City Council - Regular Meeting

July? I think it was July 20th. Susan? Moon landing. Was it the 20th? The what? The moon landing. Recording in progress.

I don't know. I was 11 years old. I didn't care. Then I wasn't born. Oh, shush.

Exactly. I'm not saying a word, but I was just curious about that the other day.

I'll call the meeting to order for the Federal City Council for July 21st, 2026.

Would you all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Welcome, everybody. It's great to see everybody, especially on a beautiful day like this. Also, we have air conditioning. So you're welcome. All right. So we've got a great meeting plan for you. And first and most importantly, well, most importantly, is we're going to hear from the public and public comment. Secondary to that, we've got the police department promotional swearing in ceremonies. Chief.

Good evening, Mayor Farrell, Council President Honda, and members of the Council. It is my pleasure this evening to introduce, publicly recognize, and celebrate the promotion of three outstanding individuals. Mayor Farrell will administer the oath of office this evening. The success of our department is dependent on promoting the right individuals, leaders who embody our core values, and demonstrate unwavering commitment to service. These individuals have earned this promotion through dedication, integrity, and proven leadership, and are deserving of this recognition. I will first introduce Lieutenant R.B. Blackshear, who is being promoted to the rank of Commander. Commander Blackshear joined the Federal Way Police Department in 2013. Throughout his career, R.B. has consistently demonstrated professionalism, strong leadership, and a commitment to excellence in every assignment he has undertaken. Most recently, Arby served as a lieutenant supervising the Special Investigations Unit, where he oversaw complex investigations involving organized crime, narcotics trafficking, gang activity, tactical field operations, high-risk surveillance, and technology-facilitated crimes. His leadership on these high-demand assignments has significantly contributed to the department's public safety mission and operational success. Prior to his assignment, Arby served in the specialty assignments unit where he oversaw school resource officers and mall officers from 2023 to 2025. And previously he worked as a field training officer, mentoring developing new officers during the earliest stages of their careers. Arby is known throughout the department as hardworking, detail-oriented, and highly dependable. He consistently produces high-quality work products and is well-liked and respected among his peers and supervisors. His professionalism and leadership have earned him his trust of those he serves alongside every day. In addition to his law enforcement career, Arby proudly served in the Army National Guard with the 792nd Chemical Company, where he served as a squad leader with the Seabourn Response Team and as a chemical operations specialist. He's also recognized as a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy. Arby's leadership, operational experience, and dedication to service makes him exceptionally well suited for this new role. We are very excited for him and confident he will continue to serve this department and the community with distinction as a commander. Joining Arby this evening is his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Blackshear. Thank you, Mr. Blackshear, for pinning on his badge. I will now introduce Corporal Chris Mickelson, who is being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Lieutenant Mickelson is a 26-year veteran of law enforcement and has proudly served the Federal Way Police Department since 2008, when he joined our agency as a lateral officer. Throughout his distinguished career, Chris has held assignments of increasing responsibility and has consistently demonstrated professionalism, leadership, and dedication to the profession. Over the years, Chris has served a wide variety of assignments, including patrol officer, detective, bomb technician, motorcycle officer, field training officer, and corporal. These assignments, combined with the extensive operational and investigative experience, have prepared him well to lead at a higher level and continue contributing meaningfully to the success of our organization. Chris is a graduate of the FBI Hazardous Devices School, the FBI Post Blast Investigation School, and the Advanced Leadership Class of 2014. His commitment to professional development and specialized training reflect his dedication to excellence in public safety. Throughout his career, Chris has been recognized for his exceptional service and bravery. In 2008, he received the Medal of Meritorious Service Award related to an apprehension of a homicide suspect and also been awarded three life-saving medals during his career. Chris' experience, leadership, and unwavering commitment to this profession makes him exceptionally well-suited for the role of Lieutenant. We are confident he will continue to serve this department and the community with distinction in his new assignment. Please join me in congratulating Lieutenant Mickelson on this significant achievement in his law enforcement career. Tanya, thank you for coming up, pinning on his badge. You're the reason for his success, and we all know that. Thank you for the sacrifice you make as well, every day. I will now introduce Officer Sarah Montjoy, who is being appointed to the rank of Corporal. Corporal Montjoy has proudly served the Federal Way Police Department for more than five years. Throughout her time with the department, Sarah has steadily developed her skills, leadership qualities, and professional experience to better serve both the community and her fellow officers. Her commitment to excellence consistently reflects the department's values and mission. Sarah's prior assignment included serving as a school resource officer, during which time she has done an exceptional job collaborating with school district leadership, administrators, and staff to address safety concerns affecting students and faculty. Throughout her profession, Through her professionalism, communication skills, and dedication to relationship building, Sarah has become a trusted partner within our school community. Sarah has served as a field training officer where she played an important role in mentoring and developing new police officers. In addition, in that capacity, she helped reinforce the sound judgment, officer safety practices, professionalism, and accountability during some of the most formative stages of an officer's career. Sarah also demonstrates strong commitment to professional development and public service through extensive training in crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques. She is a certified crisis intervention specialist and recently wrote the department's peer support policy. Sarah is currently enrolled in a credible leadership series through the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, further demonstrating her dedication to leadership development and continued growth within the profession. Sarah's professionalism, leadership potential, and commitment to serving both the department and the community makes her exceptionally well suited for the next role. We're confident she will continue to serve with distinction as a corporal. And we want to thank Sarah's wife, Cheyanna, who pinned on the badge this evening. Congratulations, Sarah. Commander Blackshear, if you could come on up. The other two, if you could follow behind. Okay, there'll be three oath of office this evening.

Thank you, Chief. Commander, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, please state your name.

I, R.B. Blackshear.

Do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States.

Do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States.

And the state of Washington.

And the state of Washington.

And that you will support the Constitution.

That I will support the Constitution.

And laws of the United States.

And the laws of the United States.

And the laws of the state of Washington.

And the laws of the state of Washington.

And will, to the best of my judgment.

And will to the best of my judgment.

Skill and ability.

Skill and ability.

Truly and faithfully.

Truly and faithfully.

Diligently and impartially.

Diligently and impartially.

Perform the duties of police commander.

Perform the duties of police commander.

In and for the City of Federal Way.

In and for the City of Federal Way.

In King County, Washington.

In King County, Washington.

As such, duties as prescribed by law.

As such, prescribed by law.

Congratulations.

Thank you, sir.

All right, Lieutenant, please repeat after me. I, please state your name.

I, Chris Mickelson.

Do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States.

Do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States.

And the state of Washington.

And the state of Washington.

And that you will support the Constitution.

I will support the Constitution.

And laws of the United States. And laws of the United States. And laws of the state of Washington. And will to the best of your judgment, skill and ability. Truly and faithfully. Diligently and impartially. Perform the duties of Lieutenant. In and for the City of Federal Way. In King County, Washington. As such duties as prescribed by law. Congratulations. All right, Corporal, please raise your right hand or repeat after me. I, please state your name.

I, Sarah Catherine Montoy.

Do solemnly swear that I'm a citizen of the United States.

Do solemnly swear that I'm a citizen of the United States.

And the state of Washington.

And the state of Washington.

And that you will support the Constitution.

And I will support the Constitution.

And laws of the United States.

And laws of the United States.

And the state of Washington.

And the state of Washington.

And that you will, to the best of your judgment.

To the best of my judgment.

Skill and ability.

Skill and ability.

Truly and faithfully.

Truly and faithfully.

Diligently and impartially. Perform the duties of corporal.

Perform the duties of corporal.

In and for the City of Federal Way.

In and for the City of Federal Way.

In King County, Washington. In King County, Washington. As duties as prescribed by law.

As duties as prescribed by law.

Congratulations.

Federal Way Police family, you are free to leave. This is your opportunity. Otherwise, you're stuck here until 10 o'clock.

Thank you, everybody, for being here. Wow. Well, it's great to see everybody here. Okay, now we are on to item B, the 70th annual Kiwanis Sandman Brick Proclamation. Council President Honda.

Thank you. So I would like to invite the Kiwanis Club, which makes up the rest of our audience, to come to the podium. And we're going to read, there's three members of the Kiwanis Club here, and we're going to read the proclamation, and then we'll have President Mike Bergato speak, and maybe take a nice group picture. The club is 71 years old, and the Salmon Bake is 70 years old, so it's really, really exciting. And I will let, I believe, Council Member Coachmore, are you starting the proclamation? Thank you very much, Council President.

whereas the mission of Kiwanis is to improve the world one child at a time and whereas every year the Federal Way Kiwanis Club provides high school senior scholarships supports supports Boy Scout troop 308 and Cub Scout pack 307 and recognizes elementary students that have been nominated to the terrific kids program and

Whereas each July, the Federal Way Kwanians host the Salmon Bake, an opportunity for the community to celebrate and fundraise with the Kwanians for the children of Federal Way, and Whereas 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the Kiwanis Salmon Bake, a long-standing tradition that welcomes hundreds of people each year, and

Whereas the Salmon Bake, along with other events, welcomes new members and prospective members to the Federal Way Kiwanis Club, as well as members of the community.

Now, therefore, we, the undersigned mayor and city council members of the city of Federal Way, do hereby recognize July 24th is Aquanian's 70th anniversary Salmon Bake. And we welcome members of the community to join us at this event and fundraising effort and sign this 21st day of July 2026. So we'll bring this down. And President Mike, you can go ahead and speak if you'd like. And then we'll do a group picture up here. Is that OK? Yeah. All right. Ready?

