City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, residents of Everett, Washington. I'd like to call to order the Ever City Council meeting of April 15, 2026. For information on council meetings and how to participate, please vivid visit everw.gov/city councsil. Clerk, will you please take the role? Mayor Franklin here. Council member Weir here. Council members Arlingo here. Vice President Ryan here. Council member Burbano here. Council member Tui here. Council member Bader here. President Schwab

here. At this time like to ask Council Member Weir to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. And at this time, I'd like to ask Vice President Ryan to read the land acknowledgement.

Yes. The city council wishes to acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Stoopes people, and their successors, the Tulle 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 waters. We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes and to include a future that includes their voices, their people and their stories for a more just and equitable society.

Thank you very much. Um we have an agenda um change. Um we will be moving items 11 and 12 on the agenda to follow eight. So we'll do the last two items will be nine and 10. So, and we'll begin with the mayor's comments.

Good evening, council president and council and community. Uh, first I want to thank everyone who came out last night uh to Ever Station to learn more about Sound Transit and the challenges facing our uh light rail system. It was amazing to see such a huge crowd. It was standing room only of passionate advocates to get light rail to Everett. And I just wanted to encourage everyone who cares about uh this project, public transportation and and getting our light rail stations in the city of Everett uh to email and the Sound Transit Board uh if you can show up to Sound Transit meetings. We have a big vote coming up in May and we need to hear from uh our voices here in the city of Everett. We hear a lot from our friends in in King County and it would be great to see those advocates that showed up last night um showing up to Sound Transit Board meetings. So, thank you. Uh I also have an appointment to uh put forward for your confirmation. I'm recommending Louise Ramono Arochi, is that how I say his last name? Um to the chip loan review committee uh position A3 for a term expiring December 31st, 2029. And I'm looking for your confirmation. Council member Ryan moves approval of appointment.

Second the motion. Okay. Motion and seconds made. Is there any council comment or questions? Seeing none. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Weer, yes. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. Council member Burbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader, yes. President Schwab, yes.

Thank you. And tonight we have two first readings related to the Ever Outdoor Event Center project. One funding and one to authorize the acquisition of additional parcel. Um, I wanted to say a few words about that. I first I'm glad our project team is here to provide a briefing and walk us through the details. Um, but I really wanted to take a moment to talk about the importance of this project and why it matters. Uh, as I've said before, this is a once in a generation opportunity for Everett in our region, creating jobs, attracting new investment, encouraging more tourism, and further establishing our city as an entertainment destination. As you know, Major League Baseball changed the game with new requirements for minor league facilities that changed the landscape for cities like Everett. Bunko Field, as wonderful as it is, unfortunately does not meet these standards and created a pivotal moment for us and we leaned in. Uh so really uh thanks to the council support, we've made tangible progress selecting the downtown site, advancing the design build process, and getting properties under contract and building out our funding strategy. We are creating a venue that will bring people together uh energize our downtown and again drive that lasting economic opportunity and impact for our community. The outdoor event center will be the home of our aqua socks as well as USL soccer and plus it'll be a venue for other community events and youth sports. Uh the project includes a park right where we need it where we're growing as a city, our downtown core and uh it will free up Funko Field uh for the school district use. It'll allow them to uh schedule youth games when they want and also allow us to invite other youth sporting tournaments to the city of Everett with two stadiums to play at. It's about investing in Everett's future, ensuring we continue to grow as a place where people want to live, work, and visit and and build out their lives. So, really want to uh take a moment to thank our project team for their hard work. uh thank our community for staying

engaged in this and asking questions which have all helped shape our vision and uh thank our council for your continued partnership and leader leadership and your willingness to lean in and explore big opportunities like this for our city. I look forward to our conversation tonight and very much look forward to what this opportunity will bring to the city. And with that, I have no further comments. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. On to old business. Do I hear a motion and a second to approve the minutes for April 8th, 2026? Council member Bader so moved. Second. Motion and seconds are made. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, abstain. Council member Barbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader,

yes. President Schwab, yes. Now it's time for public comments, which include written comment acknowledgement. Under our rules, written comments shall be considered in the same manner as oral comments. Person submitting comment must provide their name and city of residence. Written comments require this to be made part of the official council record. And good evening, Angie. Could you I'm sure we have a few people. And could you start with written comments, please? We have no written comments. That's easy. Yep. No one online. Okay, that's easy, too.

And yes, just a handful of people here in chambers. So, we'll start with Reese. I believe that's how you say your name. Okay. And please press the button on the pod on the mic there. State your full name, city of residence, and you have three minutes to speak.

Hello, uh, city council. My name is Reese Denhouse, and I live in, uh, Ever, Washington. I appreciate the, uh, time I am allowed to, uh, speak on the matter of the Aqua Sox. Being a serious Aquaox fan probably helps with the idea that an additional $38 million is needed to build a new outdoor event center. And while not everyone here is a fan of the Aqua Socks or even baseball, a new stadium could put Everett as the leadoff hitter ahead of other cities rather than always batting last. To be fair and put in context, the city's original high-cost estimate for the stadium was $115 million, and now it's about $120 million. More importantly, and seemingly overlooked, is that the city of Ever isn't paying the entire bill, and it's paying for less than half of that. Almost 20% is coming from the league owners themselves and about 7.4 million comes from the states. 5 million from and 5 million from the county. Additionally, this isn't a case of paying park rangers or funding the library. The city has obligated itself by using municipal bonds which do not affect the employment of city employees. Regardless of the if you're a fan of the socks, there are some good that comes um from being in our city. Besides Cal Raleigh, Julia Rodriguez, and many others, the focus should be what do we Everett as Everett residents get in return with a new stadium. The new stadium is expected to generate up to $85 million in business revenue, 600 jobs, totaling more than $33 million a year in labor income, and almost $1 million in just tax revenues to both the city and county every year. And to lose the Aquaox isn't just about having the team move elsewhere. It also means that 180 jobs will be lost along with $9 million in labor income and about $300,000 in annual tax revenue for the city and county. Uh to basically uh by not building a new stadium, local residents lose their jobs, which has

lost money not only for their families but also for the city. As the old saying goes, it takes money to make money. People in Everett have evolve. People complain Everett hasn't evolved or there's nothing to do. But yet, when it comes time to update the city landscape and offer a venue, which brings baseball, soccer, concert, and camps, they b at the idea of change. It's like we're begging for chains, but refusing dollars. You don't have to be a fan of the Aqua Socks to realize the huge positive impact a new stadium can bring to our city. Missing such just such an opportunity would be shortsighted or as Harry Doyle from the moving major league would say just a bit outside. In closing, the Aqua Socks went to bat forever last year and won us a championship which my dad and I both lost our voices d uh at due to uh the cheering that we did during the game. I asked the city council to go to bat for the residents of Everett and build us a stadium we can be proud of. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Charles. So, if you could please come to the podium and please state your full name and city of residence. You have three minutes to speak.

Thank you very much. Charles Burgess, Edmmonds, Washington, City Council. Madame Mayor, thank you so much for the work that you guys have continued to put in to this project. Um, and well done. Like this is the community. The community is here. We're we're we're backing this project. We want this project to be built. the Everett Aqua socks. Um, you know, they've they've been a staple of this city for 40 years, 40 plus years. Civic pride is something that I believe in. Civic pride is something that I believe you can't put a cost on. You You can't put a price on being proud of where you live, where you spend your time, where you spend your money, where you raise your family. A great example and the greatest example, you can see it from from here. The arena that was built 20 plus years ago, still the nice nicest and best arena in all of the WHL for concerts, for monster trucks, for wrestling events. I think there's a wrestling event there tonight, but for hockey, I mean, this silver tips are a staple of this town as well. And that revitalized this city. U yeah, there's a cost involved, sure, but there's a cost involved with a lot of things. Everybody in this room has benefited from that arena, from that hockey team. I personally have as a silver tip season ticket holder. My son plays right now for the junior silver tips. Um the same can be said for the Aqua Socks. The same can be said for the events being that will be held at this outdoor stadium for USL soccer. The World Cup coming to town. Soccer is growing. Soccer has been growing for the last 70 years here in America. Um, you have great Everett sports. We have a city that is growing, a city that is thriving. This place is about to explode in a positive way. You guys have done a fantastic job researching it, doing the work. Uh,

Madame Mayor, thank you so much for your continued work and advocacy on this. I'm here to speak not only on civic pride but as a representative of the laborers international union of North America. I speak on behalf of of Laborers Local 292 here in Everett. We were chartered in 1901. We will be building that stadium. We will be building that light rail. We built the arena. We will continue to build here in this town. We look forward to working with all of you and to putting our and and by putting our members to work, especially our apprentices on that project being built under a PLA. This is a very big deal for not only organized labor but the city of Everett. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Tammy, if you could please come to the podium. Yes. And please um state your full name and city of residence. You have three minutes to speak.

