City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Federal Race City Council meeting for June 16th of 2026. Would you all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, welcome everyone. It's great to see this many people here on a beautiful, beautiful early summer day. Okay, so let's start off here. So we have our, under item three, the proclamations presentations, item A, Juneteenth proclamation on June 19th of 2026, Councilmember Lydia Acevedosim and Councilmember Les Sessoms.

I guess I'll start off first with just a few words. But after I turn it over to Council Member Assefa Dawson, we are going to have Ms. Tanisha Lyons and Mr. Craig Patrick come to the podium. But what I wanted to do is just mention the fact that I am honored to make this proclamation. Um, tomorrow, June 17th is actually the five year anniversary, uh, of Juneteenth national independence day act. That's when president Joe Biden signed it into law. So as we, uh, invite you to come up, uh, please listen to this proclamation. It's very meaningful, but try to think of the meaning of the holiday and what it means to you and your person. And think about the people in Galveston, Texas. that day June 19th 1865 and put yourself and try to put yourself in their shoes and think of what freedom meant to them so whereas our nation was founded on July 4th 1776 when the Declaration of Independence proclaim that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness and

Whereas on January 1st, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring freedom for enslaved persons with Confederate-held territory and advancing the cause of liberty and the eventual abolition of slavery throughout the United States and

Whereas on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3, informing enslaved African Americans of their freedom and marking a defining moment in the fulfillment of emancipation and

Whereas Juneteenth commemorates the resilience, perseverance, and contributions of African Americans throughout our nation's history and serves as an opportunity to reflect on the continuing pursuit of liberty, justice, and equality for all.

Whereas the City of Federal Way proudly joins communities across the country in recognizing and celebrating Juneteenth. through civic observance, educational opportunities, and community events, and...

Whereas Juneteenth has become widely recognized as America's second Independence Day, symbolizing both the promise of freedom and the ongoing work of building a more perfect union.

Now, therefore, we, the undersigned mayor, and city council members of the city of Federal Way do hereby proclaim June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth in Federal Way and encourage our community to remember the sacrifices of so many who have come before to ensure all Americans remain free. Sign this 16th day of June 2026.

Well, good afternoon or good evening, everybody. On behalf of the FW Black Collective, it is an honor to stand before you to celebrate Juneteenth, a day that represents not only freedom delayed, but resilience realized. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, it reminds us that justice delayed is still injustice and that freedom must be actively protected, defended, and expanded. For the FW Black Collective, Juneteenth is more than a historical observance. It is a call to action. It is a reminder that our work does not end with remembering the past. It continues through building the future. Every family we support, every entrepreneur we help launch, every policy we advocate for, every young person we empower, and every barrier we work to dismantle is part of the ongoing pursuit of freedom. Freedom means having access to opportunity, freedom means economic mobility, and it means quality healthcare, safe housing, educational equity, and the ability to thrive without discrimination. Freedom means being seen, valued, and heard. We recognize that the struggle for equality did not end in 1865, and it has not ended today. But we also recognize the extraordinary strength, innovation, culture, and leadership that the black communities continue to contribute despite those challenges. As we gather in celebration, let us honor our ancestors not only with remembrance but with responsibility. Let us commit ourselves to creating communities where future generations inherit more opportunity than obstacles and more hope than hardship. FW Black Collective remains committed to that vision, a community where black voices are amplified, black businesses flourish, black families are supported, and systemic barriers are replaced with pathways to success. Today we celebrate freedom. Tomorrow we continue the work. Happy Juneteenth and thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lyons. I had the opportunity to work with Ms. Lyons a few weeks ago when we met with her from the Diversity Commission. My name is Craig Patrick. I'm Vice Chair of the Diversity Commission. Shante Lane, Commissioner Lane, Chair Lane, was unable to make it today, so I was asked to come up and speak. Juneteenth's been a long time coming. We know that. We are celebrating it. We are working together on the Diversity Commission. We're trying to put this more in the forefront. for our community and to show that this is just as important as 4th of July. This has been a long time coming, and I want to thank the Black Collective for coming out, and I want to thank the Diversity Commission for working with the Black Collective on this holiday. So happy Juneteenth. Take some time. Look at some history. See how this all came about. And have a great day celebrating Juneteenth. Thank you.

That's pretty awesome.

Now, this Thursday at noon here at City Hall, right out in front, our keynote speaker for the Juneteenth event for the City of Federal Way will be keynoted by none other than Councilmember Les Sessoms. Councilmember, you want to tell the group a little bit about what we're planning on Thursday? Maybe just repeat the date, time, location, and what we're doing. Yeah.

Thank you, Mayor. Everyone is invited. And when you come, you are going to see a lot of people who are going to learn about Juneteenth even more than what we've shared with you tonight. We are going to have speakers. I am one of the speakers. And our local representatives from the state, from Olympia, will be here. Representative Jamila Taylor, Representative Christine Reeves, and State Senator Claire Wilson will be here. The mayor will be here speaking. Hopefully all of my colleagues will be here. There will be music. There will be poetry. Please come and share in the moment. It is, you'll hear part of this in my keynote, but it used to be called Jubilee Day. And Jubilee Day was the original name of Juneteenth. People were excited and happy when they learned that their freedom was given to them. They experienced so much, and as Americans, they took that as an opportunity to... make a new horizon. And you'll learn more about the meanings and the symbols of the flag. There's a Juneteenth flag. There's a lot of symbolism in that. So come on out and learn and appreciate the struggles of black people here in America. So thank you. That's great.

Thank you, Councilmember. Well, we'll start kind of gathering around 11.30, but let's start right at noon. So if you're planning on coming, we're going to start right at noon. So thank you very much. Looking forward to that. Again, that's this Thursday right outside. Okay, now, Item B on the agenda, presentation, Municipal Court Student Art Contest winners. Cassie Swan, Arts and Events Recreation Coordinator, is going to be here doing the honors. And we also have our very own, the Honorable Danielle Havens, our Municipal Court Judge.

Good evening, Mayor Farrell, council, community members. My name is Cassie Swan, and I am the Arts and Events Coordinator here for the city. And I'm also here with Cindy Dusich and Tom Bristol from the Arts Commission, as well as Mayor Farrell mentioned, Judge Danielle Havens. On behalf of the Arts Commission, we want to thank you, Mayor Farrell, as well as council members for making the time to celebrate art in our community. Tonight, we are here to recognize students who chose to participate in this year's Municipal Court Student Art Contest. This was begun by Judge Dave Larson back in 2013 as a way to make courts more friendly and welcoming for families who find themselves there. I don't know if any of you have been in the courtrooms, but they are beautifully just decorated with many artworks from across the years from students. Judge Brad Bales and Judge Danielle Havens are carrying on the tradition of the Municipal Court Beautification Project, and the Arts Commission has helped run this contest for several years now. Before coming here to council tonight, students got to take a tour of what the court looks like and learn about how they work. And so without further ado, I'd like to hand it off to Judge Danielle Havens to talk a little bit about the contest and recognize this year's student winners.

Thank you. Well, it is such a pleasure and an honor to be here. And I just had the most wonderful time with these amazing young women who made art for our court and came tonight with their families to visit. And I hope that all of you parents are so proud of your kids for putting themselves out there and engaging in artistic pursuits. Because art is one of the things that so often is underfunded and underappreciated, but that makes all the difference. And when I saw these people and the beautiful images that they'd made, And we're going to get to see those in a moment. I just felt so honored to get to be a part of this. So thank you to the kids. Thank you to your families for bringing you here tonight. And we just had a really fun time acting out potential scenarios in the courtroom with our young judges and it was really great so thank you for coming tonight and thank you for letting me be a part of this and i will just really enjoy looking out at your art and remembering what a fun evening we've had together so thank you so much and thank you to the city and the arts commission for making this happen so the arts commissioners should all stand now be recognized and the artists should stand and be recognized

Thank you.

We will have a moment to take a photo at the dais. Oh, there we go. OK. I wanted to quickly go through all the submissions. There were seven submissions this year. We did open it up to students not only in Federal Way public schools, but also other means of education, such as private school, home schooling, and those other options we received Submissions from Meredith Hill, Wildwood, Nautilus, Lakota, Homeschool, and others. And so here are some of the submissions, all of the submissions. And then you will see here at the end who the winners were. And we can take a photo. I know, lots of really beautiful work here.

Timely.

Yeah, exactly. This one, Ekaterina is here, rainbow girl, third place, Katya. Miriam, second place, right here. Miriam's been with us before. And then Sahaj, I don't believe is here tonight, but she has participated as well before for first place. OK, now I have certificates for you. And then if we could take a photo in front of the dais, that would be great. Thank you so much.

COUNCIL, LET'S LAND UP HERE. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU GUYS. GOOD JOB.

CAN I HAVE A STEEL TO STEP ON?

YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT WENT. YOU WANT THAT ONE? YOU'RE GOING TO BE TALLER THAN ME?

You are.

There's no air up here.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, everybody. Thank you. Good job. Good job.

Excuse me. Oh, thank you, Zarin.

Thank you. I used to have a little wooden thing. Melissa took it. What else?

We'll come back here later.

Saturday. No, no, that's it.

Oh, are there? Okay.

Alright. We're kidding. We're just kidding. Okay, everybody, next is a presentation. We've got the 4th of July coming up, and we've got fireworks prevention and enforcement from our very own Deputy Chief Kyle Sumter.

Chief? Thank you, Mayor and Council, for inviting us to do this presentation again this year. The Federal Way City Council many years ago made it very easy to understand what the fireworks rules are in the City of Federal Way. And they are very simply that all personal use of fireworks are illegal all the time everywhere in the city limits. And this is in contrast with some jurisdictions that have certain days where it's okay or certain types of fireworks that are okay. In Federal Way, it's very easy to remember no fireworks at all ever that's right now we see that unfortunately it it doesn't play out quite that simply does it here we are a couple weeks ahead of the fourth and we're already getting violations out there we estimate that approximately ninety five percent of our residents comply with this But in a city of more than 100,000, that means there's more than 5,000 people setting off fireworks during the 4th of July season. And it doesn't take that many to make a lot of mess and a lot of confusion and a lot of noise. Speaking of those things, here's four reasons why. This law is in effect here in the city of Federal Way. There we go. I just need to grunt. Four reasons. The first two are a little bit obvious, right? The noise. You can't escape it. Even if you're the 95% of compliance, you cannot escape what the other 5% are doing to disrupt the noise and the air pollution and the ground pollution. It's visible. You can take it in with your senses. The other two I'll give a little bit more attention to because unless your family experiences serious injury or fires, these two are off your radar. So let's look at these here just briefly. The sparkler, which is the thing that kids start with, an entry-level firework. Sparklers burn at 2,000 degrees, which is the same as a blowtorch. And we don't go putting blowtorches in little children's hands, do we, and tell them to run around in their sandals with blowtorches? Look at the trajectory that injuries and fires are going here. 1,700. Now the injuries, this is national stats, and it's running a year behind what I would like to show you. These are 2024 stats. 1,700 emergency room patients because of sparklers. The year before it was only 700. This is the source for these right here. Look at another couple here. In 2024, 14,700 people nationally went to the emergency room. Now, when you look at hundreds of millions of people, that's a small amount. But if it's your family, it matters a lot because 11 people died from it. That's up from eight deaths the year before. Again, it's the wrong direction that we are trending. Now, if we look at fires, according to this source right here, the year before, fires nationally, the statistics are even a year farther behind. So this is 2022 numbers. Then I'll show you 23. 31,300 fires. Six deaths. because of the fires, that's on top of the fireworks, $109 million in damage. The next year, which is 2023, 32,300 fires. So the number is increasing, 15 civilian deaths, that is more than doubling, and $142 million in property damage due to fireworks-related fires. So they're illegal all the time everywhere in Federal Way. We invite homeowners associations and multifamily housing properties to engage in the safety of their people for injury prevention and fire prevention, on top of the noise for the 95 percenters. by enacting rules for the property that make fireworks against the property rules. Not just against the city law, because there are things that homeowners associations and property management can do to enforce it as well. And then advertise those rules so that you can legitimately impose penalties for violations. That would be a big help for the whole city going in that direction. Now, the goal of law enforcement is voluntary compliance. We're trying to work ourselves out of a job, and we do that by enforcement, which I will get to here shortly. But first of all, we are here right now reminding everybody it's illegal. Please don't do it. We don't want you to get hurt. We don't want your child to get hurt. We don't want your neighbors to be disturbed. We don't want their pets to be disturbed. We'd prefer that there is compliance. So it's on our social media page right now reminding everybody, please comply. We're here doing this publicly. It's being broadcast. It isn't a secret. We want compliance. If you will send an email to me, if you've got a chronic violating neighbor who every year or last year or the last couple of years set off a bunch of fireworks and we didn't catch them, you called us, we didn't get there in time to catch them, please email me. There's my email address, kyle.sumter at federalwaywa.gov send an email to me by july first and i will send officer friendly to knock on the door and give them a personal invitation to join the other ninety five percent of compliance residents in federal way and abstain this season when that isn't enough we will have extra patrols out there Police are out there right now. If they catch somebody with fireworks, they will enforce right now. As we get into the days around the 4th of July, we will have extra police officers out there doing nothing but fireworks enforcement. And we will be dropping $615 tickets on people in addition to taking their fireworks. So let's avoid all of that and not do it. If you observe fireworks in progress, would you please call this number right here? 911 works too, but we don't want to jam up the emergency system for that. This goes to the same dispatch center, 253-835-2121. It's our non-emergency police dispatch line. That's the number to call. And because we all love fireworks, and this is a 250-year anniversary, let's all come out and celebrate a fireworks show safely at Celebration Park. Be there well ahead of 10 o'clock so you can get parking and get situated in place for the show to start at about 10.15. Is that right? 10.15. That's it.

Great job. Thank you, Chief. Really appreciate it. Thank you. I like it. All right, thank you. Okay, now on to the mayor's emerging issues and report. A lot of things happening this time of year. That was at the synchronized swimming event we'll talk about here in a few minutes. Little people from all over the region. So just this past Saturday at the top picture there was at the King County Aquatic Center where the Seroptimus put on a, they were celebrating their 50th anniversary in Federal Way and they had a great flag day celebration. Just absolutely fantastic. And we had, from left to right, the new president of the Soroptimist, Catherine Festa, Amanda Miller, who is the outgoing president and leads the South King Tool Library. What's that? She's not the outgoing president. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought she was.

Who was the outgoing?

Oh, Mimi Meeker. That's right. That's right. That's the next person on my list. So the next person next to her was Mimi Meeker, the outgoing president, Judge Danielle Havens. Is Judge Havens still here? She gave a great talk, you guys. It was really cute. Remember when, for those older, remember the actual, the bicentennial back in 1776? She had a great story about her, I think it was his grandmother and grandfather, both of whom were born on Flag Day, married each other. And her grandmother made a Betsy Ross costume for her back in 1976. And her brother got one of those tri-delt corner hats as well. Really cute story and really a great celebration about Flag Day. There's myself and then Bob Derrigan, who received several honors at that and also gave us one of his great poems. It was a great event. and really a big thanks to the Soroptimists for all they do. And they also dedicated several new flagpoles. You know, we've got the Soroptimists are the individuals, the group that put in, and Lynn Scow back, gosh, 30 years ago now.

What's that?

1990. 1990, 36 years ago, put in all those flagpoles along campus drive, one for each state in the union, and big thanks to our Parks Department, who's cleaned up those poles, cleaned up the plaques for each, for those individuals that, not only for the individual state, but they're sponsors of those, and this has been years in the making, so looks really nice. In fact, when I got out of my car, I noticed brand new state flags, brand new U.S. flags. It was a great day, and thanks for the folks that were there. Okay, next. Okay, then we had the Chamber of Commerce luncheon on June 3rd, and you can see the Council President, Council Member Hamilton, Council Member Walsh, and Council Member Kochmar, and it was a good speaking event. It's always good to get out there and mix with the business community here at Federal Way. They've been having their luncheons at our Performing Arts and Events Center. Also, the picture from the front, I mentioned the Pacific Waves, synchronized swim clubs make a splash. There are people there from all over, and this is really one of their main events. That was on June 6th, and the place was packed at the community center. And the community center, if you haven't been there since all the renovations are done, it looks absolutely pristine. And the place looks brand new, even though it's about 18 years old now. All right, next. We had community cleanup on the same day, June 6th. A big thanks to our public works teams and our parks people. So we were, myself and Ben and Bill were out there along with the community volunteers. This was along the BPA trail. We started at 356th and went different directions and got a lot of trash picked up. Later that night, as you can see, June 6th was a big day. And this is actually what the season is like. We'll go from event to event, and then we've got something in the evening. There's something in the evening on June 6th with the Multi-Service Center Spring Interaction Dinner, and that was just a great event. And there is the MSC CEO, Kristen York, a longtime board member there. And it was held at the... At the casino, the Muckleshoe Casino, and just a beautiful night, very generous folks. And the multi-service center is one of those, what's referred to as a community action agency. It started in 1971, and actually I think it was formalized in 71, but it was part of a number of community action agencies that were created throughout the country. They do literacy, low-income energy assistance, food bank, all kinds of things that Multi-Service Center does, and they are a real pillar of our community. Okay, next. So on June 10th, last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to welcome everybody at our beautiful Performing Arts and Events Center for King County Executive Girmai Zahilai's State of the County Address. And I don't think I've ever seen that many people squeezed into the Performing Arts and Events Center. The lobby was filled, people there from every corner of King County. The executive gave a great speech, and we also had the mayor of Kent give us some introductory remarks as well, and it was just really about, the theme was really bringing everybody together, and that's really, it's quite an honor that the county executive, we have 2.3 million people in King County, and the executive wanted to give his state of the county here in Federal Way. It was great. Okay, then on June 11th, you know what? That was actually June 10th. It was right before the State of the County because we went to Sherwood Forest before and I was worried about being late. So we were at Sherwood Forest Elementary and that was where our son Benjamin went to school. It's always fun to go back where Ben went to school. Sherwood Forest is a great school. People that go there call it the forest and it was a volunteer celebration and folks that had read to some of the students earlier in the year or in last year, and that was one of the key people there at Sherwood Forest Elementary, and it's one of the great things we get to do to read to kids. In fact, actually, sometimes when I'm in those rooms with the kids, invariably they ask great questions. Somebody will always ask, what's your favorite thing to do as mayor? And I always say, I'm doing it right now. So, all right, next. Okay, we've got a lot of things going on. We've got Juneteenth again. That's the 18th. That's this Thursday, just in two days. Noon, out in front of City Hall. I hope you can make it. We've got Kicking It Federal Way, and this is really... We are expecting 10,000 people per day for three days next to the Performing Arts and Events Center. If you haven't been over... to the Performing Arts and Events Center and see the soccer field. I should say football field. So since we are a world cup in it. So there's a big soccer field right next to the Performing Arts and Events Center. That's going to stay there for a while. Food trucks. We're going to have all kinds of, they're going to be showing the games inside on the screens. So we'll get started. I think the U.S. team plays around noon. on Friday. So we're going to get on the stage, welcome everybody. And then I'm going to stop talking long enough or well enough in advance where we could watch the game. And I would come. And then later in the evening, we've got another kind of a kickoff at 5 o'clock. So there'll be two opportunities for sort of a public event, food trucks, games. And it's going on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So if you have any questions about that, it's on our website. Then on, you know, and again, that's coming up this Friday. We've been planning on this for a year, so it's very strange to say it's happening this week. Then coming up, the Repair Cafe at the South King Tool Library. That's off of 340th, I believe, and right off of 16th or right where 16th meets Pacific Highway. And they do great things at the Tool Library. Okay, then we've got our Movies in the Park at Town Square Park. The first one, and my wife and son saw this without me, so I'm going to watch this. It's going to be Zootopia 2, June 27th at Town Square Park. And we'll provide the popcorn. I would provide, you know, I would bring some chairs and some, you may not think about it on a day like June 27th, but when the sun goes down, you're going to want a blanket or something, or at least a jacket. So June 27th, Town Square Park, 40-foot screen. How big is the screen, Jason? Okay, stick to what he said. Huge screen, inflatable screen, great movie. In fact, actually, while you're watching it, I remember the very first time we ever showed a movie at Town Square Park, and it was when we were facing north where the street is, and I was so engrossed into the movie that I forgot. It was so warm that about two-thirds of the way through the movie, a bus went behind the screen, and I'm like, whoa, that's right. So this is a really – it's really cool to be outside. and with your neighbors, and it's one of the great things we do at Town Square Park. So I hope you can make it totally free to the public. Popcorn's free too. Okay, Miles for Miso, that's on July 4th. Remember how we say on certain days, July 4th is always a busy day for us. Our Parks Department people put in like 14-hour days at least. And we're going to start off. The Miles Hermeso run has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for mesothelioma. We'll start over at the community center. The race will start at 9, get there about 8.30. What is it? It's a 5K. It raises money for a very, very worthy cause. And I hope you can make it. And then we've got the Red, White, and Blues Festival at, again, at Town Square Park. You know, parking goes quickly. So the event starts at 4. There's all kinds of food trucks. And thanks to the Parks Department, we've got corn dogs secured. So it's an inside joke, you guys. Sorry. And anyway, we'll have lots of food trucks. At 10.15, the lights will go off. The The bagpipes will start. And then right after that, the music starts. So it was one of the last things that John Hutton, our outgoing parks director and I did, is pick the music to that soundtrack. So I'd love your feedback. OK, next. OK, we've got the second movie in the park on July 25. That one's the new Superman. DC Studios, really good, really good movie. If you haven't seen it, it's great. Kids Day at Steel Lake Park, August 5. That's a really fun. What are the hours on that, Jason? Sorry, 11 to 3. 11 to 3. So Jason, this is how it goes, being the parks director. I just, sort of like Moneyball, I'll point to you periodically and ask for answers. Okay, then we've got the community festival on August 8th, and that'll be at Town Square Park. And as we get closer, we'll have more details on that. Let's see here. Now, we're going to have an update from our friends at Sound Transit. And we'll have Kent Smith, the Sound Transit liaison here at the city, who will kick us off. Kent?

