City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. I now call the September 8th, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. We will take a moment to take roll call of the council members by position number. Please say here when the clerk calls your name. Council member Angulary.

Here.

No, I did my... Yes, you go ahead. You call the names. Thank you. It's on my script.

Council member Angulary.

Here. Here.

Mayor Thompson? Deputy Mayor Alder? Here. Council Member Kerr?

Here.

Council Member Miles? Here. Council Member Dodd? Here. Council Member Acaba?

Here.

All present with the exception of Mayor Thompson who is absent and excused.

Thank you, Clerk. We'll now go over the meeting agenda with the city manager review.

Thank you very much Deputy Mayor Alderks and good evening members of the City Council. Tonight is another busy night for proclamations. You can tell there are certain months where there's just a lot of things to recognize and tonight we have three proclamations and we're excited to learn a little bit more about what's being recognized and hear from our guests. Under the City Manager Report I'll be transmitting the 2027-28 budget to Council which really starts the framing of much of the work we'll be doing together through the remainder of the year. We'll also hear an update about the progress of the city's economic vitality plan. Our consent calendar is quite a bit quieter than the last few weeks. You can imagine the few weeks before a long recess and the week we get back, there's a lot of items, but tonight, There's only three, and the two biggies are including an authorization to pursue a National Park Services grant for the park at Bothell Landing, as well as an opportunity to equip our police department with new laptops, and I do recommend these items for approval. Council also will be asked later in the meeting under appointments to consider a and a new representative to serve in the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee to fill a vacancy. And then also of note for both the Council but also those who are watching, you'll be asked tonight to hold a public hearing related to a street vacation request. And this item is different than many of the items that Council considers not only is it a public hearing, but you'll be serving in a quasi judicial role, meaning more judicial than counsel. And so there's some considerations in that process. I just want to assure everybody the city attorney will be on hand helping to navigate through that item. And again, it'll look a little different, but hopefully be very clear. With that, I will turn it over to counsel to consider adoption of the agenda.

All right. Are there any changes to the agenda? Okay, next up we have public engagement opportunities. So we are working to build a community where everyone feels welcomed. So join us at an open house to learn about our DEIB roadmap and share your experiences and input to help create a more equitable Bothell. That will be next Wednesday, the 16th. You can also apply for a creative arts grant. Bothell's Arts Commission provides grant funding to artists and cultural arts organizations for innovative projects designed to showcase artistic and cultural diversity community-building activities through the arts and an appreciation for the creative spirit. The workshop is on September 23rd. Is that an application by September 16th? Not October?

Just a question.

We'll get back.

Okay. Great.

Okay.

All right. Sustainamania is returning on September 26th. Sustainamania is our annual sustainability festival, and it returns for its 14th year. Join this free, family-friendly festival to celebrate the everyday actions we can all take to lead a more sustainable life and build lasting change. And that will be held at Bothell City Hall on Saturday, September 26th. Thank you. Okay. And we do have three proclamations tonight. I have asked Councilmember Dodd to read the Welcoming Week proclamation.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I have the wrong one, though.

Okay.

All right. Whereas, Welcoming Week is celebrated annually each September by hundreds of cities, towns, and organizations to promote compassion, unity, and respect for our neighbors, with a shared vision that all community members are valued and protected. And whereas, Welcoming Week gives us the opportunity to bring together neighbors across Bothell and invites us to work together towards a prosperous and welcoming Bothell in which diverse people from across the world feel like they belong in our community. And whereas the Welcoming Week 2026 theme, Stories We Share, The Courage to Connect, calls us to stay curious and open to one another so that we find the stories that remind us we are not navigating this moment alone. And whereas our city recognizes all that makes us unique, including our rich tapestry of ethnicities, religious beliefs, abilities, gender identities, sexual orientations, nationalities, neurodiversity, and life experiences. And whereas, to be truly welcoming, a community needs intentional, inclusive policies, practices, norms, activities, and gathering places that enable all residents to thrive, which we commit ourselves to develop, working together with the community. Now, therefore, I, not Mason Thompson, Mayor of the City of Bothell, do hereby proclaim September 10th through the 19th to be Welcoming Week in the City of Bothell and call on every Bothell community member to reach across the lines of difference and contribute to making our region a more welcoming place for every new and long-term community member alike.

Nice. And we have Gabby Kuna here to accept. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Deputy Mayor, council members, and community. For folks that don't know, my name is Gabby, my pronouns are they, them, and I have the honor of serving as the city's diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator. Like all city staff, a core tenant of my role is building a Bothell where every community member feels welcome and safe. As part of that mission, the city is reviewing and updating our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging roadmap. We're eager to hear from community members about their experiences to help shape the next generation of the strategic plan. This year, that coincides with Welcoming Week, in which we're hosting an open house and an info session on September 16th, and we highly encourage folks to come. We also have a survey that's currently on our website at bothellwa.gov backslash DEI roadmap, where you can learn more about the existing policies and procedures that we've already put in place and give your feedback on where we go from here. Thank you so much for recognizing Welcoming Week and helping us build a Bothell where everybody feels welcome, safe, and valued for exactly who they are.

Thank you.

We're gonna save pictures for the end and we'll pass out the folders then. Thank you. All right, next up we have Diaper Need Awareness Week. Whereas diaper need, the condition of not having a sufficient supply of clean diapers to keep babies and toddlers clean, dry, and healthy can adversely affect the health and well-being of children and their families. And whereas national surveys and research report that nearly one in two families with young children experience diaper need, and 48% of families report delaying diaper changes to extend their available supply. And whereas a sufficient supply of diapers is generally required for babies and toddlers to participate in child care and quality early education programs that support children's development and enable parents and caregivers to work or attend school. And whereas many parents experiencing diaper need report missing an average of five days of work each month due to an insufficient supply of diapers, creating additional challenges for family economic stability. And whereas Insufficient access to diapers can increase the risk of health concerns for babies and toddlers and may prevent families from accessing child care, work, or educational opportunities, further affecting their health, well-being, and economic security. And whereas Bothell is proud to be home to trusted community-based organizations, including KidVantage, that provide essential goods and resources to children and families experiencing economic hardship and help address diaper needs in our community, And whereas diaper banks and community organizations play a critical role in supporting families, promoting the health and well-being of children, and strengthening communities by providing access to diapers and other essential necessities. Now, therefore, I, Jenny Alderks, on behalf of Mason Thompson, Mayor of the City of Bothell, do hereby proclaim the week of September 14th through 20th, 2026, as National Diaper Need Awareness Week. in the city of Bothell and encouraged all to support organizations that collect and distribute diapers to families struggling with diaper need so that all children and families in our community can thrive and reach their full potential. And we have Jack Edgerton and representatives of KidVantage here to accept.

We think I haven't heard from them. I don't know if they're just stuck in traffic or, but they did say they were going to be here. So we will make sure they get it. Thank you.

Appreciate it. And then I've also asked a council member curd to read the proclamation for Puget sound starts here month.

Thanks Deputy Mayor, it's my honor. Puget Sound starts here month. Whereas Puget Sound and the waterways that connect our mountains to the shore contribute to Bothell's economic infrastructure, quality of life, and our natural resources, and whereas City Council's 2040 Vision for Environmental Stewardship emphasizes the importance of valuing and protecting our ecological resources, and whereas protecting water quality is a priority for the health and welfare of Bothell residents, And whereas Bothell has joined state agencies and more than 750 local organizations, governments, and tribes to engage residents in protecting and improving local and regional water quality. And whereas Puget Sound Starts Here Month provides an opportunity for the public to learn how they can help protect Puget Sound and our local waterways. Now, therefore, I, Carson Curd, on behalf of Mason Thompson, mayor of Bothell, do hereby proclaim the month of September 2026 as Puget Sound starts here month in the city of Bothell and call upon all community members to protect natural resources by reducing and eliminating sources of water pollution. I think we have Christy here from the city to accept.

Thank you, Council Member Kern and Deputy Mayor and Council Members. I'm Christy Cox. I'm one of the city's surface water program coordinators. When we say Puget Sound starts here, we're recognizing that protecting Puget Sound really does start right here in our own community. Bothell Streams Wetlands and the Sammamish River flow downstream, so the choices that we make here at home do affect the water that ultimately empties into Puget Sound. Each of us can help protect water through simple everyday actions like picking up after our dogs, avoiding yard chemicals, fixing leaky vehicles, and even adopting a local storm drain. These things may seem small, but together they can make a meaningful difference, not just for Bothell's waterways, but also for Puget Sound. So thank you, Council, for recognizing Puget Sound Starts Here Month and for continuing to make environmental stewardship a priority.

All right. And if those who, if staff wants photos with Council, we can do that. It's up to you. That is a no. Okay. All right. Do you want to go ahead and take the folders to them just while we're here? Thank you. We have to honor the ceremony a little bit. Thank you. All right, next up we have public comment, but before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that we are in election season and there are certain campaign-related restrictions regarding public comment on ballot measures. Public speakers generally cannot specifically address a campaign or ballot measure at a public meeting or during the public comment period. RCW 29B.45.101 prohibits government agencies from allowing the use of public facilities directly or indirectly for campaign purposes. Allowing members to speak in favor of or in opposition to a ballot measure or campaign during a public meeting or during a public comment period would violate this prohibition. That said, the city has accepted public comment in writing as well as accepted sign up for those who wish to speak at tonight's meeting. Written comments submitted to the city clerk no later than 3 p.m. today were forwarded to all city council members and are part of the record. When the clerk calls your name, you will have three minutes to speak. Please note that council will receive your input, but we do not engage in discussion on these topics. Staff will make note of items requiring follow-up.

Clerk? Thank you, Deputy Mayor Alderks. The first person I have, so we received no written comments this evening. The first person I have signed up to speak is Pat Pembroke. If you'd like to step to the podium, state your name for the record, and you'll have three minutes to speak.

Good evening. Thank you, council members and clerks. My name is Patricia DeNicola Pembroke, and I have lived in Bothell for over 30 years, paying my taxes and taking care of my property and my home, my husband and I. I would like to tell you how the development on 186th and 103rd is going to impact my husband and I is going to impact us. Our property's front yard butts up against the property to be developed's backyard. This development will be five feet, five feet, not a driveway, not a street, but five feet off my property line. The development is scheduled to be four stories. That is as high as a telephone pole. Our front yard is not that deep and when we walk out our door, we're just gonna have a big wall in front of us. This will significantly block our light and our sun and will negatively impact my plants and my emotional health because I really do need light and sun to feel good. Our front yard has been our sanctuary. Our backyard has already been compromised by development, and our privacy and sanctuary will be lost. I realize I cannot stop the construction, but why does it have to be four stories? Can't you meet your density requirements with three stories? This neighborhood is primarily two stories and ramblers. It's a neighborhood. It's not a busy main road. And I do understand that you are constructing on the main roads, and that makes sense to me, but That would be a good place for your four stories. Also, our 100-foot, possibly 100-year-old beautiful, beautiful big tree will likely be compromised and have to be removed, therefore getting rid of more of our privacy. Our streets are already being used for parking from the development on 185th, and they are already getting unsafe and will only get worse because there's never enough parking. I almost had a head-on collision fairly recently just coming up my road to go home when one of the neighbors came out of the side street and couldn't see around the car parked right on the corner. So that was pretty scary. Okay. I would like to say, how would you like to have four-story townhomes built off your property, five feet off your property?

Can I finish? Thank you, Ms. Pembroke. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Diana Jo Henderson. Please state your name when you get to the podium for the record. Thank you. Diana Henderson.

I live on 103rd Avenue in downtown Bothell. I have been a longtime resident and I have watched my once beautiful city change dramatically. I understand that Bothell needs more housing and I understand that HB 110 allows greater density. But I do not understand why responsible growth has to mean placing four-story high-density townhomes directly behind small single-family homes. I am one of the residents directly affected by the 20 townhomes being built in front of my home. I am not opposed to development. I am opposed to development that ignores the neighborhood and the people already here. These buildings will dramatically change our neighborhood. We are losing mature trees, wildlife habitat, and open space. We have concerns about an underground spring and whether redirecting it could cause flooding on neighborhood properties. and we are adding more vehicles to streets where parking and traffic are already serious problems. The safety issue is particularly troubling. When I leave my driveway, parked cars block my view in both directions. I cannot see approaching vehicles until I am already in the middle of the road. Drivers are often forced into the middle of the street because of parked cars and children riding e-bikes in the street. I am genuinely afraid that someone will be seriously injured or killed. There is another question. Who is the housing actually serving? These townhomes are expected to cost more than $1 million apiece. If increased density is supposed to provide housing for working and middle-class income families, where is the affordable middle housing? Four-story, million-dollar townhomes feel like luxury housing being built at the expense of the existing neighborhood. So I'm asking the council to do something very simple. Come see it. Come to my street, stand in my driveway, look at what is being built and what is being lost. You will see four-story buildings towering over small homes, trees disappearing, open space replaced by concrete, and more vehicle added to already congested streets. Growth does not have to mean sacrifices. Everything that made a neighborhood worth living. I am not asking you to stop growth. I am asking you to make growth make sense. We don't want to be obstacles. We want to be partners. Please listen to the people who will live with these decisions every day. And please don't wait until the trees are gone, the concrete is poured, and the buildings are standing before asking whether we could have done things differently. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have Irene Mueller. And I don't see her and I don't see her online either. Oh, there she is. All right, hold on just one moment. She's joining us now. Hi, Irene. Can you hear me okay? I can. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can. Go ahead. State your name, and you'll have three minutes.

