants applications from eligible nonprofit and community based organizations serving the Bothell community for the twenty twenty seven-twenty twenty eight budget cycle. Interested organizations must submit their applications by four p. M. On 04/06/2026. Thank you. Next, we have a couple of proclamations, and I've asked, my my colleagues here to to help me read those into the record. Council member Dodd is going to read the developmental disabilities awareness month proclamation.

Thank you, deputy mayor, and thanks to everyone who's here today. This is very exciting to see all of you. Whereas disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society, and whereas developmental disabilities awareness month provides the opportunity to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life and acknowledge the systemic barriers that people with disabilities face in connecting with the communities in which they live and whereas we recognize the many accomplishments of people with developmental disabilities who come from all racial, ethnic, educational, social, and economic backgrounds and who are invaluable members of our community as neighbors, coworkers, classmates, voters, friends, and family, and whereas we strive to increase developmental disabilities awareness and acceptance by challenging preconceived and outdated attitudes and beliefs about the abilities of people with developmental disabilities, and whereas we recognize examples of disability inclusion in our community, including organizations like Kindering, the Arcs of Snohomos and King County, and the Alyssa Burnett Center that are dedicated to supporting and celebrating people with disabilities through pediatric and adult therapies, recreation activities, and life skill classes and whereas we recognize that equitable experiences and full inclusion are matters of justice and call for the shared responsibility of community members to foster welcoming, accessible, and supportive environments, policies, and systems for all.

Now therefore I, not Mason Thompson, mayor of the city of Bothell, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as developmental disabilities awareness month and encourage local business, community organizations, and city staff to actively and intentionally review their practices to make sure individuals of all ages who have intellectual and developmental disabilities are included in their programs and welcome in their facilities. And I believe we have probably a couple of folks to speak today.

Okay. Hi. My name is Mika Pepper. I'm the business operations manager of the Alyssa Burnett Center. We serve adults 18 and older throughout our community with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and I am here to introduce two of our amazing participants and their families. If Sam and Maria could please come up and bring your families with you.

Hello. My name is Sam Lang, and I am a long time resident of Bothell. I am happy to be here today to represent Alyssa Burnett Center, the month of March, the Disability Awareness Month, and this proclamation is important to me because I am a person with autism. I think it's important to tell my story, and it's a great one. I attended Moorlands Elementary. My favorite teacher was miss Brady and Shane Christensen. She was the best school nurse. At Skyview Middle School, I had miss Maxwell and mister Moen. They were really nice. At North Creek High School, I had Barb Beck and miss Holmer.

They were awesome. After high school, I entered the adult transition program. I had the most fun with my friends and job coaches, Corbin, Kelly, and Gloria, that assisted me in learning public transportation, writing resumes, and practicing job interviews. You may have seen me at some of my internship sites around Bothell. These included Snapdoodle, Grocery Outlet, Molbex, and Brightwater.

After ATI, I began attending Alyssa Burnett Center here in Bothell. Some of my favorite classes are art, disability advocacy, leadership, and book club. And you know what they say, what happens at book club stays at book club. At Alyssa Burnett Center, I am a community ambassador, and I'm a student advisory board. I also started taking boxing lessons and met Andrew Brown. He offered me a job, and I work at Title I Boxing in Lynnwood. I also had the opportunity to attend the community academy at Bothell Police Department where I met the police officers, Detectives in row, the police dog, and his partner, officer James Jordel. The clerk's in animal control. I really recommend going to this program. Okay.

I had a chance to speak at the University of Washington Bothel Disability Justice Arch. So another great thing I do is attend Communications for Life where graduate students at University in Washington in Seattle work with people with disabilities on communication skills and just having a great experience with new friends. I also help at Launch Buddies Media with Beck, where a group made podcasts about social justice in the disability community. Another reason I love Bothell is all the friends I have here. We like to go to swim at McMinnon's, eat at Ranch Drive In, go to the movies, use the library, and get coffee, hang out arena sports, and go on hikes.

In conclusion, we have a motto at Elizabeth Burnett Center called RISE that stands for Respect, Include, Support, and Enjoy. I believe the Bothell Proclamation embraces this for the disability community. Thank you.

Hello. I'm Mark Wegar. This is my daughter Maria and my wife Janine. The Elissa Burnett Center in over the last twelve years has enriched not only the lives of their participants, but the lives of those in the community. The talented teachers, the staff at ABC, they encourage and promote support, inclusion, and self advocacy.

They help individuals build their strengths and build a community. Our daughter Maria graduated from Woodinville High School in 2014. High school was a struggle. A lot of anxiety and behavior issues, and those carried over as she started in 2014 at ABC. She had a one on one aid with her at all times those first few years, helping her stay engaged, helping her with her behavior.

But as as the years progressed, so did Maria, and she matured. The anxiety dropped. Her, independence grew, and she no longer needed an aid with her. And she now walks the halls of ABC with her head up, calm, confident, big smile on her face, and greeting friends around every corner. But it doesn't stop there.

It goes outside the walls of ABC and out into the city of Baffle and community where she's been a successful member of the community. She's worked at a pizza restaurant. She's volunteered at a preschool. She has also been involved in many other community programs in the area. And the foundation of this success, not just her success but countless of her peers, started with ABC and that support and the help of the amazing, talented teachers and staff there.

