City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, residents of Ever Washington. I'd like to call to order the Ever City Council meeting of March 18, 2026. For information on council meetings and how to participate, please visit everwah.gov/city council. Clerk, will you please take the role? Mayor Franklin here. Council member Zerlingo here. Council member Verbano here. Council member Tui here. Council member Weer here. Council member Bader excused. Vice President Rin here. President Schwab excused. at this time like to ask Council Member Berbano to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. President Schwab. Yes. You are present. Oh yes,

I am. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. you. At this time, I'd like to ask council members Arling Lingo to lead the land acknowledgement.

This council acknowledges the original inhabitants of this place, the Stoopes people, and their successors, the Tilip tribes. Since time immemorial, 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 very much. Okay, moving to our um agenda. Um we're moving um consent consent item number three and we're moving it to action items and it will be presented after item number 10. So we'll be moving action item three and and we'll be putting on the agenda between 10 and 11. Okay. Um, mayor, good evening.

Good evening, President Schwab and council and community. Very happy to be back in Everett. I spent a few days both last week and this week in Washington DC. Um, first trip was fully funded by Yale Mayor's College and was a really powerful learning experience. I was there together with a diverse group of mayors, 50 mayors from uh across the US and CEOs from large American companies. Um we discussed everything from immigration, the Iran war, public safety, housing, economic development and I was very proud to represent Everett in that group and share our successes and experience. I also used the opportunity in DC to talk with staff from the US Department of Transportation about our epic bridge, which is a key bridge project that needs federal construction dollars. And I of course met with Senator Murray and Canwell and Representative Rick Larson's office to talk about the Epic Bridge, Naval Station Everett, um, and updates on our care team um, that's supported through federal grants. So, very productive. And I also visit, uh, attended National League of Cities this week. Uh today I spent the day in Tacoma. So I just got back last night, drove down Tacoma and it was our third Sound Transit board retreat. We discussed how to tackle the very difficult challenges and capital project choices facing the Sound Transit projects. I of course advocated uh for our city and to build the spine and bring light rail service to Everett and our residents as our highest priority. Um, it's a commitment that we made to our residents, um, and everyone who voted on Sound Transit 3. Um, our city has been ready and we've been waiting for decades. Uh, there's a town hall coming up and I really encourage you to share this wide in our community on April 14th at Ever Station starting at 6 p.m. I hope the entire community shows up so you can raise your voices and share the importance of building light rail to Everett. It's a

19 member board. There are three representatives from Snomish County and only one that represents Everett. And so hearing from our Everett residents, our businesses, and our local community on how important light rail is here in this community is important because King County residents can easily attend board meetings. And so that town hall would be a great opportunity for us to raise our voices. Uh then I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend the um budget meeting. Um but I know uh Mike Bailey was able to give a brief uh briefing on the utility tax tonight at the retreat uh a little less than couple months ago. You all shared that as your top priority um to help address the structural deficit and um our team is continuing to work on all the other items you discussed such as funding for fire, library, public safety, and transit. um we're digging into all those options and um make sure that we have all the information available for you to consider. I'll be following up with uh President Schwab and Vice President Ryan um very soon on those items and giving them uh more in detail update on our progress to date. And then lastly, I'm pleased to present uh Brook Idam as a candidate to the historic commission to fill position five with a term expiring December 31st, 2027 and ask for your concurrence on that appointment.

Right. Can I hear a motion? So move the motion. Council Ryan second. Okay. Motion and seconds remain. Any comment from council? Okay. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Burbano. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab. Yes. No further comment. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. On to old business. Uh do I hear a motion to approve the minutes for March 11th, 2026? So moved. Second. There's a motion in a second. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Burbano. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weer. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab,

yes. Okay. Now into 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 the comment must provide their name and city of residence. Written comments require this to be part of the official council record. Uh, good evening, Angie.

Good evening, President Schwab. Um, we did receive one written comment from John Martin regarding outdoor event center and that was provided to uh council, legal, city clerk and administration to be part of the record. And we do have one person online and a few people in chambers to speak. So we'll start with um John Peoples if you could Oh, you're already ready to go. So um please state your full name, city of residents, and you have three minutes to speak.