Great. Thank you so much. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Irene Muller. I serve as the Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Essentials First, where our mission is empowering dignity daily and strengthening community-wide wellness by providing and advocating for equitable hygiene access. Hygiene poverty is a growing but often invisible issue in pretty much every city in the country. And while our region is known for its prosperity, many households are suffering due to the rising costs of living. When budgets get tight, hygiene products like soap, toothpaste, menstrual supplies, dish and laundry detergents are often the first thing families go with. These are not covered by any of the existing state-level programs like SNAP, EBT, WIC, or TANF. We partnered with the UW Evans School in 2025 on a study that showed that 28% of folks in Washington can't afford these things right now without sacrificing other critical expenses like transportation or utilities in order to cover these basic household hygiene essentials. The result isn't just discomfort either. There's real consequences. Folks miss school, miss work, increased health risk and barriers to maintaining dignity and stability in all kinds of ways. We're working to close this gap, and over the past year, we've distributed hundreds of thousands of hygiene items to over 8,000 households from our walking locations. These numbers reflect only the households able and willing to travel, often across counties, to an existing Essentials First location. I invite us to imagine together what will be possible when we envision and invest in hygiene distribution points, hygiene centers, and other resources targeted at ending hygiene poverty in Bothell. Many community members struggle with transportation and accessibility and would benefit immediately from having these resources available in their own community. In addition to distribution, we also invest in programs like our essential skills sewing classes, which help participants build income generating skills and strengthen long term economic resilience. Our World Food Program that provides culturally appropriate shelf stable food to families in need and Hygiene Champions Youth Programming that's helping build leaders for tomorrow from the communities where we distribute the supplies and do our advocacy work. Addressing hygiene poverty requires coordinated action, continued investment in community-based distribution, strong partnerships and policy solutions that recognize hygiene as a basic necessity. I invite each of you to think about the systems of care already in place in your city, paying attention to where you do or do not see hygiene needs being met alongside those for housing, food and other necessities that are more often discussed. Is this need being met there? What's missing and what's possible The first and most important step in solving the crisis of hygiene poverty in our communities is noticing it. I invite you all to do that wherever you can. We're grateful for your commitment to human services and your leadership in supporting community-based organizations. And together, we know we have an opportunity to ensure that every resident has access to not just food, but to the full set of essentials needed to live with health, dignity, and resilience. Thank you.

Thank you. That is all I have, Deputy Mayor Alderks. However, is there anybody else in the audience that wishes to speak? Please step to the podium, state your name for the record. You'll have three minutes. If you are virtual, please use the raised hand function and I will panel you in. We'll give everybody a minute. That is all I have, Deputy Mayor Alderks.

Thank you, Clerk. Next up, we have the City Manager report. City Manager.

Thank you very much, Deputy Mayor. And normally I buy speakers time with some introductions, and tonight I have myself to serve. With that, as the slides come up, I do want to note, thank you to Council Member Miles for alerting us that the slides did not get posted today by four o'clock. The confluence of a Monday holiday and a Tuesday council meeting often put a pinch in our processes. Apologies for that oversight. For the council members, I did send you an email containing the PDF slides of tonight's presentations. This is probably like the least of the one that you need to follow along, but as we have some of the more complicated topics that may be helpful for you and then for the public, we will make sure that those the slides get posted as well. So that's to come. With that, my first item on the city manager report tonight though is to transmit a important document to you and that is the draft 2027-28 budget. The purpose of tonight's meeting then is not for action or for any decisions, but really put into the kindest of words is that I recognize that the budget is a multi-hundred page document and a lot to go through. And so we aim to bring this to you before we have a study session, a week before the study session. It gives a little more time to digest and ask questions and to really think about what you might wanna ask next week. So again, just noting, we are scheduled to have a full study session on the budget next week. And at that time, we'll begin collecting your questions about the content. Tonight is really more about the process of how we got here, as well as the schedule of what to expect. The budget is made up of two documents, as you'll see, and together they make up a $469 million spending plan with about $180.5 million coming from the operating budget. The operating budget is where you'll find general government and a lot of the things that people associate with what they call the city about, and the capital facilities plan It lays out the future changes of infrastructure to the city and you'll see things that are related to public works, parks and recreation and even city facilities. What I also will notice is note that the capital facilities plan is a seven year document instead of a two year document. but then with our aim is to program finances for the upcoming two years. So we still will put focus primarily on 2027, 2028, but because we're looking out further of what's to come, if you see something missing or would want priority orders changed, those are good opportunities to have that conversation. I'll note too that of the over 400 million of needed funding to, to, to implement the capital facilities plan in six years, we have about $253 million secured. I'll also note, there's hopefully no surprises in any of, in either of these documents, but in particular, the capital facilities plan really aims to reflect work that the city has been directed to do by you already. Within it, you're gonna see things that came up in the Bothell comprehensive plan, the parks recreation and open space or PROS plan, the utility comprehensive plans, including water, sewer, storm, and surface water, safety programs, like we'll hear tonight at the study session, our city bike plan, pavement preservation, and so much more. So just a little bit of background of how we get to putting things together. And again, how does the budget document hopefully feel familiar to council? So a couple of things just as a reminder. Earlier this year in the spring, the city put out a community survey that really helps inform the budget. There's a wide range of questions that the residents are asked of how do they feel about the city. And I think there's always things in there that are good questions indicators of things going well, or there can be, I'm glad that there have been, as well as things that are concerns also, which we heard tonight, a public comment. So it's good to be tapped into this. So some of the things that the primary themes that help inform the budget, Again, we're grateful for high marks from the community overall with 82%. Reading Bothell is a good, excellent place to live. 92% of people feeling safe and 86% of people answering that they feel like they belong in Bothell. We'd love to get to 100%, and I will also say those are great numbers to be building from. We're in good position. There's a lot of value that our residents have in some of the things that already exist in the core infrastructure of what makes Bothell great, with parks and trails and natural areas, events. the feeling of safety that is so strong, and connections to other residents. These are things that people are looking for and want to preserve. There's also feedback as a theme throughout the document that if there are areas of concerns, it's about acknowledging the need for growth and balancing that with the hometown feel that is acknowledged in the council vision. Again, things that you're certainly familiar with. And again, for those who may not have had a chance to read the full budget survey before, it is available on the city's website under budget survey and is a good document to take a look through for better background. Now, council, you'll also remember you gave us a lot of great early feedback as well. In May, we held a council workshop to focus on budget development. And before coming up with this proposed budget, which I am transmitting to you, we were able to have conversations about, in this room, but with less chairs, and we got to walk around a little bit. So the conversations really surrounded budget drivers of what are the things that go into the budget, what are the things that we're anticipating and forecasting for the future. A lot of that is the increasing costs that everybody is facing in terms of things are, inflation is affecting as homeowners, as businesses, and as city governments. The revenue outlook helped paint a picture for what we're seeing in terms of general revenues, our utility rates, and then also there was a conversation about potential revenue options. Our finance director, Quan Wong, will always, to talk to you about ways that we can look to diversify a range of potential revenue options, knowing that there's not one source by itself that will equitably fund the government sufficiently long-term. So in this proposed budget, there is anticipation In this case, not radically different, but there are two sales tax options that council asked to have more information about. And so we will be having discussions about those of a public safety sales tax rate and then a human services as well. And then we also spent time talking about the capital facilities plan and having some visuals that showed What are the things contemplated? One section that is different than years past is really putting a focus on city facilities. As we came through the comprehensive plan, that was an area that we put aside. We looked community first and didn't really think as closely early on about what the impact of the city would be. But again, knowing what our growth projections are or our targets that we're supposed to plan for, of accommodating up to over 80,000 population from the 50 we're at now. There will be additional services to maintain service levels across the community of a larger size. And with that, we're not committed to anything in terms of changes to city facilities, but it's something that responsibly we need to start considering of what might that look like. Our police department is at over 30 years for a 30-year building. Our courthouse is quite full. These things are conversations we need to have and start planning for because we don't want them to be on top of us. So we'll start that conversation in this budget, but not fund any dramatic changes in that. We also have had a number of conversations in the past few months, and the Council recently adopted the Parks Pros Plan, and so there's a lot more detail and focus on what expansion of the parks program and portfolio would look like in Bothell. So those were things that helped inform. So then we get to work and develop the budget. And some of the things that we looked at then as an organization, first of all, I want to thank the city staff for being cognizant of the financial conditions that we were in, recognizing that we weren't going to see large revenue growth in this budget environment. I'm also fortunate for the great work of the council over years past, too, of when we did have a rosier picture about finances, we didn't outgrow what we can sustain. So there's been a value of let's make sure that we can sustain responsibly what we have. And that commitment has stayed with us. We looked first to let's look at that budget survey. Let's look at what the community has told us and what the council's told us about what makes Bothell special. And let's make sure that we're able to preserve the core services that happen every day of public safety, of quality roads, of continuing to invest in our parks and open spaces. And let's keep what's going well moving forward so we don't degrade existing services in order to fund something new and then have two problems later on down the road. But we're also looking at the fact that we do have some things that we need to work at. So that's investing in Bothell's future, which looks at our community gave us a glowing scorecard at the polls a year ago by renewing our safe streets and sidewalks levy. And what we're able to do with that renewed levy is so much greater than what we were able to do in the previous levy. And so looking at How do we start making progress on those projects that the community so graciously has funded and make sure that we're keeping up with things? We're also looking at how are we innovating? How are we bringing in new technology? This budget funds a new CRM or customer relationship management system. We have not identified it. We don't have that software picked out, but we have identified there's a need to do that. We're looking at our permitting software to make sure that the experience that residents have when they need to come in and do anything from install a hot water heater to potentially be adding onto their home or building an accessory dwelling unit. How is their experience in terms of technology and how are we streamlining those processes? And so, we'll continue to invest in new technologies and new ways of doing business. The other thing that I want to note that I see as very strong connection to investing in Bothell's future is that one of the principles that we use in developing our budget here in Bothell is that we don't assume any sort of inflationary factor. So it's very common, we'll see our pure cities and not to call anyone out, but how budgets are looked at is they look at what is the inflationary figure and then everything rises to that level. That works. In my philosophy of leadership with our executive leadership team, how we look at it is that there's an opportunity if we say we're going to keep a status quo budget and then document anything that increases, even if it is because of inflationary factors, it gives us a better picture of what are the things that incrementally are growing and what are the opportunities that we have to stop doing things to hold our budgets at the same level. And so that's how we handle things is that, again, we assume in our operations and maintenance, we assume a 0% growth, and then we document anything that is new and above the existing level, so it makes it easier to, again, prioritize, but also in that innovation to be able to call the question of what can we do differently and how can we streamline our existing services so that we can do new things without paying more for the existing work that we're doing. And then finally, really a big focus on community priorities. Again, with both the budget survey, but also then of putting a focus on making sure that we're funding the council vision and priorities that were adopted earlier this year. So if you put something in as a council priority, we found a way to fund it. Maybe not tomorrow, but within the next three years, and we have a plan for that. All right, so that's going to inform what you're going to see when you go to read the budget. It's been posted on the city website since Thursday. So if you're a community member and want to take a look, if you search budget on the city's website, it's going to take you right to both of these documents and you can follow along in the process. But what are you following along with? Let's take a look at the schedule. So we go back to May 19th where the budget workshop that I talked about earlier happened and that really got the ball rolling for the council conversations about budget. And that brings us to tonight, which is that, that budget submittal to you to start considering. Another thank you goes to our staff, including the finance staff who we asked after two years ago, we were getting feedback from council and also just looking at the process that we went through. and recognize that there's a number of actions that you have to take in November to meet statutory deadlines. And then we reward you by coming back the very next meeting in December, the first meeting in December to adopt more things. And we said, what if we do that all at once? And that doesn't lock council into an adoption of the budget in November, but if you chose to do so, we think we've come up with a schedule where you can. And in order to do that, we moved the delivery of this budget to you up a month earlier. Two years ago, we were doing this on October 8th. Here we are on September 8th, and I thank the staff for being able to pivot and frankly, using some of their summer to get this budget done, but we hope that it pays off here at the end of the year and it helps your process as well. Within it, you're gonna be able to peruse what does the budget look like? What are the revenue assumptions? What are the expenditure assumptions? What are the rates assumptions? And then starting next week will be a series of study sessions from September all the way through October. For the council members who have been through this before, you'll remember this, but for our two newer council members who this is your first budget, this is also the opportunity to start asking any questions that you might have about the budget. And how we handle those questions too is we may not have the answer next week, but what we will do is in every subsequent budget, study session that we have with you or item related to the budget, We're going to have what we refer to as a memory bank, where meeting by meeting we'll list out what were the questions that were asked and either have a written answer. Sometimes there's an answer of if you look at the chart on page 97, that'll answer what you're looking for. Or it might be a more substantial answer, or it may list a date of a future meeting of which we will be addressing that in a study session. So your questions next week will really inform the details of what the SUBSEQUENT STUDY SESSIONS OVER THE COURSE OF OCTOBER WILL LOOK LIKE. WHEN WE COME INTO NOVEMBER, WE'LL THEN HAVE A COUPLE OF MEETINGS TO PICK THIS BACK UP. WE'RE GOING TO BE HAVING A PUBLIC HEARING IN OCTOBER. I BELIEVE ON THE SPECIAL WE'RE LOOKING AT A MEETING IN OCTOBER TO HAVE THE PUBLIC HEARING AND THEN TIE UP ANY LOOSE ENDS IN NOVEMBER. AND THEN FOR THE THIRD TUESDAY IN NOVEMBER, OUR GOAL IS TO HAVE A BUDGET FOR YOU TO CONSIDER ADOPTING. And again, the good news is, statutorily, you have until December 31st to adopt the budget. Unlike the federal government, we cannot continue our budget, and our budget has to be balanced. So that's our mission, and I know we're going to get there together. So we're hoping to do it in November, but there could be a December slide, and that'll be okay, too. With that, that brings me back to, again, just a reminder, tonight is really to whet your appetite, help you go through and peruse the document, and be ready for next week's conversation with any questions you may have. But if there's anything about the process or the schedule that I can help you with, or you see a glaring problem already, we'd love to have questions. Our finance director, Quan Wong, is also in the audience, so if you ask me a stumper, I'll be putting up my right hand and he'll be coming to the table. But with that, I'll turn things back over to you for a minute. We'll close this one, and then we'll go to our next staff presentation.