The the participants at ABC are flourishing both on campus within the program and out here in the city and and around the community. And I on behalf of the ABC, I thank the city of Bothell for this proclamation.

Thank you very much. At the end of the next proclamation, we're going to gather folks for pictures, so stay just stick around for a little bit. We are welcome to celebrate or happy to celebrate with you. Next up, we have a proclamation for Women's History Month, and I've asked my colleague, Councilmember Miles, to read that proclamation.

Thank you. Whereas the first ever Women's History Week was celebrated in 1978 and March 8, International Women's Day was chosen as the focal point of the observance, and whereas in 1980, president Carter declared the week of March 8 National Women's History Week, and seven years later in 1987, congress declared March as National Women's History's History Month in in perpetuity. There we go. Whereas American women of every race, class, religion, ability, status, age, and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation in countless recorded and often unrecorded ways. And whereas women play critical economic, cultural, and social roles in every sphere of life, constituting a significant portion of the labor force working both inside and outside of the home, historically providing the majority of the volunteer labor force, establishing many of the early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in The United States, encourage courageously serving our country in all branches of the military and whereas women served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive and social change movement, not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, the peace movement, and others, all which create more fair and more just society for all.

And whereas, despite these contributions, women have been consistently overlooked and undervalued in their in literature, teaching, and the study of American history. Now, therefore, I, Britney Miles, not Mason Thompson, this council member, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Women's History Month in the city of Buffalo and join in honoring and celebrating all women by recognizing their perseverance, contributions, and vitalness to our community and our country.

Thank you, council member Miles. And here today with us, we have Nikita Reddy and team with Sveta to have received the proclamation thank you

First of all, a very good evening. I know mayor Thompson is not here today, and deputy mayor Jenny Aldrichs, council members, city staff, and everyone here tonight. It's truly an honor to stand here at the city of Bothell and accept this Women's History Month proclamation on behalf of Sveche. Women's History Month is more than a celebration. It's a reminder.

A reminder that progress happens because ordinary women do extraordinary things, especially every single day, not always loudly, not always visibly, but consistently, courageously with heart. And when a city chooses to recognize that work publicly like this, it tells every girl and every woman in this room, your story matters. So thank you, Bhattel, for creating a community where organizations like ours feel welcomed, supported, and encouraged to grow. The city's commitment to small businesses, inclusion, and grassroots initiators truly makes a real difference for nonprofits like Swaycha. Swaycha was built for women and by women, and we are proud to be led by an entirely women led board.

Our

mission is very simple. It's just to create spaces for every women that to be, like, feel, seen, heard, supported, and empowered to grow into their fullest potential. Because many of us are juggling so much. We are professionals. We are mothers. We are caretakers. We are immigrants. We are entrepreneurs. We are dreamers. And very often, we put ourselves last.

Svecha exists to change that. I want to share something personal for a moment. When I first moved here, I did not have a community or I did not have any big network here. And then I also did not have my family nearby. And I was balancing work, responsibilities, and also trying to find where I belonged.

There were many days I wished I just had one space, one circle where someone would say, you're doing okay, and we are here with you. And that small wish became Svecha. What supported as a few women gathering over conversations has now grown into a strong supportive community where women collaborate, lead, and rise together. And today, standing here receiving this recognition from the city feels incredibly emotional because it shows how far that small dream has come. Over the years, we have hosted wellness events, networking circles, leadership opportunities, cultural celebrations, and small business support programs, all focused on building confidence, connection, and community.

Because when one woman rises, she brings 10 women with her. And we are just getting started there, and you also see that here right in front. And this year, we are launching our Excellence Awards to celebrate inspiring leaders in our community. And in the month of May, we are also organizing a small business expo to spotlight and support local women entrepreneurs. And then later in the year, we'll also host a multicultural community celebration that brings families together through culture, traditions and storytelling because representation and belonging matter just as much as

the

opportunity. And truly, our events are open to all. Anybody can join us, and we warmly invite you to join us, like participate, network, have fun, and be part of this growing community. Whether you're coming to learn, connect, or simply meet new people, there's always a place for you at Sweitzer. Everything we do comes back to one belief, when women thrive, communities thrive.

So on behalf of our board, our volunteers, and every woman who has walked into a Svecha event and left feeling stronger, braver, or more helpful, Thank you for this proclamation, and thank you for believing in our work. And I'll close with this. When women are supported, they don't just succeed. They transform families, businesses, and entire communities, and Sweicha is here to make sure no view no woman has to rise alone. Thank you, and happy Women's Day Women's History Month.

Alright our assistant city manager is going to help us with pictures so we're going to listen to Becky alright back to the less fun parts of the meeting I always love proclamations, and tonight was just exceptionally special. Alright. The city has accepted public comment in writing as well as accepted sign up for those who wish to speak at tonight's meeting. Written comments submitted to the city clerk no later than 3PM today were forwarded to all city council members and are part of the record. When the clerk calls your name, you will have three minutes to speak.

Please note that council will receive your input, but we do not engage in discussion of these topics. Staff will make note of items requiring follow-up. City clerk.

Thank you, deputy mayor. We did not receive any written comments nor did I have anyone sign up to speak beforehand. However, if there's anyone in the audience that would like to give public comment, please feel free to raise your hand. Any remote attendees, please raise your virtual hand. I don't have anyone, deputy mayor.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll hear the city manager report from city manager Standard.

