City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, residents of Ever Washington. I would like to call to order the Everett City Council meeting for March 11th, 2026. For information on council meetings and how to participate, please visit our website at everw.gov/city councsil. Clerk, will you please take the role? Mayor Franklin, excused. Council member Zarlingo, here. Council member Burbano, excused. Council member Tui, here. Council member Weir here, Council Member Bader here, Vice President Ryan here, President Schwab here. At this time, I'd like to ask Council Member Weir to lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you. At this time, I'd like to ask Council Member Tui to read the land acknowledgement. Certainly the city council wishes to acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Stoopshi people and their successors, the Tleip tribes. Since time in memorial, they have hunted, fished, gathered on, and taken care of these lands and waters. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water. We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes and bring about a future that includes their people, stories, and voices to form a more just and equitable society.

Thank you. Um on to old business. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes for March 4th, 2026? Council member Rya moves. Second. Motion and seconds been made. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zaringo? Yes. Council member Tui? Yes. Council member Weir? Yes. Council member Bader? Yes. Vice President Rin? Yes. President Schwab? Yes. Okay. Now, it's time for public comment, which includes written comment acknowledgement. Under our rules, written comments shall be considered in the same manner as oral comments. The person submitting comments must provide their name and city of residents to be made part of the official council record. Good evening, Angie. Let's uh start off with written comments. Good evening, President Schwab. We have no written comments. Okay. How about anyone signed up to speak online and hear? Not online, but we do hear.

Okay. So, we'll start with Dave. if you could please come to the podium. Dave. Yes. [laughter] And so, yes, just go to u press the button on the base of the mic. It'll turn green. And then please state your full name, city of residence, and you'll have three minutes to speak. Uh Dave Habil, uh city of Stanwood. Uh what was else?

Oh, okay. Good evening. Uh well, my name is Dave Habil. I'm an employee with the city of Everett. I work for the Department of Transportation. I'm a paratransit bus operator. Been with the city for going on 13 years. Um January of 2025. Uh while at a red controlled intersection in the left turn line at a red light, I was t-boned in my bus. Um, and I just had surgery about four weeks ago on my left shoulder. My injuries were in my shoulder, uh, my lower back and my right hand wrist. Uh, Corville, which is the third party administrator for the city, for LNI, uh, they from the get-go, for whatever reason, I don't know why, said that my right wrist was never stated as an injury. And so they denied my risk. Um I've gone through all the forms that we have, which the one I do have and I have copies of from the state of Washington and from HR, the SF form, the city uh self-insured form. All the injuries are clearly there. Anyway, um I went to occupational medicine, Smoky Point, uh Ever Clinic, um whatever they're called now. I I can think remember every clinic but um Dr. uh Christopher Hardy uh was a very good doctor. Anyway, he diagnosed me and at the end of the deal, I asked him about my wrist and he said, "Well, it's not part of the claim." So, uh Leanne Doge, who is the adjuster for Corville, for the city of Everett, I talked to her multiple times and she said that no, it's not part of the client, whatever. And eventually they had an IME

independent medical exam which the results of that also they're coming back and saying it's a pre-existing uh situation which Dr. Hardy uh occupational medicine completely disagrees with the results of that. Um, I have since had to because of all this, cuz I'm disputing it because I did injure my wrist in the accident. Uh, I've just had surgery on my shoulder and to assume that I didn't injure my wrist is kind of ridiculous, but um I've had to uh obtain an attorney because, you know, you have to file papers with the state and everything. And that's costing me $600 a month out of my uh benefits that I'm getting from Mel and I. So, this is what Corbell is doing to me. And and and again, uh like I said, I was sitting in left turn lane in a red light. When I got hit, I didn't even know what happened because, you know, the vehicle came out of nowhere. Uh there is no liability to the city at all. I mean there's no fault. I did nothing. So it's all on the other person.

So I don't understand why. Could you finish up your times out? Okay. Well, so just a summary would Corville is wrongfully denying uh my my wrist. Uh and so uh that's my it should be part of the injury and I have doctors anyway. So that's my that's my start. Thank you. Should I push the button? No, you're fine. Thank you. Steve, [clears throat] if you could please come to the podium and please state your full name and city of residence. You have three minutes to speak.

My name is Steos. I think most of you know me. Uh Erica will get to know me probably. Um, I live here in Everett for my whole life. And the reason I'm here is because I'm the president of the union uh for the bus drivers in the city of Everett. And I spoke a couple months ago, I think, on this topic. And uh about 10 years ago, I spoke also when we had comprehensive risk management. they were doing a very poor job of getting our uh employees get take get them taken care of. Corvel is now doing the same thing. They are delaying and denying. That's a tactic they use. And this is a tactic that they use even when there's no liability on Corell or the city to get people healed, get them to the doctor and get them treated properly. Dave is an example and I've got Christina here. She's going to talk about this also. They're both suffering. Christina has lost her job because she has not been taken care of timely. Uh whereas another driver who just lost her job because she was not taken care of properly. Um Dave, I expect he'll get back to work because he's being finally started to and he had to get an attorney to help him get the treatment that he needs. In the state of Washington, there is a department for the state, Department of Labor and Industries. I'm I expect all of you are very familiar with them. They require employers to take care of to get insurance from the state to take care of employees that get injured on the job. There's also an ex exception that people

can have to opt out and have it covered by themselves and they get a third party to do that. the city opts out and they have Corell take care of it. Corell is not doing a good job. We need to get people take taken care of so that they can get on with their lives so they can work so they can be productive for the departments that they work for in the city and so that their lives aren't negatively impacted for the rest of their lives. So we have to get them well. This is a problem again and we have to get it taken care of. Um, I expect that you guys are going to ask some questions after this meeting and you're going to go and talk to uh Candy or others uh who are more involved in this and get some answers. We need to get this fixed again because people's lives are my members and our employees for the city. It's not just Ever Transit. There's other departments in the city too that use Corell. We have to help them out. Davis is an example of there is insurance by the other person that uh will get them taken care of. It's not the city. So anyway, that's what we're here to talk about tonight. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Christina. If you could please come to the podium and please state your full name and city of residence. You have three minutes.

