City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone. I now call the April 14th, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. At this point, we'll take a moment to take roll call of the council members by position number. Please say here when the city clerk calls your name. Thank you. Council member Angulari here. Mayor Thompson here. Deputy Mayor Alder. Council member Kurd here. Council member Miles

here. Council member Dodd here. Council member Alcabra here. All present with the exception of Deputy Mayor Alder who is absent and excused. Thank you. Um first up is meeting agenda approval. Are there any changes to tonight's agenda?

Seeing none, we'll move on to public engagement opportunities. We have a council community in the community event. They are back. You can stop by to chat with your city council members or at least three of us. Um you can ask questions, share feedback, and learn more about city services and priorities. It'll be Saturday, April 18th at the Both Fire Station 42 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Celebrate Earth Month throughout April. You can celebrate Earth Month with us and our partners with events and activities for the whole family. Learn, connect, and make a difference for our environment. Upcoming events include Earth Celebration at Ble Park, Saturday, April 25th from 1 to 4:00 p.m. Grow Your Small Business. Applications are open for entrepreneurs and small businesses to participate in the Pop Shops on Main Small Business Incubator Program. This program helps small businesses bring their vision to life in the heart of downtown both. Apply by May 11th, 2026. All right, we have two proclamations tonight.

Do you want to read? Go for it. Council member Dodd is going to read the uh first proclamation for sexual assault awareness month.

Thank you, Mayor. I hope you get your voice back all the way soon. Whereas, April 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of sexual assault awareness month, which draws attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and has implications for every community member. And whereas sexual assault is pervasive, every 68 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States and in Washington state, 45% of women and 22% of men report having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. And whereas sexual violence can impact people of any age, gender, religion, ethnicity, and identity, and has a disproportionate impact on people of color, immigrants, people in the LGBTQ plus community, people with disabilities, people between the ages of 12 and 34, women and girls, trans and gender non-binary people, and people at the intersections of these identities. And whereas twothirds of sexual assaults are never reported to law enforcement. Sexual assault is among the most underreported crimes for many reasons. But survivors who are already most marginalized face additional barriers to reporting such as language, immigration status, or disability. And whereas survivors of sexual assault may never forget their victimization, but they can heal with support from family, friends, and their communities. Sexual assault programs across King County and Washington State offer free and confidential support, advocacy, information, and resources to survivors. And whereas by working together as a community, we can alleviate the trauma of sexual violence by ensuring supportive resources are available to all survivors while standing up to and actively disrupting harmful attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual violence. Now therefore, I, not Mason Thompson, mayor of the city of both, do hereby proclaim April as sexual assault awareness month in the city of both, joining advocates and communities across the country in taking action to prevent sexual violence by standing with survivors.

Thank you. And I'll do this one. This is for Visaki and Mayor Thompson, we have Alex Henry on the on the line to accept the proclamation. Thank you, Alex. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to just jump past you. That's okay. Feel free to say a few words.

Yeah, glad to be here. I'm Alex Henry. I'm a resident of both and also a therapist who works at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, which is a nonprofit that serves the city and all communities throughout King County. Uh, and I'm here to accept the sexual assault awareness and prevention month proclamation on behalf of our organization. Uh and just thank you all for being a part of the solution to sexual violence. Uh first to the survivors in the community, I just want to say that you're not alone. Uh sexual assault is common. Half of women and one-third of men have experienced sexual assault in their lifetimes. Uh people from marginalized communities due to disability, race or ethnicity or their gender or sexual identities to name a few are even at a greater risk. Chances are uh that you know someone who has been sexually abused. uh the trauma of sexual assaults is something that can affect a survivor's mental, physical, behavioral health, their ability to form healthy relationships, remain in school or in the workplace, and so much more. Uh but recovery from trauma and sexual assault is possible with support. Kark assisted uh 4,300 individual survivors and their family members in the last year alone, and almost half of KARK clients are teens and children. We know young people are the most vulnerable to sexual assault and also the least likely to speak up about it and to be believed when they do. Uh I want to end with another message to survivors which is that free and confidential help is available to survivors or anyone who needs information about sexual assault. Uh and our 25 24-hour resource line is a good starting point which is 88899 voice. And we always say we can't change what we can't talk about. So, thank you for your leadership and willingness to be loud about sexual assault.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you.

All right. Next up, we have a proclamation for Visaki and Kulsa Day. Whereas Visaki is one of the most significant celebrations in the sick calendar, marking both the harvest festival and the establishment of the Kulsa in 1699 by Guru Gobend Singh Gi, a pivotal moment in sick history that symbolizes sovereignty, justice, and devotion. And whereas the creation of the Kulsa represents a commitment to truth, equality, and the protection of the vulnerable, embodying values that transcend time and inspire individuals to uphold justice and dignity for all. And whereas Visaki is a day of reflection for siks worldwide, serving as an opportunity to recommit to the principles of sikism, including selfishness, courage, and community service while celebrating the vibrant heritage and contributions of sick communities. And whereas this day also highlights the importance of unity and resilience, reminding us of the sacrifices made by sik leaders and communities throughout history to protect their faith and identity, and serves as a reminder of the enduring spirit of Visaki and the Kulsa's commitment to justice, equality, and humanity. Now therefore, I, Mason Thompson, mayor of the city of both, do hereby proclaim April 13th as Visaki and Kulsa Day in both and encourage all residents to join in recognizing this important occasion by learning about sick history, participating in community celebrations, and fostering understanding and respect for diverse cultures. And um we have some members of the community here to accept.

Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor, distinguished members of the city of Bottl Council, respected community leaders, families, members of the public. Thank you for gathering here in this moment of recognition and reflection. Today the city of bottle stands in proclamation to honor Vasaki and the kalsa day an observation observance that carries deep historical cultural and spiritual significance for millions across the world. It is a day that speaks for renewal, courage, service and enduring dignity of community root rooted in truth and responsibility. This proclamation is more than symbolic. It is an acknowledgement of the living heritage and the contribution of a community whose values of service, equality, and resilience resilience continue to enrich the social fabric of our shared civic life. My name is Harjit and I serve as an educator within the Northshore School District and in the community partnership roles supporting students civic engagement. I'm here today as an facilitation facilitator capacity to help create a space for student voice within the proclamation setting. With that, I respectfully invite our Northshore school uh school uh student Jan Singi to to the podium podium to share his prepared remarks. Thank you, Jan.

Good evening, mayor, council members, and respected community members. My name is Justin Singh Sani, and I'm a student in the Northshore School District. It is an honor to stand here today as we recognize Vasaki and Kulsa day. An occasion that carries deep historical, spiritual and cultural significance for six around the world. Visaki marks the harvest season in Punjab, a time of gratitude, renewal and community. But for six, it holds an even deeper meaning. On Vasaki in 1699, Gurugo bin Singh gi the 10th sik guru established the kasa. A community committed to living with courage, discipline, equality, and service to humanity at a time when injustice and oppression were widespread. This was a call to stand up for what is right. To defend the dignity of all people, and to live without fear. The Kasa was founded on principles that remain relevant today. Equality, rejecting discrimination of cast, race, gender, and status. service, putting others before self through acts like community kitchens that feed anyone regardless of background, courage, standing up against injustice even when it might be difficult, and integrity. Living truthfully and responsibly in society. These are not just sick values, they are universal values, they are American values. Here in both and across the Northshore community, sick families contribute as students, educators, professionals, and volunteers. You may see us serving meals, supporting neighbors, or quietly showing up when help is needed. That spirit directly comes from the teachings of Kasa. For students like me, Vasaki is also a reminder of responsibility. It really challenges us to ask, will we speak up when something is wrong? Will we treat others as equals? And will we contribute to something bigger than ourselves? As celebrating Vasaki is not just about remembering history, but it is also about living with those principles today. On behalf of the sick community, I thank the city of both for recognizing Vasaki and KSA. This proclamation is

more than a gesture. It is a statement that our shared values of unity, service, and respect matter. Thank you. Thank you.

Would you guys like to get a picture with council? Yes.

All right. Next up is public comment. The city has accepted public comment in writing as well as accepted signups for those who wish to speak at tonight's meeting. Written comments submitted to the city clerk no later than 3 p.m. today were forwarded to all city council members and are part of the record. When the clerk calls your name, you will have 3 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, Mayor Thompson. We've had no public signups uh this evening. However, if there's anyone in the audience who wishes to speak, please step to the podium, state your name for the record. You'll have three minutes. And if you're in the virtual audience, please use the raise hand function, and we will panel you in. I have no one. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Next up is reports. First is the city manager report.

Thank you, mayor, and good evening, council members. We actually have quite a few things on uh for the city manager report tonight. So, get comfortable. Um I'm going to sometimes I allude to uh all four of them at the same time. We're going to go sequentially through that. So, as Shelley comes to the table, I'm going to um just do a quick shout out. Uh actually, one of my first emails of the day was from a former colleague wishing me happy birthday. and it was like not my birthday. But if you weren't following along, April 14th, 1909 is when both became an incorporated city. So from Mayor both to Mayor Thompson, happy happy birthday. Um with that then, um tonight, we do have the opportunity to hear from Shelley Helder, our state lobbyist with Gor Gordon Thomas Heingwall. And we're excited to have Shelley here in purp in person tonight during the session. It's hard to be anywhere but Olympia and we wouldn't want her to be anywhere but Olympia. But so thrilled to have Shel join us tonight and talk through what was a very busy session and uh wrap this one up and as I've mentioned to several of you, it'll be probably seem like tomorrow when we start looking two years ahead. So um we'll be excited to do that work and we're thankful for Shelley's support as we do it. And with that, I'll turn it over to Shel to lead you through uh some of the lessons learned from the last few months.

