City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. I'm going to do this this time. I now call the July 7th, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. We'll start by taking a moment to take a roll call of the council members by position number. Please stay here when the city clerk calls your name.

Thank you. Council Member Ongulary.

Here.

Mayor Thompson.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Alderks. Here. Council Member Kerr.

Here.

Council Member Miles. Here. Council Member Dodd. Here. Council Member Alcaba. Here. All present.

Thank you very much. First on our meeting is meeting agenda approval, and we're gonna start with the city manager review of the agenda.

Thank you, Mayor, and good evening, city council members. It feels like it's been a little while since we had a meeting. This five Tuesday months throw us off rhythm, but it's good to be back and in the month of July. So tonight's meeting, we do have one proclamation, and it's for Disability Pride Month. We're excited for all who have joined us for that, and thankful to have the Disability Pride flag flying here at City Hall and across the street as well. Under the City Manager Report, we have two briefings to provide just some updates of where things are at. One of them is on the city recently contracted with the YMCA here in Bothell for mental and behavioral health services as a contract. And we're just here tonight to give a council an update and also to help spread the word to the community of the resources that are available. As well as then, as council will recall, we've had some conversations about the annual comprehensive plan amendment process. We do not have any community initiated comprehensive plan amendments. amendments, which is one of the paths forward, but we do have some city suggestion ones, and there's a table in your packet that kind of gives a heat index of complexity of that. We'll also be hearing from our Arts Commission Chair. We're thankful to have them here tonight, and I know that's something that Council has welcomed more frequent updates from our boards and commissions. It'll be good to hear what's happening there. Our consent agenda is very procedural tonight. We have minutes and vouchers and payroll to approve, but then also you've noticed we've had a steady stream of Bop-A-Way property acquisition related documents and we have some construction related work there. The big show tonight is two public hearings. So the first of the two will be for Council to hear from the public about consideration of going out to the voters in November for consideration of joining the Shoreline Fire RFA. And we also have a public hearing that will be proceed council adoption or consideration of adoption of the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces or PROS plan. And then finally, at the end of the agenda, we have one contract for approval, and that is for a Sixth Amendment. And we'll cover that, too. That should be a fairly brief one. But with that, then, really tonight, I think a lot of it will be to hear from the public with our two public hearings, as well as through public comment. So thank you for all who've turned out tonight. Then I'll turn it back over to you, Mayor.

Thank you so much. Next part of our meeting agenda approval is the council approval of agenda. Council, do we have any changes proposed to tonight's agenda? Seeing none, we'll move on to public engagement opportunities. To prepare for the potential regional fire authority ballot measure, we're looking for folks interested in serving on PROCON committees to write statements for or against the proposed ballot measure, which will appear in the voter pamphlet. If interested, please submit a letter of interest by July 10th. Outstanding Artist Award Nominations. Know an individual or organization that's made a meaningful impact through the arts in Bothell? We wanna hear from you. Submit a nomination to help the Bothell Arts Commission celebrate the people and organizations that make Bothell's arts community thrive. Submit a nomination by July 20th. and Council in the Community. Join some of your City Council members at our next Council in the Community event. Stop by to chat with us, ask questions, share feedback, and learn more about City services and priorities. That's Wednesday, July 15th, from 3.30 to 5.30 p.m. at Centennial Park. And I'll see you there, because I'll be there. Next up is proclamations. We have one today for Disability Pride Month, and Deputy Mayor Alderks is going to read that proclamation for us.

Thank you, Mayor. Whereas Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July to honor the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, a landmark civil rights statute signed on July 26, 1990, and this year marks its 36th anniversary as communities nationwide recommit to its legacy, and whereas Disability Pride Month serves as a moment to celebrate the vibrant, diverse identities of people with disabilities and to acknowledge that advocacy is as essential now as decades ago, demanding daily commitment to dignity, autonomy, and equal participation. And whereas across the nation, rollbacks on disability rights legislation underscore ongoing threats to disability inclusion, highlighting the importance of local advocacy. And whereas people with disabilities deserve equitable treatment in places of work, education, and every other part of our community where access is provided to include everyone who needs it and not out of obligation. and whereas disabled people and their allies continue to champion their rights across every sphere, ensuring inclusion by design, not by exception, and whereas people with disabilities contribute profoundly to Bothell's economic vitality, cultural richness, and civic life, and whereas the City of Bothell partners with community organizations such as the Alyssa Burnett Center, Cascadia College, and Kindering to amplify disability-affirming programs and ensure residents with disabilities are welcomed, supported, and empowered. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Alderks, on behalf of Mason Thompson, Mayor of the City of Bothell, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Disability Pride Month in the City of Bothell to celebrate that all our community members with disabilities contribute to our vibrant city and reaffirm our commitment to working towards a more just, equitable, and accessible society.

Thank you so much, and I believe we have representatives from Kindering here to accept.

My name is Destiny, and this is my partner Charlie. We are the proud parents of two amazing boys with diverse with diverse abilities, Jeffrey and Blake. We're here today to say thank you for recognizing July as Disability Pride Month.

So why is Disability Pride important to our family? When our oldest son Jeffrey was a baby, he was missing developmental milestones. He struggled to sit up, crawl, and when it was time to communicate, That means, well, sorry. When he was six months old, we brought him to Kindering for developmental. Through Kindering speech language and motor therapy, Jeffrey began making incredible progress. He grew stronger, more confident, and more connected with the world around him. but along the way our family faced some difficult challenges. We experienced housing instability and for a time Jeffrey was placed in foster care. Throughout kindering supported us not only as parents but as a family. Since then Since then, we have been reunited, and we all live together in Bothell. Our youngest, Blake, has received speech language services through Kindering, as well as

Started preschool where he continues to receive support We are currently pursuing a formal diagnosis for Jeffrey and we continue to celebrate both our boys for exactly who they are Kindering didn't just help our children build important skills. They introduced us to a community That's our children's strengths and believed in their potential

As parents, we want the rest of the world to look more like that. We want a world where children with disabilities are not only welcome, but included, supported, and celebrated just as they are. Disability Pride Month helps make that vision possible. By recognizing this month, you sent a powerful message that people with disabilities belong.

You're telling families like ours that children are seen not for their challenges, but for who they are and all they can become. So in closing, we want to say thank you to the mayor, city council, and everyone involved in establishing this proclamation, as well as everybody here celebrating with us today. Your support helps create a future where children like Jeffrey and Blake can grow up in a community that embraces differences, values, inclusions, and celebrates disability with pride. Thank you.

And we're going to go down for a picture in just a second. But one thing I wanted to say that I haven't really said out loud super clearly in public is that I am neurodiverse. I'm ADHD. And that is a disability that is protected under the ADA. And it has significantly impacted how I have navigated the world, made it a lot more difficult at times. So I really appreciate the way that you guys were able to explain some of those things. I thought it was really well written. It made a lot of sense. And I don't want you to feel like an us and you thing. It's a we. Like people with disabilities do all sorts of things or in every aspects of life. They're not always visible. And just thank you for the advocacy and work you do. As somebody with a disability, I really appreciate it.

Of course. Thank you.

Let's get a picture. All right, next up on the agenda is public comment. City Clerk.

Thank you. Before I call the names, I want to just let people know we have public comment, and then we have two public hearings this evening. So one of the public hearings is on the Regional Fire Authority. The other is on the PROS plan. But if you signed up for anything else, you'll be called to the podium now. The first person I have is Dennis Richter? Richter?

Thank you.

Yeah, I'm here tonight just to bring attention to the council, the condition of some of the roads around town. And my wife and I bought a house about a block west of Stipek Park in 2003. And as some of you might know, there's been some work being done on 100th that turns into 19th, you know, just on the east side of Stipek Park. uh... the north-south road and the construction there went on for i don't know six or seven months and i actually had to call the project engineer because you could not drive anywhere near the speed limit without your car practically you know bouncing apart so the project engineer shut it down so that the contractor could come in and fill all the dips in that road. Well, since then, they've come back and I believe that the project is about done. But if you drive up and down that road, it's still very bumpy. So my concern is, what are the requirements that the city mandates on the contractors when they're finished with the job? it seems to me like the road should at least be passable. And to go along with that, there have been a couple other roads. One is the one that goes, that's right in front of Stipek Park. That actually got repaved, and as I've talked to the neighbors, no one understands why that road was even repaid. Lakeside did a fantastic job, but no one that I know of was complaining how bumpy that road was, whereas both 100th and then a few blocks to the west of that 15th that goes south from QFC, that road gets a lot of traffic, but it's also It's just terrible. And so I'm just wondering, who is it that decides which roads get repaved and which ones do not. One last example is the road that when you go by UW Bothell across 405 and then you cut by the sports fields back there. That road got repaved and I've been to Home Depot probably a thousand times in the last 23 years. They probably know me by name by now, but But that road got repaved, and on that road, I never thought, you know, this road needs to be repaved. But both 15th and 19th in Snohomish, and I'm not sure what the King County ones are, what their, I know 100th, but I don't know what the other one is. It's probably like 95th or whatever. So I would be happy to contact someone, but I do think that something needs to be done as far as who makes the decisions on which roads get repaved. So not sure what any of you think about that.

I'll just point out to the audience that we have a policy of not addressing public comment directly. So if we don't respond directly to something somebody says, it's not because we don't like them or we don't want to. But I would suggest staffs heard the questions that you have, and I'm sure they're capable of following up with that.

Okay. And when can I expect that?

Email staff. We don't do this sort of dialogue. So I want to stop it, not because I don't like anybody in particular.

Mayor, we'll make sure that we have Mr. Rector's contact information and get in touch with him here tomorrow.

Thank you. That is all I have signed up to speak under general public comment. So if anybody else is in the audience and wishes to speak, please step to the podium, state your name for the record, and you will have three minutes. And if you're up, I've got one person in the virtual audience, so I will panel them in. And once they get here... Micah, can you hear us?

Yes, I can.

Go ahead. State your name for the record, please, and you'll have three minutes.

Okay, good evening city council members and city staff. My name is Micah Campbell. And tonight I have just something on my mind quick regarding about the July 4th parade. First of all, I'd like to thank you folks for once again hosting it. It was a really fun event. Lots of people attended. not only from City of Bothell, but surrounding areas. Even there's some people I met who were coming from quite a long distance away, towards Tacoma area. Anyhow, I just had a quick comment that might be good to consider for future parades, and this would apply to, especially if city staff would take this into consideration. Having toured the whole parade route before the parade itself began, I got an idea of how the parade was going to operate. And then as the parade was going on, I did go around to several various places to view the parade itself. And one thing that I noticed is that as the parade started, As the parade started, everything was running smoothly, and the various floats or groups of people participating were in decent proximity to each other. But as the parade continued, it seemed that there were several groups which had increasing gaps. So at one point, I was standing close to the... minimums building and there were several times when it almost seems there was close to a five minute wait in between several of the floats. So just a quick suggestion that I would have is if you could place several volunteers along the route to encourage some of those people in the procession to maybe narrow up those gaps That might be something to consider for future parades. I don't think it'd be that difficult to do. I don't think you'd have to have a whole lot of volunteers for that task, but that's just something to consider. Now, I do understand there were certain groups which were handing out things as they went along, and so that could have slowed them down, but there were also quite a few groups who... the leading car or whoever was in the front seemed to be slowing things up. So this is just a quick consideration for next year. I don't think it'd be too hard to put in place. But anyways, once again, thank you for hosting the 4th of July parade. It was really a blast. I think everybody enjoyed it. So please, once again, host it again. We would love to be there. And all the best to you. May God richly bless you in your work, and may God bless the USA. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience which is to speak? And if you're in the virtual audience, please use the raise hand function and we'll panel you in. That is all I have, Mayor Thompson.

Thank you. All right. Next up is our reports and briefings. And first up is the city manager report.

