City Council - Regular Meeting

I call the Wednesday, July 15th, 2026 council business meeting to order. I met with the council members at 5 p.m. in the sixth floor council conference room for a briefing to discuss tonight's agenda. At 5.30, we moved here to the first floor chambers to conduct the council business meeting in person. And because we encourage community involvement, we invite the public to join us in person, attend via remote option through Zoom, or view on BCAT. The council will accept spoken public comment on the items under the consent agenda. We have also set aside time at the end of the meeting for community comment. This provides an opportunity for community members to address the council on topics not included on the agenda, but still related to the work of the city council. Each speaker will have 90 seconds during each spoken comment period to address the council from the lectern in the meeting chambers. As of this meeting, we are implementing our new process, which consists of an online registration form to sign up for a remote spoken comment and sign-in sheets in the chamber. And if you forgot to sign in, it's okay. After everybody who has signed in speaks, then I'll give everybody else the opportunity. Request or comment via Zoom must be completed by noon on the day before the meeting, and you can access the online request form on the City Council webpage. As always, written questions or comments are also welcomed at any time at city.council.gov. at bremertonwa.gov or via mail. To be distributed to council members in advance of the business meeting, written comments must be received by noon on the day before the meeting. The city is committed to providing accessible meetings. Requests for accommodations, including sign language interpreters, hearing assistance, or other accessibility services should be made through the city clerk's office by noon on the day before the meeting. To arrange accommodation, please contact the city clerk at city.clerk at bremertonwa.gov or 360-473-5323. So we're gonna start tonight's meeting with an information only presentation by Tony Ives of KCR. Welcome, Tony.

Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. It's good to be back in front of the City Council. It's been a while. And I'm here to just talk about KCR, what's happened last year, and our community needs assessment. The first thing I really want to talk about is what we are. We're a community action agency. So we work in a network of 30 different agencies across Washington state. So we all try to work together. That includes Central De La Raza, NBC, Pierce County, Clark County, which is a public cap. So we all come together and try to solve problems. Thank you. Next. So I think most everybody knows, well, maybe I assume a lot. So these are most of our departments. The Housing Solutions Center, which is coordinated entry. Ana and I, we just finished talking about that. The Weatherization Project, which you guys help support. Women and Infant Children, the WIC program. Energy Assistance, Employment and Training, and Early Learning and Family Services, which is Head Start. So this is basically our impact, community impact from last year. This is countywide, and I'll go over the city of Bremerton specifically in a couple of minutes. But we've helped 210 veterans, 30 caregivers, about 8,800 households for energy and weatherization that this program like PSE and LIHEAP. 2,300 children, that's our Christmas Angel program, which is the largest it's ever been, and almost 800 in employment and training, which includes our BEST program, which you guys also help support. Wait, can you go back real quick? So I wanted to focus on really quick on the families that we help. So the WIC families, basically 3,600 families, 75,000 mills. So we have a full service kitchen downstairs and that supports the mills on wheels throughout Kitsap County. A lot of people don't know that. We do referrals for shelters, for safe shelters, that's including Stella Maris and transitional housing. And we try to help people avoid evictions. Almost 300 kids went through our Head Start program last year. So I'm here for the CNA, so the Community Needs Assessment. So I remember about four years ago, I came in front of the city council and talked about this. And it was the first time we kind of did something on this large of scale. So every four years, every three to four years, the Department of Commerce on the federal level is part of our mandate to do a needs assessment to evaluate the needs of the community. And then after that, we drive it into a strategic plan. So about four years ago, we met upstairs with the Department of Health. And the Department of Health, Carl Borg at the time was there, and some other folks were there. There was like seven of us in the room. And we said, how should we do this needs assessment? We said, okay, let's run it like the census. So we decided for each municipality to be really involved and not just concentrate on one area. So that includes Bainbridge Island, City of Paulsville, on the county level, city of Bremerton, and the city of Port Orchard. So the idea of the needs assessment is to collect input from Kitsap County, from Kitsap County residents across demographics, across zip codes. And then we try to inform our KCR and community partners about programs and services and strategic planning. So at that time, I think the survey, we actually did 10 focus groups. We actually have one tomorrow. It's our first focus group of this CNA. And the most interesting thing is there's 46 people that are going to participate. It's going to be at our 1201 park, and it's unhoused population. So we give out gift cards, provide pizza, and have have someone who runs the session for us. And we sit and record it and listen. And it goes into the qualitative data for the epidemiologist folks upstairs with KPHD. So this time, we're also going to do 10. It started July 6, going to run through October. And that includes the focus groups as well. And we hope to publish it no later than March. It'll probably be February. You can see KPHD is part of this, but also Virginia Mason, BHA, ourselves, and a few others. Stu Quamish is part of the contributors as well. Thank you. So basically what we're trying to do is gather community impact. So what I didn't say before was how many respondents there were last time. There were 4,200 respondents. We did it in four different languages. This time we're going to do it just in Spanish and English, because that's where the most impact was. and see what happens. We hope to double our amount of respondents this time. I'll tell you, we just rolled this out last week, and the first week, the first five days, we had over 400 respondents, which was amazing. That had never happened before. And I have to say, this has been one of the most robust surveys that has ever been done outside of the census for Kitsap County. So the results, basically we try to identify the needs that are facing our community here in Kitsap County and help guide KCR's resources and then resources of our partners as well, because that's really where the impact goes. It feeds right into a strategic plan, and then we try to measure that strategic plan for the next three years and do it again. What was interesting about this last time was... We wanted to we wanted to use the data to solve problems and measure the impact and that's what we're trying to do for you guys Okay, so next slide please. Okay, so if you go on to either KCR's website or KPHD's website, you'll be able to see this. So this is just one example remember what I had mentioned earlier was this was done by a by zip codes and places where you live, places where you work. And the interesting about that is that was never something we were gonna do, but talking to the Bainbridge Island Foundation, they said, hey, why don't you do this because Bainbridge Island in particular wanted to know the affordability of people that actually worked in City Hall, because a lot of people can't afford to live there, but they work there. So we did that for them, but it came out with some very interesting results across Kitsap County, places where you live, places where you work. So this is just an example of the dashboard that you can see, and we're gonna basically recreate that for the next round. So I didn't know there was a sign up here. And I should have known that as soon as I walked through the door, there was a big billboard about the needs assessment. Of course, KPHD is in the building. And then they're one of our partners. So what I encourage everybody to do is to take the survey by QR code or contact me directly. all the marketing tools and marketing materials. We're going to be at all the events this summer, including Wailing Days and the Pride Festival that's coming up. And yeah, we're out there right now. For my own part, we are going to all the municipalities, including the county, the county commissioners, in a couple of weeks. Brain Beach Island in beginning of August. We're trying to reach out to the school districts. Thank you for your help. And the school districts, for the first time, I've got to tell an interesting story. Things have changed in three years here, well, all over the world. And the health district wanted to capture some interesting data with youth, especially youth in high schools. So do you know if you're an unhoused 13-year-old, you can make adult decisions? This is something I actually did not know. So we said, OK, let's try to... let's try to figure out two or three questions that we can ask specifically for this demographic. And so I reached out to South Kitsap School District, and they were like, oh, this is a great idea, and maybe we should consider that. And let's reach out to the parents and see if we could do that. So we're just trying to capture another demographic that's important for us to consider in our CNA. Is there another slide? So this is an abbreviated version of the slides that I thought we were going to have. So I just wanted to just mention a couple of more things. Basically, I want everybody to share this if it's possible, right? And like I said, we have our first focus group tomorrow. And Virginia Mason is going to be there with us to observe and KPHD. So it ought to be very interesting. So thank you for your time. Does anybody have any questions for me? So I know everybody's familiar with the CNA, so hopefully this will be as successful. We know everybody, including smaller nonprofits, use the data to write their own grants, right? And there's another interesting story. I think I've told it here. When the data was released before, We did it open, so anybody can call KPHD or call us and get the raw data. So KPHD had it clearly, and they were going to use it for their own CNA, which they're going to do this time as well. Kids of Transit reached out, and they said, hey, can we get the raw data? Sure. St. Michael's did the same thing at the time, and then they used it for their own CNA to craft their questions and to come up with valuable data. So it's valuable for everybody. So I encourage everybody to get out and use it, okay? All right?