Sabella Arlington, Washington. Okay. Hi. Good evening, council members. My name is Christina. I'm sorry I'm a little nervous. Until recently, I was a city bus driver. I'm here tonight because about a year and a half ago, I was injured on the job. And what followed has been just as difficult as the injury itself. Driving a bus wasn't something I originally set out to do. I just kind of fell into it. After going through cancer, I wanted to serve and help the community without going back for another degree. Um, I ended up loving the job. I was good at it and I took pride in it. Um, and then I got hurt. And like any employee is supposed to do before I got hurt, as soon as I noticed equipment failure, I reported it multiple multiple times over and over for four months. I filled out all the paperwork. I talked to management, to inspectors, to trainers, to anybody who was unfortunate enough to cross my path because I was just complaining constantly. I couldn't work this particular piece of equipment. I wound up struggling with it and using my entire body to do things that you're meant to do with one hand. And surprise surprise, like about four months later, felt a big pop and that was it. And so that was July of 2024. And I dealt with the whole Corell thing as well. Um it's it takes forever to get anything done. And so I I finally got surgery um two weeks ago. [laughter] I've lost my job. I was brought into HR. I was told that this was taking entirely too long. Um, year they say a year is okay, but now we're past a year. It was

a year and a half. It was 18 months. And they fired me. And they told me that they couldn't hold my job because it wasn't fair to my co-workers to hold for them to hold this job for me while I was recovering from my on the job injury. So, I was fired. I've lost my security. I've lost my pension. I mean, thank God that I still have medical care. Thank God that I'm in a position that I can take care of myself. I'm married, etc. But I don't know how another person in this situation would deal with this. This has been horrifying. And not that's not even covering that. For a year and a half, I I've been in I was in constant pain. I have not been able to do any of the activities with my family for a long time. can't really take care of myself like I'm supposed to or like I should. I need help with a lot of things. Um I'm hoping the surgery is going to be excellent. So far so good. I'm I am in less pain now than I've been in for a year and a half. So it's a good sign, but um I just think that I hope no other employee serves the city has to go through this because it is life-changing. What am I to do now? Even if I make a complete recovery, I'm out of a job. I've lost my pension. And they just showed me the door because it was taking too long. But Corell, the insurance company, makes all the decisions, not us. We don't approve things. We ask for them to approve it. And it takes months for every appointment, for every procedure, for every MRI. It's like they got to It's like a two month.

Could you finish up your way over to Okay. No, that's good. That's fine. I'm done. Thank you for listening. I just really um I don't deserve what happened to me. I deserve better and so does everybody else who dedicates themselves to work for the city of Everett. Thank you. Thank you. Cara, you state your full name and city residency. You have three minutes to speak.

Timing was great. Um my name is Cara Wetszelchub. I live in uh Seattle. I'm a former Everett resident and I work for Snomish County Office of Public Defense as a contract social worker. I'm here tonight to oppose um making exposing a minor to fentinyl a gross misdemeanor. Like many other concerned with this issue, I love children and families. I've been working in substance use disorders for the last 10 years and with pregnant and parenting people who use drugs for the last six. Um like I said, I work for the Stomish County Office of Public Defense as a parents representation program contract social worker. I also am the co-founder of Harm Reduction Doula Collective um providing proono prevention services to pregnant people who are addicted to drugs. Um I agree that fentanyl is a major issue in our communities. However, I vehemently disagree with the detective framing the solution as a as a criminal legal one. Punishing parents is not child- centered. It is a knee-jerk reaction that inflicts deep and lifelong trauma on families. The state has not left a glaring hole in addressing the lethality of fentanyl. We have always had civil procedure through DCYF and the family courts to remove children who are at imminent risk of physical harm. And House Bill 6109 expanded the immediiacy of at which the state has the means to remove due to concerns of parental substance use of high potency synthetic opioids. I opposed the language in House Bill 6109 last year in the legislative session when they aimed to create language around felony sentencing guidelines for parents who expose minors to fentanyl um and other high potency synthetic opioids. Again, I did this not because I don't care about children. And I did this because of the gross un unintended consequences that come with these kinds

of criminalization measures. I've seen firsthand how parents have avoided contact with um with mandated reporters through the health care system, therapists, their children's schools, all for fear that their children will be taken away and they will be criminalized. This isn't because they don't love their children. It's because they love their children. They want to keep their children. They are very aware that their substance use disorder is impacting their children. But it ends up compounding the problem and creating these barriers to us getting parents better, which is what children actually want. They don't want their ch they don't want their parents to be locked in cages. They don't want to never see their parents again. We already have ways that we are criminalizing parents who do cause harm to their children through unintended exposure to fentanyl that results in bodily injury or death. We are charging these parents with manslaughter. We are charging these parents in some counts with murder. I have seen the detective that pushed this legislation forward in court on my cases. We are charging parents with felony neglect of a minor. They have the means. What this bill aims to do is create a catchall piece of legislation that will bring parents not only into the family court system, but it will bring them into the criminal legal system. What he did not say is that in Washington state, you have 12 months from the point at which a child is removed to terminate that parents parental rights. He also mentioned that 365 days is the maximum sentence for a gross misdemeanor charge, leaving parents effectively unable to fight for their children to come home. In the civil courts, in the family court structure, from the day that child is removed, sometimes even before, I'm able to come in and work with parents. I'm able to get them to treatment. I'm able to order services. I'm able to work with DCYF to help these children recover and bring their parents home, bring them

back together. If we have parents in jail, children won't see their parents. We're leaving them with lifelong trauma. We are not preventing children from being exposed to fent. Finish up. That'd be great. Yeah, I'm wrapping up. Yeah, we are not preventing exposure. We're just reacting to it. This is a huge problem, but I urge you to oppose this measure until there's been an opportunity to look into the unintended consequences and think about what other better, honestly more affordable solutions we have for the city of Everett. Because if we had child care at a 12step meeting, I guarantee the exposure of children to fentanyl would decrease rapidly if there was child care, okay, to go seek it.