I want to look to my colleagues to see if they have any questions for you first. All right. We'll have questions for you next week.

I am going to count on it, and that makes the process that much better. So the second item under the city manager report this week is a periodic update on the economic vitality plan. We'll frame that here in a minute. We're joined by Claire Corey, our deputy city manager, and Ashish Joshi, who is our economic development coordinator. As Ashish brings up the slides, I just want to note, too, that when you see the slides, either on the PDF that I sent you or what Ashish brings up, you're going to see a new art project. or a new art installation. Council will remember that we held a retreat to talk about the vision and priorities earlier this year in the month of March at the Innovation Hall on University of Washington Bothell campus, shared with Cascadia as well, Cascadia College, so two for one. The first slide is gonna show Innovation Hall with a new extra tidbit, which is an art piece outside called Out of the Box. The artist's description of this is that it reflects really so much of what we do in city government and what you just heard in the budget and what we're going to hear about this economic vitality plan, which is that there's many, many different pieces that have to come together to make the whole more than what it could be just by itself. So that's what this art represents. And it's a great tie into our wonderful economic vitality work that council has directed us to do. So with that, I'm going to turn things over to Claire. to introduce the topic, and we'll hear from Ashish about what we know so far. Claire.

Thank you, City Manager. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council. As the City Manager said, Ashish and I are here with you this evening to provide an update on the Economic Vitality Plan. And with that, there is no action this evening, but we are trying to come to you on a more regular basis, so we're looking at this as the biannual update on the Economic Vitality Plan. And this slide is just a reminder, as you know, in the council vision 2040, there are eight areas and one of the focus areas is economic vitality. And the council adopted the economic vitality plan back in July of 2025. And then in the strategic priorities over the next three years, the first priority under that vision area is implementation of that plan. And so we're going to provide you some greater details tonight about that work. And with that, I will pass it over to Ashish.

Thank you, Deputy City Manager, Deputy Mayor, Council Members. Today we're going to be looking at a few things. We're going to be looking at a little bit of an overview of the vitality in the city, how we hear from employers to make sure we stay in tune, a few metrics related to those, and how that plays into keeping and bringing businesses, as well as what's next. As a reminder, what economic vitality is, is based on the City Council's vision, broken up into four elements. And as part of the economic vitality plan process, we synthesize these four elements into three themes guiding our actions. be it from making sure our small businesses have support to supporting our industries and the innovation economy, and then also bringing all of that together into vibrant districts throughout the city. We want to make sure that after we've adopted the plan and now begin to implement the plan, we want to make sure it's not out of date already as we start. So we connect with our businesses. And one way we make sure we stay aligned and hear the needs is through a roundtable. So earlier this year, we joined Council Member Alcabra and Council Member Anguluri at this forum to hear from our businesses. And we heard three kind of big things from them. We heard we need to build more of that ecosystem with the campus as kind of the jewel of that. City processes and connections need to be flexible but predictable. Sometimes that might seem opposite, but consistency is key ultimately. And the biggest thing is building that workforce pipeline. So with all those elements, how do we make sure we connect it so that people can find the jobs where they need to? And these all tie in with the Vitality Plan actions currently. At the same time, there's still always room to improve and focus more in. And from what we've heard, training programs and flow charts and guides are two elements that we are putting greater emphasis on. And through that, we want to make sure we measure our progress as we implement the plan. And these are three examples of metrics that are visible at a city level. And we'll dive into them a little bit deeper. The first one being the unemployment rate. So the unemployment rate with the city of Bothell compared to the region is mostly stable, as you can see. We're a little bit lower, likely because other parts of the region have more emphasis on the tech economy, which is a little bit more volatile at the moment. But despite this, we have two risks that we wanna keep an eye on as well. One being that our major industries, the examples being life science and aerospace are a couple of them, are stable at the moment, but they're heavily dependent on federal funding. So right now it's a little bit of a challenging time. But over the long term, there is increased stability to those type of industries compared to others just because of that connection. And then the other risk is that the unemployment rate does not include the amount of people that stop looking for work. So whether it be for multiple reasons, but the theme is around affordability and access. So be it housing, childcare, transportation, and health costs are a few of those leading causes. But as we will talk about later, that ties into our broader portfolio of work across the city. The second is regarding vacancy rates. So that's our buildings in the city, our houses, our businesses. How full are they basically? And a lot of numbers on this slide, but a key comparison is the city of Redmond. So the city of Redmond, similar to the city of Bothell, has roughly about 600,000 square foot of combined office and industrial available. And they have a larger inventory, so their vacancy rate is a little bit lower than us. But over the last three to four years, we've had an increased level of leasing. So we have a little bit more activity. Those things always change, but that's kind of a comparison of kind of how we rope into the larger economy. And then, so we look at our, a few of our regional cities, but we also look, we're a regional economy, so we look at our comparisons across the nation. So, be it peer regions are Boston, Raleigh, Denver are a few of the examples that we keep an eye on. And what we've seen is that they're in similar positions with the trends and vacancy rates for both industrial and office. And the third metric that we take a look at is that we want to make sure we reach our employment targets. And so we've seen a big jump in growth last in 2022. And then the years since have been a little bit more tepid. But a lot of that is macroeconomics. So whether it be interest rates or other elements of the overall cost to do business, as we see in the budget at the city level, but also in our business community, it is more expensive to do business than previous eras. And then how does this all kind of tie into the day-to-day life that we see? So often in the news you'll see a new business coming in or you'll see a business that is reevaluating how much office space they need. And that we want to make sure kind of how they make those decisions and we want to hear from them. And what we've heard is that there's three areas that they look at. Some that we have more direct influence and some that we have less. But whether it be less or more, we want to maximize our influence in every element. So that ties into the work across the city, be it our regional leadership and our connection to the region and the state in strategy and alignment. Or the portfolio of work across the city, be it in transportation, our parks, increasing the environment that these businesses look forward to when they move here. And then tying to what we heard directly from the businesses earlier, that welcome mat. So when a business connects with us, where can we be more aligned so processes aren't duplicated? How can we make sure we communicate the right information regarding real estate or permits? in the most efficient way because ultimately, as we know at the city, we end with businesses, time is money. So how can we make sure we can be as streamlined as possible? And that leads us to kind of what's next. So the main thing is that the economic vitality plan is ongoing. And the bedrock of that is more connection with our business community. So a couple of ways that we're looking at more connection is more softer scale opportunities to connect with our small businesses and also piloting ways to connect with other parts of our larger businesses as well. So for example, our property owners and developers and kind of hearing what they're seeing more frequently. And that's something that we're piloting with our regional partner, the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County. So those are a couple of examples. And then with all those, we want to make sure we keep staff and the council updated and aligned on everything going on. So lastly, I just want to give another special thanks, mirroring the city manager on the budget, to teams across the city for work to move the economic vitality of the city forward. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thanks for the presentation. We'll see if there's questions up here. Council Member Miles.

Thank you. Thank you for this presentation. This is really great. I might have some basic economic questions for you. Sorry, I did not take econ. So with the unemployment rate, how do you factor in people live one place and work another place? How is that? How do those numbers jive?

So the unemployment rate covers the people working in the city. So we regionally take a look at kind of the inflow-outflow and how it affects other places, but this number specifically refers to the people working in the city.

Okay, got it. And then with the folks that are unemployed, is there a particular sector, like tech, where they're being let go? Is that really the big one?

In the City of Bothell, it is spread out. Healthcare is a big one. And within our manufacturing industry, as those change towards more research-based, there's changes there. So those are the two big ones.

Sure. Last question. Any way that we are supporting or helping people get back to work in terms of programs or other things like that?

Yeah, absolutely. So the majority of our jobs that relate to our major employers that have had the most changes are in Snohomish County. So for that example, we work with the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County and Workforce Snohomish. And there's a rapid response team, so when we get the communities familiar with the war notices at the state that a company is letting go a certain amount of employees, almost immediately we connect them with work source resources. to connect with job training, other opportunities to connect to. And that is reflected in King County as well through the Workforce King County Alliance.

Okay, thank you very much. This was super helpful. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. First of all, Claire and Ashish, great report. Thank you so much. Employment is key for all our communities, and we have Canyon Park. Some of us were at portal space systems, which grew from 600 square feet to 6,000, and now to 60,000 square feet. So it's really awesome to see that it's growing in our own communities. And I really loved the connecting employers to the campus training programs. That's really great. We are blessed with our UW Bothell. So definitely unemployment and office vacancy, probably a couple of metrics, but I wanted to hear from you. What are the couple of metrics that you are concerned or comforting overall as you lead this for our city?

Yeah, it's less the metrics themselves, it's more the elements behind them. And it's how, rather than the change quarter to quarter, it's tying it into our five-year economic vitality plan. So the areas where we see that we need to put more emphasis on, just putting more emphasis, like we mentioned, more emphasis on the workforce pipeline. and the experience so that we can attract more businesses and our businesses feel more connected and ultimately information is the most helpful thing so that you know what's going on in the community and so being more connected is probably the biggest thing.

And unemployment rate in 2018, 2019, we were close to 3%, 3.5%. Now we are at 4.7%. Is that a bit concerning or not really? What do you think?

It is, but it also is a different economy post-pandemic. So we take a look at those national regions to kind of see they have similar populations, they have similar industries. And we kind of see how they're going through it and where they've had pitfalls, where can we mitigate those? And then where they've had things that rise up and prove to be a huge success, how can we also repeat that? 4.9% is higher compared to our peers, but it's the trajectory that we're making sure that we're on an upward trajectory.

Thank you. And a quick question, City Manager. Anything we can talk about Philips, or is it better not to hold it for the future Philips?

Well, I think actually, I mean, Ashish can fill you in. The only thing we know is that Philips has previously announced that they are looking to sell their property. They're committed to staying in the Puget Sound region, but looking to diversify their portfolio. They have, as people may be aware, and I think the Puget Sound Business Journal recently wrote about, they have listed they're actively marketing. The city has received inquiries from potential buyers about what is permitted use at the property, But we have heard no next steps in terms of if a final offer has been signed. I suspect we'll be aware. And once we do, we'll bring that information to council. So that's what we know for now. And we're looking for, we'd love to get resolution and final information soon. But I also quite understand, as I know you do too as council members, sometimes these real estate transactions take a little more time.

Thank you so much. Great report. Thank you.

All right. If nobody else has any questions, I have one. I'm curious to hear more about the Welcome Mat experience. Can you describe what people are looking for and what the intention is there?

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of that is in development at the moment, but key elements that we're looking forward to are, whether it be a small business or a large business, something that we've seen is something called kind of like a starter kit. So you want to move into, for a smaller business, you want to move into a building. What is the process to go through our permitting? the 10 steps, as they may be. If you want to do improvements to get to the place you are, what information should you know about? So a lot of times, small businesses, they don't know what they don't know, like us all. And how can we kind of reduce that? And on the flip side, on the big business side, be it big business or their representatives, they often are in the same position. They don't know what they don't know. So how do we make sure that they understand that 10-step permitting process, they know about the pre-application process, so that they can answer all the questions ahead of time and not run into pitfalls down the permitting process. And a big part of Bothell's competitive advantage is flex spaces. So connections to the property owners, so making us all in sync so that ultimately a lot of these businesses want to customize that building to be the way they want it to be, similar in small businesses. How can we make sure they have the information to do that as fast as possible?

Great. I love the concept. I'm glad that you've developed it at least that far. One question I have for small businesses, are you including that welcome mat experience for people who want to start neighborhood retail?