I have a question for you. Besides the big poster that the health department has, can you leave up at the council office some smaller ones? And that way when we have council meetings, we can just bring them down here so people coming in.

That sounds great. And I'll give you some cards too, okay?

That would be great.

All right. Fantastic.

I really appreciate you coming in and talking to us.

I appreciate you inviting me, okay? Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good to see everybody.

Okay, next we have our consent agenda.

Thank you, Council President. For approval on the consent agenda are the following items. A, claims and check register. Approval of the following checks and electronic fund transfers. One, check numbers 415469 through 415611. And EFT numbers V46608. through V46709 in the grand total amount of $3,187,876.89. Two, regular payroll for pay period ending June 30th, 2026 in the amount of $1,264,865.25. Three, retiree payroll for pay period ending June 30th, 2026 in the amount of $41,377.43. B, minutes of council meeting, July 1st, 2026. C, minutes of study session, July 8th, 2026. D, confirm appointment of Shannon Turner to the Bremerton Housing Authority Commission. E, ordinance number 5539, amending Bremerton Municipal Code chapter 10.42, entitled automated traffic safety cameras. And F, terminating interlocal agreement with Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization. This concludes the reading of the consent agenda.

Is there, well, is there anybody in the public who would like to comment on the consent agenda? And Mr. Runyon did ask that he could do it remotely, but I see you're here in person, so, okay.

It's on now. Okay. Mary Lou Long. I just wanted to get a clarification of E in the consent agenda, the ordinance number 5539 amending the Bremerton Municipal Code concerning traffic safety cameras. I'm not sure what's that doing. Oh. You can't hear me? Feedback or something? Can you hear me now?

Yeah, we can hear you.

Okay, I would just like to have a clarification of item E, the ordinance number 5539, amending Bremerton Municipal Code chapter 10.42 entitled automated traffic safety cameras. I don't know what that's about.

Well, we did discuss it at last week's study session, but perhaps our city attorney or finance director could just give a very brief, it's a code cleanup. It's not adding anything at this time, it's cleaning up the code. In what respect?

So yeah, I can kind of add in a little bit. So there was a pretty robust discussion at the study session. So anything I can't answer here, they'll be on the recording. But state law prescribes for additional cameras to be used in cities, which are speed platforms in school zones, park zones. So this code revision aligns our code with state law. So that's all this is doing is aligning with the state law, that RCW, if and when the city moves to enact any new camera that would come back to council. So this is just a code revision to align with the state RCW.

All right, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Camacho?