Well, thank you, Mayor Farrell and Council President Honda and the rest of the members of the Federal Way City Council. My name is Mike Bergato. I've been a Federal Way resident since 1992, and I currently have the privilege to serve as the president of the Kiwanis of Federal Way. Many of you are members or have been members, so you're going to know this music. But I wanted to speak a little bit about a brief, very brief, history of what we do and why the Salmon Bake is important and why this proclamation is so important to us. Kiwanis was founded over 100 years ago in Detroit. The word comes from a First Peoples word that means we build. And the mission, as was stated in the proclamation, is to improve the world, one child and one community at a time. That mission was answered here in Federal Way on July 10th, 1955, when the Kiwanis Club of Federal Way was formed. It took those folks about a year to figure out how to raise money and accomplish that mission. And what they ended up doing was having the first annual salmon bake in 1956. that ended up being a tradition. The Salmon Bake does two important things. One, it's a fundraiser, and thanks to the sponsorship of the city, King County Councilmember Pete Von Reichbauer and King County, and the Federal Republic Schools, and a host of local businesses, we're able to raise money, and that money goes to helping children primarily. On a worldwide basis, it helps problems like neonatal tetanus, the Kiwanis Children's Cancer Program where we fight childhood cancer. And then on a more local level, the Green River Kiwanis Division, we support those clubs in their efforts in Auburn, Kent, and Renton in various programs like Action Club, where we build pathways for adults with disabilities to provide service to their communities and their children. But most of the money we raise goes on a local level. And in partnership with the Federal Republic Schools, we have programs, as mentioned in the proclamation, like bringing up grades or the bug program in the elementary schools, also terrific kids. At the high school level, we sponsor key clubs. where we build pathways for high school students to provide community service. We provide scholarships to graduating seniors when they want to seek education beyond high school. We help other community nonprofits addressing food insecurity through MSC and Bridging a Gap, or the BAG program. Those other programs we support are programs like Federal Way Community Caregiving Network or programs like the arts programs that provide programs for youth, those programs provided by the Federal Way Chorale, Federal Way Symphony, and Center Stage Theater. They have vibrant programs that support our children and our community. We work together with our colleagues in Lions Club, Rotary, and Soroptimus. One example of that is a project dictionary, a program spearheaded by the Lions Club, where the various service clubs provide personal copies to third graders throughout the school district, a personal copy of a dictionary that they can use and keep. It's their very own. So that's where the money goes, but that's not the main thing. You can tell that when we're working with other agencies and other nonprofits that we have a real interlocking relationship with community volunteers and city government and local government. And so that all adds up to the main reason that we have the salmon bake. The main reason is to build community. And that directly answers our mission. I think to a lot of Kiwanians, that's the most important part of what we do. One summer evening every year in July, we all get together and share a meal. We laugh, we smile. People from many walks of life in Federal Way and the local area get together and laugh and listen to good music and tell stories and learn about each other. These different nonprofit organizations present what they do to the community. And so it's very important that we do that, and it helps build a sense of community. It hasn't always been easy. During the pandemic, we were worried that the tradition would be broken. Any number of agencies, King County, King County Health, the City of Federal Way, all could have taken the easy route and said no, not during the pandemic. But instead of saying no, they asked how. And we found a way through a drive up thing. And even though it was sharing community through the windows of our cars, we all knew that we were out there and we could share a meal together, if not in person, through our hearts, eating a salmon meal. And so that continued through the tradition. And I don't know about you, but it was a huge morale boost during a very difficult time. So this proclamation means a lot to us because We know, and I can stand here with complete confidence knowing that this scene happening right now will repeat itself in many years to come while we celebrate milestones, milestone anniversaries of the salmon bake and the works done by our community and the Kiwanis Club of Federal Way. And I just want to thank the city for what all their support means to us. And I look forward to celebrating these sorts of things in the decades to come. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. President. YOU GUYS? COUNCIL MEMBERS? COUNCIL MEMBERS? YEAH. WE'RE NOT CLOCKING ANY HARDER. JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE.

YOU GOT TO WATCH OUT FOR THE GRAVITY.

All right.

Thank you. Thank you. See you Friday. It's right. Exactly. Five o'clock.

Exactly.

Well, for those watching at home and for those here as well, I'm not sure what John does with the salmon, but it's probably some of the best salmon I've ever tasted in my life, and it's also a beautiful day by the lake. So I encourage you to come on down, have some salmon, talk with your neighbors, and it really is a great day. Yeah, that's right, right.

Yeah, and your police chief will be serving roles.

That's right. That's right. Okay. Well, this crowd keeps shrinking and shrinking. We're glad you're here, you guys. All right, for those watching at home in this sweltering heat, we have air conditioning, so come on down. as the man says on the show. Okay, Mayor's Emerging Issues and Report. All right, I'll talk about that. That was a big race we had, a race walk, what they called the Turtle Walk. I'll talk about that. Okay, next. It's been a busy few weeks. So there, last Saturday, that is Rick Cook of All City Fence and the legendary Jim Zorn. We had a great time at... The South King Athlete Breakfast, sponsored by none other than our illustrious King County Council Member, Pete von Reichbauer, who has been close personal friends with Jim Zorn for years and years. And you see we had several members of the council there, fresh from the FBI Academy, Commander Buchanan, who was present as well. Council Member Hamilton and Julie from Economic Development and actually sat at the same table with Council Member Moore and it was really a nice event. We had Dan Wilson, the general manager, we almost said catcher, but the former catcher of the Mariners and now the general manager took a number of sort of a forum with some questions from Jim Zorn. There were student athletes and leaders from all over South King County. It was at Emerald Downs. It was a phenomenal event, and Pete puts this on to support local, you know, local sports teams and youth sports. So big thanks to Pete Van Rykbouwer and Jim Zorn and manager Dan Wilson. It was really nice. He had a game that night, so it was very nice of him to come down and share it with us. Okay, next. Okay, then we had, as we were talking about before, we had the Turtle Marathon. The Korean American community came out en masse. They were from all over the region. And we had our outgoing, uh, uh, consul general, uh, say you G, uh, and, uh, she has just recently been appointed to be while she's the consul general for Western Washington. She has, uh, her time here, uh, after four and a half years has come to an end. And our council general from South Korea will now be the new ambassador to the nation of Portugal. And she wasn't even going to have time to go back to South Korea. And once again, people in Reich Bauer, myself and former Mayor Michael Park had a nice lunch. with her, but that's her and myself and several hundred of our closest friends doing the Turtle Marathon, a time for community and for the Korean American community, and they did a walk and run and then ended up at the Han-Rui Park on 348th. Also at the Performing Arts and Events Center, same day, we had the Summer Chalk Art Festival. Actually, I ran right into Council President Honda when I was there. And absolutely fantastic. And that is a chalk, the teddy bear there, was one person was working on that right outside the doors of the Performing Arts and Events Center. It was absolutely phenomenal. And thanks to our parks people inside the Performing Arts and Events Center, where games and families and all kinds of things. All right, next. Okay, and the restaurant formerly known as the Old Country Buffet, and that has been taken over, and the Shabu Zone ribbon cutting was on July 15th, and absolutely fantastic redesign. My goodness, they must have, Tonya, how much money do you think they put into the redesign there? Yeah. If you have not been into the restaurant formerly known as the Old Country Buffet, like I said, it is phenomenal. And it had a TV as large on the wall as large as all of those windows combined in the back of the room. So that was something to see. We had one of the FIFA games going on. It was great. It was nice to see our friends at the greater Federal Chamber of Commerce. And we were there for an official ribbon cutting. Speaking of which, I want to let everybody know, just I think yesterday was the opening of the Paris Baguette, a bakery in town. They have not had their grand opening yet. where they're going to have, you know, ribbon cutting and that kind of thing. Council, it's going to be Saturday, August 1st. Saturday, August 1st. But they've sort of soft launched. And if you get it, it's over there in the same parking lot as they've got a subway there. It's right next to where the Black Bear Diner is, right in that area. And also Billy McHale's in that area. And Legendary Donuts. And Legendary Donuts. Okay, so then we had the King County Fair opening ceremony and that's, Myself, along with some of the regional, we had a couple of King County Council members and mayors from all over King County were there. I have to tell you, I don't know if you guys remember, was this last Wednesday? Last Thursday. Right before we headed out, we heard the loudest thunder we've ever heard in the city of Federal Road. Did you guys hear that last Thursday? And I think there was a lot of folks were heading out there, but they were worried they were going to be thunder and lightning. Anyway, the clouds parted, and we had a nice time out there, and the King County Fair was really a very fun environment. And that fair has been going on continuously since 1863, the year that the Battle of Gettysburg was fought. So very fun that this is. I think it's the oldest fair west of the Mississippi. Just a little trivia. All right, next. We've got some upcoming events. We've got concerts in the park, paperback writer for maybe either. Anyway, that's sort of a riff on the Beatles. So it's probably a Beatle tribute band. And that's on July. Actually, that's tomorrow, July 22nd in Steel Lake Park. Then we've got the 70th annual Kiwanis Salmon Bake, Steel Lake Park, July 24th. What's that start, about 435?

four to eight and the last seven meal will be served around seven.

