City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

It is now 6 o'clock, and I will call the meeting to order. Clerk, please take the roll call.

Mayor Frederick?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Winkler? Here. Councilmember Elliott? Here. Councilmember Walton? Here. Councilmember Gassick? Here. Councilmember Wargo? Councilmember Barrow? Councilmember Thakur? Here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. Please stand for the 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.

This is the time we have for public comments. Clerk, did anyone call in or write in?

No, we have no one online, and we have no written comment.

Okay, thank you. Is there anyone in the audience that would desire to make comments for the council tonight? Okay, we'll move on. It's time to approve the agenda. I do have one amendment on the new business. I'm going to add item 11.2. And that is to name two of our council members as voting members at the coming AWC annual meeting. So we'll address that under 11.2. I'll entertain a motion to approve the council with that.

Deputy Mayor Winkler. Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the agenda.

As amended.

As amended.

Council member of the Corps.

Second.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Do we have any further discussion? Seeing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor say aye. Oppose? Okay, the agenda has been approved. The first item tonight, 6.1, is our annual community garden update. And Mr. Singh is here once again to give us the annual update. So the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Deputy Mayor and the members of the Council for this opportunity to share with you the work of about 75 people of our community that work with us at the community garden. Just as a background, I thought I'd give you a quick update on how this all started. And if you could go to the first foil, please, I'd appreciate that. Could you? Yeah, there we go. So the community garden was an effort that started at Intel back in 2009. And this effort was initially just an Intel only program. But in 2011, we decided to go ahead and open it up to the city members. And we have ever since then really enjoyed the benefit of having so many members from the city come and join us and work with us in the garden. we very quickly decided that we needed to go ahead and establish a 501c3 a charitable organization which has been recognized by the irs back in 2009 and we've had taken care of all the requirements that it takes to run such an organization we have a board and the president of our board is mr dennis larkin who's here uh he is currently the board man uh president and he holds a term for two years and we've had regular updates in our board ever since then. The organization itself was re-established from the Intel site onto city property back in 2017 and that really gave us an opportunity to understand what was not working in the garden and how we could do better. And of course, I have to turn to Gus Lim and some of the other people who were in the city government at that time, who backed the effort to move the garden onto city property. And in 2017, in August that year, we had the garden established as one of the parks under the city organization. And the agreement with the city was that we, the charitable organization, would actually run it on the behalf of the city and move forward with from there. And we established a 10 year relationship, which is coming up for renewal in the next year or so as we go forward. So that'll be a conversation we will have with city members and including Mr. Karg or whoever the attorney at this point would be. The mission of the garden has always been since its very inception that we would grow healthy food, support the people in the community, both in DuPont, but also the food banks that we have supported ever since the very beginning. We actually provide half of what we produce to the two food banks that we've supported since the beginning. One was in Thurston County, which is the Lacey Food Bank, and the other one is in Lakewood. We require our gardeners to produce whatever they can, but give us half of it. However, as it turns out, the output of the garden far exceeds what they can consume on their own. And we pretty much donated about 75% of what grows in the garden. And our goal also has been to really innovate because coming with a background of engineering from Intel, you see that gene still percolating in ourselves. And so we've actually had hydroponics and some of the other technologies that we could bring to bear into the garden, and we've been successful with their use so far. So that's a little bit of the overview of the garden. Let's go dive into the next detail, please, if you could. Yeah. As we sit here today and we take a look back, we have had over the years almost 375 families that have worked with us since the beginning. We still have families that started with us in 2011, and we are very, very grateful for them. But because of the fact that we have such a demographic here being close to the base, we get a pretty good turnover of our gardeners. And that has given us an opportunity to renew our garden on a regular basis. We have a turnover of anywhere between 15 to 25%, depending upon what is going on on the base. As a result, our garden stays fresh, innovative, and always an exciting place to be because people come up with ideas. Hey, I just moved from South Carolina. I'd like to grow okras here. So let's grow okras inside our greenhouses. So we try that too. And of course, we always ask, if you're growing okra, you've got to produce gumbo at our potluck. So those are some of the things that we do. But let's take a look at the numbers. As we stand here today, we have 92 beds in the garden. These are very large sized beds. They are 24 feet by 4 feet wide. As we know today, after having seen the experience over the years, no one family can consume everything that comes out of that bed. They consume maybe 20% at the most and they give the rest to us, which we then make sure gets distributed to the food banks that I just mentioned to you. The other thing that we do is that because we have such a turnover in our membership, we land up with beds that we have no members