Thank you, deputy mayor. And I'm so fortunate that there was at least a brief pause between the transition to the last fun part of the meeting. So I'm I'm grateful for that. And I'm also grateful for for those who joined us tonight, including Sam and Maria, sharing a little bit about their stories. These meetings are always public meetings are always better with the public, and it's nice when there's a a friendly buzz in council chambers.

So appreciative of that. Well, tonight, we have one main event for the city manager report. And as council will recall, for the last two legislative sessions, we've had a monthly visit from our state lobbyist, Shelley Helder, to update us on what is happening down in Olympia and answer any questions. This is in addition to the excellent weekly written reports that are transmitted to counsel, so I know you can stay along. As session starts to wrap up next week, this will be our last monthly visit from Shelley, but she will be back in April to do a overall session recap as well.

But for tonight, we'll hear really what's what's coming up at the finish line, and Shelley can answer virtually any question you might have about a bill. So Shelley, welcome, and I'll turn it over to you.

Great. Thank you very much. So today is day 51 of the sixty day legislative session. So we are getting close to the end. They're scheduled to adjourn on Thursday, March 12, and all indications are showing that they will finish their work by that date.

The house and the senate have each released their own versions of the operating capital and transportation budgets. As a reminder, this is a supplemental budget year, so the budgets that have been introduced are making changes to the biennial budgets. Now that all those budgets have been released and they've gone through the public hearing process, the budget writers for each chamber are meeting with one another to reconcile the differences between the two proposals. A notable development in the budget that I wanted to flag was also included in a written report, but I thought it was worth mentioning this evening as well. In the governor's proposed transportation budget that was released in December, there was $5,000,000 for the Bothell Way multimodal project that was inadvertently removed from the budget.

Because the governor's budget is the starting place for the house and the senate transportation budget development, it's it's really really concerning that 5,000,000 of the 7,000,000 allocated to that project was eliminated. So, we quickly engaged, with both the governor's team as well as legislative staff to make them aware of the mistake, and I'm pleased to report that in both the house and the senate transportation budget proposals, that money is restored. So it's not new money. It's money that was allocated to the city originally back in 2022. But because the way that the legislature allocates funding, they do it in out years.

And so we received the money back in 2022, but it wasn't available for several biennia. We're getting close to the time to be able to use the money, and it was mistakenly removed. So that has been fixed and I am I have confidence that it will be included in the final budget. On the policy front, the bills that have a fiscal impact to the state had to pass out of the opposite chamber's fiscal committee yesterday. So that was the most recent cutoff deadline.

They with that deadline, they have now wrapped up committee work for this session, and the remainder of their time will be spent in caucus and on the floor debating and voting on bills. There are two lingering policy issues that I wanted to brief the council on this evening. The first is senate bill sixty twenty six, and this bill requires cities to allow residential development in all commercial zones. This is a governor request legislation, and the goal behind it is to increase the capacity for housing development. We spoke about this bill when I was with you last month.

The bill is still under consideration and has been rather significantly amended since I spoke with you last. It was amended by the House Local Government Committee under the leadership of representative Duer. As the bill currently stands, it requires cities to allow for residential uses in areas zoned for commercial or mixed use with some limited exceptions. It also says that cities cannot require ground floor retail in more than 40% of the total acreage in areas that are zoned for commercial or mixed use. It as I say it, it still sounds very restrictive, but this proposal is actually much more flexible and simpler than the proposal that we saw that made it out of the senate.

The for purposes of determining that 40 of total acreage, it would exclude transit station areas. So that's a big a big chunk of Bothell as well as areas that have a height incentive or allow for development up to 85 feet. So there's there's flexibility in how this bill would be applied. We in arriving to this point, there has been a lot of back and forth, And this the state that it's in now, I would say, is a kind of fragile balance, balance between what cities broadly aren't able to implement with without having it completely unravel a lot of the plans and goals that were adopted in recent comp plans, as well as kind of the objective of the governor and the lieutenant governor in wanting to be even more bold in housing policies. I think where it stands now, no one is happy, which is usually a good sign of compromise.

However, the version of the bill as it stands now does create some risk for properties in Canyon Park. So we are working on an amendment that would specify that areas that are covered by an employment overlay would be exempt from the requirement to allow residential. It because it's in this balanced state in response to this request for an amendment, The development community is asking for an amendment that would allow cities to provide a kind of a departure from standards or a variance process when in certain conditions to not require first floor retail. It's it's not clear yet whether these amendments are going to be incorporated into the bill, if there's gonna be more amendments, I would I would imagine there would be more amendments considered. The bill is currently in the house rules committee, and so that means it has to be pulled from the rules committee and then advanced to the house floor for consideration prior to this Friday's cutoff deadline.

So anything that does not pass out of the opposite chamber before this Friday is dead, of course, with the exception of bills that are necessary to implement the budget. I I do not expect this bill to receive that designation, but there is a lot of momentum and support behind it. So if I was if I was to guess, I would say this one will will make it over the finish line. The the second policy area that I want to flag is senate bill sixty three forty six, and this is commonly known as the millionaires tax. It is a proposal to impose a 9.9% tax on incomes above a million dollars.

