City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening or good afternoon residents of Ever Washington like to call to order the Ever City Council meeting for March 25th, 2026 for information on council meetings and how to participate. Please visit our website at everwad.gov/city council. Clerk, will you please take the role? Mayor Franklin here. Council member Zarlingo here. Council member Burbano here. 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 Bader to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. And at this time, I'd like to ask council member Weir to read the land acknowledgement.

The city wishes to acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Stoogish people, and their successors, the Tleup tribes. Since time and 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 the 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. Well, good afternoon, Mayor.

Uh good afternoon, President Schwab, council and community. Got a couple things today. Uh first, we are honoring Dr. Ronald Brown for 25 years of outstanding service and leadership as Everett Fire's medical program director designate. Uh his exper expertise, mentorship, and dedication have strengthened our fire department's EMS program and positively impacted generations of our first responders. Thank you. And Chief Demarco is going to come forward and share more about his remarkable service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, council. Dave DeMarco Fire Department. Uh with me is Dr. Ron Brown. um when a medical emergency or trauma happens in the community, uh it we come and and we do what we're supposed to do and and most of the community's attention for whatever reason is focused on us. We end up in the in the newspaper and the blogs and whatnot and and and the accolades, you know, rightfully in many ways go to the firefighters. But behind every good EMS system is a physician that actually knows what they're doing. And uh for 25 years, Dr. Brown has been supporting Everett Fire um in a way that that the community doesn't see. But but for today, I wanted to bring him here today to give him the opportunity to to thank Everett for for the opportunity to serve and for you to see the person behind the scenes who's made it possible for us to do what we do since I've been a paramedic. I mean, this is Ron has been doing this for a really, really long time. He serves in this role. also is a you know retired now but has provided dedicated service as an emergency room physician at Providence for many years. Um and you know many a quiet meeting Ron has scolded me on you know the medicine that I was or wasn't delivering right and and so now 25 years later he's affected every paramedic and EMT that's passed through Everett in all of that time. Um and so I'll let him say a few words. We have just a small token of appreciation to give Dr. Brown today. I'll put that up here. And on behalf of the Everett Fire Department and all of the citizens we serve, we say thank you.

So, thank you. Thank you. And give you an opportunity to say something if you like.

I was always comfortable being behind the scenes anyway except for in the ER. So, um, but I have, you know, once I got out of residency, I moved out here and landed in Whidby. I spent about 27 years, 25 of them with these guys in Everett. So, it's been like a home. It's been a lot of fun. I love that job. It's, you know, when we started, we were much better than East Coast EMS programs, but still, we had a lot of growth to do and we did it. And, you know, I'm really proud of this department and they're going to be in good hands with any of the docs that that take over for me. And you guys can always complain to me if they're not doing a good job and I'll straighten them. So, um, but thank you the citizens to to you guys and to the fire department. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you again for your years of dedicated service and training and equipping our team to to deliver the best service they can possibly can for our community. Really appreciate you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um, today uh is also a sad day. Um, it marks four years since the death of Officer Dan Roachcha. So, I'd like to take a moment to reflect and remember a life dedicated to service. Officer Roachcha came to public service because he wanted to make a real difference. After moving to Everett with his family in 2011, he became part of the fabric of this community, building relationships, connecting with neighbors, and giving back. His service with Ever Police Department began in 2017 as part of our parking enforcement team where he quickly established himself as a really dedicated team member. Then in 2018, he was hired as a fully commissioned police officer, providing him the opportunity to serve and protect that same community that he'd previously lived and worked, which really mattered to him. Officer Roachcha served our city with integrity, compassion, and a true commitment to helping others. His impact continues to be felt not only within our Ever Police Department, but throughout our entire community. So, please continue to keep Dan's family and friends in our hearts as a loss like this never really fades. The anniversary is also a reminder of the incredible sacrifices made by those who serve in law enforcement every day. As a city, we remain committed to supporting our officers and their families, honoring their service, and ensuring Officer Roach's legacy is never forgotten. I will always remember Dan's bravery, his really kind smile, and his true dedication to helping others. So, thanks for keeping him, his family, and your thoughts today. And I have no further comments. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much. Um, so on to old business. Uh, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes for March 18th, 2026? Council Ryan, some moves. Seconded. Motion and seconds. Make please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Banano. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader. Abstain. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab.