Thank you very much. That concludes our public comments. Okay, thank you very much. All right, so we'll move on to council comments. We'll begin with council members and no comments to report tonight. Okay, council. Uh yeah, I just want to thank our commenters this evening. Uh I see most of them have left. Um if maybe at some point we could get a staff update on Carell and any issues that we should be aware of would be might be help. We can work with HR to get an update for you. That'd be great. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Council Mayor We.

Yeah. Um, yesterday was uh the first full cultural arts commission meeting of the year and so that they had a um Tyler Chisum put together a nice presentation as sort of an overview of what that commission is is responsible for for new members uh um on their board. And so that was a and and just updates on some of the the big projects they've got coming up throughout the summer. um in particular, it's going to be a busy busy June um for for their team. And then Riverside meeting, um we had a a great uh guest speaker that was at the neighborhood association meeting for them um that was talking about uh seeds and planting and all the different environmentally uh sound ways to be able to do that and um discuss the there's a seed share um plant share happening at the Evergreen Branch Library I believe on April 21st. So, um, so yeah, it was nice to hear from them and just good to see the neighbors there. So, that's it.

Great. Thank you, Council Member Bader. Uh, no report, no comments. Thank you, Council Member Brian. Great. Thank you. Uh, good evening everybody. Thank you too to our commenters this evening. Appreciate you joining tonight and bringing um future civically engaged individuals as well. Um, but other than that, no report tonight. Thanks.

Thank you very much. So, um my only report is that we had um I attended the uh South Forest Park neighborhood meeting last night and there was just lots of questions about the budget and um I believe maybe I shouldn't announce it, but we're looking at a third district meeting unconfirmed. That's going to be in the middle of April. So, looking forward to that. Um we'll move to our administrative report.

Thank you. Um, I think I just have your legislative update tonight. I don't have anything else. Um, I have I have great news for you um on what was remaining questions that we had from priorities that we talked about over the last few weeks. So, the um automated license plate reader bill passed. Uh, so that had the expanded use, resolves public records issues. Um, there's some issues remaining for a couple cities, but they're not relevant to to Everett. Um, the talk about step housing last week. That one has also passed and concurred in both houses. So, that is also good to go. There was a bill related to commercial uses on the or residential uses on the first floor of commercial zones. that passed a little bit ago. I don't know if I mentioned it last week. And then there were lots of other things too that happened in session, but these are the ones I've been letting you know about each week. And then the last one I have to update you on was House Bill 2442. That was a um kind of broad municipal and so county and um city revenue authority and tools and clarifications that the municipal fire authority language was amended to be part of that uh later in session. And it has all of the language in 2442 that we had wanted the start of session related to the Everett and other cities ability to form your own municipal fire authority. uh you have to create a fire commission once it's formed um to be in charge of it. But it had the language that we wanted to have that available as a tool and it passed earlier this evening. So now it just has to be signed into law by the governor which is a big success. I'm

very excited about it. So that tool will be available to you as you look at um ways to provide funding for the provision of fire service in the future. So, yay. That's all. Council member Bader. Thanks, Council President. Thanks, Jennifer, for that update. Um, in regards to uh the camera, license plate reader camera, did we get gross de mismeters in there? Yes. So, all all gross misdemeanors are um valid uses of the automated license plate reader cameras. Gotcha. And if I'm understanding right about the step housing one, that was one where we wanted to be able to require a plan or did

we wanted like a flexibility for the city to use the tools that we've used in the past for providers of those types of housing, but Everett also had an interest in seeing other cities kind of do the same, whether they use that model or not, but just be um more permissive of those types of housing to provide more permanent supportive housing and more shelter throughout throughout the state and certainly throughout the region. So, so that one passed with got with with the plan with the with the not like exactly the way we do it today, but in a way that we were supportive of. So, thank you. Thank you, Counc.

Thank you. Thanks, Jennifer. Um, for the uh millionaires tax that uh had the marathon hearing, I know 24 hours. Yeah. I think uh for a future um budget update uh I know there's going to be some adjustments to what uh types of items are eligible for sales tax and that could potentially impact our sales tax revenues in the future but I think not until 2029 if I remember that correctly

the I think most of the like the implementation of that is not until that's what I remember too 2029 um there are um expected reductions in categories that where the city collects sales tax today. So a potential reduction in sales tax for the city. There was language that was like a additional revenue to cities although it was a flat amount that wasn't indexed in any way. Um there's kind of originally framed as funding for public in public defense indig defense. Um but I don't I don't know exactly where it landed at the very end. So, but I can I will others and and I will work on a kind of summary of that.

Yeah, I was thinking maybe for maybe for our like April budget committee meeting we can um get an an overview from Mike Bailey about uh what things might be impacted or just budget considerations down the pike that we should keep on a back burner. I had one more question about flock. So, with the bill passing at the state, what does that mean for the status of our city's flock? We plan to ask the court to vacate that judgment that went against us a couple weeks ago, which you were emailed about. Further answer awaits the mayor. Um, we I haven't had a chance to talk with her about it. So, thank you. Yeah.