for because they've been posted away from here. We turn those over entirely to produce the output for the food banks. And over time, the food banks have told us that they would like to get produce during the winter months. So many, many years ago, 10 or 12 years ago, we decided to try hydroponics. And that has become an effort that has been very successful for us. Today, we have eight beds that are hydroponics beds where we produce between four and five crops a year, all through the year. We actually have them inside a greenhouse with a second greenhouse over those hydroponics beds. So even in the dead of winter, we can have lettuce growing in there, maybe very slowly, but it's still lettuce and come February, we can harvest between 30 and 40 pounds of lettuce to donate when there is nothing else available. The plot subscription that we have, the model we have today is that we ask members to pay $50 a year towards They're running the garden, and that would be all they have to pay for the course of the year. Thanks to you all, the city provides us with water at the garden, and we have an automatic irrigation system that is totally computer-controlled, takes into account the rainfall, et cetera, and all the beds are watered accordingly. And also, that particular harvest that they produce from those beds, as I said, 50% they have to donate, but they give us a lot more than that. over the years if we were to take a look at the cumulative output that we have produced so far i would roughly estimate that we've donated close to 95 000 pounds over the course since 2009 which comes to about 6 000 pounds a year that's about how much we do so could we go to the next fall please Thank you. To run a garden of this size, it does take a fair amount of financial effort. As I mentioned to you, we have a subscription fee of $50. However, we provide all the plant starts, the amendments to the soil, and thanks to your irrigation. But we have kept that $50 a year constant over the course of the last 15 or 16 years since our inception. So to make up for the rest, we go out and seek grants. In the past, Intel had been very, very generous in their grants that they would cover a large amount of the cost of the garden. We have three or four members who are retirees from Intel, and any of the work that we do in the garden, we log up those hours, we turn them into the Intel Foundation, and they send us $10 an hour towards the garden. And we've been able to get a lot of money as a result of that. That has really helped us. So for example, when we moved the garden from the Intel site to this property, we spent many tens of thousands of dollars to move the entire infrastructure. And we were able to take advantage of some of those funds to make that happen. Things have changed recently. As you well know, Intel is not what it was before. But so the amount that we get from Intel is significantly smaller. As a result, several years ago, thanks to our board's foresight, we decided to figure out alternate ways of fundraising. So within our organization, we have a team of people who plan for selling plants and other garden related items that would raise funds for us. So we recently held our annual plant sale, and that goes to cover the other half of our annual expenditure. And that we really are very blessed with a team of very, very dedicated people who work hard, go get all the plants together, put up the plant sale. And it's a two day sale that we just had in the early part of May. And it is a roaring success. Over the years, this I think has been the fifth sale since we started this effort and we've had continuously increasing results from that. the other thing is that and this is again we want to thank the city for this the farmers market is another place where we continue to sell plants and other buntings and other items that provide us with further income towards the end of the year come christmas time several of the ladies will actually put together christmas cookies and we sell those too as some of you may have tasted some of our cookies before And that's an ongoing effort that also puts a little bit of money into our coffers. That gives us the freedom to be able to buy better equipment and tools and keep the garden organized and running well. We really appreciate that. Now, of course, as I said, grants are a big part of it, but I do want to highlight one aspect of it that I absolutely am. We are so blessed to be under the cover of the city of DuPont. You all provide us with an amazing amount of resources. One is, of course, the security, and we'll touch on that in a minute further. The electricity that we use at the garden, we have refrigerators there where we keep the fresh produce before we take them to the food banks. It also helps us run our hydroponics beds and, of course, the toilet service, which is invaluable at the garden. That is a huge benefit. The other benefit that we have is from the LeMay Waste Management Service. A couple of years ago, they found out that our garden was struggling to get rid of the plant waste come the end of the season. So the president of LeMay offered waste disposal to us, and we've been very blessed that we have six bins where we can dispose of our plant waste for that. and we really thank them the other thing that the city has provided us and i go back to the electrical part of it when we were establishing the garden because of its location the cost of getting an electric connection out there was a real challenge the puget sound energy said yeah we can give you a connection but it's going to cost you 20 000 we did not have that kind of money So the city said, we'll pick up the other half for you and you pick up, you take care of the other, but we clearly did not have that much money available. So you all gave us a loan for that part, which we've been paying off since then. So as we stand here today, we paid off 9,000 out of the 10,000 and the last payment is coming up in the next year. So again, uh, We, as we stand here today, are an independent, financially self-sufficient organization that doesn't depend upon the city for other than those items that I had called out for. And I've looked ahead, and I feel pretty confident that that's a model that we can continue to go forward with. So that's the