Thank you very much, Mayor. And as I mentioned, we have two updates for you tonight. And our first one in order is the is the update on the mental and behavioral health services contract. So we are joined at the table tonight by Becky Range, our assistant city manager, as well as Anand Mantra-Bhagata, our human services coordinator. And I also want to note that I believe Kirsten Poma, the executive director for the North Shore YMCA is here with us tonight, too. So thank you for being here and in support of of the work that we're doing here in the Bothell community. And with that, I will turn things over to Anand.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and council members. My name is Anand Mantri Pragda, and I serve as the Human Services Coordinator for our city. And tonight I am here to, or we are here to, share an update on the behavioral health services contract with the North Shore YMCA. Council we are not requesting any action tonight. The purpose of our presentation tonight is just to share a brief update. Starting with a little background, the City of Pothil utilized the American Rescue Plan Act funding to partner with a human services agency for a mental health services contract in April 2022. That contract expired in 2025. In July 2024, the city staff presented Pothil City Council the results of the Human Services Needs Assessment and some of the key themes that resulted from the assessment was the need to improve mental and behavioral health services support. Following subsequent discussions, Council directed staff to address this need in our community and as a result, between Jan and March of 2025, City staff drafted an RFP and made presentations to City Council as well as our regional human services stakeholders. In May 2025, following a competitive process, the city staff selected the North Shore by MCA to carry out or execute the contract and presented the draft contract to our council member-led Human Services Subcommittee. Additionally, in May, City Council also approved staff recommendations for appropriating the City's Opioid Settlement Funds, which partially funds this contract. And lastly, in July 2025, City Council authorized the City Manager to execute a contract with the North Shore YMCA. Counsel, here is the high-level summary of the contract or partnership that we have with North Shore Y. The total funding amount is up to $500,000, which includes $300,000 from our general funds and $200,000 from our opioid settlement funds. The services that we have partnered for include two behavioral health professionals, one resource navigator and direct aid to residents in the form of rental assistance or utility assistance amongst others. A lot of our work has been revolved around outreach and engagement to share the awareness of the services to our community members and we have made presentations to our human services partners including the North Shore School District as well as the Foundation, the Regional Crisis Response Team, Bothell Library staff, the North Urban Human Services Alliance as well as other community partners. The WISE Resource Navigator is also plugged into the Bothell Community Code Program and we've also reached out to our Bothell's faith-based leaders to help share information to their community members. Council, here is the performance report from Jan to June of this year. So far, 27 Bothell residents are receiving mental health or mental health or substance use disorder support. Four community members are receiving direct assistance. Six community members are actively engaged with the resource navigator and the community centre so far has seen 52 visits. In terms of outcomes, the Y has reported that 100% of the clients who received mental health services made progress towards their treatment goals, 100% of clients made progress in reducing or stopping alcohol or drug use, and 100% met their objectives in their treatment plans. Looking ahead, Council, we anticipate that the community greenhouse which will house the community centre will open sometime in August or September. Our shared vision is that community members seeking assistance will walk into the community centre, will learn about resources, get connected to the resource navigator, as well as the behavioral health therapists all in one building. In terms of next steps, we also will continue outreach and engagement to our community members and we are also finalising a formal communications plan. Lastly, the contract is set to expire in December 2026 and city staff will return to council for a potential two-year extension closer to the end of the year. That concludes our presentation, Council. Once again, we are not requesting any action. Tonight's purpose is just to share a brief update. We now welcome any questions or comments that you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. I just want to say thanks for this. This area is very close and near and dear to my heart, given the fact that I have a daughter that has severe mental illness. Just a question. Our budget or funding to them is about 500K, and I'm looking at the performance report. Do they have enough funding, or do they have a little bit too much? Just looking at how many visits that we've had, how many people have been in outpatient services, I think it's good, and I think we need to have this here, but I'm just wondering if they have the right level of funding. Thank you.

I believe they do have the right amount of funding. We also stay in touch with them and they keep sharing and letting us know if there is funding gap. We will also return to council if there is additional requirements for funding either closer to the end of this year or next year.

Thanks again.

Council Member Dodd.

Thank you. Thanks for the update, Anand. I was wondering, is there any tracking of how the people being served found out about the community hub? Are we tracking the ways that we're communicating and whether they're effective?

Yes, I believe the Y is tracking how community members are learning about the services. We'll be happy to follow up and share that information.

Yeah, totally fine through an email, but just curious about that. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm curious about the community center piece that you mentioned on the looking ahead slide. Can you tell us more about the soft launch?

From my information is that the community center or the greenhouse will launch somewhere between August and September and that will be the dedicated resource center which will have the resource navigator as well as the two behavioral health therapists. I'd also like to invite Kirsten if she'd want to add more context.

Can you come up and use a microphone so that the people watching virtually can hear?

Absolutely. Sorry about that. We have already been providing those services even without a physical location. A lot of the folks that are providing those services are sitting inside the main branch of the North Shore Y. We actually just finished construction on the building about two days ago. And so we are waiting the final walkthrough from the architect to make sure that everything is in place and the punch list is finished. We do hope to soft open actually in the next couple of weeks with a more grand opening to the community during our welcome week celebration in September. But services are available, will be available once that soft launch opens as well.

I really appreciate the description. Thank you for the work and it's great to hear the update that that you know the buildings got coming along and almost ready. I have similar questions along the lines of Council Member Miles in terms of you're showing numbers of people served. Would it be possible to also report what percentage of the budget has been used thus far in the year so that we could track what the outlay looks like and what that kind of spend down is happening? All right, well, thank you so much and thank you for this presentation. Really glad to have this service in the community and to see so much of the opioid funds going to support SUD treatment as well. Thank you.

Council Member Dodd.

Super quick. If you could let us know when there's a time that we could go see it at the grand opening or whatever it is, that would be, I think, very appreciated. Thank you.

I was just going to say co-sign to Council Member Dodd. I'd love a tour.

All right. a couple of my questions were answered. Um, just have a couple of questions. Um, how did the like numbers of people serve compared to what, how do they compare to what we were seeing with our prior provider?

I'd say it's, little lower when compared to the previous provider especially because we are in the first year of our services so the engagement once we start improving outreach and engagement we fully anticipate that the numbers will start picking up.

That was actually the next question I had is if this is the kind of thing that we see get more utilized with time once more people realize it's there and like like it seems like in the first six months it's probably going to be our lowest engagement and like as people start to realize it's there is you know Somebody that's been treated there has a friend that's struggling with addiction and they send them there. Like, I feel like that will snowball a little bit. So, and I'd love to go to the grand opening too. So I think that's it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you all at the Y for the work you're doing. We appreciate it.

All right. The next item for council, as I mentioned, is an update on the 2026 city initiated comprehensive plan amendments. As you'll hear tonight, the planning commission will be doing a lot of work on this through the year. You'll see this towards the end of the year. But staff wanted to provide an overview of what we have on the list. And you'll see that list is also in your pocket. At the table tonight, we have Christian Goetz, our deputy director of community development. And then I also want to introduce Katie Posler, who's our long range senior planner working on this. Katie joined the organization just recently in April. And as I often do, I'll give a little bit of an update and welcome to Katie. I think a couple of things that stand out. She has a double major in urban planning and geography from Arizona State University. But then one of the personal notes I'll add is that earlier in my career, I did a lot of work on internal cultural programs for cities, innovation, process improvement, that sort of a thing. And the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the cities that we always looked to, even though it was three times larger in population and a bigger organization, we kind of always looked at like a competitive rivalry of good ideas of who was winning. I went to work for one of those cities before I came to Bothell, but with Scottsdale, I always get excited when people who come from that organization come to the Pacific Northwest, and we've had quite a few over the last couple years, and we're happy to have them. So Katie also then, over the last few years in the state of Washington, has been working for a consulting company on several planning items, including shorelines, SEPA, and land use. We were really thrilled to have her come join us here at the city of Bothell. So Katie, welcome, and looking forward to your presentation.

Thank you. Hi, good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Katie Posler. And as you mentioned, I'm a long range planner in community development. Today we'll be giving an overview of the 2026 annual comprehensive plan amendments. No action is required of you tonight. We're just going to brief you on the changes and go over the schedule for the amendment process. So there are two amendment types when it comes to comprehensive plans. The first is a periodic update, and that's required by state law every 10 years. And that's more of a comprehensive update, including updating the comp plan and associated development regulations. It often includes large-scale rezones, and a good example is the work that was done in 2024. The second type is an annual update, which happens once per year. All the amendments are lumped together and they're typically smaller, more targeted changes. An example of that was last year in 2025 with the update to allow more middle housing units in different districts. So first we'll go over some of the more cleanup or consistency changes with this comp plan update. We'll go over the executive summary and land use element. In that element, there is the downtown area and it's been applied to be a countywide growth center. That'll be voted on later this year. So that would be one of the updates to this element, including adding references to the urban forest management plan, the climate action plan, and the housing action plan, as well as an update to add the RAC zoning as an implementing zone, which was maybe just left off. In terms of the human services element and economic development element, we'll be adding references to completed plans, which was the 2024 human services plan and the 2025 economic vitality plan. Then we have the pros element, which you know about. The comp plan was written regarding the 2020 PROS plan, and we now have the 2026 PROS plan, which has new data, new inventory and acreage, a new way to measure level of service, and also a walk-shed analysis. So we'll incorporate that into the element. And then in the natural environment and climate element, we want to reference the urban forest management plan and the climate action plan, because there's new tree canopy data to incorporate, as well as new information on Horse Creek. In regards to the transportation and capital facilities element, we'll be checking that with consistency with the TIP and CFP as well as updating pros references. And then for the utilities element, there are some utilities planning documents to update. So for example, PSE is moving from an integrated resource plan to a different type of plan. So we'll include that update as well as PUD had a 2023 integrated resource plan and now has a 2025 plan. So we just want to make sure those updates are accurate and consistent with what we are using. As well as the Recology contract was extended to 2035, so we'll want to note that change. Then we have the implementation element, and we're not making any changes to that element. There are a lot of strategies in there, and we just want to make sure we're providing an update on each of the strategies, whether it's been completed or if it's ongoing, just to make sure that we're using the comp plan and it's a living document that we're not forgetting about. The next item are minor policy changes. So this isn't new direction, but it's just to align with recently adopted plans. So for example, with the housing element, you'll see the housing action plan in the next coming months. So there might be some minor tweaks to the housing element to align those two. And then with human services, there might be some tweaks as well regarding goals and policies to make sure that's aligned with the 2024 needs assessment and strategic plan. And then with the PROS element, we'll be revising goals and policies just to make sure they align with the 2026 PROS plan. With the natural environment element, there are some new goals and policies that relate to the urban forest management plan. So one example is the goal to go from 46% tree canopy to 46% by 2045. So that will be included as well as stronger preservation, a landmark tree definition, updated species guidance, and focus on low canopy and high heat areas. It's very similar with the climate element. We'll want to make sure those goals align with the CAP or the Climate Action Plan. There are some strategies in there related to greenhouse gases we want to incorporate, as well as some climate adapted species. And then the final item, which is the only major policy change so far on the list, is the downtown subarea plan update, which you've been hearing about and we'll hear more about in the next coming months. But that's to modernize the downtown Bothell's 20-year vision. So that's going to focus on things like jobs, housing, transportation, parks, art, public spaces. So because of all those characteristics, that's what puts it in this major category. It'll probably also have an effect on the future land use map, but you'll be talking about that a little more throughout the year. In terms of next steps, staff will continue revising and refining these potential amendments throughout the year, and there'll be fall study sessions with Planning Commission, City Council, and the Parks Board, and we'll probably wrap that up in November with final adoption scheduled for December of this year. And that concludes my presentation. We don't have any action tonight, but if you have any questions, we're here to answer them. Thank you.

Council Member Alcabra.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you. And welcome, Katie. I just want to say welcome and thank you for the presentation. Just three months in and they threw you right in the deep end. So welcome.

Thank you.

Deputy Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Really well done. And it's really great to see how all of the various plans that Council set forward in, like we proposed them in our vision and then like staff developed them and now they're getting worked into the comprehensive plan. So it's like, it's kind of that full circle of seeing all of the work that we've done. coming together. And so I think you did a really great job presenting that to us tonight and telling us what to expect coming up. Thank you.

Welcome to the team. Thank you. We love planning and get really excited when you guys get to present us stuff because we learn cool stuff and get to figure out how we're going to try to change the world a little bit. And you're signing on with a great team. We've got a really good crew over there. Just welcome.

Thank you.

And I think we're good. Thank you.