Thank you. Uh Tammy Dunn. Um, I live in Snomish. However, I do work in Everett. I'm the executive director of the Snomish County Sports Commission. And thank you tonight for allowing me to speak. Um, good evening, Council President Swap, Council Members, and Mayor Franklin. Thank you for your due diligence and support with the Ever um, Outdoor Event Center. Um as of as of today um this opportunity in having the Ever Outdoor Event Center brings a variety of opportunities to the city and Snomish County, not just to our visitors, but also to our residents. Having a venue with another baseball field um will actually allow Everick Community College to be able to play at Everett Memorial Stadium without having to be bumped. Right now they're being bumped um with school and aqua socks and Everick Community College every year is going to the north regions and they're they are champions and so allows them to have a home which is very exciting. A venue with another soccer field um can give the community college an opportunity to host the Northwest Athletic Community College soccer championships. um not just at at Memorial Stadium, but there is a possibility with this new venue and having a college championship that means a lot for these student athletes and these student athletes are are within our community. Also, another opportunity that us as the sports commission we see is high school showcase. Not just baseball, but also soccer. And I think there's an opportunity for fast pitch as well for the high schools how we can do a showcase for high school students to bring college coaches in um so that these students can have um college careers and get scholarships um and play the sport that they love. The other piece is um which is kind of interesting is that lately the Sn County Sports Commission we've had a

conversation with athletes unlimited softball league. It's a professional fast pitch um women's um team. Last year they wanted to come to Seattle. They asked um we were brought um brought to our attention. We're not able to fit that because we don't have the right venue. However, this venue with four to 5,000 could have that opportunity to bring a a team to the Seattle area because this organization is very interested in being in Seattle. They went to Portland and they're in Portland right now and they are very interested in the future. So there's many opportunities besides just baseball and um soccer. A venue like Everett Event Center is about quality of life, healthy, active lifestyle, vibrant and a vibrant community. The Everett outdoor event center is more than just baseball and soccer. As I mentioned, it's economic development, jobs, revenue, and creating a vibrant community. So, let's as we are saying with the Everett fan zone that we're hosting here in a couple of weeks, game on Everett. Thank you. Laura, please come to the podium.

And please state your full name and city of residence and you have three minutes to speak.

Hi, my name is Laura Gennon and I live in Ever, Washington. And I wish I was here about talking about the stadium. Uh I am not. Uh I am here to tell you that I am running for Congress. Um and we began today's meeting with two powerful statements. We said the pledge of allegiance which promises liberty and justice for all. Then we heard the land recognition statement which acknowledges the struggles we faced as individuals, as a city, and as a nation in actually reaching that ideal. I like to think these two statements are read together because one is aspiration and the other is history. History provides some lessons.

I'm sorry I have to break up here but we have a policy there's no campaigning in public in public in the three minutes and since you introduced yourself as running for Congress that um that's campaigning that's campaigning. So if you could have just spoke and not said it, you might have been able to get through here. But yeah, so um that's by our policies, you know, campaigning during three minutes. So well, I have nothing other than the campaign. So let me talk about uh I agree with everybody who's come up here so far about the uh uh the new stadium. We need to invest in Everett and it can't just be, you know, we need to watch our pocketbook every day. We need to

I'm sorry you started by saying you're running for office. So I app Thank you. That's all we have for public comments. Okay. Thank you very much. Um all right. So we'll go to council comments. We'll start with Council Member Weir.

Hello. Um thanks for all the those of you that came to speak um today and doing your research obviously. Oh man. So well done. Um, as uh, Mayor Franklin pointed out, we had a really great turnout last night on the light rail project. So, um, that was exciting to see so many people come out and and, uh, learn more about it and also voice their um, their questions and their um, support of of getting that spine finished um, up to Everett and and down to Tacoma. Um, also those of you that came out for the Arbor Day tree planting at the Wetmore Theater Plaza today, that was a great little event despite the rain. So, appreciate people um, you know, showing their support for our urban tree forest. And, uh, reminder that this Saturday, the Charter Review is having their public hearing at Walter Hall um, in the Olympic View room. And it's also record store day. So, those of you that are vinyl fans, get out to your local record store. There's a couple in Everett to to seek out. Um, and then next Thursday, April 23rd, at the Performing Arts Center, we have the Went Arts Awards, which is a really fabulous um free event for the public to come support the arts and those that are making them in um our community. And that's it.

Council me.

Well, of course, most know that in this hour or so ago in this room, we had our budget committee meeting. Uh, and I'll just as a as a piece of that, I'll note that the county a while back convened their own fiscal sustainability committee. They're facing a $27 million deficit for the coming year, and they, like us, are digging into these actions and choices early. Uh, and an article today in our daily herald uh, is in the form of an opinion essay by the members of that fiscal sustainability committee is published. And I think if you're interested in the kinds of things the cities and the county are dealing with, uh, that's a that's a great thing to read. um for ever. I attended last week's uh Puget Sound Regional Council's transportation policy board. The big news there, the big development is the uh development every four years I think it is of a regional transportation plan. Kind of like our comprehensive plan. It deals with a lot of different factors. And they finished last fall doing a bunch of uh public outreach, seven regional public meetings, uh something over 600 participants. Um and they had a public comment period that lasted through February 2nd. Uh and so our our work last week was uh part in part a review of public comments and the responses to all of those comments. Um and I particularly for ever was glad to see action items uh in the plan related to maintenance and preservation. That's an important part of my role on the board for the past four years uh in terms of the maintenance and preservation because of um of a city that's ever that's uh uh that's sort of built out and so our needs are different than some of the smaller growing cities and the board recommended approval of this uh plan which will be voted on at the general assembly in May. And also uh like others have said it was great to see a large turnout I think nearly 200 people at yesterday evening's sound transit openhouse. I think that shows a whole lot of public interest in this as it should be and I certainly along with the mayor would advocate and the rest of the council would advocate your participation with the with the Sound Transit Board however you can there you

can easily uh email comments and they're all given uh to the board. That's it. Thank you, Council Ryan.

Great. Thank you everybody. Thanks for being here. Thank you to our speakers this evening for joining. Grateful for your engagement on this issue and uh I'm pretty sure next time I need a speech written I'm going to reach out to Ree on that one. So, thanks for uh everybody's comments tonight. I'm grateful. Uh on Monday, I attended the Port Gardner Neighborhood Association meeting and we had quite uh several updates from uh folks in the community, which was wonderful to hear. I wanted to share that uh this Saturday, the Ever Station District Alliance is hosting a cleanup from 9 to 11 at the uh at the Ever Station. Uh there will be donuts for folks who join. So, I'll see you there. Uh and then starting at 11 on Saturday, the Charter Review Commission is going to be hosting their second and I believe final public hearing uh starting at 11:00 at Walter Eh Hall Park. So hopefully folks can join to share their input and on the decisions that have been made so far by the Charter Review Commission and uh input on upcoming decisions that they'll be making. Uh this Sunday is the next and last get ready market for the Ever Farmers Market uh before the full season opens up in May and it's here on Wetors. It starts at 10:30. Hope to see you there. Uh, next Wednesday, as council member Weir mentioned, is Earth Day, and I celebrate Earth Day every day. Uh, and LOL is hosting a cleanup from 10 to 1 uh, that Wednesday. Uh, so folks are available. They'll be meeting at the LOL Community Church to do a cleanup. Uh, so in celebration of Earth Day and Earth Month, I'd love to have an update on our city's climate action plan. Uh, so I was hoping we could add it to our list of upcoming top topics for the parks and built environment committee. Um, no, uh, rush or, you know, expectation on timing, but love to add it to the list if we could. Uh, last, but definitely not least, thank you, Mayor Franklin, for your work on Sound Transit Board and for advocating for Everett. I know you're just one of 15 on the board and you're, uh, fighting 18. Oh, boy, that's even worse than I thought. Uh, one of 18 on the board and fighting. I know you're fighting for us as hard as you can and we're really grateful. I think the strong showing at last night's town hall just goes to show the high level of support for light rail and the

expectation that Everett gets light rail as promised and it's important to me that the board hears loud and clear that we as ever leadership are also excited and expecting the full fulfillment of ST3 and light rail coming to Everett in a timely manner. So with the permission of the mayor and unless there's objection from council, I'll be working with staff over this next week to prepare a draft letter expressing the city's support for building light rail to Everett. I'll work with Angie to circulate the draft to uh council ahead of next week's meeting for review and we can discuss and approve it at next week's meeting. So, just wanted to share share that with council. Thanks. Thank you, Council Member Verbano.