Council member, there go. Well, I know with respect to the automated license plate reader cameras that a lot of the concerns had been access to that data um access or undesirable access and I know from the beginning um this city had been very thorough, very careful about protecting that kind of access and avoiding the kinds of problems that a lot of communities had had with those cameras. Um, is there anything in the legislation that um regularizes or makes a little more universal the kinds of protections that we've instituted or is the um is the the law that passed mostly having to do with public records and the use of that data?

Well, so it the law that passed that needs to be signed exempts the license plate data from the public records act. So when we lost our lawsuit, the fear, the legitimate concern was that an outside agency, even one that we had outlined based on the keep Washington working act, we didn't want them this data to be accessed for um those purposes, they could just do a records request and access all of it. Plus, it is a lot of data and is sort of an impossible task to handle the processing of that. Um and then the other public safety issues, stalking victims, DB victims, things like that that could be um at risk if that data was available through a public records request. So based on the law there, it's exempt from that. So it we wouldn't we wouldn't release it to outside agencies and neither would any other um under of the public records act. Neither would any other user of the cameras. I guess I'm I'm not just asking about the Public Records Act. I'm just saying because of even before considerations about the Public Records Act because I I think our position was and would be on appeal that it didn't really apply because that was data internal to the system. It wasn't data that became city data until we were requiring it, but that we had a lot of protections for access to that, but that a lot of other cities didn't really look ahead the way we did that way. And what I'm what I'm wondering about is does anything in that law um does it does it compel or encourage any sort of the kinds of limits and restrictions we had or do we or does it not deal with that mostly just dealing with the public records aspect.

Um it doesn't deal with that. Although the keep watching working act that applies to law enforcement and immigration enforcement and how those like don't work together I guess. Okay. still yeah there were other things I know that you know with respect to Everett there needs to be a specific uh reason for inquiries into the systems data there needs to be an identification of who's inquiring again and what the purpose is and things like um uh reports that uh that report on how it's used to make sure that the kinds of things that people have been afraid of aren't aren't happening here. So it sounds to me like that's kind of outside th those levels of things are outside the scope of this most of this law at least as it is now. Okay.

Yes. Like those are procedural things that aren't in the law. David has something to add. Oh [laughter] just want to note that um to the extent ever has been kind of ahead of the curve on protections in this area and to the extent that u we have protections that exceed the requirements of state law those will remain in place. We're not going to pair back to be consistent with state law. continue those protections. Okay, great. Thank you. I know it's a complicated question and still evolving law, but thank you. Yeah, I have several questions about the legislative um but I think you can wait until it's not even over yet, so great.

I can wait. Um but uh just just real a couple real brief ones. one about the administrative plan for uh housing services or what's [clears throat] the title subsidized housing or 266 bill. Yeah. So that um it's about step housing. Step housing that's the right word. Yeah. Yeah. So like Yeah. it there. So, this it addresses the administrative plan, but it also a lot of this won't affect us because once again, the city of Everett is on the forefront of this type of housing, especially here in the last year, a couple years.

We we already allow for the type of housing in the relevant zones that are in the bill. Like we already did that, some of it a long time ago, some of it with the um linked a little bit more to the comprehensive plan, mostly I think before actually. Hats off to our city again. once again. And then um on the commercial buildings, you said housing on the first floor. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's increasing residential in commercial zones, but on the first floor, too. On the first floor, too, which we already did as well. Okay. That's what I thought. All right. Thank you. I'll have plenty of questions later. Thank you. Anything else? No. All right. How about our city attorney? No executive session and no report.

Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. We'll move to our consent items. We have seven. Um, do I have a motion and a second? Council Ryan moves approval of the seven consent agenda items. Council member Bader second. Okay. We have a motion and second. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab.

Yes. Okay. We'll have item number eight before us. Council bill 2602-10. First reading. adopt an ordinance to amend amend and close a special improvement project entitled Kowanas Park renovations. Third and final reading will be March 25th, 2026. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll go to item number nine, council bill 2602 um-11, first reading, adopt the ordinance amending ordinance number 4023-24, main library highback replacement project. Third and final reading, March 25th, 2026. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll go to item number 10, council bill 2602-12. First reading, adopt an ordinance creating a special construction project entitled police property room facility tenant improvement. Third and final reading, March 25th, 2026. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll move to um item number 11, uh proposed action item. And I believe we may have a briefing council bill 2603-13. First reading, adopt an ordinance amending portions of title 14 of the EMC improving administration of late utility payments. Third and final reading, March 25th, 2026. Well, good evening. Good evening, council members. Ryan Sass with public works. Um, in December, city council passed ordinance 4152-25 making changes to the Ever Municipal Code regarding utility billing. Uh, the ordinance included a provision to delay implementation for 90 days to allow staff time to review and propose improvements to the ordinance.

uh utility billing and finance staff have made good use of that time and have thoughtfully analyzed the code and are proposing some modest revisions to meet the intent of the ordinance and allowing for more time and flexibility for customers to keep accounts current. Uh tonight we have public works finance superintendent Shawn Bridge and our support services manager Lindseay Mood to provide a brief presentation. Good evening, President Schwab, members of the council, and a special welcome to our new council member, uh, Shaunbridge Public Works. Um, as Ryan mentioned, we were here in December, and legislative action at that time was ordinance 4152-25. And there's really three um, items that um, uh, that ordinance accomplished. it aligned our water and sewer dates um and it added more time before an account slipped into delinquency and then added more time after that account um became delinquent before that account was eligible for shut off. Um and so really from a from a high level perspective it fixed a discrepancy and it added time which we support with a few revisions um but ultimately we're asked to come back with further recommendations within 90 days. So, um, after some consultation with, um, our utility billing staff and and management, working with some of our frontline staff, our utility billing supervisor, um, here are the improvements that we're proposing. Um, we're proposing that account the delinquency date um, of those accounts that go six days past due instead of 10 days past due. Um, and this is a necessary change to avoid some hardships that result from what we term overlapping bill periods. Um and we also uh proposing to adjust the time that account remains delinquent before the earliest possible shut off time. Um doing so kind of lowers the barrier to restore that service after account is