So Mayor, that concludes the City Manager Report, but I can keep my microphone on for introductions on the next item if you want to.

Yes, why don't we move on to that?

All right, so next up, we do have a board and commission report. As mentioned, our arts commission chair is coming for a briefing. So at the table tonight, we do have Danae McGee, our arts commission chair, also our tourism, or arts commission liaison and our tourism manager. And she's joined by the chair, Mary Beth Turk, to present and answer any questions the council might have.

So welcome, Mary Beth.

Thanks for being here tonight.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Thompson, Deputy Mayor Alderks, and City Council members for the opportunity to be here tonight and provide an update regarding the Arts Commission. Tonight, I'd like to share the latest on the Arts Commission priorities, our accomplishments, and future opportunities as we continue to implement our Bothell community-driven cultural plan. We are in the seventh year of working with four strategic directions that were established as part of the 10-year plan. These directions help guide us with our specific program of work and ensure that we're really focused on delivering against the community-driven vision that was established back in 2019. As we've shared previously, there are four key strategic directions that we are focused on. Publicly demonstrating the importance of art, nurturing and promoting our artist community, regularly engaging and responding to our community and developing a sustainable arts infrastructure. So with that, we also then look at the council's vision and how the specific work and strategies that we have connect with your vision to ensure that there is strong alignment. At the study session that we had almost exactly a year ago, we discussed how we were doing against the cultural plan. And we feel we're meeting that plan, working towards that plan, and we continue to feel that way. And there's also been a great cross collaboration with the city staff departments and also with some boards and commissions. We're excited by this momentum that we've accomplished, but we also recognize that there's a great opportunity for more things to do. So what I thought I'd do tonight is just share kind of some of the key highlights, some of the more current things, and then also talk about some of the future opportunities that we see. So first to highlight, at the city council meeting back on May 12th, you approved our recommendation to activate the city's 1% for art funding, which will establish a permanent artwork for the new Cedar Grove inclusive park project, the playground. And you also authorized the purchase of the William Schlau's fishing frog that's at the Bothell Bridge. to be part of our permanent public art collection. Currently, we're moving forward with our call to the professional artists for the Cedar Grove space, and this is in collaboration with the Parks Department. So we're super excited about that, and thank you again for supporting us on that. We also created an arts incubator program, what we're calling artists meet and mingle events that are now happening twice a year at the Bothell Library. We've had two of these events so far and the next one is in October. These events are a great way for artists to meet one another and for the Arts Commission to meet with them and talk more about what we're working on and also discuss advocacy initiatives and also future programming opportunities. We've had a good turnout for these in the first two events so far. and we're looking forward to continuing to communicate with this artist community and demonstrate our commitment to the artists in our community as our directive requests. We've also established, actually it was brought up here this morning, just at the start of our meeting, the Outstanding Artist Award. That's a new award to recognize a person or organization that has demonstrated exceptional support of the arts in Bothell. This nomination process, as you mentioned, is currently open for the first award. We plan to recognize this recipient at one of the October City Council meetings, as well as going through other city communication. You can still go to the Arts Commission pages of the city's website and nominate somebody up until July 20th. We're also building a visual artist roster to help connect the downtown district businesses as part of the downtown public art plan to help build a strong identity for Bothell overall. And this is in collaboration with the city's economic development team. In previous updates, I know we've shared more about our overall grants program. But to give you a current update, the original program, the first program was created back in 2023 and designated to support artists and bring more arts and cultural events to our community. To date, we've had 34 accessible events or art programs projects, ranging from hands-on art activities like the collage workshop that was here at City Hall, or the frog sculpture that began, the creation of that was through the grant program that's now at Bothell Bridge. And most recently, we had a professional performance from composer Jeffrey Moydell. It was called We the People. It was an outstanding concert just on July 3rd in commemoration of the US's 250th birthday. There was a great turnout for that as well. There are nine more events or projects scheduled for the rest of this year, and these are all outlined on the Arts Commission page if you want more information on that. And to that point, marketing what the Arts Commission is doing is really critical to success. And so the new City of Bothell communications team has been including our arts and culture related content in their communication efforts, which is very much appreciated. And I mean, it's really, I'm a marketing person by trade. And that, I mean, it's like, if you don't have the marketing, you've got to get it out there. If you create these beautiful things, you've got to be able to tell people about that. So it's, you know, we're so very thankful for that. We've also established social media protocols on how the Arts Commission members can share updates, tagging, etc., and the Arts Commission section of the city's website has expanded and is a great resource now for all upcoming Arts Commission related events. In addition, we have this great archive of all of the grants programs that have happened to date since 2023, a summary of those, what kind of participation there was, and what we evaluate as the overall impact that it's had to our community. So we're thankful to have that to be able for people to look back at and utilize for future development. We're very energized by the efforts to date. But as I mentioned, we know that there's a lot more work and opportunity for us to do to ensure that the arts and culture continue to positively impact the quality of life and economic vitality for the city of Bothell. So here's what we're focused on going forward. We want to consistently support arts and culture throughout all of Bothell, and we're working on proposal elements right now to create artistic gateways at the entrances to Bothell State Route 522 and 527. This effort includes a utility box and vinyl wrap pilot program. Our proposal is that it will have greater concentration initially on North Bothell and then expand furthermore once we can get that rolling and see how it's doing. We don't feel we've expanded ARC consistently through all areas of Bothell yet, and we really want to focus on this going forward. But you're going to hear from us more on the specific details of that effort at a later point. We also want to continue to build upon the grant program so far, given its success to date, and we want to continue to explore all funding options going forward. Our next cycle for the grant program, which will be I think our fourth cycle, Denae, will begin next month with the implementation of all projects from that cycle to be in 2027. We're also working in collaboration with the economic development team on this overall downtown art plan that I mentioned to connect artists with businesses to build the city's overall visual presence. And as part of this, we're working on an art-specific permit to fast-track projects when a business wants to incorporate more art in their building or their place. We're also exploring the opportunity to activate unused building spaces for artists or considering public spaces for small, flexible performance venues. This is in a very preliminary stage right now with the team, but we are looking at ways that we can help address the limited availability of space currently in Bothell. And then lastly, we're looking at our program of work for 2027 and any updates we want to make to the cultural plan, which is now for the 2027 to 2029. It's kind of hard to believe that we're already at the end of that cultural plan timeline, but we really want to look to how we can achieve the full community vision. So we plan to have a study session later this year for that purpose and to begin to look at the overall cultural plan beyond 2029. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this update tonight. We truly, truly appreciate the positive support that Council always provides, and we always welcome your input. It's always fun to come and give these updates, so thank you very much. Please feel free to reach out to me or any of the commission members. There are two people here from tonight, but please feel free to reach out to us at any point. And with that, Danae and I are happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Deputy Mayor.

All right. I guess I get to go first. I'm very excited at the work that you're doing, especially to hear that you're starting the, you know, bringing forward the utility box pilot program. I know that you've heard it from us that we're excited about, you know, the potential of doing that someday. And it's no longer a potential. You're moving forward and making it happen. And so I think starting it out as a pilot to learn what we can learn is a great idea. I appreciate the values that you have in trying to bring art beyond the downtown core and throughout the city. And I do believe that considering we have utility boxes throughout the city would be a great way to do that. Excited to hear about the incubator program and how that's coming together. You said that there's been good turnout so far. How many folks are attending those? Maybe Denae might know.

For the We the People performance that just happened on July 3rd, I did a rough count because I was at the event, and there was between 250 and 300 people. So we're very pleased with the turnout for that. And then we are tracking some of the other performances, I mean all of the performances, and we still have nine more to go this year. Um, one area that we want to continue tracking is the impact that the public art projects are having around town and the thousands of people that are seeing fishing frog. And we now have a new sculpture, uh, at, uh, also at Bothell landing. Uh, it's a sculpture of a salmon. So that's something that's going to have an incredible impact. And then we had a several mural projects as well. And those are, that's data that we're still hoping to, to collect and, and, uh, we'll be able to even advance it more. So we're excited about that.

Very cool. Thank you. Thank you for sharing just the involvement that we're seeing. I can share with you that on the 4th of July, I had some friends in town. A friend from New York was visiting, and we ended up meeting over at Bothell Landing, and I was able to take them across the bridge and point out fishing frog as something that was a really special addition to our community. So the people who are seeing it are coming from far and wide. So thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Miles.

Hi, thanks for coming tonight. This just warms my heart. That's all I wanted to say. Please come back anytime. Great. Love it.

Council Member Dodd.

Thank you. Thanks for the update, Mary Beth and Danae. And thanks for being here, Arts Commissioners. Same. Just super appreciative. I also appreciate with utility boxes, you're starting in North Bothell. There are less city properties in that part of the city. So I think there's just been less opportunity to sort of spread the art around. So I really appreciate that thoughtful approach. And yeah, it's just all very exciting. So please let the full commission know that we really appreciate their work. Thank you very much.

Council Member Kirk.

Thanks for the update. It's good to hear from the Arts Commission anytime you come to tell us all the exciting things that are happening in our city before it hits the social media. But it is, I'm really happy to hear that our communications staff are working to help expand the reach of your work and the work of artists in the community too. So thanks for that. It's good to hear that that was a good investment.

I'll go one step farther beyond appreciation. Like you guys do an incredible job. Like I am continually impressed. Like every time you come and talk to us about everything that you're doing and the results we're getting from the grants program, it's just, it's awesome. Like, it's really cool. Like you should be super proud of yourselves. We are super proud of you. So, um, just thank you. It's cool to see we get fried up. The salmon's as cool as the frog, like, cause the frog's super cool and I love it. Um, And we're looking forward to what happens out of the next round of grants and seeing all the cool stuff you guys do. So thank you so much. And also just wanted to call out just the fact that you're doing community engagement around what people want to see. It's just like the scope of what you're accomplishing is really, really cool. So thank you.

Great. Thank you.

I think we're good. Okay.

Thank you very much.

All right, next up on our agenda is council reports and conversations. Council Member Angulari.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, as we are meeting first time after July 4th, happy belated 4th of July, everyone, and I'm sure everybody have a great long weekend and celebrated our 50th Independence Day and I my family enjoyed July 4th parade City Council for some of our fellow members joined and I really enjoyed city staff did an amazing job looks like when I was talking to parts directors troupe so looks like 15,000 residents joined that is amazing that is 30% of our 55,000 residents, almost 50,000 residents. Thank you so much for what you guys did. On the other note, on the LTAC, we have a couple of, LTAC is a committee, Lodging and Tax Committee, where I'm chairing. So a couple of resignations, one is from the hotel, but we immediately got a replacement from the Hilton, which is very good. So definitely we have a good interest. The other one, Natalia, who is also on our committee, basically she's joining this month also. She has contributed, Natalia, who we hired last time during the interview process. She really did a great job. Fabulous job contributing to LTAC committee, but she's moving out from the city. So because of that, we have to, she's not eligible to serve on the LTAC. So we have to have another, but she really contributed a lot and she's going to join July meeting too. We are going to miss her, but hoping to have another one and staff is doing a great job. And Deputy Mayor Claire also been joining. Thank you so much for your contribution. That's all. Thank you.

Council Member Alcabra.

Congratulations on the promotion, Claire.

Or is it a demotion?

Speaking of the Fourth of July parade, thank you, Parks and Rec, for yet another phenomenal parade and event. I know it's... Well, I don't know. I never organized such a massive thing, you know, but the tiny things, it's so stressful and so much to coordinate and security and all that stuff, and kudos to the police department for for being there as well. It was very good. Great experience, as always. Great to be able to manage the cultural. I noticed extra cultural things happening this year as well, which is a very great thing to see, and I hope we can continue seeing more of that in the upcoming parades. I still call it the best parade in the region. I'm not biased at all. So there you go. Thank you.

Council Member Dodd.

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Nick. I see Aaron too. I really appreciate it. I heard from people who live along the route with like driveways blocked and they were delighted how quickly everything was set up and torn down. It was like a pride hadn't even happened by the end of the day, which is amazing. And I heard from a lot of people who, I had to miss it this year for the first time in a while, but I heard from a lot of people who marched in the parade, who really appreciated the organization. So I have heard maybe no complaints, which is not an invitation. We just want to celebrate because that's pretty cool.