details. And please ask me any questions if you have, and I'll be glad to answer them before we go into the next one. But let's go to the next foil in that case. Thank you. So let's take a look at what's been happening in the last year. Last year, we did not get a chance to give you an update. So I'm going to sort of cover two years here worth of it in. we hit a pretty significant milestone when we hit our 15th anniversary and we actually were so glad to hold a celebration and I think Mr Winkler had an opportunity and so did you to come and join us that day and so we got a chance to let our hair down whatever there was of it and but had a good time then We really want to make sure that you recognize that we were able to donate about 8,200 pounds of produce last year to the food banks that I mentioned earlier. It was a pretty good year for us. As we sit here today, we have 71 families that are actually subscribing to beds in the garden to the point that the demand for beds is so significant that we actually had to build two beds And to the point that we now are fully built out at the garden and have no more space for any more beds. And we still have three people on the waiting list. As the year progresses, there is a likelihood that we will have some people leaving, so we may be able to accommodate them. But as we go forward, we'll have to figure out how we're going to share the beds that we have. amongst all the people that will want beds in the subsequent years. Or maybe at some point we'll have a conversation with you all to see if there's an opportunity for us to expand the garden a little bit and add more beds. But that's to be done in the future. The way we run the garden, just to give you an idea, as a person comes in and becomes a member of the garden, they clearly not only get a bed to themselves, but they also get a lot of other responsibilities with it. This is a volunteer run organization, so they have to pick and choose amongst what kind of volunteering they do. We have task teams that are responsible for different operations in the garden, and they can pick amongst them as to what they would like to do. We have people who just grow produce for the food banks we call those community beds they could work with them we also hold work days on the last saturday of every month starting from february all the way to october these are days on a saturday where people come in and spend time working to upkeep the garden it's time that they devote entirely to the garden itself And at the end of the day, at noon, we have a team of people that are part of the hospitality team that serve a lunch to the people so that that would mark the end of the day. Over the years, we've seen a steady rise in our attendance and the fact that we have these work teams, people feel very well engaged in the gardens activities on a day-to-day basis. As I mentioned, amongst them, we have a plant starts team that grows plant starts for the entire garden, for the community beds, and also for the plant sales team so that we can use them to raise funds. The plant sales team, of course, is pivotal in our ability to be self-sufficient financially, and that is a key part of our organization. The participation that we've had over the years, as I said, has been growing, and today we get about 80% attendance on those workdays. But not only that, but we are so blessed to have Amazon as our neighbors. And when they found out about our workdays, they now send some of their volunteers to come over and help us in some of our efforts. And we are very thankful for that. Both Starbucks and Forelli's are two other businesses that also provide us with support. Forelli's always make sure we have hot coffee and other beverages on every one of our work days and as we go forward. So we are very, very blessed with that. And so those are all of the good aspects of what's been going on. Over the years, we've been also very happy with all the activities that have gone on in the garden and been blessed that everybody here really enjoys the garden. However, things have taken a little turn for the worst in the last year or so. In the last 12 or 13 months, we've had four incidents where people have cut the fence, have cut the plastic on our greenhouses repeatedly, have jimmied the latches on our shed where we keep some of our food and other storage. And it's really unfortunate to see that. And all of these incidents have been reported to the police and we've had enhanced patrols in the area, but it sort of casts a pall over the garden as a result of it. And so I just wanted to let you all know that that is what we are dealing with today as we stand here. And so as we look ahead at the garden, as I said, we are really seeing an increase in the interest in the garden. And we are getting people who are not only interested in just gardening with us, but also just coming and volunteering their efforts. This was something that we had never anticipated. But as we stand here today, we have eight to 10 people who choose not to garden, but just come and volunteer. So we have another gentleman. Mike Farley, for example, he takes care of all of our fruits, the trees that we have in the garden. We have grapes, we have blueberries, we have figs, and we have pears. Last year, I think we donated 140 pounds of pears about 35 pounds of blueberries and about the equivalent amount of grapes are all of the work of Mr. Farley and any of the people that have worked with him on that. Similarly, the plant sales team really benefits from two or three volunteers who actually build pots out of wood and deliver them to the garden when it's time for plant sales. And these are just plain volunteer efforts that we see. So we are really very, very happy for that. As I said, as we look ahead, we see that the garden is built out to its fullest now, and we are going to have to figure out how we're going to manage growth into the garden. We'd like to have accommodate all the members, all the people that want to be members of the garden, but so we'll have to put policies in place for that. And if we have to expand, that'll be a conversation we'll have as we go forward. So that's all the prepared material I had to share with you. But I'll please ask me any questions and I'll be glad to answer them.