shut off. And then the last change and I think this is key um under EMC 14.16.270 270. when an account becomes inter you know a service interruption um period that that account um currently and this is the change we like to propose um to restore service we have to collect the past due amounts and you know those are the accounts you know the prior bill but we also have to require at that time outstanding amounts and by outstanding amounts what we mean is amounts that are build but they're not yet due and we feel that that creates a hardship on customers who are looking to restore their service. Um, and so that's kind of the key change we're recommending in this proposal. Um, and then in addition to, you know, evaluating what we would, you know, prefer to change with the existing ordinance, um, we're also meeting with staff and looking at what can we do administratively at, you know, a policy and a procedure level to ensure that for those customers that reach out, we're able to provide a high level of customer service. Um, and really that comes down to empowering our utility billing staff. Um, we have a fee removal policy. Um, and we're looking at revising that, expanding that to utility bill employees to allow them for those customers who reach out to remove some of those fees that they incur. Um, and then on the notice of disconnect, and that's the dreaded door hanger that customers get, um, we're looking at extending the time between the initial notice period and when they get the actual shut off. Um and again for those customers that reach out to us in that time frame um that the um those accounts we we want to extend the arrangement options and really we want to and we briefed the staff we worked with them on this that if a customer is requiring hey can I pay in a week um we want to empower our staff to be able to do that. Um and then on resuming service and

that's the key change in 14.16.270 that we referenced earlier. um where a a service has been interrupted. Um the only we would like to be only able to collect the past due amount and not go for the outstanding amount which isn't due yet. Um, and then we've, you know, gone and we've looked very closely at our, um, utility bill assistance program. And some of the council members who served on Longer, remember we came here in August of 2024, um, with our utility billing assistance program and are using a Catholic community services to administer that program for us. Um, and that was, you know, when we recently increase the amount of assistance that was available to those customers that had a greater need. Um, but we're going to continue to evaluate if that program eligibility should be expanded. And we're constantly looking for grants, too. We had some success with some Snowomish County grants um that also provided some direct assistance um for our customers. Um, and then there's some additional process improvements, and those have to touch more on how um our uh our customer ser utility billing uh software interface works. And Lindsay is kind of more of our expert at that. So, I'd like to turn it over to her. Thank you. Thanks Sean. Um after speaking or listening uh in December to the pain points of some of the customers, we actually recently started the process and rolled out the advanced payment scheduling. So customers can go on our our portal and schedule a payment in advance without being on autopay. Uh there is some limitations of our current payment portal. Um, we're going to get into that in a moment, but some tenants have issues signing up for autopay because our current system only allows one customer profile. So, we have after hearing the pain points, we have worked with our IT and rolled out pay later. So, customers can get their bill, go on

even without a login, just go on and schedule a payment for the future so they know that they can pay uh when they get their bill. We have also tried to make getting assistance and adjustments easier for customers. So, our see we've really made a push for the the knowledge and letting customers know about our senior and lowincomed disabled uh rates that we offer and we have made those forms online now so they can uh much easier apply for those. And then our leak adjustments. When customers have leaks, we've we've improved that process also and digitized that so they can just fill a form out and apply for their uh adjustment.

Thank you, Lindsay. Um so this next slide is the um life of the bill as proposed and this works within the confines of our utility billing software and still allows us to provide that high level of service to our customers. Um so we look at day one that bill A which would be your first first billing is prepared. Um after 20 days so we're at day 21. Um that's the time that bills due um on or before that date. Um and then we'll add 6 days to that which is enough time um that you know to allow for you know some of those late payments that continue to trickle in. Um but if it's unpaid at day 27 um at that point we're considering that account to be delinquent. Um, and that's we're going to send that past due notice with the $5 fee. Um, and that's that's super important. You know, we have those situations um where maybe a tenants paying the bill um and an owner is ultimately responsible as a legal owner of the property. Um, they don't receive the bill, but they do receive the notice. But the reverse of that is also true where, you know, maybe a owner's paying the bill um and a tenant receives a notice. So that that that notice goes to the person that didn't receive the bill. And so we're trying to we we need that from a notification protocol. Um so the the next cycle is you know 4 days after that the second billing is prepared because you know we do monthly billing and you know in our uh billing office um bill B for one of a better term is prepared. Um and so then the next critical step would be after that would be 17 days 48. That's the earliest that account will be eligible for shut off. Um and that is again a change um where we're allowing more time but not too much time because what ends up happening is we have a hardship where the unpaid balance from bill A rolls into the unpaid balance of bill B and if that account does end up in a service interruption um situation um that is a

it is a burdensome balance that we're asking them to pay to restore service. Um and then at day 51 that's when bill B is due. Um, so this is a proposal that allows us to allow customers more time but not too much time where it's a a disservice to our customers to allow them to accumulate a significant billing significant back build amount. Um, so that's the proposal. Um, and then in addition to the the administrative policy changes as well as the proposed ordinance, you know, we're um we are never done in terms of constantly looking for ways to improve our customer service experience. Um, and so we have some long-term plans which may eliminate some of the pain points that we've heard about. Um, and I'd like to turn that back over to Lind Lindsay. Um, because we're pretty excited about this RFP that we're very, very close to issuing.

Thank you, Sean.