And the one of the objectives of the proposal is to shift Washington's tax code to be less regressive. And so in order to make that shift happen, the bill, in addition to imposing an income tax, also includes a sales tax exemption for hygiene products and diapers. And this exemption would apply both to state and local sales tax. Across all cities, that is estimated to be roughly a $120,000,000 hit to cities in lost sales tax. It's difficult to know what amount that would mean for the city of Bothell, but it is safe to say that there would be a reduction in sales tax revenue collections starting in 2029, which is when the tax shift would occur.

There there is a delayed implementation date for this bill. The other thing that I'll mention this bill includes is a flat $150,000,000 for public defense grants, which would go to cities and counties. 10% of that amount or $15,000,000 would be available for cities. The remainder would go to counties. So in summary, it would be a roughly $120,000,000 loss in sales tax and about 15 oh, exactly 15,000,000 in public defense grants.

That's where the bill stands now. I, again, anticipate it will still be under consideration. This is a bill that is exempt from cutoff deadlines. It is considered necessary to implement the budget even though it is not actually necessary to implement the budget because the bill doesn't take effect for for four more years. So I'm gonna pause there. That's all the, I guess, most pressing information that I wanted to share with you, but I would be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Shelley. Council member Dodd.

Thank you. Thank you, Shelley. I I have never gotten the vibe that we are a body that is against progressive tax reform, but I also wonder if there is perhaps an effort to educate the proponents of the bill on the hit to cities and the revenue that is and isn't shared from the state because it it does make it hard to support this specific effort the way that it will impact our already pretty tight budgets. Is there a supportive, but hey, wait, there's some problems here effort that you can loop us into on that?

Yeah. That's a great question. I I should have mentioned the Association of Washington Cities is not actually taking up a position, support, or oppose on the underlying bill. However, they are kind of engaging in an effort to educate legislators on the impact to cities if the policy passes as is. They are requesting that the bill include the creation of a sales tax mitigation account for cities so that whatever amount of local sales tax is being exempted through the hygiene products and diapers, that that amount would be put into this account and then distributed to cities on a pro rata basis so that cities would be compensated accordingly.

I I would say their efforts to date are they're being heard, though I'm confident they would appreciate cities joining them and delivering that message to legislators.

Yeah. I think we would appreciate guidance on how best to join. And I think just the important nuance, at least to me, is it's a great effort. Taxing feminine hygiene products and diapers is kind of abhorrent. But the state doesn't give us a lot of mechanisms to make up that funding or to collect other kinds of revenue. So yeah, I think that's something we'll probably I'm just looking at everybody, but I'm assuming we'll want to follow-up on that. Yeah, thank you.

Any other comments? I have thoughts that I would love to jump in with. I have looked forward to the day when taxes on hygiene products and diapers were to be removed, and this is partly coming from my background as a doula, but just also feminist activism. We have been waiting for a very long time, and so I am grateful for legislators working to remove that hit to predominantly female folks in the community. I just am excited to see that and appreciate the effort to be realistic about the impacts of changing tax streams.

And so I do support getting involved in the sales tax mitigation account effort and would be happy to, you know, help coordinate with with you and an AWC if that if you can guide us to the right people. I do have a couple of other questions that came up around the the funding allocated for Bothell Way Multimodal. When is it intended to be appropriated now that it's back in the budget?

Great question. I'm gonna go from memory here, but I'm fairly certain it's allocated for the 2729 biennium. And we have 2,000,000 of that 7,000,000. So it a total of 7,000,000. 2,000,000 was allocated to the current biennium, 2527, and 5,000,000 was allocated to 2729.

Shelley, you don't have the benefit of seeing our public works director and deputy director nodding their head, but I think he did well. You

got it right. Confirmed. And then the next question was around working on the amendment for the the governor's housing policy that would affect Kenyon Park. Have you been able to work with staff on identifying a council member who could testify?

We yes is the answer. We have passed the opportunity for public testimony, but council has been engaged in all the opportunities that were available. Now we're into the point of the process where engagement is just reaching out and talking to legislators directly, and Baupel is very privileged to have representative Dewar serving in the capacity she is, not only because of her experience serving on Baupel City Council, but also because she's chair of the local government committee. Her her caucus is really looking to her leadership on this, and so she has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders has been balancing the the pressure from the governor and development community as well as wanting to be realistic about what to expect of cities.

Well, thank you for sharing that. And, Divina Duer stand right here. So I appreciate her effort. Please pass that on. Is there any other questions that anybody has? Councilmember Mayos, I saw you kinda nodding along on the sales tax mitigation. Does that sound good to you?

It sounds actually phenomenal. It was I had to kind of do a double take as I was listening to it because in my lifetime, I don't think I've actually seen this. So it's good to have this in the works.

Cool. Well, thank you. Without any more questions, I really appreciate you being here tonight, Shelley, for the update.

My pleasure. Thank you all for the time.

Thank you.

And truly, in closing too, Shelley has been, working very hard for the city this year in a very busy short session. We've had a lot of communication in the last few months, so I appreciate her. And we'll we'll follow-up efforts to communicate to our representatives about, again, the support for the goal of the sales tax change and also just a reminder of in the money that's being brought in. If there's an opportunity to remember cities a little bit more, that would be helpful. With that, it completes the city manager report, and I'll turn it back over to you.

All right. Next up, we have council committee reports, community reports, and conversations. I can save mine. I see council member Anguluri.