John Peoples Everett. Good evening, city council. Hooray. Yesterday we celebrated 250 years ago evacuation day when British General How evacuated his army from Boston leading it to General Washington. Every American, even descendants of How's men shares equally in this victory. I recommend honoring our founding generation's work for us by discontinuing the surveillance of the license plate reading cameras. Also yesterday we celebrated the bold, glorious, and godly work of a former Britishborn slave to bring the good news of the gospel of Christ to his former Irish pagan slave masters. Imagine if you will, and better yet, take joy in knowing the grace and mercy Patrick embraced and shared in bringing repentance and salvation and freedom from their sins to the Irish who had done him wrong. In God, all things are possible. Contrast that grace and mercy with the land acknowledgment. This piece of civic performance art mixes fact and innuendo for the purpose of instilling a false sense of shame and thereby degrading our own sense of gratitude for God's many blessings on our land. It claims wrongdoing but doesn't name any. It promises a better future that already exists. It takes credit for others good work and blames the innocent dog for a phantom bad dog's mess. Patrick brought Christ's hope of salvation to us all. The land acknowledgement intends to unfairly tie a psychological anchor around our civic necks. I, for one, will look to God, not the land acknowledgement, for civic guidance. I invite you to join me. Lastly, I'd like

to remind all members of the city council not to use their publiclyowned computing resources for personal partisan political activity. We all lose when you do that. Good night.

Thank you. Um so we'll move to those in chamber and we'll start with Kathleen. if you could please come to the podium and please uh press the button on the base of the mic and state your full name, city of residence, and you have three minutes to speak. Kathleen Burglar um and I live here in Everett and I just want to say firstly, every time I hear a land acknowledgement, I get weepy. So, I am so grateful for you guys doing that. Um, I am was so disappointed to watch the video of someone who um wears their white Christian nationalism so proudly on their sleeve speaking at a recent council meeting. I know he's not alone in his repugnant views. So, I want to make sure that you know that his views are not the majority here and that I for one applaud and support Everett's stance on ICE. That guy who spoke went on and on listing the issues he says stem from undocumented immigrants. First off, undocumented immigrants commit less than 50% of criminal offenses than USborn citizens according to the DOJ's own web page. Secondly, although I'm fairly new to Everett, I'm happy to tell you and list out all the things that I love about this community. I was uh last fall I had a moment where I was thinking about ditching Everett and buying a condo in Seattle. And I started going, what are the things that I'm looking for? I'm looking for walkable. I'm looking for access to services and cool things. I'm looking for arts. I'm looking for vibrancy. I'm looking for an energy of creativity and some views and some fun events. And I started looking around and said, "This is what I've got here. So, how do I immerse myself in it?" And so, I've spent the last couple of months trying to do that. Looking for boards and commissions, looking for other opportunities that I can put my energy towards. And I just want to say it's amazing here. The arts and music scene is incredible. The diversity within it is so fabulous. nonprofits are doing amazing work here, including uh working with um immigrants. And one of

my favorite things is going down Evergreenway and seeing these little strip malls that are these little enclaves where you can get your fur here. You can go to a Mexican tanda here and an Eastern European grocery here and a fabulous um Middle Eastern bakery. And I think that just enriches all of us. When I walk down on the waterfront, I hear four to five different languages every day I'm down there. And that gives me so much joy. And I just want to say that yes, Everett is not the way that it used to be. Thank goodness. We do not have a big mill down there. We have this energetic place. And his views really don't belong here. They are backward and outdated. And he wants to return to that. He can try all he wants to find his uh little fairy land long long long ago, but I stand with you looking forward to a a diverse and vibrant future. Thanks.

Thank you. If Janine could please come to the podium and please state your full name and city residents. You have three minutes to speak.

Hi, I'm Janine Leven Everett. Good evening, Mayor Franklin and council members. About a year ago, I stood before this chamber and warned of the increasing threat of Christian nationalism, a subject that we all know can no longer be ignored. We have now seen our country, the world torn apart by what an uneducated, patriarchal, and white Christian nationalist body of voters did to the rest of us. I saw that Travis Partardo from the Family Policy Institute of Washington gave public comment not long after our encounter with him in the group of domestic terrorists, also known as 40 Days for Life, outside our Planned Parenthood on March 2nd. This two-hour event did not pan out well for them that day. Mr. Partto thought he was going to show up with their paid for by the Catholic Church speaker preacher and be able to record this man spreading lies about abortion, a medical procedure to show their base how many people are for ending women's rights. Well, they were wrong. I know our tactics aren't popular, but they are effective. We are resisting their control and conversion and that makes more than holding a sign and that takes more than holding a sign on the side of the road. Due to our diligence and tactics, the number of calls to the police has been reduced over the last few years. That day, they did not get to make propaganda videos to spread lies about the popularity of the anti-abortion movement. They were shut down. And we have found this is what reduces their numbers. They want to harass and demean women without consequence and boundaries. And they fool the public into thinking they are peaceful. But they are not. They do not come in peace. They come to bring a sword. Mr. Partardo did not appear at council just to make just to state his disdain for immigrants. Unless, of course, they assimilate. It was to put Mayor Franklin, this council, and our city on notice. This was a political and religious dog whistle, a shot over the bow. One I hope you are wise to not ignore. They will come for the rest of our rights, yours, too, just as they continue to come for our rights over our own bodies. I have to state that I for one feel safer in a room with immigrants than I do with a group of Christian conservative males any day. One group of