Great. Thank you. Good to be with you this evening, mayor and council. Good to see you in person. Um, I am uh pleased to provide a report on the outcomes of the 2026 legislative session. But before I jump into tonight's presentation, I do just want to um briefly describe the documents that you have included in your council packet. Um the first is a written report that goes into much more detail than I'm going to be able to cover this evening on issues that um both cares about. So this evening I'm going to cover the priorities and just a few of the additional issues that came up, but that written report goes into much more detail. So I'd encourage you to read that. Um there's also a document that outlines all of the bills that passed during the legislative session that have a nexus with city government. some impact baffle and others don't. That's intended to be a reference document for you. Um, and then lastly, there is a a chart that the Association of Washington Cities puts together and I think it's just a really helpful tool to be able to quickly look at and find out did the operating budget fund this? Did the transportation budget fund this? Um, so again, a reference tool for you. So, today there are um four sections to my presentation. Um the okay sorry it just looks slightly different so I'm orienting myself. Um so again I'm going to start with an overview of the session. I'm going to talk about outcomes from both priorities. Um talk about a few other topics that we were reacting to. Uh not necessarily issues we initiated but we engaged in. And then we'll wrap up by talking about next steps. So um the 2026 session was the short session. So that was 60 days and is the second year of the bienium. Um same as

in the first year, Democrats still held strong majorities in both House and Senate. And so they set the priorities for the session. Some of the major themes that came up this session were responding to federal actions, um prioritizing affordability for Washingtonians and making a rather monumental shift in reforming the state's tax code. Um in addition to um adopting three supplemental budgets which is the primary purpose of a short session the legislature also uh considered over 1,200 bills and ultimately passed 268. So the three supplemental budgets of the three the operating budget is the largest and it was uh the most challenging for the legislature to balance. Um and that's primarily due to the uh rising maintenance level costs for um for the operating budget driven by both increased case loads and um expansion of programs based on recent policy changes. Uh the supplemental operating budget increases spending by 2.4 billion. Um 880 million of that amount is funded by the state's budget stabilization account which is also called the rainy day fund. Um it's essentially the state's savings account. The um operating budget balance is also because of a $375 million transfer from the public works assistance account which is then backfilled um with bonding capacity from the capital budget. The largest expenditure in the operating budget is a billion dollars to cover the state's self- insurance liability premium. The other two budgets, the both the transportation and the capital are um historically developed in a bipartisan fashion and that was the case this year

as well. The transportation budget adds 1.2 billion in additional spending with vast majority of that focused on maintenance and preservation of the state's highway system which includes the ferry system. And then the supplemental capital budget um includes 889 million in additional investment. So the city has a practice of developing a legislative agenda to align with the state's 2-year cycle. And so um in the second year of the bienium, we update the legislative agenda based on what was accomplished. So as a reminder, in 2025, the city requested, um funding for the Woodrest utility improvement project. the legislature awarded $1.5 million to that project and so uh it was a huge success and we removed it from our legislative agenda. Um the remaining items stayed and so those were the priorities we focused on for the 2026 session. And the first item is the long it's a it's a long-term priority to preserve Shelton View Forest for recreational purposes. Um and although there really there is the legislative component to this priority, um there was no specific ask for the legislative session. The city is still in the process of um competing for a ranking in the Department of Natural Resources Trust Land Transfer Process, which is a program that's specifically designed to um protect DNR land from private development um but still meet the obligations of the trust um that owns the property. uh the legislature the first district legislators as well as other legislators have said that it's really important that the city compete in this process first before coming to the legislature with any subsequent request. So um that is what we are currently doing and it's something that we will continue to work

on um over the interim months in preparation for the 2027 session. Um the next priority was a request for $20 million over the next three um three bienia to assist with the implementation of the city's uh bike plan. And this this has been somewhat of a non-traditional request. Typically u we request funding specific to a project and this was more programmatic funding. Um, and I think at least the feedback we got is it's a concept legislators really like they would have wanted to uh fund something in a more systemic way. Um, there's just not the mechanism to do so within the state's transportation budget. Um, paired with the fact that the transportation budget is facing uh limited resources just to meet existing obligations. Um, so the first district delegation asked us to prioritize one request, one project out of the bike plan. And so we submitted a $400,000 request um for the design phase of the 102nd Avenue Northeast shared use path. That's the same request that we submitted last year. Um, I mentioned earlier the vast majority of the supplemental transportation budget was dedicated towards maintenance and preservation. And for that reason, there was no new funding dedicated to projects, including both's request. Um, the city requested that the legislature take bold action to eliminate barriers to housing. Um, particularly uh with an emphasis on housing units that are needed for those um with 80% of the area medium income or lower. One of the most notable outcomes in this uh topic from the session was the capital budget's investment of $123 million uh for the housing trust fund. That's in addition to the over 600

million that was invested in the housing trust fund in the uh capital budget last year. It's an a historic level of funding in the state's um affordable housing program. And with that, it's it's widely understood that no amount of money into the housing trust fund um is going to be able to solve our state's housing problem. And so there's also a look at what policies can reduce the cost of housing. Um there were several bills introduced that would um achieve this goal. I'm just going to mention two this evening. The first is uh Senate Bill 6015, which was sponsored by Senator Jessica Baitman. It's it will direct the Department of Labor and Industries uh to publish factory housing plans and to develop a model ordinance for for local governments to adopt with the intent of expediting getting housing units online. Um the bill didn't pass this year, but I'm bringing it up because it's something that Senator Baitman was um intentionally introduced as a conversation starter. um we flagged it as something that would be helpful and um indicated wanting to work with her over the interim and bringing forward something that would be um implementable from a city perspective. The second is House Bill 2304 and this further refineses the law as it relates to condo liability. In the 2025 session, the legislature passed a bill that simpl simplified um condominium construction and the warranty requirements for those um for those units. The bill this year expanded that policy and now applies to buildings with up to 12 units and four stories. Previously, it was only three stories. So, um I I like to call that or the legislature calls that a trailer

bill. it just expands the policy, refineses it. Um, the last item on the city's legislative agenda uh was originally included um to be more of an educational item for the the long-term needs of the project. But um last December when the governor released his proposed transportation budget um $5 million that was previously allocated to both way multimmoal project was eliminated from the state's budget. Um we found out that it was actually an error. It was not intentional which is excellent. Um but despite that error the governor's budget is the the foundation that the legislature uses to develop their budget. So it was really critical that we uh informed legislators of the mistake to make sure it wasn't carried forward in development of the actual supplemental budget. So we did that. Um it also gave us the opportunity to keep this project top of mind for budget writers. So in some ways it was of benefit to us because in the end the supplemental budget does restore the $5 million that was allocated to this project. So, in addition to the city's top priorities, there are always other topics that come up throughout session. And this is why the city's policy manual is a really helpful document for us to have um because it it directs um our engagement on issues that we don't always know may arise. Um, one of the key pieces of legislation that the city engaged on this year was Senate Bill 6026, which authorizes residential development in commercial zones and um limits the use of groundf flooror retail requirements. Um, this was a a high priority piece of legislation for the governor and the lieutenant governor. And the premise of this bill is actually um at least from

my opinion similar to the parking bill from last session. Both parking and groundf flooror retail um increase costs of constructing housing. So limiting when local jurisdictions can require those will reduce the cost of housing and theoretically result in more housing. While that may be a logical argument, um it kind of misses the key point that commercial zones are necessary for jobs and um that at the direction of the legislature, cities have put together really intentional plans to accommodate both job growth and housing targets. And the proposed bill undermined that work. So, um, Mayor Thompson, Council Member Dodd, and Council Member Kurd all at various points in the process were signed up to testify, um, to share the city's perspective on this. And I I do think it's worth noting that both's reputation for being pro-ousing, um, I think, and then bringing forward valid concerns about this bill, um, improved the policy for everyone. After many rounds of negotiations and um poor city staff had to review dozens of versions of uh bills and amendments, um we did reach a final agreement that still limits local authority but u retains some ability for cities to still use first floor retail requirements. and and I can definitively say that this policy, this compromise would not have been achieved without the engagement of Representative Deavina Der and she did that not necessarily on behalf of the city of both but definitely represented the city well. She is the chair of the House Local Government Committee where the bill went through and so she had immense responsibility

um to uh influence the bill's outcome. And because of her leadership, there is a provision in the bill that um protects the jobs that are planned for the Canyon Park sub area. On the topic of public safety, one of the most significant uh bills from this session is Senate Bill 60002 and this establishes the allowable uses of automated license plate reader cameras. Um the bill allows ALPR cameras to be used to investigate both felonies and gross misdemeanors and sets retention limits at 21 days um except for in specific situations. Um, the bill is already law since it took effect when the governor signed it. There were several issues that came up this year on the topic of city finances. Um, and I'm going to cover just the two big ones. Arguably the most significant piece of legislation this year was the passage of Senate Bill 6346. and that establishes a tax on incomes over a million dollars and eliminates sales tax on select products. So this monumental tax policy policy change does have the effect of reducing local sales tax revenue. Um, the bill acknowledged this in the intent section and the legislature in the four-year budget outlook included $200 million for the local government fiscal health account. And that's essentially to acknowledge that yes, there is impact to local governments because of this change. And it's an intent to um help offset that. It's in the 4-year outlook because the millionaire's tax won't go into effect until 2028, assuming it is

upheld um with the assumption that it is going to be challenged in the courts as well as a court of public opinion. Um assuming there is an initiative to the people. Um the next is the funding for uh public defense and this is I think one of the most um unresolved and challenging pressures on local governments. Um in the initial version of the millionaires tax there was some funding included for public defense but it it was removed in the final version and there were several bills introduced during the session but all but one received a public hearing and there is no additional funding in the operating budget. So essentially no change to the fact that the state continues to put this obligation on local governments to fund public defense. Um there is an ongoing lawsuit uh filed by the Association of Counties and um it's still working its way through the system and I don't anticipate it being resolved in the near term. Then the final topic I want to touch on this evening is on transportation specifically some bills that were requested by Sound Transit. um in the effort to reduce cost for constructing a regional transit system. Um one of the bills was Senate Bill 6309 and it ultimately passed the legislature and the goal was to streamline the perpetrit projects. The mechanism to do that was to allow Sound Transit to apply for permits prior to having control or ownership of the property where the projects would occur. That was concerning. Um and so Council Member Dodd testified at the public hearing to share those concerns on behalf of the city. Um and as a result, we were able to work with Sound Transit and um again, Representative Der to amend the bill to address that concern and were able to reach a compromise.

So now that session is over, um we we think what comes next? We're all done, right? Um the first thing that I like to encourage um the cities to do is to express gratitude to your delegation. Um even in this short session where you know arguably that we there was no specific dollar brought back to both like there was in the first half of the bienium when we got the money for Woodrest. Um the delegation still did a lot for the city. And so I I think it's really hard to describe the immense pressure and um just workload that legislators carry. And yes, they sign up for it. They actually compete to do this work, which is crazy to me. Um but you all know in public service it can be a thankless job. So, I always encourage cities to um go out of their way to thank their legislators for serving the city, serving the district, and ultimately serving the state. Um the next step is to implement uh both the policies that the legislature passed this year, which is of course falls heavily on the shoulders of city staff. Um but also implement the projects. I can't emphasize enough how critical it is to deliver the projects in a timely manner for those projects that the legislature has granted funding for. That helps establish a good reputation that the city is a worthy recipient of state dollars and should be invested in again and both has a great reputation for this. Um, and then during the interim is also when we plan, we plan for what comes next. And as um as the city is working through um your your plans, um I'll begin to work with you all in

identifying what the priorities should be for the upcoming bienium. Um and then we will want to educate um legislators on what those priorities are, what some of the biggest challenges are that the city is facing. Um, and then in November there will be elections. The entire House and half the Senate is up for election. Um, and before we know it, session will be here January 11th of 2027. So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Council member Kurt.