Absolutely. So covering neighborhood retail, and a lot of those can be a lot less than 3,000 square foot. It could be sometimes 600 square foot. So taking them through basics like that, but even whether they go through the regulations like... bike storage and things like that and seeing does it apply to me as a small business, they can kind of get those answers. And one way we have it right now is kind of a concierge system. Any small business comes into our permitting desk or they reach out to the city And we kind of talk them through what are they looking at, what are some things to keep an eye on. And ultimately, we're a point of connection. So they are not alone through the process. No matter how big or small a question they have, they can come back to the city and feel open to be able to connect on any question they have.

I love that. Um, for a long time I was in a profession where my job was to provide emotional, physical and informational support to people as they were trying to do something. Um, and that sounds like what you're trying to do. Not, I'm not calling you doulas. I'm just saying that you're using those skills, that skillset. Um, The other question I have is now, just like you did on welcome mat experience for the small businesses, but also for large businesses, will you be including sponsorship opportunities for the city in your welcome experience?

Exactly. Yep. And that is one of the things that we're looking at. And that's a big thing where at the end, alignment across the city is essential for that. So, for example, several departments have already made a lot of progress and they have a long history of that sponsorship connection. And so we want to make sure that one, we're connected with businesses so that we're constantly in communication and can be aware of those opportunities and that the opportunities are presented in a way so that it's plug and play for them. I'm really glad to hear that.

Um, because I know that the sponsorship, uh, for four city programming and, um, events and like amenities are, it's pretty recent. Um, and so just to like help get the word out as if they're new to the area, just making sure that they know immediately, you know, immediately, like in the first, the first contact that that is something that they can, um, pursue with us and that we can find ways to, to serve the community together. So, um, thank you for the presentation. for answering the questions. And I think that's it. Appreciate you being here.

Excellent. And that does conclude the city manager report, Deputy Mayor. So I'll turn it back over to you for council reports and conversations.

All right. Looks like Council Member Dodd.

Thanks. I wanted to ask, one of the boards I represent the city on is the North Urban Human Services Alliance. I can no longer attend the meetings which are the fourth Wednesday of the month from about 9 to 10 30 ish So if that is something anyone can accommodate I would love to have a warm transfer of responsibility there I Can support its conversations, I don't have to call on you I can help unless if anyone else wanted to happy to yeah it's fine I was wondering if it's in person or it's virtual virtual and it's always virtual it's always hour and a half yeah so because you're on the board you go to the sort of the general meeting and then stay for the board meeting after so it's like a two-for-one and if I recall the the meeting itself with presentations and discussion is from 9 to 10 30 and then the board meets at 10 30 to 11

I could be wrong.

That sounds right.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah. Please share more information through email or however, in case, yeah, if that can help me to catch up anything.

Yeah. And then, Council Member Miles, I saw your mic was on. I didn't know. I can send it to both of you. The three of us can talk about.

No, my mic's on for something else. Sorry.

Fair enough. You're it. Okay.

Can I go? Yes, it's conversations.

That's right, it's conversations. We can converse. I want to say it has been an eventful and fun nine months being on council, and we had a wonderful off-site back in March. One thing that didn't happen in that off-site was that we didn't have discussion about how we will work together as a new body. So what I was wondering and thinking is, is it possible that we could have a facilitated half-day off-site to talk about how we work together, just so that we are forming, norming, and storming together so that we will be bigger, badder, and stronger as a group? So just wanted to throw that out to you all to see if that was something that you'd be interested in.

Absolutely. I think especially because one of our two new folks is asking for that, I think it's important that we respond. I'd be happy to participate, hopefully on a weekend day. She said sort of tired.

Thank you. I'm glad that there's interest and appetite. And yes, a weekend would be awesome.

I'd support that too. I 100% support. I used to comment a couple of times, our city manager. It was a very working session, last time retreat. I think we need to have more team building. I 100% support. The more we spend, of course, it needs to be a public, I think, informing way in advance and all. But I love it. Thank you for bringing it up, Council Member Miles.

Well, thank you, everyone. I'm super glad and excited, again, that there's appetite. And then city manager, no trust falls. So thank you.

Noted. We'll have staff reach out to council about some availability and also start working on looking for facilitator support.

And just to note, I know that we are in the busy season. We're trying to compress everything before the holiday season. So sometime after that, I wouldn't expect anything more.

We'll see what we can do.

All right. Last call for council conversations. All right. Moving on to projected agenda discussion. We have council member Dodd here to introduce this item.

It's true. So I am going to start with a reminder for all of us, because this doesn't come up super often, just to follow state law. My question is, do we want to consider taking a position on this, not what is your position, because we can't talk about that until we meet again, if we agree to meet again on this. I'm going to forget the initiative numbers, but they're in your packet. There are two initiatives on the November ballot. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. And I was hoping that we could add to our agenda a discussion to take place whether we should take a position as a city council on these. And it's IL 26-638 and IL 26-001. Yes. Thank you. I think I need... Two more yeses if we want to talk about that. I think that the topics are in line with things that we have taken positions on before as a council and made proclamations and resolutions about. So it seemed to make sense to have a discussion. I believe the city manager said that we would come back around October 8th, closer to the election, if we wanted to do that. So...

So I had a question. So we're having a discussion about having a discussion, correct?

Yes. Okay. That is the state law in front of us today.

Okay. And by having a discussion about having a discussion, what problem are we trying to solve?

that we could potentially come back on October 8th to have the discussion about whether to take a stance on these initiatives as a council. Staff will prepare both a pro and con resolution and we could pass one of them or none of them.

Got it. City Manager, can you as staff do that because this is a political issue or not?

Yeah, there is a state law allowance for how this process works. As our city clerk noted to me earlier today of just recognizing that we're having this discussion moments after the deputy mayor read a script about how we don't have statements about political campaigns or anything related to the elections. So what state law allows is equal opportunity for both sides of an issue on things that are ballot measures and going to be coming before voters. What staff would do then is, I actually talked to a city manager of a neighboring city who they took this on in August. The staff had pretty templaty resolutions that had some fact statements and the council then following their public hearing and discussion amended the resolutions to add more comments, but yes we can and we may or may not get an A on the report card from what council's final product could be, but we are able to support taking a position in a very specific way where, again, both sides of an issue are given equal opportunity to speak to their either support or opposition of a ballot measure.

Okay. One other question, Councilmember Dodd. What are you trying to get out of this? What's the end game?

The end game would be that I would hope our council would listen to the public hearing and take a position on these initiatives. I am talking slowly and deliberately because I want to follow the law in this, so I'm not sharing a personal position, but other city councils are also doing this. These are pretty broad and impactful initiatives and helping people understand through a resolution that calls out the impacts and that we as a body are for or against them, however the votes go, could help people see that and draw attention to it. So my hope is that we take an informed position that helps add to the overall discourse on the initiatives.

One last piece, and then... Is that... I get that. I understand that. keeping all personal feelings aside, is that the place for a council to do that?

I think that's what we're talking about right now. So we have done this in 2024 for a couple of statewide initiatives. Not all of the ones on that ballot, certainly. I think it's something that I personally try to support sparingly. And for me, these feel like initiatives that I hope we can take a look at.

Fair enough.

I will also add that this process has been used in the past to align our positions with clearly stated values that we have expressed as the city. And so I do appreciate that Council Member Dodd is bringing this forward because my understanding is that by hearing the discussion from the city, from members of the public, and weighing that, we are able to then make a united decision here on council where we're able to stand in alignment with those values.

I think this will be my last statement. I mean, if we're having a conversation about having a conversation, that's one conversation. I do have some concern about us moving forward. And maybe that's the conversation that we have during the conversation. But I do have some concern about us taking a position on this.

Okay. So I know that one of the situations needed here. Can I have my script back?

Thank you. Appreciate that.

Alright, so we do need at least three council members to voice support to be able to put this on the agenda and have the discussion.

So far I think we have... If it helps, I think it's good to have the conversation when we're allowed to have the conversation. So we can decide at that time on the direction. But I said yes because I think we do need to discuss this in the proper way. regardless of how we feel about the initiatives themselves or whether the council is supposed to take a position, all that stuff. We can have that discussion in the open when it's fully legal to do so.

Certainly it's easier when we can speak less like this.

Okay. And one question I have is, is it three council members in addition to council member Dodd or is it council member Dodd and two council members?

Protocol manual just says three council members.

So inclusive of council member Dodd, we have, I think, support to put this on an upcoming agenda. If I can count correctly.

Yeah, so we will move forward with getting this scheduled on October 6th, and then I'll ask staff to do all the public noticing that is required to conform with state law.

Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Next up, we have the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Council Member Dodd.

I move to approve the consent agenda. Second.

The motion to approve the consent agenda has been made by Council Member Dodd and seconded by Council Member Curd. Is there any discussion? Clerk, you may proceed with the roll call.

Thank you. Please say yes or no. I want to call your name, Council Member Ongulary.

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Alderks. Yes. Council Member Curd.

Yes.

Council Member Miles? Yes. Council Member Dodd? Yes. Council Member O'Connor?

Yes.

Passes 6-0 with Mayor Thompson absent and excused.

Okay. We have a public hearing, which means I am going to go to our Choose Your Own Adventure agenda item. So let me explain the purpose first. The purpose of this agenda item is for the City Council to review and take action on the street vacation for a portion of Northeast 185th Street between 108th Avenue Northeast and 110th Avenue Northeast as requested by the University of Washington Bothell. As this is a quasi-judicial proceeding, it is handled differently than other matters that City Council routinely discusses. I will first go over the order of operations for this matter. At the start of the hearing, as this is a quasi-judicial matter, we will begin by swearing in all witnesses wishing to provide testimony. Then the city attorney will ask the council members the appearance of fairness questions. After each council member has responded to the questions, the public will have the opportunity to present challenges. This is the time to bring forward information or inquiries related to whether each council member is in a position to make a fair. unbiased decision on this matter. If you would like to raise a challenge please either step forward to the podium or use the virtual raise hand option in the zoom interface to indicate that you would like to speak. The city clerk will call on each person bringing forward a challenge. After the appearance of fairness process, we will open the topic to take public testimony. Members of the public wishing to testify on the proposed street vacation will have the opportunity to do so tonight. Public testimony will be limited to three minutes. After three minutes, you will be asked to conclude your testimony and no extensions of time will be provided. This will allow everyone a chance to speak. The timer on the podium will count down your three minutes and will turn red when your three minutes are complete. Those wishing to testify but not using all their three minutes may not donate their time to another individual wishing to testify. Following public comments, we will hear from the proponents of the proposal. Then city staff will present a report and lay out the decision criteria. The proposal proponents and staff will then have an opportunity to present any rebuttal if needed. At that point, the council will commence deliberations. We will now swear in the witnesses who will testify in this proceeding. Would all applicants, city staff, and other persons wishing to testify tonight please stand and raise your right hand. All right. And if you're joining us online, please turn on your camera and raise your right hand. You can look down there. I'm going to just give a second to the folks online. Just thank you for your patience. I don't see anybody. So do you promise to tell the truth in these proceedings? If so, respond with, I do. Thank you. You may be seated. City Attorney, will you please ask each member of the City Council the appearance of fairness questions?

Good evening, Deputy Mayor and City Council. This is Eileen Kiefer of Madrona Law Group, your City Attorney. I will ask each of you the appearance of fairness questions. I'm going to start with the Deputy Mayor, and then I'm going to proceed through Council positions. So, Council Member Anguluri, you'll follow up Deputy Mayor, and then we'll take it from there. Okay, so Deputy Mayor, are you ready for the appearance of fairness questions?

Yes.

Do you have any interest in the property or the application or own property within 300 feet of the property subject to the street vacation proposal?

No.

Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties or non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Have you engaged in any ex parte communications with either proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

And then finally, can you hear and consider the proposal tonight in a fair and objective manner? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Council Member Angulory, are you ready for the questions?

Yes.

Do you have any interest in the property or the application or own property within 300 feet of the property subject to the proposal?

No.

Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties or non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Have you engaged in any ex parte communications with either proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

And finally, can you hear and consider the street vacation proposal tonight in a fair and objective manner?

Yes.

Thank you. Okay. Council Member Curd, you're up next. Are you ready?

Yep.

Do you have any interest in the property or the application or in property within 300 feet of the property subject to the street vacation proposal?

No.

Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties or non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Have you engaged in any ex parte communications with proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

Can you hear and consider the proposal tonight in a fair and objective manner?

Yes.

Thank you. Council Member Miles, you're up next. Yes. You're ready? Okay. Do you have any interest in the property or the application or own property within 300 feet of the property subject to the proposal? No. Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding? No. Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties or non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding? No. Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding? No. Have you engaged in any ex parte communications with proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

And can you hear and consider the street vacation proposal tonight in a fair and objective manner?

Yes.

Thank you. Council Member Dodd, are you ready? I am.

Okay.

Do you have any interest in the property or the application or own property within 300 feet of the property subject to the proposal?

No.

Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties or non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Have you engaged in any ex parte communications with proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

And can you hear and consider the street vacation proposal tonight in a fair and objective manner? Yes. Thank you. Finally, Council Member Alcobar, are you ready?

Yes.

Do you have any interest in the property or the application or own property within 300 feet of the property subject to the street vacation proposal? Does your employer have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Is there any prospective employment for you or a member of your family as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Do you have any familial, social, or business relationships or connections with any of the parties, non-parties who have an interest in the outcome of this proceeding? Do you stand to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of this proceeding?