people want better lives and freedom in a country that I was raised represented that. The other glorifies rape culture and patriarchal rule is their God's will. It's taxing to constantly have to defend your right to exist fully and freely while your educated officials turn a blind eye to the abuse outside our clinics. Women and patients are afforded no dignity, privacy, nor respect when subject to harassment from total strangers that are paid by tax-free churches to subvert our clinics. It is a drain on the taxpayer. Also, three officers for two hours out there doing nothing but managing a situation that doesn't need to happen ever. This will get worse before it gets better. I request that the city implement a legal floating 8-oot buffer zone around Planned Parenthood. It is constitutional and if you do just that and nothing else, time, place, and manner can be satisfied. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And then we have one more individual, but they would like to wait till we get to item number three. Okay. Thank you very much. So, we'll move on to council comments. We'll begin with council member Zlingo.

Thank you. Well, several things tonight. uh last week attended the Puget Sound Regional Council's Transportation Policy Board meeting uh representing Everett there. Uh and interestingly enough, we we recommended the comprehensive plan certification for Renton and Puallup. So even though Everett wasn't uh wasn't coherent with the initial deadline for that, there are still cities out there finishing their comprehensive plans. So congratulations to our planning department and planning commission and the years of work they put into our recent uh plan that was approved last June. Um, also there's a lot of work going on about the PSRC's obligation every four years, I think it is, to do a regional transportation plan. Been a bunch of public comments and response. Uh, and there'll be more work on that. Uh, and one of the most interesting things that I wanted to call to people's attention was what they call their uh, performance dashboard. One of the things that PSRC does that's helpful to a lot of us is um, kind of exemplified by uh, one of their staffers, Craig Helman. He is called the director of data and they have some people who are extraordinarily good at statistics and spreadsheets and understanding the kinds of uh analytical information that help us make good decisions. Uh and it isn't just uh transit uh there are there and cars. Uh they also look at things like cycling, wheeling of various kinds and walking. Uh so all those things associated with transportation kind of like our our comprehensive plan. Uh things like where is the population growing? How does that relate to where jobs are growing? Do those things relate to high-capacity transit things like rail and our swift buses, our bus rapid transit? Um, and I highlight that for us certainly it helps us make better decisions. Uh, they're not dependent on personal experience or anecdotes. Uh, they can do things like tell us which kinds of things have recovered since COVID, which things have changed. And so, for an example, in this dashboard, I I'll recommend it to you if you're interested in these issues. um things like uh congestion on I-5. Uh how is that now compared to before COVID? Uh

and interestingly enough, in that case, uh they slice this up on weekdays versus weekends. Uh things like severe versus um uh what do they call it? Heavy versus severe. And interestingly enough, um heavy congestion has returned to I5 as we've mostly noticed, but the really severe con congestion has not yet returned. and that that gives us insight into the effects of things like remote work and back to work efforts and telecommuting. So again, there's a website if you go to Puget Sound Regional Council if you want to understand how things are going all over the place with respect to regional growth and uh transportation. That's a that's a useful resource. Uh I also attended uh representing Evernomish County cities uh the regional law and justice council. This addresses issues of law and justice for Snomish County and and the cities in it. Uh the participants including include judges, prosecution and defense uh lawyers, the sheriff, police, uh court representatives, community members, and elected officials. And the most recent discussion was a work plan for the coming year, choosing the most important and impactful resources or issues for us to focus on. Some of the things that ranked highly that we'll be looking at in the months to come are mental health treatment and services, uh diversion and alternatives to confinement, uh translation and interpretation, uh which is particularly important in this area where indeed as one of our commenters said, if you walk around, uh at the parks and the uh the public places, you'll hear a lot of different uh languages. Uh and then also one other mention of something called AOT, which is assisted outpatient treatment. And I'll just read the sentence describing it. These are services offered to individuals who are under court order with severe mental illnesses, who have demonstrated difficulty adhering to treatment on a voluntary basis, and have difficulty living safely in the community and without close monitoring. And I bring that up that way because it seems to characterize some of the biggest challenges I think we see on our streets here these days in terms of some