Okay. So yeah. Okay. And then, um, also we have a, you may have seen some of the signs out there, uh, the, uh, uh, better way rotary. is presenting Honoring Our First Responders. That's on next, actually this Saturday, July 25th. That's from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And that's right there on 320th, around, I think it's 6th and 320th. And they'll do a great job there honoring both our firefighters and our police officers. Okay, then. We've got movies in the park. The new DC Studio Superman, that night on July 25th. When the lights go down, that's when the movie will start. We'll have another concert in the park at Steel Lake Park that's Hair Nation, July 29th. It's funny, they call the bands from the 80s hair bands, so it's, who would have known back then? But anyway, it should be fun. And then the Federal Way Pride event will be on August 1st at Town Square Park. And thanks to the folks getting those signs out, they look good. And that starts at noon to 5 p.m. at Town Square Park. Okay, upcoming community events. We've got National Night Out on August 4th. And Chief, how many neighborhoods do you think we have getting together for National Night Out?

As of a week ago, we had 26 neighborhoods in our community.

All right. So that's a lot of fun to do, to see your neighbors and for us to get out there as well. Kids Day at Steel Lake Park, August 5th. And that's 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And that's, again, right where they have the salmon bake, right there at Steel Lake Park by the water. Then we have Community Festival at Town Square Park on August 8th. Again, Town Square Park, noon to 4 p.m. And then we've got the Fusion Gala at Dumas Bay Center. And the theme this year is There's No Place Like Home. It's at Dumas Bay, Saturday, August 8th. What time do you think that gets started? Fusion?

5 PM.

5 PM. OK. And they always almost have great weather on August 4th. Then we've got the, once again, the annual back to school haircuts at Town Square Park. Big thanks to Kristen over at Bella Red and all of the local hairdressers in town and barbers that chip in and give our local kids a fresh new haircut for the new school year. That's on August 25th at Town Square Park. Okay, that completes my report. Now we are on to informational update. At the last council meeting, everyone, folks in the audience and watching at home and council, there had been some discussion about making sure that we knew the P's and Q's with regard to how much money is left and how much money was expended with the kicking it federal way.

Council President, did you have a quick question?

Oh, okay. And so with that, I'll turn it over to our newly minted Parks Director, Jason Gerwin. Jason.

Mayor Farrell, Council President Honda, Council Members, here to provide the update on the Civic Plaza per your request. And so I wanted to start with a little bit of a background. And so it's kind of really came to the Parks Department in late 2025, but the original Congressional appropriation occurred in the 2024 timeframe, and Economic Director Tonya Carter had helped secure that funding for the Civic Plaza. And so time was kind of of the essence. We were getting to the end of the term on that HUD agreement. It came to us in November of 25. And so at the time it was economic development director Meredith O'Neill, myself, Autumn Grasset, former director Hutton, tried to come up with a plan to get this concept and this proof of concept in motion and meet our deadline on that. that HUD money. So in February, 2026, we then had put together the package and brought it to city council for approvals. We got those approvals and then kind of March through April, we were working on site prep, asphalt overlay and repairs, some gravel installation to use some of the rubble lot of the old targets. Then in May of 26, the civic lawn was installed. We had repurposed a couple containers from the old Steel Lake shop as well as purchased a couple containers, got those moved over to the site, and then finally placed. In the meantime, we worked the Arts Commission for murals on those containers. AND THOSE GOT PAINTED JUST BEFORE THE EVENTS IN THE BEGINNING OF JUNE. AND THEN WE HAD OUR FIRST MAJOR EVENT, THE KICK IT AT FEDERAL WAVE FESTIVAL UP THERE THE 19TH THROUGH THE 22ND. And so I wanted to bring this back to you. This is from the original presentation for that HUD asked. And the big part there is the community building would be a part of the new Civic Center and it's envisioned to be a space for community activities and organizations. That was the whole purpose of that, of the downtown Civic Plaza.

And then the other slide, oops, too quick on that.

The other side was kind of the vision and guiding principles to kind of have that sense of place and civic identity, provide a catalyst for both residential and pedestrian-focused retail. The farmers market being in that zone, too, definitely supports the activity. Help to anchor that north downtown parcels, and then capitalize on the momentum that's occurring down there with the opening of the Sound Transit light rail and other future developments occurring. So then with that, this was kind of some of the concept drawings that the Parks Department, and I believe at the time it was Autumn Gresset, presented to you guys in conjunction with Meredith O'Neill. And although it doesn't look identical, I think when the kicking event was going on, it had a very similar feel and vibe to it. The blueprint perspective was just this, to have the lawn, and that's where the majority of funding went, a civic building, and then the framing with the containers and the mural artwork. One thing that we did propose in that PowerPoint, and again, the slide is directly taken from that, was kind of the containers and selling out of those, as well as the kind of the community gathering space tent or structure. As we got deeper into the development of the site, what we had thought was a temporary structure and wouldn't require building permits and some of those requirements, ultimately turned out that it did require foundations, life safety being a fire sprinkler system, and full HVAC for that. WHEN WE TRIED TO WORK THROUGH ALL THE ANGLES WITH THE BUILDING OFFICIAL TO KIND OF COME THROUGH THOSE, IT WAS ABOUT WITHOUT THOSE FEATURES, IT WAS ABOUT 45 DAYS THAT WE COULD LEAVE THE STRUCTURE UP AND THEN IT WOULD HAVE TO COME DOWN, WHICH TO US WAS NOT WHAT WE HAD TALKED TO HUD ABOUT IN SPENDING THIS MONEY. WE HAD TALKED ABOUT 12 TO 18 MONTHS. as a proof-to-concept, and so 45 days falls short of that, hence why we had to. We always knew we were gonna do a stage for the Kickin' It event, but at the time, we had to focus it on Kickin' It, and we were revisiting this when the event is done, and so we have revisited it. We still don't have a final recommendation for you. We're still trying to work through that and coordinate with the building official. BUT WHAT WE'VE HEARD FROM THE COMMUNITY IS THEY LOVE THE EVENT SPACE. IT'S GETTING UTILIZED DURING THE FARMER'S MARKET. I WAS UP THE LAST WEEKEND, AND THERE WAS A BUNCH OF KID LOG ROLLING ON THERE. THIS COMING UP WEEKEND, WE HAVE ROSEBUD THEATER IS GOING TO BE PERFORMING UP THERE. SO WE'RE TRYING TO PROGRAM THAT SPACE. ADDITIONALLY, WE ARE GOING TO START TAKING RESERVATIONS FOR THE PUBLIC TO RESERVE THAT LIKE THEY COULD ANY OTHER PARK OR THAT STARTING IN AUGUST. One of the first reservations we have is the Federal Way Public Schools does a pre-school year kind of retreat with their administrative staff, and they've always used the PAC to have that meeting, and then they would go down to Town Square to do some hands-on kind of role-playing and interactive things for team building. And this year, they asked about the Civic Plaza, and so they'll be utilizing that in their special event. SOMETHING ELSE THAT WE'VE HEARD A LOT OF IS THEY WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE LIVE CONCERTS OUT THERE FROM THE COMMUNITY. THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE, SURPRISED TO ME, A LOT OF FEEDBACK ON. THEY LIKE THE STAGE BEING IN THE CENTER AND THAT BEING THE FOCAL POINT. I'VE HAD A FEW PEOPLE COME BACK TO ME AND SAY, HEY, WASN'T THERE A BAND SHELL ORIGINALLY PROPOSED IN THE TOWN SQUARE PARK DEVELOPMENT? AND THERE WAS. AND THAT KIND OF, THAT THEME HAS COME BACK A LITTLE BIT WITH THE CIVIC PLAZA. And we have heard some clamoring, where's the building that you promised that we could have some indoor space? And that's what we, from the staff perspective, continue to work on. And so these are some of the options that we have come up with. You know, they're more of your wedding tent, not as posh looking, I would say, where they were hard sided and although not glass, appeared to be a kind of a glass building in that. And then we've got the temporary stage that we recently purchased that will be used for like the Rosebud Theater and events like that. But we haven't found a good alternative yet. That's hence why we don't have a recommendation for you yet. And so, and previously I provided this financial report to you in email, but in maybe the rush to get it to you, there might have been some things that weren't clear, so I want to call those out. OVERALL REVENUE FOR THAT WAS A COMBINATION OF BOTH THE HUD MONEY AND SOME CDBG MONEY THAT CAME ABOUT. YOU GUYS APPROVED THAT RECENTLY BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL GROUPS THE FUNDING WAS ALLOCATED TO WAS UNABLE TO BE SPENT IN THE TIME FRAME. AND SO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REACHED OUT TO US AND WE PARTNERED AND GOT THEM TO APPROVE OUR PLAN AND ADDING THIS MONEY TOWARDS THAT. outdoor building of sorts. But one of the things that it showed and I called out, I highlighted in yellow is that as part of that original HUD money, we had penciled in $60,500 for that event structure. So we have that amount remaining with the CDBG funding of $196,720. FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF 257 IS WHAT'S REMAINING IN THAT CIVIC PLAZA BUDGET FOR THIS TEMPORARY STRUCTURE ONCE WE CAN KIND OF FIGURE OUT WHAT THE BEST CASE SCENARIO IS AND HAVE A COUPLE OPTIONS FOR YOU GUYS TO PROVIDE DIRECTION ON. SO THEN THE GREEN TITLED is just the overall project. You know, we had a little over $1 million in revenue. To date, we've expended $789,000 and some change with the $257,000 remaining. And so staff will continue to work on trying to find an alternative for that structure up there and would be interested in any feedback you had. But with that, that's my update on the Civic Plaza. I'd be happy to entertain any questions.