No.

Have you engaged in ex parte communications with proponents or opponents of the proposal?

No.

And finally, can you hear and consider the proposal in a fair and objective manner?

Yes.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor, that concludes the appearance of fairness questions. Thank you, Council.

Thank you, city attorney. Does anyone in attendance wish to challenge the participation of any council member based on appearance of fairness doctrine? If so, please step up to the podium. If you are viewing the meeting on Zoom, please use a virtual raise hand feature located at the bottom of the Zoom interface. Select raise hand. The host will then see that you have your hand raised and can invite you to speak. When called upon, please state the name of the member and the reasons why you believe they should be disqualified from this matter. Please remember we are not taking public testimony at this point in the evening, so please limit your statements to only any reasons you believe a council member should be disqualified. We will hear all challenges first. Before any challenge, council member will have an opportunity to respond to such challenge. Challenges are not an opportunity to ask questions of the city council members, and we would ask that those making challenges succinctly state the reasons supporting such challenges. Should I also read the note?

No, the notes are for your benefit, and that's if you get any challenges. Thank you.

Okay, I see no challenges, city clerk. Okay, I'm gonna keep going until I find the place where we're supposed to be. I'm on page seven. Okay, so we're moving on to public testimony. Public testimony for the proposed street vacation for a portion of Northeast 185th Street between 108th Avenue Northeast and 110th Avenue Northeast is now open. Sign-ups for public comment were received by the city clerk. We will now ask for members of the public to present testimony. When the city clerk calls your name, please step to the podium. Please remember to state your name, confine your remarks to the matter at hand, and... that you have a time limit of three minutes. The timer on the podium will alert you when your time limit has expired.

We did not receive any public comment for this public hearing tonight. If there's anybody in the audience who wishes to speak to this under the public comment portion, please step to the podium, state your name for the record, and you'll have three minutes. And I don't see anybody online either that wishes to speak.

Okay, with that, I will now close the public testimony period. We will now ask the street vacation applicant to speak on the proposal.

Good evening, Deputy Mayor and members of the Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Ryan McIrvin, and I'm here on behalf of the petitioner, the University of Washington Bothell, in support of the proposed vacation of Northeast 185th Street between 108th Avenue Northeast and 110th Avenue Northeast. At your council meeting in July, I spoke about the broader planning vision for this area, and tonight I want to focus on the public benefits that support the approval of the proposed vacation and why we believe council will be justified in waiving compensation. Sorry. At its core, this proposal aligns with the right of way with how this area functions today and how it is planned for function in the future. This portion of Northeast 185th Street is not a through street. It primarily serves to access to the Husky Hall parking lot located on University property. And with the future redevelopment of Husky Hall, access to that parking area will likely be reconfigured. Most importantly, future building redevelopment is not proposed within the vacation area. Rather, the proposed vacation provides an opportunity to enhance the area's function as a pedestrian and bicycle friendly campus gateway. while preserving the important public functions including emergency and fire access, utilities, and connectivity for the community at large. The campus and surrounding area have evolved over time. Developments such as Innovation Hall and the residential village along with the promenade and improvements to the surrounding transportation network have increased activity in this area and strengthened the day-to-day relationship between the campus and downtown Bothell. Transit service to campus is increasingly oriented along Beardsley Boulevard, Together, these changes create an opportunity to better connect the campus and downtown while also improving connections to the North Creek Trail. The proposed vacation allows UW Bothell and Cascadia College to better align the area with these existing conditions and the long-term planning vision. It gives us an opportunity to create a more connected and people-oriented environment as Bothell continues to evolve as a college town. This is consistent with the city's downtown plan, campus district regulations, and the 2017 UW Bothell and Cascadia College Campus Master Plan, which envisioned a more connected relationship between downtown and the campus. We believe that continued public benefit provides a strong basis for approving the vacation. We also believe that public benefit supports waiving compensation. If compensation is waived, those resources could instead support campus improvements and pedestrian and bicycle connections that further strengthen the relationship between campus and downtown. Additionally, the vacation will provide cost savings to the city by shifting the primary maintenance and parking force and responsibilities to Utah Bothell while still retaining essential public infrastructure and access. Finally, we recognize that the final ordinance remains a work in progress, and we appreciate the city staff's collaboration as we work through the final easements and terms and conditions to ensure the ordinance appropriately protects the public and reflects the unique circumstances of this area. We look forward to staff bringing a finalized ordinance back to council for consideration at a future meeting. Thank you again for the opportunity to comment tonight. We greatly appreciate the council's consideration of this petition and the opportunity to participate in tonight's public hearing and respectfully ask that you ultimately support the proposed vacation and waive compensation. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We will now ask city staff to present their staff report on the proposal. All right, we're getting some tech set up. Don't worry about it. I don't know if I have good jokes. I know this is where we get to ad lib. And then the city attorney gives me a stink eye because I'm going off script.

I think it's a unique skill of the mayor to be able to tap dance and stall for time in an amusing way.

I literally can tap dance. Please don't ask me to do that here. That doesn't stop me. All right. Staff is set up, so thank you so much to Peter Pearson and Boyd Benson for being here tonight and presenting to us.

Good evening, Council. My name is Peter Pearson. I'm a Senior Development Review Engineer in the Utility and Development Services Department of, or Division of the Public Works Department. Thank you for letting me present tonight on behalf of this discussion. So yeah, tonight we're talking about the public hearing for Northeast 185th Street vacation request, as you are aware. City Council action tonight would be to consider through public hearing the street vacation petition submitted by the Board of Regents at the University of Washington for a portion of Northeast 185th Street between 108th Ave Northeast and 110th Ave Northeast. Key information tonight is that UW Bothell Cascadia Campus is requesting vacation of this section of Northeast 185th Street in accordance with the 2017 Campus Master Plan. The street vacation request process includes holding a public hearing to discuss the request and receive comment, which is what we're doing right now. And a decision by City Council will be requested at a later date. The street vacation request process is going through the following steps. On July 21st, 2026, we set the hearing date for September 8th, which is today. Tonight is the date that we hold the public hearing. Um, and then, uh, we will have a council decision and ordinance scheduled for October 20, 20th, uh, in, uh, upcoming month of October. And in the fourth quarter, if approved, the street vacation will be recorded with the County and made permanent. So some of this is similar to what we discussed back in, um, the original meeting for this and What is a street or right-of-way vacation? simply a termination of the public's interest in property rights in a public right-of-way and it's governed by chapter 35 79 of the RCW and chapter 17 12 of the Bothell municipal code This slide depicts the area of the street vacation request and It is the area north of those two University of Washington owned parcels and south of the Husky Village parcel between 108th and 110th in blue there. So conditions of approval are One, to record easement for existing city-owned water and sewer infrastructure and franchise utilities. As the representative from University of Washington just mentioned, this process is still ongoing. We're hammering out the details of the easements right now and also making sure that the franchise agreements are taken care of before we finalize our easement. ordinance proposal. The other thing that we were working on currently is the, that would be the, yeah, thanks, the covenant, which would basically grant the city the ability to take compensation if the property were ever sold in the future. So those are details that we're still hammering out before the October 20th decision date. Two would be to maintain access for emergency services through the vacated area. Three, transfer ownership and maintenance responsibility of existing roadway and stormwater infrastructure to the University of Washington. And four, considering compensation, the applicant has requested waiving compensation and recording a covenant for compensation if sold in the future. Regarding compensation options, the three options that we have for you tonight are to consider are to waive the compensation as requested and the applicant records a covenant that the city shall be compensated at the current fair market value at the time of any future sale or lease of the subject property. Number two would be to charge compensation in the amount of eighty five thousand three hundred fifty one dollars and fifty cents based on adjacent University of Washington owned property values And also put a note that this amount includes a 90% reduction for easement encumbrances Which is why it's a relatively small amount for property value in this area if you're wondering And three, the other option would be to require a formal appraisal to determine the street vacation area value and then base a decision off of that. So again, the only action for City Council tonight would be to consider through this public hearing the street vacation petition. No final action is requested tonight. Staff will return with a draft ordinance on October 20th. for council consideration.

Okay, thank you. With that, the applicant will now be provided a brief opportunity to present a rebuttal if they wish. I don't believe there's anything to rebut. Seeing none. All right. And that means staff does not have anything to rebut. So we will move on to deliberations. All right, city council members, is there any discussion of this matter or questions for staff or the applicant? They're confident. I went and sat down.

I had a question.

All right, we have a question.

It'll be quick. I don't know if you can actually see this in this proceeding, but is there a recommendation on the compensation model?

There is no staff recommendation on that. What I'd like to state, though, is the municipal code does envision this type of action, and that's why this provision is within the municipal code to allow the council to choose to waive compensation if they choose to do so. What I would like to reiterate is typically street vacations or used to add additional area to private property for redevelopment and sale or some other type of land use action. In this case, that's not the case. So if council chooses to waive compensation, understanding that there is no economic benefit to the requester, that seems reasonable as well. But it is a council decision.

Okay, thank you.

Just to reiterate on the staff findings, on page 57 of your packet as well, you'll actually see that the staff concluded that the request is in compliance with Section D-2 of the Bothell Municipal Code. Excuse me, I'm used to a different conversation from a couple years ago. And that due to the low land value and proposed public use, there's dead support waiving the compensation looking from the agenda bill itself.

Thank you, City Manager. That just didn't occur to me. I didn't see it. Thank you.

No, I just, I was pulling it up because I, just to refresh my own memory.

Now that the flashbacks are over, there is still time for Council Members for questions or discussion, if you'd like. All right, with no more, the evidentiary record on this matter is now closed. It is my understanding from the testimony tonight from the applicant and staff that both the applicant and staff are not looking for a motion tonight, but we'll bring back a draft ordinance at a future meeting in October for council's consideration. With that, unless there is more discussion from council, we will conclude this agenda item. Okay, I'm going back to my regular script now. Before we take a break, we would like to address the appointment before us for the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. All right, so City Clerk Laura Hathaway is going to present this item to us.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Alderks. As you know, we have another vacancy on LTAC, this time on the revenue side. And we have a balance on LTAC of three hoteliers, three people that collect the tax. So it is a specialized committee. And we received a letter of resignation back on June 29th. on the revenue side and With that staff went out and tried to solicit members of the community who fit the bill for the revenue side position to see if anybody was interested in serving and We received a letter of interest from Sarah Frost, which was forwarded to all of you as she is interested in serving on this committee and if appointed she will start immediately and Complete the remainder of the unexpired term through April 2030 And with that if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer Otherwise, I'll leave it to you And Joe sorry to be appointed the applicant must receive a majority of the council members present I

Deputy Mayor Emeritus Alcabra.

Thank you, thank you Deputy Mayor. I think, are you looking for us to say a bunch of yeses or how is this going to work?

You can make a motion.

Oh, it's a motion?

You can either do it by consensus if I get, you know, I can do it by consensus or we can do it by motion. Motion might be cleaner.

Move to approve the appointment of Sarah Frost to position three on the lodging tax advisory board second All right.

I have a motion from councilmember Alcabra and a second from councilmember Dodd Move to roll call.

Thank you. Please say yes or no. I want to call your name councilmember on gallery. Yes Deputy mayor alderks. Yes Councilmember curd. Yes Councilmember Miles?

Yes.

Councilmember Dodd?

Yes.

Councilmember Acabra? Yes. Passes 6-0 with Mayor Thompson absent and excused.

Thank you.

All right.

With that, we are going to take a 15-minute break, and then we will reconvene down at the table for a study session. At 8-0-2. Recording stopped. All right, we are back. And are we? We're almost all here. Okay. Yeah, Council Member Alcabra can join us. We are going to get started with a study session on the Transportation Safety Plan implementation, and we have staff here to present to us. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. And, yeah, we have one study session tonight, and it is a joint presentation from our Police Department and Public Works team. I do want to give a little credit to staff on this one, too, is that originally this was going to be two different briefings, and in conversation realize that these are two pieces that work really well together and speak to the priority of moving freely around Bothell. So we're excited to have it. I will also, spoiler alert, in terms of the slides, As city manager, I read the agenda bills before the packets get published, and sometimes I'm like, do we really mean that? And then if the slides are done, I get to look at the slides and go, oh. And there's a slide in particular, too, about the changes of speed over 30 miles an hour that you're going to be seeing tonight, and you probably have already taken a look at, but It made me say, wow. So I think we saw a reduction from what was almost 37% of drivers driving over 30 miles an hour to lowering that to 4%. And that's incredible. So the work that can be done through engineering, education, and enforcement is significant. To hear more about that and starting on the enforcement end of that by type, but also somebody who recognizes the spectrum is important. I'm going to turn things over to our chief of police, Ken Suberlich, to start things off. Then he'll introduce the team for the rest of the presentation. Chief, take it away.