Hello, everyone. Today, I present a critical deliberation and a learning with you. This is to all my Bothell residents and beyond. First one, what endless war spending means for our future? What does it hold for us today?

That's the number one. Number two, what I learned at Puget Sound Regional Council workshop for newly elected official last Friday. Let me start with two important quotes. President John f Kennedy said mankind must put an end to wars before war put puts an end to mankind. And, also, Mahatma Gandhi reminded us, an eye for an eye only ends up making the world blind.

The Iranian regime has caused real harm both in their own country and across the region. But after everything we have seen over the last few decades, I want to ask a basic question. Do we really want to keep spending trillions of dollars on wars? How do we benefit? This is my critical deliberation that I've been thinking last two decades or more.

History is clear. Wars that begin at a quick strikes often turn into years of escalation, trillions in spending, loss of lives, and generational consequences. The Brown University cost of war project estimates that post nine eleven wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and related operations have costed United States $8,000,000,000,000. Let me say it again. $8,000,000,000,000 so far.

That includes roughly 2,100,000,000.0 trillion for Iraq, Syria War Zone and a 2,300,000,000,000.0 for Afghanistan, Pakistan War Zone, plus other war zones, homeland security, and all. We all know that our country has a 39,000,000,000,000 debt right now, and everybody's concerned about our debt. And here, we have already spent 8,000,000,000,000 so far on wars. That is more like 20% of our national debt. Let me say it, 20% of our national debt.

The part that really hurts us and Americans is the interest we keep paying on this debt. Here are some sovereign numbers. Are paying 1,000,000,000,000 interest every year now. 20% of that equals to $200,000,000,000 related to the wars we are paying and we will continue to pay. If we continue at this pace, every war will cost even more with the inflation and so on.

Now the most important thing that I wanted to call, families here at home are struggling with high cost of living, rents, health care, senior care, school funding, utilities, utilities, police resources, city budgets that often feel stretched, and infrastructure that needs serious attention. The weight of our debt is real national issue, and it is directly connected to underinvestment in our people and our communities. Recent research shows that every $1,000,000 in education, if we spend every $1,000,000 in education, it creates 13 jobs. Let me say it again. If we spend in America a million dollar in education, it creates 13 jobs.

What does that mean? A trillion dollars, if we invest in education, it could create 13,000,000 jobs here at home. Instead of exporting dollars and endangering our sold soldiers in long wars, We could be investing in the infrastructure and human capital like teachers, counselors, school staff, and build local businesses that support our community's growth. Nowadays, we are losing jobs because of artificial intelligence, and we continue to lose. We must invest in the right education for our children and for our next generation.

Hence, I am I am deeply concerned about what the next ten, twenty, and hundred years for our children, for us, for our grandchildren, for our families, for our communities, for our country. My hope is that as a nation, we choose to spend more wisely and make our community stronger and more united. Now I have successfully passed on my deliberation to you all. Thank you. The second one.

Let me turn to my little knowledge sharing here. What I learned at PSRC workshop. We heard an excellent presentation from Josh Brown, executive director at Puget Sound Regional Council, PSRC, which represents 4,500,000 residents in 82 cities across King County, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap Counties. The region is projected to grow about 5,800,000 people and another 3,400,000 jobs by 2050. I learned a lot in this, and I just wanted to share.

A big part of this growth is housing. In past decades, 70% of the homes built in our region were single family homes. Today, it is different. Percent of the new housing is multifamily, apartments and townhomes because that's how we can house more and build more affordable housing within the land and infrastructure we have available. Country.

People in the people We We have almost doubled in 1990 by 2,700,000, and now we are over 4,500,000 residents. That rapid growth has brought opportunities but also means a big challenges for transportation, housing, affordability, and quality of life. By the way, I learned Seattle lost 13,000 jobs last year. It could be because of technology and artificial intelligence. It's something to be concerned.

Going forward, we might lose more jobs with the technology and all with because of the AI. Going forward, all our four counties will likely keep adding more smaller homes, multifamily housing. That makes it even more important that we find innovative solution for the traffic, commute times, and that we coordinate land use and transportation so growth actually works for the people. So as your council member here in Bothell, I want us to be part of the solution pushing for smart investment in people instead of endless wars, planning for growth in a way that keeps Bothell and beyond livable, connected, inclusive. Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts with you all tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, council member Ankuluri. Next up,

councilmember Dodd. Thanks. I have kind of a list, so this is an easy heads up. As we discussed at the last meeting, we are reforming what was the public safety committee. It is now, given the the slightly different scope, especially around the safety of our, of our immigrant neighbors, the community safety committee. And we're having our first meeting on Thursday. So council member Alcabra and deputy mayor Alderson and I, someone will report next week. I'm voting for the deputy mayor, but we'll see what happens. So that's one. The next thing is with the boards and commissions subcommittee.

The mayor is unable to attend the meeting that we need to have this week, so we need a different third member of the committee to join councilmember Alcabra and myself. In quick talks, the deputy mayor is available, but that's not how we do things. So I wanted to make sure that we had a quick discussion to see who's available. Councilmember Alcabra and I have time Friday afternoon at 03:30 if that happens to work for anyone. But I can make that work.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

Yeah. So I will I'm gonna make a calendar invite, and it's gonna be virtual, so even better, hopefully. Mhmm. Cool. Just writing that down so I don't forget.