Good evening, Mayor, Council President Honda, Council Members. Again, Ken Smith, Sound Transit liaison. So I'm here to introduce Katie Drool, who will give an update on some Sound Transit projects that affect Federal Way. Here's Katie.

All right, thank you. Kent confirmed that I could navigate the clicker, so we'll see how it goes. Thank you all for the opportunity to be here, Mayor, Council President, Council Members, Katie Drohl from Sound Transit. It's nice to see you all again, and I'm here specifically to talk about some of the activities that have happened at the board level and this is all being lovingly called the enterprise initiative perhaps you're familiar or have seen some coverage there has been a we identified a 35 billion with the b affordability gap in the life of the st3 program so that's the ballot measure that was approved in 2016 and that's going to continue to be delivered for about the next 25 years so the the way that the funding works for us the out years starting in about ten years there are pinch points with our debt capacity and our incoming revenues and our enabling legislation requires that we tackle those when we get out of whack and and bend things back towards affordability so the board directed staff uh... to take a close look across work streams in the past when we've done this kind of exercise it's been very focused on the capital program and the things that were building this time around we also looked at transit operations we looked at the policy body of work and the finance body of work so things like uh... bonding and debt refinancing activities like that in that bucket uh... because we really needed to take that enterprise-wide, agency-wide look. I'm here today to provide an update on the action that the board took in May 2026 to approve an updated ST3 system plan. Our work is not done. There is also an update to the finance plan. New corridor transit studies that need to be done. And then, of course, there's the delivering of the service, which you all are experiencing here at the federal downtown station, as well as constructing as we had farther south. So what does the enterprise initiative mean to South King County, including federal way? We have. three buckets in terms of the capital program funded, partially funded, and deferred. The good news, really exciting news as somebody who's been working in the South Sound for a lot of years, is that the Tacoma Dome Link Extension Project including the South Federal Way Station, stops in Fife and two in Tacoma, did not have the schedule impacted. The project is fully funded in terms of delivering the stations and the alignment, but I will direct your attention to that Column on the right that states that the parking The structured parking that is planned for that station area has been deferred again I know we've been on this journey before And this time the deferral action by the board didn't assign a new delivery date. So I I'm just want to be fully transparent. The station is coming it is too early for us to know if what exactly station access will look like but You can be assured that the non motorized improvements bike Pedestrian pickup drop-off and bus are always part of how we deliver a station area and then we'll be working with the city and doing much more planning and refinement in terms of that parking piece of the puzzle but again the board action deferred the parking not just in Federal Way but all of the st3 link facilities And I'm just going to close out this slide by acknowledging a couple of other South King County projects for everybody's awareness. The Boeing Access Road infill station is partially funded. We'll get through design and we'll be working with our colleagues in Tukwila on how to get through the construction phase of that project. And then the Sounder South line down in the valley will have partial funding for additional trips spread throughout the day. I know anecdotally of talking to Federal Way residents that some folks do like to head down the hill and catch the Sounder. So we hope that having some more trips spread throughout the day will be a nice resource for them. One more note on this slide is just that asterisk at the bottom. The OMF South, our stride BRT, which is Burien and Tukwila, Kent and Auburn access projects are not subject to the enterprise initiative because they had already gone through the board baselining budget process. That is that. And I'm going to just close out with a little bit of a look ahead and timeline here. This combines the various projects. I don't have to tell you all, we have a lot going on here in your community. Not just the completion of the Federal Way Link project, but of course making progress on the Operations and Maintenance Facility South, Tacoma Dome Link Extension, And those TOD sites at the downtown station where the multi-service center will be delivering affordable housing on sites one and two. So I'm not going to read that whole timeline to you, but you have it as a resource. And with that, I have a thank you slide. And I'm trying to follow my assignment to be fast. So I'll defer to you all.

All right, thank you. Council President Honda?

Excuse me. Thank you, Katie, for coming all the way down to Federal Way to talk to us. I appreciate it. On the last slide you showed that had the timeline? Yeah. It said OMF South groundbreaking quarter one, 2027. Yes. So is Christian Faith Center that they have to be out of there by then?

No, that's a good question. So as you know, it's a very large site. So we are continuing to work with the church and with the school on interim location because there will be a period of time when the new church location won't be ready. But we will need to be fully on the site. That's actually going to be later in 2027. But we're going to start work elsewhere on the site Earlier next year. We've got the contractor on board And you you know how this works with so many wetlands It's really important to do work in the dry season and have that environmental sensitivity. So Getting some of that work done while also continuing our coordination with the church. They don't have to be out in q1 of 2027 I'm an expert at the long answer to the short question. Thank you That's where we suffered awesome

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for sharing this with us. And it's so lovely to have the light rail here in Federal Way and ending here because I've taken it a couple of times and what a relief to not have to drive or even think about it until you get to your destination. So I'm pleased. Well, I was in Redmond today, just my small thing here, and their transit center is amazingly beautiful. So at some point, is there any way we can kind of upgrade Federal Way Center because it's kind of not appealing as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't sit around, stand around there and look around. There's nothing really to look at aesthetically and maybe this is too late, but I just thought I'd bring it up because their place is really amazing.

Yeah, I would love to hear more specifically so we can connect later. But I will say, you know, it's going to still take some time for the station area to develop. And we're, of course, working with the city on the vision for that mixed use, mixed income. I know there's a lot of empty space there right now.

Well, I'm talking about the station itself, actually.

Oh, OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. Let's talk. I would love to understand more. OK. Thank you. All right.

Thank you. All right. Well, thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Thanks for the work you do every day.

Thanks, Mayor. I'm always happy to come and give you an update. So you know where to find me.

Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. And now we're going to get a brief update from Keith Divider, Community Development Director, of the request of the council regarding the Booker House and the Red Lion Hotel with regard to just what the status is on both those properties.

Keith? Good evening, Mayor. Thank you, Council President and Council Members. Keith Niven, Community Development Director. So at the request of the Council, I sent out an email on June 1st to provide an update uh... about where we are with the booker house and redline and tonight i'm just going to recap that email uh... nothing has changed but this will be information for the community so can go and share so booker house It used to be the Extended Stay America on 320th, just east of Uptown Square on 320th. The Urban League continues to increase occupancy at this facility. There are currently 57 occupants in the building, and the Urban League believes it will be fully occupied by the first week of July. So that's going to be here before we know it. Council member Hamilton followed up with a question and asked how many of the 57 occupants had ties to Federal Way and the answer from the Urban League was 44 and that's just over three quarters of the people there. So the Red Lion, and the Booker House, just to be clear on what it is, it's permanent supportive housing. So it's for people making between 0% and 30% of the area median income. But it is permanent housing for folks. The idea is hopefully that people move in there. They ultimately improve their life standards and can move into higher income housing at some point. The Red Lion is different. It is emergency shelter. It is for people that are homeless and transitioning into stable housing but currently needing a place for housing. So the county bought the Red Lion back in 2021. It's been quite a while. And it's still going through renovations on the inside. They are hoping to have occupants in there by August, but based on my building inspectors, they think it's probably more likely going to be October, realistically, to just, again, to throw a realistic expectation out, which... is positive in that it would be before we hit the cold weather at the end of the year, but it's still a lot longer than I think anybody expected. And just as a reminder, Catholic Community Services will be the operator of the Red Lion when it's up and running. So with that, that's all I have to share. Are there any additional questions from the City Council?

All right. Keshra Hamilton.

Well, thank you so much, Keith, for... reporting on this I feel like I kind of started this conversation and actually it started with meetings with constituents who are concerned about homelessness which is a huge issue in our community it's something I get asked a lot about as a council member is what are we doing about homelessness and so it was important for me to understand the capacity that we had in our city to to bring people indoors and when I had asked when I had followed up on my you know research on what was going on at the Booker house on May 8th only 19 of the 86 beds had been filled and so that concerned me because we have 86 available units and if only 19 are filled then we've got a lot of empty beds And then it sounds like on May or I'm sorry on a The very next month All of a sudden, 57 were filled. Do you know why the jump all of a sudden? I'm just curious.

Sure. So part of it is the process that the Urban League is following to vet people for occupancy there. I mean, there's a lot of, besides the income qualifications, there's also expectations that they're ready to move into permanent supportive housing. And so they assign case workers because there's social services that go with those residents that are living there. So I think it was all of that system had to get up and running. And the more people they got in, the more it became efficient, which allowed them to bring people in at a quicker rate. I think it was just thinking about like, you know, a car going from zero to 60, it starts off slow but then eventually gets to a quicker speed. And I think that's what was happening in this facility is it just took them a while to get staffed up and to kind of make sure that the vetting process was what the city was expecting as well.

Thank you. And I'm very happy to hear that 44 of the 57 do have ties to Federal Way. I'm curious to know how they determine ties to Federal Way, but we can talk about that later. But do you know when all 86 will be utilized?

We're hoping, what the Urban League said was hopefully in the first week of July, so in about three weeks. Okay. It should be at full occupancy.

okay and I'll be following up on that in July and then hopefully we'll get the red lion open because we desperately need that open especially with the cold weather October is a little late so hopefully we don't have super cold days in October so thank you so much for that report Keith you're welcome I'm just remember something awesome yeah actually thank you customer member Hamilton just wanted to say thank you for

moving it forward opening both sites because it's been a long time in the works and it was much needed and so seeing it come to fruition and helping supporting our population that really needs to be housed no matter where they are in their life is critical and I'm glad that we are opening the doors for people who need it the most and I think we took a long time with all these concerns and these policies that needed to come up and not to mention all the issues that were happening with code and forth code and with King County and whatnot but still the people who needed the most are the ones who were left behind and so I'm glad that we are doing this and I'm just happy to see it happen And the sooner it happens, the better. So thank you so much. So I look forward to really being engaged in that in both places. So thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Council Member.

All right. Council Member Walsh.

Yeah. Thanks for your report, Keith. Some questions I don't have. I think you'll be able to answer them. There are probably more, but you can help us get the answers, I'm sure. As Councilmember Hamilton was saying, I'm very pleased that 44 of them do have ties to Federal Way. I would very much like to know what their definition of a tie to Federal Way is. Is it somebody that moved to Federal Way four days before to be able to go in or what? I mean, I suspect that some of them have very strong ties and maybe a little more tenuous, I don't know, but it would be great to know. And with that, does it mean that there's 44 fewer homeless people on the streets, you know, here in Federal Way? You know, that would be great to know just what, you know, are they actually moving off of the streets onto the, into it. I'd like to know that. And then Back to the red lion. Has there been any more talk or progress about the day center being relocated there?

I'll give you my perspective, which represents my perspective only. So what happened when the county got a new executive, a lot of the county staff that were at leadership levels and were replaced with new staff. So for example, if you remember, Kelly Ryder came and spoke to the council a number of times, and Kelly is no longer with the county. And so the people that we had conversations with about moving the day center into the pool house of the Red Lion, they're all gone, like every single one of them. And so we had to start all over with a conversation with new county staff. to talk about that as an outcome. And those new county staff had to go have conversations with county electeds. And that's where that ball has been left at the moment is they need to go kind of vet that with the electeds to see what that felt like. So it's still a topic of conversation. It's just we somehow ended up back on square one when we thought we were more like on square five.

All right, thank you. Yep.

Thanks for all your work. Councilor Sovedoffsen?

Yeah, I just want to, and I hear this often, where we're talking about they must be residents of Federal Way. I don't know why that's, you know, I want to push back because I've heard it enough times. If someone who was originally from Federal Way was to go somewhere else and is not able to be housed because they're from Federal Way, I wouldn't appreciate that. And same with, because it should have no boundaries. If you're experiencing homelessness or not being housed, I would like to see that they are housed wherever they're at and wherever they feel comfortable being at. And so I think this fear of people would come if we build it, I think is what is driving this conversation. And I would really encourage the council to step back from that and say, you know what, they need the support, and let that support them wherever they're at. Because I'd love to see Federal Way people, they happen to be in Spokane, and they say they're from Federal Way, and they say, oh no, sorry, you're not, here. How does that serve people who need the service and who are vulnerable and need it the most? So I just wanted to push back on that because I hear it a lot. And thank you so much for the time.

Council President Honda and then Council Member Coachmark.

Thank you. Keith, we've heard over the last two years at least that the Red Line was going to open It opened, it opened, and it hasn't. So how can we make sure that we get it open before next winter?

So I mean, we can only do what we can do in terms of city, which is permitting and inspections, right? I mean, that's our role is really, it's the contractors that are working for the county. And unfortunately, just the way that it's working, they've hired a number of contractors rather than a single general contractor. So there's people trying to stay out of each other's way, which doesn't mean it's moving as efficiently as it could. But from a city responsibility perspective, my staff are facilitating inspections and conversations with the county and their contractors as much as we can.

So I've been checking on this site about twice a week and the last three weeks I haven't seen anyone over there no work trucks in the daytime so I just I think we as a city really need to stand up and say that it needs to be opened by October if that's what they're saying we need to get this available for those people without housing so they don't have to stay out in the cold anymore this is just not acceptable to continue to to let it go and I know that's not so I know we're not running it I know it's not our we're not doing the construction but it's in our city it's for people who live here and we need to get people housed in the wintertime

You know, I've made that abundantly clear with our new executive and the new executive's regional political person as well as the policy person as well. So I've made it abundantly clear. We've been talking with their folks and make it very clear. They've got to coordinate this work. We've got to get this open. We've delivered that message over and over.

And will pets be allowed?

I don't know the answer to that, but I can check into that.

Okay, so if I was, I would, pets are important.

Yes.

Okay, thank you. Council Member Coachmark.

Thank you, Keith, for your report. I'm wondering, you know, since personal drug use is allowed, I'm wondering if we have any stats on how many people are seeking counseling.

At the Booker House?

At the Booker House.

I don't have that information, but I can check into that for you, Councilmember, and get back with you.

You know, it's a terrible thing to be trapped, not just in homelessness, but also in drug addiction. It's a terrible thing. I'm wondering, with Union Gospel Mission, I believe I know the answer, but what their success rate is for helping people to get into permanent housing and drug-free. I'm just wondering what their stats are for that.

I will find out.

Just send an email. I think we should all say thank you to Harold Booker. He's in the audience. Would you raise your hand, Harold? Yeah. Yeah. The Booker house is named after his father, so love to hear the story about that sometime, Harold. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Keith. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Okay, now we are ready for the Council Committee and Regional Committee reports. I will call first on Council Member Walsh with the Land Use and Transportation Committee.

Yes. We met on June 1st, and there are two items on the consent agenda, item B and C, that came out of that meeting. And also out of that meeting came the 2027-32 Transportation Improvement Program, which we'll be having the public hearing on tonight and then going on to council businesses, item 7A. And then our next meeting will be July 6th right here. And that is my report.

All right. Thank you very much. Councilmember Sessoms parks, recreation, human services and public safety committee. Thank you, mayor.

The, the committee met last week on Tuesday, June 9th with all members in attendance. Uh, tonight we'll be addressing the following items. Item a on the public hearing agenda, item B on the council business agenda, And we're also going to have our first reading of the Massage Business Ordinance. Next meeting will be Tuesday, July 12th, 5 p.m. right here in the Council Chambers. That concludes my report.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Kochmar, the Finance Economic Development and Regional Affairs Committee.

thank your next meeting will be june thirtieth five p m in city chambers here and uh... i've asked for at the mayor for a and report periodically on economic development we need to move our city forward And not just kind of we're having wonderful community events, but we need to attract businesses here. We've always wanted that. But we need to attract businesses that provide living wage jobs to our city. And I think that we need to put an emphasis on that. Thank you, Mayor.

Great. Thank you very much. Okay. Council Member Sefa Dawson, Logic Tax Advisory Committee and Public Issue Committee.

Yeah, so our next meeting for the Logic Tax Advisory Committee meeting is going to be July 14th at 2 p.m. As most of you know, Meredith Neal just left as our Economic Development Director, so we're still going to have the meeting whether or not we have a new director in that position. PIC last Wednesday, we met at the PAC after the state of the county address. Thank you, Mayor, for making it possible. They appreciated using that space. We had our hybrid meeting, which was kind of difficult and complicated, but we made it happen. We made it work. We had laptops, phones. headsets, all the things. So glad technology works, but it wasn't as intended, but we still managed to make it work. So it was one of our shortest meetings. One thing for PIC is attendance has increased in terms of city representation, so that's really good news. Our next meeting is going to be on July 8th. And it's an in-person meeting in Kirkland and we're gonna have a virtual tour of the Crisis Care Center that is built there. And I just, I want to say thank you to EJ and Rob for your input to the draft 2027 Solid Waste Rate Response Letter. Because they've been asking cities to really get engaged and involved in addressing those and being part of it because they represent 38 cities and they wanna hear the various cities so our input is very important and the next essay summer social is on July 22nd at 530 in Maple Valley at I forgot Lake wilderness I think so yeah something like that yeah and I think with that I end my report Thank You mayor great Thank You councilmember

Okay, now we're under the council president report council president.

Thank you. I saw council AWC sent had a very informative newsletter yesterday There are two things on there that are really important. I think to the council one is July 15th They have foundations of the city budget, which is an online one-hour class. You can earn CML credits it's recommended for new council members as well as seasoned council members and And if you are a new council member or you need a refresher and a really intense refresher in budgeting, August 5th and 6th in Leavenworth is a municipal budgeting and fiscal management workshop. It's a really good workshop. um they it used to be one day and i the whole council went with a day once to south center and we took it in south center that class and then some of us have gone to leavenworth to do the two-day class it's very worth your time so um please think about if you can fit that into your schedules I attended Skateboard today. We talked about Metro's next stop and that was all about Metro in 2038 and what it's going to look like for Us and how we get around the region Tomorrow at the Regional Transit Committee. We're going to talk about that again and also safety on Metro coaches. I would like to thank the Community Center staff, especially those who work with our seniors there was a senior night out event a couple Fridays ago and It was packed. In fact, they were they didn't have any more space for people to come in and a senior and is considered somewhat over 50 so a lot of people qualify there was um dinner sponsored by village green and dancing and i have to say it was just a lot of fun for people and i hope that village green does that again it was fifteen dollars a person but people were told me they had so much fun they'd be willing to pay a lot more it was it was just a lot of fun so other than that I think I will oh and Juneteenth the library on First Avenue King County Library I think for the third year now had a big Juneteenth program on Saturday and it is the only library in King County where they're doing the Juneteenth program this year it was so big that the vendors were on the school district property it was huge And it went all day. It was, if you can go next year, I'd really encourage you to go. I have asked the library CEO if she'll send us more information early on so we can inform people. And also, Integrity Church had a Juneteenth celebration on the same day, on Saturday.