Jose Camacho, Friends of Smith Cove, Rock the Block. This is regarding Mr. Turner's appointment to the BHA Commission. It is very perverse when the city council has the power to appoint commissioners to the BHA, but the law is the law. And it's perverse because we've all seen the city, the council in particular, including Denise Fry, very particular, is actually at war with the BHA right now regarding the BHA hybrid shelter project. Three statutes, and I would like Mr. Turner to realize this when he serves in the commission. forbid a city from forbidding a shelter to be placed anywhere dwellings are allowed. The Harrison Heights allows dwellings, the shelter belongs there. The ridiculous assertion that the shelter represents spot zoning, is utterly absurd and it actually constitutes a false report violation, which will get someone thrown out of office. So I am saying this because there is deceit as a matter of policy in the city. Mr. Turner should not have to deal with that, but unfortunately he will have to deal with it. There's no reason for the city to violate law to attack the homeless. There's no reason for it, but you are. Thank you for your comments.

Can I talk? Who would like to speak next, please?

Roy Runyon Bremerton. Well, my comments will be relevant to the consent agenda items.

Thank you.

4E, I asked several council members to have this put down onto general business. This is a code change. Oh, it's a cleanup. And actually, there's a nexus with our budget issue and street funding. You had a, quote, vigorous discussion last study session. Obviously not vigorous enough because... Section four states that further the city council dedicates that revenue in excess of direct costs associated with processing operations and maintenance will be dedicated to the transportation capital projects fund unless otherwise allocated by the city council. I suggest you change that and actually to the street maintenance fund and preservation fund. Basically just street maintenance and operations. And because that's where we really need the money. Not for the nice to do new sidewalks and the traffic calming. Thank you. And the other item, I do support us pulling the money in that would normally go to Salish Behavioral Services so we can maintain control of that money and make sure it goes to where it needs to go. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else like to speak on the agenda?

Hi, my name is Monica Signs. So before I speak, Jennifer Chamberlain, right before you turned on the camera, said that she personally supports Pendleton Place.

Ma'am, right now at this point of the agenda, it's just about things on our consent agenda. Later on in the meeting, you're allowed to come and talk about any subject that you would like to.

oh okay okay i was underwater so what i'm sorry what what is this about homelessness no okay nope not at this point thank you i know hi i'm mike simpson i live in district six

And I'm here to talk about what's on our consent agenda. What shouldn't be on our consent agenda. We should have the red light camera ordinance placed on general business. I would ask you, President Rebelowski, to place it on general business simply because it does have a budget nexus. It's a reasonable request. The idea that we would have to go back and listen to the study session, which we weren't there, didn't get to see it on BCAT, and don't have time to see it on BCAT now because the items on your agenda get voted for the day of the meeting, a few minutes before the meeting. So how are we as the public supposed to stay informed about this sort of thing when you have the power to change what's on the agenda at a moment's notice with, well, with 15 minutes notice, and then we get a minute and a half to speak about it? This seems like you're disenfranchising the public from their ability to talk to you If you want our input, we're here for it. Put it on the general business. Make it something that we can talk about. We can hear what's there. There might be other arguments that came up against it or for it. You never know. You just haven't convinced us that this is a good thing. Put it on general business. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else who would like to speak to items on the consent agenda? Oh, is there anybody? I think the only person who had signed up is here in person. So, all right.

Council President, we also had the lists from the back and I do have a chance. Did you still want to? No? Okay.

That's it. That's it? Okay. So nobody else wants to speak on this, all right. Seeing no additional comments, we will move to council consideration of the consent agenda.

Move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Is there any council discussion? I'm reading the script.

There's no discussion on consent.

Yeah, I'm reading. OK, I call for the vote, please.

Councilmember Chamberlain? Yes. Frey?

Yes.

Camerata?

Yes.

Goodnow?

Yes.

Mockler?

Yes.

Tiff?

Yes.

Thank you. Rebelowski? Yes. Motion carries unanimously. This concludes the consent agenda.

With no general business items tonight, we have next the mayor's report. Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor, I'd like to invite Shannon Turner up first. I'm sorry. So Shannon is our newest Bremerton Housing Authority board member. The mayor appointed him and we approved his appointment tonight. So do you want to say a few words to the community?

Sure, sure. Mayor, Madam President, Councilmember, staff. Wow. It's a long time coming, I guess, in my sense. I've been here for about somewhere between 15 to 20 years. And I would just like to say thank you. I am expressing my sincere gratitude for the confidence that you've shown in by possibly approving me to serve as one of the Bremerton Housing Commissioners. This is truly an honor and I don't take this responsibility lightly. I also want to express my heartfelt thanks to the Bremerton Housing Authority for accepting and carefully processing my application and for making a recommendation to the Mayor. I appreciate the time and the professionalism and the confidence that you guys are willing to place in me if I'm lucky enough to serve in this position. Bremerton is home. It's a community that has given me so much, and I look forward to giving back possibly in this new role. I want to thank each member of the City Council for your dedication and public service. I know the decisions that you make are often demanding and require balancing many competing priorities. Your commitment to the residents of Bremerton is appreciated, and I'm honored to join you, or possibly join you, in serving our community. As a housing commissioner, I am committed to listening, learning, and working collaboratively with my fellow commissioners, the housing authority, the city, and the people of Bremerton. My goal is to support thoughtful, fair, and practical solutions that help expand housing opportunities while ensuring responsibility and stewardship of the resources entrusted to us. I believe the best decisions come from respectful dialogue, transparency, and a genuine willingness to work together. I look forward to contributing in a positive way and helping strengthen the future of housing in our city. Thank you again, the Bremerton Housing Authority, Mayor Greg Wheeler, and the Bremerton City Council for your trust, most importantly, your confidence within me. And I am very humbled and I look and I'm really excited about stepping into this new role to do just that. I promise I will do my best and I promise to the city and its community that I will hear, I will listen, and then I will be a voice to do the very best I can do to help Bremerton grow and become better than what it already is. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Next up. Welcome Mayor Wheeler.