Yes. Now it's time for public comment which include written comment acknowledgement. Under our rules. Written comment shall be considered in the same manner as oral comments. Persons submitting comments must provide the name of residents um to be made part of our council official documents. Um and good evening or good afternoon. I keep saying evening. It feels dark in here, right? Um could you acknowledge our written comments and who do we have to speak?

Yes. So we have some written comments. Um the following names wrote in about the Everett manufactured housing communities zoning. Kathleen Brown, Sharon Con, Sheila Paige, Gail Almanson, Jim Jackson, Terry Grove, George Peacock, Caroline and Chuck Kaine, Jen Gadbury, Judy Postma, Richard and Rita Tutill, Meredith Reed, James Reed, David Storm, Patty Bon, April Lloyd, Ephroini Co. Kolaroo, Dennis and Judy Morris, Connie Russell, Raymond Daniels, Shauna Davis, and Raymond Hill, and John Martin wrote in about the outdoor event center, and these were provided to council, legal, city clerk, and administration to be part of the record. And we do have one individual in chambers to speak. So, if Maxwell could please come to the podium, and if you can please um tap the button on the base of the mic and state your full name, city of residence, and you have three minutes to speak.

Yeah. Uh my name is Max Vagarski. I live in Woodenville, but I work in Everett. Um I've been working with uh Sam Men Menimemer uh with the leadership Snomish. And uh we have a special project that we're doing uh this year um with music for life who gives uh musical instruments to uh kids who can't afford them. So uh just research shows students who participate in instrumental music activities do better in math, science, history, literature, international languages, reading and writing, and even computer science in addition to what it teaches in terms of teamwork and self-discipline. Music for Life is a nonprofit organization that provides donated and repaired musical instruments at no charge to ever public schools and families in need. Uh many people have lovingly used uh musical instruments in the garages, attics or closets. Uh their highest and best use may be to put them back into play so a new generation of students can benefit from them. If you or someone you know has such uh musical instrument, please consider donating it to Music for Life. Um funds to repair these musical instruments are also welcome. Uh Sam and I are hosting a benefit night at Shaun O'Donald's on April 23rd. Uh 20% of the food and non-alcoholic beverages between 4 and 9 will go to Music for Life and Stumbling F uh Fiddler will be performing. So that's it.

Thank you. Thank you. And that concludes our public comments. Okay. And we have no online, correct? No, no online.

Okay, perfect. Okay, now we'll go to council comments. We'll begin with council members. Uh well just two this evening. First thanks to our commenters especially those uh who are been commenting on the manufactured housing uh zoning. That project's been underway for about a year or so. Thanks to the planning commission and the planning department um Aliceanne for working on that. Uh it's great to have that public involvement and it's great to do something that both supports our comprehensive plan goals and uh and the kinds of things we can do for some uh for some uh focused populations like uh the elderly low-income um uh people that are disabled and veterans. Uh and then one other thing uh for those who are interested in um who traverse highway 99. I've been for a couple of years working on a study group uh that has to do with the um highway 99 between the south edge of Everett and Lynwood and unincorporated Snowish County. As we all know, that area has some real challenges in terms of traffic backups, in terms of uh pedestrian and vehicle safety. And so this group's been identifying both uh long-term and near-term improvements that uh meet the complete streets requirements. Um and they intend to improve access on 99 for walking, rolling, and biking and of course increasing safety and mobility. So if you're interested in any of that, just search on uh SR99 pre-esign,

excuse me, pre-esigned study and you'll get the full uh the full rundown on that. The only thing I think it's a a a an unfortunate aspect of that is that this is going to be mostly long-term kinds of efforts getting the funding and making the changes there to improve that important connector between Everett and a bunch of communities to the south. And that's it. Thanks. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Bano. Uh no comments. Thank you. Council member Tui.

Yeah. I also want to thank all of our um folks that spoke or sent in. I don't know why this is echoing. Um it's weird. Uh anyway, I just want to thank everybody for their uh writing into us and coming and speaking with us. Uh it really means a lot to us to know how our community feels. And I also want to thank Dr. Brown and wish him the best uh long happy retirement. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Wear.