And then lastly, the North Shore Parks And Service Recreation Area, which I will say NPRSA for after that, we are going to do our level best to get a levy on the November 2027 ballot for a community center with a pool. In our last meeting, we did determine which of the three options that the community had been surveyed around be proceeding with. One of the most interesting considerations is that for cost recovery, it can't just be a pool. It has to be the pool. For anyone who has kids who swim, your kids will travel much further to go to the Snohomish Aquatic Center or the Lynnwood Center because it has a fun pool versus a single sort of older boring pool. Sorry to

all the boring pools out there.

So that said, I've been the only representative from Bothell at the last two meetings. We need we have two voting seats and an alternate, and we need attendance at those meetings. So and this is just a blanket statement. But if you find that a committee you're signed up for doesn't meet at a time you can attend, please surface that, you know, in this part of our council meetings, and let's find people who can go. A lot of our committees do important work. My it's an opinion, but I think it's a valid one, is that this committee is doing very important work over the next two years to get this levy ready. So we need folks at the meetings that they're supposed to be at. So thank you.

Council member Kirk?

Thanks. Totally agree with that, council member Dodd. I think, some of the meetings, that I signed up for are on different days than were advertised, and it's been an adjustment for my calendar too. But if that happens to you, please bring it up because it's fine to shuffle things around. We just because we make the decisions in January doesn't mean that you're locked in for life.

So I attended last week a meeting of Snohomish County tomorrow, which is a planning type body, for Snohomish County. There's a lot of presentation that I won't bore you with. But one that I did wanna share because it ties back to work that we did on council last year was, adoption of reconciliation of growth targets and housing numbers and annexation maps. And so if you recall to last year, Snohomish County Council had extended or expanded the boundary of the urban growth area into rural lands to the east of this north and east of the city and had assumed that we would add that into our MUGA or municipal urban growth area. That was not the case of council's wishes because we don't have financial pathway to bringing that area up to our codes and our levels of service.

We furthermore, at the time, just to bring up some of the new council members to speed here, we we kind of don't agree with the premise of just extending the boundary of urban growth into rural areas and working farms and forests, which need to be set aside and growth needs to happen in cities. That's our that's enshrined in our comprehensive plan. It's enshrined in our value statements and our goals. And so adding rural growth into the city is inconsistent with those. And we let the planning body know that we did not agree to take that into our MUGA.

And so they basically drew a big circle around it with a question mark. They are calling it the East Swooga, East Southwest Urban Growth Area. It's hatched and color full in a way that doesn't really jive with the rest of the map, but it's because they are still in conversations with Mill Creek. And, something that I gleaned from the meeting is that Mill Creek is having a more comprehensive and holistic look at annexation. They have a lot more area than Bothell does to annex into their urban growth or municipal urban growth area.

And so I'm interested to see how that conversation is gonna be happening at Mill Creek. And there may be some correlation with, challenges and maybe opportunities that we have at the city of Bothell too. So I'll be keeping an eye out or an ear out for updates there. And if you have connections at the city of Mill Creek, it might be worthwhile to, put a bug in their ear, that were, in a similar boat, and it might be worthwhile to share some conversations just, peer to peer. That's my update.

Council member Curd, would you like some introductions to Mill Creek City Council members?

Have, two that I know of, but, obviously, we cannot meet with the entire city council, one on one. So I would just recommend, if you have interest in this, reaching out to any council members that you know of. And I plan to do the same unless you'd like to do it holistically. We might even be able to work something out, like a special meeting or some sort of shared study session on annexation, if that's of interest.

It is interesting, but I suspect that there's a minority of people that find that topic interesting, but you never know.

Possibly even across two cities, a very small minority. So that's why I currently recommend just reaching out to the council members that you know of, or planning commissioners in Mill Creek, just to establish contact and, hear updates. And if you have updates, go ahead and share them. I'd like to keep updated on it as well. Thank you.

I too am interested in in potentially a joint meeting, so maybe not a minority on council. So there's maybe a possibility there.

Sounds like maybe I can because I'm implanting the idea maybe I will reach out to their mayor and ask if there are any opportunities to collaborate or share. And if it sounds like there's reciprocal interest in a shared study session, we can work with our executive team to schedule and organize such a shared event.

We'd be happy to do that. And I'm also happy to reach out to city manager Martin Yamamoto to see if he wants to suggest that too. So maybe we you and I can team up and see what we find out.

Sounds good. Thank you.

I like it. Updates tonight have been very varied and interesting, and I appreciate it. I also have an update from the North King County Coalition on Homelessness. We heard updates from Camp United We Stand and KCRHA and Lake City Partners. So they recently did some surveying of their campers and they learned that with the exception of one camper everybody was from the North King County area.

So this is really folks who are seeking shelter from our community who are unsheltered and then camping with with a tent city that travels around and Camp United We Stand put out a call to the community for health providers who would be willing to serve campers and so that includes all types of health vision, dental, medical support and there were some good conversation around partnerships and connecting folks to them. They're also going to be reaching out to cities for human service grants. And so I hope that our team here has been in contact around the grant applications and opportunities. And I believe shared that at the meeting as well, that they would be coming, but they're open now. So that has changed since this meeting.