I just want to co-sign. I heard it was a really great event. I unfortunately wasn't able to attend this year, but Reddit just was in love. I just saw lots of really good things, and there's some new folks to the area who were like, that pancake breakfast hit. And I think you guys are doing great, and it's a wonderful event, and people just love the family-friendly focus. So keep doing what you're doing.

Actually, sorry, I know it's always, it's like, you know, all public works works. We always, they do the work behind the scenes and nobody notices. So special thanks also to public works for making sure that everything is taken care of as well. Just wanted to mention that.

And the fire department for the pancakes feels like it would be inappropriate to miss them.

Thank you to everybody.

It really is like an all departments on deck. Folks really do show up and are sharing not only a federal holiday that they could otherwise have off if they didn't work for a government, but also it was a Saturday this year too. Um, I will just also think, well, I'm going to give a shout out to sweeping beauty. Um, one of our, our street sweepers that was being used as a barricade at the end of the parade, beginning of the parade. Um, I saw some folks out there like using it as, as like a selfie experience. Like it was like, let's get pictures with the. and then yeah with sweeping beauty um she is she is she's the princess of the fleet i see sweeping beauty on the road every once in a while oh she came through my neighborhood today i took selfies with with it so there you go there you go so uh our our local named uh vehicles are a hit in our community and it's just really sweet to see you know how people respond to them so thank you

I want to echo all the thanks to staff who spent their holiday working. Like every time I walked past a staff member, I was like, it's a holiday. I'm hanging out with my family and they're at work. And that sucks. So I hope Monday was maybe a slow day at the city. And like, hopefully the day, not the day we've accomplished the most in our history. But seriously, I know there's folks in the room that were here all day. So thank you, Erin. I saw you. And yeah, we appreciate it. One thing I wanted to bring up to the Council, I was invited to go on a trip with the Housing Development Consortium, myself and a staff member, similar to the one that I did in last year in Arizona. This one's in Vancouver, BC. And our protocol manual says that if we're invited to do something outside of the kind of normal stuff that we do, that I bring it up, um, make sure that it's something y'all are okay with and, um, bring back a report after the fact. So I'm going to open that up for discussion.

Do you have to bring us souvenirs for the protocol manual?

No, but I like you. So if you need to write it into the protocol manual, I can make that happen. Like

I'm kidding. Have fun.

I can get you a key chain.

I support you in going on that trip. Um, unfortunately, like very cool place. Vancouver, you said, right?

Yes.

Yeah. Love it there. Um, but it's not quite as cool as having gone to Denmark.

No, that is, yeah, that was, that was cooler.

Wow. Lucky you.

Now I feel bad.

You want to share? Does it have to be the mayor?

I've asked, actually. It does have to be the mayor. When I got asked to this one, I asked, like, is this a Bothell thing or is this a me-specific thing? And I was told it was a me-specific thing. So actually, my first reaction was to see if I could give this away to somebody else.

Thanks for trying.

My pleasure. I didn't argue that hard, though. Okay, cool. So I don't know. What do we do with the protocol? Do we need to vote?

No, I think the agreement with council is to inform ahead and then report back. Perfect.

Awesome. We will then move on to projected agenda discussion. If anybody has an item they would like to discuss. Seeing none, I would love to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Council Member Dodd.

I was thinking about it. I move that we approve the consent agenda. Second.

I have a motion from Council Member Dodd and a second from Council Member Kerr 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 Ongulary?

Yes.

Mayor Thompson?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Alderks? Yes. Yes. Councilmember Kerr?

Yes.

Councilmember Miles is out of the room. Councilmember Dodd? Yes. Councilmember Alcabra?

Yes.

Passes 6-0 with Councilmember Miles out of the room.

All right. It is 7.03. We are going to take a 12-minute break until 7.15 when we will reconvene. All right, welcome back, everybody. Next up on our agenda is a public hearing for the consideration of a potential November election ballot measure proposing the annexation of the Bothell Fire Department into the Shoreline Fire Department Regional Fire Authority. And we have the city manager down ready to present. So I'll kick it over to you, Kyle.

Thank you, Mayor. No need to introduce myself, right? All right. So I think screen sharing is coming. There we go. All right, we're ready to go. Well, thank you, Council. Tonight, we have two public hearings, as I noted earlier. And the first one tonight is for the consideration of a regional fire authority ballot measure going to the community in November. We have been working on this for a while. I'll give a timeline. But I do want to acknowledge, too, that we've been putting out more information for our community to know that this is coming up and Would love feedback tonight. So tonight, really, the action before you is to open the public hearing. We took care of that. And then, again, you're just considering future action. There's no action being taken tonight. We're currently scheduled to come for action on July 21st, and I'll talk about that here in a moment as well. The public can give us feedback on anything. We will take feedback on anything. But some of the thoughts, an overall decision, I'm sorry, can we, thank you. Part of the overall direction that we're looking for tonight is on feedback on the overall decision to annex into the RFA, service level considerations, the overall plan of governance, and the financial discussion. So again, I mentioned that this has been something that we've been working on for a while. My standard response is that depending on who you ask, the city has been working on this for three, 10, or 30 years, and everybody's probably right with their own perspective. But since 2023, we've really been focusing in on what the future consideration would be, and as we often refer back to, is looking at every legal option. In 2023, then, with the retirement of our permanent fire chief, I asked the HR director to go out and find potential interim chiefs to consider so that we could study a fire service study. We didn't want to recruit somebody, bring them in, only to find out we were changing and they may be out of a job. So we wanted to put things in the right order. And that led to an RFP for executive level services and a contract with the Shoreline Fire Department. So in short, what that means is that their chief has been serving as our chief for a little over two years now. In June of 2024, we did make some formal changes in terms of we did sign that agreement to have executive-level administration of our fire department from Shoreline, as we also entered into a second ILA for maintenance of our fleet, so fire trucks and different apparatus. Last year, then, too, we also provided an update to Council on how things were going. And then also signed an MOU to extend collective bargaining, aligning the contracts for Shoreline Fire and Bothell Fire, which makes administration aligned, and things have been going smoothly since then. So as we are now in 2026, the question starts becoming, so what's next? And where we have been approaching is the conclusion of considering annexing into the Regional Fire Authority. As we've discussed, this is not something that's just unique to Bothell. The map up here really does concentrate more on the King County portion of our region. But as we've been looking at this, again, we're one of eight cities in both King and Snohomish County combined that is continuing to operate our own fire department. We're not the smallest. I think we're the third smallest in that. But for this map and orientation, I think what's helpful for people to understand, if you haven't heard of Shoreline Fire before, this is not the city of Shoreline. Shoreline Fire RFA is its own legal entity. They do conveniently, though, cover the city of Shoreline for fire services, as well as Lake Forest Park and Kedmore, and also are contracted to serve in Woodway. The current service area for Bothell contains the City of Bothell, but as well as Fire District 10. You'll see a little bit beyond our borders there. It's not a scribbling error. There is a service area that we then contract to provide services to Fire District 10. An update for council to be aware of is that Fire District 10 has also been now engaged in the discussion of also putting out a ballot measure to their voters to also annex into the Shoreline RFA. So come November, there is the potential that Fire District 10 and the city would enter in. There's always complexity if one or the other did, but we will cross that bridge. In terms of putting things in a timeline, and again, for the community as they're following along, we've really then begun in earnest of moving towards the question of putting a ballot measure before the community about RFA annexation. Starting in March, got some direction to move forward with a joint meeting with the RFA board. That took place in May. Council then did adopt a resolution in June to request annexation to the RFA. So that's the first step in the process. We're now having our public hearings so we can hear community feedback before moving forward with putting a ballot measure to the King County and Snohomish County elections boards. We have on the timeline here is that the RFA board is scheduled to have a decision on whether or not to accept our interest. That would be taking place on Thursday. What I do want to acknowledge though as well is there is some fluidity to this all the way up to that August 4th deadline in case special meetings have to be involved. The question that is before the RFA and then eventually for the city goes beyond just whether or not to ask the community. There's also a series of governance documents in what's considered a regional fire plan, and that fire plan will then dictate the terms of how would operations work together should either Fire District 10 or the City of Bothell join, and that has been a point of negotiations. A couple of things of note, one is that while the voters would potentially decide on November 3rd of if this moves forward. The effective date, there's some options on that. By default, it would be January 1st of 2027 if it passed. But in discussions with Shoreline Fire and some lessons learned of other annexations, we're targeting a March 1st effective date of 2027. So we would have a little bit of time between November and then March 1st to really make sure that everything was lined up and there's no oops moments. Also with that is that it's important to remember that for the year of 2027, the city would remain the fiscal agent of services. So property taxes would still be collected by the city. So we would be. essentially operating as a full service contract for that first year. And then come 2028 is when property tax collection would shift from the city to the shoreline fire RFA. So all that to be said tonight, though, is a public hearing to hear feedback from all of that to help inform council on next steps. And again, should that move forward, then we get into things before August 4th, scheduled for July 21st. But again, there's opportunities to move that if needed. The council would not only approve ballot language, but also appoint a pro and con committee members, up to three each, who would write statements for the voters pamphlet. And then our staff will submit all of that to King County Elections and Snohomish County Elections on August 4th and on November 3rd. The community will tell us what to do. So some of the considerations that I mentioned of what we would consider, the first one is service levels. This is a slide that we've seen before, but just to understand too is that what we're acknowledging is is Bothell is growing in size and complexity, and I think there's evidence all around of where that's happening. So we are seeing some change to service response times. a total increase since 2021 of 13%. We also have that represented by a map from a couple of years ago, which is showing too of like, again, where fire response times is a regional issue. And we are seeing some response time difference in the south end of the community so we've had conversations about and we'll talk about this in the financial portion of a potential need for an additional fire station so the city one way or the other the community and the city is going to have to invest in fire services as we grow in population and as there's a different distribution of of where things are we also have currently the three fire stations that operate in bothell are identified on this map We have the one downtown. We have the one in Canyon Park. And then I mentioned Snohomish County Fire District 10. They own Station 44 and then contract with the city to operate out of that. So that fire station is not a city facility, but it is operated with city resources. In terms of, let me go back for a moment actually. So other service level considerations in your packet tonight, attachment one goes over some of the categories. And those include everything from emergency services response, of which response times come from. There's a component of workforce capacity and leadership development in terms of a larger organization does provide uh different career opportunities and growth for employees which maybe isn't the primary reason that we think we would do this but i think we would all also say that we do want the best trained uh most engaged people who are answering our 911 calls right and so it's it is uh it's a very important factor that we're considering into this um one of the things in terms that's not on the timeline from the last three years that aligns well too is that the city has had a training consortium arrangement with Shoreline Fire for a number of years where our firefighters are training together. This would also just open up the opportunities for different career growth and different training opportunities. There's also financial impacts, which we'll talk about more, but also noted in the attachment is advanced life support, further integration. As you may recall, And advanced life support is what it sounds like. It's the more critical responses to things like heart attacks. And we do have one of the best, if not the best cardiac cell rate in the country in King County. We're able to extend that to our Snohomish County population as well, which As a Snohomish County resident, I'm extremely grateful for. So what already Shoreline provides the staffing for that ALS service, one of the things that would be a consideration about joining Shoreline Fire is now there'd be a full integration. So instead of having a unit that responds to a different agency who's responding alongside our firefighters in our fire station, it would all be overseen by the same. And that would actually bring a cohesion to the ALS response. Future financial impacts. So certainly something to consider. Some of the highlights that we've been talking about is we're being proactive in this move of where, you know, currently the city is operating a fire department, absolutely. But as we look at future investments, there is some regional advantage of smoothing out resources and being able to move the pieces on the chessboard, so to speak, across a larger geographic area. Specific to Bothell, one of the things that if we remain Bothell Fire that we talked about earlier this year was we are projecting with the response times in the south end of the community that the city would need an additional fire station of our own. Station 41 is what it would be. We're also looking at then the costs associated with operating that and just the fire department in general. So while we're looking at a total spend of about 9.9 million dollars in 2026 dollars that would essentially double to 18.8 million dollars um by 2035 and a big part of that would also go to the staffing and resources to equip a third station and again as we think about fire services that's a 24 7 operation there's never a day where we say we're going to shut this fire station down so uh needing to do that and do that well there would also that would uh Specifically to that would add we're estimating $5 million a year in operations and maintenance costs then, so that would be staffing and operations, and also the cost of a new facility and property acquisition. So there's significant costs there that, again, If the city were to remain bottled fire, that's something that we're gonna have to come up with a strategy and have the conversation with our community about how are we gonna do this. If it's part of the RFA, it does spread the costs across a larger region and also provides some response strategy about looking at Kenmore, which also has residents who are south of the river. We're also, we know the community has supported a public safety levy in the past that is expiring in 2030. So if we were to remain bottle fire, we'd also have to look at that and see what are the package of services. In joining the RFA, again, mentioned this a little bit of the RFA, it's a larger district to fund those increases. They also, well, The fire chief would also point out that we have multiple funding options. One thing that's specific to RFAs is a fire benefit charge, which can be used to help balance costs based on utilization across different property types. So single family homes, multifamily homes, and commercial properties. And so those are considerations of where, how to best support this critical service that we all acknowledge is important to the community. A couple of things then in the financial discussion specifically that we've been looking at that's within our control, and then I'll talk about a couple of things that are more being negotiated currently. So scenario A before you is a concept of what do we do with our property tax collection? So the city has a rate of what is collected for property tax, and if we stop supporting fire department, which is roughly about 22 percent of our operations. What do we do with that surplus? So, some cities in our region, I was talking to the assistant city manager this week, or last week maybe, about when another RFA came together, there was some cities that chose to retain their full property tax value, others diminished it down the proportionate amount of what they weren't spending anymore. The argument about keeping the full general levy would be is that it opens up opportunities to fund other services, obviously. With the PROS plan tonight, our next public hearing, we'll be talking about how do we want to fund and expand our parks program. So, for an example of that would be to shift some of the operating costs to another department. or to increase levels of services. We also acknowledge, though, too, that for voters, there's a little bit of confusion of when you said, well, we might do something or we might do something else. Like, that's not, doesn't give a whole lot of confidence. So, as they're going in front, we would want something a little bit more specific. Scenario B is the potential of then reducing the Bothell's general levy by the approximate share of the general fund. In 2026 dollars, that's 22 percent of our operating I will note that we need to adjust that number a little bit as we've had negotiations and considerations. For example, while we're talking about the fire department as a whole, the city has decided that one of the services that we would want to retain and keep doing if we got out of the service of providing fire and emergency services would be the fire prevention. So fire marshal office of keeping that and potentially putting that then within our community development function. so that all permits were being reviewed and buildings were being reviewed by the same team. So we would adjust that 22% minus the approximately million dollars that goes towards fire prevention services every year. The other things that aren't captured on here too is that I mentioned that regional fire plan that we're discussing of how do things operate. It covers some topics that I think even we have I thought we had a slide on governance, but I'm going to go back. One of the things councils talked about is having representation on the fire RFA board. Obviously, then decisions about funding the fire department would no longer come to the city council. They would go to an RFA board. So that document, the regional fire plan would have things like, it includes specificity of the city would identify three elected council members to serve on the RFA board. And we would do that every two years along with the other committee assignments. And then the legacy North Shore Fire, department and shoreline fire department that currently make up five representatives each on the shoreline board, they would pick three members among their five who would also serve. So, there would be a total of nine voting members. Others may attend, but there would be nine votes for the RFA board. So, that is specifically covered in the regional fire plan. There are some other things that we're continuing to negotiate. We've had discussions, and I think in our joint meeting, we covered some of these around retirement, liabilities as firefighters retire, who pays out vacation accrual, sick leave, and different balances. We have some legacy left one that's a retirement plan at the state who continues to pay those services. So we've worked out most of those details. We are still having conversations with Shoreline Fire about the city potentially contributing funding towards their operating reserves to keep at their board's policy level of 15%, as well as some capital reserves. We have not come to an agreement on that. Those are large financial decisions that while they're not explicitly something of where voters might ask questions of, there is a financial impact to both agencies. So, we are having those conversations of trying to find the right number. And again, until we can do that, the Shoreline board would not be able to, the RFA board would not be able to approve their resolution and this financial plan. And conversely, we would also, we wouldn't bring the council something that you would object to. So, there are still negotiations to be had there. Next steps then is to continue those negotiations, but then all things being equal, if that were to happen, the RFA is going to be positioned to accept the city and Fire District 10's desire to potentially annex in and update that plan of governance, the regional fire plan. For us, then, that would bring the opportunity for you to consider approving ballot language, as well as appointing the pro-con committee. As I mentioned, that's scheduled for July 21st, but we could potentially schedule a special meeting if things aren't lining up then. Essentially, our deadline, though, to go to November would be we have to have this all tied up in advance of August 4th. Again, items as the public might have comments for us tonight. Here are just some of the thoughts that we were looking for feedback, but again, all feedback welcome. And with that, I'm going to turn things back over to council to have the public hearing.