That's all right. All right. Well, good evening council, council president and counselors. Just a couple couple slides for you tonight so that the fun at the playgrounds that that continues. And again, this one this runs till August 14th. As you can see, Friday from 11 AM to 2 PM. Blueberry Haddon Park. And I encourage, again, those who are watching tonight, spread the word. We would love to see as much participation as possible. An example of some of the things you get to learn are on some of the slides below. So our students, that the last session got to learn from the Bremerton Police Department a little bit about the K-9 team and got to see some of the drills, the skills of the K-9 officers, and of course, all the officers, the commission, including the dog, who is a commissioned officer. And there's more of that to come. So important, you know, and just we appreciate providing this service in the Recreation Department And again, I'm here to promote it, try to get more to join. It's a lot of fun. Next slide. Fun at the Playgrounds. And this is just talking about a little bit about what I just mentioned. You know, just, and if you want this information, you can contact the Parks Department. There's a phone number down below, ajengelgao.williams.williams is your point of contact. If all else, if for some reason you don't remember that, contact me, I'll get you in connection. I'll make the connection for you. All right, so Park and Recreation Professionals Day coming this Friday. So this is a part of National Park and Recreation Month, and we are excited to celebrate this day coming this Friday, July 17th. This day recognizes a dedicated staff who work behind the scenes to make our parks, programs, and community events possible. From maintaining our parks and trails to leading youth programs, organizing special events, coaching sports, and creating welcoming spaces for everyone, Our Parks and Recreation team plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of life in our parks in Bremerton. So I'd like to take a moment to recognize and thank our Parks and Rec staff for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to serving their community. Their passion and teamwork truly are the power behind everything we do and we are grateful for the positive impact they make every day. So join me in a round of applause. All right, next slide. All right, so obviously we're saying goodbye to old Marine 20. And... All right. Next slide, please. So I wanted to show that brief clip first. Marine 20 will be down at the fire department, Station 1, July 18, this coming Saturday. And I've been promoting these community events. I think it's good for our citizens, especially our youth, to come down and learn a little bit about their community and get them engaged, learn what our first responders do. And a lot of fun. There's a lot of fun with it and kid activities. So again, that was Marine 20 you just saw, and that will be down there at the station this Saturday. The Fan Zone. Just, it's been, I think, a wonderful success. We aren't done yet. And so we have to make it, what I consider, we aren't done until we wrap up this weekend with the final watch party. But so far, as far as a community builder, a uniter of our citizens, Good, healthy entertainment and fun. This thing has been an overwhelming success. There'll be more to learn. There will be a debrief, and I want to hear from several stakeholders. And, of course, internally, we will debrief on what we accomplished, what we can do better at, what we were really good at. And just kind of learn how we can coordinate and make this even smoother the next time an opportunity like this comes. We all know that events help build community. How do we do that with the resources we have within the budget that we have? That will be the goal, to maximize what we have to the benefit of our citizens. So more to come, but I tell you, For those of you that have attended, you probably would join me in saying this has been a lot of fun. All right, Concert Evergreen, I heard last night was well attended. And again, trying to promote our Parks and Recreation Department, the services we provide that build community, bring us together. The concert last night, it was a food truck. ice cream and of course music with about I'd say about 300 in attendance so The schedules up there. There's more to go in July here. So again, I invite everybody to join us And that is it All right. Thank you counseling.

Thank you mayor Okay, next is councilmember reports This is an opportunity for council members to provide an update on any issue or events taking place in their district, announce any events they've recently attended or plan to attend, or to speak on any other city-related topic. Since this is the last council meeting of the month, we will start with District 7, Councilmember Rick Tiff.

Okay, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. I don't have a formal report tonight. However, I did have the privilege of attending the change of command ceremony on behalf of the City Council for Group 9, which is located at Bangor. Admiral Nash was relieved by Admiral Figenbaum, and Group 9 is the admiral responsible for the operation of submarines and their crews stationed at banger washington so that concludes my report thank you next is district 6 council member anna mochler hi

So this is about 100 feet south of my district. I'm poaching on District 5 Michael Goodnow. But I met this guy, and we got talking. And I went up to view this manufacturing place called Talon and Claw. I had additional photographs, but they disappeared in the ether while I was sending them. But here we have more than 12 live and wage jobs, light manufacturing, right here in Bremerton. They make cutting boards and this Dungeons and Dragons thing. It's a Dungeons and Dragons thing. And they make additional wands, cribbage boards, die holders. It's some beautiful laser cut and then hand finished work. And it's right here in town. And I was pretty super proud of it. And sorry that the other photographs disappeared. Next slide, please. Okay, so here are some of the officers at the FIFA fan zone. Remember Monday before last? Remember when our country had a chance to win the World Cup? Well, this was when that was still true, and people were all excited. So if you look at the public safety officer in the bottom right-hand corner whose head is obscured by the numeral three, uh this guy was explaining over and over and over to everybody that yeah the umbrellas did block the view of the big screen but they weren't going to be and yeah they were new but they were going to just stay and the final one that photograph on the left i thought this was great we were all pressed together it was 84 degrees And yes, and then we went and we found out that the Roxy was open, that the Roxy had thrown itself open to the public with the giantest screen TV ever. And air conditioning, front row seats, it was wonderful. It was really a great experience to be there while all of that was happening. Is that the last slide, Hans? Okay. Really the only other thing I wanted to say is that again star of hope 13th to 11th callow to Wyckoff is going to be applying for permits very soon this fall and we are setting up an open house. at St. Vincent de Paul, which is Star of Hope, which is the moving force behind Star of Hope. So keep your calendar clear for early September and stay dry, stay hydrated.