Thank you, Mayor, and thanks, Shelley, for the presentation and for all of your work um throughout the process this session. And I know that it was short which made it even harder because those timelines are incredibly difficult. I just wanted to share a couple reflections. Um uh one thank you for the opportunity to um jump in and provide testimony. I know the time that I did so there was a technical difficulty or whatever but um I still appreciate you looking out for opportunities where um our priorities intersect with um relevant bills that we can affect the policy because we are seeing that we do have an effect. So that's great. Um, one of the things I kind of was thinking about after the session was over was the cutout um, for the millionaires tax for health products. I personally think I speak for myself that it's unconscionable that we tax those uh, with sales tax anyway. And so I was kind of like okay with it. Um, and so I'm trying to understand what in our policy manual really like forced us to take a really hard look at that. Was it just um sort of preeemption of our sales tax revenue or um was it um just more of a it wasn't so much the the policy as it was the mechanism? um and how do we refine or what how can we provide better information as a council so that um we can have more nuanced t take on those types of sticky issues.

Yeah, that's a great question. Um you're correct that our engagement was not on the policy. I think there was actually clear from my perspective, clear direction from the council when I came and spoke to you all um one of the meetings during session that there was in fact support for the policy of eliminating sales tax on on um certain products. Um but it it was for the um the financial impact on on the city. And I think the there's a statement in the policy manual that talks about um that the city is going to watch for decisions that financially impact city revenues. Um and the way that that message I think was delivered to legislators could have been improved on. Um, I think in the in the fast timeline and in the heat of the moment, I think that communication was not as good as it could have been to emphasize that the city is supportive of this policy. We're not wanting to, you know, be sticks in the mud, but we need to find a solution to make sure that city's finances are um maybe not even made whole because in the end it wasn't made whole, but um are recognize that the cities cities are losing revenue for this and the state is I mean the the fiscal note that we knew at the time was $4 billion. So the state is gaining money and the cities were losing. So, I think that was the message that we were trying to deliver um and probably didn't do as well as we could have.

That's okay. Um I appreciate um the reflection and um you know commitment to refining the approach in the future. Um I'm just astounded at how supportive our legislative delegation is, especially Representative Der. Seems like it was a theme in your conversation today about how um we specifically got car carveouts basically for Canyon Park for um you know uh with Sound Transit um and also with these um uh financial um considerations as well. So, um, really appreciative of your work, um, and also our our legislators. So, thank you, Council Member Dodd.

Thank you. Thanks, Shelley, for being here and all your work during session. Um, I find myself very appreciative of the work of you and our staff and our council, current and past, in trying to do good, responsible things so that when we raise an alarm, people listen to us and it's not like the sky is falling. Um, I sort of same question as Council Member Kurd, but I and again speaking for myself, I strongly think it's not very progressive to take away revenue and not replace it. And I've been talking with like other local electeds and we're all kind of really hungry for city progressive revenue options. And I'm hoping that we were able to start conversations about I mean there was will the last session to remove the 1% cap that went nowhere. Um do you think that there's a legislator that is going to work on that next session in the longer session and can we can we be very supportive of their work? Like what does that look like to you?

Yeah, I I really appreciate that question. um part of the 200 million that's set aside for local government fiscal health. It's dedicated to cities, counties, and transit agencies, but there's no distinction over how that money gets distributed. Um we do have some time to figure that out. Again, the tax doesn't go into effect until 2028, and the 200 million is set aside in four years. So, I say all that as context because um several of what we call local government champions, members of the local government committee, particularly in the House, um are committed to both working out how that 200 million gets distributed and if the state is moving their tax code to be more progressive, how do we ensure that locals are also getting access to those pro either that progressive revenue or progressive tools as well? And so I I do think that that is um something that's going to be worked on over the interim. I know um Representative Zack Hall from Isiqua, that's something that he's interested in working on as well as Representative Janice from Belleview. Um and Representative Der as the chair of the House Local Government Committee. Um she can only do so much. Um so I know she will, you know, be engaged as much as possible, but I think those other two are likely the ones that are going to take that task on for this interim. I I would think that we are all interested in ways that we can work with people and perhaps not overburden Representative Derer who we are very familiar with. So I appreciate that.

Council member Angular.

Uh thank you Mayor Thompson. Uh thank you Charlay great presentation and uh mentioning about our bottl priorities and the update. Uh, regarding the millionaire tax, it only applies to individuals, not the corporations is what I understand. And the individuals who makes more than a million dollar. Let's say if somebody makes 1.1 million, only the $100,000 which is more than a million is taxed for 10%. So I know there are uh arguments. So from your session, what are the major major arguments like does it impact uh our Washington economy? What have you heard from the other aisle? So, most of the people support the bill and it's passed, but what are the major arguments that might impact our Washington economy?

Yeah, I think there's two main arguments um in opposition to the bill. The first is that um people who have people who this tax would be would be subject to this tax have the resources to be able to either move their finances or move themselves to a different state. And so that uh a state that doesn't have an income tax and so that the you're just moving the resources out of Washington. I think that's one argument. The other argument is that um it sets a precedent to have an income tax and that is why there are already court challenges against the the bill because Washington has not historically had an income tax. Um there's court case from several years ago that ruled that income is property and taxation on property according to Washington's constitution must be uniform. So if there is an income tax in Washington, it has to be uniform across all levels. Um so because um this is a tax on income, we will see what the courts rule as to whether it will be upheld. Um, but the fear is that eventually the threshold for what amount you may earn in order to be subject to the tax will get lower and lower and you'll see people earning 300,000 $400,000 then being subject to an income tax because the precedent has been set

regarding the individuals moving the resources. They are individuals working at corporates for example. uh can you uh can can I have more details when you say resources somebody cannot sell all their properties or businesses right away it doesn't impact the businesses anything else like when you say resources anything else you heard that what can be moved other state I'm unfortunately not enough of a financial expert to know how mobile assets are yeah that's fine that's fine no thank you but it is only impacts IND individuals, not the corporates. Is that right? The It's intended to be an individual income tax

only. Okay. Not the corporates. Uh basically correct. Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming. It's nice to see you in person and congratulations. The session is over and you don't have to be in the middle of that anymore. Thank you very much. Good to see you. But we say what? I was going to say for the next week. You don't have to be in the middle of it for the next week. Yeah, the work doesn't end, but we appreciate the work that you do for us and uh it's always lovely to see you. So, thank you for coming up here tonight. Thanks.

All right, our second update, and thank you, Shel. Our second update is uh we're coming to council with an update for the community as well about the safe and secure levy uh bond update. And I'm going to turn things over to umwan Wong, our finance director, and then uh he's also joined by our police chief, Ken Sublick. We'll get the PowerPoint up here and Quan will kick it off here in a moment.

Thank you, city manager, and uh good evening, uh mayor, uh city council member. for tonight. Uh I'm here to give you an update on the safe and secure levy and and bond. Uh the police chief and I are going to be answering your questions after a brief uh presentation. So, and that's what we're going to do. So, back in um no November 2018, uh the voters approved uh two measures uh the a 12-year levy uh to fund additional staff in police, fire, municipal court, and IT facility support services. The second measure that they approved was a 20-year 300 uh $35.5 million capital bond to rebuild two agent fire stations and they were the fire station 42 and fire station 45. the impact on the uh property owners and I want to emphasize that it is both uh residential property owners and commercial property owners. So for for a property of $1 million um they pay about $616 a year on the levy and about $111 per year on the bond. The last point that I want to make is uh delivery will expires in 2030 and the fire stations b in 2040. 2030 seems like a long time away but actually it is only four years away and if uh the uh council wants to do anything about it uh we should start the conversation and that is exactly why we

want to report uh to the city council and uh uh the community and we are doing great things and later on uh the police chief will be able to tell you in real time uh what the levy is paying. So the levy dollars at work um first of all uh enhanced police staffing and services. Uh we added 13 police officers and a community engagement coordinator to address crime traffic issues and as well as uh neighborhood uh nuisances. So, let me pause here and let the chief to give you uh some real life uh stories.

Well, thank you. Um first of all, I I I want to take a moment to just thank the community for supporting this levy to begin with. It was uh no small endeavor and we couldn't do this without their support and the support of council. Uh I'd like to talk a little bit kind of drill down into the staffing. Um, back in the day, uh, when I was a member of the union, we actually went door to door and we handed these things out to community members to tell them exactly where their levy dollars uh, will be going. So, I just kind of want to do a quick refresh on that. Um, initially it was for six firefighters in an aid car. I think we uh, modified that a little bit um, by adding some additional uh, we also had a community crime reduction team which I call CCRT for short. It's a proact team. They kind of fix problems in the community, not just like drug houses, but like if we have a parking issue or just a nuisance. Um, we go in there and we try to figure out ways to solve that and uh make it better for the people who live, work, and play here in Baffl. Um, additional staffing, six additional officers to increase just general staffing. In patrol, we had a property coordinator that's in charge of all of our evidence that that we take in. additional detective, a prob a probation lead, uh police support officer who does our transports to and from jail. Uh navigators. Um I think uh it's it's kind of crazy to me how far we've come with that. Used to be the radar program. Now it's Razer and truly a model program in the region. I'm super proud of that. We have the school uh outreach and safety officer, which will probably become more of a community outreach um officer once we actually get that filled. you you would think it'd be filled by now, but um I'll get into staffing here in a minute. Uh community engagement coordinator, um which has been super helpful. We're currently trying to fill that position right now. Um Cam, who was with us for years, has uh retired, so uh we have an opportunity to uh bring somebody new on board, an application

analyst, a traffic officer, and building maintenance um specialist. So, it's more than just PD. It it covers a broad spectrum, but it makes the machine work. Uh today was a great example of this. Um a a busy day for us is if we have a search warrant on top of just normal duties. Today we did five search warrants and involving um criminal activity in town. Without going into the great detail on it, it it's a it was a heavy lift and it took a couple years to uh come to fruition. And a key component to that was our investigations unit, but also our community crime reduction team who spent countless hours um really working this problem uh to help make Both safer. And um we couldn't have done that uh without those additional uh bodies um those well-trained officers that are out there uh doing the police work necessary to keep this community safe. And it's just by chance it all fell together today. But I thought that that was a a very important story to kind of share um on how these things impact how we serve our community. And what it also allows us to do is to maintain minimum staffing. Um our staffing on any given shift is a sergeant and four officers for the whole of the city. And if we wouldn't have those additional 13 commission bodies, uh that staffing would not be four in one. it would it would be less. So, um I just want to say thank you to the community uh for supporting this levy. It makes a big difference. We take a lot of pride in uh the service we provide and keeping this community uh safe and frankly special. So that