All right. No pressure. Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Council members. With me tonight, we have Public Works Director Aaron Leonhardt, Transportation Operations Engineer Cam Azabo, Special Operations Captain John Rogers and myself, Ken Superlaken. Is this an echo or is it just me? Okay. As the City Manager stated, tonight Public Works and the Police Department have partnered on this transportation safety plan implementation presentation. I had a chance to talk to Erin earlier today and we're really excited about this because rarely do projects like this only involve one department. They have overlapping ramifications and challenges that kind of ripple through various departments. So being able to work together to solve problems, I mean, oftentimes Erin and I are dealing with the complaint process that many of you are in the loop on, on traffic issues. So it just makes sense, you know, that the city manager is kind of wanting us to like team up and do these and it's, we're excited about this as we move forward and we see more of these. FOR TONIGHT'S COUNCIL ACTION, STAFF IS SEEKING FEEDBACK ON PROPOSED ACTIONS THAT WILL COME BEFORE THE COUNCIL ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY PLAN. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION ARE DOES THE COUNCIL SUPPORT REDUCING THE SPEED LIMIT ON TWO COLLECTOR And number two, does the council support increasing the enforcement hours of cameras located at schools?

All right. Thank you, Chief. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council. So as the City Manager mentioned, this presentation is related to priority number one under moving freely around Bothell, and it is specific to implementing the plan on safe streets infrastructure. So the Transportation Safety Plan is vast. and includes a variety of projects and principles. This evening we have a fairly focused presentation specific to a couple of the areas. So the purpose of today's session, we're going to provide a refresher about the safety plan, as well as the safe systems approach to transportation safety, which is the underlying principle that we follow. I'm also going to focus on current efforts associated with education and engineering and enforcement and acquiring council feedback about the two questions that the Chief mentioned. And I will hand it over to Cam.

Thank you. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and Council. This slide just gives you a brief background on how we got to where we are today. So back in 2023, the enforcement cameras in our school zones went live in September. And then we had a warning period from September to October. And after that, we started working through the actual violations, ticketed violations. In 2024, the comprehensive plan was formally adopted by Council, which includes the transportation element in it. And then in 2025 April, the transportation safety plan was finalized. And in November, Council was briefed the first time around on the proposed pilot for the 20 mile per hour speed limit reduction for local roads. And then earlier this year in March, we were in front of you for the first round of discussion on the Transportation Safety Plan as it exists right now. So our transportation safety plan is based around the safe system approach. Just as a reminder for Council, the safe system approach doesn't look to eliminate all accidents. What we're basically focused on is eliminating the fatal and serious injury accidents. We recognize that accidents are going to happen, so we're just trying to increase the survivability. The elements around the outer circle, or sorry, the principles around the outer circle are key to how this works. Those are death and serious injury is unacceptable. Humans make mistakes. Humans are vulnerable. Responsibility is shared. Safety is proactive and redundancy is crucial. And that's a big part of what we're here discussing. And then the wedges inside are the elements that are the tools we use, basically, or what we're working on to achieve the goal. And while we're just discussing two items tonight in terms of those questions we put forward, they support three of the main elements in this pie, which is the safe road users, the safe speeds, and safe roads. So one of the big things we've been working on in partnership with police this year for transportation police is the education piece. In the last few months prior to school opening, we worked with two of our, with the police PIO and went out to Bothell High Schools and tried to work with them collectively on the parking issue that we were dealing with last year. We were hearing a lot of complaints about. The handout you see on the right there of the slide is something that they came up with. There's actually a second page to that, but you can see underneath the four logos that really shows the partnership that we've worked with for North Shore School District and Bothell High School. We similarly went out to Sorenson Early Childhood Center. They were having issues with drop-offs, parent drop-offs on the street. We were getting some complaints and concerns from the residents in the area. but the school itself, the principal and vice principal had concerns on site. So, again, police department stepped up and did a different kind of flyer for them that speaks to obeying the rules on the road and how they should circulate within the site to make that site safer. We've also, you may have seen by now on our social media channels, the back to school speed zone reminders. It's always a nice blitz at the end of August and early September, just reminding people in the area that schools are now open and that school speed zones are in effect. Other opportunities for us for education are public meetings, our customer action request responses, and sign installations. As far as public meetings go, we did a public meeting last year for Brickyard Road before we did the speed cushion work on Brickyard Road. We did a public meeting, a large public meeting earlier this year in May for our Calm Collector project, which I'll talk a little bit more about after this. And then we also have an upcoming meeting at the end of September for a traffic safety project with the neighbourhood on Meridian Ave north of 224th by Frank Love. For engineering projects, you know, we've had the safety plan in effect, the transportation safety plan in effect now for a year, and we've been working diligently on trying to complete some projects. The projects we've completed to date are the 2024 safety project package one, which was solar stop signs, solar radar signs, and solar... RFBs, the rectangular rapid flash beacons. In 2025 safety project, package two also completed the speed cushions. Those are the ones we talked about last time we came, which was the ones on Brickyard or in some other locations around the city, solar school beacons, solar radar signs. And we just recently completed a school zone beacon power conversion project so that the beacons that are associated with the sites where we have the automated enforcement are now not on solar, but are tied to the meter so that we have better reliability of those beacons. Currently in construction, we have the citywide pedestrian safety improvements, which are enhanced crossings, and that is anticipated to be completed at the end of this year. And in design, we have the traffic signal at our Northeast 185th, 101st Avenue city hall corner here, which is a partnership with Sound Transit. That one's at 90% design, and then the comm collector project. So the comm collector project, which is one that we did discuss back in March, we are still at 30% design, but we are happy to come back to Council to report we were successful in our application for safety grant funding for this project. and received 1.05 million for the construction of this project, so we are moving ahead with this design. The improvements include speed cushions on the five different corridors, radar feedback signs, some new crosswalks, some new school zone beacons. And like I said, the work we do does support those safe system approach elements. It supports the safe road users, the safe speeds, and the safe roads in this case. So just as a reminder, or some data to back up, what we're doing with our comp collector. The comp collector project primarily is a speed cushion project, but it does have a lot of additional enhancements that work towards getting the speeds down in these areas. This is the slide for Brickyard Road from last year, or this year, earlier, when we did the construction. So, construction was going on basically from January 5th to January 21st. The period was kind of long because they grind out the part of the road and then they had to sit for a little while and then they came back and did the actual construction of the speed cushions. So, what you can see is the graph going from July to July. And so, you can see the percentage of people driving over 30 miles per hour. It goes from, you know, it's high, it's very high, and so we knew we had a problem in January. You see the drop because part of that period is our construction period, and then we actually have them. And then near the end, you see that consistently, since we've constructed them and everything has been signed and open, we are very low, and those numbers are holding, which is really the outcome we are looking for. We want, you know... Low low number of people going that far that many miles over the speed limit which is again helping with our survivability So for our comm collector project the the one corridor the two quarters we want to discuss tonight are 15th Ave and 19th Avenue the this section is a three-corridor section that we had developed as part of our comm collector project. And when we presented it in the May 11th meeting, the public meeting, we had some basic themes that came out in the comments. People want lower speeds, so we're working towards that. People want less cut-through traffic. We know these are collectors, so they do definitely carry some traffic that is not bothell traffic. People regularly told us they wanted more enforcement and they wanted better pedestrian connections. The need to slow down these two roads highlighted in yellow is basically to align the speeds a little closer to what we have on 23rd Ave. Otherwise, if we just calm down 23rd Ave, people will move over, and that's just pushing the problem down the road, pun intended. So the input we're asking for your input tonight during discussion is on a speed limit reduction from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour for both 15th Ave and 19th Ave in the sections where they are collectors. And with that, I will pass this over to John to speak a little bit more about why enforcement is important to us from a transportation perspective. While we know the speed cushions are working and they're working well, we cannot just blitz the city and install them everywhere. Geographic, topographic, geometric reasons, we don't do that. And so enforcement is definitely a big part of the equation for us.

Thank you, Cam. Deputy Mayor, Council Members. Yeah, I'm going to focus on the enforcement side of the Transportation Safety Program. More specifically, how we can maximize some of the infrastructure we have already in place. Our approach to traffic safety follows the broader safe system approach that we talked about, which recognizes that people do make mistakes and that our transportation system should be designed to reduce the likelihood of those mistakes resulting in the serious injuries and fatalities that typically occur at those higher speeds. The safe system approach focuses on safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, and post-crash care. with responsibility for safety shared across the entire system. For the police department, safe speeds are an important part of that approach, and that's where our existing automated enforcement program comes into this discussion. So just a quick recap. So we currently have our school camera system that has been in place. We started that in September of 23. We have a 30-day warning period before we went live, The current program is covering North Shore Middle School, Woodmore Elementary, Canyon Park Middle School, West Hill Elementary, Frank Love, and Crystal Springs. The cameras currently operate during designated school zone enforcement periods, which are typically about 30 minutes before the start of school and then 30 minutes after dismissal. During those periods, the cameras enforce the reduced 20 mile per hour speed or school zone speed limit. The purpose of the program is straightforward. Reduce speeds around the schools and change that driver behavior. We now have several years of data that allow us to evaluate whether the program is accomplishing that goal of reducing the speeds. Thank you. And what the data is showing is encouraging. We could look at the chart and we're seeing in 2024 we issued approximately 25,000 violations That dropped to about 16,000 in 2025, and currently we're at about 5,000 for 26. But I think the more important number is the speed. While it may not be a large number, it does show that we're trending in the right direction by both we're seeing the speeds come down, but also the number of violations, which from the police department's perspective, that's exactly what we want to see. The goal isn't to write more tickets. The goal is to change behavior so that eventually we're writing fewer tickets. The downward trend in both violations and speed suggest that this program is doing exactly that. That success led us to another question. Our existing cameras are changing behavior. That's what the data shows. What if the cameras were operated on a 24-hour basis? basis enforcing the speed limits that are posted for those particular locations. So with that we asked Vera Mobility to provide us with some additional data so we could better understand the answer to that question. We looked at a one week sample and during that one week from May 10th to the 16th of this year we had some good data that came back from uh... bare mobility i think one of the biggest takeaways for me on that is and i i knew this but the majority of our drivers are doing exactly what we ask them to do they are driving within the posted speed limits the folks who were trying to target in the motorist or the ones that are operating outside of that uh... designated speed we identified vehicles exceeding the normally posted speed limit uh... during our enforcement threshold, which as you can see, it's a very small window when we're running the school zone times as far as within that 24-hour period. Some of the most significant activity that we did see was along 23rd, and if you go back to some of the previous discussions, we were talking about those comm collectors and kind of pushing traffic over. So 23rd is gonna be one of those locations that then turns into 104, which is where I have a lot of conversations with you know, community members concerned that they are getting a lot of increased traffic. And now we have some of that data that supports those discussions that we've had. So and then looking at this data, we identified, oh, there's a gap. There's a gap in how much enforcement we can do and consistent enforcement during that time. So now, yes, the ideal scenario is we'd love to put officers in more of these locations, and we do in our school zones with the traffic unit and patrol officers conducting target enforcements throughout the year. The challenge is providing consistent enforcement. Our patrol officers and traffic officers need to be available for other 911 calls, collisions, crimes in progress, and other public safety concerns. While we can and will continue target enforcement, we simply can't have an officer at these locations throughout the day. That's where the technology can supplement our officers. So this isn't about replacing officer enforcement. It's about providing consistent enforcement when officers can't physically be there. And from a safe system perspective, it gives us another tool to address safe speeds at locations where the data shows continuing need. So what we're asking council to consider is not an expansion of the number of camera locations. We're asking whether we should maximize the existing Infrastructure the city has already invested in under this concept selected cameras would continue to enforce the 20 mile per hour school zone speed limit During designated school zone hours just as they do today Outside those hours those same cameras would enforce the normally posted Broadway speed limit. I think that distinction is important We're we're not proposing that the 20 mile per hour be extended during a 24-hour period We're just talking about using selected existing cameras to enforce a speed limit that is legally in effect at the time. This would allow us to use the existing infrastructure to further support the safe speeds component of the safe system approach.

And then future council touch points, just, oh, sorry, there we go.

Future council touch points. What we'll be coming back with since today is just a study session. In fourth quarter, the rest of this year, you will be hearing back from staff in a study session about the 20 mile per hour speed limit for residential streets. That work's currently being put together. A study session on the revamped traffic calming program And then an ordinance, depending somewhat on the discussion tonight, on lowering the speed limit on 15th Avenue Southeast, 19th Avenue Southeast to 30 miles per hour from 35. And then in first quarter of 2027, again pending how the study session goes in Q4, an ordinance for that 20 mile per hour speed limit for residential streets and formal adoption of the revamped traffic calming program that would come out of that Q4 discussion. As a reminder, this is a direct quote from our city council vision. Bothell is a safe, easy, reliable, and convenient community to navigate using any mode of transportation, which is the goal we are all headed towards. And to wrap it up, the council action, again, for questions for consideration for tonight, does council support reducing the speed limit on the two collector corridors I outlined in support of the Calm Collector Project? And does Council support staff working to analyze increased enforcement hours of cameras located at school zones with high rates of excessive speed outside of school hours?

Thanks for the presentation.

I am wondering what your assessment is of the... graph that shows 23rd or 104th as an especially speed-prone area outside of school hours.

Yeah, I think one of the factors with 23rd that we quickly identified is some of those other locations, you're going from a 35 zone. So outside of those school times, you know, 40 is not going to pop as much as the 25 zone that you have on 23rd. So you'll see that that. big chunk of yellow there. So that's outside where we're seeing, you know, 41, right? So 41 on 23rd is going to stand out a lot more than 41 at Crystal Springs or one of the other roadways that are currently 35 and 30.