Uh, yes, we have RFP that should be going out in April. We've been working on this for quite a while before we even met with you guys in December. And our our payment portal is a component of our billing system. it has limitations and so we are looking for a a a better customer experience and so we will be coming back with a system that will allow the AC payments and the credit card payments but we're we will also have pay by text so customers can get a text message that says your bill is ready they can click it and pay their bill from a text message even more importantly because we do not like charging fees we do not want to charge fees we are going to have free communication for customers. So if their bill is maybe two days late, they could get a text message that reminds them that their bill is late. And that is free. That is a communication to the customer prior to us mailing that letter that has that fee. That fee is cost recovery, the postage, the the envelope, the bill stock. But we will have the ability to reverse phone call customers or send them a communication via text for free to remind them of their bill. So they can reach out to us and say I don't get paid till next week. Can I have an extension? Which we can grant. Uh also this new uh this new system will have the ability to have multiple profiles for one customer. So if a customer owns multiple properties, one tenant can have autopay and another tenant can have autopay. So that issue will will not be an issue any longer. uh obvious obvious payment portal um requirements like an easy dashboard for customers to use, password reset, uh unlocking their account, just getting getting our payment portal to where it needs to be to have the best customer experience for our customers and

that's coming soon. Thank you. So that concludes our presentation. Yeah, that's quite a presentation. Thank you very much. Questions. Council member Ben Zerlingo.

Well, I think I was the one who um suggested the 90-day or institute the 90-day delay and thank you for the work you've done in that time. I know you're trying to reconcile a bunch of different um uh concerns and situations with the demands of your uh with your system. Uh one of them is for I can imagine most of our customers if there is a an error a delay a confusion or whatever um it's nice to have the um the calendar but I suspect a lot of these customers will call someone and say will our um will the on will the online or the um phone people from our customer service department be able to explain the sequence the options the calendar to them? I mean, if we got the training in place to so that they'll know what their choices are and what the timing is.

Yeah, I I I believe so. You know, our utility billing supervisor Sharon Bishop is really doing a great job, you know, managing the group, providing education and training, you know, regular staff meetings. So, I just I I I don't see an issue with the staff being able, you know, to provide that education, you know, that like we're providing here. And and I know we're switching to um monthly reading um and there will be a period of some longer bill intervals. Uh does this are we in a clumsy period or is this the kind of thing that'll work work out with this interim period of some of some longer billing? Kick that one to land.

I don't know if I understand the question. Well, what I'm saying is we're going through a period now where there were we're we're transitioning to monthly uh reading and then we're going to have some longer bill intervals for a short time as we do that transition. Do do these changes interact with that interim period we're in of the longer of the longer billing?

Yes. What what we'd like to do is give give customers uh time arrangements if if they need and if we don't want to shut customers off. So, if customers are getting those larger bills or are less manageable because they have 10 more days, we want to be able to to give them that extra time and give them extra time before a possible disconnect and give them uh not require them to pay something that is not even due yet to turn them on, which our current code does. Okay, got it. I think yep, that was it. Thank you, Council Ren.

Thanks. Uh to add on to that um to make sure I'm clear on this too, I think that uh council member Zarlingo brought up a good point. Um would it be helpful to have a delayed implementation date for this ordinance so that it does align with the monthly readings? Uh so then we do avoid a clumsy period where um timelines aren't matching up as well as they probably want to be. Uh I would say not in that I I don't think the implementation of the proposals tonight will have any effect really one way or the other on the uh move to monthly reads.

Great. Thank you. And then I had a question. I appreciate the timeline. Um I think it might be helpful at least for me for like a um what the uh what had been the previous timeline. what our uh ordinance that we did pass in December, what that timeline looked like and then what this one is just so I can get like a better scope of three historical current from the December ordinance.

One so then I think that'll help me just to get a better visualization and understanding of uh what what happens when I was car curious though on like day one and then uh 31 it mentioned that the bill is prepared. Is that the same day that it's sent like mailed off or put in the mail? Yes, in theory. Uh back when we were here uh at the municipal building now, when we were at Cedar Street, sometimes the mailman wouldn't come till the next day, but yes, we do print our bills in house and mail them same day. Okay.

So, in theory, the uh customer would be receiving it like probably the fourth or fifth mail day of the of the month. Okay, great. That sounds all right. Thank you. Okay. I had a couple questions. Um, one was with the new system, will electronic payments be made then be able to be made direct deposit from accounts? Because currently, like if someone's at a bank and they do electronic, they actually send electronic check, right? You get a paper

sometimes. Yes. So, we do get a lot of uh a lot of electronic payments from people that use bill pay. Okay. We have a lot of payments we receive by paper check that customers don't realize are paper check. So that is in the RFP to also uh have us show up in bank bill pay. So if they log into their financial institution, we want city of Everett to show up there so they could pay that way as well with an a transfer, not a paper check. That should save some sort of handling, I bet. So and it it posts payments to the to the accounts much much quicker.

Yeah. Thank you. And then I had a question for our city attorney. How would this change here? Are we looking at amending an ordinance or coming up with a new a more ordinance that would supersede our last one that we we passed? Well, I think the last one you passed allowed this 90 days to um allow for these kind of nuanced improvements in the system. I don't know. I've not compared these improvements to the ordinance requirements. Ryan, do you have any on that? the uh the ordinance that we're bringing forward tonight would replace the and it modifies what was passed in December. Okay, that's why. Thank you. Good question. Yeah, council.

Yeah, thanks. I apologize if I missed on the slide five. What when does a door hanger uh happen on that timeline? The the ordinance states the earliest shut off is when the account remains delinquent for 21 days. So it become the account becomes delinquent at 6 days and remains delinquent for 21 days. So that is the shut off. We do hang a final notice prior to that and we would like to give more time. I think that was the slide before I can probably pull it up again. We want to be able we want to provide more time from when that uh when that notice that final notice is hung. But that is not part of the ordinance. That is a a courtesy.