Council member Wargo.

Well, this is outstanding, really, really cool stuff, what you guys doing there, so I can't grow grass. Right. But if I'm a brand new person that wants to come in and start gardening, what kind of what are you offering for someone brand new?

So the way we bring in a new gardener is the first thing we do if somebody shows an interest, we have a website where people can contact us. And we've had people before they even come to DuPont, they'll go and click there. Do you have place for us? And people will then come in. So we have an orientation process for the new person. We will meet with them. We have three or four people that are part of our orientation team and they'll meet with them to better understand exactly what their level of interest and expertise is. And as a result of that, we will then choose to give them guidance that meets their requirements. We've been so benefiting from some people that will master gardeners in other places and they can come in and hit the ground running. But other people have never gardened before. So we have a full orientation process for them. And we then, as they join the garden, have an opportunity for them to work with existing gardeners who could mentor them through the process. On the workdays that I said, we actually regularly meet with some of these new gardeners to just make sure that they don't feel like we've thrown them into the deep end of the pool. And of course, we let you choose what you want to do in your gardening. We provide documents and information. We also publish newsletters that have information on how to get a bed started, et cetera. So we'll try and handhold you, of course, to the level that you're interested in as you go forward. Any other question?

Council Member Walden?

This is really impressive. I had no idea the depth that this was going on. I'm just really impressed that you give so much food to food banks. Food insecurity is very real for families. I know at my school, we every Friday send food home and we've had more than a few families reach out recently for that support that they've never had to have before. And produce is not always on the shelves. So that is just wonderful. When you have your newsletter, do you ever ask for cash donations or do you ever look for equipment, a list of things that people like myself who don't garden, but could donate something? Does that ever kind of come up on your information?

absolutely does in fact we have a website and it's called dupontcommunitygarden.org and if you go to the website there is a page right there specifically for donations and you can choose to donate in cash you can choose to donate any of the items that you may have or you can come and volunteer with us and join us all of those opportunities exist for you all to do awesome all right thank you that was great

Council member Thakur. Well, thank you so much. This is so amazing. I live here for 18 years and been to garden many times, but I never knew the numbers you presented. I mean, 96,000 pounds of donation. That's huge, massive. So can't thank enough for that to your entire community. So again, thank you for showing the numbers. in what you do and I'm glad that CTA has helped in the past and I'm sure the support will continue.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I would invite you to come out and visit us at the garden and see what we are doing if you like. We'd be glad to show you around. In fact, come out on the last Saturday of the month when we have all of our gardeners there on a work day and you'll see the spirit of the garden.

As a buyer and consumer, I was there, but maybe as a council, I will come. Yeah, please do.

Yeah, please do.

Council member Gassick.

Thank you. I appreciate all this information. I've been a big supporter of the community garden since you've been doing the plant sales and have almost come to blows with someone over a planter one time, but I really enjoy going to the sales and I love seeing you guys at the farmer's market. So I just wanted to say thank you and a suggestion. I don't know if you have enough area to do it, but it would be really neat to see some sort of a pumpkin patch one year. I don't know that there's enough room over there for it, but just to make sure. We actually do have a pumpkin patch and we do grow pumpkins.

We just planted them at the last work party here. And as you may have seen in the fall, we actually have pumpkins that have been decorated with succulents and those come straight out of our own pumpkin patch. I did not know that.

Good information.

Thank you. But if you have an expertise in pumpkins, please come and give us some advice. We'll take it. Only with lattes. That can be arranged. We will call the Starbucks people and make that happen. Thank you. Yeah.

Council Member Barrow.

Hi, you know I've been out there and it is an amazing place to be and the people that work out there are absolutely incredible. I have many friends that actually have garden beds out there and they're there every week. So I just want to say thank you for your presentation and it is an incredible asset to the city. I do want to ask you about the vandalism and I'm wondering because we have electricity out there, is it possible that we could include cameras of some kind, but is it, I'm wondering about that.

So after the first two incidents this year, we really were so upset by that loss that we had. We did go ahead and get two trail cameras and have installed them in the garden specifically for that purpose in the places that we thought we were vulnerable. So yes, we do have cameras, but that's something that we want to take a look at harder to see if we can expand the scope security cameras further, but I do want to be very careful about not treading on the privacy of the individuals that come to the garden. So that is the fine balance that we'll have to strike. And I may want to have a conversation with our legal people here before we proceed further down that path.

Good point. Very good point. Thank you.

Council Member Walden.

just a totally shameless plug here for people that love the christmas cookies um i just those are so great last time i ordered five boxes of them and you know cookies are a popular thing not just at christmas but i'm just saying say a fall cookie thing would be great too but to all the people i know the hours they spend making those yeah from the heart and it's just the boxes are beautiful it's just delightful you can see how much they love what they do and they love supporting that garden so no thank you very much they're wonderful yeah really wonderful humans are you going to be making six boxes this year i will probably order more okay i love them i give them as gifts yeah

No, as you said, it does take a lot of time and effort to put those boxes together. And you saw the variety of cookies that are in there and individuals pick their own choice that they say, I'm going to make these cookies and they go bake them all. And then they have a meeting to come and put them all together. But I'll pass this message on to them. It is a lot of time and effort. Thank you.

Any other questions for Mr. Singh? We'll see none. Mr. Singh, I thank you very much for your presentation. We always enjoy that every year.

So thank you very much for this opportunity and thank you for all your support. Appreciate that. Thank you.

At this time, we'll move on to item 7.1. We have a swearing in an appointment to do, and I'll turn the time over to Chief Moore.