approaches to try to handle those folks that I think are are a big chunk of the of the hard nuts to crack. Uh and then lastly uh in this chamber last night our um planning commission met and importantly for anybody who cares about housing affordability uh one of their discussions was about um the manufactured housing community zone. Uh something I started working with them on about a year ago. Our planning department has really done some great work there in our planning commission. Uh, and I took particular interest in that because of these manufactured home communities that we're talking about establishing a zone for. Um, four of those communities, more than half of the total units are in my home district, district 5. Um, the goals and intent for that were incorporated in the comprehensive plan that this council passed last June. Uh, and then in-depth work by the planning department and planning commission has been going on since then. Uh, now they have the specifics to implement the zone. So, as I say, that was the planning commission last night. If you want to know more about that and how that helps for affordability for some of our uh for some of our residents who have the biggest challenges that way, uh take a look at that. But otherwise, stay tuned. Uh this council should be uh hearing that in detail and voting on it in the coming month or month and a half or so. That's it. Thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Bono.

Um I'm finally back in town for my trip. Um, word on the street says that um a boys and girls club is coming or is being planned for the casino road area. Um, thank you so much for that. That's a great step on the right direction. Um, I also got emails from uh my my neighbors complaining about speeding on 100 street and holy. We know that these uh roads are affected by um boing uh traffic that goes in and out at different times. Um we we need to sit down and start talking about what we can do to make those roads safer. Um other than that, I'm glad to be back. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Mayor Tui. Uh no report tonight. Thank Council Mayor Wear.

Hey. Um, so I was at the Bayside Neighborhood Association meeting last night and there was some great conversation there and uh, guest speakers Ryan Crowder from Ever Music Initiative and Liz Stenning from the Downtown Ever Association sharing just some updates on uh, you know, upcoming summer projects and um, events and expansion of the waterfront music series and um, how maybe the change of not having Fisherman's Village is allowing for emphasis in other um, that it, you know, an energy into other events that they're putting on. Um, and speaking of events, there's some great things coming up in the next couple weeks here. We've got um a call for artists for uh through Bunker Arts Coalition for uh Voyager Middle School's community mural project, and there is funding for that. So, if you know any artists, that deadline is Friday, and you submit directly through um Bunker Arts. Um, but they're going to do something where the the kids will actually the artists will create like an outline and the students will actually get to to do part of the project. So, it's a really really neat um thing that the students actually um uh proposed as a project. So, um again that's Friday is the deadline. Um on Saturday, both our Evergreen and our downtown branch of the libraries are doing uh free seed and plant exchanges. So, if you're into gardening, then check that out. bring your seeds that you want to pass along and take some others home with you. And on Sunday, the farmers market is doing their first preseason popup. It'll be on their regular footprint. That's right out here on Wetmore. A little smaller scale than maybe the full summer, but um that should be a good time. And on Saturday, March 28th, the Bayside neighborhood is hosting Art in the Park at Clark Park. Um so that'll be a good event to to um bring the family to.

Um on the 8th of April, um the Greater Everett Chamber is part of uh putting together a FIFA watch party playbook for businesses and organizations. So if you're involved in one of those groups that is interested in finding out more about how to show the games for a group, um there it's it's less restrictive than you would think it would be. So um again, that'll be available April 8th. And finally, um, we have our date set for our District 1 town hall, and that's going to be at the Ever Performing Arts Center on June 2nd at 6:30 p.m. And we'll have more information, details on that as we get a little bit closer. So, thanks. That's it. Thank you, Council Member Ry.

Great. Thank you. Um, thank you so much to our commenters this evening for, uh, hearing something that was, um, worth coming back the following week to share an update on. So, I appreciate your words and your sentiments and really grateful for the time that you took to come tonight. I was also going to share about the Ever Farmers Market on Sunday. So, I'm glad Council Wear covered it. I also wanted to give a heads up. I was going to send an email, but figured I could just say it out loud instead. Um, on uh Saturday, March 28th, there's the third No Kings rally here in Everett, and if it's anything like the second one, it's going to draw thousands of people to the downtown core. Um I know as a liazison for the um uh for the uh public arena uh there's also a figure skating event that afternoon at the same time. So I was hoping I was going to reach out to ask about if there's any possibility that we could have resources available to help with traffic around the Angel of the Winds arena or uh because their last event also coincided with the other no kings rally and it was bit of a struggle. So um I'll reach out to see if there's any coordination We'll follow up with you, Vice President Ryan. Um, thanks for giving us the heads up. Appreciate it.

Thanks.