Um so, yes, last night I went to the light rail town hall and I was really happy to see the the turnout. Um the only thing I have to say about it is build the spine.

That's right. Um then today I went to the Arbor Day event uh down the street. Um great events. Really happy to see that happening here in the city. Uh on the downside um a couple weeks ago neighbors complain about vehicle speeding on Holy Drive. That was a couple weeks ago. And yesterday on my way to the Everett light rail town hall, I saw an accident on the intersection of the Kodaway and Holly Drive. Big accident. the police department was there. I only saw one vehicle involved. Um maybe they removed the other vehicle by the time I I got into the intersection. I don't know. But it was it was a serious accident. There was oil spilled all over the intersection that probably is going to the drain and that's going to the watershed and then to the oceans. And you know um today I came to the Arbor Day event. H on the way back home I saw another accident now on 52nd Avenue and Evergreen Way. Um, I don't know. Maybe this these this type of things follow me around. I'm not pretty sure. Uh, but for sure the only thing I know is that dangerous roads affect everyone here in Everett. Um, because we pay higher insurance rates just because we live on a place that is dangerous to drive. Statistically, we have more accidents than other cities. So, Major Franklin, I think this is the year that we need to start talking about speed calming devices for our community, making our roads safer. I know that we have a vision zero plan. I know the engineering department is working, but we need to speed up things. Thank you.

Hey, thank you, Councilman Chuy. Uh, yeah, I just want to thank Councilman Ryan for starting that work on that letter of support. I think that's a great idea and uh that's all I have. Thanks. Good. Thank you, Council Member Bader.

Uh, thanks, Council President. Uh I was joined many of my colleagues here at the Sound Transit Town Hall last night and I think just as impressive as the number turnout numbers was the cross-section of people we saw include I mean from such notables I think as one of our speakers Tammy was there last night to uh you just regular uh you know just folks that we don't always see in the community. So I think it was such a a significant cross-section there. I think that was what what was also impressive to me of our uh fellows um uh ever residents and and u people who live in who work in Everett as well. Um you know and certainly the the the need to make sure that we get um a return for the tax dollars that Everett and Snowomish County has put into sand transit. I appreciate the hard work that Mayor Franklin does on that and you know that that you know this will be the kind of legacy that uh uh that people will look back on for uh that that people like County Executive Summers if they can make this happen will will leave to us le to the rest of us. Um but you know I think there's also some no surprise that ever and so much county residents are somewhat dubious uh you know someone who regularly rides the Sounder another light rail or another Sound Transit project. It feels like they've left the north end to die on the vine and I think the concern from what we see there carries over into concern that Sound Transit will really fulfill its promises to Snowish County. So, uh uh grateful for all the effort that so many people make from our elected officials to just um you average citizens to uh get that message to Sound Transit. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Uh yeah, thank you very much for all that. If you're watching um of all of you that um showed up for the meeting last night, I really appreciate the activism. When we talk about the spine, we're talking about a straight line like a spine. It's kind of like got a curve, right? Um from Tacoma to Everett and I and most of you probably that voted for it voted for the spine. We didn't vote for this stretching out to the east and to the west. Um what which causes substantial amount of costs compared to the the straight line. So I'm hoping and and it's still going to take a lot of work. And if you're watching this um please I encourage you to write letters and emails. I know you can do that because we get them too from other issues. So, please um continue to write emails or start writing emails. The Sound Transit Board, it does make a difference uh supporting the North Extension. Um and then tomorrow is a great event, the third district meeting. Um so, it's going to involve all five neighborhoods, Our Savior's Lutheran Church on the corner of Muckle Teal Boulevard and Olympic and the mayor and the police chief and myself. And we're going to be there and it's going to be a good night. So, please please show up. Okay. So, we'll move on to administration. Jennifer Gregerson.

Thank you. I had a couple items, but council members shared them. Um, so I appreciate that. I don't have anything else. All right. How about our city attorney, David Hall? We are requesting a 20minut executive session to discuss a real estate matter pursuant to RCW4231101B with no council action to follow. And we're requesting that occur just prior to agenda item number nine. Okay. Thank you very much. All right, so we'll move to our consent items. We have six. Do I um have a motion? Council member Ryan moves approval of the six consent agenda items. Second. Okay, we have a motion in the second. Um clerk, please take the role. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Zerlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. Council member Burbano,

yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay, now we'll move to item number seven, council bill 2603-20, second reading has been read in the record. Are there any questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none, a third and final reading will be April 29th, 2026. Okay, so now we'll um go to item number eight, and I will now open a public hearing for council bill 2603-19, the third and final reading. adopt an ordinance enacting um updated critical area regulation. Um Jennifer, do we have any report?

I don't think that we do. I think we're just here for questions if you have them. Okay. Yeah. All right. Angie, do we have any members from the public wishing to speak on item number eight? No, we do not. Okay. Um no, no one to speak on it. No report. Okay. At this time, we did have the report two weeks ago at the first reading and you actually had some comment at that meeting as well. So, okay. We have no additional, right? Okay. So, do I hear a motion to close the public hearing? Council member Bader moves to close public hearing. Second the motion. Okay. Motion and second to close the public hearing. Clerk, please take the role. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. Council member Berbano, yes.

Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader, yes. President Schwab. Yes. Okay. Now I'm looking for a motion for item number eight. Council mayor Bader moves item eight to adopt the attached ordinance in enacting updated critical area regulations. Second the motion. Motion and second made. Is there any council comment or questions? Council member Ryan.

Thank you. Um, so we've um staff's done a I want to start with some accolades that staff's done a fantastic job of catal cataloging all of the uh comments that they've received from individuals and from groups. Um I loved the spreadsheet and got all giddy about it. Uh the last uh one of the last letters that we received was from TULIP. Uh we've had received other comment letters from them, but the last one that we received uh was on I believe the uh 8th possibly and the spreadsheet that I received for uh comments was dated before that. So it seems like it was an updated letter from TLE with some concerns about uh this draft of the critical areas ordinance. I was hoping there was maybe um comments for uh the last letter that we've received from Tila. We haven't prepared anything formally. Uh I think the comment letter from TLEP indicated further or future action items to work on with them collaboratively. Um we haven't formally done a response letter though yet. Are there plans to continue work with the tribes on this?

Absolutely. Great. Thanks. That's all. Okay. Any other comments or questions from council? Okay, seeing none, um we are on um a motion and second for item number eight. So, clerks, please take the role. Council member Weir, yes. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. Council member Barbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay, we're going to move to action item number 12, I mean 11. Thank you. Council Bill 2603-18, third and final reading. Adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled North Broadway Pedestrian Bridge repealing ordinance number 4113-25.

Council member Bader Sumos. Council Ryan seconds. Motion. Second's been made. Are there questions or comments from council? Council member Salingo.

Well, just a brief one with respect to the safety in terms of traffic and pedestrians in our community. I think a significant number of the fatalities and injuries we have are are vehicle and pedestrian encounters and it's certainly great to see some progress on that pedestrian bridge in an area where there will be a connection especially for younger people for Frederick Community College and WSU ever. You know, I think it reflects the difficulty we have in this and that this is a great benefit. It is also a really considerable expense. We can't put these in all the places we'd like to see them. So for safety, we're going to have to continue to pay increasing attention to uh safety in these crossings, especially where there are long distances in the crossings across very wide roads. And I think that's one of the particular problems we have here in Everett in context with what council member Burbano had uh had brought up. We have a particular problem here. We have these wide roads that people are using to get to the jobs that we have generally pretty plentifully. But what that means is we have wide roads and long distances between the lights and we therefore have more pedestrians and more car encounters. And I think we have a lot of work to do in this area and you know unfortunately I guess from a standpoint of realism we don't have the money to put these kind of crossings in all the places we'd like to see them. So we're going to have to get more creative and I guess more disciplined about this.

Okay. Thank you. Um, I personally would rather just see the road being slowed down and some some other buffer and but it's that just isn't going to be the case at this point. I'm I want to thank the mayor too. I know I was actually even two years ago we were in DC lobbying on on on behalf of getting the funding for this. So, thank you for you you and your staff working on it. Also too, just a reminder that um it just isn't the WSU extension over there. It's actually the Ever Community College's buildings, including a library. So, this and we've had you you talk about traffic. We've had some staff even had some minor collision with vehicles there. Um, so this is really important to that northern community. So, I'm a big supporter of it. So, any other questions or comments? Seeing none, clerk, we're on item number 11. Um, we have a motion to second. So, please take the role.