That's policy and practice. Yeah. And so the intent is to provide a longer time from the door hanger to when they have to pay to avoid being shut off. When does the door hanger happen now? And is there any there won't be any change to that date? Is that is that correct? We're going to extend it. Currently, it's uh two days. So, currently, if you get a door hanger, you have two business days, right? And then you would be shut off on the third day. So, if you got a door hanger on a Monday, you the earest you'll be shut off would be Thursday, I believe. Yeah. But what when on this timeline do I get the door hanger? When does that show up?

With our current policies and practices, right? It could be day 45, but we would like to bump it earlier to give people more time from when they get their original door hanger. Okay? Because I don't like hanging a door hanger and requiring customers to get us payment uh under dress. I want to give customers time to make arrangements or to make payment. Okay?

But if we make that extension, if we let's say hung that door hanger on day 47, we could. But then they only have a day to make payment and then if they want a week, then all of a sudden they're paying after bill day 51. And if they break that arrangement, they have to pay another bill. Yeah. I'm not I'm not asking you to tell. I'm just asking when does it happen now? And would this be changed? This would your proposal change that at all? Yes. So would one week it would move it from 45 days to 52 days. Am I understanding that right?

48 days is going to stay and then we're going to go backwards from 48 days for the prior the final notice the notice before shut off. And the final notice is the door hanger. Yes. Yes. They're both door hangers. One is on Okay. the shut off day and then one is on the is before that but that's not part of the ordinance that's policy or practice. Understood. Okay. Just want to know when this happening if the ordinance affected it. Okay. Thank you. Well I think to clarify currently when does that hanger go up like day what? Currently it is day 20. Okay. So that's now it's going to be for day 45 approximately.

So that's a big adjustment. And and that's one thing we find is you know we looked at the data that between the period you know the time that we hang the door from and the accounts that actually proceed to shut off payments really do continue to roll in. And that's where we think that extending that time should really really minimize the number of shut offs. You know as we look across you know 29,000 accounts 12 months you're 350,000 and some bills. And I I think the number of people are actually or accounts um that moved to shut off last year was 88900.

Uh we shut off 800 roughly 800 people uh accounts services last year and we hung close to 6,000 notices. So only about 15% of customers that get a prior door hanger actually get shut off. And our hope is by extending that window that we're able to capture those appointments, avoid those shut offs, their hardship on the customer and their hardship on staff. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Any other questions from council? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, President.

Okay. Hey, I read um item 11 into the record and then we had our briefing. So, we'll move on to our action item, item number two. Council President, before you jump jump into that, can I ask if is there's any chance we could swap item 15 and 16 because I think at least one or two of us might have to recuse ourselves and it' be more it'd be perhaps nicer if those of us have to recuse ourselves could do that at the very end since there's no executive session. The eltacish one has definitely for me has one where I'll have to excuse myself. What are you requesting? Could we move item 15 to to become the last item? Move item 15 to the end. Okay, great. Thanks.

Thank you. All right. Sure. So, we'll um Okay. So, at this point, we'll move to action item number 12. Council bill 2602-06, third and final reading. Adopt an ordinance amending ordinance 4084-25 entitled Thornton A. Sullivan Park floating Dock Repairs. Are there any questions or comments from councel? Move to approve. Okay. Council Ryan seconds. Okay. Motion second made now. Any more questions? Okay. Um, clerk, please take the roles. Council member Saringo. Yes. Council member Chewy. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab.

Yes. Okay. Okay. Item number 13, adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled water stamp pipe replacement WFFF and that's council bill 2602-07 third and final reading. Is there a motion? Council member Bader. Council Ryan seconds. Motion seconds are made. Are there questions? Okay. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zaringo. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab, yes. Um, item number 14, Council Bill 2602-08, third and final reading, adopt an ordinance creating a new chapter of the Everett Municipal Code relating to endangeredment with a controlled substances. Council member Bader so moves.

Seconded. Motion and second's been made. Any questions or comments from Council Bader? I do. Since our we had our speaker earlier, I wonder I think Lacy probably have questions. Good evening, council. Lacy offer from the city attorney's office. I also have with me tonight detective pursel.

Thanks. Um f first question would be um at least in my understanding in the state ordinance better state law that there are other controlled substances that basically mirror this. But fentanyl is a control substance that isn't part of the part of the state. That's correct. This is a class B felony to expose a minor to methamphetamine and then um substances associated with the use of methamphetamine that are uh used to both make methamphetamine and I think der derivative products of methamphetamine. Could be wrong on that last point.

Okay. where any I apologize putting you on the spot here on this one, but any idea what the other controlled substances are that are that are in the state law? They're only related to methamphetamine. Methia. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. And then um may maybe more uh I'm not sure for you or Dave, but the um in terms of the prosecution of this, I think I assume our prosecutors have discretion to uh uh ask for lower sentences, ask for treatment, etc. um is

yes um our prosecutors that's one of the beauties of municipal prosecution is that prosecutors retain a tremendous amount of discretion um and have in a lot of ways tools that aren't available at the felony level because of the sentencing guidelines that they're constrained by at the felony level. Um so we have um diversion options. we have kind of um what we call pods or kind of agreements between the defense attorney and the defendant and the city that let's say for example you go do a parenting class and you do a substance use uh disorder evaluation and you don't have any additional charges um for 6 months and we'll dismiss the charge. Um those are tools that we regularly use. We also have um mental health alternatives and um uh TSU TSC. I think that might be changing its name, but the other alternative courts um are also available to anybody we charge with a gross misdemeanor.

Council member, one of the points that the previous speaker made of course was that um there are often uh courses of action other than the most draconian course of action that might be better for the family. And one thing this ordinance does is gives our prosecutors leverage to um pursue one of those other courses. Yeah.