well thank you and good evening mayor deputy mayor and council uh i am very pleased to introduce uh onismo aka mo lopez jr as the city of dupont's newly appointed deputy police chief Deputy Chief, I'm gonna read a little bio and tell you a little bit about him. Deputy Chief Lopez brings more than 30 years of progressive municipal law enforcement experience, including executive leadership service as both an assistant chief and a chief of police for the city of Bel Air, Texas. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to professional policing, organizational accountability, community engagement, and ethical leadership. Most recently, Deputy Chief Lopez served as chief of police for the Bel Air Police Department, where he oversaw all department operations, investigations, training, professional standards, budgeting, and personnel functions for a full service municipal police department. Prior to his appointment as chief, he served as assistant chief of police for the Bel Air Police Department. And before joining Bel Air, Deputy Chief Lopez served the Pierlin Police Department for 24 years, progressing through the ranks from officer to captain of administrative services division commander and holding numerous leadership assignments throughout his career. Chief Lopez is a graduate of FBI National Academy and holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice administration from Tarlin State University. Tarleton, excuse me. He has also completed graduate level coursework toward a Master of Public Administration. His experience includes policy development, organizational leadership, community outreach, media relations, crisis management, and mentoring future law enforcement leaders. Throughout the recruitment process, Deputy Chief Lopez distinguished himself as a thoughtful, steady, and community-minded leader whose values align closely with the City of DuPont and the DuPont Police Department. His emphasis on professionalism, transparency, accountability, and public trust reflects the standards we strive to uphold as an organization. I'm confident that Deputy Chief Lopez will be a tremendous asset to the city of DuPont, and I look forward to the leadership and experience he will bring to our police department and our community. And I'm going to swear Deputy Chief Lopez in, but before I do, I'd like to just welcome his family. He's joined here by his two sons, his daughter-in-law and his two grandchildren. And if you haven't noticed, his eldest son is an Aswali police officer.

one of our neighbors.

Before I officially swear the deputy chief in, I've asked him to come and say a couple of words.

Chief Moore, thank you very much for those kind words. I'd also like to thank Mayor, City Council, City Administrator Campbell, and everyone involved in the process for the confidence you've placed in me. Throughout the interview process, I was impressed not only by the professionalism of the police department, but also by the people I met in the organization. It became clear very quickly that DuPont is a community that cares deeply about its residents and takes great pride in the services it provides. My wife and I and family are excited to be here and become part of this community. I look forward to building strong relationships throughout the organization and the community. As I begin this next chapter, my goal is simple, to support Chief Moore, serve the men and women of the police department, and do everything I can to contribute to the quality of life that makes DuPont such a great place to live. Thank you.

You raise your right hand, repeat after me. I, state your name.

I, Onesimo Lopez.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will faithfully and impartially.

That I will faithfully and impartially.

Perform the duties of my office as prescribed by law.

Perform the duties of my office as prescribed by law.

And to the best of my ability.

And to the best of my ability.

I will abide by the law enforcement code of ethics.

I will abide by the law enforcement code of ethics.

And the rules and regulations of the DuPont Police Department.

And the rules and regulations of the DuPont Police Department.

I will uphold the Constitution of the United States.

I will uphold the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of Washington, so help me God.

And the Constitution of the State of Washington, so help me God.

Congratulations. You don't mind, we're just going to snap a couple for you.

Thank you, chief and deputy chief. We've got a few more introductions tonight. So good evening council members, staff, and members of the public. Tonight is my pleasure to introduce Alexandra Kenyon of Kenyon Dyson law firm. Alexandra graduated cum laude from the Seattle University School of Law and was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 2015 after first serving as a law clerk with the firm during law school. Alexandra's practice focuses on municipal law, including public records and open public meetings compliance, code enforcement, condemnation, and civil forfeiture matters. Her extensive experience advising local governments makes her a valuable resource for communities throughout Washington. Please join me in welcoming Alexandra this evening. Alexandra mentioned that she could say a few words about our law firm, so the floor is yours, Ms. Kenyon.

Thank you. Good evening, Council. Thanks for having me. As the Mayor said, I'm Alexandra Kenyon. I wanted to discuss a little bit about my firm, as the name suggests. My father started the firm over 30 years ago, and I was destined for this position. But he started the firm 30 years ago with a goal in mind, and that was to only represent municipalities and public agencies and never represent a party that generally takes adverse positions to public agencies, namely developers. We've never represented those types of folks. I myself am the city attorney for Aberdeen and OMAC and help all of our other clients on various kind of project-based work. My firm represents small towns all the way to working with the city of Seattle on special projects. I have most recently done some interim work for the city of Port Townsend that was supposed to only last for a couple of months and ended up lasting two years. so i encourage you to give them a call if you have any questions about how how i work as an interim attorney but looking forward to helping you guys and in whatever capacity you need and happy to be here tonight i'm also pleased to welcome lisa parks as our interim public services director lisa is a seasoned public sector leader