Council member Weir, yes. Council member Zarlingo, yes. Vice President Ryan, yes. Council member Burbano, yes. Council member Tui, yes. Council member Bader, yes. President Schwab, yes. Okay, moving to briefing item number 12 with no action. So, Jennifer, it's all yours. Yes. Um, I will invite our um lobbyist that we work with, Trevor Justin, up to the podium, and he's going to lead most of the report. I gave you reports throughout session. So tonight you get to hear them from him and I'll just kind of jump in with additions as as needed and we also welcome your questions. So yeah yeah thanks for thanks

mayor. Good to be in front of you guys. Good to see you all. Um want to give a high level overview of the 2026 legislative session and then highlight a couple positive outcomes for cities. No specifically the city of Everett. Uh no real losses that we took this legislative session. Some things we would have liked to see go, but um overall a very positive session for the city. So happy to report on some of these outcomes. Uh 2026 session was the second year of the legislative banium. So it was a short session. You'll recall that the 25 session was the 105day session. This is the short session. So just 60 days concluded on March 12th. Um and the governor just concluded his bill action two weeks ago on April 1st. So everything is final final for the 2026 session. Um, as you're aware, Democrats continue to kind of control the agenda in Olympia. 30 Democrats to 19 Republicans in the Senate. Um, and uh, 59 Democrats to 39 Republicans in the House. So, Democrats control the agenda in Olympia. Um, for the 2026 session, 1523 bills were introduced, 279 bills passed. So, about 18% of bills passed the legislature this year. That's fairly consistent from what we've seen. I think it's a little bit higher when you have both party controlling both chambers. Um, usually it's around the 12 to 15%. We saw 18% of bills pass the legislature this year. Um, legislature passed supplemental budgets in the operating transportation and capital budgets. I will highlight those. And then we obviously saw um a major revenue proposal pass um this last legislative session. Um I'll go over the the budgets first, the operating budget. Um again, this is a two-year budget. Um in the 2025 session, the legislature passed a $77.9 billion budget. Legislature increased um spending by about $2.3 billion in the operating budget and passed an $80.2 billion supplemental budget in the operating budget. That was about the exact same number that was a shortfall in the operating budget as the legislature entered the session. Um the governor rolled out his budget proposal to the legislature in December. Had

about a $2.3 billion shortfall. legislature got a bit of a positive revenue forecast in February, so they had a little bit more money to spend. Um, but again, appropriated about $80.2 billion for the supplemental budget. Um, a piece of Everett that we held on to from previous sessions, we secured some street medicine funding, I think in the 24 session, Jennifer, 24 25 sessions. Um, and that money remains in the operating budget. So, it's great to see that there. Um, again, spent $2.3 billion more. the legislature left about 1.3 billion in reserves. Um so that was kind of high level operating budget. Talk about the supplemental capital budget. Um the the 2025 capital budget was $7.6 billion. The supplemental budget allocated another $890 million. Uh 200 million for housing and homelessness, 154 million for local and other community grants, um 136 million for water conservation, climate resiliency, and clean energy, and a couple others. So that was kind of the high level of the capital budget and then the supplemental budget and the transportation budget um increased about 1.2 billion more from the 2025 budget. Uh the supplemental transportation budget spends 16.6 billion for the bianium. So again about a 1.2 billion increase. Um 300 million increase for the state DOT highway and bridge system preservation in the 2720 257 bianium, excuse me. um 1.3 billion increase for preservation and maintenance over six years. So that was a big priority of the governors as we entered the 26th session. Legislature funded that um and did a bunch of other things. 180 million in savings for under underrun assumptions for local projects kind of plugging money where it needs to be spent today without delaying um projects going forward. Um and other tweaks as well. The city did not have specific asks in the budgets this session. We wanted to hold on to provisos that we'd secured in the past in the operating

transportation and capital budgets. I think we secured some state money for that pedestrian bid that was just discussed I think a year or two ago. So good to hear about that again. Um but yeah, this the city didn't have any specific capital ask or transportation asks. Um again just holding on to some provisos we've secure secured um previously. Obviously the 7.4 million for the stadium in the 23 session I believe it was been a few years now. um 6.7 for the in the defense community compatibility account for the Everett fire training facility that stayed in the supplemental capital budget. So was good to see all of that there. I will pause see if there's any questions on that and then I'll highlight some policies and some revenue that the legislature passed also. Council

Council Ryan, thank you. uh for the bridge and roadway preservation funding, how do they prioritize um where that money goes or which projects come first and how do we get any of Everett's bridges on that top of the list?

That's an excellent question. I believe there's money in WADOT, the state department of transportation to prioritize those projects, kind of what's more dilapidated, what's not. Um so DOT does have I think study funding in the budget to prior to to to do that list over the six-year outlook. um could certainly discuss um with the state department and and kind of how they're doing that. I think that process hasn't started yet, but it's something that they will do um with this funding from the supplemental budget. So, we'll be happy to kind of check in with DOT and maybe schedule some meetings if it's relevant. Yeah, if it is it for state roadways only then or is there money available for generally state highways, but I'm sure they'll look at some local projects as well, but I think it's focused on state projects. Thanks. Yep.

Any other questions? Okay. Thank you.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention uh Senate Bill 6346. This is what are folks are calling the income tax or uh uh excuse me, a millionaire tax or an income tax on households making more than a million dollars. Just want to raise this because this is a ve very significant revenue proposal that this state weighed in on and decided to pass this year. City did not weigh on it specifically. Um but the legislature, given they've had continuous budget shortfalls over the last handful of years, wanted to seriously take a look at a real um tax structure issue and what they did was they decided to pass the income tax on millionaires or those making more than a million dollars in income in a single year. Um I'm sure you all have read the articles. It's been heavily discussed in the press going back to December when the governor came out in support of this proposal. Um, again, the city did not weigh in, but obviously a significant revenue proposal that was passed. Um, in the end, 9.9% tax on households, not individuals, but households specifically, um, bringing in more than a million dollars in income in a single year. Um, I think proponents and opponents would agree that this is kind of just the first hurdle of implementing the tax. The tax doesn't actually go into effect until 2028. So it' be paid in 2029 for your 28 income taxes about I guess actually today um in a few years because it's tax day. So um very significant legislature decided to pass that. Um again proponents and opponents both agree that this will certainly be challenged likely at the ballot and it'll be a legal challenge as well. Um there's already been discussions of legal challenges. Um former Attorney General Rob McKenna is looking at challenging this um with a with a former state supreme court justice. Um, and then there's discussion about the opponents that want to repeal this tax, whether they try and get that on the ballot in the fall of 26 or the fall of 2027. So, I guess the long and short of it is this is kind of just the first hurdle. I think folks agree that there'll likely have to be two more hurdles, a state supreme court challenge and then a challenge at the ballot as well um on that tax. So, not

implementing until 2028. Again, the state will collect money on that in 2029 if it's upheld, if it's passed by the voters. Um, important to highlight that it's going to be about $3.4 billion per year paid for by about 20,000 to 30,000 individuals in the state. Um, important to note that the money doesn't come in until 2029. So, the state is still going to have budget challenges from the 27 to 29 benium. So, you know, we'll go into a long session, a long 105day session in January of 27. That'll be, I think, a very challenging budget year the legislature is going to have to deal with. And then the supplemental year in 28, two years from now. and then they'll likely start, I guess, TBD collect that revenue from that tax um depending on how those other two provisions play out. So, pretty historic. Um we will see how that shakes out, but obviously I'd be remiss that's kind of the huge takeaway from the legislature um this last session.

Happy to yeah take questions or highlight a couple priorities that the city focused on this session, too. Um I have just like one. It's about House Bill 2034 where they diverted um $2.5 billion out of the firefighter and police plan one system into the general budget. I know that uh there was a lot of talk about um we have a pension board here in the city of Everett and a lot of other communities do and uh as we know health care costs continue to go up. So instead of diverting those dollars just for general fund, it would be nice, it'd be preferred to purpose those dollars to help pay for our pension fund, the city's portion.

Yeah. The city's portion. Yeah. So because right now those dollars just come out of general operating the general fund. And if if they're going to dip into that pool again, I would really encourage us to try to get amendment so that dollars goes to the pension boards. Yeah, that that issue was again a transfer of a large amount of funding to the general fund from left one pension funds. There was discussion about that if they could carve off some of that money to cover some of the city cost because cities still have cost comes out of their general fund. I think we're in a good position. I think it's been funded for from the city for a number of years, but there was discussion about that through the association of cities. Did not make it in the legislation this year, but I think there will be further discussions on that moving forward as as that shakes out. So,

council beer actually council president straws mentioned a diversion kind of led me back to the income tax. I think Jennifer had mentioned at one point that there is um the way it's structured it does impact city municipal revenues too because some things are I I didn't quite understand it but can you elaborate on that at all and that impact on us?