thank you chief. So the next area of investment is in the uh mental health and crisis response. So we joined a regional crisis response program and sharing our resources uh in the tune of about half a million dollar a year. So the program is handling behavioral and health crisis and treatments. So we're able to uh work with the first responders to help uh uh folks who are in mental crisis or uh some other uh life experiences. So that's another great experience uh that we're able to uh be part of uh in solving uh uh issues uh we are seeing uh in the community. The next area is um enhanced fire and emergency medical services. uh we added firefighters and now it's up to 10 uh FTEEs and a new uh eight car uh medical uh car to respond to growing calls for services. Um so that is a great uh investment uh in the tune about $1.9 million a year. Uh of course the next big thing uh is two new fire stations. Uh we are we replaced uh fire station 42 and 45 by modern and state-of-the-art fire stations and we even operate uh the emergency uh uh operate the emergency operating center in station 42 and I also had the privilege uh in my first year as um uh your staff to visit uh the open house. So that was really great experience. So the next uh area is uh with the municipal court. Uh we added uh probation officers there and uh really

uh uh doing alternative to the traditional um criminal system by promoting accountability addressing underlying behaviors and connecting participant to services. So some of the great examples are community court uh day reporting and work crew. So thank you to the the u uh uh voters. Uh so we are uh continuing uh those services uh at the community court. The next area is information technology. Uh we added one FTE to improve uh technology related to digital evidence uh incident reporting and law enforcement databases. So and the last area and not to say the least uh once we build those fire stations somebody has to maintain them. Uh so we not just building new facilities but we also maintain them. So we have one FTE to ensure that those buildings are safe, well maintained uh and again those included the fire stations and the police headquarters. So for today uh we're just giving you uh the update and the community a report. Um again thank you for uh their investment. Uh uh we are putting that levy dollars at work and for additional information uh we have the website uh on uh on the screen but uh just visit bthow.govsafesecure gov/safesecure and let me answer your questions if any.

Council ra. Thank you, mayor, and uh thank you uh director and uh chief suble for uh this. Uh we see the value uh in levy um in the money that's required especially uh I I personally have the priv privilege of uh sitting over here uh that I hear some things you know um and police doing really good work for our community. I think u whether we should talk about it or not. Uh the the actual things that you guys respond to, I think it's extremely valuable that um we have a solid um PD that actually looks um after the community. So I I I thank you.

Thank you on behalf of the men and women who serve. Council member Kurt.

Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. It's always good to hear an update about um this um um levy and bond. Uh I have a question about the enabling conditions for the levy. In the packet, you mentioned that there was a police safety study in 2016 that led to the 2018 ballot measure. And were there any sort of things that we could um kind of go back to that study and evaluate to see if we're hitting the marks there? Or is that um study still relevant to us today as we look to maybe a replacement uh measure in the future if needed?

I can try. Uh so back in 2016 we uh worked with a company called Etico who has done a number of studies for a number of municipalities. Um I think there are other ways that we can look at staffing models to better determine what the community needs. Um it's it's a it's an idea. Um I don't know if it's the best idea. Um, I don't like I know there's different groups out there that compare, you know, like how many officers we have per thousand versus Baltimore. Well, we're not Baltimore. Um, there's a big difference between East Coast and West Coast law enforcement. Um, but there there is a challenge um, honestly with just getting staffing and uh, getting them on board. Um, so yes, I'm 100% sure we'll come up with a a plan. Um, but a lot of it's going to come down to, you know, what's our calls for service look like? How, you know, how much undirected patrol time do our officers have? Because that's honestly where the the things happen. You want to have a portion of your day set aside so the officers are out there looking for the problems um versus just responding to them after the fact and being it's that visible patrol. So, um, whatever we go with, that's kind of what I'm going to be looking at is available patrol time, um, ways that we can better utilize our resources, be more efficient, um, because I could sit there and say, we'll never have enough officers, right? I mean, what that's that's that government thing. It's it's it grows. So, we have to be smart about it and, um, look how we can use technology to help balance those gaps.

Thank you. Yeah. um whether or not I'm still on council by the time it's time to think about a replacement. Um I recognize my bias towards quantitative data and looking to make sure that we're following um you know what the community needs, but um I I also recognize that qualitative data is part of the picture of whether um these services have been useful and sounds like they are. So, thank you, Council Bod.

Thank you. Thank you both for the update. Um, I just wanted to thank you, especially um, Chief, I know you were in the department when this went out, so you're just going to get the thanks. Um, even if you weren't chief, but, um, what the levy funded is a lot more comprehensive than officer positions or, um, things where we're just seeking prison time for people. the support through Racer and Radar, the probation officer, the restorative justice programs. Um, and kudos on getting the fire truck to go by when you were talking. That was very effective. Um, it it is it is really important for a healthy community to have more than just officers and for everyone to work together. So, I just want to call that out because I think people think we're funding this or that and the totality of the levy is really important and really remarkable to me. So, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, council.

Thank you, uh, mayor. And of course, we, uh, we, uh, we acknowledge, uh, the police department, but, there's also the fire department, uh, and with the, uh, growing city comes growing calls. And we've seen over the past few years how important it is to actually have solid response times, hence adding an eight car. even though that was uh foreseen back then but as we grow as a city. So also kudos uh to our fire department who is not here um to um for them to actually also keep our city safe. That remind member Dodd mentioned the fire truck I like oh yes. So uh uh thanks to those in the in the sky. though. I don't have any questions either, but thank you guys very much. Really appreciate the update and just really appreciate the work that you do for the city. Thank you.

All right, we're still going. So, our third um presentation tonight is uh an update for council uh around our zoning map and some suggested refinements. Again, many on the council will recall back in 2024 where we had a long comprehensive plan process talking about zoning. Uh tonight is to provide some uh brief updates about some proposed changes to consider and we would come back for action later. There's no action being sought tonight. Um with that, I'm going to turn things over to our planner from community development, Eric Jazooi, who uh will lead off the presentation as soon as the slides cooperate. Thanks, Eric.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Um, and m Mr. Mayor, hello, council members. My name is Eric Jazooi, long-range planner with the community development department, and joining me is uh Christian Gats. Glad to be back. Good to see you today. So, I'm presenting on zoning map refinements. I know you're on the edge of your seat on this one, so uh brace yourself. Um there's no action required today, uh but I will be presenting on staff recommendations for changes to the city's zoning map. A little bit maybe some background. Uh the zoning map is a regulatory tool that the city uses to determine what may or may not occur on property across the city. This is an implementation device from the from both's comprehensive plan which was recently updated in 2024. A major part of that plan update involved future land use mapping and uh regulatory changes to the zoning map. It applied new mixeduse zones across the city, increased residential uh allowances and among many other things. Uh to do that, there were extensive multi-year public engagement opportunities to see how the community wanted its future to look over the next 20 years. However, in making these broad changes across the city, some minor areas were missed and overlooked, resulting in minor inconsistencies that were discovered since the last update, December 2024. The proposal here will help give property owners more certainty with respect to existing and future land uses

allowed on their property. Staff recommendations to to refine the zoning map are seven areas or comprise seven areas across both listed here and there's more detail in your packet. Generally, these areas fall under the following four categories. Areas one, two, four, and five are locations where there were new zones applied allowing mixed uses uh or or I'm sorry, new mixeduse overlay zones, but new zones were not added to implement those overlay zones. Another category of changes uh is in area 3 where original zones pre2024 were not carried forward in the update. Area six has uh a lack of mixeduse overlay zones where we apply where the city applied them elsewhere. And finally, area 7 has old zones that were not updated in the uh 2024 update. And these recommendations in your packet result from a comprehensive review of the city's current zoning maps for such inconsistencies and omissions. The next steps for this proposal are for staff to return with proposed detailed code amendments for final consideration by the planning commission and city council. That will include public hearings and a final ordinance. That concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time.

Council member Kurt.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. Um, you joke, but I love the zoning map. So, so I was on the edge of my seat. Um, so area five in the packet, it's the one on the top of Nike Hill on Meridian Strip. Um, your proposal was for addition of RM1 into the sort of north side of 228th where the surrounding zone is RM2 or RM3 there. Um, so I'm wondering why that's I don't have the old zoning map loaded up in my brain, but um I'm wondering why that's a perceivably a down zone there, whereas the RM1 on the lower side of that strip is that's adjacent um similarity zones. That might be a detailed question. maybe had to go take

a detail question and we can we'll be diving into the details with planning commission and we'll be sure to when we do come back we'll have that clarification for you. Um we did we did unearth the the prior zoning map. Um and I believe if I can recall it did make sense to assign it that that residential density as a mixeduse and neighborhood um neighborhood business uh overlay. Um but we can follow up when we come back. Okay, I appreciate it. Thanks.

I think we're good. Thank you very much for the presentation um and the recommendations.

All right. And the last item, and it's we're ending with a bit of a disappointment because in your packet tonight was uh we intended to have a conversation about uh two proposed dates from the Northshore School District for a joint meeting. Subsequent to publishing of the packet, um our city clerk, Laura Hathaway, was contacted by the Northshore uh school district suggesting that the two dates that they had offered no longer work for them and proposing dates later in the fall in October and November. So, um, we can have a conversation tonight about a joint meeting with the Northshore School District, but before we start asking you to book dates, uh, for October and November, we can probably do that other ways of doing some schedule checks. So, unless there's anything any questions or any, um, for Laura or myself, we can probably move past this one.

I had a I had a quick question. Okay. Um, why did they change? I don't know exactly. I think that they proposed a couple of dates and then, you know, the end of the school year is quite busy for them and they just came back yesterday or yeah, Monday. No, I guess yesterday was Monday. Uh, they came back yesterday and um just said they think it'd be better in the fall. Makes sense. Thank you,

Council Dodd. Thank you. Um, one thing I noticed about those days is they're days we don't normally meet, but it's my understanding the school board does meet on Tuesdays, which is when we meet. And, um, I can't speak for everyone else, but I do kind of rearrange my life around Tuesdays. So, it would be great if they could find a Tuesday that would work if it's going to be so far out. And then I would love to also have a chance to help shape what we talk about um, so that we can have some good discussions, too.

That's great. Their proposed uh coordination on that is to have the mayor meet with the council president and then um I would most likely tag along as with the school superintendent. So that's the intended planning path. But um that also means that especially with more time on on the horizon that the mayor could always use some feedback from council at a future meeting about the types of things we'd want to talk about. I could probably give the mayor feedback so that makes sense. Thank you. Can confirm council member Angular. Thank you, mayor. Uh, did they cancel for other cities or is it just both of they cancelled it? Do we know? We did not know.