Hi. Um, so last night I was at the uh historic commission um meeting and they are deep into reviewing their um the uh historic commission code going through all the nitty-gritty details and um they'll be meeting with the Washington state department of ecology archaeology and historic preservation local government liaison. It's a lot in June to go over what they've um kind of set in place to before it comes before all of us. Um the charter review is having a public hearing tomorrow at 4:30 at the Evergreen Library. They're looking for feedback from the public for that. Um and Saturday, don't forget Bayside Neighborhood is hosting their art in the park at Clark Park and Ever High School is having their blue and gold auction at um the community college. So that should be a whole lot of fun. And that's it for me.

Thank you, Council Member Bader.

Thanks, Council President. um went to the council neighborhoods meetings, our council liazison on Monday afternoon. Uh great report from our care team to the neighborhood or council of neighborhood uh reps. Um one I'm suggesting we have back here. I know we've heard from them before, but I think that what they do is uh regularly evolving and it was great to hear uh what the what's going on and how they how they work are working. Now, uh, one thing that came up though, and I'd like to point out to anybody watching as well, um, that we still have a, uh, what's called a flex fund that we can donate to. You can find that on our city website. I think that helps their, uh, helps enable their work when some, um, need comes up that they're trying to help someone get off the streets or, uh, uh, connect with, uh, uh, help or assistance. uh the funds we don't necessarily have, but a nice way to to support the work of of being able to get people off the streets if someone's interested in donating to that flex fund. And one of our neighborhood leaders reminded us of that at the Council on Neighborhoods. So, uh hopefully we can have them come to us once as well and uh just great report uh and thanks to all the good work that all our neighborhood leaders do as well. Thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Ryan.

Thank you. Uh thank you to Dr. Brown. We could all be so lucky to leave such an incredible legacy. I think we we're doing it right. So, congratulations on your retirement. Uh this last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend uh two uh business openings along with Council Member uh Weir. Uh the first one is a wellness center called Recharge over on Wall and Colby. And they have a lot of really amazing uh individualized treatments that you can do, including red light therapy and blue light therapy, compression therapy. They have a sauna and a cold plunge and all sorts of cool stuff. And it sounds like they're getting booked out uh pretty far. So, it's a popular service. So, uh check it out when you get a chance. Uh also on Saturday, I attended the Ever Birthing C Center's uh grand opening. Uh if council might remember that last year, uh we made an adjustment to uh what types of businesses are allowed on the first floor of uh our downtown core, including birthing center. So, it's great to see, you know, policy in action that we, you know, we made a vote something or a community member came forward, we made a vote, and then here we are with a new birthing center. Um, the birthing center didn't do a traditional ribbon cutting. Instead, they did an umbilical cord cutting, which was amazing. So, uh, check out the pictures on Facebook. It was, uh, well done. I just want to share a friendly reminder that this Saturday is the No Kings 3 rally downtown. So, downtown's going to be incredibly busy. There's also a figure skating competition and the tips playoff games. Go tips. Uh, so downtown's going to be really busy. So, just please be aware for uh if you happen to come downtown and use public transportation or bike. Uh and also wanted to uh send my best to the whole Everett uh police department family and officer Roach's family. Yeah, on a sad day. Thank you.

Thank you. Um yeah, since last Wednesday, I have participated in two neighborhood um group meetings. One was the Harborview. Um actually that was the third one. Uh View Ridge Madison, Harborview and Boulevard Bluffs. Um the Viewidge Madison of course um the utility tax and our proposals was was a big part of the discussion. Also of course traffic speeds which is a continuous title in every neighborhood group in in my in the third district area. uh the Boulevard Bluffs uh conversation in that neighborhood was um of course traffic speeds but also a lot of excitement about the gazebo that we're going to move from Clark Park and and put it on at Harborview Park. So that's pretty exciting for that neighborhood. Also, also there was a lot of discussion about the Edgewater Bridge and its opening. And for those of you watching or maybe in the room, don't hold this as like in concrete, but there is preliminary talk that it may open April 28th, but don't be mad if it doesn't happen, please. Um, you never know what will happen with the construction project. And, um, there's kind of a draft idea to do a ceremonial ribbon cutting on the 27th and the original bridge. uh both communities of Everett and Muckle Teal got together and did a joint a joint kind of gathering community gathering. So there's there's a move to kind of recreate that. So really excited. More to come on that. Hopefully that date will stick, but if not, we'll make adjustments. Um also, uh we do have some dates for our third district meeting. Thank you, mayor, and your staff for working hard on that. It's going to be April 16th. Um and then um Uh also I'm also there's a advisory group for the women and children's um on the room and children facility that they're we're building with their