Happy to council member Bader. So in the millionaires tax that they call it Senate Bill 6346, they repealed Senate Bill 5814 that they passed in the 2025 session, that was the broad sales tax expansion on services that they passed again just just last year. Um they essentially fully rolled that tax back with the exception of a digital ads tax. There states under lawsuit with I believe Comcast on on that digital ads piece. So they had left that piece alone. But in the 6346, they fully repealed the the Senate bill 5814, which is a sales tax expansion. It sunsets in 2029. So the city will collect farther more revenue under that bill for a few years. And then again, if 6346 is implemented, that that additional broad expansion will get rolled back to current law before the 25 session. Does that make sense? Okay. And that was something that AWC worked on. um hard to make some traction on that because they were saying, "Well, you're not collecting it yet. We will collect it for a bit, right? By the time you guys are the city's collecting it, it'll be general fund baked money, right?" So, there was that discussion at at the legislature.

And then, um since we're on that subject, um there was some designation of those dollars on the millionaire tax that that's can be used for court like court systems. Is that correct? The public defense some funding. It was less than this sales tax hit. It was yes we lost more than we did. Okay. So all right thanks for that clarification. We can go offline and go more in the details. So that benefit has been neutralized. Then

there was also other taxes rolled back in the millionaire's tax. You know the working families tax credit was expanded. Um sales tax on diapers for babies or infants was was repealed will be repealed when that gets instituted. So, it was more of a a broad tax structure look instead of just an add additional tax. They did um negate some some small business BNO taxes and some other taxes in that legislation as well. Thank you, Council Member Zingo. Are those repeals and those other taxes separable? That is, if the courts strike down the income tax uh as not constitutional, what happens to the rest of those parts of it?

I think that's an attorney question. Um I think it matters how the an in an initiative would be written. I believe, but I that would be a little bit outside my Bailey wig. Yeah, I've not read the severability clause of that bill, but typically it would include a clause that does specify whether parts of the bill survive if other parts are considered unconstitutional, which is likely here. Oh, so that separability can be part of the bill rather than necessarily part of it's not it's not a general legal principle. It's usually built into the bill and I just and I just haven't read it that closely. Great. Thank you.

Okay, any other questions? Okay, so we are moving on to yet again another question. Yeah, I just want to highlight some policy bills that we were supportive of and some that we opposed as well. Um, Senate Bill 6026 was a governor request legislation which was around housing. Kind of the probably the big broad housing bill of the session. Um, essentially this bill was residential development and commercial mixeduse zones. Pretty straightforward what the title says, right? The city was supportive of this actually from the beginning. Um, there's a lot of work that the city is already doing around housing, so we were happy to support. We were a little bit of an outlier in the city family on this one early and then it made some progress and some others decided to support as the bill moved throughout the process. Um but we were happy to support that. That bill did pass the legislature this year so it was good to see. Um another housing bill, House Bill 2266, kind of known as the step housing bill. The true title is encouraging permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, indoor emergency housing, and indoor emergency shelters. Uh so step housing um we were other on this piece of legislation originally. We just wanted to have some expanded management plans.

We talked about this throughout session, but it's kind of the tool of the sort of good neighbor management plan. Um there was a little bit of language in there. Um it strengthened through session and as you guys know it it follows to some extent the model that we use in Everett to ensure that that housing are those types of housing um developments are successful and that neighbors are comfortable as well and that we can show that we have good accountability measures in place. So yeah, and it was um Representative Peterson's bill who in other other days of the week worked across the street.

That bill did pass the legislature and by the time it it reached the final the final chamber for vote and governor signature, we were supportive of that bill as well. So that was good to see. Um

this is another example how the city of Ever is kind of ahead of the rest of the state and we had a good already set up. So thank you. Um, House Bill 1592. This was carryover from the 25 session. Any bill that didn't pass in 25 gets automatically reintroduced in 26, the second year of the benium. Um, this was on public defense services. This would have had a broader spath of the state would have covered more public defense services. Big financial impact to the state in a tough budget year. So, that bill didn't advance this year. I think there will continue to be further discussions on public defense services going forward. That bill was I think around a as introduced it was about over a billion dollar hit to the state over a six-year period. So again very significant cost costs that the city is going to have to face as well. But that'll think we continue discussion on incident defense um going forward in future sessions.

So could you clarify that the future requirements right now because they've been changed correct? So the Supreme Court introduced um new standards that um every city and county has to meet. There's a 10-year phase in. You recently um approved an adjustment which we had put into the budget, but which added another million dollars in 2026 for our Everett Law Association contract for them to successfully meet those requirements. Um to meet the requirements, they need more attorneys. They need more space and they need more kind of support services for the attorneys, right? The total over the next 10 years is going to be something in the nature of $19 million directly to the our general operating budget.

Correct. And just as a reminder, we are one of only two states in the country that the state doesn't cover these costs. So most states cover public defense for cities and in the state of Washington, cities have to cover it um and counties. So it it is it is unique to Washington and it uh with this new Supreme Court ruling, it's going to be very expensive in the future. So we will continue to advocate with cities across the state of Washington for the state to cover more of these costs

as additional revenue comes in likely from Senate Bill 6346. You know, the state will receive more funding. This will certainly be a hot topic of conversation as that revenue likely comes in as as pass legislature right now. Uh Senate Bill 6002. This is the automated license plate reader bill. Um we were supportive of this bill. Um we we worked to expand the bill to include additional crimes. The the bill as introduced kind of had a narrow scope of

just felonies I believe, right Jennifer? Just just had felonies. Um we wanted to expand to misdemeanor to gross misdemeanor. There's a lot of serious crimes in the misdemeanor family um that we would like to use these automated license plate readers for. We made some progress on that. Didn't quite go as far as we would have liked to see. Um, but that bill did pass. It also cleaned up the public records act issue. So, that was a positive outcome. If the legislation didn't pass, I think most communities across the state would have said, "We're not going to be able to use these cameras." So, it was nice to see that the public records piece was cleaned up. Some crimes were expanded, but again, I think um not quite as far as we wanted to see at the end. 2304 is on condo warranties. This was a bill that we signed in on, we were supportive of. I know condos are a big issue in the community. um essentially increased or allowed for better warranties and insurance on smaller condo buildings and conversion buildings of four units or fewer. So again, not a huge step, but a small step for more condo um ability. We were supportive of that. House Bill 2320 on firearm manufacturing. This kind of prohibited 3D printing of firearm manufacturing. We were supportive of that bill. That bill passed the legislature this year. It was good to see. Council member Bader, I remember you asked me in January whenever I was here last about the camping and public spaces bill. Um, we had concerns about that bill. That bill did not pass the legislature this year. So, um, it kind of would force locals how to deal with camping in public spaces. Again, had some concerns. I think we have systems that work here in the city and we like to see those, you know, we like to use those tools. That bill did not pass this year. So, it was nice nice to see that that bill did not pass. There was an unlawful possession of firearm bill that we were supportive of, did not pass the legislature this year. We'll continue that conversation. Um, there was a bill on immigrant worker protections that we were supportive of that passed. So, um, a long list. I think the the final report is 21 pages of I don't know, hundreds of bills that we tracked this year. So, every bill we had a position on, we probably weighed in in some form or fashion. Um, but I

just want to highlight a few, you know, kind of the housing space, public safety, um, some of these others. Um, again, a successful session for the city. Um, and unless Jennifer has anything, happy to answer any questions. Did you say 2442? Oh, wow. The best for last. That's right. The best for last.

Um, House Bill 2224 and Senate Bill 6037 was the fire protection district bill. Um, this was a high priority for the city on single city fire district benefit charges. Um, the the bill the Senate bill was moving and actually died at the House of Origin cutoff, which was really unfortunate to see. Um it was on a run list literally at on the five o'clock on the day that the cutoff was five o'clock. I think it was on like list six and they got tied up on list five. So we thought that that bill was going to die for the session. Um there was some some craftsmanship by some some some smart lobbyists and others association of cities city of Seattle. We were at the table. Obviously we amended that bill into another bill. it would fit the title of House Bill 2442 which Jennifer mentioned on local government fiscal flexibility and tax resources. We amended that bill into the other broader kind of a menu option of a different a bunch of different local revenue ideas and fund flexibilities. Um we we amended that bill in the ways and means committee which our good senator Senator Robinson is the chair of that committee. Worked with some other senators again city of Seattle AWC and others on that bill. we we were able to amend that bill into another bill and that passed the legislature this year sponsored by Representative Berg. Um and the governor signed that bill as well. So yeah, I don't I don't know how I missed that. That best for last. House Bill 2442 passed the legislature this year which included our fire benefit district bill. So great great win. Our biggest win probably of the session for sure.