Okay. Thank you. Um, all right. So, last night I attended the Harborview neighborhood group meeting. Um, we had um a great presentation from the parks department. Thank you. If you remember, of course, that the gazebo that was disassembled from Clark Park, um, doing some brainstorming with the mayor and I and the parks department at the time, the idea of proposing to move that gazebo or a model, a replica of it to Harborview Park. And so the parks department has set aside some resources to start planning for that project. And they gave a really nice presentation. I think at this point it was like 100% go go let's build it there. Um at this point besides resources is the location where on the where you fit it on the park. So whether it blocks views or if it's too much in the woods. So we'll have some more community outreach on that and want to thank the mayor and the and the park staff. They did a great job on that. Um, also just for neighborhood meetings, um, there's a big concern for traffic, of course, is a common theme throughout our city, but that particular neighborhood is very concerned about the 1100 block of Muckle Boulevard and they'd really like a crosswalk there. It would be nice if some of our commuters from Boeing and some of our own residents would actually drive the speed limit, right? But that 1100 block of Muckle Teal Boulevard is a really big concern and it has been for a while. Um, tomorrow night there's two other neighborhood groups are meeting. The Boulevard Bluffs and Bidge uh Madison neighborhood. They're both meeting at 7. And uh the third district, there's kind of some exciting things on the horizon. I don't have any exact dates yet. Um but we're going to do potentially do a ribbon cutting for opening the Edgewater Bridge. So that'll be very exciting. Um there was a tradition many years ago when this bridge was

built that the community for both Muckle Teal and Everett got together and they took a photo and they met cut a ribbon together. So hopefully we'll kind of mimic that a bit. Uh we don't have to do helicopters now. We can get a drone to take a good picture of us. Right. Um also, um it looks like we're getting very close to make an announcement for the opening of the women and children's um facility or I should say houses on Subs Ducey Road and then we the third district is also going to have a meeting too and we're still working on that coming up in the middle of April. So exciting time there April for that district. Okay, moving to administrative report. Um, I have no report tonight.

Okay. How about our city attorney tonight? Um, I don't have a report, but I am asking for an executive session to discuss pending litigation matters under 4230 110 sub one subi expected to last 20 minutes with no action to follow. Okay. Um, thank you very much. Okay. So, we'll move to our agenda items. We'll begin with consent. Um consent items 1, two, four, five, and six because consent three has been moved. Do I hear a motion? Move to approve the consent items. Second. Motion and second's been made. Cl. Council member Zarlingo? Yes. Council member Burbano. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Vice President Rin. Yes.

President Schwab.

Yes. Okay. On on to item number seven, Council Bill 2602-10. It's our second reading. It's been read in the record. Are there any questions from council? Okay, moving on to item number eight, council bill 2602-11, second reading. It's been read into the record. Are there any comments or questions from council? Seeing none, we'll move to item number nine, council bill 2602-12, second reading. It's been read into the record. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, one more. Item number 10, council bill 2603-13, second reading. Um, is there any questions from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to um item number three, which is now be an action item. And uh let me read that.

Authorize the mayor to sign a collective bargaining agreement between the city and IFFF local 46 for 2026 through 2029. And we have someone to speak. Yes, we do. If Jason could please come to the podium and please state your full name and city of residence and you have three minutes to speak.

Good evening. My name is Jason Brock and I live in Stanwood, Washington. I have the distinct honor of representing 186 of your hardworking Everett firefighters and their families as the vice president of IAFF Local 46. I also get to serve our community as a proud Everett firefighter. Thank you, Mayor Franklin, uh, President Schwab, Vice President Ryan, Council Members Weir, Tui, Barbano, and Zarlingo. For 134 years, 365 days a year, your Everfighters have said goodbye to their families, climbed aboard their apparatus, and prepared themselves to respond to those in our community who need the help the most. They do this never knowing whether their day whether this will be the day they are called upon to pay the ultimate price. They push through intense heat smoke to rescue those overcome by fire. Just last week, our firefighters rescued seven people who were at risk of being overcome by a fire off of 18th Avenue West and council members Arling Lingo's district. They've responded to overturned vehicles where members of our community were trapped and fighting for their lives. They perform life-saving medical interventions and CPRs for those desperate need. They assist the elderly, the vulnerable, those facing addiction, and behavioral health challenges. Every day, we knowingly go into harm's way to protect and serve our community. I share this context because it speaks directly about why the work we have done over the last year is so important. Repeatedly, exposures to traumatic calls can lead to long-term post-traumatic stress injuries. Exposure to carcinogens can and uh in smoke can lead to occupational cancers as we have seen with our very own Captain Nance who's battling multiple lyoma myoma right now. Acute injuries can happen in an instance like when our firefighter fell from the secondstory building hit a fire just six blocks from here. Against that backdrop,