with extensive experience in municipal administration, strategic planning, and organizational leadership. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with elected officials to develop and implement policies, guide strategic initiatives, and deliver effective local government services. Lisa will begin working for DuPont tomorrow. Her expertise includes municipal budgeting and finance, long range capital planning, revenue strategy development and aligning organizational resources with community priorities, and has worked directly with tribal nations, businesses, community organizations, and regional stakeholders. Please join me in welcoming Lisa this evening. Tonight, I'm also pleased to welcome Tara Dunford, a certified public accountant with more than 20 years of experience in local government finance, accounting, and auditing. Throughout her career, Tara has worked with cities, counties, and special purpose districts across Washington state, providing expertise in financial reporting, budgeting, audit coordination, and governmental accounting. Tara previously served as controller and interim CFO for the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma, held accounting and internal audit leadership roles with Pierce County, and began her public sector career with the Washington State Auditor's Office. Today, she serves as an independent CPA and local government specialist, supporting more than 70 current and former public agency clients throughout the state. She has already been on the job doing a thorough analysis of our finances, and we'll be hearing about that probably late next month. Please join me in welcoming Tara this evening. You can wave, Tara. We have a proclamation tonight. Whereas Pride Month is observed each June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, which marked a pivotal moment in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning, intersex, and asexual civil rights. And whereas our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people, And whereas every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability. And whereas the city of DuPont stands with the LGBTQIA plus community to intentionally ensure equal treatment for all and to advocate for their rights as human rights. Whereas the city of DuPont celebrates the extraordinary courage and contribution of the LGBTQ plus community history and diversity and promotes a society in which all residents can live free from discrimination. And whereas we reflect on the progress we have made so far in the pursuit of equality, justice, and inclusion, and whereas Pride Month is an opportunity to celebrate this harmony in which we coexist, Now, therefore, I, Ronald J. Frederick, Mayor of the City of DuPont, and on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of June 2026 as Pride Month in the City of DuPont and encourage citizens to support and respect the rights of all people by celebrating our diversity. Signed, this ninth day of June 2026. Tonight the City Council will hold a public hearing on the six-year Transportation Improvement Program. Is there any council has a conflict of interest which would prohibit them from participating in the public hearing process? Thank you. People wishing to be heard at this hearing should call 253-215-8782 and webinar ID 845-6439-2846 and passcode 262-391. The City Clerk will admit one at a time. Once called upon, please state your name and address for the record. Three minutes will be allowed per person. It is now 644 and I will open the public hearing. The purpose of this hearing is for the city council to hear a testimony on the proposed six year transportation improvement program. Order of speaking will be a staff presentation, testimony from anyone wishing to speak and any comments from the council. At this time, I would like to introduce a city engineer, Gus Lim, and he's gonna tell us more about this. Go ahead, Gus.

uh good evening thank you mr mayor good evening council members uh last time we met uh in a study session we talked about the individual projects and i also showed to you a what i called a less complicated table of the six-year tip so tonight i'll show you the more complicated version uh i've added just one more project based on our Discussions and kicking it off is the companion map that would go with the six year tip. The earlier presentation I had had different versions of this, depending on where the specific locations are. This companion map on the top will have a map ID going 1 through 12, and that will correspond to essentially one of the columns within the project listing that's on here. There are a couple of projects that it didn't make sense to actually put a map mark or location, and that's essentially item number which is the one that was recommended from our last discussion, was essentially having a study to look at all the other roundabouts for sizing and what have you. So that's what we have here. That's that companion map from there. uh looking at the table itself the more complicated table let me just start off with the bottom portion of it the bottom portion of it is essentially has a legend and in that legend are essentially numbers and letters and what they represent in in each of the specific columns uh what they essentially represent is going from left to right is you know what if it is a road what type of road is it uh for the most part it's either going to be a number three like a other principal arterial or four or five either minor uh artillery or major collector you'll see that uh under the the very first column uh starting on the left the other other agenda or legend items is the type of work that it's in there for the most part it is essentially a um essentially going to be a item number five which is uh maintenance or resurfacing The other items that are shown on here is explanations for some other acronyms like PL for planning, PE for preliminary engineering, right of ways are W and construction is CN. And everything within here from our last discussion is there is no secured funding for any of this. All of it is pending as far as the security is concerned. The last two items are essentially if a right of way is needed and the type of environmental study that's associated with it. The bulk of it is in the form of what's called a category exclusion. The most important thing is essentially those middle columns which talks about the funding amounts and the potential source of funding items. From our last discussion, one thing I was able to find out when we had a um a workshop with the transportation improvement board the chip seal program is still funded within the transportation improvement board so we do have um uh items on there mcneil's mcneil street chip seal hoffman hill boulevard chip seal uh Bob's Hollow Lane, Palisade Boulevard, those chip seal programs, what you'll notice is before I had them originally as local funds only, but now I've moved them over to, so it'd be potentially if we're able to secure it in a competitive process, funding through the Transportation Improvement Board. So chip seal is a program that the Transportation Improvement Board And a companion to that is Ridgeview Drive. You notice that Ridgeview Drive chip seal, it is only in local funds because from our last discussion, I showed you a map with different colors of roads. It's only those roads that are federally classified that can we actually apply some of the grant programs on here. the item that i added um towards the end there's item number 12 roundabout sizing study this came about because of when i was explaining the uh you know what is the challenge that's happening at mcneil street and ridgeview drive roundabout uh you've asked me to take a look at that so i've added that as project number 12 on the listing on here That is the bulk of the items I was gonna highlight within there. As a reminder, this is a planning tool. What I use this the most is if the city is gonna compete against TIB funds, transportation improvement forward funds or federal aid funds, it needs to show a commitment from the city and we can show that commitment from the city by having it on the six-year TIP. There's no commitment of funds, so to speak, at this point. But at least there's a commitment that this is important to us from that perspective then. So those are the highlights I wanted to show in this one. So like I said, again, from our study session, there was a table of projects that was less complicated. This one is a little bit more complicated with different codes and configurations. And the reason for that is that's the information that's needed when I submit this over up to Washington DOT. But the projects that are listed on here are the same ones that I presented from our last study session. That's all I have, Mayor, subject to any questions.