Council President Honda and then Council Member Hamilton and then Walsh.

Thank you, and thank you for giving us this report. So in talking about doing some type of a tent there, would it be a tent that only stays up for 45 days and comes down in the winter? Is that what your thought is now?

So that is a potential option. Like I say, we haven't vetted this fully, but what we're uncertain of is whether or not we can set it up for 45 days. It has to come down for a certain period of time. I don't have that window for you, but I would imagine at least a week. And then we could put up another temporary for 45 days, but this up and down is that going to be acceptable for? the mayor City Council the community Because it's not kind of that temporary 12 to 18 month duration that we are looking for in talking with the building official The 45 days is kind of the way the code reads. Now there have been some extensions provided to other groups that have had temporary tents to up to 90 days is what the building official told me, but that's only been in a few isolated cases. And so that's the challenge that we face with more of these wedding style tents.

So if we do get a tent, what would we use it for?

uh... it's it was a it was about the the proof in the concept was to have been indoor space that was out of the sun out of that and so Exactly. There have been talk of putting some farmers market booths and tents up there, being able to maybe run a holiday market or something out of there, providing it for rentals for groups to have, whether it's a gala or a gathering, something like that. Or a wedding. A wedding is absolutely an option.

Okay. Thank you for talking about that. In looking at how the money was spent, I do have one question on the four kids picnic tables.

Sure.

$2,588. What kind of picnic tables are these? I don't know that I recall seeing them.

Yeah, so there are four lower ones, and they're commercial-grade picnic tables. They're similar to what you would see in any other park, but, you know, we can't quite go out and buy the Costco picnic tables. They just don't hold up, and they're not billed up for the abuse things taken parks, and so... You know, our standard park benches without a plaque on it is $2,200. When you are buying quality and benches and picnic tables that are expected to last 20 years or more, you know, just the wood and lesser materials don't hold up. And so you don't get your money's worth, really. So these are commercial-grade picnic tables. But they're just in a kid's scale for a kid to sit at. And they're out there. You can see them.

So since this was money that we had gotten from one of our visits to Washington D.C., how does HUD feel about not having the all-purpose tent up?

So we're working through that, that's part of it, and that was the majority of the funding that we had for the tent was the CDBG, and both of these concepts were vetted with HUD and CDBG before We moved forward with them. So we had that approval and we brought it forward for city council approval. We let you know that at that time. And so we didn't want to go spend the money without having that assurance of we were within the parameters of how it was granted to us.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Jason, for your report. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to put the tent up, you know, the temporary tent that we wanted, but just like everybody else, we have to follow building codes, right?

Yes, ma'am.

So it's important that we do that. But my question is the remaining balance of the 257K, when do we have to spend that? Is there a time frame when that has to be spent?

And I want to say it's by the end of the year. I should have that right at my ready. Unfortunately, I don't, Council Member Hamilton, but I will relay back to this group what that deadline is.

Okay, I just want to make sure that, you know, if it's a use it and lose it, you know, which I'm assuming it is, that we... Yeah, absolutely, and that's where we're well within the parameters.

You know, Meredith had set us on a course before she left, and then Autumn's been my staff member kind of managing this, and we're within that time frame, but we should know what that deadline is so that we can appropriately plan to be on the council calendar to get approval prior to that date.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Casper Walsh.

Yeah, Jason. Hey, thanks for the report. A couple of questions with the 45-day limit for the structure. I mean, why does code limit it to 45 days?

I'm sure more reason than I can spout off now, but they're there to ensure the public safety and that structures that are occupied and open and available to the public meet safety codes, right? And so why a hard-sided temporary tent needs foundations? That, I don't know, and there's probably some engineering behind that, and EJ could probably speak to it real diligently, but for me, it was just here's what the code requirements are, and those three code requirements being the foundation, the HVAC, and the life safety just took it out of the original.

But even with just the other tent, you say it can only be up for 45 days?

Correct, temporary tents.

A temporary tent. And so why is 45 days a magic number for a temporary tent?

Well, it is the magic number that was written in code. I don't know necessarily why it was written into code that way and those specific dates, but you had to come up with a limit on what is temporary and what isn't.

So is there any reason that we couldn't change the code?

I'm certain that's within your purview, and if that's something that you want to do, there would be tracks to do that. Keith might be able to help us out better.

I think we're talking about building code, which is not something we can modify. I'm sorry, what? We're talking about building code, which is international building code, so it's not something that we can modify locally.

So we adopt the international building code, and there are some legal standards. One of the first things that would happen in litigation is they take out the opposing counsel, depending on if they can get, they'd take out the international building code and say, what did you deviate from the international building code? Maybe you have Ryan. Ryan, any thoughts on this?

Yeah. Maybe we should get the building official to explain it to us. OK. Keith?

Not that I was dodging you. Yeah, yeah. No, no. That's fine.

I like hitting clean up. So the building code, we can adopt amendments to the building code. But as was inferred by both Ryan and Brian, I like that their names are Ryan, that if there is an issue where something happens, somebody gets hurt, And it's due to a permit that we've approved through an amendment to the building code that everybody else has agreed to. But we thought, eh, that's frivolous, 45 days. We think it should be four years. We are fully liable for any mishaps that happen that way. So we take on liability when we amend from what everybody else has basically adopted. And so there's a lot of thought that goes into those amendments. And before we would ever suggest any amendments related to the 45 days council member, we would need to do a full analysis on the genesis of that and the reason for it being in the code in the first place. So I think it's a long process to do that. We can do it, but it's something that takes, I think, a lot of analysis before we will get to an outcome.

All right, thank you. And one other question. With the Civic Plaza, you know, I mean, it's such a great event. Is there a reason not to have, for example, a community festival at the Civic Plaza instead of at the Town Square Park?

Oh, can I do that one too? Yeah, sure. So it's too late. So we already have all the setup for all the vendor booths. Everything is already, I mean, because the community festival is only like two weeks away. So everything's already planned. And I think to try and relocate it all to the Civic Plaza area would be, very disruptive to all the planning work that's gone on for the last 10 months for the civic for the community festival you don't want to change 10 months worth of work in two weeks I would rather not we can I think I think though I think it's I think it's an interesting idea and I think we should talk about it in terms of community festival 2027 absolutely it's a great and I think actually the question belies the fact that

it's an amazing space that when you're there, especially with a field, there's been a lot of talk about, because we've had the trucks upstairs at the farmer's market on Saturdays, and I think we'll do a debrief after this year about how the market goes this year, and about is the street the right location, do we want to be up above, but that space for movies would be a perfect space as well.

The remaining movies in the park, is it a major thing to change the movies in the park from from Town Square Park to... Well, that's this Saturday.

But we haven't arranged where all the kids are going to sit yet. We don't know where Martin is going to sit. Thank God for Martin at the last one. He kept having to move over because I was trying to get a good view. And the other thing is what we don't want to do is have confusion because we put out a lot of advertising. So we don't want people to show up to Town Square Park and think, where did it go?

so but anyway it's it's a it's a good problem to have okay all right thank you council president oh i have one more question on the finances yeah please are you done yeah so there was a lot of staff work at staff time that went into this how do we account for that

There is the allotment for 10% administrative fees on those money. We'll likely not pull from that because we want to put that money into the center. If that's the direction we get, we could change that. But 10% makes a difference on that project and that budget. And so it would be staff's recommendation to put the money into the project and into that space.

Okay, thank you. All right, great.

Anything else for Jackson? By the way, great job by you and your team. You know, so much of what happens in this city is done by what we call the Good News Department and the Parks Department. And by the folks that work there are just so conscientious. And, you know, we've got the farmer's market going on. sponsored by the Parks Department. We've got the all the events like the Chalk Fest and the movies and great work. Please pass along.

If I may, I mean just that you it feels like the downtown core is coming together from Town Square Park to the farmers market on the street to the the Civic Plaza like that vision that came about ten years ago or so is coming to reality and it's really cool to see. So thank you for your support.

Very good. Thank you very much and thank you council for your support of all that. Okay All right, now we are on to council committee and regional committee reports. Council Member Walsh with LUTC.

Yes, we met on the 6th, and there's items in the consent agenda, items B, C, and D were all sent to the consent agenda from the LUTC. And also, we sent for first reading, the two first reading ordinances, the residential parking code amendment for community business, city core, and city center frame zones, and the Ordinance for Solid Waste and Recycling Amendment. And so those came out of LUTC as well. Our next LUTC meeting will be the first Monday in August. That is August 3rd. And I will not be there, and so I will be asking one of the committee members to chair that meeting. Okay. And that is my report.

Very good. Thank you very much. Council Member Sessoms with Parks, Recreation, Human Services, and Public Safety. Committee.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, the committee last met on the 14th, uh, all members present and accounted for. Uh, tonight we'll be addressing the file following items, item F and G on the consent agenda. We'll also have a second reading and potential enactment of council bill nine 40, the ordinance related to the art in public places program. Next meeting will be September 8th. Hope to see you all there. 5 p.m. right here in Council Chambers.

All right. Thank you very much. Council Member Sefa Dawson, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.