Okay, thank you very much. All right, now the most important part of the meeting, to hear from the public, you folks are the folks we work for, and so we'll go ahead and get started on that. I'll call out the names, and if you could sort of queue up toward the back, we can get through these efficiently. green when the light turns green that means go you've got three minutes unless you're here for more than five or five people or more that are present with you so green means go yellow means you've got 30 seconds or red means please stop and obviously everybody knows the rules regarding decorum they're written on the on the pink sheets so the first speaker is for five minutes it's a Judy Blake, who gave a list of individuals who printed their name and signed their name. So Judy Blake will be first, and then we'll have, Judy, before you get started, why don't I rattle off a couple of the other folks? But you can get ready. You can get your notes all ready and everything. Next will be Gerald Verbitsky, Tracy Palumbo, Jeffrey Tancredi, Doug Stensby, Gordon Bach, Jerry Voorhees, And a Patrick. We'll list off the next batch after we get through those. Okay, with that, go ahead. Okay, I can start? Yes.

Okay. My name's Judy Blake. I've been a resident of Federal Waves since 1980, moving to Regency Woods in 1993, which is by Wild Waves. I'm speaking on behalf of several residents from Regency Woods and Brittany Lane. Before I address concerns of the podium I-5 proposal data, I want to share some residents' comments. Many of the neighbors I spoke with feel what this part of Federal Way needs is an affordable year-round family entertainment rather than a warehouse. Also, there is a concern about the impact on our real estate values and desirability to live in our neighborhoods from current as well as new residents. There are concerns with the data and proposal information showing that there will be no vehicle impact to residents of Regency Woods and Brittany Lane if the Podium I-5 project with approximately 1 million square foot warehouse is approved. The architectural site plan shows there's 577 total auto stalls for parking are required for this plan. 327 trailer stalls are provided and there will be 176 dock doors. The auto turn analysis section states that the three project site driveways can accommodate WB-67 trucks. According to the DOT, these trucks often utilize a 53-foot trailer with bumper-to-bumper lengths, usually 73 1⁄2 to 76 feet. According to the findings slash conclusions page, Podium I-5 is estimated to generate 1,517 new weekday daily trips. This includes 445 total daily truck trips And this would be in addition to the 2% growth rate that was added to the 2025 existing traffic. There were 94 pages of data collected for April 2nd and April 7th, 2026 at the eight off-site study intersections that were used in this proposal. These dates do not reflect normal traffic pattern. August 2nd, 2026 was student-led teacher conferences and so there was no school buses and it was not normal school hours and that was just one day of the conferences on Tuesday April 7th that was during the week-long spring break no school buses no school at all and that was data that they used also I noticed that there was no data on about the traffic coming off the I-5 exit near Jet Chevrolet that tends to back up in the afternoon on Enchanted Parkway. Bridgeport I-5 Seattle is located about 1.1 miles from 369th Street and Milton Ray South. I used bridgepointi5.com for my data source. I would like the possible vehicle impact taken into consideration as this is a warehouse and distribution complex. There are now semi-trailers parked at the facility and we've driven in there. There is more activity happening. Building 1, which is the big building you see from Milton Road, has about one million square feet and it already has a tenant the other three buildings on their property once occupied will add an additional one million square feet onto the complex this site includes over one thousand one hundred eighty eight parking spaces and 301 trailer parking spaces. That's a lot of vehicles traveling in and out on a daily, weekday basis. The complex is completed and getting ready to add vehicles to our roads. How can Podium I-5 add to this vehicle traffic without collecting data once Bridge Point I-5 Seattle trucks and passenger vehicles are on the roads? According to Milton Road South Safety Assessment, Federal Way has a concern about the curve that's on Milton Road where 372nd transitions to it. It is only one quarter mile from the site. and they consider it a potential concern. So it's proposing to put in a dynamic curve warning system to lower the speed of those people on it. The project's estimating to send 40 weekday morning peak hour and 45 weekday afternoon peak hour trips through this curve. But how many non-peak vehicles in addition from this project will also travel these curves? And time-wise, how will this truck traffic impact our neighborhood commuters? So I know my time's up.

Thank you very much. And, Judy, just so you know, we have your written comments, and Keith will make sure when this meeting is over, we need to make sure from community development standpoint they get a copy of your. Great. Great. That's what I have. So, Keith, after this meeting, can you get a copy of this from Heather to make sure it's included in the record and also for your consideration?

Yes.

Very good. Thank you very much, Judy, and everybody else who signed in. Gerald Verbitsky.

Mayor, President, City Council. Concerning flags being displayed, contrary to popular belief, unity is our strength, not diversity, which takes us all over the map. We don't want to follow every idea, just the ones that work, that keep us strong and our society intact. People can still be proud and celebrate who they are, where they came from, and what they believe, and that's fine, but it shouldn't be forced on everyone. On an official scale, celebrate the things that bring us together as Americans. If you honor everyone's flag, the really important ones get lost in the mix as just another flag and lose their meaning to people. If you honor only some flags, it's unfair to others, some being more equal than others. There are people who prefer their flag to respecting our nation's flag. When everything else seems to be watered down these days, we need to keep a reminder of who we are to rally around the basic standards that bind us together clear and simple. No need to complicate things. As for the gay rights flag in particular, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, so to speak, as they have the right to celebrate whatever is legal and hopefully in good taste like everyone else. But is it really the job of government to officially honor someone's sexual preferences with a flag out front, gay or otherwise? If we're a democracy, maybe, but in a republic sort of way, cooler heads need to think out the legality of it. Rather than getting swept up by the mass hysteria that seems to be a popular thing to do because we want to be compassionate to the loudest voices, let's not remake the rules. Let's keep the playing field fair for every citizen of Federal Way and also not waste our money on unnecessary expenses. Thank you, Mayor, President, City Council.

All right, thank you. All right, Tracy Palumbo.

Hello. All right. Hello. My name is Tracy Palumbo. I've been a resident here at Federal Way my entire life. And the reason I'm here is to talk about the flag policy. I would be okay with the council leaving the flag policy the way it is because hanging the American flag covers all nationalities and cultures that have come to America to find opportunity and make a better life. However, If you are going to change a policy, then I will be petitioning the council to fly the Norwegian flag and the Viking flag on October 9th, which is Leif Erikson's Day here in the United States. Thank you.

Jeffrey Tancredi.

Good evening, Mayor, Council President Honda, and council members. Nice to see you. Jeff Tancredi, Federal Way resident, 30 years. Juneteenth. Juneteenth originated. On June 19, 1865, when the Union Army, acting under the authority of the Republican-led federal government, arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved people in the former Confederacy. The Republican Party was formed in 1854 as the Anti-Slavery Party. Its mission was to stop the spread of slavery. into the new western territories with the aim of abolishing it entirely. Without the leadership and signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Republican President Lincoln, the legal bedrock for Juneteenth would not have existed. While the Union Army physically delivered the news and enforced the law on the ground, the political framework driving emancipation was enacted by the Republican Party. Galveston, Texas is the official birthplace of Juneteenth, as this is where General Gordon Granger arrived on June 19, 1865, to read General Order No. 3, officially declaring enslaved people in Texas free. On December 6, 1865, seven months after Juneteenth, the 13th Amendment was ratified. which is abolishing slavery. All Republicans in Congress voted for the 13th Amendment. Only 16 Democrats in Congress voted to abolish slavery. It should also be noted that the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th Amendments were the holy grail of civil rights for former slaves. The Democrat Party vehemently opposed those three amendments. So tonight, I salute President Lincoln, the Union Army, and the Republican Party for making Juneteenth a reality.

Doug Stensby, then Gordon Buck.

Good evening, Mayor and Council President and Council Members. I'm Doug Stensby. I've been a resident of Federal Way for 22 years and a resident of the Council Chambers in the back there for many, many nights, but you know that. It seems that the wisdom of the council in drafting the current flag policy has proved its wisdom. in that you are avoiding the kinds of things that would lead to endless discussion, instead keeping with the three flags that we are all obligated to allegiance. But I realize that that's not sufficient. So I would suggest that a distinction be made between what we identify as, that is as residents and citizens of Federal Way and the state of Washington and the United States of America. And everybody else gets to celebrate together things that are important to them. Last week I had great Mexican food. I celebrated that, but I do not need to be Mexican. When I went to my dentist, my dentist who is a second generation Vietnamese, his parents came here in a boat back in the 70s, The woman who cleaned my teeth was born in eastern Ukraine, learned to speak Russian first, and finally was given the opportunity to emigrate here. All of these things are things that we can celebrate along with Juneteenth and the things that we learned from the things that didn't go well. The internment of Japanese American citizens, All of these things are things that I think we could find a separate place to raise a flag for a short duration and to celebrate these as we voluntarily choose to. But the three flags that are currently on the platform outside must remain. Thank you. Thank you.

As Gordon Buck makes his way up here, I do want to recognize, come on up, Gordon. I want to recognize, we have Joan Murphy, our school board, one of our school board directors present. Welcome, Director Murphy. Let's give her a big, perfect.

What's that?

Oh, yeah, yeah. And, of course, our Lake Haven Commissioner, Juan Juarez-Ramos. All right, Gordon Buck.

Great. Thank you, Mayor Farrell, and thank you, Federal Way City Council. My name is Gordon Bock. I've lived in Federal Way 25 years. I, like many citizens in Federal Way, run a business, work hours to support families, raise kids, sometimes find it difficult to attend these meetings. But I did last meeting, and I want to thank the City Council for reaffirming that our flagpoles should represent the seat of government and nothing else. Not long ago, this was the norm. But as our country has grown more divided, pressure has increased to use government flag foals for private causes. This issue brings strong feelings between those who want to maintain neutrality and those who want their banners flown. There are three key reasons why your decision to maintain neutrality is valuable for all the citizens of Federal Way. One, inclusivity. In our society, everyone has the ability to express their views, fly their banners, petition their government, but when a government flagpole becomes a platform for private messaging, it stops being a neutral landmark. Allowing one group's flag invites others to expect the same, as we've seen, or forces the government to decide which causes are worthy and which ones are not. This path divides us. Keeping government flagpoles for government flags ensures no citizen feels alienated by the symbols of their own government. Two, preserves the weight of the institution. And this is pretty important. The moral symbol is used for shifting causes or trends the less meeting it carries. The flagpole meant to represent the enduring functions of government should not be diluted by constant repurposing. Government flagpoles should represent the seat of government, not private ideologies. A path towards unity. Let our government flagpoles paid for by all citizens of our community remain what they were intended to be. Consistent, unifying symbols of our shared civic identity. Individuals and groups can and should express their viewpoints through their own property events and advocacy. But the structures of government must remain neutral. They belong to all of us. Thank you for ensuring that the government-owned flagpoles represent all of the citizens of Federal Way. Thank you.

Jerry Voorhees, then Anna Patrick.

Good evening mayor and council members and members of the community. My name is Jerry Voorhees and I have been a resident, we've been residents of Federal Way for over a decade. I'm an organizer of the South Sound Gaze Community which connects more than 1,200 LGBTQ people, allies and local businesses. I'm here to ask you to restore the pride flag as a symbol of inclusion, visibility and belonging in Federal Way. To some, the pride flag is simply a piece of fabric, but to queer people, the pride flag represents something much deeper. It sends a message that we are seen, that we matter, and that we belong in the community we call home. My husband and I have been together over 25 years. When Washington was debating marriage equality, many of us stood up and advocated for our relationships, families, and equal treatment under the law. We were told that we were a threat to society and that we did not belong. Some of us were harassed and even spit on. Many of us learned that we felt like we were treated as outsiders in our own communities. We've learned that when communities choose inclusion, everyone benefits and that visibility matters. When people are seen and welcomed, they are more likely to participate, contribute and invest in where they live. That is why the pride flag matters. For a young person, it can be a sign that they are not alone. For same sex couples raising a family or families with a queer son or daughter, it's reassurance that their community still welcomes them. For adults who have spent their lives hiding who they are, it's a reminder that they are valued members of this city. It communicates that queer residents are part of the fabric of Federal Way and deserve the same dignity, respect and recognition as everyone else. The question tonight is larger than a flag. We are still here, living in a time that we're told we do not belong. Our relationships do not count and that our families aren't worthy of recognition. While we have made progress, those messages have not disappeared. Where people still face hostility, discrimination, efforts to erase our voices. That is why visibility still matters. That is why the symbol of inclusion and that pride flag matter. When a city chooses to fly the pride flag, it sends a powerful message that you belong here. You do not have to hide who you are. When people feel uncertain about whether they are accepted, that message can change the difference. I believe Federal Way is a community that values all of its residents, and I want the next generation of LGBTQ people growing up here to know that the city values them too. I respectfully ask that you restore the pride flag and reaffirm that our LGBTQ community is seen, welcomed, and valued here. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, Anna Patrick. Then Lana Bostic.

Evening, Mayor and Council. I am a 30-year resident of Federal Way. I want to begin by acknowledging that Pride Month and Juneteenth are very important to many people in our community. Residents should absolutely be free to celebrate those events, organize gatherings, and express support in ways that are meaningful to them. My concern tonight is not about Pride or Juneteenth. It is about whether City Hall should reverse its previous decision and begin selectively raising certain flags again. Over the years, our city hosted a variety of flag raisings. Some were positive, others became controversial. Staff time was spent coordinating events, requests had to be evaluated, and difficult decisions had to be made about which groups qualified and which did not. Eventually, the city chose to fly the American flag, Washington state flag, and city flag while treating all groups equally. The question before us is not whether Pride or Juneteenth are worthy of recognition. The question is whether government should once again be placed in the position of deciding which causes receive special recognition and which do not. Once exceptions are made, the same questions return, why these groups and not others, what standards will be used, and what happens when the next question or request arrives. I also believe the city's primary responsibility is to provide core services and protect public safety. When someone experiences harassment, discrimination, threats, or violence, what matters most is not which flag is flying over City Hall. What matters is whether the city has the resources and capacity to respond, investigate, and protect the people involved. I also believe participation should remain voluntary. People should be free to celebrate causes they support and free to respectfully decline participation without being labeled hateful or intolerant. A healthy community makes room for people with different beliefs and perspectives. Real inclusion means recognizing that people are not required to share the same political beliefs in order to be treated with dignity and respect. Finally, I would ask that we remember the difference between symbolism and participation. The most important thing a city can offer is not a place on a flagpole, it is a place at the table. Every resident still has the same opportunity to walk into the chamber, stand at this podium, and be heard. Equal access to the democratic process belongs to everyone, and it remains one of the strongest expressions of inclusion local government can provide. Thank you.

Lana Bostic.

I'm looking up something real quick. Hi, my name is Lana Bostic, and I have lived in Federal Way for 45 years. And I am here because I would like you to reverse the policy you have about the flags at this time. And when I was thinking about this, I thought how this has just been really a big mistake. And I want to read something that says, mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are, precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way unless it's a fatal mistake, which at least others can learn from. So my feeling about this is that somebody came here and brought up the flag policy, although it had not been problematic in the past as far as I know that we had had the pride flag, the Juneteenth flag. then you voted to take that away to change that. I think you made a mistake and maybe you thought no one would care or no one would notice or it's not really a big deal and people aren't going to get upset about it, but that's not what I feel is happening. There's a lot of people here that are speaking out against this, but there's a lot of people who are not comfortable coming here. first for many reasons and I and a lot of people here are wanting to speak for them for the people who just aren't comfortable to be here and talk about this so I feel that at this point a lot of people have came out and want you to remedy your mistake that you made. And you have a grand opportunity here to do this by passing the amendment tonight. I think the only mistake, wait a minute, that the mistake is that it can be admitted and changed and we can go forward as you cannot correct this. with a mistake you can either you can either correct it and and always have that corrected or you can not correct it and then people will lose confidence and respect I believe in you and our city and not feel comfortable here I hope tonight that you will make the correct decision and pass this amendment so we can have these flags again thank you thank you

Okay, these are the remaining speakers, and again, if you could queue up toward the back, we'll go through them. Mike Dickinson, Trenise Rogers, Alex Milston, Rachel Jones, Paul McDaniel, Harold Booker, Nathan Orth, Allison Fine, Ryan Lee via Zoom, Carmen Kaler, Ron Kaler, Dara Mandeville, Vitaly Pikatin, Craig Patrick. All right, Mike Dickinson.

Okay, Mr. Mayor, council members, council chairman Conda, I'm a Federal Way resident. I've lived here since 1985. Okay, I was going to say something about a flag and why it could be important to have it displayed, but I'm going to change all that and just say that, make it short, that says that the more you section things off, you know, you section off this flag for this or this flag for that or this day for that, it divides us. And when people are, you know, I thought we were supposed to be coming together. This is our city, all of us. It's not just me. It's not just you. It's everybody. This is our city. We can vote on things. If we have a problem with the flag, why don't we put it on a ballot or something? I mean, let's fix it. You know, let the majority rule. I mean, you think, oh, there's such a short minority that might not be able to pass the vote. What is the city? We've got to come together and do this as a unit, not just a single person. And that's it. All right. Thank you. Trenise Rogers.

Then Alex Milspun.

I just want to first say I appreciate the previous comment about people not wanting to be here because they feel very uncomfortable. They've lost trust in city government. They've been lied on and lies have been allowed to linger without being corrected. So I stand here extremely uncomfortable. But what I have to say is very much needed. I'm here tonight to support the raising of the Juneteenth flag. I want to begin by recognizing that Juneteenth stands on its own. It should be recognized on its own merit, on its own history, on its own significance. The recognition of Juneteenth should not be depended upon or diminished by debates surrounding any other flags or observance. Federalist model centered on opportunity. Opportunity is only meaningful when people are free to pursue it. From 1776 to Juneteenth in 1865 is 89 years. That means that for approximately 36% of America's first 250 years, slavery was legal somewhere in the United States. Think about that. For more than a third of our own nation's history, millions of black men and women and children were denied the very freedoms of our country. Freedom has been declared, but not yet to all. The delay in freedom was not merely a delay in policy. It was a delay in human freedom. Families continue to be separated. They continue to lose opportunities. The opportunities were essentially denied, and human dignity continued to be withheld. Juneteenth marks the moment where freedom finally reached their full potential and when people that were waiting for generations for it. Why does this matter? Juneteenth flag is not simply a cultural symbol. It represents emancipation, resilience, citizenship, hope, and the expansion of liberty itself. Juneteenth is a national commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, as we all know that, but by overlooking this unique place in history, we're pretty much saying it's not that important. If a seat of government cannot recognize the end of slavery in the United States, then where should it be recognized? If recognizing the end of slavery is considered divisive, then we should ask ourselves why. I also want to remind the council that this is not a new tradition in Federal Way. If concerns about issues have influenced the decision, then Juneteenth has become a collateral damage in a debate that is not about Juneteenth. I've heard council members speak about importance of attracting businesses that provide livable wages. I respectfully ask, how does rescinding the Juneteenth flag advance that goal? And lastly, I am trying to access everyone's emails, and I spoke with the team today or last week, and effectively now it's been for about a year. When you click on the links, the public does not have access to your emails. The city is aware of it, and it has not been corrected.

Thank you very much. Thank you. We've heard no such. Thank you. Would you talk to Thomas to make sure that the links are?

Yeah, we can do that.

All right, great. We've never been told that the links to our council members are not active. Rachel Jones. Then Paul McDaniel. Wasn't Alex before me? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, I was holding Alex. Alex Milston.

Yeah. My name's Alex Milston and I'm a 20-year resident of Federal Way. So yesterday I went to the beach and I saw a bald eagle fly overhead. I don't see them often and it was really cool to see. And as I saw it, I kind of thought about the founding of this country and how the promise of liberty was only half done at best. Juneteenth and the end of chattel slavery is an extremely important part of our history that we must celebrate because for a good chunk of our history, over a third, chattel slavery was extremely prevalent throughout our country in the South and in parts of the North as well, which is often overlooked. and racism and discrimination did not end there. It continued in both the North and the South, and the ruling class worked tirelessly. The plantation owners, the factory owners, et cetera, worked very hard to keep the black community down through these policies of racism, propaganda, and stuff that continues to this day. Every right now, or every single human right that we have now has been fought and fought hard by our black community, often at the end of bayonet, hoses, riot shields, tear gas, and rifles. Those state resources, the amount of state resources that have been used on flags or whatever is nothing compared to the state resources that have been used to persecute every minority imaginable, especially the black minority and the queer minorities. One such right that has been won by black transgender women in large part is the queer pride that we celebrate now, Stonewall, where the New York Police Department pigs attacked the Stonewall Inn and the people there, many of them black transgender women, fought back. These fights, as tear gas is used on protesters now and rights for transgender, especially our black transgender siblings are under attack now, are still going on today. The fights are still on today. And we must raise these flags because every right won can, and as we've seen in several countries across this world and in many states now, can and will be taken away by the fascist anti-American traitors in the White House and in multiple governorships across this country. An injury to one is an injury to all and it's very important that we as a city recognize that. And I want to emphasize how not that long ago it was where people like me would be dragged down and our skulls cracked on the pavement for daring to wear something like this into a government building and how not that long ago and even now black people have also been had their skulls cracked on the pavement by by thugs pretending to be, or masquerading as law enforcement, the pigs in several police departments. It's disgraceful, and it continues now, and it's important our city raises flags to say that we're on the right side of history.