Yes. Council Ber sorry I didn't understand on the condo liability one. Did that one pass or not? That one did pass. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions from council? Okay. I just want to thank Trevor. You do great work and we are so uh grateful for all the work you do every day during session. I know you and Jennifer are connected at the hip during session and so really appreciate it. Um and thank you. Yeah, thank you. I shout out to Jennifer too. I think she testified 25 times or more. I swear she she testified a ton. And so yeah, love representing you all in Olympia. It's a pleasure and love working with Jennifer and the rest of you and and thank you for the time tonight.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay. So, we were going to we're going to go into executive session for 20 minute 20 minutes and then um we'll have items 9 and 10 afterwards.

Yeah, this council president uh Don Schwab, we are going to request 10 more minutes. So, it'll be a total of 30 30 minutes for executive session.

So, we are back from executive session. Um, we have two more items today on our council agenda. Item nine and number 10. I will read um uh both items and then we'll have a presentation. Item nine, council bill 2604-21, first reading, adopt an ordinance amending ordinance 4098-25 entitled Everett outdoor event center fund 342 program 052 to accumulate costs for the design and partial property acquisition of the Everett outdoor event center project. Third and final reading will be April 29th, 2026. Item number 10 to read in the record. Council Bill 2604-22, first reading, adopt an ordinance authorizing and providing for acquisition, including through the exercise of eminent domain of land and real property rights for parcel 26 for the proposed of constructing the Everett outdoor event center project and authorize the mayor to enter into agreement related to acquisition of parcel 26 and amending ordinance 41000-25, third and final reading. April 29th, 2026. And we'll go into our presentation, Scott Patterson, staff, Mayor Franklin, Council President Schwab, Council, members, thank you uh for taking the time to meet with us tonight. Um, you know, I you from the DAS often thank the participants in the audience for supporting the project and coming out and speak and and I have yet to do that. So, um, thank you for the support. I know that many of them have left, but, um, I just feel obligated that, you know, they're here supporting all of us and and I wanted to recognize them for that.

Uh, tonight we're going to give you a brief update. Um, and we'll touch on on several things including schedule, design, budget, and funding, and then the actions that you'll be asked to uh take on April 29th. Uh on April 29th, you will be asked to approve the items brief this evening, which include amending four professional service agreements, amending ordinance 4100025 to include parcel number 26, approve a budget amendment, and authorize the mayor to sign a contract with the Department of Converse to accept the $7.4 million state grant. Over the course of the next few months, we will be asking for your approval to purchase properties and establish site control. Later this summer, we'll be seeking approval for a full funding package, a construction contract with Bailey Construction, and seeking your approval for the remaining property acquisition. In September, we anticipate having a full site control, and the construction team will mobilize In December of 2025, the city council council adopted resolution number 8244. In summary, we look to create a venue that goes beyond good enough and points ever future, creating the economic driver that brings the community together. Um, Ben Fron, consultant with SOJ, been working closely with the mayor and Scott and the entire city team on this project for uh, some time now. It's great to see all of you uh, this evening. And I want to share a little bit more detail. Uh, and true to Scott's words, I will try to be brief, but we do have a fair bit of

information we want to relay. Um, so uh, the first thing just on the design team side, I want to acknowledge uh the importance of the council direction. Um and the expertise we have in our design team. Um the members of uh the team supporting our architects and landscape architects include a consulting firm um headwater people. Uh and uh the the main individual from that firm that's been working with us uh is Owen Oliver and he brings a host of uh knowledge of regional tribes, the history of the tribes. Um he is the son of Marvin Oliver who was a professor of Indian studies at University of Washington and an artist for many many years. Um and I just mentioned that as a you know a key component of of our design team really making sure that we're covering all aspects of uh Everett's land um and history. Um the overall design uh of the facility has advanced significantly over the last year. Um it accommodates uh both soccer and baseball. Uh that's a really easy thing to say. Uh it is much more difficult to do in practice and I want to point out just a couple of examples for the council uh of the design that allow for flexibility um and efficiency in accommodating both sports. Um we will be using a uh artificial turf field instead of natural grass that allows for quicker conversions between the sports. Um, to be specific about that, the infield for baseball needs to be swapped out for soccer because the infield grass for baseball, the ball bounces and drives differently than it does for soccer. We will also be using a retractable mound so that the mound can go down quickly into the into the earth and allow for a level playing field. And these are some of the lessons we learned when we toured across uh the country other facilities. Um, and just to give you a sense of the efficiency and savings uh, in field conversions for a natural grass field, you're looking at 6

days and 30 to $40,000 every time you want to transition between sports activities. Um, the system that we're proposing and is in our current design uh, will take a matter of hours. It can be completed in a day and somewhere between three to $5,000 in a steady state uh, from a uh, maintenance and labor perspective. So, a lot of work going in to accommodate both baseball and soccer and a host of other events. Uh, we'll be able to host concerts there and festivals. Um, the facility has 5,000 seats and extensive ADA accessibility throughout. Um, there's also an attractive mix of fan seating options. So, not only do we want to make sure the facilities are optimized for both sports, we want to make sure that the fan experience is optimal for both. So, you're not going to a baseball stadium to watch a soccer game. you actually feel like you're in a stadium that's committed to both uses uh when they're happening. There's also some premium club space and when I get into the renderings I'll point these out that can accommodate 200 people sitting and 400 people standing. And that's actually a part of the venue that's available for rental year round whether there's an active event on the field uh or not. There are team support buildings, locker rooms, batting cages, all the critical components to meet the both the minor le the major league baseball requirements for minor league teams as well as United Soccer League requirements. And there's also on-site secured parking for staff and players. um beyond just the stadium itself and this was part of the charge the council uh gave to our team is to ensure that we can host a wide variety of community activities and that this be a walkable attraction connecting Everett downtown to the Everett station and future light rail. Um this venue also features an urban park and about a half mile loop walking street around the outside that to be a festival street. We want that to be pedestrianoriented. that we'll have some sort of controlled access because there's still going to be active access

for the events for businesses in the area, but we really want that to be uh a really enjoyable pedestrian uh and urban park-like experience uh for the public. Uh that festival fanzone street that I just referenced between is emphasized between the stadium itself um and Broadway I think will be a wonderful amenity uh going forward. There's multiple concessions, ample restrooms, and we believe this facility will bring substantial additional customers to downtown. And day one, with over 106 events on the calendar, will be a significant reason for people to stay longer in Everett and enjoy your city. Um, want to take just a step back uh and refresh some of the decisions and logic behind selection of a downtown site. Um, we studied very closely both downtown site and Funko Field. As you'll recall during the environmental impact assessment, uh, Funko Field would not accommodate soccer. So, it would only allow for, uh, baseball. Um, and the city wouldn't own that facility. So, if you were to invest millions of dollars into that, it's not an asset that you would own or control. That's something that would be owned by the school district. It would also require, while less expensive than a downtown site, it would require more funding directly from the city. You would generate far less revenue uh in leases and special events, and the overall tax impact would be far less uh if you were to renovate Funko Field. So, I just those are decisions that we already made, but I wanted to go back and just touch on those.

Ben, do you want to sorry clarify? You you just said the overall tax impact would be less if you chose to renovate Funko Field. Do you want to I I think to the average person that means the overall tax impact uh they're paying out of their pockets would tax revenue would be far less. Yeah. No new taxes but tax revenue would be far less. Correct. Thank you.

Yeah. And since we're on that subject of comparing the two, um one of the points, one of the decisions I decided I personally decided to go with the downtown was that there's less funding mechanisms. Not only will we not own the facility and it will be a crowded space, but there's less um even though the stadium would cost more money than renovating, there's less funding available for the school district. So, in the end, this is that project would cost as much or if not it would it would likely cost the city more more than on its own. Correct. Because of lack of funding. Correct. Okay. Yeah. Thanks.