Thank you. Next, let's hear from District 5 Councilmember Michael Goodnow.

All these things make me think of other things. We're going to hold on this slide for a bit. I used to serve on a submarine in Group 9, so that brought up memories and obviously the air conditioning. Thanks for the shout out. Actually, I want to talk about something. So a week ago, so last Wednesday, I believe, there was a violent attack up by the bus transfer station on Wheaton Way. the person's known to me and uh i just wanted to really think thank the the police department and uh officer knox rk9 if you haven't seen the account uh it was a very it's pretty violent a random attack and It was somebody who was somewhat known to us and they were able to take action, but it was even extricating the person from the house was a big ordeal. And I just think they handled it great. And I know the family's happy that that person's in jail is there recovering with brain injury and really rough condition. So, all right. All right, I got that out of the way. I'll take my next slide, please. So from the Charleston Business District, they wanted us to let you know that there's a new yarn shop, probably more than that, called Spindling Crow, opening on July 15th. They'll probably be having a bigger grand opening down the row. It is next door to Cafe Corvo, if you know that as a landmark. Next slide, please. So also in the same vein, Callow Fibers, a fabric and yarn shop, is opening up. That's going to be closer to the Charleston, the old movie theater, the old grand movie theater on Callow. And they're opening July 25. And I love all this because for a long time I've used the phrase, make it on Callow. And I just love that you can get things repaired there and you can get things that are made there. So anyways, that's kind of exciting. Next little congratulations to George Sternberg, or Stenberg, recognized as expertise in photography. There's a longer article if you're interested. You can use that QR code to find the article. And then last slide, the new Charleston Business District newsletter is out. And again, there is a QR code there and it highlights David McBride, who is one of the new board members of the Charleston Business District. And last, just a reminder, I've shared this slide already, but Kitsap Pride is this weekend. So we kick off Friday on the fan tale of the Turner Joy. We have a festival from three to eight at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. So if you can come out and celebrate, this is the 30th year that Kitsap Pride has happened in our community. And it's something I'm very proud of and I've been involved for 27 years, so.

that's all i have thank you happy pride thank you next let's hear from district three council member christy camarada i think you have slides

So I tend to wander. And so this is a report from not district three because I was lucky enough to be over in Rick's district in district seven at the air show this weekend. I think it's just this slide and another slide of like not so good photography from the absolute very beginning of it because I had every intention of taking good photos while I was there because I was working and doing my job. But about three planes into it, I got completely distracted. It was a wonderful time and realized as we're leaving, I didn't take any more pictures. So these are like the worst pictures for the best reason. So I just had to highlight that because I went to send these to the thing and I was like, oh my gosh, I did a terrible job. That's wonderful. um we only have three minutes so i'm going to move on to the next thing um on facebook i saw that the city of bremerton the public works and utilities department has a survey out and it is asking what sort of trees they should be giving out so if you guys are unfamiliar with this program i think it's once a year but I've actually participated in it. And in my front yard, I have a Japanese snow bell that is amazing. And this year was so fragrant, it actually smelled up the inside of my house from just one tree that I was actually lucky enough to get from the city of Bremerton. So what they do, is once a year you can sign up for it. So keep your eyes open for when it actually opens. But this is the first time I've ever seen a survey that they have, I think, 12 trees, and they're asking you to pick which four you might be interested in so that they can do the ordering. And it's just such a neat program and really put some great landscaping here in Bremerton, and it is no cost to the homeowners. So it is amazing, and I love it. And I think I'm close to three minutes on that one, so I'm good.

You actually had another minute, but that's okay. Next, let's hear from Council Vice President and District 2 Council Member Denise Fry. I have no report tonight.

okay all right well thank you and jennifer you can't have her three minutes uh are you sure about that next up is district one council member jennifer chamberlain hi all right um so uh i wanted to kind of just just show you guys a little different angle of willow street this was a street that we had some constituents complain about about car hoarding this kind of gives you a little bit of a different angle on it so you can see near this the residents the line of cars that you see right there is is one set of the the vehicles that our neighbors complained about And I think we're gonna have some solutions, some ideas coming to council soon on how to kinda deal with this. I just wanna make sure that y'all know this isn't a situation where folks are living in the cars. This is a situation where a neighbor is hoarding cars. and potentially fixing them, having kind of like an unregulated repair or something going on, which has its own ecological hazards, not to mention just super inconvenient for the neighbors to for parking, for getting by on the sidewalks. So more will be coming to council about that. Do I have any other? Oh, and as always, I have to advertise our cleanup. This is a super successful, wonderful community building activity, and you get free coffee, you get a free donut, you get a free T-shirt. Show up at Cafe Perfetto this Saturday. at 8.30 a.m. and start going out with folks at 9 a.m. You even get all the things that you need to pick up the trash, a little grabber. You get a safety vest as a program supported from the county, actually. And the last thing that I just want to talk about is I hope that folks Go out and have do some exploring over the next few days We're having some negative tides and I wanted to get a picture of Lions Park There's so many neighbors were out there exploring and I just thought it was really cool For folks to be out there and seeing you know, what's going on. We're gonna have negative tides until Friday So go see what you can find out there. I