Rachel Jones.

Hello. My name is Rachel Jones. I've lived in Federal Way for 26 years now, I believe. First, I'd like to thank you for finally deciding to do an actual Juneteenth celebration. This just teaches us that it's never too late for the city to do the right thing. Tonight, you have another chance to do the right thing again. Adding an amendment to the flag policy isn't the perfect answer. Yes, it does need a full overhaul, as I feel like other people have mentioned and will mention, but this is a band-aid to right some wrongs before it's too late for this month. I've seen some concerning rhetoric in local discussions, especially on social media, regarding both Juneteenth and Pride that just prove why raising flags and acknowledging these communities is so important. I think it's time for our city to actively work against the ignorance that thrives here. Please start with passing this amendment. And since other people are recommending flags, I also would recommend the disability flag, which is fairly new to the world of flags. I believe it's from 2021 is the current design. But so I would look into that for the city as well. Thank you.

Paul McDaniel.

Then Harold Booker. Good evening, Paul McDaniel. Been in residence since the 1990s. First of all, I'll answer the comment about the mistake. The mistake was to allow this to happen in the first place when the mayor decided to fly a flag. That opened the door, and it's not shut yet. I don't know if it's ever going to shut, but we'll see sooner or later. My issue is not with flags. It's with politicians. It's with the government. It's with people in power who never have to be accountable for anything. And I'll go over some ideas on that one and why. I want to thank the council for proving me right. On June 9th, 2026, in a parks meeting that's not on YouTube yet, you guys decided to pass a motion that we're going to talk about tonight. In that motion, you proved me right by choosing winners and losers. Where's the Irish flag? You had three flags you used to fly. You only put a motion for two. What happened to the Irish? You don't care about them? Apparently not. You know why? Because the ends justify the means. Doesn't matter as long as you get your flag, right? That's all that counts. Again, it's the politicians and the policies that I have a problem with, not the flags. In January, the 12th man flag identified as a banner and was put on the building. Why not the Irish flag? Why not the pride flag? Again, inconsistencies with policies, and nothing ever happens, except for talk, lots of talk. Six meetings, six parks meetings it took you to get this motion. The motions less than two sentences. Why'd it take six meetings? Why'd you waste that much time to do it? Now we're going to move on to what we are not actually, let me start with that one. Three council members were really wanting to make this motion push forward. My question to them is, did you reach out to the federal public market? A non-governmental organization who said they would take up this battle, who have no problem flying whatever flags people want, keeping the government out of this. Did any of you talk to it? I'll find out because on May 29th, I did a public records request on this information before you guys even had your vote. I didn't even know you guys were going to make a motion at the parks meeting. So now I'll find out when I get a public records request if you guys actually reached out to the federal way public market to see if that was an opportunity that would have closed all the issues we have right now. It would have allowed you to fly your flags. It would have given you a spot. It would have had everybody give the voice, and it would have kept the government out of everybody's business. But no. No. Instead, we're here talking about this. So what are we not talking about? We're not talking about the diminishing revenues or fund balances. We should probably really talk about that one, especially in the budget cycle. We're not talking about the crap going on at the William J. Woods House Veterans. Some garbage going on there. Ran by MSC, who was provided with the two buildings that go on downtown Federal Way. Might want to keep a check on them before they start building more buildings in downtown. And we also want to talk about the increase in temporary residents that are walking our streets and sitting in our wards. We talked about buildings that storm in, but we actually haven't talked about what we're going to do with them since they've been increasing during the summer. Instead, we're talking about flags, an item that should have been handed off to a non-governmental agency. In my last few seconds, I'm going to ask the people who've been coming in, there's a couple of you guys out here, Nathan, Harold, Allison, when you guys come up here, did you guys know this? Is the Irish flag, did you feel like burning it in order to raise your own flags? I'd like to know you guys' answer when you speak.

Thank you.

Harold Booker.

Hey. Harold Booker. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Mr. McDaniels. I don't burn any flags. Knock it off. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council President, and members of the City Council. This evening, I wish to speak about the mosaic of a city. I really enjoyed the last council meeting on June 2nd. Juan shared his truth honestly and from his heart. A little later, a council member shared their truth and part of their story. Those stories are challenging to share, they require a level of trust and respect, and they contribute to the fabric of our community. They provide opportunities to increase understanding, to see the world from a different perspective, and to learn about our neighbors and their journeys. I find that those layers weaved together are the strength the bonds which pull a community together. I happen to believe that flag raising can be an integral opportunity to invite the sharing of people's stories. But understand there can be issues there. And I believe, the council believes it's important for people to have opportunities to share their stories. So how are you gonna do that? What is the method, the forum, the way you wish to encourage our community to share their stories and share their mosaic? Share who we are as a community that layers together, that helps us be a better group. So back to the council members' comments. I understand the story you shared, and I actually lived that life. My mother, Verda Booker, was a remarkable person. Mom was the first person of color to teach in the Highland School District. She was a first grade teacher, active locally, statewide. She was the treasurer for the WEA. And yet, for three years, She was a single mother without a bank account raising two teenage sons. We would go to the bank, cash her check, and put it in a blue lockbox. And that's how we lived. Couch surfing. We lived with our cleaning lady and then the McMichaels and the Landruids for almost three years. Because she didn't have... a male relative to sign for her bank account. All that time, she was the treasurer for the WEA. Always seemed just bizarre to a teenager. But yes, I lived that life. I understand the challenge. And she was the third woman in this state to have a bank account. without a male signing for that account. Now I'm out of time, and I someday will share why Don Alexander, the bank manager, the first colored black bank manager not within a red line, did that here in Federal Way. Some days, Federal Way was special. 30 seconds. So how do we build the mosaic of our city?

I'm sorry.

OK. Good night.

Thank you. Nathan North. Then Allison Fine. Harold, they're paying me to cut you off. I'm sorry. but we got to make sure we got everybody's consistent. I'm sorry. Nathan.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Nathan Orth. I have been a resident of Federal Way for nine years. Firstly, I didn't see it in the upcoming events, so there is a community resource event being put on by King County's Scope Team at the Performing Arts and Events Center June 30th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Their description is, come hang out and discover local resources to help you and your community thrive. Thank you. Second, so flags are back on the agenda. I thought I would bring this one down and talk about it some more. I know we've talked about this one a bunch and I'll probably repeat some dates you've heard. Following the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect on January 1st, 1863. Juneteenth refers to June 19, 1865, 900 days after the Emancipation Proclamation, when Major General Granger arrived in Texas to spread news of and enforce the new law freeing the last African-American slaves here in the United States. The first day here in America that all Americans were free. Freedom. That feels important to me. It doesn't feel divisive or political. Noticing that there was no iconography to represent our shared history, Ben Haith designed this flag in 1997. The five-pointed star refers both to Texas and to the freedom of African Americans in all 50 states. The surrounding 12-ray nova represents a new beginning for all and a fresh start for African Americans. The arc, which is hard to see on this vertical flag, represents a new horizon signifying a new era of opportunity and promise for African Americans. The colors, if they look familiar, red, white, and blue mirror our national flag colors to remind us that African Americans are American. the final declaration of freedom for all Americans could not be more inclusive. Let freedom ring. Fly the flags.

Allison Fine. And then Ryan Lee via Zoom.

Hey there. I found out at the end of May that there was an intended Pride event here at City Hall, and with the current state of our flag policy, the city was advised, both by community and statewide leadership, that this event would have been considered performative and disingenuous. Standing next to the flagpole while unable to raise a flag would be a figurative slap in the face to the queer folks that live here. I was unable to be here two weeks ago because I was out of leadership for an organization called Pride at Work. The Union Constituency Organization for, oh, sorry. for queer people. Labor supports queer people. I've been a member of that organization actually longer than I have done politics in this city because I have a keen understanding that queer bodies have never been safe in this country, or most countries, honestly, and I am never afraid to do work to protect community members. Though I was not here, I made it clear, both privately and publicly, that while city leadership continues to claim that diversity matters, Their actions have shown us very differently. Pride Month came from the Stonewall uprising. It was an act of defiance in Manhattan, where queer people literally fought back against government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities. The pioneers of this movement said, we will not accept abuse any longer. Queer people continue to face othering, violence, and death simply for existing in this country. Queer people suffer from violence at five times the rate of non-queer people. 60% of people murdered for being queer are black trans women. Last month, 19-year-old UW student was stabbed to death for being trans in the very safe queer city of Seattle. From 2020 to 2025, Federal Way has been one of the many communities that was choosing inclusion, but I don't know who we are anymore. I quietly quit the Diversity Commission because you chose to conveniently check a racial box while putting a bigot on that commission who doesn't care about diversity. We have school board members who want to eradicate queer children. We have a council member who would never sign a proclamation and suddenly did. And I want to believe it's a change of heart, but I do believe it is performative. Who are we? I truly don't know. The most common argument about flying a flag like a pride flag is that it's not inclusive, it's exclusive, but no one can back up the why. Symbols are important in this country. When you see a pink ribbon, you think breast cancer. When you see a black fist, you think black pride, or you think labor and solidarity. When you see a pride flag or a Juneteenth flag, you know what that symbol means. It is not about all flags. It is about certain flags, and I realize that. But the reality is when this flag policy was unnecessarily challenged more than seven months ago, this council, well, most of this council made a commitment to find a compromising solution.

It's time. No, your time is over. Okay.

One more.

Can I make one more statement? No, I'm sorry.

It harms no one to be inclusive. Do the right thing.

Thank you. Okay, everybody, so yellow means you've got 30 seconds, okay? So I really hate interrupting people. I really, really hate that. So let's really, when the red goes off, if you've got a sentence, if you've got a word, but not five sentences. So do we have Ryan Lee on the, okay, Ryan Lee on Zoom. Ryan?

Um, I would actually like to check my wife, Sarah Lee also signed up for zoom comment that I did not hear her name listed.

Sarah Lee. All right. Well actually, can we restart the three minutes? One second. Hey Ryan, can you hold on? Let me just see if I've got, no, those are for public hearing. Hold on Ryan. Hold on, Ryan. I thought I saw it, too. Ryan Lee. One sec. Hold on, everybody. Every voice matters. Hey, Ryan, let's take your testimony, and then we'll take Sarah Lee. Is that right?

That's right.

Okay, we'll do that right after you. Okay, Ryan, three minutes starts now.

Good evening. Thank you for the time. My name is Ryan Lee. I have been a resident of Fudgeraway for about four years now, and I just wanted to speak in support of the flag amendment tonight. The weight of government can be oppressive, and we've seen that it completely kept an entire people group down for decades. centuries, decades. And to use the weight of that government to lift people up instead of pushing them down in as simple a matter as flying a flag seems like it's barely even enough to counter what came before. But we have to start somewhere, don't we? So I am urging the council to consider passing the flag amendment tonight. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ryan. And then is Sarah there? Yeah. Okay, let's do three minutes. All right, Sarah, the floor is yours.

Sarah, you'll have to unmute your mic, please.

Oh, sorry. I thought you were having me go through Ryan's account instead of mine.

Yeah, we can hear you now.

Okay. Uh, so, uh, my name is Sarah and I'm a homeowner in federal way. Um, I want to thank council for bringing an amendment to the current flag policy up for a vote. It takes courage to admit when, when mistakes may have occurred and changes may need to be made. Listening to the majority in federal way who are asking for more inclusivity and recognizing changes need to be made to get it. Isn't just about performing change. It's about embracing it just as so many of our neighboring cities have done. I hope you'll pass the amendment to allow pride in Juneteenth flags on city property as a step in the right direction to celebrate our differences. Remember our shared history and make sure that we're known as a welcoming city to all. 1 reason this is important to me is because marginalized people are scared and looking for reassurance that council sees them. As the federal government is literally erasing the history of plus and black Americans from federal websites, memorials and grants. Ice activity has increased drastically across Western Washington. We used to see around 3 to 5 objections in a month and now we're seeing closer to 25 to 40. This week alone there were 17. Abductions federal way is not immune to this and most of these have been individually targeted abductions sparked by license plate data. Like that collected by our own cameras. Our neighbors are being yanked off freeways and out of parking lots without any regard for their constitutional rights or adequate information given to their families. They're being left to rot in inhumane conditions at detention centers like the one in Tacoma, run by the callous for-profit GEO Group. You have the power to make policies that not only show you stand in solidarity with our marginalized communities, but do things to specifically address their fears. You can physically keep ICE from being able to stage operations on city property, from leasing space here in Federal Way, and from turning warehouses like the one planned for the Wild Waves property into additional holding centers. Updating the flag amendment is a good step to showing we respect and protect diversity in federal way, but there is still more work to be done. I trust that you will do it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you both. All right. All right. Next, we've got Carmen Kaler, Ron Kaler, Dara Mandeville, Vitalik Pikatin, Craig Patrick. Carmen?

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council President and Council Members. I am Carmen Gloria, one of the diversity commissioners, but today I come as a Federal Away resident of 33 years. I am from Chile. I am blessed to be living in a country where freedom of speech is respected, and if you work hard, your dreams come true. These are the reasons I wanted to come. These are one of the reasons that I wanted to come to this country, and many immigrants today continue wanting to come to this country. I would like to keep the flag policy as it is, but if you would like to change it, I will be petitioning that my Chilean flag is raised in the city hall as well to represent our Chilean community. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you. Uh, Ron killer.

Hi, I'm Ron Kaler, 33-year resident of Federal Way. I love my wonderful wife. She's such a great immigrant and a great influence in our community here. I have been speaking this multiple times about the flag policy, and it's like, here we are again, here we are again, here we are again, and here we are again. And what was revised, I think, needs to stand. This body here of all you council members and mayor is to be a neutral party. You're to represent the community as a whole and not to input your specific ethnicity in particular issues. point of view into the city like this and and put it out front this is a body that needs to be neutral in all areas and uh... one of the issues of of uh... hosting alternative alternative flags it just gets into the chaos and it's been chaos ever since this policy started I a point of it is personally that affected me as I was at last year's pride flag raising and I was at the end of the raising I was approached by individual who stated themselves with a queer person I didn't know this person was a queer person. That person's in the room right now. But this person approached me and started to query me. And as this person queried me, I gave them responses. They were responses from a biblical perspective. Well, as I responded, I was told my responses were offensive. And it became offensive that I was responding in a very respectful manner. not hate speech, but respectful. And it's that kind of perspective that we don't need to have flags of that kind of mindset anywhere in our city, as far as I'm concerned, unless it's on your personal property or grounds or something like that. But anyways, so let's keep this policy as it is and be a neutral body. Thank you very much.

All right, thank you. Dara Mandeville.

I wasn't sure. Good evening, Mayor, Council President, Council. The amended proposal is to add only the Pride flag and the Juneteenth flag back to the city flag policy. No others, just those two. Congratulations. You've managed to create a policy that decides who is included and who is left out, who is seen and who is not. That's exactly why many of us in this room want the policy to stay as it is, neutral and equal to everyone. Once government starts choosing which groups get representative with flags and which don't, where do we draw the line? Who decides which communities make the cut and which are left out? There's no fair answer to that question. The American flag, the Washington state flag, and the city of Federal Way flag represent every person in this room. Other flags represent specific groups, causes, or viewpoints. Government should belong equally to all of us. I've heard a few people mention that the reason behind the new proposal is to shine the light on certain council members. If this proposal is really about putting council members on record, that's disappointing. We elected you to work together and to solve problems, not create more division over something that benefits you as politician but doesn't benefit us, like public safety, affordability, and keeping our city clean. Everyday people exercise their First Amendment rights carrying whatever flags they choose. That's their right. But the one flag that protects that freedom for all of us is the American flag. In my last few seconds, I want to point out, not paying attention now either, but there's one council member that's willing to die on this flag policy hill. This person didn't bother to pay attention, let alone clap, two weeks ago at this exact place when a Mexican young man was given the pride proclamation at the last council meeting. It's a joke. You can't say you support something and then not acknowledge or clap it like today. Thank you.

Vitaly Pikotin.

Good evening, everyone. I have an honor to represent our Ukrainian community. And we just returned from battlefield from Ukraine with my wife from the 12th trip during full scale of Russian war against Ukraine. And I would like to remind about what's going on. in Ukraine who's fighting for their freedom, independence. I'm holding the flag, which is signed by representative of Ukrainian nation. It's politician, pastors, bishops, musicians, just regular people. And they sending the message through this flag for all council members who are standing next to Ukrainians for the last four and a half years supporting Ukraine. And I'm so grateful for mayor and for all council members who are supporting Ukrainians in their fight for survival. I'm not even calling it independence, just survival, because it's a genocidal war. And I am as a resident of Federal Way for the last 25 years, father of five kids and two in-laws. We are standing for life, for protection, for vulnerable. I would like to inform that on June 25th, group of 20 orphans whose father been killed in action arriving in Federal Way. And we coming to visit our facility, our council members, mayor, police station, and South King Fire Wareham, honorably serving as a chaplain for last two years with our members of our community and I'm accepting everyone and supporting everyone's idea and their ministry for our community for our city, but I'm thinking what beauty will be if those orphans will come to our city and they will see the flag which was earlier there on the flagpole and our mayor which is coming which we're going to invite from city of real name which is a sister city or further away he's coming to further away and we have a sister city and it will be nice to have international relationship so if you guys consider building international relationship and supporting your community as ukrainian community of our city of federal way i will be really grateful if we'll honor international delegation arriving on premises of our city hall and see their flag in support of their fight for survival for freedom thank you very much

And the last public comment goes to Craig Patrick. Good evening, my name's Craig Patrick, I'm a member of the city. I come as an individual, not of any organization, not in the diversity commission in any capacity. I am a member of the Irish Heritage Club out of Seattle. There's a lot to unpack, so I'm going to get started here. We have been coming to the council, we Irish Americans have been coming to the council trying to remedy this. We've not gotten any feedback from the council. We came to you two times, the parks recreation meetings. The Diversity Commission came to you twice pertaining to this flag policy. No one from the council or the Parks Recreation Committee came and talked to us at all. This is not an inclusive thing. You talked about centered on opportunity, right? Where's the Irish opportunity? Where is the Irish flag in this? That's what I want to know. What happened to that? Why was not that on the place? This is systemic discrimination. That's what this is. And this won't be tolerated. You have to understand this. This motion, if you move this motion forward, your votes will count. We'll see who wants to discriminate against the Irish by voting for this revised policy where we're excluding people. Okay? So this is what we're going to get into here now. There is no reason to exclude the Irish flag. We wouldn't even be having this conversation if we were just going to roll it back to how it used to be. But we never had a conversation. We were at the table. No one else was at the table. What options do we have? Where's our opportunity? You better think long and hard about how you're going to vote about this, how you're going to revise it, how you're going to discriminate against the Irish if you vote to revise this. Think long and hard about that. The Juneteenth flag's important. The pride flag's important. The Ukrainian flag's important. The Irish flag's important. Every flag's important. You either come up with a policy to please everybody or you truncate it. That's the bottom line. And your votes will count. And those votes will either help you or haunt you. Because this is systemic discrimination that's playing out. When you vote to have some and not what we used to have, seriously. Seriously, think about this. Think about how we have black owned Irish businesses. How do you think they feel about this? We're supposed to tell our kids, oh, you're not welcome here in the city anymore. You know, we don't do the bagpipes anymore, you know, because we're not valued. That's the message you're sending. Think about this. Systemic discrimination, and are you going to be a part of it? How are you going to vote on that? Inclusive or exclusive with two flags? Irish need not apply for the city of Federal Way to fly a flag. Thank you.