Uh it is important to note that Funko Field is still a valuable community amenity. This will allow Funko Field to focus on primarily supporting student athletes and student sports. And at the end of the day, when the Everett Outdoor Event Center is completed, we'll provide you with two uh great venues uh to serve the region. You go to the next slide. Um this is a plan view uh of the stadium. Uh there are two primary entrances. One that basically comes off of what is today Wall Street and the other on the south end coming off of Pacific. The one on Pacific off of Pacific is considered the main entrance. Both of these entrances are oriented and you'll see a rendering here in a moment um so that you actually see the mountains across the valley as you're approaching uh those moments before you come down into the facility and and see the field. And then the walkaround street is around that exterior perimeter. You can see on the very top of that diagram, that's where the the player support offices, locker rooms are. And down on the lower uh corner there on the uh lower right hand corner, that's where the maintenance facility is. That's where we actually store some of the artificial turfs when they're not being utilized. Go to the next slide. Um I rep some of the consultant expertise that we have particularly with Owen Oliver and Headwater people working alongside DLR group and Walker Macy. DLR group's the architect and Walker Macy is the landscape architect. And what you're seeing here in the design is capturing some of the industrial nature of the city of Everett and also paying attention to the traditional and historic structures of the tribes in the region with long houses. So you're seeing a infusion of some of that into this design and the use of natural materials. So each of the entrances warm use of regionally appropriate wood as you enter into uh the facility. So we're really excited about those components. So this is a view of the main entrance

coming from Pacific. If we go to the next slide, this is the view of the additional gate uh and entrance from Wall Street. And between this entrance on Wall Street and Pacific is where you see the most robust festival style street. Of course, that entire thing wraps around the whole uh stadium and facility. We go to the next slide. This is a view of the main uh stadium facility itself. And that upper piece there, that's that club space that I referenced a few moments ago that has capacity for 200 people seated and 400 people standing, plus outdoor space that's covered uh by that broad uh rooftop canopy. From that elevation, you actually see clear across the valley to the mountains. So, it's a spectacular view, and we're very optimistic that that will be a great event space uh game day and non-game days alike. you go to the next uh rendering here. It's a little more subtle in this rendering, but this is a a shot of the soccer field laid out here. And wanted to show a couple of things here. One, you start to see that orientation of dedicated seating. You have seating behind each goal in addition to seating that is preferred for viewing a baseball game. And then if you look here, you see this little green grassy area here. That's designed to be flexible space where families can gather. They can sit with a picnic blanket. little more casual seating, a little more affordable ticket. So, in addition to some of the premium spaces that we're creating for fans, we're also creating spaces that are more affordable uh and more flexible for families to enjoy. And most recently, in talking with the USL, we've realized that the baseball outfield could also be utilized for some of that flexible family style seating. And so, we're really excited about those components uh of the overall design as well. Um, last slide on the design here. here. And if you take your phone out, you can actually grab that QR code and

you can view a 360 3D view uh of the facility basically as if you're standing at second base. Um so I'll I'll give you a moment there uh to pull that up and then uh we're going to jump into uh some of the nuts and bolts. Quick question, Ben. Yes. Um, one of the charming things about Funko Field is the grassy area where if the kids are uh edgy or want to get out, they can be playing not watching the game. Is this does that is there that opportunity here as well? Yes. And if you go uh actually back to the slide right before um right there

and if you can see the cursor, I don't know if you can see my cursor. It's this space um right to the right of that you see a little green area with some blue. That is an open grassy space that families would be able to gather. And then for soccer, we'd also be able to utilize part of the outfield uh at grade of the of the good questions. I'm not sure if they're going to be able to throw and catch and and hitting the ball like they do at Funko Field, though. People will probably be sitting there. been he's he's already occupied with your threedimensional drawing. Yeah, we had an essential pause built into the presentation. Yeah. Council Weir, did you have

I think I know the answer to this, but um so are any of the seating areas covered or is it just that clubhouse part? Just the upper space. Uh yeah, kind of looks like there's a little bit of an overhang, but it looks like as we went through extensive value engineering, the cost of doing a completely enclosed stadium um many many cover rooftop cover over any of the seating areas. But yeah,

um uh do want to spend some time uh tonight going through uh budget and funding. Uh the city of Everett invested $6 million to date that's gone to site selection. The full-blown environmental impact study that we completed over a year ago uh selected and engaged a progressive design build team. And we've advanced design to 60% including detailed cost estimates. And that we've spent many months as you know going through value engineering exercises to ensure that we have the most efficient stadium uh possible from a cost perspective while delivering a very high quality product at the end of the day for all of you. Uh we've also conducted phase one of property acquisition efforts that includes appraisals, offers and ongoing negotiations in the next months. The investments that we are asking uh you to make will allow us to complete design to full construction documents will allow us to uh purchase a majority of the properties uh required to advance the project significantly and draw down $7.4 million in state funding um uh and really poise us to that final vote that'll come before you in August uh which is here's the final price of this project. Here's the full funding plan. Um and you will give us that go or or no go at that point. Um few more words just about property acquisition. Uh we've made offers on 14 properties. Two purchase and sale agreements have been executed. Now of course closing on those properties will be subject to another round of formal council action that we will bring forward to you. We have four additional purchase and sale agreements pending and eight active negotiations underway. Uh this evening we are bringing forward an amendment to an ordinance that will authorize us to enter into negotiations for an additional parcel parcel 26

that's at the very top of the diagram here. And again all final closings uh on properties will be subject to your final approval. Lease negotiations with the teams have gone incredibly well. We've agreed to uh all of the key business terms. Um principally among those and this is a significantly different operating model than what we've seen with Angel of the Winds to date. The teams have agreed to assume responsibility for all day-to-day operations and maintenance. And this translates to a significantly lower overhead for the city as the owner and landlord of the facility on an annual basis. You'll still be contributing to an annual capital fund, and we'll talk about that as we get into more details in a few months around the full funding plan. The teams have committed $17 million in capital contributions. They've agreed to lease escalators throughout the 30-year term of the lease. They've agreed to revenue sharing on tickets, parking, and naming rights. And they have agreed to grant the city uh 50 city event days. So you may use those for uh public events. You may also use some of that 50-day calendar for additional revenue generating activities um in the facility. So we're feeling really good about that.

Question council Zingo. Yes. So those revenue you were talking about that event space there that was 200 or 400 people. So So that could be rented as part of the city dates. Those 50 dates are for the entire venue. And then it sounds like with two baseball fields here locally, then we would um have the opportunity for tournaments. And I mean, having encountered um cities where there were these baseball tournaments going on uh with a large number of families and visitors from out of town, I guess that's um I mean it was an interesting thing to be there as part of that, but I realized that that's a good economic opportunity and a way to bring people from the region to Everett. Uh so that's the kind of thing that would also be could be part of this 50-day Okay.

Absolutely. Yeah. Um, council, sorry, we got more. Council member Ryan,

thanks. Uh, I'm really pleased to hear that the teams will be taking over the daily operations and maintenance. I think that um that ongoing risk and that ongoing obligation transfer to the teams is makes a huge difference especially for the bottom line of the what the city's contributing. I was curious um with that does that mean that um I guess that would mean that the city wouldn't have to hire additional staff like through our facilities departments to maintain the facility uh which is also a kind of a cost savings in a way. Uh will there be any additional uh staff members needed at the city for this project?

Good good question. There will be some uh overhead costs for the city. you'll have uh some expenses for police and fire and supportive events. Um we do recommend along and this recommendation also comes from our independent um thirdparty expert Stafford uh consulting that's been helping us with some of the proformal modeling for the facility. Do recommend that you hire at least one dedicated staff person uh to ensure that the teams on a daily basis are doing what they're supposed to be doing and you're keeping track of the city's responsibilities as it relates to major capital. So, every 5 to 10 years, the city will have some responsibilities for major capital beyond above and beyond the day-to-day operations and maintenance. Um, you may also have um uh is at the city's election, you may have additional insurance above and beyond the city's self-insured uh policies uh for the facility. So, there may be some city overhead,

but I would just say that one staff is a a far cry from what it would take to operate this on a daily basis. So you're correct that that agreement that they maintain it on a daily basis is huge. One staff would ne would cover our basis to make sure that we are taking good care of this asset. Fantastic. Thank you.

Um last point just on budget and funding uh over the course of that 30-year uh lease uh that teams are contributing through uh rent and revenue share uh over hund00 million. So we're we're feeling you know very good about that uh deal. Um, as I've shared in the past, the this is a 30-year relationship. These were difficult negotiations. Um, we we may have at one point had to call the mayor in, and thank you, mayor, for joining those at critical moments to get us across the finish line. Um, few more notes just over on uh overall budget and funding, and then I want to run through a high level detail of the total project cost. Um, total project budget is holding at $120 million. Um we did share uh that value with you at your retreat earlier this year. Um it's about $66 million about $55% in hard cost about $19 million in soft cost or about 16% and 29% about $35 million in property acquisition. And many of you recall our original budget showed about $20 million as the target for property acquisition. And that was based on the Snowomish County assessed value of the properties at that time plus 20%. When we did our appraisals, they came in much higher. So overall property acquisition efforts uh will be close to $35 million. That is a significant challenge for the project and it's been part of why we spent so much time going through value engineering to rightsize, make sure we're still delivering a quality project and keeping it within an attainable budget. So, while it's a challenge for the project, it's actually a good news story for all of you as as leaders of a city whose property values, you know, they're going up and you have a vibrant local economy. So, I just wanted to share that uh perspective um with you tonight. This next slide here, and bear with me, I think we're almost through this. Uh this is a more a little more detail on