pallet shelters on on Subsuy Road in Hardison. So um if anyone's watching this and you have any questions or want to be a part of that um let me know about that. So thank you. Okay, how about to our administrative report? Great council. nothing to report uh from administration, but uh you might have noticed I am not Jennifer Gregerson. I'm Mike Fong. I'm pinch hitting for Jennifer today. Uh this is actually my first council meeting. I appreciate uh being here for week number seven as a senior executive director. So, it's great to meet all of you and looking forward to working with all of you going forward. Thanks. Thank you. How about from our city attorney, David Hall?

I don't have anything to report tonight and there is no executive session. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um All right. So, on to our consent items. There are 13 consent items before you. Is there a motion? Move to approve the consent items. Second. Motion and second has been made. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Council member Berbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab,

yes. Okay, we'll move to our proposed action items beginning with item number 14, council bill 2603-14. It has been read into the record. The final reading is April 1st, 2026. Are there any comments or questions from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll go to proposed action item um number 15, first reading, council bill 2603-15. Adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled Evergreenway Overlay Fund 303 program 139 to accumulate all costs for the improvements. Third and final reading, April 8th, 2026. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, we will go to item number 16, council bill 2603-16, first reading, adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled Dorne Avenue Drainage Improvement Fund 336, program 043 and repealing ordinance number 4048-24. The third and final reading will be April 8th, 2026. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, we'll do go into our proposed item, action item and briefing, and that is item number 17, council bill 2603-17, first reading, adopt an ordinance approving appropriations of the 2026 revised city of Everett budget and amending ordinance number 4126-25. The third and final reading will be April 8th, 2026. Mike.

Yes. Thank you, Council President Schwab. Mike Bailey, interim finance director, and uh with me, Candy Bartlett. Uh so, we're going to be reviewing briefly tonight the or this afternoon the uh the first amendment to the uh council's adopted 2026 budget. Um if I can get this to behave. Here we go. There we go. Um first, a few preliminary comments. um creating a little context around uh the notion of budget amendments. Having adopted the budget, the council authorized spending for the city to operate its uh its uh various functions or whatnot. And what once a budget is set, it can be amended. Um and and typically an amendment involves increasing spending authority, adding money to the budget. It can also be used to decrease spending authority, but you don't see that very often. you most typically see cost increases. Um, amendments can be funded in one of two ways and we want to be clear when we walk through the amendments which of these two is uh going to be in place for for each when new unanticipated revenues uh revenues that we learn about after the budget got adopted uh are available to the city such as grants uh that's a common way that a budget needs to be amended. Secondly, when a new uh project or initiative comes along and additional uh funding is is necessary, uh that funding can also come from existing fund balance or or the city's savings, if you will. And again, we'll make it clear um which is is the case in in each of these. Um, as we talked uh in a budget committee meeting earlier this year, uh, we're going to be finalizing fund balance amounts uh, for the city's various funds as we wrap up the annual financial report. So, we'll have that information for you probably in another month or six weeks, but don't hold me to

the date. Um we did report that at the end of 2025 the general fund fund balance uh ended in a position better than anticipated because of spending uh uh discipline and constraints within uh the city's departments and and in fact we expect the general fund fund balance to be rather than the $35 million anticipated in the adopted 26 budget probably closer to $50 million which is also consistent with prior years as well. But again, the city's in strong financial condition and so use of fund balance for some of these additional spinning initiatives um is certainly consistent with with a good um you know fiscal approach. It's the council's uh responsibility to increase funding with a within a a um a fund of the of the city. And a fund is a way we sort of segregate dollars so that they get used for their correct and intended purposes. So when a fund needs to be increased, that's a council responsibility. We'll talk later a little bit about um changing spending within a fund. Uh that's an administrative responsibility. And again, we'll come back and talk about that briefly. Sometimes we have to increase spending in the 2026 budget because things were anticipated to occur in 2025 and they didn't happen and the money for that was in the 2025 budget. So, we are reappropriating or carrying that spending authority forward. So, you'll see some of that as as well. What you'll also see that's unique this time around is that we are not including all of the spending continuation that is already authorized as part of a project in the city of Everett. a city uses a best practice which I've recommended in many other cities that they that they emulate where you identifies funding for a project and a project funding