our negotiations team from local 46 and the city worked tirelessly over the past year to find common ground and respond to each other's needs and the collective bargaining agreement that's before you tonight. We did this while paying close attention to the fiscal constraints facing the city of Everett. This contract reflects the hard work, respectful negotiations, and fiscal responsibility and shared commitment to providing dignity, medical protection, and stability for the firefighters and their loved ones. I personally want to thank those from the city who worked respectfully on this contract, including Mayor Cassie Franklin, the HR team of Candy, Mike Der, and Chelsea, and a few others. Um, I also want to thank um um from our fire department, Assistant Chief Paul Gagnon. Uh, I also want to thank our local 46 negotiations team, our executive board, and our members of the local who offered their guidance, input, and support throughout this process. And finally, I want to thank each of you for your willingness to serve our growing city as city council members and respected leaders in our community. We look forward to working uh we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the city council, the mayor's office, and the fire administration to help identify proactive, long-term stable funding solutions. Thank you for your continued support of Ever Firefighters, for your thoughtful consideration and your commitment to balancing difficult budget realities while still protecting the people who protect this city. We respectfully ask for your support and your yes vote on this contract so that we can continue protecting this community with safety, dignity, and the stability our firefighters deserve.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so before us we have um action item number three. Is there a motion? Vice President Ryan gladly gladly moves. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Motion second's been made. Any comments or questions from councel? Okay. Thank you. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zerlingo, yes. Council member Berbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Vice President Rind, yes. President Schwab,

yes. Okay, moving on to uh item number 11, briefing and proposed action item. Council bill 2603-14. First reading, adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled PSGSF WMVD Storm and Combined Sewer Improvements. The third and final reading will be April 1st, 2026. Jennifer, we have a presentation. We do. Um, we have Director Sass and the assistant city engineer Tom Hood who's like totally ready to share his screen.

Good evening, council members. Ryan Sass with public works. Uh the first major project of our statemandated combined sewer overflow reduction and elimination program the port gardener storage facility is under construction. There are many additional projects related to that facility to connect it to other parts of our city that will contribute flow to that facility uh that we'll be working on over the coming months and years to be complete by the end of 2027. So, there'll be lots of council actions coming forward. And so, I thought it would be a good time to kind of review and give an overview of the overall program as well as the action before you tonight, which sets up funding for two of those pipeline conveyance projects. City engineer Tom Hood is here with a brief presentation on the Port Gardner storage facility and the CSO reduction program.

Great. Thank you, Ryan. Uh, good evening, Council President Schwab, Mayor Franklin, Tom Hood from public works. Uh, Ryan basically stole my entire intro, but that's quite all right. Uh, that being said, I will just jump into my presentation. Um, I wanted to start with kind of an overview of what the PGSF program is and why it is. Um the PGSF program was created to reduce combined sewer overflows into the Port Gardner Bay. Um as you probably know, uh most of North Everett was constructed with a combined sewer system, which means that sanitary sewer and surface water runoff. Uh

did I lose my slide? um sanitary sewer

sanitary sewer and storm water runoff. Thank you, Jennifer. Uh combine into the same pipe network. And over the years, as we've developed in the north end, that uh pipe network has become overwhelmed and overflows uh frequently and when it does, it overflows into Port Gardener Bay, which is obviously a bad thing. Um the state department of ecology uh under state statute has regulatory regulatory authority to limit uh combined sewer overflows or CSOS uh and the um into surface waters. So in 2015 the city entered into an agreed order with ecology. Um the agreed order stipulated that the city would reduce its uh combined sewer overflows to one per year per outfall um uh which is the um the maximum allowed under statute. Um the agreed order also stipulated that we would have the facilities operational uh to do that by the end of 2027. So essentially the PGSF program has two components to it. Um we have uh a a site what we call the PGSF site which is the former Kimberly Clark site which I'll say a little bit more about in a minute. Um this is where a lot of the storage occurs for the combined sewer. Um, and then we also have a series of pipes that we're calling the West Marine View Drive conveyance projects. Those pipes will bring the flows to the site for storage. Um, this