right that's it thank you next i have a couple slides my good next one please um fourth of july it was a mess all over town um the ordinance as we have it was not followed Several years ago, before I was on council, the ordinance was changed to allow people more days to shoot off fireworks. And then we don't have the police to go around and enforce us because they're busy with a lot of calls on the 4th of July. I've been asked by some to start a petition to consider a county-wide ban, but I'M ELECTED OFFICIAL. I CAN'T DO THAT. IF YOU WANT TO START A PETITION, IF YOU FEEL THAT IT'S IMPORTANT, PLEASE DO IT. I'LL SIGN IT. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. SO WE HAD A COMMUNITY SURVEY OUT FROM CITY COUNCIL. We had 120 people who responded. Well, we actually had like 126, but six people cheated and tried to do it twice. So we caught you. The results are going to be discussed at our August 12th study session. And if you want to be on council email lists so you get information quicker, please just send an email to city.council and ask us to put you on our general email list. Next slide, please. Sorry. So there's a lot more ways. We've been updating the website with the help of the city's webmaster. And so there's a lot of information that you can now get on the city council website. You can get updates. You can stay informed on topics. We have a lot of information there on what we discussed. at a study session the agenda packets you can reach through that area too so if you want to understand more about what we're voting on it's a good place to go look for updates next slide please the va benefits counselors are going to be in kitsap county on august 10th at olympic college from 8 45 to 1 pm If you're a veteran, active duty, family of service members looking for help filing for VA benefits, you can get in-person assistance with the claims process in Bremerton. So I hope anybody needing those services is listening and can make it down there on August 10, 845 AM to 1 PM. Next slide, please. So upcoming meetings. Tomorrow, there's a Lodging Tax Advisory Committee meeting. The 21st, Public Works Committee meets. The 22nd is the Council Study Session. On the 28th is Finance, Investment, and Parking. And I just want to remind everybody, because there's five Wednesdays this month, we don't meet on the fifth Wednesday. There's going to be a jump between our study session on the 23rd and our next council meeting, which will be August 5th. Do I have any more slides? No? OK. So that's it for our reports. Before we begin community comment, I want to remind everybody that city council meetings are business meetings of the city of Bremerton and are also a workplace for city employees. Community comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on matters that are not listed on tonight's agenda but are still related to work of the city council. Your spoken community comment must remain focused on matters related to city business. The city also has an obligation to maintain a workplace free from harassment. Harassing language including but not limited to ethnic, racial, or sex-based slurs is not germane to city business and will not be permitted. If a speaker uses harassing language or otherwise violates the standards, I will provide one warning. If the conduct continues, the speaker will be directed to stop speaking and return to their seat. We will begin first with those who signed up to provide community comment.

First, we have Jordan.

Good evening, Council. My name is Jordan Almodovar. I am a concerned neighbor regarding the proposed homeless shelter at 1231 Sheridan Road. My family lives on the next road following the field that is being proposed for this low barrier homeless shelter. We have young children are deeply concerned about the proposed location of the shelter due to its close proximity to established residential neighborhoods. The new elementary school currently under construction behind their SARS grocery store and other nearby community facilities. We do not believe this location is appropriate for the homeless shelter. I understand that homelessness is a complex issue and that individuals experiencing homelessness deserve support and resources. However, I believe that those services should be located in areas that are better suited to meet clients' needs while also minimizing impacts on surrounding residential neighborhoods, schools, and vulnerable populations. Through conversations with friends and law enforcement, I have learned about the significant public safety and medical challenges officers regularly encounter. One, responding to incidents involving homeless individuals in their parts of their community, including frequent overdose responses requiring Narcan administration. These experiences reinforce my concern that placing a shelter in this particular location would create risk that would negatively affect nearby families, children, and seniors. The proposed site is especially concerning because it is directly across the street from Bremerton High School athletic fields, less than 1,400 feet from an elementary school, located within an established residential neighborhood, and within 1,500 feet of three senior care facilities. I respectfully urge for you to... Your time is up.

Thank you.

Next, please. Next is Jocelyn. Jocelyn, are you here?

Oh, you're walking unassisted.

Thank you, thank you.

Huh? Okay. It's okay, it's okay. Do you want honey? OK, OK. Hi, I'm Jocelyn. I'm with the prayer walk. And I just wanted to come here. We've got a couple of people that are struggling right now to find services. At the same time, they're struggling to find services. They're being pushed around. We have individuals literally dying on the streets right now. And we just need to get a moratorium on this anti-camping ordinance. And the anti-camping ordinance that we have, you guys, it's one of the strictest in the nation. And if we don't have any resources for them available, we have nowhere for them to go. So they are going out into places where they have no business going. They're hiding. We're not able to see them. We're not able to help them. and they're really, really, really struggling. We need to be able to. I don't know where the misinformation's coming from on the homeless shelter to individuals, on what is actually being proposed at this point in time, but it's not going to be a low barrier shelter anymore, and so it's not going to have those problems. There's a lot of ways that we can make it safe, but let's get them in one place so that we can help them, because we've got a lot of hope happening on the streets. It There are people wanting more. I've got Patty out here in the audience right now, and I hope she has the courage to share her story because she's on Social Security, a fixed income. She just needs a little more help, and we're going to end up moving these people out, and I'm one of those who has used resources here. Thank you. Thank you.