ordinance and it makes it very clear where the money is coming from and and what the intention of the project's going to be and then how the money is going to be used. That's for the life of the project. So you don't need to reappropriate or carry over funding for those projects because you've authorized the funding for the life of the project and projects oftentimes uh overlap the end of a fiscal year. So, we're no longer including all that duplication in in the amendments. You've authorized that already. Um, we'd be glad to talk about at any point in time, you know, kind of what the status of funding for a project might be, but there's really no reason to belabor that as part of this budget amendment process. So, you won't see that. you did see it in the cover memo and you may see that additional line there that and that's included so that the people that are doing the bookkeeping can reconcile to that bottom line number but that's the reason it's there. It's certainly not um necessary to reappropriate it. So, for this afternoon, we're recommending in uh expenditure increases totaling almost $7.5 million. And you can see in in the materials that um a little over $1 million of that that is attributable to the city's general government and six and almost a half million dollars is related to non-general government funds. We'll take a look at each of those in a moment. We've also wanted to make it clear where we're using fund balance rather than new revenues uh to finance those amendments. And so again, you you see that in in the materials of note in the general government fund balance category one which we sort of guard very carefully because it has so much to do with our fiscal health. The majority of of the reappropriation of those dollars has to do with monies identified in state statute is specifically available only for street improvement purposes. So the $696,000 uh in the uh street improvement fund

that's being carried forward are those dollars from motor vehicle excise taxes and gas taxes and whatnot that are dedicated by state law to those purposes. They weren't spent last year, so we're just going to carry them over, make them a available for for this year. So looking at the specific uh recommendations and I'm not going to belver these. The last time I walked through these is you know this kind of the same approach. If you have questions we'd be glad to stop and and answer them but walk through them fairly quickly just to create the opportunity for for you to ask questions should you have them. and in the category of of uh monies that were specifically identified for a purpose that didn't get spent last year for that purpose, but we want to carry them over because the purpose still remains a need in the community. The human needs grant monies are are those unspent monies that from last year that are being car carried over to be made available for human needs grants purposes in 2026. a bit of a different kind of category where something was intended to be purchased in 2025, but the item didn't get delivered in time and we didn't get invoiced for it in 2025. So, we're carrying those monies forward. Um, it has to do with the next couple of of issues that the drones and the police department and um and also the tree power program uh projects were initiated last year but just didn't get through them last year. So therefore, they're being carried forward in into 2026. I mentioned already the street improvement monies. Uh the 696,58 is that street improvement money that's dedicated for that purpose. It'll be carried forward, made available to be spent for improvements in our transportation system in in 2026. new money, a grant um helping to offset some of the cost increases with the indigent defense uh needs in the community uh is a 60,620

uh item that that's uh uh what we're calling GGA or general government um adjustment number one and that'll be in the legal budget. The council at their retreat talked about the interest in pursuing and understanding the implications of potential annexations, especially around the city, but especially south and east and whatnot. Staff is recommending uh adding $200,000 to enable that um annexation planning to proceed. Uh again, that money will come from fund balance. And then lastly, there's an interest lastly with respect to the general fund, there's an interest in doing um some work around the planning processes and whatnot in the casino road and downtown ever association areas. And so staff is recommending we increase the 2026 budget by $50,000 to enable that work to occur. Moving into the non-general uh fund uh work of the city within the motor vehicle department. Uh again, vehicle purchases were placed uh toward the end of last year. The vehicles weren't delivered in time. We didn't get invoice for them. So, we're going to carry the $25,000 forward in the 26. So, we when those vehicles arrive, we can we can pay for them. Um uh likewise, the library reserve. These are monies that are donated to the library. So this is money not in the general fund but specifically designated by the donors to be used for library purposes. Uh projects there a couple of projects there were initiated in 25 but we'll be completing 26. So we're recommending reo reappropriating $40,834 there. There's a long list and in your materials of COVID initiatives uh where the COVID funding is uh being carried forward from prior years to enable those