Thank you, Mayor. We had skipped the July meeting because of transition and staff, and now we have Tanya here. So our next meeting is scheduled for August the 13th. It's not our usual Tuesday, August. Our regular scheduled meeting would have been on August 11th, but due to one person missing, we have to replace a committee member. So hopefully that person will be installed if we get their application on time on on the 11th, that way then we can have our meeting on the 13th, which is again outside of our regular scheduled meeting. And then we're gonna be discussing the strategic budget, we have a discussion on the strategic budget, budget overall discussion, And then we're also going to look at the application review process, which we had kind of modified. And so we're going to talk about it and see how it's working and if there's any more changes we want to make to it. And so that's what we're going to be talking about. And I want to officially say welcome back to Tanya Carter as our Economic Development Director. So thank you. That ends my report.

All right, thank you very much. Okay, Council Member Kochmar, Finance, Economic Development, and Regional Affairs.

Thank you, Mayor. Our next exciting and scintillating budget meeting, which everybody just goes over their head and they would rather be doing something else, but our next FedEx meeting will be July the 28th at 5 p.m. in City Hall. And we will be getting some information on economic development on a regular basis.

All right, thank you very much. Council President Honda for regional committees and your council president report.

Thank you. Today I attended the skateboard meeting, which is a South King County, North Pierce County cities, and we come together once a month and discuss transportation issues. Metro is... the organization that oversees that committee. And today we had two really interesting topics. They both concerned Federal Way. One is operations and maintenance facility, which is being built by Sound Transit. And they talked about what's going on there, that they're still working with the city on a development agreement. I put information in all of your boxes so you have it. And then this next item that we talked about is from Metro. And I'm really excited about this, as I hope everyone else is. And they do service changes twice a year. And the next service change is August 29. And Federal Way will be getting a Metro Flex van. It's a two-year grant program. And it looks like a van. And you'll be able to call it up. There'll be a phone number or an app that you can use and request a ride from either a location very near where you live, or if you have mobility issues and you can't walk very far, they'll come to where you're at to pick you up. And it's the same cost as it would be to get on a bus or the train. And they have a lot of different fee structures. So if you're a senior, I think it's $1 to ride the train. Anyway, so they have a lot of fee structures. So if you have issues with that, you can see what's available. But it's going to be a grant program for two years. And we need to make it work here in a federal way so that you can be at home and need to get to the transit center and call up. get a ride within minutes or perhaps 30 minutes, 40 minutes. It'll depend on how busy the vans are. They have one van that is accessible for a wheelchair. And they'll have different zones. They don't have those zones ready to show yet, but they'll have different zones in Federal Way where this is available. And I'm hoping that we use it and that after two years it continues to stay in Federal Way. Kent has had the program for about a year, and they have found that a lot of high school kids use it to get to high school. So you can call up, and the van can be there very, very quickly, or it could take a little bit. But it's not something that you have to schedule the day before. It's really going to be cool. I hope we all use it. And that was the most exciting thing I've heard in a long time from Skateboard. And then at the farmer's market this week, we had the senior voucher program, which I've talked about frequently. The mayor was gracious enough to increase our vouchers from 56 to 100. And I think it was two weeks ago, we ran out of those in maybe 20 minutes or so out of 100 vouchers. And there are $10 vouchers for seniors, anyone over 65. And they can use them at any of the farmers' booths. And so anyway, I went to the mayor within minutes of running out of those vouchers. And I said, could I have 20 more? And he gave 150. So now we have a total of 150. And on Saturday, I was a little worried. I got there about 8.35, and the line was super long. People had started lining up at 8 o'clock. And we lasted until 10 o'clock. A little after 10 o'clock, we ran out of them. But there's obviously a need for this in the community. So thank you very much.

Well, thank you. And the seniors, thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, thanks for your work there. OK, now the most important part of the meeting, public comment to hear from the folks we work for, which is you. Everybody knows the rules, so they were on the pink sheets. Please let us know the community you live in. We don't need your address verbally when you get up. Green means go. Yellow means you've got 30 seconds. Red means please stop. And I hate to interrupt people. And everybody knows the rules about decorum. So with that, Mary Gates, our former mayor.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I enjoyed hearing the 70th celebration for salmon bake. I've got my tickets. I haven't missed many of those as a matter of fact. I also kind of like doing firsts and 30th. The 30th of course is our police department and firsts of course I got to be on the first council. I especially like being first and so I'm here tonight to both say let's be first in line at the salmon bake and let's be first to celebrate our police and our fire departments on Saturday after the salmon bake. You don't have to have a reservation for the Rotary event. You can just please arrive and be there. We will have a bike-a-thon, which means bicycles that are coming from Marine View Presbyterian bikes for kids. It means a partnership with our fire and our police departments in planning and also in execution. What we also plan, of course, is a program thanking all of our first responders, starting with the mayor, moving from that to Chief Wong, and moving to Chief... and thanking all of them for the work that they do every day. This is a first for Rotary doing this series called Field of Honor. And what we're doing is looking to bring the community together as opposed to separating them. And working on partnerships. The partnership between fire, police, and rotary has been incredible. Certainly, thank you, Andy. I appreciate Tiffany's work, incredible work. And we've had incredible help from the fire department. So we have met. weekly for the past eight weeks planning this. Program will start at 11.30. We hope to have it over by 12. And then there will be food. There will be free helmets for children who need them. We want people wearing bicycle helmets. And so it also is a way for us to be giving to our community to those people who may not be able to afford the bicycle helmets. We also will be having some people from Fusion we've invited to make sure that no one is left behind. Thank you. See you on Saturday and also on Friday.

Thanks, Mary. Jeffrey Tancredi. And as Jeffrey makes his way up, after that, we'll have Karen Bergato, Audrey Douglas via Zoom, Paul McDaniel, Janae Lasky, Ron Kaler, Travion Parrish, Harold Booker.

Good evening, Mayor, Council President, Honda Council.

Jeff Tancredi, Federal Way resident for 30 years. Thanks for letting me speak. On September 30th, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the toughest immigration bill in US history. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, otherwise known as IRA-IRA, expanded deportable offenses, introducing strict bars to reentry and significantly increasing enforcement measures at both the border and the interior. Three and tenure bars. This law mandates that undocumented individuals who have been unlawfully present in the United States for 180 to 365 days must remain outside the United States for three years before applying for a waiver, while those unlawfully present in the U.S. for 365 days or more face a 10-year bar to reentry. another provision of IRA-IRA, expanded deportable offenses. IRA-IRA broadly expanded the categories of crimes, including minor nonviolent misdemeanors that make both undocumented and legal permanent residents deportable. Mandatory detention. The law requires the mandatory detention of many non-citizens facing removal for criminal convictions while their case is being processed, eliminating the option for bail in many cases. Streamlined removal proceedings IRA-IRA consolidated separate exclusion and deportation proceedings into a single streamlined removal proceeding, significantly reducing the discretion of the immigration judge to grant waivers or cancellation of removal based on hardship or rehabilitation. And by the way, the 96 bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law was much tougher than the bill that was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. What Ronald Reagan signed, they realized years later, it wasn't tough enough, and so they added more to it. The 1996 law, Senator Patty Murray voted yes for this bill. So tonight I salute law enforcement at every level, federal, state, and local.

Karen Bergato.

Hello, City Council, President Honda, and Mayor Farrell. I'm Karen Bergato, a 30-year resident of Fetaway. I'm here as a concerned citizen about the 2% for the Arts Fund that you will be voting on tonight, a second reading and enactment. Two weeks ago, you... had a talk by the Arts Commission Chair, Tom Bristol, and he outlined the changes that are necessary. I'm gonna do that again tonight. The first one, you created a project art selection team, that's the first time it's been created. You defaulted to the Arts Commission, thank you. We have eight members now as part of our Arts Commission, and in that Arts Commission we have someone with a bachelor's degree in art, we have other one with a graphics design degree. We have an arts and science degree from Russia. We have an arts and science degree from Italy, a PhD in music. We have a past director of cultural affairs for the embassy in Latvia. We have a retired 30-year teacher of photography. We have three visual artists and two resident performing artists. That's all within that eight-member group. We're educated, we know, we are your arts commission. We also appreciate that you would appoint anybody whom you see fit as being on the project arts selection team as residents of Federal Way. You are residents of all Federal Way. Arts Commission is a resident of Federal Way. We're stakeholders here. This is our home. What artwork we choose should be ours. Staff, of course, will always play a very large pivotal role as a technical advisor. The second point is the threshold. It increases 15 times from 25,000 to 350. This is necessary. The Arts Commission knows it's necessary. We just ask that it include new construction as well as substantial remodel and renovation. This was all brought about because the Fetaway Community Center did that big $5 million renovation and remodel. Specifically, the locker room had a substantial remodel that was $2.7 million. 2% of that would cover over 10 traffic graphic boxes. That's what it equals. And the Arts Commission can create community by approving artwork for these many organizations, and it would be great to see. I know I've talked to you about, you know, about a year and a half ago about approving this. Senior staff has denied us. State auditor has recommended that you abide by law, but I would love to go through a law created by lawyers from the United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit. They gave a decision and on page 21 it says, quote, the agencies may not ignore their own procedures or its revised code and then use such use such noncompliance as an excuse to evade future obligations. Please. I appreciate all of you putting up with me. And please see to these two things.

Thanks, Karen. OK. Now we've got Audrey Douglas via Zoom.