Well, everybody, we work for you. And, you know, while it seems like it's hard to hear someone express a viewpoint that you would just spend a lifetime opposing, that is the very heart of America. Thank you very much, everybody, who took the time to be here. It's great that we're all here. I think the exchange of ideas is really good. That's a prelude to I think the council is going to need like a five-minute break. So let's... Well, we're going to, I think actually, why don't we call it seven minutes? Can you start a timer, Brian? We'll reconvene. We'll be in recess for, what do we call it, executive privilege for seven minutes. Thank you, everybody. Let's do that.

OK, Sharon, you have to be very the support animal tonight.

Oh, don't you love Sharon, the support dog? Okay, Brian, how are we on time? Okay, everybody ready? Okay, I'll call the meeting back to order. Thank you, everybody. Okay, I think that allows us all to just take a deep breath. And once again, I want to say thank you. You guys, hold on. Once again, Speaking for everybody up here, thank you so much for your heartfelt comments. I think it's really important that the council hears from you, especially all the different voices. All right, let's move on. Now we are on to the consent agenda. These items have been through committee, can be passed all at once. I'll read them off. And then I'll ask if a council member wants to pull an individual item off the agenda. We only have three items. That's ABC. Item A, approve the minutes for the June 2nd, 2026 City Council Special and Regular Meetings. Item B, authorized bid, City Hall Main Entrance ADA improvements. And Item C, authorized bid for the 2026 Major Asphalt Patching Contract. Council, any items you'd like to pull off the agenda? Council Member Hamilton.

Yes, I'd like to pull agenda item A, approve the minutes.

Okay. Item is pulled. Item A is pulled. Council, any other items? Okay. Council President Honda.

I move approval of items B and C. Second.

But a motion and a second to approve items B and C. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Now on to item A, Council Member Hamilton.

Yes, on the minutes, Section 3B, the Pride Month Proclamation, it states that Mayor Farrell presented the Pride Month Proclamation to Juan Juarez Ramos, and that needs to be corrected to say Melissa Hamilton, Councilmember, presented the Pride Proclamation.

That's right. So would everybody accept that as a friendly amendment? Okay, and Heather, you can make that correction? All right, I think, for the record, I think when we had to make the agenda, so it's been accepted as a friendly amendment. Why don't we take care of this business, and I'll explain what happened. All right. Oh, go ahead, Council.

Do you want me to move approval?

Yes, would you move approval now?

I move approval of item A.

second it's been a motion a second all those in favor opposed all right thank you when we set our agenda the we we publish it the weekend before I think the Friday before and then as we got think of the day of I think the council president asked if we could have a council member deliver the pride proclamation and so we made that change but we couldn't make the change on the agenda because the agenda had already been published and that's what the copy that everybody got out there so that's what happened anyway it's important that we put agendas out that that they're published that they're respected okay now moving on to Item 6, public hearings. All right, item 6, public hearing for the, item 6A, public hearing for the 2026 CDBG annual action plan. At this time, I will open the public hearing, and it is now 9.03. We'll have community services manager Angelina Allen at PC will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor Farrell. Good evening. Good evening, Council President Honda. Good evening, Council Members Angelina Allen, PC Community Services Manager. And we will be talking about the 2026 annual action plan. This is the first public hearing. So the policy question is before you should City Council approve the 2026 community development block grant or CDBG annual action plan. So just to give a bit of background, what is this particular annual action plan? It's a federally required document that HUD requires, and it serves as the city's annual roadmap for using CDBG funds. It identifies various projects or programs, funding allocations, and expected outcomes for the upcoming year, and explains how those funds will help community needs, particularly in areas such as affordable housing, community development, and economic development needs. This again is showing you what our city federal allocation will be for 2026. It is around $789,015. And it also demonstrates the percentages that HUD allows for three different areas, planning and administration, public service, and serve. So the timeline. I presented this to the Parks Rec Human Service Public Safety Committee back on May 12th. The public comment period began on May 22nd. We placed an ad in the Federal Way Mirror. Today is the first public hearing and then the second public hearing and council approval would fall on July 7th. To date, we have not received public comments as yet. So the funding recommendations for this year, this is something I went over back in May, but I wanted to highlight it again. In particular, I wanted you to see that when we look at column F for $789,015, it would not fulfill the amount of requests that were approved by council. So what has happened is that we had to look at prior year funding in 2024 and 2025 to help cover that gap. Unfortunately, we do have a couple of organizations that would have to have their funding reduced. They have been notified. These are Highline, Upwards, ACHD, and El Centro. But they have been notified that their funding levels would be slightly reduced because of the reduction and not having enough for funding for those organizations. So the next steps are for a second public hearing and then council decision on July 7th. And are there any questions? I'll stop there.

Council, any questions for Ms. Pisi? Okay. Thank you. Stay close as we go through this. Great job, as always. We do have a public comment. I've received one pink sheet. Barbara Kuhn. And as Barbara makes her way over there, do we have anybody online? Okay. And no other pink sheets? No. Okay, great.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I've lived here in Federal Way for 10 years, and I'm changing the subject from the flag thing. That has to do with this Community Development Block Grant. There are a lot of organizations listed, and I'm looking at the copy from the agenda. There's a lot of good things that are coming up. There are items for developing small business technical centers. There is help for funding a new roof ventilation and refrigerator at Fusion, which I'm sure is necessary. All kinds of things. But one thing I have a question on, and that is that some of these items, for instance, go for childcare, business development, small business support. Do you have any kind of idea coming in for how well these projects do? Do you get results? Our money is scarce. We're not a real wealthy city here. We don't live in Bellevue or Redmond. We're Federal Way. And it's not bad to help people. It's great to help people. But if you're doing something for an organization and they're not able to show you that there are results for what they're doing, that's a waste of our money. And I'm sure you wouldn't want to do that. I recommend that you come up with, if you don't have it, if you do, please let me know. But if you don't have it, please come up with some way of measuring the results for these organizations. I understand that the Human Resources Committee spent a fair amount of time doing this. I'm sure they always do. But sometimes it's better to just take a look at what you've been doing for a long period of time and see if you can do it better. So please come up with some kind of results, measurement, recommendation for these places. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Barbara. Angelina, can you address some of that? Are you able to?

Yes, I can. Hi.

Hello.

Now that's representative democracy. Don't you love that?

All right, Angelina, go ahead. Sure. So part of the contract administration is that we require organizations to provide project milestones and outcomes. And based on the information and when the contract has been signed, Staff will go out and monitor these organizations to ensure that they are meeting specific outcomes and specific milestones based on what they have shared with us. In this document, as the public resident was mentioning, Upward's Boost Child Care program is actually a new program. So we've not worked with them before. So when we meet with them and we set up the contract, we will be asking them specifically what type of milestones, what type of outcomes do they hope to achieve, and then we will monitor them to ensure that they're achieving that. And we can always come back to council and also share with the Human Services Commission in terms of how successful that organization and other organizations you see here in this list will be successful in achieving their goals.

Very good. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

The information hasn't yet been available online because part of it is that this is 2026 funding and none of these contracts have yet been executed. In the past, I don't recall that we've had our contracts online. Why don't we do this?

Ms. Kuhn, thank you very much. What we'll do is if you could, when we get, as soon as this section gets over, maybe you can get her card and you can get... get email back and forth and uh... and you can also include me and myself and brian or any members of the council on your emails as well okay thank you very much angeline were you done i'm finished all right thank you very much and great thank you ms kuhn very much for uh... for your question uh... any other public comment okay great uh... not great but thank you uh... was that my outside voice uh... Okay. Councillor Sessoms, do you have a motion?

I do. I move to close the public hearing.

Is there a second? It's been a motion. A second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. The public hearing is closed. Item B, public hearing for the 25 to 26 biennial budget amendment number three. I will now open the hearing at... 9-11 p.m. Finance Director Steve Groom will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor. This ordinance is really just to realign the budget with several items that have already come through the City Council. They've been approved. And now the budget needs to be adjusted to give us the authority to spend what has already been approved. There are two categories of items. Some of the items have already were approved, directing staff to draw upon fund balances from specific funds. The majority of the budget adjustments, though, come from new revenue. which means we add equal and offsetting amounts of revenue and expense to the budget. The largest item, this is the list. And in your packet, you've probably seen this. It comes as no surprise. For each of these items, I've put in parentheses the date that the council approved each of the items. I would mention that the largest item is the King County levy. That's a five-year agreement for $6 million. And every project that is proposed to be spent using these funds will come to council for approval. You'll approve the spending as it goes. We will roll forward for the next four years the unspent amounts. They also remit to us semi-annually, so we'll be able to keep track whether and how much money we have actually received. And then each of these grants comes with new revenue that allows us to spend. However, our adopted or amended budget is our legal authorization to spend. The second category was from fund balances, and these are authorized to be spent out of fund balance. In each case, there were things that were not known at the time that the original adoption of the budget or subsequent amendments. Again, each of these have already been approved by city council on the dates shown, and this budget amendment just gets the budget back in sync. Each of these dollar amounts is included in Exhibit D behind the ordinance, so as Council approves things routinely, we in Finance keep track of those things, and then we collect them at each budget amendment while we bring the ordinance with the new dollar amounts. Exhibit A behind the ordinance shows the original adopted budgets. B and C were the two previous amendments, and then Exhibit D is the current one. So, when you get to the first reading on the agenda later, your action item is to forward to the July 7th for a second reading, but this is a public hearing, so I hope that I've made clear and that I've summarized and explained the ordinance in your packet. Council, there's no action on your part to be taken tonight except to move to July 7th for the second reading, and... That's where we're at.

Mayor, back to you. Thank you. Council President Hunt, do you have a question?

Yes, I do. The parks levy funding, does that come, you said it comes twice a year?

They remit amounts semi-annually. That's what it said in their ordinance that they would do. Yeah, yeah.

We don't get this total amount at one time.

Correct. The $6 million is an estimate. It's also a levy because they're going to remit what they receive as they receive the amount that's allocated to us.

So why would we have this amount? Would we have the amount that they've given to us?

The amount that you approved on January 20th said $6 million. So I'm thinking I'm getting ahead of you putting it in the budget. So that way it's in the budget. I'll never have to come back and get budgetary approval. You'll approve the actuals as they come by.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Certainly. All right. Did we receive any ink sheets? And no one's online? Okay. Okay. For this issue. Okay. Council Member Kirchmar, do you have a motion?

Thank you, Mayor. I move to close the public hearing.

Is there a second?

Second.

There's been a motion and a second to close the public hearing. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The public hearing is now closed. And that's at 9.15 p.m. All right, item C, public hearing 2027 to 2032, transportation improvement program. I'll now invite, excuse me, I'll now open the public hearing at 9.15 p.m. And city traffic engineer Rick Perez will present this item.

thank you and good evening uh... so the policy question is should the council authorized staff to proceed with the adoption of the twenty twenty seven to twenty thirty two if it away transportation proven program tonight on june sixteenth twenty twenty six uh... so the t i p outlines a six-year plan for transportation related capital projects that is updated annually It is a requirement for grant eligibility. It must be financially constrained, meaning at least for the first three years we have to have a reasonable chance of funding all these projects. And must conform to air quality requirements adopted by the region. And the TIP needs to be adopted after this public hearing. So we have several prioritization criteria. Some of which are related to levels of congestion, and we have three measures that are related to roadway safety, whether it's supportive of high-occupancy vehicles and non-motorized transportation, level of community support, ease of implementation, benefit-cost ratio, and social equity. So this is just a map showing where all the different types of projects are. Green is non-motorized projects. The blue is overlays. We have one color just for city center access, and the red dots are intersection improvements. Um, so projects that have been completed include adaptive traffic control system phases one, two, and three. Um, that went live at the first of the year. And, um, we have a streetlight infill project that, um, that was the, uh, uh, Doggone it, I'm blanking on the term. Pardon? ARPA? Yes, the ARPA funds. Thank you. And 288th Street Road Diet from Military Road to 34th. And we're just waiting for some signal poles to be delivered at 288th and Military, and we can close out that project. We are not proposing any new projects this year for a couple different reasons. One is we had no forecast concurrency failures, meaning we are managing the growth in traffic well enough that we didn't need to add any to address congestion issues. And secondly, we've got a pretty full plate already and need to make sure we focus on delivery of what we already have. So, options considered. One, to approve the resolution adopting the TIP as presented. Or two, do not forward the draft document and provide direction to staff. The mayor's and the committee's recommendation was to approve the resolution as presented. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Council, any questions? Rick? Okay. Thank you, Rick. Thank you. Do we receive any public comment? All right, thank you. Council Member Walsh, do you have a motion?

Yeah, I think this first part is just the public hearing, so I move to close the public hearing.

Is there a second? Second. Is there a motion and a second? Is there any discussion? All those in favor of closing the public hearing?

Aye.

Opposed? The matter passes unanimously. The public hearing is closed at 9.19 p.m. Item 7, Council Business. Item A, approve the resolution adoption of the 2027-2032 Transportation Improvement Program Rick Perez, who just gave the presentation, is available if there are any questions. Councillor Walsh, do you have a motion?

I move to approve the proposed resolution.

Second. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That banner passes unanimously. Thank you. Item B, proposed amendment to flag policy. Assistant City Attorney Adam Gadbury will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, President Honda, and Council members. As always, when we're discussing any changes to the flag policy, we should always start with the most recent Supreme Court case. You've heard this presentation before, so I will keep it brief. The short of it is the City of Boston did not have an actual policy. They previously were just allowing a come one, come all, raising any flag that a citizen or a private business was requesting. Eventually, a religious group made a request for the Christian flag on establishment grounds. The city decided to not fly that flag. Litigation ensued. In a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court said that was against the Constitution. You violated the religious group's free exercise of flying their flag. Because they didn't have a policy violating the First Amendment. So the key takeaways from the cases, if you do not have a flag policy and you do a come on, come all approach, then all requests have to be honored. You do not have the flexibility to deny groups. If you do restrict flags, the city is engaged in government speech, which allows the city to restrict flags, only approve certain flags, deny other flags. The focus there is its government speech, and it allows the city to operate in that territory without running afoul of the First Amendment. I think two key quotes from the main opinion by Justice Breyer, along with a concurrence by Justice Alito, who are on polar opposites of both legal and political spectrums, I think encapsulate the focus of government speech and where the council should focus where they're going to take the city on any proposed changes to the flag policy. The first is by Justice Breyer. They wrote, the First Amendment's free speech clause does not prevent the government from declining to express a view. Simultaneously, Justice Alito wrote, governments are not natural persons and can only communicate through human agents who have given the power to speak for the government. In this particular case, that would be the council. The current policy is the city will fly no other flags besides the United States flag, the Washington State flag, the city flag, POW and MIA flags when directed by law, and then the military branch flags at the Veterans Memorial. So the question before you tonight is to review the proposed PRHSPS's committee's amendment to add the following flags to the approved list for city approved flags at City Hall. Those two flags are Juneteenth and the Pride flag. So the options the city has, the council has tonight is either adopt the proposed council committee policy or retain the existing policy as it is currently. The mayor's recommendation is, he has no recommendation. This is a proposed council policy and the decision is with the council. Any questions?

Okay. Council, any questions? Council Member Moore?

Thank you. Adam, can you walk me through exactly how this policy came forth last year?

Back in October, I believe it was prior council member McDaniel who proposed a resolution to make a change to the flag policy. It went to council. Council then voted on the resolution to make the change.

Okay. So it didn't involve committees at all, correct?

My recollection is it went directly to council.

Okay.

Right, Ryan? Is that what happened?

Oh, sorry. Okay, and it was walked onto the council agenda, is that right?

I believe the council rules allow any two council members to add it, and it was walked on, yes.

Okay, and then a vote took place, and that was the new policy, and now we're here today. Correct. Okay, thank you.

Ryan, was it on the agenda, or was it walked on? Does anybody remember?

I don't recall. I can go look it up.

What's that? Okay. We'll have to – that's just a point of clarification. We'll figure that out later.

I can look it up right now.

Okay. When you find it, let me know. Kessler Hamilton? Okay. Thank you. Well, let's confirm that. Kessler Hamilton?

Um, I have a question real quick and then a few comments. There was a public commenter that suggested a ballot measure. Is that legal?

I would need to do some research. My instinct would say no. This is a purely function of the council rules set by city policy. The idea of having it be a ballot measure I don't think runs with how the law is set up. This is a purely function of the council to make a decision for the city's flagpoles here at City Hall. That mechanism affords the city protection to engage in government speech versus creating an open public forum.

Thank you. That was my concern, was the open public forum. So we've been talking about this for the last six months. And one of the most vocal advocates for flag policy change that I've heard from our community is a member of the Irish community. And he's sitting in the back row. And if the goal was to bring this vote to put council members on record, I would say mission accomplished. Because there's going to be council members tonight who are going to support and vote to keep the current policy. And then there's going to be council members that vote for the motion before us. which does not include the Irish community's flag, the Ukrainian community's flag, the and the Purple Heart veterans. These are all flags that we've raised before and also any other community groups that come to petition the city for a flag in order to feel celebrated and welcomed. so my position has not changed on this issue and i want to thank everyone for coming out clearly we have diversity of opinion that's for sure and then to address one of the questions about Approaching the public market I do want to go on a record as saying I did approach the public market soon after being elected because I knew that this was a contentious issue in the community and I spoke to Cindy laws the public market lobbyist because I thought it was important to Have a place to have flags, but that it should be a privately Owned business or a private organization to do so and I felt like the public market space Would be a perfect location And with that I end my remarks

Okay, seeing no other questions.

Mayor, we had an answer to your question. I'm sorry? The city clerk was able to find that very quickly. It was on the agenda.

Okay, so by council rule, two members of the council, either at agenda setting or by virtue of two council members adding something, requesting something to be added on, our rules allow that. So I wanted to make sure, as we put things into the record, as they say, that walking on something means that it's not on the agenda that we all get when you walk into the room or the previously noticed agenda. That, when you add it at the beginning of the meeting, that means walking it on. This, the current policy, I want to make sure it's clear for the record that the current policy was noticed and was part of the agenda. So that's what I wanted to make sure that we were clarifying. So words have meaning, obviously. All right, seeing no questions, Council Member Sessoms?

I move. direct staff to draft a resolution amending the flag policy to authorize the flying of the Juneteenth flag and pride flag Is there a second?

There's been a motion a second. Is there any discussion? Councilmember Sefa Dawson?

This is when we make our comments, right?

Yeah, this is it.

Okay, thank you. First of all, I really want to make clear that I did hear comments around shine the light on council members. That has never been my intention, and I want to make that clear. I'm just going from my heart and what I believe is... true, at least to me. And so I just want to set the record straight because I don't think that was anybody's intent. It's just a matter of bringing something back to the floor for us to discuss. And we've discussed this time and again, so I don't want to belabor what it is. The flag policy The way I see it should be something that we celebrate people in history. The two flags, the Juneteenth and Pride flags, to me represent populations that have been discriminated against, that have been marginalized, and that have been overlooked. And so they were highlighted, but I don't think the intent here was to ever say just those two flags. I support flags that are celebratory, that... represent the population of Federal Way and its diversity and acknowledge and recognize those. I, as an immigrant, I remember when I first saw the Ethiopian Airlines flying over Boeing and it had the flag, I remember how much I cried because I had never seen my flag in the United States of America. That was emotional for me. It was real. It was my story. That's what I... It just represented me and I was shocked because I didn't expect to see it and all of a sudden there's this plane flying past me around Boeing. I was on the bus and I remember how emotional I got. The people who these flags represent, be it pride flag, be it Juneteenth or any other flag, It is personal and emotional to all of us. So when you're not part of that group, you may not see it as such. Because you've never been marginalized. You've never been overlooked. You have never had to worry about who you are. I didn't choose to be Ethiopian. I didn't choose to be black. I did not choose any of these. But this is how I'm created. This is who I am. And this is my essence. Therefore, seeing something that represents me and reminds me that Federal Way is my city, I belong here, that's what I want for all of us. But when we come up with a policy, I also don't support things that are politically motivated, things that are, again, divisive. And so I do struggle with political flags that represent that level of divisiveness. And, again, that's part of what our language and our policy should be. Otherwise, things that uplift people, things that bring people together and say, whoa, that is me. That's what I'm looking for. And so it has nothing to do with me wanting to be seen or something. No. That is not my intent. My intent really is if you have never been marginalized, you would not understand. And I've asked this question before, what are we afraid of? Who are we afraid of? Who are we leaving behind? And so I really want people who do not support to think internally and say, okay, when I talk about this or when I'm saying I'm against this, what exactly am I saying? Who am I against? And who am I not against seeing? Because what those flags show me is I see you. otherwise i'm saying i do not want i do not care about you you don't exist as far as who you are just look like me come approach me as the way i want to see you we can't do that this is a city that should represent everyone so it's not for me again it's not just about juneteenth This is not just about Juneteenth and Pride flags. It's about flags that bring the community together. And I'm not talking about ideology. I'm talking about saying to people, I see you, you belong here, and you mean a lot, and we are part of this. Mayor, you just said every voice matters. That's what I want to see happen here. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. Anyone else like to weigh in? Council Member Moore?