initiatives to continue 4.8 million plus uh dollars worth of of those COVID relief efforts. Um again in a dedicated unique fund of the city where we set those monies aside so they wouldn't be coming with the city's general fund. Um under the new grants category is is some money for 2026 with resp respect to the street medicine and pilot team. Uh it's a pass through grant where the city's administering some of these funds. And it's also true of the next item, the chemical dependency and mental health grant where again the city's uh receiving funds and then passing them along so that these uh initiatives can be pursued in in the community. So those are the recommended uh amendments to the 2026 budget. I will also say that one of the things I've suggested to the city and and um and they've been kind of accommodating me in this but want to make it clear to you that there's also many other sort of initiatives that staff in intends to pursue within the existing spending authority that you already granted. Couple examples are making progress on the police boat health project, right? Or we're waiting for um external funds to become available and and so you looking to use some police departments monies that are already a part of their 2026 budget for that project. Another example is making progress on the um fire training facility. And and so again, uh we've talked about whether that should uh result in a recommendation for an amendment or should they first try and see if they can fund that from their existing resources. And my advice to them was to continue to try and fund those kinds of things from their existing resources. But if at some point uh those activities put enough strain on their already approved 2026 budgets that that it would be my hope that the council would would you know understand that and and

appreciate the fact that they're working to fund it from their current budget. But if that turns out not to be true, that they could always come back and kind of walk through and explain uh how that worked out and um in and seek some authority from the council to to address the monies they spent in in those ways um and help create more budget authority so it doesn't detract from some of the other things that the budget is there to provide for as well. So those that's a bit of a change in approach. In the past, I think the these initiatives would just come forward and you'd increase our budget and then we'd have a lot of underspending at the end of the year because they really didn't need that budget increase. So, let's wait and see if they really needed increase before we authorize additional spending. And with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions about the recommended amendments and then we do have an administrative item we do want to touch on as well.

Questions about amendment? Council member Bader. Thanks, Council President. Um, Mike, you earlier obviously spoke about, you know, our budgeted $35 million fund balance when we finally get all done with the accounting and everything potentially 15 million. Where does that or does that restricted money for street improvements, is that included in either of in in that? And if so, is there any other restricted money in those?

Excellent question. The the numbers I cited are the unrestricted funds. Yes. So, so when we look at the total fund balance, it's it's um higher top my head. I don't know how much higher, but uh but because it includes those restricted amounts, but when I quote the 35 million target and the 50 million estimate, those are unrestricted. Okay, any other questions? Uh just for a procedural just to recap, we had approved the budget uh for 26 in in November, right? Correct. And so this is actually the first amendment of that budget. What normally do we have like one more?

So it's not unusual what the city has done in the past is is kind of looked at doing this on a quarterly basis, right? And I think that rhythm works. Um, cities do this very different ways, one from another, but your past practice of looking at this about quarterly uh, in with the first budget amendment, looking at those needed reappropriations like we just discussed, uh, is a is a good approach and and I think it serves the city well. Thanks. Okay, hearing none, um, we have one we have one more item. Yes. Thank you, sir.

Uh, and and again, this is in an attempt to be um, you know, transparent. I know I I've worked with the council, you know, over the last couple of years on on some of your interests and in creating more transparency, but kind of what's going on and how does this affect the budget and things of that nature. Uh and while this doesn't require a budget amendment because it's not an increase in spending authority, a request for incre increased spending authority, there are things going on within the budget that we thought it might be uh of interest to the council just to keep track on. And there I'm sure you're aware Lori Cummings retired. Mike Fong join joined the team. At the same time, the mayor looked at what's the best alignment to get the work of the city done in terms of the administration leadership group and there has been some changing um assignments internally as as a result. So people have changed roles and as a result that's affected uh you the bookkeeping if you will within the administration department in related departments in the general fund. And so again, we just wanted to kind of make you aware of that. Uh even though it doesn't require C council action, it's a prerogative of the mayor. Uh but we wanted to be, you know, transparent about that because I know those are some of the kinds of questions you've had in the past. And Candy can speak more specifically.

Good afternoon, mayor and council. I just want to add that the staffing realignment that uh took place not only reflects the operational realities of Lorie Cummings leaving our city. as you know, she had several years and she wore several hats while here. So, um this realignment um addresses that, but also addresses the substantial growth initiatives and revenue strategic um uh strategies that you and the mayor are both putting forward right now. So, we want to make sure that we have adequate resources to address those. So again, this staffing realignment addresses not only Lor's departure, but also this robust initiatives and revenue strategies that we have before us coming forward. And I think um in in our meetings that we've had one on-one over the last couple of months, I think I've at least shown you a high level org chart of where people are and who's reporting where and and so that is really to kind of help drive the um massive amount of work forward that we're working on this year with those different um revenue initiatives, annexation, and uh the outreach uh and communications required to um move those big projects forward. But um as always, if there's any questions, who does what, where, and where and why, um don't hesitate to reach out.