Audrey is not on Zoom at this time.

She is or not?

Not.

Okay, Audrey, if you're hearing us out there, Audrey's not in the audience, is she? Okay, so Audrey, if you can hear us, what would she do? Just link on Zoom? Just raise your hand on Zoom, Audrey, and then no matter what, we'll take your comment if you link back in. And even if there's a problem, email the clerk like you did earlier today, please. Okay, Paul McDaniel.

Thank you. Good evening, Paul McDaniel, residents of the 1990s. First one I'm going to talk about is the human trafficking. I know that we are now going to be passing the ordinance, so I'll be curious to see how that's going to affect the human trafficking. I'm looking forward to the report probably in the next couple months on that one. My other one is on consent agenda item F, the 2025-27 school resource officer interlocal agreement. My issue on this one is not with the actual city, it's more with the school. On page four of the contract, underneath of section 3.1, it states, upon receipt of notice from the district, the city agrees to assign, and it has the word five crossed out and put the word four, four ROS for rotation for one school year. I find it questionable that the school decides that they want to cut back on security to save money. A $75,000 expense is not much to make sure that your kids are safe on a daily basis. I don't think people understand that these SROs are there to protect the kids. But they also have a second point. The RSOs actually work with a group called LINC, Leadership Intervention and Change. It's part of the, I think it's YYCCYJ, and their focus is on gang violence. LINC is a King County program for the Center of Children and Youth Justice that reduces youth violence, re-engages youth in school, and connects at-risk young people to jobs. It uses a comprehensive gang model to unite schools, courts, and community groups. The city of February last year was the number one city for referring kids to this group. That group is put in place in order to keep some of our most questionable youth out of trouble. Knowing that the school decided that they were going to cut funds in that area is, in my mind, pretty disrespectful to the parents in the school district. Because of that, I'd like to share some information about the school. I went online to the Washington office superintendent of public information. Our school district has about 22,000 students. The average of 85% of them graduate in four years, but that graduation also states that the grade, excuse me, the passing of tests for the grade level knowledge and skills, the foundationals, 43% of the children fail the English, 52% are below average on math, 54% are below average on science. I also noticed that we spend about $20,000 per student. I find that the attendance is 67% of the kids make it 90% of the time, with 85% graduating, with an average of most of them not being able to pass the most basic skill sets. So I think the school has a little bit to work on, and cutting police officers and resource officers is not where they should be working on it. Maybe they should focus on the budgets of some of the people sitting next door. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Paul, as it relates to human trafficking, I just let the agenda-setting team know that we heard from our lobbyist today, Jim Edge, one of our two lobbyists, that Senator Tina Orwell, who is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5936 regarding human trafficking, I know this is an interest by everybody on the council, especially the council president and Councilmember Hamilton, many councilmembers, So at the next council meeting we're going to have a briefing on this and the senator is going to be here to talk to the council you know subject to the approval at agenda setting tomorrow. So I've issued the invitation through our lobbyist so I want to let you know that. Also while we're thinking about it because I with regard the reduction of the five to the four for the SRO school resource officers Chief, I see that they reduced that. Is that what they're paying for? And do you have any comment with regard to the operational impact of going from five to four?

Yeah, over the years, hired us to have either four or five SROs. So many years, we've gone with four. They opted to go with five school resource officers. And this coming school year, they wanted to reduce it to four. They pay for 73.3% of the officer's salary and benefit to have officers there. Regardless, the number of officers The more we have, obviously we have closer relationship and work collaborative with the school officials, but we're fine with four. We've done that for many years. And they have the entire resource of the police department. If something comes up, we can certainly assist. But having four in the school is good.

Okay. And you know, we've got one for each of the high schools and then is the, uh, uh, the tr is Truman. One of those is at the fifth or, or where would we put the, where did the fifth one go?

Yeah. The fifth is the Rover. So if, if an officer SRO calls in sick or not available, we would take that Rover and put them into one of the high schools.

Can we cover, uh, you know, uh, administratively, to essentially make up for that if you know obviously the school districts not paying for it but yeah can we are we gonna maybe designate somebody be a person on call to cover the high school that that person covering that school is that sick

Typically, we wouldn't do that. If we got down to three, then we would fill the fourth officer with somebody from our either special operations unit or through overtime. But we would have on a school day four SRO officers.

So we're not going to leave an SRO position vacant just because someone's sick?

No, we're gonna have four available.

Okay. Paul, I hope that answers your question. Where'd you go, Paul? Very good, I hope that answers your questions. Okay, very good. And we'll talk about, that's obviously on the consent agenda. All right, next, we've got Janae Lake. Janae Lasky, excuse me.

Thanks, Mayor. Hello, Mayor, City Council. I'm Janae Lasky. I am a Federal Way resident for almost 50 years. And so in light of the most recent drowning at Steel Lake, I thought it was important to bring up safety at our park. And I want to thank Melissa Hamilton for helping me get the curbs painted red finally. And a larger no parking painted there so it's a little bit more visible. And then where the ambulance would be parked. We have a continued issue. with people are still parking in that red zone because there's trees there that shade. So if they're in their car, not a big deal, right? They can move. But on these really hot summer days, we've got parking for the boat launch trailers. And then we've got a couple parking here. And what's happening now is people are parking in the boat launch. which is issue when we need search and rescue boats first and foremost, right? And then second, if anybody's out on their boats, how do they get in and out? Then we've got all the emergency parking for the fire rescue parked, all blocked. And now in the middle where you should be able to turn around, that is completely getting filled in. And this has been going on for the last three summers. So we've been calling 911. We do that regularly now so that we are getting it logged correctly, right? But it would be great to get police in there a little bit faster when we have people parked in the emergency parking. Last summer, we didn't get ambulance, fire trucks. They couldn't get in all the way. They were stuck. They were going in the wrong way. They just couldn't get in all the way. And they had to park where they had to park and just deal with the situation where they were. And unfortunately, we have one camera in the park. that just got cleaned because they could barely see where this little boy went into the water and left his shoes and his socks. So one at the water is now clean, but maybe we should do something about having cameras at the entrance so that we can, this went on from about 6.30 in the evening one night and went on until 11.30 when he was found the next day because they didn't know if he was in the water or if he had left the park with somebody. So if we had cameras at the front and back entrance and exit, maybe we could see, oh, hey, he got in a car with somebody and then we eliminate that process, right? So I think that pretty much, and then, oh, by the way, towing. Kent Meridian, their park, they had towing. The police came in, four tow companies came in, $400 towing. Steve Hickey came, posted it on Facebook. Guess what? Everybody knows, don't park in the emergency parking at Kent Meridian Lake. News will get out real quick. If you have signs that say no parking or towing,

That's right. Thank you very much. And that's one of the things when several of us went out to Steel Lake, including the Council President, myself, and Council Member Hamilton, and also we had Jason there as well. And so thank you, Jason, for getting your crew out there to paint those. Can you talk about some of the other remedial steps we're taking at Steel Lake Park for safety? And then additionally, before you do that, let's make sure we talk tomorrow about and we get Thomas rolled in regarding cameras.

Understood.

With that, can you talk about what we're doing at And I also want to say a special thanks to Councilor Moore as well, who expressed a sincere interest in making sure that we're doing these, you know, these changes. But I know that the entire council is committed to making sure that this is a safe environment with that. Go ahead.

Yep. And so we did get the painting done at the request, and we are going to be more diligent about trying to call that in in regards to the beach and beach safety. We took a look, majority of signage was still intact, still visible reading, but it was starting to show a weathered appearance. And so what we've committed to is we're gonna do a full refresh on all the signage, make sure it's all in good shape, solidly retro reflective and all of that. We did have, we're going to add an addition of the drop off where the piers and pilings and where it gets deeper in the swim area. We have purchased buoys and rope to put that out and I heard them discussing today about getting that out I think by the end of the week. Um, we had left the lifeguard chairs in place, uh, cause at one time there was a hope we would get lifeguards again. Um, that's probably not likely. And so they're becoming an attractive nuisance and, uh, maybe gives a false sense. So at the end of the season, we're going to have those removed. Um, so those are kind of the, the, the, uh, the temporary measures we've got to, to make sure safety's covered there at the swim beach.

Okay, very good. Chief, what's your counsel to the neighbors around the lake or anybody there that sees someone parking on the, you know, in that no park lane where we've now painted red?