Thank you so much. You know, I know that this is a difficult issue for a lot of folks. And, you know, when I was first – my second term on the council, some of you guys will know that I introduced the Pride Month Proclamation for the first time ever because I believe – that it is imperatively important that we build a community for all. And I feel like as a government official, it is important that we build a city for all. And my goal has always been to ensure that, as my colleague has said, that folks are seen, they are valued, and that we send the signal that you matter and that you belong here. And that's always been my goal for as long as I've been a council member. And when this proposal came forth, at that moment I knew that I was going to work on this issue. And it has always been my intent to not only work on this issue, but to ensure that we develop a policy that includes all flags. That has always been the intention. Because the people that came up, they're right. Their flag should be raised. We should develop, like other cities have developed, policies for that. And the committee meeting that I attended, that I'm not a member of, but that I attended, we had ample time to discuss that. Ample time to discuss it. And ideas weren't brought forth. And so specific ideas came forth. And so here we are today. And I can only speak for myself. It is my intent to continue to work on this policy to ensure that the Diversity Commission is involved. Because in my personal opinion, their job is to advise council. And the council will take that advisement. will consider it and vote on it. I voted no on advice by commissions. And I have voted many times in support of the advice that various commissions have given. But I do want to make sure that the diversity commission gets a role to develop further a flag policy. And I believe that the Chilean flags, the Irish flag should be raised. Absolutely, because we are a beautiful community where we are rich in culture and diversity. And a city and a government needs to celebrate that so that everybody feels welcomed. And so I will vote on this. But I also intend to continue to work on this, because the work is not done. Other cities have good ideas with their policies. I urge my colleagues to work on this, to ensure that everybody has a space here in Federal Way. And so earlier today, again, one of the comments was said that, who are we? And I think it's really important to say that we are Federal Way. We are a community that celebrates respects and loves all individuals. And that is the very fundamental reason why I continue to be supportive of this. Now I know that after tonight there's going to be a lot of folks that are going to be upset, and that's fine. You have every right to be upset at me for the way I vote. But I want to be very clear that I feel it is very important that we uplift all voices that we uplift marginalized voices, and that we continue to do whatever we can to send the signal that you matter, you're important, we value, and we're going to be a community that respects all individuals. Thank you.

All right. Council, any other discussion? Council Member Coachmark?

Well, so... We're talking about our personal beliefs. I won't speak for government because I can only speak for my personal belief. I'm so glad that God loves us all equally. That's my personal belief. He loves all of us equally. And I believe that you are all awesome. We have an awesome community. I believe that you may not know this, but when I was in the legislature, I voted for marriage equality. So moving forward, this particular motion is only to add two flags. It's not all flags. It's two flags. And government has, at very core, has to be fair to everyone, all people. We all have our personal beliefs. We bring them with us. But at the very core of government, we have to be fair. inclusive to all i don't get to choose between one or the other i include i have to include everybody in this position so i can't vote for this because it only includes two flags but i think i think we can look at it do not shout from the back anybody shouting from the back is going to be removed at the moment we're only talking about two and so my goodness we've been talking about this for well over two years maybe more I need to talk about homelessness. I need to talk about our budget. I need to talk about economic development. I personally need to move our city forward as much as I can so that we have a community that we can live in and that we can afford. And so that's what I need to work on personally. Thank you.

All right. Council Member Hamilton.

Yes, I think we should take the vote, but I will say that we did work on this for six months, and this is the motion that was brought to us. And so I don't think that the Irish are going to feel welcome. I don't think the Ukrainians are going to feel welcome. I don't think that a lot of people are going to feel welcome, and clearly they don't. They told us that today. So let's take the vote.

All right, Council Member Sessoms.

This vote that we're about to take doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to have to end here. Uh, the implication that because the Irish flag is not on here or the Chilean flag or even the Mexican flag is not on here, it doesn't mean that we're excluding them. It doesn't, for anyone to imply that just because the Juneteenth flag and the pride flag is in this motion I Think is is totally off base. That is not the case. Okay. We're not trying to be Exclusive or segregationists No, this is highlighting two events two flags two commemorative flags that happened this month Okay, where were those voices back when we were debating this months ago? Okay, so To my colleagues, whoever, however you decide to vote, you know, it probably won't be the end. In fact, I would suggest that we come up with even more creative ideas to address this issue. Okay, let's come together. As my colleague mentioned, we've got a lot of business at hand, and we should be addressing those issues together. We're going into a budget year. This is a first step, okay? It doesn't have to stop here. We can always come back with more creative ideas. Why don't we all form a group and go to King County and say, let's change those poles along Southwest Campus Drive. Let's have the American flag on top and then whatever commemorative flag we have on the bottom. You know, we can come up with all sorts of ideas. Okay, so let's cut out the animosity that I'm detecting. We are your leaders. We're doing the best job that we are capable of doing. So I'm ready to take a vote.

Okay. Thank you, Council Member. And I don't see any, actually, I see Council Member Seppadasan. Do you have, I see your lights on.

yes I would like to make a friendly amendment it's just that I can't think of the language oh sorry council president because the floor is yours council member yeah no I just saw your face no but council member you've been recognized yes so I I do see other flags that we can fly and we need to acknowledge. And so that's why I said friendly amendment to this to add other flags.

I don't think it would be a friendly amendment as it would be so, it would not be a friendly amendment because it's so specific.

Yeah, so friendly amendment's not really a concept recognized by Robert's Rules. If you'd like to make a motion to amend the current pending motion, you can do that. Okay. Just, I move to amend, to add, and name the flags you want to add.

So, Council Member, are you moving to amend the main motion?

Yes.

And what is your amendment?

That's what I don't have. I don't have the language for it. But I need help. I just want to add other flags. Okay.

So I move to amend the pending motion to add the flags. See, I don't have any. Oh.

How about sister city flags and flags moved by council?

Well, yeah. So definitely sister city flags. I also want the tribal nation flags, for example. other flags tied to proclamations that we make. But then, oh, I'm going on and on. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to go on and on.

Can you hold on? Why don't we go to Council Member, instead of entertaining that motion, I see that we've got Council Member Moore that wants to talk. If you want to take a moment while he's speaking to draft your motion. I'm sorry. Ryan? Okay. Council Member Moore? Okay. Is there anybody else who would like to speak?

Okay. Maybe I'll make a motion to amend the motion to include, just like other cities have, and Adam can speak to it, but it includes sister city flags, Native American flags. Slow down. Well, sister city flags, Native American flags, and flags that have been approved via proclamation by the city council fed away.

Heather, did you capture that?

I have the motion is to amend to add sister cities flag, Native American flag, and other flags tied to proclamations approved by the city council. Yeah.

That would be correct.

Lydia, Council Member Sefford-Austin, does that capture the spirit of what you're trying to capture?

Yes.

OK. All right. There has been a motion that has set forth that our city clerk has set forth to amend to add those additional flags. Is there a second to that motion? To amend. Second. Okay. Council Member Sessoms. There's a motion and a second, again, to add. Heather, would you please read the following flags?

Sister Cities flag, Native American flags, other flags tied to proclamations approved by the City Council.

Okay. All right. There's been a motion. There's been a second. As to the amendment, not the main motion, but as to the amendment to include that, is there any discussion? Council Member Esafidassit. No. Council Member Moore.

Thank you. And Mayor, thank you for your operation of this portion of the meeting. This is a beautiful thing because we're working through something and we're doing it because we're hearing you. and now we're trying to uh uh work it in uh and this amendment is simply uh includes what was shared in the in the comments uh a way where we can celebrate other flags uh that's tied to proclamations uh so council has the vote of that um and that native american uh flags and or sister city flags this is one option i brought forth during a committee meeting and it got no attention. And so I thank Council Member Asafo-Dawson for entertaining this effort to be done and I would encourage my colleagues, to support this because this isn't, you're arguing that we need to be fair. My amendment represents fairness. My amendment represents what we've heard from the public. Now, if it's not a perfect policy, we can always go back and review it and work on it. But this amendment really should be supported by more folks on the dais because it's important for our community. Thank you.

All right. And I see... Council Member Walsh.

Yeah, I think the amendment improves what the original thing was, but still it is all the more picking winners and losers. And so... And I think that that's one of the challenges, is that I don't think... I think that we should maintain neutrality rather than picking winners and losers. And every... Every cause that comes up, they'll come, you know, you're saying that it's for other things that we have proclamations for. Every cause that wants their own flag flown will come and ask us to do a proclamation, and we'll be once again picking winners and losers. And so we'll just be getting in water all the more muddy. And I think that really the only answer is, I mean... There's some of those flags that I think are very non-controversial, but there's others that if they're coming to us and we're picking winners and losers, could be very controversial and very decisive. And so I don't think that that's solving the problem. It's just muddying the waters all the more.

Council Member Sepedosin, is your light on?

Yeah.

Okay.

So if we do a proclamation, it means we really are recognizing whatever that issue is or whatever that topic is. Not every proclamation has flags. And so we're saying, yes, we acknowledge that this thing is being celebrated, acknowledged in our city. So if there's a proclamation and if there's a flag attached to that proclamation, like the Irish flag, why not, right? So that's how I see it because proclamation to me, something we all sign, means that we're in agreement. So that seems fair and inclusive to me.

All right. Council Member Coachmark, Council Member Hamilton, Council Member Walsh again. Council Member Coachmark?

Well, I can certainly appreciate your sincerity. I do. And I'm always worried about when we legislate from the dais. We're trying to solve a problem, and we really need to discuss it more. What I would like to hear from Adam, please, again, about the City of Boston legally. Okay.

so the city of Boston just their big problem was they had they had a couple problems one is they had no written policy the other problem that they ran into is they essentially opened the door for a come one come all stance and inevitably when there was a group that Of course, it's a Christian flag, so that wasn't really a divisive nature to their particular flag. But there was some injection by the decision makers at Boston to not fly that flag on establishment grounds. But it could have been the KKK bringing the Confederate flag or something. There's a number of reasons why there'd be a reason why a decision maker at Boston would not want to fly a flag. It just happened to be a Christian flag. But their big problem was they had no written policy and they had it just an open-door policy for any flag So when you say written policy, do you mean?

enumerating every single flag So that would exclude KKK

So you could do that where you just enumerate a specific list of flags that the city would approve. A lot of cities have done that. The other method to do it would be a somewhat application process where a group would petition the city and say, hey, we've got a – remembrance that we would like the city to commemorate. We have this flag that we would like to fly. They filed the application with the city and the city would then review it and make a decision from there. But there may be strict guidelines that would prevent a situation where there was content-based discrimination on what the flag was speaking for. The other option would be to have it, when they petition it, just to come for a council vote. Other cities have done that as well, where a group comes, they go to a council member directly, the council member, kind of on their own, vets the initial request. If it meets their personal opinions on something that would be worthy of bringing to the full body, they then bring it, and then there's a vote. to approve and add that list to the city's approved list.

Thank you. Okay. Actually, we are getting up to the 10 p.m. time frame. Council President, do you have a motion?

I move that we extend the meeting past 10 p.m. Second.

It's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Council Member Hamilton?

Yes, so the amendment I'm hearing is to add tribal flags and what else was it?

Sister City. Sister City. Actually, let's make sure. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Heather, since you're asking. Heather, would you please list out the flags?

Sister City's flags, Native American flags, and other flags tied to proclamations approved by the City Council.

okay well gun violence awareness week is a has a flag and that's a proclamation I can see that being extremely controversial but put that aside for a minute where our city attorney oh what is the legal risk exposure of flying this many flags and I also want to point out we have not even consulted with the tribes so I don't know how that came about. But I would think that if we're going to fly a sovereign nations flag that we should consult with them before just putting their flag up. But what's the answer to that? The legal exposure question?

Probably not much. I say that in the sense of if the council is, by a vote of the council, making a decision to pick winners and losers, to say these are the three flags or four flags or 12 flags that the city council has greenlit, to be flown. Again, we're in the government speech realm, which allows the city to pick winners and losers, to pick those specific flags. So in that regard, it would be OK. The problem would be if we don't adopt a specific list and shift back towards what Austin had going on, which is just, anyone who's got a flag, please, every Tuesday you get 30 minutes to fly. That's where you would be at the most risk. because you would have the door open. One, we would be an open public forum, so the First Amendment would always be triggered, and then we would be unable to deny particularly offensive flags like the Confederate flag, for instance. Okay.

All right. Thank you. Chancellor Walsh?

Yeah, I mean, with this, I mean, how do we handle it if the – You know, the Israeli flag and the Palestinian flag both have requests for proclamations with them. I mean, once again, we're ending up, whether we may be avoiding lawsuits, but still, we're picking winners and losers, which I don't think that we should be doing. And I think that it's stirring the pot, and And this type of, I mean, here we've been discussing this for months now. And if every time that some other cause wants to bring out their flag, we're going to end up continuing the discussion. Where really there's, as Council Member Kochmar pointed out, there's other issues that really should be occupying our time.

All right, Council Member Moore.

Thank you. Council Member Walsh, I appreciate the candor. Here's just a reminder, and you already know this, but I'll just say it for the public. Proclamations usually don't move forward without full consent of the council. So if it doesn't have full consent of the council, like the Israeli and Palestinian, then it doesn't move forward. Therefore, it doesn't get a vote. And I think it's really important to point out that, just like Adam said, other cities are doing this. And I appreciate Adam saying that this is legally safe. I think anything we do, there could always be a legal issue with everything we're doing. And so really, what we have to ask ourselves, going back to the original question, What do we want to be like? Who are we and what type of city do we want? We have had a whole bunch of South King County cities and all over the state of Washington that are celebrating Juneteenth federally recognized holiday and pride flag, and here's Federal Way. Here's Federal Way. And so we heard a concern of we want other flags to be raised. This amendment addresses that. Is it perfect?

No.

But council member, like you said, or somebody said it, we can always go back to the table and readdress it. Now here's the thing, and this is my personal opinion. We as government elected officials, our job is to focus on everything. Not say, you know what, you're not important, no, no, no. We don't have time for you, no. And not only that, but what does the marginalized community hear when we say that? That's what's so important. And so I urge my colleagues to say, everything that we do is important. Everything that we do is valuable. And it doesn't mean one is more important than the other. Everything is important in government. And so this is just an issue that's come forth, and we're trying to address it. And I think today's amendment truly represents the concerns that we heard and a way to move forward. And I urge my colleagues to put the votes in. And if we need to work on it again, sure, let's do it. But this is a good solution for right now. Thank you.

Council President Honda?

Yes, so the mayor can also make proclamations just from the mayor. So where would that fall?

It would not fall into this. It would be, what's that?

My understanding is it would be the council's proclamation. Okay.

Okay, there has been a motion, a second, a discussion as to the motion to amend the main motion to allow sister city flags, Native American flags, and flags that were part of a city council recognized proclamation.

Point of clarification. And just to confirm, the Pride flag and Juneteenth is still part of that.

Well, that's the main motion. This would be amended back.

Then we'll go back to the main motion.

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

As to the, okay, everybody got it? As to the amendment that has been raised, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Nay. Nay.

All right. Would the city clerk please run the roll call?

Council Member Asafa-Dawson?

Aye.

Council Member Moore? Aye. Council Member Hamilton?

Nay.

Council Member Walsh?

Nay.

Council Member Sessoms?

Aye.

Council Member Kochmar?

Nay.

And Council President Honda? Nay. The amendment fails.

Okay, the amendment has failed. And on to the main motion. There's been a... You're out of order. Okay. All right. As to the main motion to add the Juneteenth flag and the Pride flag, there's been a motion, there's been a second, there's been a discussion. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Okay. Heather? I'm sorry. All those opposed?

Nay. Nay.

Nay.

Okay. Roll call, please.

Council Member Estepa Dawson. Aye. Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Hamilton. Nay. Council Member Walsh.

Nay.

Council Member Sessoms.

Aye.

Council Member Kochmar.

Nay.

And Council President Honda. Nay. The motion fails.

Okay, the motion fails. We move on to the next item. Okay, this is item 6A, excuse me, 8A. This is the first reading, Council Bill 936, ordinance approve the massage business ordinance. Would the Assistant City Attorney, Adam Gadbury, will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor Farrell, Council President Honda, and council members. Before you tonight is the policy question of should the council enact a new massage business ordinance? The purpose of this ordinance is to add a new Chapter 12.65 to the Federal Way Revised Code. The purpose in doing so is to provide the police with additional tools to investigate and prosecute illicit massage businesses, prostitution, money laundering, and human trafficking schemes, while also protecting legitimate business owners, massage practitioners, and the general public who utilize these services. What does the proposed ordinance require? It mirrors state law requiring massage therapists to be properly licensed by the Washington Department of Health. It requires owners and managers to ensure that their employees are properly licensed by the state. It requires the valid license to be conspicuously displayed for easy verification by both police and customers. It prohibits internal warning systems. That internal warning system is defined as any system that is installed for the purpose of alerting persons of the presence of law enforcement. Internal warning system is not an alarm system or a panic button purchased from and monitored by a third party. The ordinance regulates the hours of operation to be between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. only. It prohibits the locking of the front door during business hours, prohibits cash transactions, and then adopts by reference the Washington administrative code provisions governing massage therapists. So the options before you tonight are forward the proposed ordinance to the July 7, 2026 council meeting for a second reading and adoption, or do not forward the proposed ordinance and provide direction to staff. The mayor's recommendation is option one.

All right, council, any questions for Adam? I should say council. All right.

We can make comments after public comment, right?

Yes.

Yes, exactly.

All right. And it is, for the folks that have stayed here this long, on behalf of everybody up here and everybody in the city of Federal Way, thank you for your patience. So, okay. So, any other questions for Adam? All right. Now we get into the really important thing. We've got public comment from folks that want to address this. I think I've got like five or six of these. So let me, I'll name them, and then you'll know who's next. So please pay attention to your order. Mary Beth Burney. Oh, actually, that's via Zoom. Mary Beth via Zoom. Let's do that last, just because I want to make sure that we do this efficiently. Antoinette Johnson. Then Jen Chan. Then Robin Blake. Paul McDaniel. and Antoinette Ramirez, and then we'll take Mary Beth Burney via Zoom. Okay, Antoinette.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. My name is Antoinette Johnson. I have been a massage therapist for almost 20 years. I have owned and operated my business in Federal Way for 12 years. I'm a resident here for 15 years. I support strong enforcement against human trafficking, exploitation, and illicit business operations under the guise of massage therapy. Those businesses should be shut down, and any victims found in those operations should be provided with the resources, support, and assistance they need to safely leave those situations. What concerns me is that the proposed regulations on locked entrances, cash transactions, and internal warning systems place additional burdens on licensed healthcare professionals while doing little to address businesses that are already operating outside the law. As a practitioner, I have personally visited many of the businesses that have been referenced during discussions about this ordinance. In many cases, I did not observe the licenses and credentials the legitimate massage businesses are required by law to display. Massage therapy is a licensed healthcare profession. Practicing without a license is already illegal. In any other healthcare profession, operating without proper credentials would not be tolerated. It raises the question of why businesses that have already been identified as operating illegally are not being shut down using existing laws and enforcement tools. Licensed massage practitioners are regulated by the Department of Health. We complete extensive education and training, pass examinations, maintain continued education requirements, and follow strict professional standards. It's unfair to place legitimate healthcare professionals in the same category as businesses that are allegedly operating outside the law. If these businesses are already ignoring existing licensing requirements, what evidence is there that they will suddenly comply with new regulations regarding doors, warning systems, or payment methods? One of the proposed regulations would require me to leave my entrance unlocked while I am alone treating a client. As a solo practitioner, that does not make me feel safer. I have personally experienced theft, vandalism, drug use on my property, and unauthorized individuals entering treatment areas, barricading themselves in the bathrooms, and being hostile towards me and my clients when doors were left unlocked. Locking my door is not about concealing activity. It's about protecting myself and my clients. I'm also concerned about the prohibition of cash transactions. Many of my clients, including seniors, pay with cash. Eliminating the option increases costs for legitimate businesses, creates additional financial burdens, and may force practitioners to raise prices, reducing access to care in our community. These regulations risk pushing lawful businesses out of federal way while doing little to stop businesses that are already operating illegally. I respectfully ask the council to focus on enforcing existing laws and holding ELISA operators accountable rather than imposing new restrictions on licensed healthcare professionals who have followed the law and serve this community responsibly for years. Thank you for your time and consideration.