Let's have Monica come up and speak, please.

Thank you. Okay, so would I watch it on KCAT, but I'm not sure which one I'm supposed to...

Okay, you don't have to do anything. It's on, so that's going to... Okay, we'll start it right... If the light turns yellow, that means you have 30 seconds left, and when it turns red, you're done. Can you tell me when I start? Okay. Start now? Right now.

Okay. First, I'd like to say my name is Monica Saenz. I'm a homeless individual. And before I started, I'm aware of all of you, but Jennifer said that she stated that she personally supports Pendleton Place, and she spoke for you guys. You do support it? Okay. Including the city attorney, Kylie? So I'll be available afterwards to show videos or different things, screenshots of what actually goes on there. There's only 31 original residents because law enforcement has asked me not to speak about it as FBI and IRS is involved. And you guys are very well aware, there's only 31 residents that they started with, and someone just died two days ago. So I have firsthand information. That is run by BHA, and that is also run by Kids Stopping the Health, and it's taxpayer's money. So I will be filing a suit against the city, and I'm sure Kylie's very well aware of all the crimes that are committed there, because she gets them. So I'd like to speak about the homelessness. If without KCR, without St. Vincent's, without the Salvation Army, who am I leaving out? Without PCHS, I would not be alive right now. And you guys shut down that, but you have the taxpayers paying over $30 million plus now to keep Pendleton Place, a drug den, open. And you're doing nothing about the community down there. Thank you.

Thank you, Monica. Do we have other people who signed up? Okay, so now anybody who would like to come up, one by one, please, to give comments, if you like.

Roy Runyon Bremerton. Well, I'm kind of disappointed in performance of the council, because you violated your own rules. You allowed someone to violate the protocol and the order of business without interrupting him. And then you interrupted another member of the public. You treated people unfairly. I'm disappointed. If I had a yellow card, I'd be flashing my yellow card right now. Anyway, so think about that in future. You're all responsible. Any one of you could have interrupted that individual and reminded him to make his comments during the public comment period at the end of the meeting. But you didn't do that. I want to speak about the budget crisis we're facing. Since Greg Wheeler became the mayor, actually, when I left office in 2015, we had 356 full-time employees. And today, 409 employees, 409 employees. And I don't see where the city of Bremerton fiscally is generating the revenue to sustain all of that. And now you're having discussions about budgeting. You're going to have your retreat. And I've provided some input to some folks. But we need to get serious about this and drop the vanity projects that as politicians you can say, this is what I built. You need to maintain the city. We need to maintain public safety, police and fire without overtaxing residents and businesses. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there other people who would like to speak?

Why wasn't my name called? I was on the list.

You were on the list for the... THE CONSENT AGENDA OR BUSINESS ITEMS. YOU WEREN'T ON THE LIST FOR THE COMMUNITY COMMENT.

THERE WAS ANOTHER LIST? YEAH, THERE'S TWO. OH, THAT'S CONFUSING. I THOUGHT I CHECKED OFF BOTH THINGS I WANTED TO SPEAK TO. ANYWAY, MARY LOU LONG, LONGTIME RESIDENT OF BREMMERTON. I AM REQUESTING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL, AS ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL BREMMERTON CITY RESIDENTS, Reinstate the Pledge of Allegiance as a formal opening to our public meetings. We all need to remember who we are and why we are here. The Pledge reminds us of the Constitution and the values we share in a contract with each other as Americans. Freedom of speech is the first and most important contractual agreement we make as citizens of the United States. You restricted speech and paused public recognition. You continue to limit public input. If all of you agree to equity, then all council and staff and mayoral reports should be limited to the same amount of time, 90 seconds. I noticed you had 30, or three minutes, each one of you, and Mayor had more. Maybe we should go back to the three minutes so people can actually say all that they want to say. People can, you must be given freedom to express your discontent, frustrations, and disagreements with policies that you impose on all of us. You may find it alarming, distasteful, and possibly even racist by some statements that are made, but this is the way to identify those who are out of step with common sense and decorum. With that, I have just enough time to say Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good job, Mary Lou. Good job.

Thank you, Mary Lou. Are there other members of the public who would like to speak?

Good evening. My name is Sarah Dickmeyer. I live in District 3. I moved to Bremerton a few months ago. As a newer resident, I want to express my support for the proposed Sheridan shelter, which I also plan to communicate to the Planning Commission. But really what I wanted to share today is what I want to see from my city on homelessness in general. Right now, there are not enough places for people to go. There aren't enough overnight shelter beds or services or affordable housing options, not in Bremerton or the whole of Kitsap. There's not enough money in the city or the county budget to fully meet or respond to that need. In my day job, I work for a supportive housing provider based out of King County, engaging with four different cities and their distinct neighborhood and community dynamics. Issues like this are hard. The Sheridan location, the discourse, the process, I understand that none of that has been ideal. but neither is the reality of homelessness today there's a proposal and resources on the table it's not enough in the grand scheme of things but it will be life-saving for the people it will serve what other proposals do we have right now and what else would be progress whether it's this project or another down the road i want my government to do what it can to make it easier to build chap to build shelter and open faster not merely say yes but actively accelerate We rarely have enough choices in front of us to say whether one place or project is the best we can do. But the right choice is anything that gets more people inside than if we otherwise did nothing. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there other people who would like to speak?