the overall cost breakdown for the project. So, $52 million in direct construction cost. uh fully loaded that's about $60 million because there is overhead and fee that the general contractor is due. Uh state tax just about 10% at $6.2 million. So total construction cost that's your hard cost at $66 uh.2 million. Um down below that you see some of the phase 1A precon and design fees. So that's the the money that we've spent to get through to 60% design. Um placeholder for permits and fees at a million dollars. uh construction related expenses, those can be other consultants, parking and traffic studies, those sorts of things. Um in that bucket, uh owner's costs, that's your uh project management uh team, legal costs. Uh additionally, it's uh $2.9 million. And so your total soft cops bucket of approximately $99.7 million. We are carrying a healthy contingency at this point of $3 million in owner's construction contingency. There's a separate contractor's contingency already included in the construction line. Um, and then below that, an owner's total project contingency of an additional $6 million. So, the total owner's contingency, if you will, at about 9 million,

counciling. Yeah. So I I want want to make sure I understand from the standpoint of the our choice for a a progressive design build scheme. The idea with that is we've identified Bailey and we will come to an agreement with them at the time that we vote for this where they will commit to build it for that price. So we're not going to be surprised by bids or other

correct. Yes. Uh and then you see the property acquisition cost at 35 million bringing the total project cost to 120. Um on the right is uh a chart showing the funding source uh progress to date. Uh USL and Aquaox combined and this is just the capital contribution there representing 14% state funding at present at 6% county funding at 4% other capital contributions. So these are some of the public private partnerships that are starting to mature at 9% and the city of Everett at about 8%. The other two pieces of the pie represent the portions of the bond proceeds that are covered by direct revenues and the balance that we're working to close at present. So 38% of the bond issuance anticipated to be covered by that direct revenue coming from the stadium and stadium related activities. And we're working to close actively 21% uh of that. Um and look forward to coming back to you in June and July with much deeper dives into the full funding plan, the financing, the structure of the bonds um uh and how all that is going to play out over time. Um, these are the last notes on budget and funding and then I'll turn it back over to Scott for the actions before you this month. Uh, we've secured $17 million in capital contributions from the teams. We've agreed to keep business terms uh for the 30-year lease with escalators. Um, there's conservatively uh estimated $3 million in direct revenue generated just by the lease operations, lease uh contributions from the facility itself. and at a minimum additional $800,000 in annual city tax revenue from citing this downtown and having both soccer and baseball as anchor tenants in the facility. Full

funding planning is in um you know uh full effort at this point. Um there are four key things I want to highlight tonight that we are working on in detail. We're reviewing additional state, regional, and private funding opportunities that have come forward um and are quite optimistic that we'll have very good and positive news for you over the next couple months on that front. We're analyzing the most coste effective methods for bond issuance for this project. And I want to give you just one example and I I apologize for going a little deeper into the weeds, but I think it's important for you to understand there's a, you know, not an endless landscape, but there are some opportunities uh for bond issuance that um are slightly more creative than your standard city issuance. And the federal government has a bond program that's specific to rail infrastructure economic development. It's a sever several billion dollar fund. Um we've had multiple meetings with the federal administrators of that program. Um the timing for that particular program is challenging. It takes 9 months once you apply to get your final informal award. Right now the pro program is not accepting applications because they're waiting for direction from the White House on updated guidelines for the program. So there's two major caveats there. if we can find a way to qualify for that program. In today's rates, their interest rate is 4.6% and it's a 40-year loan essentially. It's 5 years of no payments while you're building the facility and then it's a 35-year loan. So, we are pursuing all possible options. If there is a way for us to fold that in, we will. of course timing and we're still awaiting that guide guidance from the White House uh to the department so that they can open up for grants again. So we're reviewing all possible methods for bond issuance.

We're also reviewing additional direct and indirect revenue sources that can support the stadium and we're working very close uh working very hard to close that remaining gap I mentioned of 21% uh by this summer and we look forward to coming back to you uh again with detailed uh sessions in June and July on that front. As mentioned earlier, uh on April 29th, I we will be asking for your approval to amend uh ordinance 41000-25 to acquire parcel 26. We'll be looking to amend the existing professional services agreements with uh Bailey SJ Intelligent Partnerships and Kimley Horn. And we'll be asking for the approval of a budget amendment. Uh, and last but not least, asking for your approval to uh move the state grant of $7.4 million forward with authorization for the mayor to sign the contract. And for those of you that didn't get the QR code, we went ahead and put it on the last slide.

Questions? So, presentation you guys complete. Thank you very much. Um, questions. Council member Weir. Um so on the budget and funding um so the 800,000 uh city tax revenue you're estimating is that coming from um like business outside of the stadium revenue t tax revenue or in like ticket sales and concessions or a combination or just hit me. So, um, Dan Ernesy, your economic, uh, development director, commissioned an updated study from community attributes, uh, to assess the increase just given your current structure and current revenue sources, uh, the increase in tax revenue just from the downtown stadium and having two teams and that's what that number represents.

So just the sorry just the stadium itself. Correct. So we we would likely see increase in um people overall business activity that's generated. Correct. Okay. Pretty significant and that Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? Council member Bader.

Thanks, Council President. Uh great presentation. Um just to clarify again the issue that keeps coming up that the city money that gets used for this is coming from CIP funds, not from general operations. We continue to see people posting that this is impacting causing our deficit or structural uh deficit. Um just want that reassurance again that we're still we're not using that they don't impact each other.

That's correct. Um when I heard Ree speak earlier, I didn't prompt him. So when he he did all that on his own and he made a reference to this isn't taking away jobs. This isn't affecting employment at the library. No, you are correct. this we are not affecting staffing. This is being done with capital improvement dollars and then obviously moving forward with bonding.

Gotcha. Thanks. And then second question um you know obviously you know we don't have parking surrounding the stadium. Uh so just wondering about the and as you showed in one of your um in the design direction there about entries um the lack of an entry or how things work for people coming from the ever station area of parking and transit. Will Payne Avenue remain open? Uh I I think it's somewhat daunting at least at first look for people to think about going up to Pacific down Pacific back up Pacific to Broadway to get into the front of the stadium. Uh I don't know if you can comment on that now, but just wondering that underpass under Pacific right now using pain which I I use when I need to access the event center from the uh transit station. What's the status of that and how do we make it easy for people coming from that parking asset over there?

Yeah, we have some additional renderings. Um we we had to make some decisions tonight to you know we we could have been here for an hour and a half if we brought the architects in. Um but uh that access under the overpass on Pacific will be maintained and there's an enhanced pedestrian path and trail along Pacific Pacific down to where Payne is today. Then feeds into that um festival style street that goes around the entire exterior of the stadium. Thank you.

Can I just go back to that general fund though comment? I I just want to be very clear and transparent. We do have staff working on this. you Scott, Dan Ernesy, our finance team, you know, uh other executives in the in the mayor's office, we we do spend time on it. So, that's the general fund investment that's happening is is the work right now, but the capital dollars to to build it is that's coming out of a different bucket. The the 8% that we show on that nice little pie chart. Yeah, exactly. That's that's different. Thank you. Um, council.

Yeah. So um I know you know I'm going to ask this question. Uh when can we expect the financial performer in your schedule? Uh so we have uh several meetings uh in June and July where we'll be going through the detail uh of that full funding plan in advance of your meeting in August uh where we'll be seeking a seeking approval. Great. So that will be included. Correct. Perfect. Thank you, Council Mayor Zarlingo.

Uh, well, let's see. One of the things that, uh, I remember discussions over the past couple of years in terms of the practicality of the stadium, the different locations. What sort of brought this within our horizon of practicality was the uh, addition of USL, the additional days, nights, events there that would help um, pay for the for the operations of the stadium. And I I I remember some numbers, 60, 70, 80 nights. And I know here you've talked about 106. And I guess what I'm curious about from the other stadiums that have you've have interacted with, what are the kind of typical numbers that people are seeing in these sorts of facilities? How many how many nights?

Uh I I don't know that I have an exact number. I'm happy to get that number from you. Uh a lot of stadiums that we've looked at don't have both components. Um, we are the city of Mousawa in Knoxville is was and is the first to host to be built to host soccer and baseball. Um, it was a bit of an afterthought, so we will technically be the first that was designed and built to host both. Um, soccer came in a little bit later and they had to alter their plan and their design. So, we will technically be the first. Um, the the rule of thumb that we've we've heard from Stafford, our consultant, is, you know, once you get north of 100 events, you're you're doing well. And then 120, 130, 140. When you start getting up to 140, 150 events, you are a very successful facility. So with baseball, soccer and the commitment of the USL uh to to host other events, we see 140 to 150 as being very very easily accomplished.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um I see no more questions. Thank you for the presentation. And with no further business before this body, meetings adjourned.