City Manager, did you want any feedback on any of the items that you brought forward? Are we just looking to hold the public hearing?

It's up to you, Odin, if you'd want to do the feedback now or if you want to wait and see if there's any feedback for the public that might give you some other things you'd want to ask questions about.

Well, in that case, I will open the public hearing. City Clerk, do we have anybody signed up?

We do not have anybody signed up to speak, nor did we receive any written comment. However, if there's anyone in the audience that does wish to speak, please step to the podium, state your name for the record, and you'll have three minutes. If you are in the virtual audience, please use the raise hand function, and we will panel you into the meeting.

says excellent good evening honorable mayor deputy mayor city council members I'm John Culver resident and fellow elected over in Kenmore here tonight to offer my own praise and support of the Regional Fire Authority in front of you for consideration In short, we've been super pleased. Kenmore and Lake Forest Park had a gradual transition similar to the trajectory I see Bothell going through. We brought Shoreline Fire on for a contract for services back in 2022, ultimately making this thing Instagram official by forming the RFA in early 2025. and Shoreline Fire has been a very dependable and reliable partner throughout. We have always gotten excellent service from North Shore's responders, but Chief Cowan and the Shoreline Fire leadership, all merging forces with North Shore Fire's personnel and infrastructure and training program, has felt like a real solidifying win for the organization. A few more points I will hit, which I'm glad the city manager brought these up. I didn't want to get ahead of myself here. I would just flag, ironically, the only real point of pushback from our campaign is actually one of the biggest strengths with Bothell joining the fray. South Kenmore residents were concerned that with headquarters over at Shoreline, extra travel time to their neighborhoods might impact their service levels. I think that's a little misplaced, but at the same time, there just was not enough call volume to justify building more infrastructure south of the Sammamish. Onboarding Bothell changes the calculus, though. That creates more need for greater coverage on the south end and might provide a path for the long-running vision of a future facility that could serve both communities south of the river and even pinch hit in Kirkland when something big comes up. Teaming up means floating that expenditure much more easily than attempting it alone, which would otherwise be a non-starter. It's not my decision to make, so I don't have any specific plans that I'm divulging here, but I know it has been part of a larger regional vision for over a decade. This to me is also a perfect demonstration of why the RFA as a model makes total sense. There's a reason they become so popular filling out most of the Puget Sound region in South King County and most of Snohomish County. It's just a smarter and more efficient use of resources. It typifies the collective strength of partnering up with neighboring jurisdictions to deliver the best possible service for residents. And last point, to put on my election nerd hat, I also feel especially good about this question being put to the voters, in part, frankly, because of the timeline. As election seasons go, our RFA vote was kind of the worst of all worlds, so I'll go inside baseball. Odd year, scheduled in the dead of winter, a special election in February 2025, and a 60% threshold to boot. Turnout was expected to be absolutely dismal, and while I felt confident about the question we were putting on the table before voters, one concern for me was that North Shore Fire does go way back in the community. It started as Shoreline Fire over 80 years ago now. I wondered if that origin and institution might make it difficult for voters to prove. effectively replacing it. But thankfully, my concerns were affirmatively answered. We cleared a supermajority with 67% in the most unforgiving election landscape imaginable. Even Ken Moore specifically supported it with a firm 60%. Which is just to say, in this year's election season, a very different electorate in a moment that could broadly be interpreted as highly favorable for ballot items that speak to voters and focus on delivering, my sense is the community is going to embrace this one with open arms. In conclusion, Shoreline Fire RFA has been a great arrangement, and I look forward to having the greatest pancakes this side of the Mississippi. Thank you all.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? That is all I have, Mayor Thompson.

There was a hand on Zoom. Sorry. I thought I saw a hand on Zoom.

Let me see.

it went down so phantom hands yeah i don't have anybody thank you fantastic um in that case i will close the public hearing and open it up to council in case um anybody has questions councilmember miles

Yes, thank you, City Manager. I just had a couple of questions around timing. It seems like we're in a place where we have to move quickly, but is there any way we can kind of slow things down and maybe think a little bit more about this? One concern is just knowing how much does the public actually know, when will they know it, and will they, you know, want this measure? It just feels like we just don't have enough information from the public in terms of their level of awareness.

Yeah, thank you, Council Member Miles. I'm going to get to the heart of your question here in a second. I think, you know, always the best way to know of whether or not the electorate is interested in something is to ask them. So we won't really fully know that without going out to the community. You know, in doing that, too, there is limited work of what the city is able to do. governments don't get involved in influencing uh votes right so we can provide some informational information items our websites up to date with history that sort of thing um the city can consider doing like a mailer of bringing awareness to the our rationale of why we're asking this question. A lot of the work then would be done independently, and oftentimes that is where the pro-con committee, that is part of our electorate process, as you know, that gives the opportunity for people outside the government to express their opinions. Sometimes there's campaigns built around that. The education to the community will really take place from what's in the ballot language, what's in the voter guide, which is where it would be written by the pro-con committees, the city mailer and website, and then potentially if there were any campaigns for or against that rises up, that will help influence the decision. Typically, I mean, I would anticipate that that will really take hold for the community in that September to November timeframe. Is there an opportunity to do something else? The council can always have that opportunity. Or, you know, as I mentioned, there's this August 4th deadline to get on the November ballot. I'm still... reasonably optimistic that we're going to hit that. Should we not, it doesn't mean everything goes poof. I mean, it could be. It becomes a business decision at that point of do we stay in that engagement? And if so, yeah, we would be looking at what's the next opportunity. So that is a decision the council could consider as this comes back to you for action.

Just one last follow-up. Do we lose anything if we decide to slow our roll a little bit?

I mean, I think the risk there really does become, there's not like a legal or policy risk. It does come into the, we know, again, I've tried to voice for the chief, he's in the room if you'd like to hear from him directly, but I do think that there's an expiration date of where Shoreline RFA has been interested in working with us. The whole concept of doing the exploratory leadership of having the Shoreline chief be our chief, for example, that's not something that would work for 10 years, for example. So there is an aspect of it, but we would have to have those discussions. I'm happy to pressure test that for you as well. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Some of the public feedback we received a briefing on not too long ago. There was a poll that was done by phone, I believe, and there was feedback received that way. I have also been pleased to see the social media posts and engagement, but in in the it's not uncommon for there to be minimal public engagement on something until it becomes like in their face like in the voter pamphlet statement which are like in the voters guide where it will be kind of maybe the first announcement that people have gotten, even with all of the outreach and effort that we've tried to put in and welcome people into the process along the way. So I'm definitely comfortable with moving at the pace that we're moving and hoping that the negotiations go well so that the RFA board can can make their own resolution if they so choose. So I too have been a voice of like, but does the public know? And are they informed? And can we engage with them? And And what I'm seeing the city do is what the city is kind of allowed and can do under, you know, various guidelines and rules about elections and steering clear of, like, electioneering, too. So, like I said, I feel good about this. And, you know, it's always... It's always a hope that we can hear more public feedback and that, you know, ultimately everybody's opinion matters because they're asked on the ballot. But their opinion matters before then, too. And that's what public hearings are really for. So there's an opportunity for the public to share what their opinions are. And, yeah, I always hope that we hear more, but we've also done a good amount of, put a good amount of effort into getting people informed and invited into the process. So, thank you.