Well, I was struggling at first to understand why methamphetamine was the um was the one that was called out separately as a felony. If I understand this correctly, that was partly because it was the problem at that time and also the manufacturing of methamphetamine has so many toxic components and contaminations of the of the places where it's done and that the other drugs that we're talking about those are mostly used in those environments uh but not manufactured in those environments like in those residences for example like methamphetamine was.

Uh you're exactly right about the historical basis for the felony. It was passed I think in 2002 um early 2000s um I might be wrong about the exact year there um but uh for those of us who recall sort of the um spirit of the day there had been many um instances of individuals um uh manufacturing methamphetamine in homes in garages and um children pets uh crawling around on the floor um during that that process um with effects similar to what we're seeing with the fentanyl crisis. Um the manufacturer of fentanyl uh maybe detective PCEL is better able to speak to this, but um you know some of that loose material is able to uh seep out onto floors um in the in a similar way that methamphetamine was in the early 2000s late 1990s um to similar effects and sometimes more devastating. Okay,

thank you. Okay. Seeing no other questions, motion and seconds are made. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay. Item number 16, authorize the mayor to sign amendment three to the agreement for indigenate defense services with Everett Law Association to the form substantially as provided. It's member Berus. Seconded motion, seconds are made.

Council President, I'm sorry to interrupt. Um, as we have talked more with Ever Law Association, our indigent defense provider, uh, after this went on the agenda, we recognize that there is one more cost that we will need to reimburse them, and that is the cost of moving to their new office space, which is not unsubstantial. Um, and instead of coming back to you with a small minor amendment in a couple weeks, I think it'd be uh most convenient to simply uh amend your ordinance here uh to add the city will reimburse public defender for substantiated costs incurred in moving to the new location up to a maximum of $20,000. So, in other words, you could simply make the motion that is on the agenda uh uh plus the sentence the city attorney just recommended. I will that make that okay

I will amend my I guess make my motion the motion that the city attorney uh read with that additional language. Thank you. I will amend my second. Okay. So we'll All right. So it's uh amended. So we'll vote on as amended. Are there any more com? Okay. Council Ryan. Why are we reimbursing for their moving costs?

Uh because Of course, the the the main reason we're reimbursing them or that we're increasing any of the contract uh amounts is that they will have to hire more lawyers in order to meet the new case load standards, which reduces the number of cases each lawyer can handle each year. And um to meet those new standards, they will have to hire more lawyers, hire more staff, and they're already bursting at the seams in their current space. So, they will have to move to a different space, and that will incur more cost. Okay, any other questions? Where are they moving to?

Uh, they have a couple of possibilities, but I believe uh the most likely one is the 10th floor of the I think it's called the north tower in Colby. Council R. Thanks. Isn't that where the public defenders office is? The county public defenders? Yeah. Uh, I think they're down a block, but I'm not I'm not positive about that. I think they're on the other side of the street. This is the more modern office building on the um on the east side of the street. Uh is there a way that we can ensure that any moving costs are like reasonable and expected moving costs?

That's why that's why the language is substantiated costs and not to exceed 20,000. Thanks. Okay. Any questions or comments from council? Okay. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay. Item 15, approver resolution authorizing 2026 lodging tax expenditure recommended by Eltech. Council member Ryan moves approval. Council member Weir seconds. Okay. Any questions? I will have to recuse myself because of one item that group I'm associated with

and I will too. All right. Any other questions, comments? Okay, clerk, please take Oh, you have more. Oh, we have comments. Very exciting comments. Very exciting comments. Our our practice generally is to have the recused council members leave the room during this section. Okay. Well, see you next week. [laughter] That's great. So, we'll wait. you know, they can just watch the tape. Okay. Council member Ryan.

Thank you. As chair of the lodging tax advisory, I wanted to start uh by thanking the committee members for their time and the care that they put into reviewing this year's applications and the very thoughtful discussions that we had with a lot of competing priorities. Also really want to thank Tyler and Kathy, our staff members, for their amazing work behind the scenes to collect applications and make the magic happen. Uh, this year was challenging again because of the amount of uh, funding available is way less than is less than we've had for past cycles and also significantly less than the total number of requests that we received. As council knows, the city's structuring are facing a structural budget deficit and some of our lodging tax revenues have been reassigned to cover core staff services and events that support our t tour tourism and visitor economy. And in addition, another portion of our ELTAC funding this year that previously had supported marketing activities for the city, it was eliminated to make sure that we had enough money available in our ELTAC uh pot to support events. So even with this adjust these adjustments, the committee still had far more requests than available funding, which meant difficult decision decisions, especially with such an amazing pool of applications to choose from. Uh looking ahead to this summer, the committee also considered the regional impact of uh the World Cup events in the region, especially in light of effort being a designated fan zone, which means that our hotels will already uh be full anyways for this event. And because of that, the committee prioritized events that help fill hotel rooms during the shoulder season uh when occupancy is typically lower. Our hotel year representatives on the committee were also especially strong advocates for prioritizing events if they have a proven track record of generating overnight stays, which helps keep the lodging tax funds sustainable over time. So, with these priorities and considerations in mind, I also wanted to mention that not all projects that applied were funded. And of the projects that did receive funding, no project received full funding and most received well less than half of what they had

requested because of the limited funds that we have. The committee was also very clear from the beginning that we would not be able to fund marketing expenses. Uh and if there's organizations that are looking for marketing support, I wanted to remind applicants that uh marketing funding is available through the Snomish County Tourism Promotion Area, the TPA. uh so please ask them for uh to get in touch with them for an application for marketing support. So while these decisions were never easy, I believe the committee did produce a balanced recommendation that stretches limited dollars as far as possible uh supporting events that bring visitors to our great city of Everett and support our local economy and wanted to thank the again the committee uh members and staff for their hard work on this and I encourage council support of the recommendations before us tonight. Thanks.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Clerk, uh, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab, yes. And with no further business before this body, meetings adjourned.