Go. Go ahead, sure. Hi, I'm Chris Brown. And a lot of negativity comes, so I want to share a sweet story. We met a homeless lady about almost six years ago down on the street. She was active addiction. And my grandma's granddaughter. She didn't know she was pregnant. And we loved her and loved her and loved her until she learned how to love herself. I would like to say that she has provided her five-year-old daughter with housing since she was a baby, since she was about one. And we just got to go watch this baby, this miracle baby graduate kindergarten with the mom and the dad. at the graduation. So a lot of people say that we enable, and I call it loving. Loving until they know how to love themselves. Loving until they trust themselves enough to love themselves. And I would also piggyback. I would beg, beg, beg for there to be looking into Pendleton House. I too have information, but thank you so much. Thank you.

Is there anybody else in the public who'd like to speak?

Jose Camacho, Friends of Smith Cove, Rock the Block,

Can you talk into the microphone, please?

Jose Camacho, Rock the Block, Friends of Smith's Cove. Denise Fry violated a Municipal Officer Prohibited Act Statute, RCW 42.23.070. It prohibits municipal officers from divulging confidences. And that violation actually makes her forfeit her office. So RCW. The way she did that was she divulged the confidence that she admitted to in an email to Andrea Spencer. She says, Don't let this go further, but they want the Sheridan site to be kept confidential. She then started the process of sabotaging that project. And we have the email. Other emails show that Wesley Larson, holding court, uses the YMCA as a conduit for his for-profit venture. And in these emails, January 2025, he's giving work assignments to various public officers, including Denise Fry. See if the ALTAC can be used. And what he's interested in is a 40 acre school property north of the BHA shelter. That's why you guys are doing the Opportunity Zone for Harrison Heights.

EVENING, COUNCIL. EVENING, COUNCIL. MY NAME IS CHANCE COREY. MY NAME IS CHANCE COREY. MY NAME IS CHANCE COREY. I LIVE IN DISTRICT 5. I LIVE IN DISTRICT 5. I LIVE IN DISTRICT 5. I WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO I WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO I WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO THANK YOU ALL, ESPECIALLY FOR THANK YOU ALL, ESPECIALLY FOR THANK YOU ALL, ESPECIALLY FOR PUTTING OUT THE BUDGET SURVEY. PUTTING OUT THE BUDGET SURVEY. PUTTING OUT THE BUDGET SURVEY. I THINK ACTUALLY ASKING US OUR I THINK ACTUALLY ASKING US OUR I THINK ACTUALLY ASKING US OUR OPINIONS ON WHERE WE WANT OUR Brilliant idea. I actually appreciate that I have seen a lot of surveys and a lot of public feedback asked for from the city recently And I'm going to shift gears now and we're going to talk about Quincy Square and how successful the fan zone has been and I'm going to ask what I asked for six months ago Keep it closed There is no good reason we need that one street or those seven parking spots for the downtown core. Keep that a safe, open third space. Allow more festivities to be held there. Allow that space to be a gathering space where we as Bremerton can come and use it. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else in the public who would like to speak?

Hello. I also support the Sheridan Shelter, but I'm here to talk about 6th Street. The 30% plan just dropped, and it's fantastic. A first protected bike lane in the city of Bremerton. We're super excited about it. And then at the 11th hour, the administration comes in and wants to take out about 20% of the protection that slows down cars, that protects cyclists, and that shortens crosswalks and makes everybody safe, including all of the protection downtown and the protection nearest the crosswalks to Naval Avenue Elementary School and the Catholic School. Um... And the reason for that is for facilitation of the fire trucks. And it's a hard thing to argue against, because I've never driven a fire truck. You've never driven a fire truck. But you know who else has never driven a fire truck on a Bremerton street with a protected bike lane? Anyone in the Bremerton fire department, because we've never had one. They are looking forward and anticipating a problem, which may very well exist. It may be very hard for those trucks to get down. But we do not know, because it's not built. It's barely even imagined, my suggestion build out the bike lane in its entirety with all of the protection as a pilot program. And if there's any place with verified conflicts with fire trucks or anything else, then we can take those places out. We won't even have to because the Amazon trucks will do it for us. So please build in all of the protection and make that first protected bike lane in the city of Bremerton real end to end. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Are there any other members of the public who'd like to speak tonight?

I'm Mike Simpson. I live in District 6. So you've seen a lot of the people come in here and talk tonight. And a bunch of them have been cut off by this one and a half minute time frame. Now, I support the idea that we should have the Pledge of Allegiance. I would also add that we should have the invocation to start out each one of these business meetings. Our founding fathers did it, and they still do it in our US Congress. They do it in our legislature in Washington, here in Olympia. Why would we not do it here? The invocation is not something that's tied directly to religion. It's something that just says that people can come in and say something good about the council. I really don't have a lot good to say about the council. I think a bunch of you are just junk politicians. But you won't even listen to us when we come in with our minute and a half. You callously disregard us when we ask you to do something simple, put it under the general business. And yet you treat this as some sort of business meeting, but it's not. It's a rubber stamp. You made your decision already in the study session and you've wasted the people's money. And you've wasted the people's time. And you don't give us the opportunity to come in and tell you how much we don't want something or how much we do. And this notion that you'd cut down our time to a minute and a half is just atrocious. And you should change that now. There aren't that many people that are here in the chamber that want to talk. It wouldn't be that hard to add in the extra minute and a half for people to talk to you.

Thank you. Are there any other people here who would like to give your comments? No, I'm sorry, Monica. OK, well, if there's no other community members who would like to talk, I adjourn tonight's meeting. Thank you, everyone, for coming.