Okay, good. That Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, we're one of the important city for NSD, I guess. So, okay. Thank you, Councilman Miles. Yes. I was just thinking maybe we could recommend October, November since that would be kind of the best part of the fall for us all to meet. Yeah. And that that is the two dates that they talked about was Monday, October 19th or Monday, November 2nd. Um but we can confirm that. Uh again, that's a Monday. We can ask him for a Tuesday night. We shall see. We'll find some date. Yes. Thank you.

All right. I think we're good. Thank you. All right, next up is council committee reports, community reports, and conversations. Council member Dodd, thank you. So, I bet everyone has been on the edge of their seat for the land use map, but also for this key that has been sitting on our DIS, and you're like, "What is that key, Amanda?" And I would love to tell you. Um, the city manager and uh, director Greenspan and I went to the Together Center in Redmond sometime in the last week, last Thursday, I think. Um, and we attended the arch investment celebration and they gave us collectively this key which I'm going to give back to Kyle because I don't want responsibility for it. Um,

it's some kind of medal, Council Member Okabra, and that is all I can tell you. Um, you you may investigate it. Now, Council Member Okabra has the key. Um, and they we we basically celebrated Arch's funding of the both Urban Project and um I got a lot of great hugs and had a lot of good conversations about it and so I just wanted to share that recognition with everyone because that is work we have all done even though I got the hugs. So there you go. Council member Angular. Thank you Council Member D. Uh that that sounds amazing. Thank you for uh joining. I could not join. Thank you.

It's true. All right. Next up, um, is council wait, projected agenda discussion. Does anybody have an item they'd like to talk about? No. In that case, I would love to accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. Council member Dodd. I'd like to move to approve the consent agenda. Second. I have a motion from council member Dodd and a second from council member Alcabra to approve the consent agenda. Would anybody like to speak to the motion? Seeing none, city clerk. Thank you. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Council member Angulari. Uh yes. Mayor Thompson. Yes. Council member Kurd. Yes. Council member Miles. Yes. Council member Dodd. Yes. Council member Alcabra.

Yes. Passes 6. Thank you. All right. Um, next up, let's see, it is 7:13 and council is going to adjourn to executive session to discuss potential litigation pursuant to RCW 4230 11101 I with action expected under agenda items 9A and 9B for 20 minutes. Um, go 21 minutes. Um, we will reconvene at 7:35. All right, it is now 7 in progress.

It is now 7:35. Um, and council will now adjourn to a second executive session to discuss potential litigation pursuant to RCW 4231101i with potential action for 30 minutes. Council will adjourn from executive session at 8:05. All right, welcome back. Um, next up we have agenda bill 26058, uh, grant agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation for the 102nd Avenue Northeast Shared Youth Use Path Project. City Manager.

Thank you, uh, mayor. And yes, council, we have four items that are coming up to you for approval tonight. Uh the first two are grant agreements and so we'll have the same the same team up here. We're we're joined by a contingent of staff from public works including our deputy director uh and then teams from our engineering and capital projects group. I'm going to turn things over to Ying Zu uh to present both items 9A and 9B and to answer any questions.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Tonight I'm represent presenting two transportation projects that support the city's moving and around the parcel priority. Both focused on improving safety and connectivity in the community. First is the two 240th Street Southeast and the 35th Avenue Southeast intersection project. Tonight's council action would authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with washd to move into the design phase using $1.07 million in surface transportation block grant funding along with $287,000 local match that's already in the budget. This project will replace the existing all-way stop condition at the intersection with a roundabout. It serves at a key entry point into the Mount Villa business park. The improvements include sidewalks, bike and pedestrian facilities, lighting, landscaping, and storm water enhancements. Overall, this will make the intersection safer, improve traffic flow, and create a more complete street for everyone traveling through the area. The second project is the 102nd Avenue Northeast Share Use Pass project. Similar to the first item, tonight's action would authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with washd for the design phase using $1.6 million in congestion mitigation and air quality funding with a $410 local march. A $410,000

local match also already budgeted. This project will build a 12 foot wide share use path for pedestrians and the bicyclist along with lighting planting strip and other supporting improvements between East Riverside Drive and the main street. Importantly, these improvements will connect the Samameish River and the Burkeman trails to downtown Basel, making it easier for people to safely travel on a relative busy corridor using multimodal alternatives. Both projects receive federal fund funding approval in December 2024 and we needed to obligate those funds by June 1st, 2026. Both projects meets procurement policy requirements for council approval due to the level of local marching funds and are fully consistent with council's adopted transportation priorities. Staff recommends approval of both resolutions to allow these important projects to move forward into the design phase. Thank you and I'm happy to answer any questions. Council member Kurt.

Thanks. I don't have any questions, but I'm encouraged to see that um these projects are moving forward and that we're leveraging our $1 goes four times as far um when we partner. So, um thank you for the presentation. I'm looking forward to these projects and take the motion separately for conversation afterwards. But I move to adopt the resolution authorizing the city manager to execute the local agency agreement with washd for the 102nd Avenue Northeast shared use path project obligating a maximum of $1.6 million in grant funds and committing a maximum of $410,000 in local matching funds. Second.

I have a motion from council member Kurd and a second from council member Dodd to move the recommended action. Would anybody like to speak to the motion? I just want to echo what council member Kurt said. Um I don't have any questions, but I'm really excited that these are projects that we're moving forward and these are things that we found grants for and like I'm really looking forward to these things getting done one day. Thank you, city clerk. Thank you. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Council member Angulari, yes. Mayor Thompson, yes. Council member Kurd, yes. Council member Miles, yes. Council member Dodd, yes. Council member Al, yes. passes 6. All right. Would anybody like to council member Kurt

I move to adopt the resolution authorizing the city manager to execute the local agency agreement with Washot for the 240th Street Southoutheast and 35th Avenue Southeast intersection project obligating a maximum of 1.069750 in grant funds and committing a maximum of $287,000 in local matching funds. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Kurd and a second from Council Member Dodd to move the recommended action. Um, would anybody like to speak to the motion? Council member Doc. I thought I would just take a turn and say thank you. It is really great to see that the grants that your team continues to get to support good work. So, thank you for all the effort that you put into this.

Thank you, city clerk. Thank you. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Council member, yes. Mayor Thompson, yes. Council member Kirk, yes. Council member Miles, yes. Council member Dodd, yes. Council member Al, yes. Passes 6.

Well done team. We got that knocked out quickly. Um, next up is agenda bill 260. It's amendment number four to the professional services agreement with site workshop landscape architecture for park at both landing design services city manager.

Thank you mayor and yes council on this item. While we don't often have fourth amendments to contracts coming for presentation um tonight due to the amount and significance of the project of the park landing really wanted to give council in the community a snapshot of where things are on of this project and answer any questions you might have. Uh, our staff team from Parks are at the table, but I'm going to turn things over to our planning and development program manager, Aaron Milner, to present and entertain questions from the council. Thanks, Aaron.

Thank you, city manager. Good evening, mayor, council members. Uh, my name is Aaron Milner. I'm the park planning and development manager alongside here with director Nick Stroop and Kai Patnode, our capital our planning and capital projects assistant. So tonight we're here to present uh excuse me tonight we're here to present a design services amendment for the park at Bosel Landing Improvements Project and to request approval to proceed with construction documentation phase of design. So specifically, we're seeking your approval for a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement amendment with site workshop landscape architecture for the park at Both Landing Improvement Project. This amendment would allow the project to move forward into construction documentation, which is the final phase of design needed to prepare the project for permitting and construction. To briefly walk you through tonight's presentation, we'll start with the project background, followed by the community vision that has shaped the current design. We'll then highlight the progress made through the design process to date. And finally, we'll discuss the next steps of the project, which is to proceed with the construction documentation phase at this critical path forward toward the construction of the park at both landing. So the larger vision for the park at both Landing as the city's central community space has been in place for many years. The city's downtown revitalization plan first adopted in 2009 was the first key step in the vision of expanding the park at both Landing along with the rest of downtown both. The plan emphasizes the park as the city's focal gathering space, particularly following the state route 522 alignment with the expansion of the park footprint. In 2010, a master plan for the park was developed, but it was

never fully implemented. Building on that earlier vision, the city entered into an agreement with site workshop landscape architecture in 2023 to update the 2010 master plan and develop a new conceptual design. This effort directly supports the city council's 2040 vision which identifies initiating construction of the park at both landing as a priority within the joyful and healthy way of life focus area. The conceptual design phase beginning in 2023 included extensive community engagement with four public open houses, three popup events, two two online surveys, and multiple stakeholder interviews. From this process, a conceptual design that reflects strong community priorities was developed, and it features accessible pathways and nature trails, a central gathering space with an interactive fountain, an inclusive playground, improved water access with a kayak rental facility and boat launch, new restrooms, a skate park and pump track, public art and lighting, and a new parking area. In April of 2025, council approved resolution number 1598 authorizing an amendment an amended agreement with site workshop landscape architecture to proceed with the schematic design and design development phases. These phases refined and advanced key project components identified in the conceptual design phase. Schematic design was completed in August of 2025, followed by design development in March of 2026, bringing this project to its current level of design. This reflects about 60% of the design process. So with design development complete, the project is ready to move into the

construction documentation phase. This phase will produce the full technical design specifications and permitting coordination required to initiate construction at the park at both landing. It represents the final step in design and a critical milestone towards delivering the park at both landing improvements as envisioned in the city's 2040 vision and longstanding planning efforts. With that, staff is requesting council authorization to amend the agreement with site workshop landscape architecture to complete this final phase of design. The recommended action is to approve the resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a professional services agreement amendment for construction documentation services for the parket boss landing improvement project. We're here to answer any questions you may have.

Council member Kurt, I'll break the ice as my fellow council members are thinking. Um I thank you for the presentation. Um, I am not familiar with permitting a new park. What sort of permits are going to be included in this next phase? What are you anticipating is going to be easy? What's going to take a little bit longer? Are the designs going to change substantially during the permitting phase? What can we expect?