All right, thank you very much. Jen Chen.

Good evening, Mayor, Council President, Council Members. My name is Jen Chan, licensed massage therapist. I've been a licensed massage therapist for 18 and a half years, a Federal Way resident for 14 years, and a Federal Way business owner for 13 years. My work focuses on body work, geriatric care, and mental health support. I'm also a member of the Washington State Massage Therapy Association. You've already heard from me and from several of my clients, and I want to say again that I strongly support federal police and their efforts to eliminate illegal businesses and human trafficking, especially because in my past, I get weekly solicitors who have always threatened I'd give their information to the police. But unfortunately, the police don't do anything. Lastly, I want to thank the committee for sending the ordinance back to the committee for more research. With that said, I continue to object three, technically four, provisions. The prohibition of locked entrances, internal warning systems, and cash transactions. Technically, time two, but I'll get back to that later. As massage therapists and healthcare practitioners regulated by the Department of Health, we have a direct responsibility for the safety and well-being of our clients and ourselves. At the same time, we must comply with city regulations. In practice, that creates a conflict. If this ordinance moves forward unchanged, massage therapists will be forced to choose between following city rules and protecting clients' safety or leaving their practices inside Federal Way altogether. I highly doubt liability insurances will cover any incident that may occur if front doors are not locked. I also want to note that prohibiting cash transactions can disappropriately affect older adults, low-income residents, immigrants, and people who are unbanked. speaking of time i just got back from the east coast working a lot of all-night grad parties working 11 p.m to 3 o'clock in the morning doing legit massage we urge committee to remove these three provisions because the ordinances is already strong without them if the council believes they are necessary for public safety the washington state massage therapy association recommends exemptions for solar practitioners a clear exemption process for licensed clinics that meet certain criteria and a sunset clause so that these provisions can be reviewed after one year of effectiveness. I also want to share a recent experience. This past November, I visited Yan's Spa, a massage business in Federal Way. The door was not locked. I sat in the waiting room for nearly 10 minutes while the licensed massage therapist was with their client. During that time... A man walked in, came directly to the front desk, realized I was there, scared the crap out of him, took something from the counter, and ran out. Thankfully, it was only a small item. And who knows what he could have done to the massage therapist, their client, or to the business if I wasn't there. Between that moment and the Atlanta spa shooting incident in 2021, where the shooter went to two Asian spas and shot four people dead, showed me how important safety measures are for legitimate businesses, clients, and therapists. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. Okay, Robin Blake.

Good evening Council Members and Mayor. My name is Robin Blake and I am the Government Relations Director for the Washington State Massage Therapy Association. WSMTA supports Federal Way's efforts to combat prostitution, human trafficking, organized criminal activity, and unlicensed businesses operating under the disguise of massage therapy. The three regulations we continue discussing prohibited locked doors, Cash payments and internal warning systems will primarily burden lawful health care providers, not illicit businesses. Many massage therapists work alone, often evenings and weekends, in small offices or home practices. With these three regulations, many therapists are effectively being told, for the greater good, your safety, privacy, and ability to safely operate your business may have to be sacrificed. That should concern every member of this council. A locked door is not a criminal tool to massage therapists. It protects against theft, assault, stalking, and unauthorized entry in treatment rooms where there are vulnerable clients. No healthcare professional should be placed in the position of having to choose between following city code and maintaining basic safety and privacy for themselves and their clients. The same concern exists with cash payments, which especially impact older adults and lower income residents. They are not criminals. They are residents of your city trying to access lawful health care services. Meanwhile, illicit operators already adapt around financial restrictions through false identities, shell companies, prepaid cards, and off-the-book transactions. So the practical effect of these regulations is that legitimate massage therapists and lawful clients absorb the burden, while criminal operators continue adapting around the rules. Council members, this ordinance is enough without these three regulations. WSMTA has also made additional recommendations to clarify and strengthen your ordinance, which we hope you also consider. We are available to answer any questions about these recommendations. What concerns massage therapists is most most is the feeling that lawful professionals are being treated as acceptable collateral damage in an attempt to regulate an entirely different industry. Government works best when regulations are fair, narrowly tailored, and do not necessarily sacrifice the safety of lawful citizens in pursuit of broader enforcement goals. Can you imagine what life would be like if every single city adopted these regulations in the state? We respectfully ask the Council to remove the restrictions on locked doors and cash transactions, and to clearly exempt ordinary door chimes from the warning system provision. If you feel that you are unable to do all these, we respectfully ask that you consider the compromise option that we presented earlier in previous meetings. Federal way can protect public safety without making legitimate massage therapists less safe and disrupting massage therapy services To cash only citizens. Thank you for your time and consideration Thank You Paul McDaniel Good evening Paul McDaniel.

I am NOT a massage therapist, but I get massages constantly so I'm going to talk about the ordinance that was put out and then brought to council a second time now. Bluntly, I feel this is a sledgehammer. You guys should be using something a little bit more delicate. In the opening statements of you guys' ordinance where it mentions the proposal at the last paragraph, it says, by adopting this ordinance, the city will restore the enforcement mechanisms previously relied upon. I'd like to know what those are. I'd like to know if anybody even knows what that means, what those mechanisms are. In the paperwork, you guys both received documentation from WSMTA, the Washington State Massage Therapist Association. It had recommendations in it. I hope you guys read it, because they had some good ones in it. They recommend working with the police, and they give a list of one, two, three, four, six different items. Those six items, I think, should be used and maybe actually looked into before pushing this ordinance forward. My other comment is, or I'm going to recommend or ask is, you guys have already legislated from the dais. I'm going to ask you to do it again. I'm going to ask you guys to actually remove some of the items that are on here. The ordinance literally lists a few items. One of them is showing a business license already legally required. You also are saying that the massage therapist must leave their patient to show government issued ID for that business license also. You have the internal warning system, but it does not define it. But yet you guys have mentioned that a whole bunch of things do not fall underneath of the internal warning system. So I'm curious to know what does define an internal warning system if doorbells and systems like that do not. You prohibit the hours, which is something that I did not hear much complaint about from anybody. And then you prohibit from accepting cash, which is an issue, and also unlawful to lock the entrance. I do know that the police are looking for an easier way to enter the premise, but if you have reasonable doubt, then you should probably get a warrant to do that. I believe the safety of the individuals who perform treatment for the patients goes beyond this. We talked about human trafficking. I'm curious to know if the city has ever ran into a human trafficking issue, and what was the response, and also what is the policy and procedures for when we do run into people who look like they're being human trafficked? Do we as a city handle that, or do we hand it off to a federal government agency? I'm curious to know what that looks like also. And then my ask is going to be that you guys, when you make this motion to pass, is to remove section 1265.090, prohibiting locking of the entrance door, removing section 1265.070, the internal warning systems, and also section 1265.100, cash transactions prohibited. And then my last comment I'd like to make is towards the answer that was given the other day during the parks meeting when someone mentioned about locking the door and the safety. They were told not to worry about it because we're not going after you. What is the point of passing a law and then telling people they don't have to follow it since they're not the target for the investigation? I do not like that. I do not think it's the right way to go. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Antoinette Ramirez.

Hello, Federal Way City Council Members and Mayor. I'm a licensed massage therapist with a solo practice in Tacoma. I am here today because I have watched these ordinances spread rapidly across Washington cities, and I am concerned that this version will reach my city next. I am a survivor of sexual assault inside and outside of my massage practice. No matter what I wear or which precaution I use to screen new clients before they ever walk through the door, creeps will continue to be creeps. As someone who carries hypervigilance from trauma, knowing I can operate in a space with a locked entrance takes an enormous amount of pressure off my mind and keeps me, my clients, and anyone working in the building safer. I rent a studio inside a commercial building with other health care professionals. We have no receptionist. Only trusted clients get the access code for the entrance. There are many evenings where I work alone, but I still feel safe because of this. During the day, I've had other encounters where providers accidentally let men into the building, claiming they wanted a massage for me. One banged on my treatment door while I was with the client, demanding an appointment. Others have stood outside the entrance, knocking and calling my phone repeatedly. My voicemail website and post-it signs clearly explain how to schedule. It's clear they were seeking something else. The Atlanta spa massacre from March 2021, and this local news story in particular, have been on my mind since the unlocked door ordinance was introduced. In September 2025, a man forced his way into a spa in Edmonds, Washington. He locked the door behind him and violently attacked two female employees. He used a metal coat rack to beat both women who suffered broken bones and were hospitalized. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder. While he did lock the door behind him, I think massage therapists not having the option to lock the door leaves us exposed to more danger and any items or decor left in common areas open to theft or damage. I agree with the Washington State Massage Therapy Association that solo practitioners should be exempt from the unlocked door requirement and legitimate massage therapy clinics should be eligible for that same exemption after passing a successful inspection. Again, I also don't agree with the cash ban as it reduces care for clients and increases business fees for the therapists. I'm also confused by the internal alarm verbiage. I'm hoping exemptions apply to hiring companies like ADT and SimpliSafe so providers have the option to install a panic button and for landlords wanting to keep their property safer. Thank you for your time, and I hope you will work with us to keep licensed massage therapists, our clients, victims of human trafficking, and the overall community safer. Thank you.

Thank you. Do you have a question right now?

Just a comment.

Okay. Council President? Well, actually, yeah.

We have one more.

Yeah, and then I'm going to have the chief get up after we get done. Okay. All right. We've got the Zoom. Okay. So Mary Beth Burney, sorry to her. I mean, we're almost four hours into this. And for those who have stuck around, thank you very much. Chief, did you have a, Chief Wong or Deputy Chief Jones, did you have anything to add in response to the public comment?

Yeah, if I may, I would like to read a prepared statement and then answer any questions the policy group might have. The Police Department is asking the City Council for the passage of this ordinance to send a strong message that illicit massage businesses are of prostitution and human trafficking will no longer be tolerated in the Federal Way community. The expectation of the general public and the business community is that the city act to address the ongoing violent crimes such as robberies, sexual assaults, and shootings that have occurred at these establishments, most recently occurring a few weeks ago where a massage worker was shot. These types of crimes are unacceptable and preventable. Federal Way has not had a massage business ordinance for nearly 20 years, making our community a soft spot, allowing these illicit businesses to flourish. And we need to reverse this trend. The Washington State Massage Therapy Association will not dispute that the mechanism of the ordinance of not allowing not being able to lock the front door during business hours and no cash transaction will be an effective deterrent against illicit massage businesses. Our police officers and detectives who have been attempting to address this problem that we're facing are strongly asking the City Council to take action and provide them with the tools and mechanisms necessary to drive these businesses out of Federal Way. For example, Federal Way has a tough pawn shop ordinance requiring photo ID and thumbprint for every transaction. This practice, over time, has contributed to bringing commercial burglaries, residential burglaries, numbers to the historic low numbers that we're having today. This Massage Business Ordinance before you will create a belief among criminal actors that no longer have a free pass in our community and will be held accountable. The police department strongly urges the council to pass this ordinance for public safety without further delay to address the harm that these illicit businesses are causing to our residents and to our business community, including the legitimate massage businesses. What I can tell you is we have ordinances in which the city staff and police department are asked to use good judgment. For example, sandwich board signs that local business put out to drum up more business. Sometimes not placed properly. That's a code violation. We don't go out actively looking for it, and we don't enforce A-frame sign violations to support our local businesses. That's in the books. Grass can be overgrown. Code enforcement is not out there. Now, that's in the books, but code enforcement isn't out there actively looking for people with overgrown lawn over six inches and writing them citations. We're not doing that either unless there's a complaint or basis for us to look into it. It is illegal to drive one miles over the speed limit. We don't issue tickets for that. Maybe even over five miles over the speed limit. It's against the law, but we don't enforce that. We use good, sound judgment and discretion. What I'm going to tell you is every speaker that spoke this evening does not have to worry about police department taking action or following the letter of the law. We will use good discretion. If you're not involved in prostitution, you're not involved in human trafficking, you do not have to worry about the police coming to cite you for having a locked door or maybe having an occasional transaction. But this organized crime, They're really embedded in our community. It's causing violence. And there's a huge amount of cash that's flowing, money laundering, organized crime. And we want to put a stop to it. And the police department's asking for the council to partner with us to send the strongest message. Because when organized crime hear what we're going to do, they're not going to like it. When they hear that they can't do cash transactions... And officers are going to come check on their door at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. If the door is locked and we have reasonable suspicion they're involved in prostitution and human trafficking, we're going to take enforcement. They're not going to like it, and they're going to leave our community. By having the strongest policy, we're going to have the biggest impact without taking a necessarily huge amount of enforcement because these investigations take weeks and months. They're not just something you can just walk in and shut them down. I would tell you another example would be the pursuit law. Once the state reversed the pursuit law, we saw tremendous reduction in auto theft, violent crimes, robberies. This ordinance is going to do exactly that. We've done things in Federal Way that other communities aren't doing. I know they're saying, what are they doing in Everett? What are they doing in Kent? Sometimes it doesn't matter. We've got to do what works for Federal Way. We've got a huge problem, and we need to send the strongest message possible. And that's what I'm asking as a police chief, and that's what our officers are asking as well. Thank you for your time, and I'll answer any questions you might have.

Okay, the light I see on right now is Council Member Moore.

Mayor?

Yeah?

We do have Mary Beth on Zoom.

Oh, great. Okay, great. Mary Beth, can you hear us? Mary Beth?

Yes, I can hear you.

Okay, we can hear you now, too. Go ahead. You have three minutes.

My name is Mary Beth Burney. I'm with the Washington State Massage Therapy Association Government Relations Program. I live and have a massage practice in Olympia for the last 41 years. So here we are again, six weeks after the last time we looked at this ordinance, with absolutely no changes to the three sections of the proposed massage ordinance that were of greatest concern to many council members, as well as all of the LMTs that commented and attended. But beyond that, this version of the proposed ordinance leaves out many tools that could be used to help the city of Federal Way to not only close these illicit businesses posing as massage businesses, but to help keep them from simply repopulating and to also address the demand side of this equation. To name just a few, business license. We learned that many of the illicit businesses in Federal Way do not have a business license to operate in Federal Way. The demand for a business license exists, but in your current ordinance, all you have is a civil penalty with monetary fines that these businesses can afford to pay forever. In Olympia's massage ordinance, they made the lack of a business license a criminal offense. This allows Olympia to immediately shutter the businesses that have no license and the businesses unable to reopen until they have a license, giving law enforcement time to investigate whether they are a legitimate business or not. Inspections. This version of your proposed ordinance also fails to use the valuable tool of inspections. Once inside, it is next to impossible for these illicit businesses to make themselves look like a legitimate massage practice. legal consequences on the demand side. Olympia's ordinance provides for legal penalties for the patrons of these illicit businesses. The first offense is a misdemeanor, the second is a gross misdemeanor. The proposed version of your ordinance did have a section demanding the following of certain state WACs that all legitimate massage therapists follow. However, like your demand for a business license, the failure to comply is only a civil infraction. Again, these illicit businesses can afford to pay these fines all day long. Most legitimate massage therapists are members of a professional association. Those associations have codes of conduct that members agree to uphold. Those codes require us to follow all laws and regulations that we are subject to where we practice. Passing this ordinance as it is could result in LMTs finding themselves between a rock and a hard place. Do I follow the regulations or do I keep myself, my clients, and my business safe? Knowingly not following the regulations could equal losing membership, losing professional liability insurance. It could even possibly mean the loss of our license to practice. The central concern for many massage therapists is not whether Federal Way is trying to solve a serious problem. The concern is whether the burden placed on legitimate practitioners is proportional, necessary, and safe. Please do not pass this ordinance as it is. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. All right, Council Member Moore.

Thank you. Chief and Deputy Chief Jones, just a couple of questions. It's my understanding that Olympia and the association did work together, did compromise or something like that, and where are they at in terms of illicit activities?

parlors yes my understanding that the the group partnered with the city of Olympia they developed an ordinance and From what we have seen it has not been effective. In fact, it took us five minutes to find 30 Illicit massage businesses in Olympia right now.

Got it. Okay. And then my next question is Now there's you guys have looked at the policy in Kent And what number are they at with? their illicit

Kent has zero right now that we found.

Okay, and walk me through that. Why do you think that's the case?

Because they have strong ordinances.

Got it.

I'll add to that. Kent did invest a significant amount of time investigating these and taking enforcement action. So with the current ordinance that's proposed, it's going to really help us with enforcement because the organized crime, these bad actors aren't going to like it when officers come by, do a business check, the door is locked, we're going to write that up, our special investigations will follow up. What will drive these businesses out will be the ongoing investigation that's going to occur.

And Chief, or Deputy Chief, walk me through this. So the reasoning behind unlocking the door is what happens if it's a locked door? From your experience.

If it's a locked door and we know that people are inside and they're not letting us in, then we're not going to be able to get in. When it's unlocked, we can go in and do inspections. We can check on the people inside.

Would it be fair for me to say, based on your experience, would it be fair for me to say that if it's a locked door, then it would be extremely unfortunate that maybe they would be hiding people and human trafficking would take place and something could happen behind the back door and that loses time for you guys to get in and address the issues?

Yeah, that's a potential outcome, yes.

Okay, so that would be a fair thought.

I will add, when we had an ordinance 17 years ago and earlier, our ordinance did not allow massage businesses to lock their door. It did not allow them to have an alarm system to alert others inside. What's new here, the new crime trend, because there's thousands and thousands involved, I mean, huge amounts of money. involved, we're saying we are going to be the first city that I'm aware of that says no cash transaction. And they're really not going to like that. And it's really going to drive them out of Federal Way. So I think it's needed because our problem has really grown here because we haven't had any ordinance for almost 20 years. So we're taking a very strong stance against these illicit businesses.

Chief, thank you. I'm going to do closing comments here because I know the mayor wants to call on other folks. But I know this is hard. And I know this is frustrating. And I feel the frustration and the pain for the members that are legitimate business owners. I do. And I know that you're probably not going to be happy with what I'm going to do. But I will absolutely be supporting this because the reality is... and I appreciate the Deputy Chief's time earlier today, but when you've got 40, nearly 40, or over 35 that are in question of human trafficking or illicit or money laundering, sexual crimes or potentially robberies or, you know, that's an issue. That's an issue. And when other cities are addressing that issue, and ours is over 35 potential business that are in question, that's concerning. And my job at the end of the day is to really do what I can to keep the community safe. And my job at the end of the day is to be able to give the tools and resources to our officers to do their job. And the reality is, I'm going to look at a bigger scope. And that's, there's a negative connotation with Federal Way. And as I've said since I've taken office, I'm on a mission to change that perspective of Federal Way. And this is part of it. We got to do everything we can to make Federal Way a safer place. And as long as I'm a council member, I will absolutely do everything I can to ensure that there is there is no human trafficking that we stamp that out and I don't want to I want to ensure that it doesn't happen here and unfortunately we have to go hard and we have to address that really aggressively and I want to make sure that that the money laundering stops sexual crimes stops that and and like the PD has said I want to ensure that there is no home for that here in Federal Way. You've heard the Chief say that I trust our officers to have good judgment. I trust our PD to have good judgment. And they will work with legitimate business owners. You've heard him say that here. It's on record. No one's interested in saying, you're out of here. We're going to shut you down. We're interested in going after the bad apples. And that's what this policy will do. And with that, I will end my time. Thank you.

Council President Honda, Council Member Hamilton, Council Member Walsh, then Council Member Cepedosin. Council President.