So why aren't we proposing to adjust the speed limit on 23rd to 30 as well as the two other corridors? Why are we still continuing to, um, make it so that 23rd is a street where there's significant... Sure.

23rd is actually a 25-mile-per-hour roadway right now, which is why our Calm Collector project actually has it included. And actually, I think we almost started at 23rd this year with the five roads that we're touching. It's been a 25-mile-per-hour road for a long time, and that is well supported with the land use, with the schools and... with the housing infrastructure. It's a neighborhood, it's a collector but it looks and wants to be a neighborhood street. You know, people walk it, people use it as a neighborhood collector. So it's a 25 mile per hour road and what we're trying to get to with the work on the comm collector project is to make all those other tools work so that it drives at 25. So the speed cushions, uh, the enforcement cameras, the radar feedback signs, all the other, putting all those tools together. So it reinforces the 25 mile per hour speed limit and with the idea that then that would drop those numbers. And just for council's clarity, that graph, it's a percentage graph, and the bottom of that bar, I know it's really hard to read on this, the bottom is actually 75%, to John's point, that majority of the drivers are actually driving the speed limit. So even on 23rd, we're like 80, 85% in the right speed limit, but... Yes, we definitely have a bigger gap on 23rd, which we knew, which is why the Comm Collector project is out there. Those three corridors, 23rd is a 25-mile-per-hour road, and then 19th and 15th are 35-mile-per-hour roads. So that's where we're trying to bring these two down to make them align better as collectors, as sort of a three-pairing, and also to, I would say, like to align better with the fact that Bothell Way and our actual arterial is 30 and 35. So we don't... want a smaller street like this, a collector like this necessarily being 30, we don't want them to be 35 mile per hour because then it entices people to get off both away and use a faster road.

Go for it.

Oh, thank you. I didn't realize that I had turned it on. I want to say thank you for this. This is near and dear to my heart. I was speaking with the chief, I think it was last week, about having almost three accidents on 120th in about a 15-minute drive time. And I feel like sometimes the speed limit is a suggestion for some folks. And I'm not saying that I'm not a person that takes a suggestion every now and then, but I try to drive the speed limit. It's good to hear that people are driving the speed limit. And I did hear the fact that we can't add cushions everywhere, which totally makes sense, but I think it would be good if we did have other deterrents that would keep people driving at the right rate of speed. Because I, again, this is somewhat personal, I have a new driver who I'm trying to get to understand what speeds are and what the limits are. And I'm a little bit scared to put her out on the roads in some of these residential streets because people are just speeding a little bit too much. So I just love this program and love what we're doing. And if I could make a suggestion, 120th up to 240th, that T, that's where I had quite a few issues this summer, driving my daughter to her volunteer program. So thank you.

Echoing the thanks, unless you start cloning our traffic officers, I don't know how you could cover the whole city. Is it wrong to say that this seems similar to Lake Kenmore's CAPE program with the after-hours enforcement of the legal speed limit outside? in school zones outside of school hours? Very similar. Okay. Um, I did want to call attention to Kenmore also has a ticket reduction, um, option. If you can prove certain kinds of need, they'll reduce the cost of it. I don't know the details. I've thankfully never gotten a ticket in Kenmore or needed to reduce it. But, um, I would love to see if that's something we could also support.

Well, on that one, I'll defer to the court, but we'll communicate with the judge to have them provide you some information about how they're handling it.

Or come back with why we shouldn't. I just think it's worth explaining.

I think they are.

Yeah, cool. And then the other thing for the future is I also hear why we can't put speed cushions on every road living off of 228th, which is a giant hill. I had fun thinking about speed cushions there, but I realized why you wouldn't do it. I put gravity and physics together. But I would love to understand, like I do get, to Council Member Miles' point, I try to go the speed limit. It's a fear of mine to get pulled over by an officer I know in the city that I work in. So I go the speed limit, and people are not happy about that when I'm going up or down 228th. And also I live there, and I know the people walking up and down. I would love to hear more about what we can do about roads like that that sort of defy most of our current enforcement mechanisms, aside from just a person is there, an officer is there and sees it. But otherwise, this all seems like really good efforts to just help reduce the severity of accidents when they inevitably happen. And I really appreciate it. I did want to ask, you had mentioned that the average speed was down a bit. Do you know, just like off the top of your head, if the highest speeds we get have also fallen, like those outliers at the very top?

Yeah, just based on that report, I mean, we can go back to 23rd. I'm going from memory. But we had a few that were like 41 was kind of that high range that we were looking at. And then there were a few that were like 51. But that's way outside what we would expect to see. North of that 85 percentile, we're trying to address that.

Yeah, and you can't. design a road that's gonna deter like the worst, you know, 5% of people. I imagine they're not super intimidated by cameras. So, okay, thank you.

One of the questions I have about the column collector idea and automated enforcement is that it becomes an expectation and it's become something that drivers get used to, basically. And so what I'm curious about with the reductions in speed is where along the corridor are you finding those reductions? Or is it only around the speed humps? Or in between the speed humps, do people really gun it to make up the time that they perceive that they lose? And especially with living in a school zone myself, I see that people go very slowly next to the camera and then speed down the rest of the hill. So I feel like one of the opportunities might be like a roving camera or even enforcement that's not predictable. might be even more, yeah, perhaps might be even more able to change behavior than something that's sort of predictable and people can like incorporate into a routine.

Yeah, that's a good point. I was actually out talking to the school zone patrol, specifically at West Hill with the speed cushions, and they've given some feedback about what you're talking about, the launch off the cushion. Another thing that we would do in our target enforcement, and we have done in camera locations, So the camera's catching the violator when they're coming into the school zone. But then oftentimes we are seeing, and we get these reports from parents and school zone patrol, that people are then launching out of the school zone. So then that's where we would like to have more on-hands enforcement. So we'd put officers in those locations to hopefully affect that or change that driving behavior. And we have had success in that. And specifically like West Hills, a great example of that, where we have, in all of our schools, we have great partnerships. You know, where we get a lot of feedback from the folks that are out there every day, school zone patrol mainly, the ones that are doing the crossing at the streets. They give us a call and kind of give us that feedback that you were talking about.

And then as far as the speed cushions, there's a reasonable amount of engineering involved in how we place our speed cushions. So at different speeds, like at different posted speeds are what we want to affect as the change in speed. The design of the speed cushion changes a little bit as well. So at a higher speed, we don't necessarily have them quite as high because the speed difference in speed is too big and we can launch a vehicle, but also the spacing between the speed cushions matters a lot. So we space them so that even if you think you can gain back a little bit of that, you're hitting the next speed cushion. So they'll be in a series typically. The ones at the school zone, so the few like at West Hills and up on 9th, those were specifically placed around pedestrian crossings because we were having issues just making sure people were slowing down enough to proceed and react appropriately for the crosswalk so so we didn't slow the whole corridor there those are thirty five mile per hour roads and so those are still running like that but but typically like on the com collectors that there's a whole series of them that are spaced out so that you don't get to sort of gain the speed between but we can also we do have tools that we can look at those speed profiles like we've got some really great telematics data now so We can certainly dig into that to give you a better answer if you want to know about a specific corridor.

I am pretty keen to know more before voicing full support of the project. A lot of constituent feedback is on speeds and when we ask people to come here and talk about the column collectors, we get people who want column speeds. And then when we lower the speed limit on Bothell Everett Highway, we get a lot of flack for doing that. And so I want to make sure that we're justified in our application of this especially because our priority on council was to focus on residential streets too and I know that that's a separate and parallel structure, but I want to make sure that that this is that it's defensible and and Something that we can that we have the data like you say to support so I would be interested in that and The other question that I had about automated enforcement is questions about state revenue sharing. So I'm not up to date on the bill that was passed totally, but I want to make sure, as part of the messaging and part of the understanding of our community of where fines go, I've really relied on sharing that the fines go back into our general fund so that we can do safe road safety projects and that's hard to justify on a corridor like 23rd that doesn't have continuous sidewalks or even continuous bike lanes and so there are some like gaps in safe routes to school that would um you know make turning on enforcement outside of the school hours, uh, like sort of different consideration. Um, and I want to make sure that if we do something like that, we are getting the revenues that we can use those dollars here in Bothell rather than shipping those dollars to the state programs instead.

We'll see if I can answer this. Otherwise I may phone a friend. Um, so, This is our current infrastructure. We're not expanding our current infrastructure. So as it currently sits with the infrastructure we have, that would be grandfathered in. That is my understanding in reading the state law and the way the statute has changed. If we were talking about we've removed one camera, which gives us an opportunity to try to create like a mobile trailer camera system that we can move around. which on paper looks great, unfortunately, but I also have to assign somebody to it like you see out on 522, so they're like sitting there. It's not insurmountable. It's just a logistic challenge to figure out how we staff that. From that end, my understanding, and speaking to the finance director, and actually reviewing the laws, is because we're not expanding our infrastructure, it's our current infrastructure footprint, those monies stay here. We would have to change the contract, though, to expand it, if that makes sense, to turn it on 24-7.

It was great. You probably don't need a friend, but I did phone a friend already, so I wanted to bring their voice in. Earlier this year, as we were preparing for council's conversations for the legislative agenda, we knew that there had been some conversations about this. So in communication with Shelly Helder, who's the state lobbyist for the city, what she's explained to us is that that state revenue distribution, how that works is, as the chief mentioned, it'd be on any new locations if that were to be something that we explored, which is not for being proposed, but putting it in context, cameras installed after when ours were put into place, there becomes a revenue distribution back to the state of 25% of that camera's net revenue after it's been in place for four years. So what the state and then it goes into the Cooper Jones active transportation safety account and then distribute it out. So it wouldn't be staying locally. The intent of that law, as understood, is to incentivize cities to move their cameras around as opposed to just park them in one place. There was legislation in last year's session that was proposing to get rid of the grandfathering and to move moving forward that it would be 10 percent of gross revenue of all cameras. But there was significant feedback from local jurisdictions saying really that the pledge to the community that's been made is that any revenues collected through this are going to go back into safety programs here in our location. And even 10%, which is a foot in the door, takes away from that and starts asking the question of, what is the purpose behind this. So that proposal didn't move forward, but it is something we can be watching for in 2027 as well. So again, just to reiterate, the sharing that goes back to the state would be any new locations after four years, then a quarter of the net revenue after operations costs and everything would go to the state.

Where does the requirement that an officer needs to be with those mobile cameras come from? Is that state law?

Yeah, we just touched base with our partners with the state patrol that are currently doing that program that I reached out to Vera. And so that's their current practice now. Now, that could change, but logistically we would still have to have... an FTE or more that would be deploying it. And they could do other things, but that's the piece that we were sitting on. Because it's extremely delicate, expensive, we probably just wouldn't park it and leave it unattended. It's prone to vandalism and everything else. So that was kind of our mindset about just make it simple and have an FTE assigned to that camera system.

Okay, thank you.

One data set that I think would be really useful in this conversation is the near miss map. I was a little surprised not to see it in here, especially if we could, because that was some really great data that was available to us few years ago when we were talking about this, um, to be able to overlay, uh, some of the data that you've presented with, like looking at those, the collectors and these school zones, um, for near misses. I know that both of the two school zone areas that you are proposing, um, have the feel of a country road because at one point they were and I live off of one over on West Hill and so I know having experienced the changes with the speed cushions and the cameras and that that combined has made a difference. I have some questions that are less relevant and I will get to them, but when it comes to a straight, just a straight shot road, that's where people will just naturally tend to go faster, especially if there's gravity pulling them along. And it's also, because we live nearby the high school, it's also where people will drag race. And so that is one of my questions. On 88th, since the speed cushions have been put in, are we seeing less drag racing on 88th? Getting fewer reports of that?

I don't have any data. I just occasionally get a reckless driving complaint. We don't have anything beyond that, but we could pull some numbers.

The neighborhood occasionally experiences reckless driving through there. And so my thought is that that probably happens on 23rd and 4th as well. Any straight shot road that was formerly a country road, people will find the opportunity to do that. And so I do think that like having that near miss overlapping what you're proposing here would be helpful in a future presentation. Yeah, those are some of my thoughts. I will just say as a family that lives in West Hill, we saw the, um, the benefit of, of speed, like deterrent, um, not just cushions, but, um, it's going through conifer view and that cut through there's the bump outs and, um, and speed cushions that it really does have a positive impact when you have wide roads like that, people will go faster. And when you narrow the road, people have to pay closer attention. And so I'm wondering if there's some of those deterrents that might be available to make it feel less like a country road on 23rd and 4th. Not that there's intersections, comma, separate roads. But that if people And which is more affordable, given that there's already speed cameras there? Is it necessary to add deterrents in a place where you know you can change behavior through equipment that's already present? Or is it better to do some of the construction investment of bump outs and speed cushions? I heard not on hills. I hear that. That makes sense. But are there other deterrents to Council Member Myall's point that might be able to be implemented in some of those areas?