Really? All right. Okay. I feel like we, in terms of what Council Member Miles brought up, we haven't really given a whole lot of information to the public yet because I feel like we have a couple of really big deal items, specifically financially, that we haven't really worked out yet. Like what are we going to do with the property tax levy? It's a very different question. If we're asking if it's like, hey, do you want to pay all the taxes you're paying now and fire authority taxes versus like, hey, there's going to be there's going to be some give and take. And I think those questions that we haven't figured out yet are really necessary to figure out before we can go to the public, because those are going to be their first questions when they ask. So I'm I'm comfortable with kind of where we're at in terms of public engagement. But we we do need to get these things figured out and get this out. And we're working toward those. um i um appreciate that we've been able to wrap up a lot of those outstanding issues so thanks to the chief to kyle to everybody that's been working on that already um in terms of the couple things that are out um you know like i said at the joint meeting a couple times like it's It gives me some heartburn to give away all the assets and all the revenue and take on liabilities in that process. Like, I feel like if you're taking the fire department, you should take the fire department with the assets, the revenue, the liabilities, like all of the thing. And it sounds like we've already agreed to fund some, you know, you know, unused vacation for people that retire for the. you know the the left one folks that are they're still there um and you know the when the shoreline fire department took on the north shore fire department the north shore fire department ceased to exist and they didn't take those on so it feels like we're being pretty good generous partners here um in my time on council over the last seven years if my kids were here i'd say six seven years and then watch them cringe um because we were in a very bad place for a little while, and it's been hard to build those up. And it gives me heartburn to give our reserves that we worked so hard to build up and get to a point that we're not at our goal yet in a cash payment for somebody to take our fire department. That doesn't sit well with me, especially when I feel like we're being pretty good partners, because this is going to be our fire department if this is successful, and I want to have a good working relationship with them. Um, and you know, Bothell voters have already agreed to pay for a lot of assets. Um, we have brand new fire stations that aren't going to need maintenance for nearly as long as some of the other stations in the RFA that our voters are going to need to pay to maintain. Um, so I, I am, I'm happy with where we're at. I'm happy to give a little, I feel we've given a little, and, um, I'm not really interested in writing a check to have our fire department go away, not go away, but change form. Um, Oh, in terms of the tax rates and what we do with our levy. And we're going to have difficult budget considerations this fall. And I don't know exactly where we're at, but if it's... Unless it's a matter of, like, we're going to have to get rid of, you know, the Parks Department or something like that. I would like to keep the fire conversation as separated out from everything else as possible. To me, it feels disingenuous in combining the conversation if we don't reduce our levy. by the fire equivalent, like, and if we don't do that, like I, if we go out, I mean, I want this to pass, like, and if we hold and reserve back some of that fire equivalent portion of our levy, to me, that seems to make it less likely to pass. And I don't want to try to shore up other parts of our budget with this conversation. I'd like to have this conversation just be about fire. So that's my that's my feedback on those.

Thank you, Maren. I think kind of summarizing a couple of the points that we've heard about. Outreach Council Member Miles and Deputy Mayor Aldrich mentioned and a couple with your conversation. There is the aspect of there's again community members as they read this on the ballot. This might be for many. I could amend by statement of three years, 10 years or 30. There will be some people that say this is brand new and that's legitimate. That's a that's a fair thing. And so, yeah, I think there is an aspect of this is simply as we can explain what the city is intending to do and what we are doing will help people understand and make an informed decision.

Council Member Dodd.

Thanks. Mayor, I agree with most of what you said. I will say, and I don't think this is a huge part of our fire service budget, but if we're keeping fire prevention services, we should make sure that we can fund that with the general levy dollars. And I think... Yeah, it's pretty complicated. I know we're still talking, but I think we all have the same goals, and I hope we can make progress. I'll leave it at that.

I'll just jump in and say I totally agree. Anything that we're keeping, like, just make it proportional, and I know that it's probably not a large percentage.

Thank you, Mayor. So, great inputs from Mayor and Deputy Mayor and all. If we miss this year, will it be next year? In case if we miss this year?

I would look to my elected officials to know the exact dates of elections. But it doesn't have to be on a November general election. So there are also the special elections. And I think my voter gut tells me February, sometime in the spring. So there's that, there's the August date, and there's November. So we would be looking at the next election calendar.

Got it. Okay.

Again, if there was willingness. I always want to acknowledge that, too, is that there always has to be, it takes two to tango. So if one party wants to extend and one party is not interested, then that's a moot point.

Thank you. Yeah, definitely I agree with Mayor on the tax. If at all possible, we don't want to burden the resident with the additional taxes, if at all possible. Already the residents, both the residents are paying a lot of tax, increasing any property tax after two years. I think I understand first one or two years we may not increase, But eventually, we most likely, once we join the RFA, we most likely need to increase the property taxes. I mean, not from us directly, but through RFA, there will be an additional burden on the residents. Is that right?

Well, I think if we look at the investments, if we're projecting the growth in our community and it would go extend to the entire RFA. Again, those costs would spread, but I think it's important, like, what are the things that are clear would be if there's an additional fire station needed, whether that's built by the city or built by the RFA. It's a concrete example of where we know however much the property is going to cost, that's a cost. How much it would cost to build the building, that's a cost. And then the operations. Again, we're calculating it would be about $5 million a year. So that couldn't just be absorbed. There would be an increase by either the city or the RFA in that example to fund an additional station. So yes, we can assume that costs will go up over time.

I understand. And regarding the reserve, I think we need to additionally write a check. If we are joining RFA, we need to... To meet the requirements of 15% reserve, we have to take additional money from our general reserve to write, I think.

Yeah, so this is a negotiation point. And to clarify, I was going to do that actually in an earlier question and then didn't. So I'll just say, so by accounting principle and law, For example, looking at ours, the city is required to keep a 90-day fund reserve on hand. As the mayor mentioned, he's seen through this, and in 2021, I believe, mid-Biannium, after the sale of some surplus property, and there was also some other one-time property sales, so the city had, and also, I think the coming off of COVID. There was just some one-time money that was available. The city council at that point put aside $3.5 million to start building towards a reserve. And then in the last budget cycle, we've changed our reserve policy for the city to try and build towards having a 10% operating reserve. So you look at your operating budget, and say we're gonna keep 10% of that on hand as a reserve as a good fiscal policy. That way, when there's good times or bad times, we're able to see through them. Currently, the city's at about 7%, so we're working on building towards 10%. The 15% that you referred to is that the Shoreline RFA does have their own policy of 15% cash on hand operating policy. So obviously by expanding their operating costs, that ratio changes. And so they are looking for a contribution from the city commiserate to the fact that if we lower our operating costs by not having a fire department anymore, could some of that money be contributed? The complexity of that too is that we are also, we are working on our goal of 10%. So that's the conversation we're having is how to, both sides have a fiscal goal and at the end of it, the people of our community are paying for it either way. So we wanna just make sure that we do the right thing for our community.

Sure. It's extremely complicated for everybody. I'm just trying to see overall. Definitely, we talked about last time, going forward, our budget is also not looking that great. Sales tax revenue is going down and all that stuff. As long as the finance department and city staff is comfortable to write an additional check to meet the 15% reserve, I'm okay. But Just wanted to call it out, as long as we are financially healthy. I know we have been healthy, but going forward, looks like it's not that great. And the last thing that I want to call out, when I'm looking at the map, I see Eastside Fire and Rescue. Now, when I see Shoreline Fire, if we join successfully, I'm not sure. It's not anymore shoreline. I'm talking about the map. It's not anymore shoreline, so it's all the way into the bottle. Maybe we need to discuss about new name, not just a shoreline fire. I would like to see something different on the fire vehicles. So, yeah. I'm just calling it out.

Yeah, and I know that came up. I remember we got some chuckles from the RFA board, too, because I think they've had that discussion. Maybe it'd be the Amazon.com fire authority. We could get some money in fusion. But, no, I think it's a fair point of where I think that is something of, as our voters get educated about this, the name Shoreline, Instantly everybody thinks oh this must be the city and then interestingly enough. Yeah shoreline fire has never been part of the city So it's it is it was it's a regional legacy and as it does become more of our North King County spread There's there's things there and as we see it's not just North King County It's Snohomish County in a couple areas too. So it's a complicated thing naming things, but yeah, I just wanted to call it out Yeah, I appreciate that.

Yeah, that's all. Thank you

Council Member Dodd.

Thanks. Thanks, Council Member Ungular. I just wanted, for everyone watching and for our executive team that's doing these negotiations, as a council, we haven't said that we are okay with writing a check. It's not even, it's part of the negotiation, but that would be a bigger discussion we'd have to have. So that's not decided, and I think that's a point that we have to figure out before we know if we're going for it this year or not.

But I thought, City Manager, once we join the RFA, I mean, I know we are in the negotiation, but let's say we are on the ballot and residents say, yes, let's join the RFA.

And at that time, do we negotiate with... Great question, Council Member. So that regional fire plan that I referenced before, it has a lot of details in it in terms of how is the operations going to be. Again, governance is a good example of how is the board going to operate, but it also does have financial considerations. Another consideration is ownership of the fire stations. From the city perspective, we know our voters approved to build new fire stations. We are paying off a bond through 2040, It's been our position that we would retain the fire stations and lease them to the fire district until 2040. At that point, it would make sense to transfer them over. But in order to really fulfill the commitment that we made to the community, for example, we would retain ownership. So that is something that's in the regional fire plan, as would be any operating or capital project. contributions to Shoreline Fire RFA. So, again, in this process, then, it's a great question. I think it's something that, like, our community would want to know. So, if we had more people for the public hearing, this would probably come up. The Shoreline RFA, it's their decision first, then. That regional fire plan will have those details, and they have to approve it. And then it comes to us, and in this case, it would also come to the Somerset County Fire District 10 to approve. So there's really, and that document then would be approved by all three agencies in this case, and would not change through the effective date of March 1st. We wouldn't make any changes. Future changes could be made by the board, of which the council, if this moved forward, would have three members. But yeah, so that detail, it actually needs to get decided before we can put anything before the voters. So we'll have clarity on what are the financial commitments before the voters consider it. I hope that helps. Thank you.

Council Member Miles.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. A question. How much longer will negotiations go on? And if we get to a point of deadlock, what happens then?

Yeah, good question. So, again, that ultimate deadline is that we have to turn its pencils down by August 4th. Again, the anticipated dates had been for the RFA board to make a decision this Thursday, and then the Snohomish County Fire Authority or the Fire District would make their decision at their next meeting, which I believe is next Tuesday, and then it would come to City Council on the third Tuesday of this month, July 21st. with the potential of if there isn't something for the Shoreline RFA Board to decide on Thursday, we potentially see those dates begin to shift and we'll be communicating with Council, especially if we're not able to make that 21st meeting, we might need to look at calling a special meeting just for this item.

Yeah, I like that plan. There's some big things on the table, and I think it's going to take some time and, you know, due diligence with negotiation. And has there ever been any thought about bringing in, like, a third party to help with the negotiation to facilitate?

We haven't gone to that yet, but that's certainly something we could consider.

All right. I think we're done. Thank you, City Manager. We have another public hearing next. Have a good night, Chief. Thanks for coming. Next up is a public hearing for our parks, recreation and open space plan. And I will kick it over to the city manager. And I probably should have said a few more words and delayed a little bit until he got to his microphone.

The news is we have two pros. But anyone who's here for this public hearing will have a little of a preview of how this works. So we do have a second public hearing tonight. And again, no action tonight by council other than to hold the public hearing. But this is a great opportunity for the community to give final feedback. We've had a bunch of engagement up until now. So I'm guessing we'll hear some reinforcement and not anything new. The Parks Department's done a great job of outreach. So tonight, to hear a little bit more about that, We're joined at the table by Nick Stroop, our Parks and Recreation Director, and Aaron Milner, who has been taking on the big work of planning and development manager on this and many other projects. So, Aaron, looks like you might be leading us off.