Yeah, I think it would be best if the park employees can, if they see a violation, tell the violator, hey, you can't park here. If they don't get any cooperation, don't hesitate calling 911, bring in reinforcement, and we can have the vehicle towed.

and uh stand in case things get hostile having an officer there would be good nothing precludes from park employees from calling towing themselves but i think it's always better to have an officer there because it's going to get heated that's right so janae just know that one of the reasons why we were so conspicuous with the red because it was yellow before uh we painted it red put the bigger signs in um so if you see it call or or you know let's get a hold of a parks employee if you can flag one down okay All right, so you have our commitment that we're going to make sure that's clear. It needs to be. Okay, let's see here. Ron Kaler.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, members. Ron Kaler, a long-time resident, 33 years, I believe. So this is actually a follow-on from the Steel Lake Park concerns. Steel Lake Park is, it's kind of our center park for the city, but it's really looking tired. You know, I go there and it looks tired. It doesn't snap. It doesn't have an entry that says, this is a great place. The Steel Lake sign looks like a tombstone, you know, and you go in and there's like no kind of nice rails that kind of guide you in. It just kind of is there. The parking area on the south end, all the parking blocks where your tires abut, they're broken up, they're disarrayed, some of them are missing. It looks very unkept. I was at a meeting over there just the other day. And another thing at that south end, there aren't any porta-potties. There aren't any porta-potties for mobility personnel or, you know, like you'd have at the farmer's market. They usually have two nice ones. So, in fact, I was at this meeting, and I had to get in my vehicle and drive over to the snack bar. I drove in the back area over there to go to the bathroom because there's nowhere to go over there. And of course, I'm not supposed to drive in that spot. But you know how it is. As you get older. But anyway, the music concert in the park last Wednesday was great. I really enjoyed that. That was fun. It was awesome. My wife was there with a bunch of her Zumba ladies. And they did this snake dance thing. And even Melissa joined in on that. It was awesome. It was very fun and festive. Great crowd, very well calm. There weren't any hooligans or anything going on like that. The snack bar, that could use a operating hours sign on the snack bar, and it's painted brown. Maybe the Arts Commission could do a nice painting on that and make it look fresh and stuff like that. It looks really dead. I was down at Ruston. A LITTLE WHILE AGO, AND EVEN THEIR TRASH CANS THERE LOOK REALLY NICE. I TOOK SOME PICTURES OF IT. THEY'RE VERY, I MEAN, THEY'RE NOT OBSCURE. THEY'RE VERY KIND OF ATTRACTIVE LOOKING. I GO, WOW. THEY LOOK LIKE MARINE THEMED AND ALL LIKE THAT. REALLY NICE. LAST THING, THE SAFEWAY ON 320TH IS GETTING HORRENDOUS. I'M SEEING FACEBOOK POSTS ABOUT All the drug traffic going on there, that's been one thing that we've been talking about for a long time. I don't know what can be done because it's on private property, but it's really getting bad. But thank you all.

Ron, thanks for your comments. I want you to know that the Special Operations Unit has been really working, especially right behind the Starbucks on 320th and that right there, that's been a hot spot right there that's been identified. We do work on emphasis there. The Chief and I talk about it daily. So, you know, that was a hot spot directly behind that Starbucks. We're going to keep working on it. Your comments about Steel Lake, Jason, let's talk about it tomorrow. about ways we can spruce it up. And it's a great concept. Thank you.

And I've applied to get on the Parks Commission. Okay.

So, yeah. Very good. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much, sir. Okay. And, okay. One second. Travion Parrish. Welcome back.

It's good to be here.

Also, I just want to say, too, the trash cans that are painted that color in the city of Tacoma are actually really expensive. I don't know why they cost that much. It costs like anywhere from like, I've been told, like $10,000 to $50,000, not including operating costs. I don't know why. I would love more trash cans.

Could you restart his clock and maybe pause it for a second? Yeah, did you hear about the trash cans in New York City when the Knicks won? Some of those trash cans were like thousands of dollars, right? that they actually dedicated so there's a there's a fine line there's probably a a fine line there about making nice trash cans are attractive without breaking the bank so let's uh we'll talk about that too jason all right let's restart the clock for mr travion yes mr patrick

Thank you guys so much. It's glad to be back here in front of council. My name is Trayvon Parrish. I live on the border between Tacoma and Federal Way. And the city of Federal Way is a continuously growing city, especially with all the investment in capital infrastructure that is happening in the downtown part or near The transit center, I believe that it's imperative to look at our zoning policies and maybe consider more denser, better transportation access and mixed use development across the entirety of the city of Federal Way. Even though the city of Federal Way was established in 1990 and even though there was a lot here before the incorporation of the city of Federal Way as a city, looking to the future of who's going to inherit the city, who's going to be council members, city officials, our teachers, and public servants just across the city of Federal Way. I think it's important to ask council to consider more inclusive and equitable policies to help address the current affordability issues that a lot of residents, families, and young people face. I believe that the city of Federal Way can be a forerunner and regional leader in transportation accessibility and affordable housing for all as a young person myself it is really expensive to just you know not only just exist but also to get around and with the transportation access on in the twin lakes area and as well as northeast tacoma with northeast tacoma and pierce transit investing in a bus that would finally connect Northeast Tacoma to Federal Way via 509. I think it's really important that we start really looking at our zoning policies and really thinking about the future of the City of Federal Way and really taking some maybe consideration in terms of incentives and potential things to attract developers to build out and make the City of Federal Way more accessible for all. So thank you guys again for your time and the work that you do, and it's glad to be back. So thank you guys so much.

Great, thank you. Great to see you again. Okay, Juan Reyes, no, no, sorry, that's the new one. Anna Patrick. I just practiced on your name.

Evening, Mayor and Council. First, I just want to say it's really great that we're going to be entering into a partnership with the school resource officers in the school district. I'm grateful for that. We're really fortunate as a school district. I do have some questions about part of the wording. I just hadn't seen it before. You know, I like data, so it caught my eye. There's this, oops, sorry. I have to rotate it so I can see it. There's this section and I just have questions about it. Data collection, the following data will be collected regarding calls for law enforcement service including student arrest and referrals for prosecution, offense type, race, gender, age, and students who have an individual IEP or a planned 504, or I'm trying to cut to the chase here because it's lengthy. The city will submit on the last day of the month, newly submitted incident reports to the district via secure data transfer protocol. So I'm just curious to know, what do we know? What is going to be done with the data? where it goes from there. And so that's the main question that I have about the contract because it kind of contradicts what it says in there that we're trying to avoid that altogether. And then referrals and prosecution, which, I mean, we certainly want to give grace to students, but we know that there's a risk in certain cases. Officers, SROs, need to assess that risk and gather information and sometimes refer. So I'm hoping that there isn't some sort of penalty for that and that we all have our common sense about it. So if you could find that out, that'd be great. Then I just want to suggest that as a city that we partner with the school on another issue and that's we have some poison hemlock on some of our properties and it spreads really quickly. And I just saw a lady with her child playing in the Poison Hemlock near Mirror Lake Elementary. And I posted it last year. And then finally, I reached out to the school district nurse to get it resolved. And it did. It got resolved. But because it's a toxic plant, it's back. back with vengeance. It's spreading. It's now jumped over to the sidewalk and into the other grassy area. So that's why I think a partnership would be good. I think the county has some sort of way that they get rid of it. It's one of their plants on a list. So if we could address that quickly before it spreads even further, that'd be great. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you. And chief, can you have somebody get back to her with regard to the question about statistics uh for referrals and how we're keeping track of that and what we're doing with that great thank you very much okay um juan juarez remos thank you mayor farrell uh today i'm juan juarez ramos today not for mirrors today i'm very happy about that

Thank you, Mayor Ferro, Council President Honda, members of the council, members of the community. First, I want to clarify, I'm here speaking on myself, on my own time, on my own behalf, not as your commissioner, nor as a Kiwanian. Mostly I just want to talk a quick question. No big, long speeches, no memorable quotes, no nothing like that today. My students might be disappointed in me, but I just had one quick question that I've been asked a lot by some people in my community. Although I no longer live on Corporate County and now I live on First Avenue South, people from my neighborhood still call me and ask me updates about annexation of the lake land north and south from my understanding a good friend of mine requested information to go on to him but nothing has nothing new information has come out yet so I was wondering if mr. Davis or the City Council American possibly gives an update about annexation on the east side of the freeway you bet thank you very much one all right Brian

Thank you one for the question So we're as I presented that whenever that was that I presented to the public last we're currently in the in the stage of gathering data for the areas. And we have a contractor that's helping us out with that. So that's in the process right now. We don't want to have a meeting and call everyone up together for annexation if we don't have answers. And so they're currently gathering those answers for us right now so that we can have the meeting and then provide information to the many questions that people have about how's this going to impact me, how's it going to look differently, what's it going to look like tomorrow and in 10 years and that sort of thing. That's in the works right now. They've indicated to us that they'll have it to us by November, and so it'll be some time shortly thereafter that we'll then call people together after we've had a chance to then look at the data so that we can answer, be prepared for the questions that get asked, and then we can have a meaningful discussion before we bring everyone back together.