is a uh and I'll I'll talk a little bit about um the site facility. Now, this was the former KC site. Uh, as a lot of you may know, um, the city had the good fortune of being able to purchase this property with its industrial treatment plant that you see in the photo here, uh, several years ago. Um, what this does is this provides us um, a lot of structures that provide storage capacity already. Uh, we don't need to build an entire new plant. we can take the existing plant and do what we need to do to it to make it work for us for our PGSF program. Um, obviously that's a lot more cost effective than building a new facility. Um, that project is actually currently under construction um with $150 million total project cost and that project is also under a project labor agreement. Uh now we'll turn to the conveyance projects which is um what you're seeing tonight the first reading for that funding ordinance. Um again we need to get the flows to the old KC site so that we can store and treat and pump out of there. um will have a series of uh large diameter pipelines built essentially uh I don't know if you can you probably can't see the streets but it's essentially Huitt Avenue on the south end up to the Grand Avenue Park bridge is the extent of this will have um pipelines up to 48 in in diameter uh so it's big stuff uh we'll need a crossing of the BNSF tracks uh to get us from West Marian View Drive over to the Case AC site. Uh that crossing is has been determined to uh occur at 24th Street

and we will need um a few construction easements from both the railroad and the Port of Everett. Uh we've already secured the easement for uh for BNSF um but we have not yet secured those for uh the Port of Everett. And then finally um worth mentioning is that we are uh breaking the conveyance projects into two separate projects. Uh you see the total project cost of 117 million there. Um with the larger project uh slated for a project labor agreement. Um the reason for breaking them into two projects is essentially um a strategic move for traffic implications. Uh West Marine View Drive will be impacted because many of these pipes are within that road prism. Um as you all know, we have FIFA coming this year. Um we have a vibrant port um that has a lot of summer activities and so we've worked carefully with our port partners uh and the FIFA planning committee to stage different uh pieces of work in different locations uh to avoid impacts during those uh prime time events so to speak. So, I mentioned the easements uh that we're going to need. This photo that you're seeing here or this graphic um north is actually to the right on this one. So, what you're looking at is the uh lower Norton terminal area of the port just south of the PGSF site. Um in green is the pipeline alignment. You'll see the BNSF crossing there uh kind of the middle of the screen. The yellow is showing the existing utility easement area that the city already

possesses um where we've planned uh for a number of years to put the pipeline in. The red area is the um license area that we'll be obtaining from the port. Uh part of this is to provide um construction staging area for the pipe ramming that we're going to do to get the pipes under the BNSF track. Um there's a lot of equipment and things that are needed with that. Uh we'll need stockpile, we'll need staging areas. Um so that's kind of a a secondary need. The the primary use for this area from the port is construction traffic. Um, we can use this to create a loop for heavy construction vehicles and dump trucks and other things to uh minimize their use on West Marine View Drive and keep traffic flowing uh a lot better. So, essentially creating a one-way construction traffic loop from West Marine View Drive through the port property. So, that will be forthcoming. And then this uh this view here is up at the Grand Avenue Park bridge. This shows the other area of construction easement we'll need from the port um lay down area plus area to um stage equipment to do the tie-ins of the new pipelines back into the existing pipelines that uh continue running to the north. So, with all that being said, um the upcoming council items that you'll be seeing obviously will be um the first reading tonight for the funding ordinance for the two conveyance projects. Uh you'll also see a a PSA uh consultant agreement for two consultants. One will be uh our construction management consultant that's going to help us out on this uh

very large project that we're simply not uh used to doing something of this magnitude. And then another professional services agreement for uh our design consultant to provide bidding support and on call construction services as needed. Um we mentioned the the two license agreements with the Port of Everett. be seeing those in the next few weeks and a call for bids um for both uh actually you've already authorized call for bids for the the first conveyance project. So the second conveyance project will be coming in for a call for bids in a few weeks and then of course award of contracts for both of those conveyance projects is what you'll be seeing. And so what does all this get us? Well, the good news is that based on all of our hydraulic modeling, uh, we will meet the agreed order conditions. Um, our modeling shows that we need, you know, maybe 3 million gallons of storage and the the old KC site provides approximately 7 million gallons of storage. And so, we expect a greater reduction in our cso events than what is stipulated in the agreed order. And because I like numbers, I'll end with this slide, which shows that um we intend on going from approximately 20 million gallons of of uh cso volume a year down to just over 1 million, a 95% reduction with the PGSF facilities in place. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Any questions from council? Council Ryan. Great. Thank you, Tom. Um, I was curious if there is a deadline for compliance with the agreed agreed order. Uh, there was. I I hope it was on that last bullet. It's um December 31st, 2027. Okay, great. That's when the whole everything needs to be completed. Yes.