Thank you, City Manager. Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council. My name is Aaron Milner. I'm the Parks, Planning, and Development Manager, as Kyle mentioned. alongside Park and Recreation Director Nick Stroop. We're here to present to you the final 2026 draft PROS plan for public hearing. So tonight's council action item is to hold a public hearing regarding the 2026 PROS plan. So as you recall from our previous study session meetings with council, the PROS plan is Park and Recreation's long-range planning tool. It's our blueprint that identifies priorities and resources for the department. It's updated every six years to maintain eligibility through the state for grant funding through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, or RCO. It's also an opportunity to align our department with evolving community values, desires, and needs. and an opportunity to assess existing park assets and anticipate and prioritize future capital investments. So we are currently in the final adoption stage of the project, tonight being a final opportunity for the public to weigh in on the draft PROS plan prior to adoption. As a reminder, there's two main phases of community outreach within this project, the first being earlier in 2025 with an online survey. pop-up tabling events throughout our community, as well as focus group meetings with key stakeholders. The second phase of our public engagement included an open house, tonight's public hearing, and engagement with our Parks Board, Planning Commission, and City Council. So next steps include consideration of the PRO's adoption on July 14th, after which the adopted plan will be approved and filed by RCO. And as was mentioned earlier in the earlier presentation, updates to the PARCC element of the comprehensive plan will be carried out later this year to reflect our updated plan. So this slide indicates several of the realities, challenges, and opportunities that the overall plan examines and addresses. So the first being Bothell's population will continue to grow and densify. And with population growth, there is a need to provide additional parks and recreation services. As Bothell densifies, land is at a premium and we need to be creative in our ability to deliver services. Not only will our population grow, but our community will continue to become more diverse and our parks and recreation offerings must meet the needs of evolving demographics. As our parks and open spaces play critical roles in Basel's commitment to environmental preservation and climate resilience, there's a need to continue to prioritize parks and open spaces as green infrastructure. And as with the pause of recreation programming during the pandemic, There's a need to reinstate recreation programs and services, and this plan examines what that may look like. And lastly, as our department grows to meet our community's desire and need for increased services, our staffing and resources must also keep pace with that growth. So as we've discussed in previous study session, the plan vision and goals lay out the foundation to addressing all that is considered from the previous slide. and sets the framework for our future priorities, strategies, and capital improvement projects. As was shared with you earlier, the plan vision reads Bothell's parks, recreation, and open space. Pro's plan vision reflects the community's evolving and diverse needs by guiding the care of lands, facilities, and programs that enriches quality of life. Through meaningful community input, our Parks and Recreation Department is dedicated to upholding a welcoming and dynamic system. Together, we are committed to maintaining and enhancing our natural environment, community spaces, and program enrichment opportunities now and into the future. So plan implementation is broken down into four overarching goals. So goal A, maximize the current system potential through design and implementation, states that our department should be focused on making sure existing systems are utilized to the fullest extent possible through design and addition of park amenities and facilities that allow for multi-use, multi-year use, year-round use. Goal B, take care of existing park assets and resources recognizes that parks assets deteriorate over time and require ongoing maintenance and replacement. As park usage increases, maintenance and operational demands will continue to rise. This goal focuses on ensuring that funding, staffing, and operational resources are sufficient to maintain the park system. Goal C, expand recreation programs and events. This goal recognizes that recreation and community events are vital to Bothell, and it is important to restore recreation programs and continue to support and expand community events and cultural activities. Goal D, invest in the future park system. Preparing for future growth requires proactive planning and investment. This goal focuses on the positioning of the city to meet future recreation needs through acquisition, coordinated planning efforts, and a variety of funding strategies to support implementation. And this final slide is one that you've seen already. It identifies 14 CIP projects that are identified in the draft pros. These are not intended to represent the full list of projects within the CFP, rather its purpose is to help identify priority projects for planning purposes. So although several of these projects are visionary projects at this stage and no funding has been associated with them, what is particularly noteworthy is a very significant funding deficit of about $70 million. Council will be updating the CFP later this year, and the plan further identifies opportunities and options for diversifying funding and addressing this funding shortfall. So with that, I'll turn it back over to the council for public hearings.

All right, I'm gonna open the public hearing and kick it over to our city clerk to announce signups. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that we have some signups to comment for this public hearing.

We do. Thank you very much. Before I get to the public comment, live public comment, Pam Miller, who's also signed up to speak, she did send in a combined letters of support for a skate park, which were forwarded to all the council members and will be made part of the record. And she is our first person signed up to speak. So if you want to step to the podium, state your name for the record, you'll have three minutes.

Hi, I'm Pam Miller, and most of you recognize me. I've been here many times, and I understand that the skate park committee has sent in, so I'm going to leave that there, and I know there's conversations that will come from that entry. But I want to speak as a parent and as a community person. I've lived here in Bothell my whole life. I've worked with youth, recreation, and programming in the area. I want to thank you for your leadership in moving forward to make all of our parks really awesome in Bothell. I wanted to draw our attention to the skate park that is coming up. I'm here today to really ask you to look at building that skate park, but ask you to invest in making that a year-round facility that can be used by our community and the greater community. The letters that I turned in. I know that's a lot. There's like 70-some letters there. But each one of those shows stories of people, people with physical challenges, people with mental challenges, people with just life that are looking for a place that they can go, that they can belong. As I worked 15 years with the YMCA here at North Shore, I did their skate program and their alternative recreation. And I had a 15-year-old boy that came year after year after year. And he was kind of a little bit off, but he says, can you write me a letter that says I can come back and not age out of the program? Because that was the only time of the year that he got to do what he really wanted to do. I see it as something that we have rain. We have all the rain a lot, and we offer skate parks, but they're only usable half the year because wet concrete's not safe. And I want to create a place that would serve people all year long, not just when the sun's shining or when the YMCA bus can take them out. Our community has already shown that we really want this, and I want you to take the time to read those stories and those letters of why recreation in the alternative realm, like the skate park, it's not just skaters, it's BMXers, it's inline skaters, It's the whole Caribbean. They don't have a place to belong. Nowhere in Bothell. So this is a big deal. I could talk about return on investment. I think that if we have a skate park, it's going to create opportunities for programming, for recreation, for camps, for regional events. The return would be great. I think that the budgetary confinement, you know, stories need to be investigated.

Thank you, Ms. Miller.

I want to thank you very much.

Time is up. Thank you. Next up, we have Kenneth Dowell. I hope I said that correctly. Yes.

Okay.

Thank you. You'll have three minutes.

All right, thank you very much to the mayor, deputy mayor, council members, and staff for the opportunity to speak today. For those who don't know me, my name is Kenneth Doubt, and I'm the new director of the Bothell Historical Museum. I'm joined by three of our board members here, Marianne Larry Gibbons and Kirk Fulmer. I'm relatively new to the Bothell community, but every day I see ways that people care about the city's history. I'm always looking for ways to engage people. Quick show of hands, who here knows where the museum is? Okay, a good amount of people. Who here has been to the museum? All right, around the same. But oftentimes there is this discrepancy that exists between people who know and people who have visited. And part of that is because of our shortened opening hours. We're only open April through October, Sundays one to four. And so far this season, we've welcomed over a thousand visitors over just 14 opening days, an average of 25 visitors an hour. Those numbers shed light not only on who engages with the museum, but also who is engaging with our parks as well. And this is an element of the PROS plan that I find exceptional. The emphasis on understanding who is using these spaces and developing an equitable approach to address community needs. In particular, I'm thrilled by the focus on accessibility, creating accessible pathways between the historic buildings at Bothell Landing will ensure that everyone can experience these important sites. I was surprised, however, that the museum itself is largely absent from the plan. While the Lytle House, which I understand is slated to come down, and the North Creek Schoolhouse are recognized as community assets, the city's other historic buildings, the Hannon House, the Beckstrom Cabin, and the First Schoolhouse, are not. I believe that this is a missed opportunity to consider how these buildings can better serve the public through education, programming, and preservation. Mayor Thompson, in your State of the City address, your opening words were, we welcome new neighbors while respecting our history and those who have laid the foundation before us. That message has really resonated with me, and I see many ways that history is being respected. The photos that are up throughout City Hall, the courthouse, and the senior center, and even the contract that the city has with us, the historical society, all demonstrate the community's commitment to preserving that history. The PROSE plan provides an opportunity to build that commitment. Goal A for supporting programs and events in parks creates exciting possibilities for expanding museum programming at Bothell Landing. Goal B, caring for existing park assets has a tremendous amount of relevancy to us and is a goal that city leadership could take immediate steps to achieve. The 2025-2026 budget includes $80,000 to paint the Hannon House and first schoolhouse and has already been deferred a year. Completing that work would preserve these historic resources, improve one of the city's most visited parks, and visibly demonstrate the city's commitment to respecting and preserving its history. In closing, I encourage leadership to incorporate our historic buildings more fully into the PROS plan and move forward with the preservation work that's already been funded. Together, we can ensure that Bothell's history remains an active and accessible part of our community's future. Thank you.

Thank you. That is all I have signed up. However, I do believe there's a number of people in the room who wish to speak. So please, if you do wish to speak, step to the podium, state your name for the record. You'll have three minutes. If you are online, please use the raise hand function and I will panel you in for three minutes. Go ahead, sir. Please state your name for the record.

Hello, I'm Derek Macias. I'm here from the Bothell area. I live in Everett now, but I occupy a lot of the area when I do a lot of my sports and activities with my friends here. We are part of the Bothell skate park community. We're working on a huge project at the skate park. Talking about history, the skate park used to be a long time ago. It looks like you might know, yeah, a wooden skate park. Yeah, we're working really hard to do it council. This is kind of less directed at you guys You've heard us talk about how much we care about the skate park how much the community is really looking forward to this This is more directed towards the community people that are watching people that were here that are still here people that are online this skate park is as an understatement, will impact our community beyond fallible imagination. It really will. Our community here has about 150 skate parks in Washington, and only two of them have covers over them. Both of them are actually covered by freeways, which the first one was illegal, and the second one was also legal, but they got permitted, and it's kind of mixed emotions when you have different disciplines there. This skate park means a lot to the community when I talk about the community on part of myself. I'm a rollerblader. My partner and I, we have a skate school. We teach both rollerblading and rollerblading. We work with skateboarders. We have friends that own businesses through skateboard companies, through biking companies, through scooter companies in Everett. people that I've grown up with when I lived at indoor skate park in Tukwila called Skate Barn. Since that park is left in 2013, consistency in the sports has impacted the growth in the community here substantially. And within whatever means that we have, especially Dan here, still manages to host a skate meetup with DIY handrails, P-rails, boxes for the community to skate, and we make it work. When we talk about real importance with consistency, Consistency, growth is created through the consistency and this is where the roof comes into play or at least having a covered space. The skate park is important to us but the most important part to us is really having a cover over the community that we can skate in. It matters very little the size of the space that we have, just that we have a space to do our activities, a space to grow, a place to bond with our community and work on ourselves. And this comes in a huge play with disability inclusion. We have a lot of people in the community that have had struggles along the way, and because of our community, it's really helped us all individually grow. Yeah, there's very little left for me to say. I'm really curious in a lot of the funding and what percentages it will take to secure this in and what extra leaps and a little bit more that we can do to secure the roof. If anybody in the community or out there thinks that they can help us in any way, please, seriously, please, please help us. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Please step to the podium, state your name for the record, and you'll have three minutes.

Hello, I'm Ray Thomas. I happen to be the current chair of the Landmarks Preservation Board. I have to follow up on Ken's outstanding words, which I didn't know he was gonna present tonight, but very fortuitous that I came. I have to say, I went to the planning Commission meeting last week. I think we were all dismayed by the fact that there's so much overlap in our committee's responsibilities, the concern that the members of those committees and commissions and boards have, for this community and yet we seem paralyzed to present those concerns reasonably as were presented by the Arts Commission tonight to the council and to each other and I think there's an opportunity, and I've heard this voice in terms of a vision and voiced by some of you council members, that we need to have ways that are legal for boards and commissions to get together and look at the opportunities we have. I came onto the landmarks seven years ago with a singular goal to raise our acknowledgement of native lands, Native history and Native presence. I feel totally thwarted in that effort. While I hear, I can't tell you my dismay at the glee about a fishing frog on the Sammamish, as we call it, river, which was a vital resource to Native communities, and there's no recognition. There, thank you.

Thank you. Do I have anyone else in the audience that wishes to speak? I do not.

All right. Well, in that case, I am going to close the public hearing and open it up to counsel. Council Member Dodd.