So, throughout this entire process, first off, we're working within um the shorelines area. So, there's a lot of considerations we have to take into account. Uh we've been working very closely with our community development department throughout the entire process. We have an excellent consultant on board. Shannon Wilson Amy Sumi Sumi who actually helped draft our shorelines code is uh our our subconsultant on the project. So we feel very confident moving into the the permitting phase that we have all our permits in order. In fact, uh, next month we have a pre-application, uh, meeting with our our community development just to verify all that we've we've, uh, learned so far. Are there other types of permitting that might be needed for the park? Um, I'm thinking specifically, um, it's really close to the river. Are there any sort of army corps things? Are there things that like we need to budget a lot of time for? Uh there's Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife because we are touching the river with the uh the boat launch. In fact, um in the plans, you do see that we were origin we are looking at um some improvements to the to the uh amphitheater area which is within our ordinary high watermark which we in this phase actually we're deciding to to not move forward with those improvements of a permanent stage and a permanent roof structure um just because of the significance of the river and how much we value it and also some of the permitting requires performance that would be required of that. But we have engaged with fish and fish and wildlife already and had them out on site and discussed any implications with permitting of that of the boat launch area.

Great. Um I was re-watching our last study session from January of last year. Um, and uh, I recall asking a question about tribal engagement since January of last year. What sorts of tribal engagement have we completed?

We've done a regulatory portion of it as far as cultural resources go. Um, it's not something at this point that's required of of us for any there's no requirement for us to do that. Um, we have reached out specifically to all the impacted tribes or affected tribes in the area and we have not received a response.

Okay. Thanks. I will defer to other council members before asking more questions. Nobody else has any questions. Okay, I will go. Um, the last time we say what? Oh, Prasad Council Angular. Yeah,

thank you, Mayor. It's it's a great presentation and looking forward to it. I was at the community outreach that was done uh I think a month back. There was a lot of excitement from the community. Uh I'm hoping to see this uh taking shape next few years whenever that happens. But I have a question. Uh maybe it's an interesting question. the skate bowl. Uh I heard from Rosemary Melof they committed a million dollar and then the King County is matching a million dollar. At what point of time uh I mean that materializes? Is that like a finally confirmed? Just a curiosity question. Uh I'm talking about Rosemary Melov. So she committed a million dollar and I heard that King she means their family and King County is matching a million dollar is what I heard. So I just want to know at what point of time that materializes.

Yes. So we've been working with uh Rosemary McAuliffe as well as a community group uh of skateboarding enthusiasts. Uh they have raised a million dollars and then also in the recently passed King County levy there was a million dollars that was set aside specifically for that amenity. So it is there um because we have that money and we've secured you know that with likely if we got into a a phasing situation say we didn't have all the funding to build every element of the park that would be in the first phase because there's money that that is there. That's great. So it's basically we secured we kind of secured 2 million total.

We've secured 1 million for sure. It's in the King County levy. So they're still holding the million. uh Rosemary and and I think she's using the Northshore Rotary um to to back that. The thing with the King County levy is though that it is a levy. So, it's a six-year levy, meaning that not all of that money is available today. It's over the course of that six years that uh so and that would be a reimbursement. So, we would pay for it upfront and then they would reimburse us. Thank you. Council Dodd,

this is maybe too deep of a question, but with a six-year levy, how do they determine which projects get funds when? Does everybody get divided by six every year or how does that work?

Well, for the the the city projects where they allocate money, so they they collect money essentially every year uh for the levy. And so the way it works is like for those types of projects, it's the accumulation over the six years. We will get reimbursed for that. It's it's in there. So if we spend a million dollars, we'll get reimbursed a million dollars. It's it's there. Um but it may not be say if we went and built the skate park two years from now, we may not get that full reimbursement. It will take that full six years to get that. And do they reimburse in chunks or just once they have the full balance? They'll they'll reimburse in chunks. Okay. though. Yeah.

I don't know. I'm just it I was very curious. I feel like that hasn't come up recently. Um do you have a And it's okay if it's very rough or a range, but the skate features may cost X amount. If we optimistically say we have $2 million, what what portion of the cost of the skate park is that? We're very close. Okay. Very very close. So, I I would say that we're we we're pretty close and ready to go to construction with that kind of money um for the skatepark. We've included the design work that we're doing right now in the current project. So, that million dollars is really the construction and then the additional million would also go towards the construction. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. Um, I had one question. Um, the last time that we had this in front of us, um, you know, I think the time before that council had asked for kind of a world-class skate park and a world-class pump track and what we got was a world-class skate park and a pump feature. And I noticed that the, um, language in this is all around a pump track. Has there been any additional design work done on that since we saw it or is it still kind of that pump feature? So this is this is one element that's an ongoing conversation that we're having with our consultant team. Um what you do see is a worldass uh skate park and then what's probably more appropriately labeled as like a progressive skate bike feature. Um it's a little it's a departure from your traditional uh ribbon pump track.

Um we recognize that and it's something that we're working through with our consultant team. We have a little bit added scope within this next phase of development to continue those conversations. And in fact, we have a focus group meeting at the end of this month uh engaging with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance to kind of understand a little bit better what uh features are more appropriate or most appropriate for a mountain bike pump track course. So, it's it's an ongoing conversation and it's also something we're looking at systemwide to understand if this is maybe not the best opportunity, what other opportunities we have elsewhere in the city with other projects we have going. Awesome. Very cool. I'm looking forward to hearing the results of that.

Council member Angulari, thank you. I have one more question on the private partnerships. uh I heard that we now can portal city accepts private partnerships. Do we have any positive feedback from any corporates or uh how how are we reaching to corporates or ju just want to know I'm curious if if anybody committed anything or what are our future plans to get any money from corporates for any of these projects.

So yeah, you're you're absolutely right. We had a partnership uh program come before council and we are in the process of developing that. I would say that there's nothing right now that's developed for the partnership that you know could be like a corporate sponsorship uh something like that that does take time. It does take time to build those relationships but we do have some framework in place um so that we can pursue that. Um it is an opportunity. One of the things that we are looking at like in our playgrounds for example is creating opportunities for corporations or local families to partner with us to buy certain amenities. So similar to what Rosemary is doing on a sort of larger scale with the skate park, you know, think about it of like, hey, there's this really cool like swing set and uh we'd like to sponsor that. We're we're open to those conversations and certainly we'll be pursuing those in the future. Uh I mean like what are the high level steps uh like from the city what do we need to do? Do we need to pass some resolutions or what are the high level steps?

No with any partnership agreement that we we um create where we you know we go through a process. So we would sit down we would determine what you know and certainly make sure that our goals aligned uh together and to make sure that it was appropriate for us to to move forward with that. depending on the amount that we're talking about that would depend on where it would go as far as like would we bring it to council would we bring it would it be an administrative decision things like that so you mean if somebody comes oh I'm going to give like any corporation comes forward we are going to give a half a million so we are ready we can take it uh I mean like if if anyone comes for anything

we we definitely are open and willing to have those conversations good okay yeah thank Council member Kurt. Thanks. Um I'll jump in with my last questions here just to um the thank you for hearing uh us all and incorporating our feedback this whole process. Um one of my feedback has always been about water quality. Big surprise. Um and so I I read through the documents. It calls it as lawn lawn area lawn area lawn area. Just to confirm, we're not planning on installing turf uh here. Is that correct? That's correct. Great.

Um there will be synthetic turf in our accessible playground. That's more for accessibility.

Safety. Yes, I totally understand that. Um but good to hear that some of the larger lawn areas will not be um running off into the river. Um and then can you um just refresh my memory on the community building? We had a lot of conversation about the Lidle House, consternation over it possibly being a 1980s historic building. Um, but um, uh, I I recognize that it's in its existing location, pretty close to the shoreline. There might need to be some creative um, adaptive maybe reuse of a wall or something to keep it. uh how what are you thinking of for this community space and community building that um would be the next iteration of the Lidal House?

So yes, we are proposing a replacement building for the Lidal House and this was we went through a process with our landmark preservation board. We had actually met with them on three separate separate occasions. um one of them being uh a certificate of appropriateness uh waiver for the lidal house to allow the demolition of it. Um prior to that meeting we had actually been to the landmark preservation board presented them three alternate alternatives for uh retaining the lidal house which was our original um our original approach. So looking into it further, I mean the the structure itself is is not historically significant. It's Dr. Lidle um who was the second physician in both that is this is it's historical in name in his name uh specifically. So, we made a decision to actually build a new building on the site and we're we're constrained to the existing footprint more or less. And so, what we're proposing is a new community room, first floor community room that also includes a reception area, lobby, and meeting room and a kitchen um for the public to use not only for recreation programming, but also for rental facilities after hours. And then on the second floor, we're proposing to to uh house um uh administrative staff for parks and recreation on the second floor so we can be more of a a a front-facing um department within one of our most cherished parks in the system.

Thanks for the update.

I I would just add to that we do have some, you know, growing concerns about the space that we have. So, as a city, we're looking at what our opportunities are as we grow, as the capacity, you know, to to house people. So, for example, at the the current both operations center, we we are at a point where there are days that there's no parking. Um, so we're we're trying to figure out, you know, where are those opportunities to create space? What makes sense? being in the park that is is, you know, probably our most popular park in the entire system makes a ton of sense, I think. Um, but it it also gives us that opportunity to help program that community space. So, one of the things that we'll be back to you next week with is our pros plan and one of the the big, you know, asks of the community has been we'd love to have more community space. We'd love to see recreation programming come back and that gives us an opportunity to be on site and actually do that work.

Yeah, that's great. I think um from my perspective, you know, the return to office mandates hit everybody differently. Um but there is something special about um if you're serving a community working in that um in that space and being really intent intentional about interacting with people and I feel like um the parks department in a park makes a lot of sense but that's me personally. Thank you.

I'll jump in on that topic too. I um I don't think any of us want to have less of a presence in the city for parks than we do right now. Um I know that there's a ton of desire to bring back recreation programming and you know if you hire new people to do new work, they're going to need space. So I think that's a really compelling ask to the community as well. Um and maybe we could name it the Lidle building or something and like still give a nod or or not. That wasn't well thought through. Um, so cool. I think I think that's it. Um, thank you. I think uh we need a uh motion. Council member Dodd,

I'd like to move the recommended action. I second. I um have a motion from council member Dodd to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a professional services agreement amendment number four for further design of the park at both landing with site workshop landscape architecture. Did I say the motion for council member Dodd and the second for council member Angulari? Now you have. Now I have. Would anybody like to speak to the motion? Seeing none, city clerk. Thank you. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Council member Angulari. Yes. Mayor Thompson, yes. Council member Kurd, yes. Council member Miles, yes. Council member Dodd, yes. Council member,

yes. Passes 6. Thank you. And thank you guys. Oh, and Nick, I just wanted to say you picked a great shirt for tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Matches the haircut well. Um, all right. Next up, we have Agenda Bill 26061. um res a resolution repealing and replacing the city council protocol manual. City manager.