Okay. Thank you, Gus. Clerk, has there been any written comments submitted regarding the six-year transportation improvement program?

No, there has not.

Written comments can be submitted to the city clerk until close of the hearing. They will be entered into the record and sent to city council members. In addition, if anyone has questions on the subject, please do not hesitate to call our main line and staff will assist you with getting answers to your questions. Is there anyone in the audience that wishes to testify? Okay, we'll move on. Are there any council members with questions or comments? Council Member Gessick?

Thank you. I noticed that the top of this report says City of DuPont 27 to 2032, but it doesn't look like any of the projects are starting until the first one is 2029. Most of them are 2032. Why is there such a delay in all these projects starting?

The that's that's my best projection on when we're looking to or if we're successful in receiving funding, when we'll get there. So, for example, every year TIB competes for funds. But I also know they don't stay. TIB does not stay in the same agency on a regular basis. Once I don't expect to be too competitive for TIB funds right away since we just had received two project types and they're looking to shop it around. amongst the other agencies across the state. The other thing with the next one item is PSRC. we were supposed to compete for funds this year but that got pushed back the competition is going to be next year in 2027 but the funding year is not going to be until 2029 so i i strategically just put it in there and the latter point where i think we can get funds and then from the last time we had our neighborhood streets discussion i kind of pushed push those projects back because I did not get a lot of cheering of we're going to get all these funds for the chip seal program. So I pushed them back. So it was just Council Member Gassica is more on when did I expect these projects or potential for funding for these projects to come in.

okay i noticed item number nine uh regarding the roundabout at mcneil and ridgeview haven't we been talking about that for i feel like it was two terms ago i remember you talking about that so it's been going on for a while so is that considered a low priority it's kind of toward 2032 on here i thought that was more of a high priority for us right so one way we can look at this is it's on the list another way we can look at it is opportunities for pursuing

grant opportunities. If it's on the list, then I can go after grant opportunities. That one project, it's on us. I am not gonna get a grant for that one. So just like the Ridgeview chip seal, it is really gonna be on us to execute it from there. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping we can go execute it, but I can't, there's no grant program for me to pursue in this one. This will just be 100% local funds.

Okay, thank you.

Any other council comments or questions? Okay, seeing none, it is now 6.54, and I will close the public hearing. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Point of order, Mayor.

Yes.

We need to pass the resolution for this.

For the TIP, right?

Correct.

So for the six-year TIP, 2027, 2023, Deputy Mayor Winkler?

Mr. Mayor, I move we pass resolution number 26-019, approving the six-year transportation plan.

Council Member Barrow?

I second that.

Any further discussion? Okay, seeing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, and that has been approved. And now we'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Council Member Thakur?

Make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Council Member Elliott.

I'll second that.

It's been moved and seconded. Do we have any further discussion? Seeing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, the consent agenda has been approved. We'll move on to the new business, item 11.1. This is appointing members of the council to the legislative priority ad hoc committee. And I'll turn the... Mike over to Deputy Mayor Winkler.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that the council members Robin Barrow, Tom Margo, and Michael Winkler be appointed to a 2027 legislative ad hoc committee.

Mr. Mayor, can we make that motion again?

You weren't on the mic, yeah.

Go ahead, Deputy Mayor. I make a motion that council members Robin Barrow, Tom Wargo, and Michael Winkler be appointed to a 2027th legislative ad hoc committee. Council member Gassick?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Do we have any further discussion? I just want to thank the council members who are willing to do it.

I apologize. I want to thank the council members who are willing to do it. It's an ad hoc, which means it only meets for a short period of time, and anything the ad hoc committee comes up with They will work closely with the staff and the mayor on, and it will all come back to the council for final approval.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, I'll call for the vote on this. All those in favor say aye. Oppose? Very good. Item 11.2 is one additional item that we added. We only have two council members going to the AWC meeting, and that's Deputy Mayor Winkler and Council Member Thakur. So I would need a motion to approve them as voting members on our behalf at the AWC annual meeting. Council Member Wargo.

Mr. Mayor, I move, uh, to, um, uh, appoint council members, uh, the core and deputy, um, mayor Winkler as voting members at the AWC conference.

Council member Walton.

I second that.

I moved and seconded. Do we have further discussion? Seeing none. I'll call for the vote. All those in favor say aye. Oppose. Very good. The next item is the mayor's report or comments. I have nothing further tonight.

Are there any council member comments?

Deputy Mayor.