Thank you. I very much want the illicit businesses to be out of Federal Way, but I don't want to hurt the legitimate businesses at the same time. We have received dozens of emails and I hope Council has taken the time to read each and every one of those emails, especially from Robin Blake. She has given us a ton of information about what other cities have done and her recommendations and the recommendations of her organization. The city of Kent, their ordinance does not have these three things in it, and yet it works. It works because they put the officers and the code enforcement officers together to get rid of the illicit businesses. But it does not have these three things. They can still take cash, they can lock their doors, and they can have a... I don't want to call it a security system, but a chime. And yet they were still able to get rid of their illicit businesses. So why can't we? Why do we need these three things in here if Kent was successful without these things? I am concerned that if we pass this, we are setting up the legitimate businesses, these people sitting here and the others that aren't in here tonight, that could potentially be hurt, be robbed, because the bad actors are going to know that they have to leave their doors unlocked. I had a hairdresser who was a solo practitioner. You had a knock on her door. She let you in, and then she locked it. And I felt comfortable in her chair, because I knew that no one was going to come into that door when she was busy taking care of me. And I can't imagine that anyone getting a massage is going to feel comfortable getting a massage knowing that the door is unlocked, that there's no one watching it, that there's no chime going off if it's opened, and that anyone can walk into that office. These massage therapists... put a lot of money into training, into going to school, into continuing ed, into keeping their licenses in the state of Washington. And the state of Washington manages the massage therapists. They make sure that they're doing things legal. If they're not, they will lose their license. So I would like to... Move to direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, locking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems, and to bring back the modified ordinance back to the next regular council meeting for first reading. Second.

There's been a motion to second. Is there any discussion? Council Member, actually, I could. was going to let actually i announced the order before councilmember hamilton now the the motion is to send this back uh we've uh to send this back to committee or back back to staff um so kids were hamilton um well i have one question so in the the prohibition on the locked doors it's the front door or is it all of the doors

Because typically you would go through the front door.

It's the front door.

So they could still lock the door that they're practicing where the patient is, correct?

I suppose, yes.

Okay. I think, you know, I've been hearing about this, and I have read every email. I don't think that traffickers are going to comply. I think that's a correct statement. I think what's going to happen is they're not going to come here to do their business. And so my position is this is not going to be allowed to be continued in this city. And my message to human traffickers would be Federal Way is not going to be a comfortable place to commit your crimes. and i'm going to be a strong yes on this and it might not be a perfect solution but we have a problem and to address one of the questions that was asked earlier federal way does have a history of human trafficking some people might not remember but we used to have signs kind of where the the east wind hotel was they were signs that said soap zone stay out of areas of prostitution So we have had a problem. We still have a problem. It's time to solve this problem, and I'm a strong yes.

Okay, Council Member Walsh.

Can we, before this amendment being addressed, can we ask some other questions to the main thing?

Yes, exactly. I do want to say something. Staff is not going to work on amendments. This is the motion. We were confronted and requested for compromise. We're not going to compromise. I'm not compromising. The police department's not compromising. So if you want to make amendments, the time to do it is here. It's not going to be done by staff. I'm not directing staff to amend the ordinance. So you could do it on the dais, but you could do it in committee, but we're not going to do it by staff.

Council Member Walsh? My biggest concern is the locked door. and that i i understand also first one question is if it is an illicit business and their doors locked you go you find the doors locked what is your next step first of all we're not we we don't have to the staffing or the bandwidth to go to every not not all but but if it's if it's a business he knows that an illicit business that that actor yes and you go there and the doors locked what is the next step after that

for a patrol officer just checking the business is his or district, they're gonna write it up for the special investigation. Now we have a violation. We have a civil violation. So with that, we're gonna take enforcement action on the owner. And then we're gonna work, once these infractions build up, we're gonna work with the property owner, informing them that we have reasonable suspicion that they're involved in prostitution, human trafficking, when we gather evidence And then we're going to work with the property owner. So what's going to happen is the property owner, for insurance purpose, potential criminal charges, they're going to either evict the tenant or they're not going to reduce the tenant. But what's going to happen is when our detectives and officers go to these business, And there's cash transaction going on. There's the doors locked. Maybe we might use a ruse to get inside as a customer. Once we have that, then we're going to take enforcement. And the criminal actors really aren't going to like that. So these mechanisms and these tools are going to be really helpful for our officers and detectives. That's what they're asking, to get these civil infractions and violations to get in there, build up the violation, and they're just going to pack up and leave. The biggest thing tonight is sending the strongest message possible. We're going to do something other cities aren't doing. No cash transaction. That's what they're all about. Money laundering, cash. And they got false containers in their businesses and they hide that cash. We're not talking small amount. We're talking 30, 50. I mean, huge amounts that they make on a daily, weekly basis. They stash it in their business. And so when they find out they can't do cash business, they're going to say Federal Way is not where we want to be. It's not going to happen overnight, but the word's going to get out. And then we don't have to do so much enforcement because they're going to say, hey, where do we expand our business? Where do we open up our next one? And they're going to say, don't forget about Federal Way. Because we're not going to allow cash. And that's very visible, very obvious. So these tools are going to be really, really helpful. Nobody's doubting it's going to be helpful. The collateral damage, you couldn't lock doors in the 90s when we had the ordinance. We didn't get a single complaint from legitimate businesses because we used good judgment.

Why would it not work to just do a minor amendment with this from the dais, offering legitimate, well, offering businesses to have a voluntary inspection, and if they pass that voluntary inspection, that they're licensed, they're legit, they're everything, that they're then able to lock the doors after passing this voluntary inspection?

I don't even think we're going to even contact with legitimate business, frankly.

I think that, yeah, I agree with you there, but still there's a concern with these massage practitioners there. And one of the concerns, I think, was that with the Massage Therapy Association, that if they're not abiding by city regulations, that they could get, disbarred isn't the right word, but that this- Dismassage. I don't know. Anyway, they could lose their accreditation with the Massage Therapy Association if they're not abiding by local laws. And so basically my question is why couldn't we amend it so that they could do a voluntary inspection? They pass that voluntary inspection. and then these points of contention no longer apply to them.

Point of order.

Hold on. That's a question. Are you asking the question?

I'm asking the question of the chief.

I just have a procedural question, if that's all. Yeah. So the amendment has been made by Council President Honda. It's been seconded.

My question to legal or to the mayor is- Is this germane to the motion?

Right, right. I mean, should we be talking about the amendment only?

Yeah, actually, council, is this discussion germane? I do believe it's germane. I think that the question is whether or not there's an alternate course short of setting it back. For a complete rewrite. So I think it's germane to that issue.

I mean, but the amendment was made very specifically.

It's germane to the question on the table.

What do you mean by germane?

Relevant.

So you think it's relevant?

Yes. I don't know. Could you repeat, Heather, could you please repeat what the motion is?

To direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, locking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems, and to bring back the modified ordinance to the next regulator.

So locking doors? Yeah. Okay. So if the majority of the council viewed that, then staff would be directed by council to do that. Okay. All right. it's not, this wouldn't be sending it back passively. This is the specifics of the motion.

Yes, council has the authority to direct me to draft an ordinance. Okay. Could you please read that one more time?

to direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions locking doors during business hours and using internal warning systems and to bring it back at the next regular meeting okay thank you though okay um all right so now that we know that chief what what is your do you have a reaction to or a position with regard to the removal of those items

I have some reservation, only because we want to be consistent in how we treat all the businesses. But I'm not totally close to the idea of that.

The motion is to remove those three items from the bill. No, I am opposed. Are you asking me my opinion? Okay. Had you given Council Member Walsh an answer to his question?

No, he had not.

Okay. Let's start there. Could you please restate your comment? I'm going to ask you two things. Number one, what was your question?

Would it not work to amend the ordinance to allow massage therapists to ask for a voluntary inspection where we could go in, inspect them, show that they're legit, and then if they pass that voluntary inspection, they're exempt from these items of concern? That's enough.

Regarding the lock in the front door.

That's my biggest point.

I think it's doable. It's doable. Obviously, I want it consistent. Again, I just want to reinforce, there's no reason for us to even have contact with legitimate businesses. Unless we get a complaint from a citizen, I went in for a massage and they offer more services. unless we get some sort of social media or some complaint, we're not going to have contact with legitimate business owners, but it's doable.

Yeah, and I think that this would help put them at ease a little bit more with it. Okay. So anyway.

So what is your position about the current motion before about removing completely those three items?

It will not be as strong of an ordinance. It won't have as big of an impact discouraging these illicit businesses from operating or coming to Federal Way. We might shut one down. The new one will come in. Maybe two will come in. We'll be just treading water, in my opinion. I think sending a strong message will reverse this quickly in our city. Okay. Council Member Morgan.

Yeah, I just want to speak to the amendment and why I'm not going to be supporting this. And there's a question in there. First of all, Deputy Chief Jones or Chief, how long have you been working on this for the span? How long have you been working on this efforts and policy?

We started this in spring of 2025.

Got it.

Over a year.

Over a year. So here's my thing, and that's we – We trust our officers to do their job, and we trust our leadership of the PD to come up with recommendations. They have studied this over and over and over and over, and time is of the essence. And this amendment, if I'm not mistaken, maybe I'm misunderstanding it, please call me out, would slow everything down. And the fact that we already sent it back for them to review and study it, Times of the essence. Things are happening right now. There was a robbery that occurred when? Two weeks ago? A week ago? How many? A few weeks ago. A few weeks ago. Where what?

She was shot.

She was shot. So is the answer, let's just give more time and send out a... a weak signal, or are we going to be just decisive, trust our officers, trust our law enforcement professionals and leaders, and say, okay, we've done our homework, I get it. Now we've got to, I mean, I'm voting no on this amendment, because we need to give them the tools that they've been wanting for them to do their job, and they already have done their homework. They know where everything is, and they know what they're doing, and I trust them. And you've heard them saying they've done this at the pawn shops, and it's gone extraordinarily well. So thank you.

Okay. Council Member Coachmark?

Normally I would agree with Council President, but in this case, no. I agree with Council Member Moore and Council Member Hamilton. I think that literally we need to do something do it now take care of this these girls are worth a million dollars to the mafia they're being victimized we need to shut this down we should have done it years ago we need to do as much as we can right now lock your doors take your cash nothing's going to happen to you do your job get it done if we need to change things again later we can but just move forward

Okay. Thank you. Council Member Acevedo.

Yes. I do support what Council President Ronda was proposing. And we've heard from guests here we've seen emails and so again their safety is also a concern of ours so they're saying and they have this experience that they're telling us they don't feel safe with all these new regulations then what are we saying to them because if I'm client and the doors not locked I'm not going to feel safe I'm there in a vulnerable position and they have to go answer the door and so I don't agree with that and then the cash we've talked about it in the past I know some people are unbanked and some people just like to use cash and And so I, and also Chief, you've stated that you're not gonna bother them, but that's also profiled, because I don't know who you can bother and who you cannot bother. If they're licensed, they're licensed, and I don't know, if these people are not licensed, that should be basis to go after them. And so I am concerned about the one person massage therapy, and I think this just blanket gives this prohibition that does not work for them they're also business owners and fed away their license they're trained they're educated and so we're saying you know they're worried about their safety and yet we're saying no to them and so that is a concern of mine and like council president said you know kent's laws are not or ordinances different and i'm looking at it and none of these three um proposals are in there and so whatever their tool is i i believe there's other tools you are still police officers and i think if i if i was a business owner and you came to my business i need to let you in or can go out of business right so I think there could be an ordinance that still gives you the tools to go after them if you know they are not legitimate and yet and and not impact the legitimate businesses and so I do support what council president proposed for those reasons so thank you that's our Walsh then council president

You know, Council Member Honda, her motion is for it to go back to staff to be rewritten.

Not to be rewritten.

To eliminate those three items. To eliminate those three things.

I'm sorry, hold on for a second. Could you please re-read the motion again?

To direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, locking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems.

Okay. From my understanding, that would probably delay this ordinance. I would like to see where what I proposed is to keep it intact as it is with just the only amendment is being to allow them to have a voluntary inspection, and if they comply with that voluntary inspection, then they're relieved of those, and passing it tonight that way so that it's not having to be anything rewritten, and we can go forward with it. In two weeks, go to second reading.

I will entertain that motion depending the outcome of this motion.

Mayor, can I address just one technical issue with that? And that is we will have to rewrite the ordinance either way. So we can rewrite it between first and second reading if that's council's decision.

Rewrite it about that section?

Yeah. It's an ordinance. We can't just on the fly make changes. We need to rewrite it so it's a consistent body. It makes sense top to bottom. Okay.

it's not hard but it is a rewrite all right okay okay so I'm sorry I'm sorry yep oh thank you so every one of us including our officers including the mayor I've talked about human trafficking but nowhere in this ordinance do we talk about human trafficking it's an unspoken thing that that is happening in the illicit massage businesses and we were told at the committee meeting that because i asked if we had ever rescued anyone from human trafficking here in federal way from any of the illicit businesses and the commander said one woman had come forward and i believe they needed they needed another police force to to come and take care of her our police left the other police force showed up eventually and she was gone so how did we help her we didn't help her at all because who knows what happened to her i mean she could have been for all we know um very very hurt or worse because she came forward asking for help and we didn't help her and so if we want to help people who are being trafficked which we do we need to stop that i don't think that this ordinance is um really addressing that i think we would have to have something where our officers are going to be able to take anyone who says hey i i want help i want to get out of here help me And that didn't happen on the one time that somebody said that they wanted help. I would really encourage us to get this ordinance done the right way the first time. And I go back to the fact that Kent has been extremely successful, very successful. And they don't have these three items in their ordinance. And we can be extremely successful, too.

Thank you. Council Member Moore? Well, I think... Council Member Walsh?

Okay. I thought Council Member Hamilton had her light on.

Oh, I'm sorry. Council Member Hamilton.

Yes, I would normally... I would normally side with Council President Honda, and I do hear, especially what you just said, the human trafficking and helping the victims. I very much am more than willing to help Victims and to find ways to help victims, but I think we're falling into the perfect solution fallacy here and It's kind of two separate issues human trafficking and helping victims I think what this ordinance is going to do is it's going to It's going to provide a very strong deterrent for people to come here and do this kind of crime in our city and and um i think if if we remove what's being proposed to remove we're essentially making the ordinance completely ineffective at that point and so um for those reasons i my position would be not to support the amendment thank you that's one more um can i just clarify one thing we we've consistently been referring to this as an amendment there's a motion on the floor there are no amendments

So I'm going to speak to why I don't support this amendment.

It's not an amendment. This is a motion.

You made a motion to amend.

She made a motion. Well, no, she made a motion. Would you please read the motion one more time?

The motion on the floor is to direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, locking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems, and to bring the modified ordinance back to the next regular meeting.

so that is the motion that's the motion to amend i can see where the confusion is it's to amend this but bring it back to the next city council meeting without those provisions

Right, and just to clarify, I was under the impression I have this motion that's written down here, and the council president amended that motion, but that's not the case. No, she made the motion. She said the motion. So let me talk about why I don't support this motion, and thank you, staff and mayor, for clarifying that. I'm also under the impression that your team, Deputy Chief Jones and Chief, they've been working on this for really more than a year. They have been investigating all this, all these businesses that are in question, correct? So to clarify my question, I'm under the impression you guys have been investigating for really more than a year and a half, correct?

Yes, we've... I could be off by a number, but I would say past year, maybe more than a year, we've shut down four illicit massage businesses, working with the landlord, with criminal charges. So we've had success there. But like I said, these investigations take weeks and months. And we've been working. Now the officers and detectives are saying, hey, we have these tools. We can just make a sweeping change here pretty quickly with these organized crimes. So, yes, we've been working on this ordinance since it's been more than a year. So here we are.

And I'm talking about the investigations, too, to the potential 36. They're ongoing.

They're ongoing. We're still looking at businesses. Yes, that's still going on.

So obviously, with your professional backgrounds, you're more professional than we are here. There's a reason why you've come up to the conclusion of, hey, we need these three items. And quite frankly, if I'm not mistaken, that list could be longer. But you came up with these three items. Can you talk to me about why?

Because these mechanisms, tools, are going to have the biggest impact of discouraging the illicit massage businesses from coming to Federal Way. And many of them, when we start enforcing what we're currently doing, and with these new little tools and mechanisms, these businesses aren't going to stick around. Because when they run into resistance, the wall, they're going to say, you know what, we're going to pack up and leave. And that's what's going to happen. So a year from now, two years from now, we're going to have a lot less illicit massage businesses because this policy. And I also want to say one thing that kind of bothered me, what Council President Honda said. I'm going to defend the men and women of the Federal Police Department. We're all about protecting victims. And there are extreme challenges helping victims. people that are being human trafficked. They have fear of the people that are trafficking them. their passports taken away, they lose their identity. It's not easy saving people. We have nonprofit organizations that come in to try to rescue these gals that are involved in human trafficking. We work with the FBI trying to rescue these gals. It's not easy to say that the PD, you're implying that we failed, we're not doing enough. I don't think it's a fair statement for the men and women of the police department. We try to rescue every one of these gals. I mean, we have kids. So I just want to put that on the record. This is the second time Council President Honda said that, and it's absolutely inaccurate.

And Chief, thank you. And I think for me and where I'm at and why I'm absolutely going to be voting against this motion is because you guys are doing the work every single day. and your officers and detectives and your teams are doing the work every single day. You're creating partnerships to get to the bottom of this. And fact number one, you guys are limited. Fact number two, you guys are professionals and I trust the judgment of when you come here and say we need this. And for me to say something like this ordinance does not affect, address this, I feel states that, well, you guys don't know what you're doing. You guys are not educated. You guys don't know what you're doing. And to me, you guys are the professionals. And I feel like my job as a policymaker, as one policymaker, is to give you the tools and resources to get the job done. And I think that is really, really important. And with that, Mayor, I'm just going to call the question.

There's been a motion to call the question. It's not debatable. I need five members of the council to vote to be in favor of the motion to call the question. All those in favor of the, I'm sorry, do you have a point of order?

Is it calling the question on the amendment?

There is no amendment. There is a motion. There's only one motion before this body, and that's to send it back. Would you please reread the motion?

To direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, blocking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems, and to bring it back at the next meeting.

That's the only motion before the body. Do we need a second? Is there a second to call the question? There's been a motion and a second to call the question. All those in favor of calling the question? Aye. All those opposed?

Nay.

Okay, as to the motion and we've had it read multiple times those in favor of the of the motion to remove the three items and and have it come have this come back to the council at the next meeting without those three items in question all those in favor aye nay all those in favor all those in favor of the motion that we have would you the motion that you second it The motion that has been moved and seconded. All those in favor? So we move those three items. This is the main motion. Would you please read the motion one more time?

That wasn't my question.

To direct staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance to remove the prohibitions against cash transactions, locking doors during business hours, and using internal warning systems to bring it back at the next meeting.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. All those opposed? Nay.

Nay.

Heather?

Council Member Stafford-Dawson?

Aye.

Council Member Moore? Nay. Council Member Hamilton? Nay. Council Member Walsh?

Nay.

Council Member Sessoms? Nay. Council Member Coachmark?

Nay.

Council President Honda? Aye. The motion fails 5-2.

Would the City Clerk please read the ordinance title?

Council Bill 936 ordinance approved massage business ordinance an ordinance of the city of Federal Way Washington relating to massage businesses adding a new chapter 12.65 Federal Way revised code including sections as detailed in the written title.

Councilor Sessions do you have a motion?

I move to forward the proposed ordinance to the July 7th 2026 Council meeting for a second reading and enactment.

Second.

It's been a motion. A second. Is there any discussion? Council Member Walsh.

I would like to make a motion that we do an amendment, have an amendment, that if the massage therapist asks for a voluntary inspection and they show that they're licensed, that they have proper massage therapy licenses and a Federal Way business license, able to match that up with their IDs, that they will be exempted from those three issues in contention. Okay. But they have to voluntarily request an inspection for that.

Okay. Heather, did you capture that? Okay. Would you please repeat that?

Okay.

This is an amendment to the main motion.

Do a, ask for a voluntary inspection where they can show that they're licensed massage therapists, they have proper photo ID, they're licensed by the city of Federal Way, and that they're operating within the law. that they would be exempted from those three items.

Okay. There's been a motion and a second. Discussion? Council Member Moore?

Yeah, I just, again, I go back to this. I put a lot of trust and faith in our law enforcement officials that when they come to the council with recommendations, I feel, and I can only speak for myself, I feel like it's imperative that we go with that. With that, I would like to get the opinion of, Mayor, if it's okay with you, I would like to get the opinion of the Chief and the Deputy Chief on the amendment that Council Member Walsh has made.

Can I ask a quick clarifying question before we get there? Yeah. Council Member Walsh, when you say that they're licensed by the city, are you talking about the massage therapist or the business itself?

They have a business license with the city, and the massage therapists are licensed with the state.

Thank you. Chief? Deputy Chief? Chief?