And then KCRHA has continually been doing, cold weather activations due to cold temperatures. We seem to have moved beyond that, at least for now. And Lake City Partners shared that their seasonal shelter that they stood up for, the winter season closed on February 28. So the grant funding for that has has ended and is no longer open to the community, but the God's Little Acre, the Day Center, Aurora Oaks, the enhanced shelter is still still, you know, still operating and running as well as the the Kenmore women's shelter. So all of our these partners have been doing really great work in the community and wanted to share sort of the status of of unhoused neighbors with, you know, winter weather and how things are going there.

So thank you. With that, we will move on from council committee reports and ask if anybody has any items for the projected agenda discussion that they would like to suggest. Okay. Seeing none, we are then ready for a motion to approve the consent agenda. And council member Dodd?

I'd like to move that we approve the consent agenda. Second. And the second, so having a motion from council member Dodd and a second from council member Kerrd, is there any, any discussion? Alright. Clerk. Please

say yes or no. Council member Anguilleri? Yes. Deputy mayor Aldrichs? Yes. Council member Kern? Yes. Council member Miles? Yes. Council member Dodd? Yes. Council member Al Capra?

Yes.

Passes six zero.

Thank you. Next up, we're moving on to our ordinances and resolutions, and I see our public works team coming up, and I will call on city manager Standard to introduce this item.

Thank you very much, deputy mayor, and good evening again, council members. We are before you tonight for for good for good purposes. Not normally the time of year when we talk about budget. We'll be doing plenty of that later this year. But, tonight, we are before you, with a a mid biennium amendment, because of the, faith and trust that our community has in the city.

So as you know, the 2026, safe streets and sidewalks levy exists because last fall, we got, positive affirmation from the community, and there's some work to do to line things up and get to work so that we can start making improvements in the community. So with that, I'm gonna turn things over to our public works director, Erin Lenhart, who is joined also by our finance manager, Miles Walker, to present an update on what to expect. Erin.

Excellent. Thank you, Kyle. Good evening, deputy mayor and council. Excellent to see you this evening. So, yes.

The council action we're requesting this evening is for you to consider adopting an ordinance amending the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six biennium budget. And while we are officially here for that action, we are also here, to celebrate and to thank council and the community, for the support of the city's work. So we'll go through a quick timeline here. So the 2526 budget that council adopted in December 2024 acknowledged that the safe streets and sidewalks levy, the previous one, would expire at the 2025. So there was no additional new funding included in 2026.

So in February 2025, staff began a conversation with council, to speak to how to fund both the, programs as well as the ongoing maintenance, that was being funded by that levy. In those conversations, we had, several study sessions with the council, and they culminated in a decision to renew the nine year safe streets and sidewalks levy that occurred in June. And then the on 11/04/2025, 69% of voters approved the measure. So I'm very, very happy to be able to come before you and and celebrate that support. Towards the November, the election results were finally certified.

Count staff came to council for a housekeeping budget amendment in December, which did not include the new revenues from the safe streets and sidewalks levy, so that's why we are here this evening. And this amendment is necessary to both reflect the new revenues from the levy as well as to begin implementation of the programs that we we promised to folks. So I just wanna quickly go through a reminder of what the renewal of the levy will allow the city to deliver. So 38% of the levy funding is for keeping our streets safe and well maintained. So that includes both our street operations team as well as some staff in transportation engineering.

The the remaining 62% is for these three categories came from, the comprehensive plan and the transportation element. This was funding that was identified to provide programs capital programs and projects that to accommodate the city's growth and to serve the community. There are some new upgrades in this renewal of the levy that weren't that we weren't able to conduct last in the last one. So on the operations and safety side, we're adding a multimodal and safety team in operations. Some of the things that they will be implementing will be maintenance of the North Creek Trail system as well as operations side of the urban forestry management plan that was just adopted.

Also, on that end, we'll be adding an engineering technician to support safety transportation safety program as well as just efficient operation of our signals and all of the other transportation operations engineering things. We will also in the capital programs and projects, we will be adding more funding for, pavement preservation for local streets, for the highest use local roads in addition to arterials. And then where we last levy, we had funding for safe school walk routes primarily. We've added biking improvements as well as safety improvements to that program. And then the the biggest chunk and something that we're really excited about is this additional 26% that will go to multimodal transportation projects.

So this funding was identified as a need in the comprehensive plan, and it will help provide additional city match funding for their larger projects as well as support planning for for grant pursuit and and that sort of thing for those large projects that will provide new improvements for our our travelers, however they travel, whether it's on on foot, on wheels, anything. So I'm really excited about that new resource that we'll have. And, also, so since we, this council approved a budget for 2026 that had a contingency to fund, our our operations just for the second year of the biennium should the levy funding not continue. So we have identified opportunities, to to use that contingency funding. For for one, we'll continue on with, say, school walk route projects that were identified as part of the first levy.

But we are also able to, purchase some some new equipment for to replace, an important, paver in our operations side that gave up the ghost at the end of last year. Also, it will help fund some work on council priorities related to safe transportation, things like implementing 20 mile an hour speed limits on local streets, as well as doing a feasibility for, let's see, the circulator and, also some micromobility work. And finally, we're also going to use or propose to use some of that funding for, repair and replacement of some of the city owned streetlights in the city. We have, of of all of the of the streetlights, we have about 50, that the city owns and maintains that are in desperate need of repair and replacement. So with that, unless council has any questions for me, I'm going to toss it over to my friend, Miles.