Mr. Mayor, I do have a little bit here. On May 28th, Council Member Barrow and I attended the annual Puget Sound Regional Council meeting in Seattle. That very same afternoon, the Sound Transit Board met that afternoon to address a $34 billion shortfall. I want to give the council a quick update. Based upon that meeting, the DuPont Sounder Extension is now only projected to receive funding through the 30% planning phase. It is important to note that DuPont's not the only city affected by this $34 billion shortfall. It's also important to note that having DuPont funded for the planning phase is very important as it leaves a potential alternative funding option available. I want to share that Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, who also serves as the vice chair for Sound Transit, will be working closely with us, the City of DuPont, and our federal representatives to request a federal railroad administrative grant to complete the dupont phase the dupont phase is unique in that sound transit already owns the tracks that come from tacoma to dupont as a heavy rail option it's the only part of some transit that would qualify for a federal railroad administrative grant We are in ongoing conversations with the county and Sound Transit on the sequencing of the design phase that will hopefully speed up the opportunity of putting that grant request. And we appreciate the support of Councilmember Armey, Executive Mello, and the county, and everyone involved. Also, in addition to all of this, we are meeting with the county and PSRC staff on June 17th to discuss the impact that DuPont's current housing targets will have should the DuPont Sounder extension not be completed. It's important that we remember we were given our housing targets based upon being designated a high capacity transit city. So there's a lot of moving parts that could take a lot of time to go into, but we will keep you posted and we will let everyone know what checks out and the staff will be in and the mayor will be in on all those meetings. Council Member Thakkar and I will be attending the annual AWC conference from the 23rd to the 25th of June. And thank you.

Council Member Elliott.

Yeah, I just have a few things. Just want to remind everybody that next Wednesday, June 17th, is the Wildfire Preparedness in an Urban Setting presentation, and it'll be here at 7 o'clock. Next, I really want to thank Gus for your work on the crosswalks. They are looking really good, so thank you for that. And lastly, you know, since we introduced our new interim directors, I think it's really important that we publicly recognize the support staff that has been doing excellent work during this time of transition. so i would like to thank sarah buchanan who has various titles she's been known as our planner junior planner and assistant planner for her work in keeping the planning department going without a director she has been keeping the department afloat since barb kincaid left so thank you sarah and i want to thank kelly atkinson who has been taking care of our finance department making sure employees and bills are paid on a timely manner her role is critical So thank you, Kelly. And please join me in giving a round of applause to those employees who have been keeping us going. So thank you.

That's all.

Council Member Barrow.

Well, I have a couple announcements to make. First of all, the museum did a tour. The Historical Society did a tour. We lucked out for sunny weather on Saturday, and they did the tour of the 1843 Ford site, and we had over a dozen people show up, and it was a really good event. And then this coming Saturday, the Historical Society is offering a flag display at the community center from 1 to 4, both Saturday and Sunday, and these are historical flags from the history of our country and especially from 1770 70s and we also have a tribal flag there and a couple original flags it'll be on display so we'd like to welcome everybody to come thank you councilmember gassick

I attended the Pierce County Lodging Tax Advisory Committee meeting last month, and I just wanted to share that if I understood everything correctly, the grant request previously required 1,000 hotel nights for the event that you're requesting the grant for, and I believe that's been dropped to 500. So it was pretty substantial drop. And I did go back and read it. I think I understood everything correctly. I am still relatively new to the committee, so I reserve the right to be corrected.

Council Member Walton.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you, City of DuPont, for your continued proclamations that highlight that our community is inclusive and welcoming. Pride Month, Women's History Month, all of them, I really appreciate that very, very much. I also love to see on the City of DuPont Facebook page how well-received pride messages were for our community. And kind of of that same vein, I guess, as we prepare to have the canoe journey from the Mesquali tribe here, So excited about that. I think it would be lovely if we could, as a council, consider doing a land acknowledgement during that week or the week prior. In the Puyallup School District, we do them every single morning on the announcements for students and staff alike. And I think it is a great way to kind of build some bridges between our communities and be very respectful of the land that we are on. So I would like you guys all to think about that. Thank you.

Council member Thakur.

I just came from a pioneer school, middle school over graduation day. So it was amazing to see. I just wanted to acknowledge that our historical school district had a two graduation for the high school and the middle school. I was in a UW, I think, Four days ago, an amount of people in UW and the Pioneer Middle School was the same. So if you want to see that energy, please do go there next time and the next year. I think it's amazing to see that. So thank you, and best wishes to all the students who are moving forward from the high school and kids who are moving from middle school to high school. That's it.

Any additional council comments? Okay, and then we'll move to the city administrator's report or comments.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To tack on to Council Member Thakur, this Friday is the last day of school for everyone who was not a senior. So I think last year, Council Member Wargo mentioned that. I know in my household, we're counting down the hours until the last moment there. Looking forward to the kids having their summer break. And a reminder, we do plan on canceling the June 23rd meeting with the council members of the DAWC, looking to do a special call on July 7th. So just wanted to publicly announce that as well. And with that, Mr. Mayor, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Keith? Okay, seeing none.