Council Ber, thanks. Uh Mayor, I know you shared that with us, too. I felt it was somewhat tentative if it's if there's kind of like a final org chart. Be great to have that and maybe even suggest putting that on the city website too so our constituents. Thanks. Okay, good input, Council Member Burbano.

Um probably a dumb question. Um I'm I'm looking at the general government proposed amendments and um on the row for total uh we have a I will assume a positive balance because it's not in parenthesis and then for the non-general government proposed amendments we have a negative balance because that one is on parenthesis. So if I understand the corre the question correctly, uh we're recommending an increase in the budget which would decrease the fund balance. So the amounts in parentheses are illustrating the decreased anticipated fund balance uh that was a part of the original budget adopt the council adopted back in November. Okay.

Yeah. All right. Thank you. My pleasure. Yeah. And I'd like to add just to re just to reaffirm that some of the cash balance was just reallocated dollars that we had we reused. So it's not all just from the savings account. It was money that went in there as a holding and then we're pulling it out for the same purpose. Right. Yep. Okay. Great. Any other questions? Okay. You have anything else? That was it. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you very much.

Okay. We'll move on to action item number 18, third and final reading. Council bill 2602-10. Adopt an ordinance to amend and close a special improvement project entitled Kuanas Park renovations. Any um do I have a motion? Council member Ryan so moves. Second. Motion second's been made. Are there any comments or questions? Clerk, please take the role. Council members Arlingo. Yes. Council member Bravano. Yes. Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab,

yes. Action item number 19, Council Bill 2602-11, third and final reading, adopt ordinance amending ordinance number 4023-24, main library highback replacement project. Is there a motion? Council Ber second. Motion and seconds been made. Are there any questions or comments? Council R. You're just pushing the button. Okay. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Council member Berbono, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Rin, yes. President Schwab,

yes. Okay. On to item number 20, Council Bill 2602-12. Third and final reading. Adopt an ordinance creating a special construction project entitled Police Property Room Facility Tenant Improvement. Is there a motion? Move to approve. Second. Motion and second's been made. Are there any comments or questions from councel? You're keeping your hand away from the mic. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Council member Barbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay, we're on action item 21.

Council bill 2603-13, third and final reading. Adopt an ordinance amending a portions of the title 14 of the EMC improving administration of late utility payments. Is there a motion? Council member Ryan so moves second. Motion second's been made. Are there questions or comments from council? Council member Zarlingo. I just like would like to thank our utility department for the sustained and insightful work that they were doing both to make um practical changes, changes that acknowledge the human nature of payments and late payments and trying to avoid burdens or uh surprises to our rateayers in this really challenging environment. Council member Ryan.

Great. Thank you. I echo council members Arlingo's comments and also would request that with the roll out of some of the automations that are coming, it'd be great for council to have an update maybe a year after it's rolled out just to check in on how it's coming along and if any other tweaks are needed. Thanks,

Council May We want to echo that as well. Um but also I really appreciated the the addition that they made where um folks that have had a turn and a a shut off once they've paid that past due they can get reinstated as far as as opposed to having to you know pay more upfront um to make that happen because that is a big hardship for people I think that are already struggling. So I think that was a nice amendment to it. Okay. Thank you very much. Um clerk please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Berbano. Yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Bader, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. President Schwab,

yes. Okay. On to item 22. Adopt the updated Everett transit longrange plan connecting Everett in 2045. Council Bader Sus. Council member Ryan seconds. Motion second made. Are there questions or comments from council? Council member Bader. Yeah, just one Michael obviously appreciate the great work on part of you and your staff and our consultants as well. I just want to echo earlier comments I made that I I hope obviously you know the specifics come later but to the extent that we can I hope specific changes are influenced by input from those who don't ride the system that we might be able to persuade them to start writing. So just echoing earlier comments. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other Okay. Thank you very much. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Zarlingo. Yes. Council member Pervano. Yes.

Council member Tui. Yes. Council member Weir. Yes. Council member Bader. Yes. Vice President Ryan. Yes. President Schwab. Yes. And with no further business, we are