Councilmember Dodd?

I don't have a question. I just wanna give a very heartfelt thank you. Even in my own neighborhood, the neighborhood I grew up in, I've seen the results of the first levy. Even if it didn't come from the levy, for the first time in my how old am I? In my thirty three years of living in Bothell, there is a sidewalk on my street. Not in front of my house, which is fine, but it's close. And that's really cool. So I just really appreciate all the all the things that your department has made happen under the existing levy, and I'm very excited to see the next iteration of that and just however you can thank everybody for all their hard work I would appreciate you doing that. Thank you.

I would also echo that if you go back one slide I would love to just shout out my West Hill neighborhood that is featured in here. You see West Hill Elementary School right there in the center. And so I've definitely seen the work being done throughout throughout my community and it's it's great how, you know, we've worked together up here on prioritizing different parts of the city and make sure that, know, like, the the good the good changes are being spread out. And so I hope that many people in our community have a story of there used to be a shoulder there that is now a sidewalk to be able to feel safer getting around in Bothell. And 69% of the vote is great margin, really great to see that level of support from the community.

I felt like I did my little part by writing the pro statement. I appreciate the help of staff and making sure that that was, you know, at accurately reflecting what we're trying to do here. And so thank you, and congratulations to Bothell for us being able to move forward with this work. Really grateful that we're not skipping a year of projects that we could be doing by doing this budget amendment today. And councilmember Dodd is going to add one thing.

I just got to make this joke recently. So I grew up going to Frank Love, and I lived roughly at 4th Avenue West and 216th Street, which means I got to walk uphill both ways to school when I missed the bus, accurately, not in the way my grandpa used to say it. And there is a you can walk from where I grew up to the elementary school I went to, and that is pretty cool. So I'm done with the jokes now. Thank you.

Thank you so much. All right, go ahead, Miles. Thanks.

Thank you. So to carry out these projects and start delivering these projects, we have to pass an ordinance amending the budget because, as Erin pointed out, the 2026 budget, which is part of the twenty five-twenty six biennium, did not include any of the new levy funds, which is going to be about $10,000,000 in 2026. So we need to increase both the revenues in the Street Fund and a few other funds in the city, which we'll go through in a bit as well as the expenditures. And we also have to update the authorized position listing to add five new FTEs to deliver these projects and start working and putting this new levy to work. Going over revenue increases, the rightmost column here is just the actual increase that this current ordinance is implementing or would implement.

You see the $10,000,000 in the Street Fund is the primary fund that these funds are going to be going into, and then there's a lot of transfers in and out of other funds. A little bit of a spaghetti mess. It's hard to follow. But funds will go into the Street Fund and then go around the Capital Improvement Fund, the Arterial Street Fund and the General Fund to pay engineers and operations and projects. Looking at the expenditures now, the Street Fund has $6,000,000 of expenditure increase to deliver projects, and a big chunk of that is being transferred into the Capital Improvement Fund to work on the capital projects.

There's also a large amount of that that's going to be there for operations. And there's a few other changes to the General Fund and the Arterial Street Fund. Most of those are just amending positions that existed, and the funding has now changed that the new levy has been passed, and we have to revisit those and make sure they're being funded by the right place. We will also be coming back to you in the twenty twenty seven-twenty twenty eight budget process with a much more comprehensive package. This is just looking at the first year of the levy. So stay tuned for more to come about that. And I'm also happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Okay. Seeing none, I have one. Can you give some more insight to the community around the new FTEs and the scope of their work?

I think I can handle that one. So two of the proposed FTEs will staff our new multimodal and safety team on the operation side for streets. One of the new the a third position is, an engineering technician for transportation operations engineering. And then two proposed positions are senior capital engineers to implement the the capital operating programs and projects.

That's exciting. And that your team's gonna grow. It sounds like this is you're getting the benefit of planners to then start, like, implementing some of what we've thrown at you. And that's what we've asked for a lot. And so it makes sense to me that you're increasing your team to to help, you know, work work out those those schedules and and implement the work. So thank you. I would accept a motion. Oh, council member Kerr.

I move to approve the ordinance amending the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six budget.

Second.

Alright. I have a motion by council member Kurt and a second by council member Dodd. Is there anyone who would like to discuss? Alright. Go ahead, city clerk.

Please say yes or no. Councilmember Anguilleri. I'm sorry.

Yes. Did I miss

Did I miss discussion? It's fine.

It's fine. Please vote. It's fine.

Okay. We're voting. Sorry about that.

I'll start over. Councilmember Anguilleri? Yes. Deputy Mayor Aldergs? Yes. Councilmember Kerr? Yes. Councilmember Miles? Yes. Councilmember Dodd? Yes. Councilmember Alcabra?

Yes.

Passes six zero.

Thank you okay I am looking at the time and it says it is 07:21 counsel is going to adjourn to executive session pursuant to r c w 42 dot 30 dot one ten one b to consider the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate by lease or purchase when public knowledge regarding still on okay no I can hear okay alright do you need me to start over alright so a purchase when public knowledge regarding such consideration would cause a likelihood of increased price expected to last thirty minutes with no action. So thirty minutes from now is 07:51. Counsel will adjourn from executive session.