Yeah, there are a lot of tools in our toolbox. Quite a few don't apply to our collectors so well. Part of the reason is like 23rd, it's a marked bike route for now. It would be a better bike route in the future per our bike plan, but right now it has bike lanes on it. So some of those tools that work in the neighborhood streets don't lend themselves well to our collector network for those reasons. 19th and 15th, like at the north end of 15th, where actually as part of the project, creating an improved walking shoulder, because there's a sidewalk gap there, right up at like 231st to get people across to then to the commercial, you know, just south of 228th. So using the road as best we can where, yes, they're wide, but some of those other tools just don't lend themselves well. We definitely have hills. Even on these collectors, we have hills, and we are still going to put down speed cushions, but we're designing them appropriately for hopefully a reduced speed or... and with that spacing appropriately as well to try and make that work. In the update to the traffic calming program that we're coming back to council with later this fall, those are definitely some of those conversations that we're having and we're having them with our partners in police and fire as well because some of those physical features we do to roads definitely impact emergency services and their responses. It's a collective of, you know, here's a toolkit we love. How does that affect you and how does that affect you and how does it affect our garbage and recycling and all the other people who are using our road or transit? So, yeah, it's a valid point and there's definitely other tools in the toolbox, just not on this particular one. What I would also say just as a sort of reinforcement of where we landed, that grant that we were successful in getting, that's a state, a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant. And that grant, one of the things we heard back directly from the people at WSDOT that pick the people, you know, go through all these applications and decide who gets the money, was they were really impressed with the fact that we had proposed a systemic project, which means we are doing improvements not at the hotspots, we are doing corridor-wide preventative and to the point of the sort of the near-miss question. So we're getting ahead of, these aren't all hot spots on our heat map in our transportation safety plan. We're looking at it on the corridor, recognizing that We have these, again, parallel corridors, right? So we know we have a problem here, but if we only solve this problem, we know the problem is going to shift on us a little bit. So trying to look at all of that, particularly from the safe system approach of knowing that the speeds are a very big factor in the survivability, but also looking at improving some of the crossings and improving, giving people a location to cross. in some cases where they don't have them on some of these corridors, or giving them a place to walk or move freely, or safer, right, in a protected sense, where we haven't made that sidewalk connection yet, but at least we can, that's a lot of the work that we got out of doing those public meetings, is hearing that from the public.

And to that end, The feedback that we're going to be hearing is why are you putting speed bumps, they are going to say speed bumps, in when we don't have sidewalks yet? Why are you slowing down the cars when there's not even safe separated infrastructure for people outside of cars. And so I think that's that like prioritization is a really difficult conversation for me to have because my priority is like, let's get the active transportation like safe and then use these treatments as more preventative and more holistic measures like you're saying but there are on these corridors specific areas that we do need to address and that are high priority as well so I just need more messaging and I need more I need more data and I need to be Convince that this is the right thing to do right now rather than focus our efforts on continuous bike lanes and continuous sidewalk So question where you're hearing this from your are our constituents yes, okay loudly When you live in one of the areas yes, thank you no and that's fine I just wanted to know how how deep and how wide this issue is for them.

Thank you

There's a question. In the beginning, you had the bar chart where when you did the cushions, I think the brickyard one in the beginning, it had a steep drop off. Yeah. So is that like a baseline, those four, four, three, four, you know, or can it get lower? Is that like a best practice type of number or is it...

It's a good number. I would say it's our baseline now. These are some of the first ones we've put out on a collector roadway in this manner. And so it serves as good reinforcement for us. I don't know that we have data that would tell us what a baseline would be for this type of project. And this data is like, this is telematics data that we've Basically taken the the court of just the portion of the corridor that is within the project limits per se So like if we take all a brickyard road There's probably still some areas where we don't have to speak cushions that still drive a little different from 25 I Was gonna add on to I used to get about a call a week July 1st through where you see the bars are really big from that neighborhood I have not had a call

on Brickyard.

I think that's the part where we got the emails too, right?

So, yeah, it's been impactful and helpful.

100%, I was wondering if the number can approach zero more than this. That's the question.

I'll throw in on this. A number of months back, the city manager and I actually went out there and ran radar just to kind of get a feel for, I mean, nobody at the PD wants the chief out running radar, but went out there just to kind of get a feel for the traffic issue that we were dealing with. And I have since gone out there. since we've implemented these cushions. It wasn't uncommon for me to sit there five minutes and you get a traffic stop on somebody for speed. And I'm talking over 10 miles an hour over the speed limit. The last time I was out there, I sat out there for 47 minutes before I had my first car that was over 10 miles an hour over the speed limit. It was like gunning it between them, kind of like you were talking about earlier. And you're going to have those regardless of what infrastructure you put into place. but somebody that's been doing this for a while, that is significant. I cannot remember, I mean, Brickyard Road has always been one of those things, I'm guaranteed an email a week. And we haven't had an email. And I'm pretty sure that Erin probably feels the same way. It's significant. When we saw the numbers on this, we're like, yeah, this is great.

And I would just also add that we've had positive emails being thankful and appreciative for the change that has taken place in that neighborhood too. We've definitely heard some positive feedback from the community.

Sorry, I was just going to say, the other thing about achieving zero, I would say we'll never achieve zero.

I was just saying approaching zero.

Yes, and I think the reasoning there is similar to what the chief said, is these are averages across all hours, all days, right? And in the middle of the night when there is no traffic there, and we can see that in the data we do get out of the telematics, Typically the zero, the like midnight to 6 a.m. and then at the other end just before midnight, you see the weird, the one-off weird spikes that drag those numbers. And they are because there's no traffic on the road and people can go between the cushions at that point, right? There's nothing deterring them. And there's just, there's always that one element.

Hi, my name is for some of you that know me, some of you that have not seen me before in here. I'm a transportation supervisor and wanted to actually address your question is why not do more sidewalks versus the speed cushions? I'll give it to you in two words. They're cheap and they're effective, literally. They are very, you know, it's a great program that, you know, in our last contract, safety package tube, where we did brickyard and a few other locations, cost is $2,500. Cost of a sidewalk, $2,500. We're talking millions if you're gonna do all of the sidewalk mentions plus these are two funding different funding and the sidewalk missing gaps and all of that has been Presented to council before for the missing gaps and all of that and that's really the reason that we are doing these speed cushions is that The missing gaps it's requiring people to cross the street back and forth Because there is a sidewalk, it ends, you've got to go to the other side, and when you cross, you want to make sure that there is a safer crossing and a reduced speed so that you don't end up with a hit and a fatal or a serious injury of origin. So for us, it's just a possible way to do it. So the $1.2 million that Cam has mentioned, it's not all about the speed cushions. It's more of all of the electronics and all of that. Speed cushions themselves are really inexpensive. They could be in the range of about $5,000, depending on how many of them they do a year. So that's all I wanted to say.

was gonna that was kind of the question I had queuing up to is I I share the concerns about the the lack of sidewalks which which is all over and I understand the history of it but that doesn't make me like walking on a shoulder more but also I look at it as more of a system you're slowing down traffic reducing the severity of accidents when they happen and neither sidewalk nor bike lane nor speed cushions means no accidents ever at the same time I think I know I could use help telling that story and not so much the cost because I don't want to fall into saying like, well, it's just too much money for that because nobody, you know what I mean? Like, but understanding we could get this much safety improvement, you know, statistically versus that much with, you know, a much smaller percentage of the funding. I think that's the stuff where like, as not a traffic engineer of any kind, um, ways to talk about that that you can help us develop would be really great and of course it doesn't have to be just train the council how to talk about it better it could also be like public facing stuff that people can look up because for everybody that we hear from there are definitely people that don't reach out to us so um i think that would be really helpful for me i'm glad that councilmember dodd brought that up because that was one of my first questions around like um so much like

so much of this is rule of law, right? If we change the rules, then how are we getting the rule change out to the public so that they're aware of what those changes are? And so, you know, one of my questions was like, are there good PSAs around the safe systems approach? And so then of course, I just asked the internet myself and found that there's this lovely playlist on YouTube called the safe system approach that like breaks it down one or two minutes at a time. So like something like that might be really beneficial for our community to just be able to share this as like, what are we doing here? And like, how do we learn more? And so I'm just really glad you brought that up because I was like, I found my answer and I'm gonna be happy with it, but now I'm gonna share it because it wasn't my only question. Like I wasn't the only person asking that question.

I'm going to pick on Captain Rogers, too, because when I did the Police Department Community Academy, I don't know, a thousand years ago or five, it you were. they're talking about traffic enforcement and talking about the difference in the severity of someone's injuries at the different speed that the crash happens. That was something that either I didn't take it in during driver's ed or I was perhaps 20 years out of driver's ed or whatever the cause. That felt like the first time I was hearing that, and it made a huge impact on me and how I drive, which has always been super legal and above board. But that message doesn't get to everybody. I mean, maybe I'm an outlier, but I don't think so. But so I think that kind of reminder is really helpful because we all have a lot going on and taking yourself out of I'm late and I want to get there five minutes earlier and understanding that we're all traveling and everyone else is at risk of your decisions, I think is really important just on the PSA front.

Yeah, and to your point, that's one that I bring up quite often. If I do go to court and testify and I talk about 30 miles an hour versus 20 miles an hour and how it takes twice as long to stop. But also if you think about it like you're walking on the road where there's just a shoulder and you're a motorist, right, and you're speeding, you don't have the same reaction time if you were to slow down a little bit. So, you know, we talk about that. And we really talk about that in our Bothell Youth Court system, so those times we have The opportunities to interact with some of our younger drivers, that's a great opportunity. And also with our school zone enforcement program, a lot of times we're talking to the parents, right, because that's the registered owner. So we're making some of those positive impacts before it leads to that serious collision or even worse.

Just to tag on to the PSA, which I think is great and it's necessary, do you talk to the kids at the driver's school, the driver's eds at all? Do they bring you in at all?

So my experience, I teach collision investigation like at the state level, not so much lately, but other avenues that we have would be dealing with different groups, so driving groups. So here I think most of the times that we're dealing with young drivers would be on the other end where they've had a collision and now they're going to youth court. Or we've you know, we've taught or spoke like it that schools during like the DUI presentation So we'll take any any Avenue we can to get the education out there That's good to know.

Thank you And I kind of add to that when we were talking about earlier about the education piece and partnering with police and doing flyers with the schools stuff like when we went out to Sorenson one of the things that we ended up developing in that flyer was, you know, when you drop off your child, remember everybody else's children, too. Like, it's... crazy test sometimes when we talk about it, but we'll say like, sometimes the parents who are doing drop off and pick up are like the worst offenders in the school zone because they're in the hurry or in either direction. And so like even for the early childhood center to just like on the flyer say, you know, not just your child, but everyone's child. to just reinforce the idea, right? And so those kind of concepts of being aware of all the road users all the time.

Yeah. Those are the worst parking lots in the world. I've been rear-ended many times, and people are like, you know what? This never happened. We're not reporting this. But it is pretty bad. I did have one sort of one-off question. Since we've seen a decrease in ticketing and infractions, have we seen a decrease in accidents happening or fatalities in any way?

Yeah, so we did pull up some numbers, and we're showing a decrease. I think it was post-COVID we really got hit around the Bothell area with some back-to-back fatality that were occurring. And I think the data is showing we're heading in the right direction. So we're thankful of that.

Yeah. I remember at post-COVID, I had forgotten how to drive. Yeah.

To answer your questions, I heard one is yes. I mean, for me, I'm not speaking on behalf of council. I think let's reduce the speed and see what that looks like and then have a conversation again in the future. And the second one is, yes, the caveat is the privacy, and I know we have a solid policy on that, but it's just ensuring that that's part of the analysis and the conversation we're going to have at that discussion. I think that would be good.

One last closing thing. I kind of wanted to throw in earlier, but I kind of sat on it. Kind of going back to talking about whether speed bumps, speed cushions, what do we call it, and discussion on sidewalks versus that. I kind of go back to what can I control right now? And what it always comes back to for me is speed kills. And so whether you have a sidewalk or you don't, and it's a grassy area or a gravel area on the side of the road, The bottom line is, for me, is just trying to keep the speed down for that fatality or serious injury that we could have. Now, I'm a big fan of sidewalks, so don't get me wrong on that. I'd like to see them all over town. And risk-benefit analysis from the law enforcement side of it, is it always comes down to is speed or driver inattention. And driver inattention at speed is even worse. So I will say, since I've been here over the course of my career, I've seen speeds come down dramatically. When I first started here, it wasn't uncommon to pick people off at 45, 47 miles an hour on 23rd, because I used to run radar up there a lot. And so over time, I think education has played a part. We're not even close to where I'd like to be speed-wise. But anyway, I just kind of wanted to throw that in there because I think from a talking point on us that are responding out to the scene, it's oftentimes it's just that speed, speed kills. Speed and mask impacting people is never a good thing, especially when we see more and more people on like e-bikes and bicycles. And a lot of times the people that are on these e-bikes, they have headphones in and they're not listening to stuff around them as well. So it just, again, if we can slow people down over the long run, that makes it a bit more safer.

So that picture up there was of you standing with that Buick or whatever it was?

It was actually somebody that I rode with when I was on FTL, Brent Stuvland, Officer Brent Stuvland, who was one of our first traffic officers, yeah.

All right. Well, ending on a throwback. Thank you. Did you have anything else to add? Okay. Sounds like we're good here. Thank you. And since we do not have an executive session, we can adjourn. Thank you, everyone.