Thank you. I had thought I might take more time to figure out the order of the words I'm going to say, so just bear with me. I understand the... I'm going to ask about the skate park roof. I understand the passion there and that it rains. As someone with curly hair who straightens it a lot, I do understand the amount of rain we get. I am wondering if you are... I know that there's been a lot of communication and I really appreciate that. Whenever there's a passionate community, I so appreciate when staff jumps in and works with them and doesn't think, wow, get these, you know what I mean? Like, I really do appreciate that. Have we given them the numbers that we need to make that work and had that sort of collaborative, like if they're willing to fundraise, have they, do they have those numbers? Do they know what we need to do and what the city can reasonably do and what that gap is?

Yeah, that's an excellent question, so thank you for asking it. We have engaged frequently with the group. We have also scheduled a meeting, as you saw today, with the leaders of that group. to talk specifically about the project, where we're at. We have set a number. We believe that number to be pretty ground truth, but we'll have a further discussion with them about that and see if there's some sort of path forward. We're generally supportive of any idea, and we get excited about big ideas as well, but we also have a responsibility to look at the bigger picture. and the bigger picture of making sure that we're equitable across the city and that we're telling you all the needs of the city and not just one. But we're open to those conversations and continue to have them.

Yeah, no, I really appreciate it. And I, um, you are asked to do a lot, just build a bunch of parks in all the gaps that you see in there. Make sure all the parks are accessible and modern and fun and that there's every kind of recreation that everybody in the city wants. Like that is a lot and it's not like an unlimited pot of money that we have for it too. Because your department is one that is not really required to exist in a city Woodinville had to camp had to end their Parks and Recreation Department in the 90s and Maybe early 2000s. I was not an adult yet, but so statutorily departments get funding because they have legally required things that they do for the city and that's not true for parks so I just want to acknowledge that you are asked to do a lot and not funded in the same it's like when you go out to the movies if you are struggling with your budget you're gonna watch the movies you have at home so I want to acknowledge that and not make you feel like I'm just asking for the moon without you know saying that I really appreciate all the comment we got I would love to get more information going forward I think that there's probably I appreciated the museum directors comments I think the fact that we lease out those properties probably has something to do with their spot in the pros plan but in the you know not tonight please go home and do not work but like at some point an email would be great about details on that just so we can all get to the same place and understanding and figure out where to go from there Yeah, I look forward to getting more about the skate park and also want to acknowledge the worst part of this job is that I don't just have independent wealth to be like, here's your roof because parks all over the city need things. And I just appreciate that you guys are talking and there's willingness from the skate park community to try and help close the gap if we can get there. So thank you.

related, if anybody has access to a money fairy, could you please send them my way? Yeah. Deputy Mayor?

Sure. Thank you. Yeah. That $72 million isn't going to raise itself and I am grateful that we have a parks department that is proactive in pursuing grant funding and including what the skate park folks are rallying for is seeking grant funding so that we can secure a roof. And so I'm grateful that that work is happening. Those conversations are happening. Um, and, and I'd, I'd like to see it be successful. So I just would encourage everybody to keep, keep working together, keep trying. Um, and you know, I think we have some great, uh, community partners that are coming together to, to make it happen. So I really appreciate all of that effort. Um, I appreciate the, um, insights into, you know, we can get really excited about one feature of the PROS plan or one feature of the redesign at Bothell Landing, but we really are trying to also plan a holistic, comprehensive parks plan too. And so the feedback on, you know, tribal engagement, telling the story of Bothell, how it came, like who lived here before, settlers came, I think all of that should be included in the PROS plan. And I believe in the open houses and kind of work groups that we've been a part of that that has been heard by consultants and designers. And so I would really like to see that work come forward and be a part of this next PROS plan. I think when we're walking through our, especially our parks, that it's important, and I'm going to get really nerdy here for a moment, to start with even like the geology of the land that we live on. How was it formed? How did it come to be the way that we know it to be today? And then who were the first peoples here? What is the history of native wildlife? that's the storytelling that I like to hear because it puts us in the context of the history that we are all a part of. We're just here for this little piece of time in our lives. Um, and our lives are so short in comparison to, you know, the history of the earth and like, and this place goes way back. I would love to see those stories told, um, and, and do that in partnership with local tribes who have connections to this area. Um, as well as that has been one of the priorities for when I joined the Planning Commission back in 2020. 2020, that's when it was. And so I would like to see that move forward. And so when we are talking about telling the story of Bothell's history and preserving the history that is down there, making sure that those partnerships are working and that the historical museum is connected with the pre-colonization piece of our history as well. And I see that the prose plan is vehicle for moving that work forward it's not the entirety of the work but it is an important piece of it and so I'm glad for those who spoke up in regards to that as well like I you know like I've said in previous study sessions the the capital improvement projects We have some tremendous opportunities ahead of us, and by accomplishing even the acquisition of Shelton View would be huge for our community and for increasing equity and making more parks more walkable for more people in the city. And so we have some really great things going forward, including restoring park programming. I'm glad to see that. I miss the days of Zumba at the Lytle House and activities for kids and spring breaks and summer breaks. So to see that come back means a lot to me. There's been so much work put into this plan that I really do feel like not much, if anything, has been overlooked. There is a piece, it's so hard to put it into one presentation or to put it in a recap, but I believe that the draft of the plan is available for the public to view and can look through it and just, you know, be surprised and amazed at the level of detail that is present in there. So thank you to Parks for all of your hard work. Thank you to the community who are tirelessly advocating for the parts of the plan that really mean a lot to you and your community. And I just really, really appreciate that there was feedback that we could hear tonight at the public hearing. Thank you.

Council Member Dodd.

I forgot one thing. So one of the things that I get to do as a council member is serve on the North Shore Parks and Service Recreation Area Board, which I will say NPRSA from here on out. And as that board looks at creating a community center that serves that district, which includes Bothell, one of the things that was completed was a, I don't know the formal name of it off the top of my head, but basically a study on ROI. How would we get to turning a profit taking care of the building over time? What would we if we put in a community center? What would come back from rentals and user fees and such? Is there an equivalent to that kind of study for something like a skate park that would help I think This body of people who do not as far as I know operate and rent out skate parks understand the potential ROI

We have not done that work. What I would say is that the idea of a skate park is it's a public skate park, so it's not pay to play. It would be open to everyone. We would program it, but through programming, it wouldn't necessarily, it wouldn't be like you could rent out the roller rink kind of thing. If it was programming, maybe it was a large contest, there would be, the community would be invited to participate. It's a challenging situation, I think, when you're looking to collect revenue on public facilities like that.

And I don't think that we should build it with the goal of it's paid for by... I'm thinking mainly special events permits. But I think just understanding, again, getting to a set of shared facts... would be helpful. So, cause yeah, it's the, for the most part, I would imagine it's just there and people use it.

Yeah. And so, you know, we know that the, the right now that the actual skate park is roughly $2 million to build. We know that the roof would be about $3 million to build. So there's no amount of, I mean, just to be transparent, there's no amount of special event fees that we could collect that would address that issue.

Okay. Not three, $1 million events. I'm super kidding. Thank you.

everybody just waiting for somebody else to go or do we not have anything to say you guys both had a lot to say that was really good and i was really glad that you did um I just want to say thanks to the community members that have been organizing for the skate park. It's something that I've wanted to see for a long time, and I think we owe it to our kids to give them places to play outside, especially kids who have aged out of parks. And this is a big deal that we can do right here in town. I appreciate the community members also for just working with us on how to figure out how to fund that and getting us one step closer to making that a reality. And thanks to the parks team for doing all the work you have to scope it and figure out what's possible and what's not. So I agree. I love where we're going with the PROS plan. I mean, I don't know if it'll hold a candle to the last PROS plan, but I'm invested in that. And I said that just so Amanda could go. Oh, no. And I mean, if I don't say something cringy, am I really Bothell's dead? And no, thank you for the work. I like where this is going and really appreciate it. So thank you much. All right, next up. Aaron, it's your turn. We have professional services supplement number six with WSP USA Inc. for the Bothaway Northeast Multimodal Improvements Project. City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor, and yes, we do have one contract for presentation and approval tonight from Public Works. Rita, who is here to present tonight on behalf of Public Works? And what we'll be hearing about is a bit of a status update on the Bothell Way Northeast Multimodal Improvement Project, and then specifically about Supplement 6 to a Professional Services Agreement. With that, I'll turn things over to Rita. We'll get a quick PowerPoint assist from Mason.

I just want to say thanks, Mason, because it makes me chuckle to say that.

We'll use all your jokes today.

Oh, I got more. Don't worry.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council Members. My name is Rita Hu, and tonight I'm presenting the Bothaway Northeast Multimodal Improvement Project Professional Service Supplement No. 6 with WSP on behalf of our Senior Capital Project Engineer, Brenda O'Neill. Tonight, staff is requesting that the Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute Supplement No. 6 with WSP for the Bothaway-Noces Multimodal Improvement Project in the amount of $864,496. This supplement provides additional design services and right-of-way acquisition support that are necessary and were not included in the original agreement or previous supplements. The key scope of work includes right-of-way acquisition services, illumination analysis, and the preparation of design plan set. Missing zone design, community transit bus stop design and coordination, bike lane channelization design, constructability review, as well as additional environmental and geotechnical work. This supplement increases the contract amount by $864,496, bringing the total contract value to $11,418,237, which includes both design and railway acquisition services. These additional services were verified by our project team. Although the overall design costs costs are higher than originally anticipated. The adopted 2025 and 2026 capital facility plan budget currently includes sufficient funding to cover these costs. Staff anticipate bringing A budget amendment to Council is full to ensure adequate funding is available to complete the remaining design and railway acquisition and relocation assistance. Phase one and phase two design are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2027. Construction for phases one and two is anticipated to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2027. So this concludes my presentation. I will be happy to answer any question you may have. Thank you.

Council Member Kerr.

Thank you. These amendments have been coming through outside of consent agenda because of me. But my husband no longer works for WSP, so I don't need to recuse myself anymore. And this fall, when you bring forward a budget amendment, I'd really like to understand how much overages kind of came from right-of-way acquisition versus sort of the design elements too. That would be really helpful to understand kind of why these costs are increasing, but I'm happy to support this. I think that the work was necessary, so I'm looking forward to voting.

Thank you, Council Member. Yes, definitely in September we will bring all the numbers here and share with you.

Council Member Alcabra.

Thank you. I'm glad that you're able to vote again, Council Member Curd. The question I have is, you mentioned there is enough budget in the 25-26 budget, and enough money in the 25 budget to cover this extra expense. What are we not spending on now that we're taking away this extra money? The opportunity cost.

So in 2025, 2026, we have budgeted for nine million altogether for design and railway acquisition activities. And so far as of today, we have spent around six million. Therefore, we believe that we, at this point of time, we still have sufficient budget to cover this increase. However, like I mentioned before, that in September, we would definitely have to come back here for a budget amendment request.

Okay, because when that happens, which is expected, we're in a budget year, so we'll need to do that anyway. So I think part of the conversation, we probably should talk about... having a rainy, just in case maybe fund also, because It seems like we've voted on increases a few times, and it'll be good to just plan ahead of that next time, so we won't have to keep doing this. Anticipate what might be the increase. We cannot anticipate 100%, but something to anticipate, because this is a very important project for our city, so it'll be good to be ahead of these surprise cost increases.

Thank you, Council Member. Yes, definitely we will provide a breakdown of the costs, including the design costs, right-of-way acquisition costs, as well as the projected construction costs for Phase 1, 2, and 3 of the project.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kerr.

I move that we adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to adopt a resolution to execute supplemental number six with WSP USA for Bothaway Northeast multimodal improvement projects in the amount of $864,496. Second.

I have a motion from Councilmember Kerr and a second from Councilmember Alcabra. Would anybody like to speak to the motion? That is a rhetorical question. City Clerk.

Thank you. Please say yes or no when I call your name. Councilmember Ongulary.

Yes.

Mayor Thompson?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Alderks? Yes. Council Member Curd?

Yes.

Council Member Miles? Council Member Dodd? Yes. Council Member Alcabra?

Yes.

Passes 6-0 with Council Member Miles out of the room. 6-0. Thank you.

And with that, we're adjourned.