Great. Um, and then, uh, I was, uh, for the general public's awareness, I was hoping you could share or explain a little bit more about how the project's funding and where the funding comes from. Um well, let's see. Um we do have some ecology grants um that help with that. Um much of it does come from our uh sewer capital uh construction fund that um has quite a few bond proceeds. I want to say in the $80 million range of utility bonds, but I think I'll let Ryan take it from here because I'm a little fuzzier on that.

Yeah, mo most of the costs of the program are borne by the utility and it's a part of rateayer funded projects. We do have some uh grants in place and unlike our transportation grants, these grants tend to come in after the project gets up and going and so we expect to see some additional grant money come in from Department of Ecology and when we do have those we'll come back and amend the funding ordinance and that will displace some of our our own investment.

Fantastic. And then uh I would assume too that uh coming into compliance with the agreed order will also open us open us up for future grant opportunities because we've complied with this and our system is up to date and doing certainly doesn't hurt. We would like to stay on ecies good list. Yeah, good plan I think. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And I had a couple of questions related to that too. Are there fines involved in not complying at this point? There are the $10,000 a day. Oh, that adds up. It It will. And then um how do we compare like with progress of some of the other um regional systems?

We're pretty far along. There are several cities that have, you know, virtually all the older cities had combined sewer systems and they functioned the way they were designed to function. Uh Seattle is under a consent decree and is continuing to work on this and there's been a couple other cities that have made progress. Uh when we complete this though, we'll we'll pretty much be done and so we're doing good in that regard. Yeah, that's what I figured. Thank you very much. Council member Zarlingo, you only get one question. Just kidding.

Well, and maybe less of a question just to make sure I understand some important factors in this. Um one of them is that it sounds like with this kind of extra storage, it means that the kind of events that will cause a sewer of overflow will be even bigger events. So that we're not talking about that that we're talking about a very dilute um discharge that's heavily diluted with storm water and even more heavily diluted after this project because only the very very largest of these events will cause that. Yes.

Um okay. And and then the other thing I think um director says a couple I think you came before us a couple of years ago that the background for this um for this for these rates and all of this that you did a lot to carefully stage and delay some other capital projects to try to make sure that you were minimizing the rate increases and spreading that out so that you were doing the the that you were doing the best you could to maintain what we need to maintain while deferring where you could to keep these rate increases to the minimal possible.

Yeah, this program is is really a heavy lift for the utility. And so we prepared by increasing rates at the beginning of our current four-year rate ordinance. Um and and when we did that, the rates that we brought forward, we deferred about half of our capital program into the future rate period that starts in 2029 just to lower the burden of this large spike in uh mandated capital program. Great. Thank you.

And uh thank you, Council Member Lingo. I was just joking. I just actually and just for those watching, he's been a wonderful resource and uh really appreciated his investment in this portion of the city. So, thank you actually. Council member Weir. Okay. So, I think this was already answered, but the December 21st, 2027, do you anticipate that's this project will probably go up until that deadline point? It's going to take Absolutely. I mean, we're already Yes. You know, we we will likely use all of that time.

Um I assume so. And I appreciate that you guys there's a lot of forethought that has gone into minimizing the impact on the traffic and the the folks using that waterfront by taking you know doing that one way route you said. So that's great. Um as far as other community impacts um is this like a covered I'm I'm familiar with those tanks but I mean is there going to be like aroma issues that the we should expect going I mean I just you know what's the of having something like that down on the waterfront? Yeah, the system does have odor control aspects of it. And it's important to keep in mind that when we have those combined sewer overflows, that's the great majority of that probably upwards of 90% is surface runoff and get bits of sewer that are moving with that. But essentially, it stores in that facility and then is metered back into the pipeline and goes to our wastewater treatment plant.

That's great. just I figured that's the kind of thing that um you know you think sewer and it's like oh great we're g So um and then the other is just because I'm still trying to understand how all this works but you've got the the project labor agreement listed under one and then the other it says um the PLA on the larger project. I mean can you just do a like

level what that look what that means? Yeah, we're doing a a PLA pilot program and so we hired an outside consultant, Intelligent Partnerships, and they analyze these projects. And so we've got three uh pairs of projects that we're doing a project labor agreement on one and we're doing one without. And at the end of that, that'll give us really excellent data to compare the performance of the projects with and without and if their cost impacts and all of that. Okay, great. Thank you.

Thank you. And um thank you very much for the presentation. Also just want to recognize the port of Everett and their cooperation and you work both working with them make they make great partnerships. So thank you for your efforts in this project. All right, moving on. We are going to um recess to executive session and it's 20 minutes 20 minutes when no further action expected.

Okay, we have concluded our executive session with no further action. At this point, there's no further business and we are adjourned.