All right. Thank you, mayor and council. This is the last item of the night, but um we'll see we'll see how long uh we need to get through it. So, you'll recall there was um a recent uh earlier this year uh study session to discuss potential changes to the protocol manual. Our city clerk walked us through some of the um different items that have come up since the last update. Many of those have been incorporated. There's a couple of questions that the clerk will call out. And so in your packet to help orient you, there's the resolution as well as um a copy of the manual showing revisions and a clean copy that could be adopted. Um with that, I'm going to turn things over to our city clerk, Laura Hathaway, to guide you through the conversation. Laura,

thank you. There it goes. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, mayor and council members, yes. Um, as Kyle said, we, um, are going to walk through this a little bit. There's a couple areas in the protocol manual that still need, um, we need further discussion on. So, um, I'm going to give a little bit of an overview here. The manual serves as a guide to document the accepted practices and expectations among council members. We regularly review the manual for potential updates every two years or so or as needed. And at the study session on February 17th, council discussed updates to chapters 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8, which have been incorporated or shown in red in attachment number two. Uh we did not reach any kind of consensus and further discussion is needed on chapter 2.08 08 D4 which is reports to council and chapter 8.01 meeting schedule. Uh chapter 2 is general powers advisory bies reports to council. Chapter 8 in city council meetings meeting schedule. So I'm just going to lay out a little bit. I I proposed some language after um taking the feedback we got from the from the council at uh February 17th and I got to move my got to move myself out of here. Um the so the proposed language for chapter 2 advisory bodies that um I'd like to present and we can make changes. Council can give feedback on is the city council values the advisory role of boards and commissions and encourages them to present updates and work plans at any regular city council meeting under boards and committee

reports. members will work with their staff liaison to schedule updates or questions to council as needed. And then uh chapter 8 under city council meeting schedule uh the proposed additional language that chapter is every effort will be made to conclude council meetings by 900 p.m. It shall be the preference of the council not to act on any item that is presented at the same evening unless it is one of routine nature such as consent agenda items. Further council meetings will be cancelled on the first Tuesday in November which is election day. Staff will monitor the Northshore School District calendar for council quorum and avoid scheduling items with high community interest or impact during school breaks. So, those are the two that I'm seeking clarification on and I'm happy to answer questions on any of the other uh changes in the document that we talked about on February 17th or anything else you all would like to see.

Anything? Anything. It's your manual.

Thanks for um joining us from a different seat, Laura. I know it's your favorite one. Um I would really like to push the council on the very last bullet on the screen right now. Um we not only do we have parents on council in majority, we also have a lot of staff who are parents of kids in Northshore schools. We saw during spring break just recently that there were staff who were out and to have a meeting with nothing of high impact. See like I have to think we could just reschedule it. It's two Tuesdays a year to do mid winter break and spring break and why do we need to meet those weeks? I have yet to hear a good case and I'd really like us to just adopt the policy of not meeting then. Thank you. I would just like to plus one that it seems like those would be good opportunities to have a meeting on a fourth Tuesday.

Council Alabra. Thank you, Mayor. Um, seems reasonable to me. I don't think there's a I don't it's not an issue for me. Council member Kurt,

I have an item on the first bullet which is um leaving the discretion to the boards and committees to come at will. Um seems like it's an opportunity for them to hesitate to come come regularly. So, I don't know if we could encourage the staff liaison to nudge them every quarter to see or I know um some boards and commissions have a standing item in their agenda um to bring something up with council, then they put it on that item. But um I'm just uh cognizant of the um somewhat reduced connection between council and its boards, our boards and committees. Um and if we aren't going to have like a formalized liaison role between a council member and a committee like we had briefly discussed at the um the retreat. uh than at least making it more making there be a stop in the process for um those boards and committees to actually check in and see if um you know it's actually a regular thing. Um, so maybe putting quarterly in there or u putting every cuz you know sometimes a committee might only meet quarterly so that's not reasonable but um I see the tension in asking boards and committees to do it regularly when they each meet irregularly. Um, so maybe every couple of meetings or um just leaving it to the

staff leaison to to regularly um check in with them. I think I I think that we could put quarterly in there. Um and then a quarterly check. Yeah. schedule that with the staff liaison if if that's amunable to the rest of the council. I think I think we could change that language to say check in quarterly. Um or like members stagger it a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. Members will work with their staff liaison quarterly to schedule updates or questions to council as needed. still gives them an out if there's nothing to report on quarterly, but at least it will be at minimum there'll be a check quarterly to make sure that there's nothing because if we just say regularly, well, that could be once every four years. That's not helpful. I like that wording change. Yep, we could do that.

And I just wanted to take a check. We had three people uh support the no working during mid- winter and spring break. Um and I just wanted to know if a lack of saying that is because we thought we had quorum or anything else. So I want to open it back up to this side of the room. Council member Miles. Oh, I agree. Thank you. Okay. I agree too. I agree as well.

Awesome. I um I will let the opinion rest. I still think that we need to mitigate it somehow. Um we have a certain number of meetings that we meet and if we're shortening them to 9:00 now, um we're going to have a crunch at the end of the year. So, um meeting on the fourth Tuesdays is maybe an alternative that I would be welcoming. I would agree with all that. Council member Dodd.

Yeah. And I don't 9:00 p.m. or not doesn't bother me personally, but um I I will go with however we want to mitigate that as a group. Um, I wanted to speak to Council Member Kurd's um, proposal on the boards and commissions. Um, I agree that we need just more frequent communication. It is in practice hard for I I will say each of us, but for me personally to go watch like every meeting to find out what happened. There isn't a good way to summarize that I have found either. I don't I don't like to use AI for that. And so it's kind of just like some kind of and I was speaking to the city manager about this, but I don't know if we can just get like like minutes are very dry. They're not it's just like action notes, not kind of what happened. So I'm really open to ideas there. I like a council liaison structure, but we I don't think we've ever had four supports for that um in discussion. But however we can just get more regular updates even if it's emails you know routed through the executive office from the staff leaison just whatever is sustainable for the most people would be really appreciated um cuz I it's true that there may not be a need for every advisory body to come quarterly so that the flexibility in the language is great but um please invite everyone to think outside the box so we get a little more info I actually really liked that idea of like if we could get like a brief summary from the staff of like here's what happened in the meeting, here's what was discussed, here was the general tone of the thing like that. I would love to know a little bit more what our boards and commissions are discussing. I'm gonna I'm gonna jump in and and say too like if

however it works out if the boards also get that information and then they want to add some color like they read the summary they're like oh but I thought this part was really important that might spur discussion too. That's probably not a Well, they couldn't they couldn't reply all, but if they Yeah, but if they got if they got a copy of it, they might be able to reach back out to the staff person or to an individual council member and be like, "Hey, this was also happening." But I think sometimes you read a summary of something you're in and you're like, "Oh, that's interesting because this other part stood out to me."

I would I would just caution that it um potentially that creates an endless loop of then editing of people then not agreeing with their colleague and that sort of thing. But what we can do is uh work to come up with a method that uh is not simply just a um a staff email follow-up, but perhaps even a practice of doing a wrap-up at the end of what are the things we're going to capture. We'll we'll come up with something. And I think for the protocol manual, we won't necessarily have to have the procedure in there, but what I'm hearing is wanting to capture what are the action items or items of significance being discussed by the board and commissions and ensuring that the participants have an opportunity to put their voice to it if that works.

Yeah. And I'm I'm spitballing more than trying to give a process because I think we have a creative staff that'll come up with something cool. So, I think we hear you. Yeah. Yeah. Council member Kurt.

Yeah, it's just a conversation. Um I um I don't know. There's not a prohibition against council members attending board and commission meetings. But then I think it opens it up to those commissioners and board members using that council member as a liaison like de facto liaisoning. Um and so I have shied away from that. Um, but I do feel that there I mean the imagine both notice um that goes out monthly um provides a really concise summary of what the planning commission and council do according to land use. I find those really helpful to just plan it out for the month and see which meetings I need to like sit in on that are interesting for the planning commission at least on YouTube. Um, and I feel like we've been lacking something like that for our other boards and commissions. Um, and just even like a projected agendas um um could be helpful in having it in one spot rather than having to like open up every single PDF. Um I think even something as simple as just providing a a forecast of what um those boards are going to be talking about. So then you know we can if um you know we could talk with a um amongst ourselves and council um conversations about uh issues that are happening and whether we might want to invite um a collaborative meeting study session type thing or I think um the first part for me is just knowing what's what's happening like what to what to

parse out my time too. So I think um if nothing else it would be really helpful uh not to do summaries on the end but summarize the agendas before they happen. Um because I I can manage my time and I can watch YouTube um recordings at double speed or whatever. Um, but just knowing when things are coming ahead of time is more helpful for me. So, I'm Yeah, I'm trying to think of ways that this is less impactful on staff time. Having to summarize things and having to um sort of coordinate after the fact, but uh um forecasting agendas is something that ideally should be pretty easy to to do. and just summarizing them into a imagine all of both not just um land use could be a helpful uh way to approach it. So that's an idea. And then another bullet that's not on here is we have discussed a little bit about practices that we have uh kind of fallen into for study sessions too. Um, and I don't think it warrants a bullet, but it does warrant a conversation, and now is the opportune time to have it at 8:51. Um, I think I'm I recognize that as a council, we are, me in particular, very detail oriented and we have a long list and litany of questions for staff at study sessions. And the goal of going down to the table is to have a conversation. So I can commit to asking us and seating questions to other council members um in in hopes that

maybe that can spur on more discussion elements rather than just litany of questions and answers. Um and I hope that um uh others will partner with me on that um sort of culture change of study sessions being more collaborative and conversational. I think that um we all bring special unique perspectives and I want to hear um ideas and thoughts rather than just um uh carefully crafted questions to staff. So, um I agree with, you know, some of the conversation that we've had at the retreat on study sessions and I just have been thinking about ways that I can um be a better uh partner to the rest of you and maybe that's um being more curious and asking more questions amongst the council members. So, that's not a bullet point to change in the protocol manual, but it's a commitment that I'll um take going forward. Council member Miles,

I'd just like to say I would co-sign what you're saying in terms of how we architect our study sessions. It is something that I, as a newbie, have thought through a lot. It'd be great to have them to be more conversational. I think we will all get a lot more out of it. And as you said, carefully crafted questions to staff is great, but I think it's a time for all of us to actually converse with each other. Council Rock. Thank you, Mayor. I I agree. I think uh when we instituted the study sessions few years ago, uh it was after the last retreat. I think it was

we changed the structure after the 2023 retreat. We we changed the structure after the 2023 retreat. Okay. I don't remember that far back. Maybe we did have study sessions before that. That's why that's why I'm helping.

Thank you. Uh so but anyway it was it was supposed to be conversational um and supposed to be discussions. I think the fact that we get a presentation and then we react to it gets our mindset as as if we're sitting here and staff is sitting there. I think even that structure can change where distributing maybe papers instead of having a official presentation. We can talk about it at some point. Maybe it's not a bullet point for this, but yes, I agree. Be nice to have it more of a conversation. Although with a caveat, it's recorded and videoed and everything, so it's not going to be as free flowing as a more non-recorded conversation, but yes.

Yeah, I I think it might be helpful. like I don't usually come in with a lot of preconceived questions and I've been treating them conversationally. So I think maybe this is a good opportunity for us to have open conversation. You know, we had talked about potentially followup with more targeted retreat topics, but the broadness of this plan isn't hitting with me for some reason. So maybe it's just different people are looking at their own engagement and I've looked at mine differently, but um this is something I hope we can refine um as we go forward because they should be useful for everyone. I appreciate um council member K bringing this up because it often feels to me like we all just have like this like litany of questions and we like I think I don't remember if it was you that said you know we sort of treat it like we're up here but either way that's not really a protocol manual conversation so I can probably leave it at there. Um we're getting very study sessiony right now. Um, oddly, um, I had another question. Um, on the travel, um, there's travel funds sufficient to club one national, one state conference per bienium per council member. And like I don't think I've been to AWC more often than every other year um, in my term here at all. But like I don't know, I kind of feel like if we want to go to the AWC conference every year, that would be okay. And I mean that would be something that would fall into the second section at all, but I don't know how y'all feel about that. I guess it's just we can inform the rest of the council of our travel plans under the council reports and conversations section of the agenda.

Cool. I think I'm good. Sorry,

council. Oh, I was yeah, I don't like necessarily support restricting it to one of each kind every bianium. Um I think there's a case sometimes if there's good work to be done or if someone has like a board position in one of these um big conglomerates of cities. Um, I think one of the concerns was around um, we had some folks take trips to I think NLC like the last month or two in office and that was odd and we never got to hear what utility that served the city. So I think the important part to me is more what did you going to that thing do to help both because that's the goal of city funded travel. So I think I think we're in alignment. I don't I don't know that the limitation there is is needed

every year. So yeah, I I missed the middle part in between the front and the back. I think I'm fine with this the way that it's worded. Laura's like, "Let me go home."

So if I may, if if I will change the if if we have consensus from council on the uh chapter 8 meeting schedule for the cancelling the Northshore uh cancelling the meetings if they fall within the um Northshore school district break uh section. And then on the proposed language for the chapter 2 advisory bodies, I can change that to um we want to say they'll they'll report quarterly and come to the meetings and provide written updates. Can I get a little more clarific?

Yeah, it's not Sorry, I'm just jumping in now. Sorry, it's nine o'clock. Um it's not that they need to come to us quarterly. It's um in your proposed language on this slide, it says members will work with their staff liaison quarterly to schedule updates. So just to add that word quarterly. Okay. After liaison and before too and then the as needed there gives them an out. If they only meet quarterly then they don't need to. Yeah. Thank you.

Uh I just have an interesting or maybe a little stupid thought. How can can we not democratize where on any council meeting uh during that without a staff lian can they not just come in and talk to us any council meeting? There is a section on the agenda that we for commission reports. Mhm. Um and yes, if we have one scheduled, then that's where it would go. So yes, any council meeting can have board and commission reports.

But even withoutuling anything on any day, any any council meeting, can they not just come in and just talk to us? Whenever they have a concern or a question or an update they wanted to talk to us, can they not just come in and talk to us? H under that we have that conversations and committee reports under that section under under like public comment or no the committee reports we have a section for committee reports right yeah community reports yes that's for us not for our boards and commissions one I don't I take it off the agenda if we don't have a board and commission report then we take it off the agenda but there is a standing um okay a standing section for board and commission reports under the report section.

Okay. Got it. So, it's count city manager report, board and comm uh board and commission reports and then city council reports. So, they do know that they can come anytime. Yes. Okay. Got it. Okay. Yes. Thank you, Council D. I was going to say, Council Member Angular, we've had individual and groups of board members come before during public comment. So, that is they can come anytime and they can specify I'm on this body, but I'm here as myself or I'm here to represent. So, we've seen it. it just in practice it's not happening very often and

and that would be the thing that I would just add is that much like the council needs to speak with one voice our boards and commissions are asked to speak with one voice too. So if somebody's coming and speaking on behalf of a board and commission that group should have commissioned them to go do that. So it's usually not a ad hoc like something that comes up last minute. So that's where the clerk getting notification to add it on to the agenda is typically possible. But it is really more of a of a situation where it's not there. One of the things I wanted to just suggest though too as you bring this to a close is that because this is a voted item. Um what I might suggest for council to consider is I think you have about three amendments that you want to make. But if somebody puts the main motion on the table to consider the resolution and then there can be a motion to amend diff section by section that way there'll be the most clarity. But um our clerk's at the table, so she might she might need a hand, but we can

Could we could we could we do one motion to like uh pass the agenda item with the proposed amendments as discussed? Nobody's made. If everybody on the council is comfortable that those changes are clear, you certainly may. So if you all feel like the things that you've discussed, it's sufficient clarity what amendments you're discussing and I think you you have recapped them, but if you're if you're comfortable with that, then we will. The good news, too, is it's the council protocol manual. So, if something needs to change again, you're well within your rights to bring that up. So, what are the what are the amendments? There's school um breaks,

council or mayor, council. Um I would suggest just for clarity of the record, maybe the way I would do it is is section by section. So, right, we have one to section 2.08D4. 8 D41 to 8.01. That might be more helpful as we parse through instead of saying something more vague like the the quarterly report suggestion or something like that. Council member Kurt.

I move uh to approve a resolution of the city council of the city of Bathl repealing and replacing the city council protocol manual including the proposed edit to section 2.08D4 and 8.01. 01 as shown on the screen, including um the um amendment to 2.08 D4 uh to have a quarterly option in the last sentence. I have a motion on the table.

Would anybody like to second it?

I'll second. Did you need some? Did that work? Were we okay there? I'm good. If the city clerk is good, I think it would work. Um because we can add the word quarterly and then we will revise the language. And if you want to do it, I I agree kind of with Eileen. If you want to do a second motion that just says that they will be cancelled, uh those meetings will be for school breaks will be cancelled. And do we want to firmly say that they will be the fourth Tuesday of those months?

I think we should plan on that. And if we don't need the meeting, then we won't take it. But we should plan on that. If we're taking one away, we should plan on adding one. Can you call on me? Um, council member do. Sorry. So, isn't it statute that we meet the first three Tuesdays when we can't have a regular meeting on a fourth Tuesday? It's your It's your only It's a Okay. Do you want to take it? It the protocol manual says that we will meet the first three Tuesdays of the month. However, it's it's the protocol manual. If if we cancel a meeting, we just need to notice that it's canled. It's within your control. Yeah.

The what makes something not a regular meeting is that when it's against So regular meetings are what are defined in your protocol manual. So if we did switch for example to say on months with a school these following school holidays the meetings will be on the 4th. It would actually be a regular meeting because you'd be following your pattern. Um what I wanted to note though is you only one thing to consider because I'm looking at the school district calendar like for next year for example spring break is the first week of April. There's five Tuesdays in March. So if you took if you just automatically go to the fourth Tuesday, you'll have a three-week break with no council meeting between your third week of March and the second week of April. So that might be an unintended consequence of being specific. Um where maybe you want some broader language that says a meeting will be added in replace on a Tuesday replacing this meeting.

I like that. I think we can if you amend if you adopt this as amended and we can put that broad language in both these sections that would address the two areas. Eileen looks like she needs some tubes. So we have a motion in a second. Is that good or do we need to amend that? Given the council discussion that has occurred after after the motion and the second, I would recommend an amendment. Yeah, I would recommend an amendment to the motion. Council,

so BMC2.12.010 says regular meeting shall be held on the first, second, and third Tuesday of each month. So that's what I'm concerned about. Are we not butdding up against that if we put fourth Tuesday in there? Um, can you state that section again?

So, it's 2.12.010. I don't I I'm not a lawyer. I'm just I remember seeing it in the BMC at some point and I don't know at what point our protocol manual overrides that. I'm I'm not a fan of saying we do it on the fourth Tuesday. I think I trust staff to schedule around it. um especially as it can change like they put the schedule for the school breaks in a couple years in advance but like it does change with every union negotiation but um it does say we have set meeting times and I thought that's what determined a regular meeting versus a special meeting is is it at that time in the code but I just play a lawyer on TV sometimes. Yeah, they those three meetings are regular meetings like again we can you know it if if needed we can cancel meeting whenever um as long as we notice it and then we would have a special meeting for the next

I think as long as I don't really care if we call it a regular meeting or a special meeting. I like the idea about being somewhat vague about when we're going to put it so we can strategize around when the best idea is like next year so we don't have to go three weeks without meetings. Um, is there any reason why we need to care if it's called a special meeting or a regular meeting?

The only difference between a regular meeting and a special meeting is how we do our agendas. So for in a regular meeting, you can walk things on. For special meetings, there are special notice requirements and we cannot add anything that has not been noticed. So there are some constraints when you have a special meeting. Is there any way to word this so that the meeting that we're replacing has been rescheduled to Yes. next date? Like is there a way to make it a regular meeting legally if it's on a different date? If there's not, can you bring us an amendment at a later meeting?

I think that's right. I mean, I think that's what we'd be looking at is a BMC amendment rather than a protocol amendment. I mean, again, you guys have special meetings all the time, and it's okay. We we figure that out. It's just a matter of uh making sure we hit all the notice and agenda uh requirements. So, um why don't we I I think that's a question for a different day, but we can talk about uh a BMC amendment and what that would look like. Okay. I think we're on the same page about like what to put in the protocol manual. I just meant we can't put we'll do it on the fourth Tuesday and it's a regular meeting by just being in the protocol manual. It's a nerdy dumb argument. Like I'm not I'm fully not arguing with you. Yeah.

All right. Who calls the role? Are we ready? I'm not used to you down there. No. Okay. So So we have a motion to amend these two sections of the protocol man to adopt the protocol manual as amended including these two sections. Language changes these two sections. Yes. Okay. Um, I will call roll now. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Council member Angulari. Yes. Mayor Thompson. Yes. Council member Kurd. Yes. Council member Miles. Yes. Council member Dodd. Yes. Council member Alabro.

Yes. Passes 6. And in closing, I will say this is a very old document. So this thing has it's old. So our intention is to take everything you know and just scriveners errors links clean up the links make sure the links are current etc and then have all the new adopted language incorporated. Awesome. Thank you. Cool. Thank you. And with that we are adjourned.