And, you know, one, I just want to let you know that we had an internal meeting about this very issue because we're trying to figure out when the outreach, the most important thing about this is public outreach, to hear from the folks that live out there, what their concerns are, what their needs are, what their opinions are on this matter. And that it will be a very vigorous and transparent community outreach. But when we do, just like Brian just said, we want to make sure that when we do that, we've got the answers. But the this is all rooted in making sure that we really get out to the people. Well, that means direct mail out to people, multiple meetings, uh, that kind of thing. So, uh, very substantive. So thank you. Okay. Um, did Audrey get back on the phone on the zoom? Okay. All right. Um, all right. And now, uh, our last public comment on Harold Booker for five minutes.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, Council President. I'm Harold Booker. I've been a resident since 1963. I am speaking on the topic of the Booker House tonight. Again, I am not an official representative of King County Health through Housing or the Booker House. Keith gave a report out on June 16th, I believe, and answered some questions of the council. And I, while Keith was factual, thank you, Keith, there is some color, I think, that I could add to some of those questions. So I thought I'd try and do that this evening. Councilmember Hamilton asked about numbers When the Booker House opened on January 28th, the capacity for the Booker House was 16. We opened with 12 individuals living there. Quickly we went to 14 and we were at 16 within two weeks. We were at capacity. The reason the capacity was only 16 is the elevator didn't work and all of the punch less things on the upper floors hadn't been worked. So we were at capacity very quickly, but then it took time, as the city is found, to correct the elevator, get the elevator completed, and get the rest of the building available. That actually occurred mid to late April. when the rest of the building was available, when those upper floors were available. So capacity change from the 16 to 84, late April, first week of May kind of timeframe. The other issue during that window was the person who was doing the reviewing of the applications and bringing folks on, didn't have a lot to do because there was no more capacity. So they moved on to another role. And so they brought on a new person mid-April, and they had to bring themselves up and do the three works worth of training. So when you're looking at numbers, Booker House was at capacity from late January to mid-April until the capacity changed again. up to 84, and as Councilmember Hamilton discovered, by June 1st, they were at 57. They went very quickly up. The other piece of that is it's supportive housing. You need to have counselors and staff members trained and ready to support folks. Just bringing them in the door doesn't do you any good. You have to have the two pieces together. They should be at full capacity right now. I haven't checked since mid-June, but they were very close. So when you're looking at numbers, there was a story behind that. The other topic that a number of you asked about was the residence of Federal Way, that qualification, that plus on the application. And when I think about and talk to folks about why that is there, it is not a disqualifier that you're not a resident of Federal Way, it is a plus. And it goes back to really the therapeutic piece because folks who are homeless have become very disconnected from a lot of family life things. And it is a tool for those counselors as they are working through things if they can help them become reconnected to community. that's why it's a plus it's an addition it's something that might help and that that counselor might be able to use as he's helping rehabilitate the individuals and those were the two main topics i wanted to cover i did want to say open public drug use and that should never be accepted not in the city that safe way In the 60s, my parents wouldn't let me go to that Safeway. Unsavory folks hung out around that Safeway. In the 70s, I know somebody who used to be a clerk there. They used to have to hassle people and run them off. That has been a problem since forever. Sorry. Thank you. Yeah, that Safeway used to be actually, we're in, you know, where Rite Aid was.

It was actually facing Pack Highway.

I think that changed in the 90s. All right. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Also, at the next city council meeting, Harold and everybody, we will have a representative from King County to talk about the status of health through housing and also the King County, the shelter for the red line down at 348th. Okay. Let's see. That concludes public comment. Let's see here. Now we're on to consent agenda. All right. These items have gone through a council committee, can be passed all at once. I'll go ahead and read all of the items and then see if there's an item that council would want pulled for separate consideration. On I may approve the minutes for the July 7th 2026 City Council special and regular meetings. I don't be approved the project acceptance streetlight infill project item see authorization to apply transportation grant item D authorization to award city center Greenway project item he authorization to award 2026 major asphalt patching contract and F. Approved the 2026 to 2027 school resource officer in a local agreement. Item G, authorization to bid HVAC maintenance services. Council, any items you'd want pulled for separate consideration? Council Member Hamilton.

I would like to pull item A.

All right, item A is pulled. Council, anyone else? All right, Council President. I move approval of items B through G on the consent agenda it's been a motion a second is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed all right matters passed unanimously item A Caspar Hamilton thank you mayor there's just a quick

the word there's just a typo and it just needs to be correct corrected there's just a quick correction that needs to be made on the minutes under item G council president Susan Honda's report it states council member council president more and so it just needs to be changed on okay okay all right with that motion yes I move to make the correction to item G of the minutes second

make the correction then pass okay very good all right there's been a motion a second is there any discussion all those in favor aye opposed all right matter passes unanimously all right now we are on to item six council business item a appoint senior advisory commission positions and cast pros on Honda

Thank you. This evening at 5.30, we held interviews for the Senior Advisory Commission, and we interviewed two people. Our third candidate, who is currently the alternate to the Senior Commission, was not available for an interview today, and we'll see him next time. So I move to appoint the following. Michelle Banks to position number eight for a term to begin September 1, 2026 and expire on August 31, 2029. And Amy Parker to position number nine for a term to begin September 1, 2026 and expire on August 31, 2029.

Second. All right. There is a motion and a second for those positions. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? aye aye opposed all right pass unanimously item seven ordinances first reading item a council bill 943 ordinance residential parking code amendments for community business city center core and city center frame zones um and um let's see here oh i see um there was a uh it looks like we're going to need to uh ryan

Yeah, so after this went through public notice and committee, the staff decided that there were significant changes that needed to be made, and those have been made. But in order to properly pass this, we need to have another public notice period. So we're asking council just to forward this for our first reading once again on August 11th.

All right. With that, Council Member Walsh, do you have a motion?

Yes, I move to forward the proposed ordinance to the August 11, 2026 Council meeting for first reading and public hearing.

It's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right, we're in business on the 11th. Okay, Item B, first reading, Council Bill 942, Ordinance, Solid Waste and Recycling Amendment. Cole Elliott, our Development Services Manager, who's been waiting patiently for almost two hours now. Thank you very much, Cole. He'll make a presentation, and then we'll go from there. Cole, the floor is yours.

Good evening, Mayor, Council President, members of the Council. I'm Cole Elliott. I'm the Development Services Manager. What I'm bringing forth is a correction on the... There it goes. solid waste and recycling. The policy question is should the city amend 19-125-150 to clarify the required solid waste enclosure height? Background information on this, we last did any amendments to this in 2022. Since we did that amendment, we noticed that Section 7E was unclear as to the required height for an enclosure. What we have here is the actual code. And the part that we're most concerned with, obviously, is the highlighted 21-foot overhead clearance. We'd like to amend that down to something a little bit more reasonable. Come on. There it goes. Okay. So this is our proposed amendment to it. Uh, what we are doing is the 21 foot clearance only pertains to inside of a parking structure or garage area. And then everything else will just be an 11 foot opening requirement or 11 and a half actually per the code right now. A little bit on the timeline. We went through SEPA. April of this year, it was issued as a DNS. It was forwarded on to the Planning Commission. They recommended forward on to land use and transportation on July 1st. Land use and transportation on July 6th, forward it on to tonight. And we're asking that potentially this get adopted by August 11th. The two options to consider, recommend amending the code 19-125-150, forward it. to tonight for the first reading, so conduct the first reading or do not adopt the ordinance and provide us with some direction. And then questions.

Thank you, Cole. Council, any questions of Cole? All right. Thank you very much. Stay close just in case. Oh, Council Member Hamilton. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for that presentation. It sounds like it's just a cleanup in the ordinance. But I'm curious, what led to staff noticing that the ordinance section was unclear?

Originally, we assumed it was an 11-foot opening. And then with discussions with legal staff, we found out actually the way the code reads out, it's interpreted to be the 21 and 1 half feet. And that was never the intent of the original ordinances.

Okay, thank you.

All right, Councilor Wolf.

I move to forward the proposed ordinance to the August 11.

I'm sorry, could you, I'm sorry, hold on just for a second. Okay. I thought you had a question, sorry. I was all quick with the call on. Do we have any public comment about this? Okay, would the city clerk please read the ordinance title?

Council Bill 942, Ordinance, Solid Waste and Recycling Amendment, an ordinance of the City of Federal Way, Washington, relating to solid waste and recycling, amending Federal Way Revised Code 19-125-150. Great.

Now, Council Member Walsh. All right. I move to forward the proposed ordinance to the August 11, 2026 Council Meeting for second reading and amendment. Second.

It's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Better pass unanimously. All right, second reading and enactment, item C, Council Bill 940, Ordinance Relating to the Art and Public Places Program. And would the city clerk please read the ordinance title?

Council Bill 940, Ordinance Relating to the Art and Public Places Program, an ordinance of the City of Federal Way of Washington relating to the Art and Public Places Program, amending Federal Way revised code as detailed in the written title.

All right, Council Member Sessoms.

I move approval of the proposed ordinance.

Second. It's been a motion. A second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The matter passes unanimously. Okay. Council reports it is the second meeting of the month, so we'll start at Council Position Number 7, Council Member Coachmark.

Thank you very much mayor. I don't have a report, but I do want to remind everybody Don't show up here on August 4th because we won't be here We'll be at national night out and then please do come on August the 11th when we'll have our regular meeting at 630 Thank You council recesses Tomorrow I'll be going to an SCA pick event tomorrow

I'll have a chance to get to know my colleagues from other jurisdictions a little bit better. Friday, I do plan to go to the Kiwanis Salmon Bake. Also, don't forget about the Federal Way Pride event. August 1st, and August 5th and 6th, there is a AWC budget training that I will be attending, and August 8th, the community festival.

Very good, thank you.

Council Member Walsh.

I have no report in the interest of time, and if the other council members have very short reports, we'll still be able to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine after the council meeting.

Okay. All right. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor. I just have a few items to report on as far as attendance. I was able to attend the King County Scholar Breakfast by our King County Council Member, Pete Von Reitbauer. That was a great event supporting scholar athletes. And then attended the second concert in the park. And, yes, I was a part of the conga line. That was exciting and a lot of fun. which is the point of the event, right? To have fun with your community. And attended the AWC online webinar, Foundations of the City Budget, leading into budget season here in just a couple months. I felt like that was a good webinar to attend. And attended the Farmer's Market. That was another great event in the city that brings the community together. Met with our returning economic developer, Tonya Carter and we discussed how future policy decisions can help advance and support our our shared vision for economic vitality in the city and then I am really happy to hear that we're going to bring in the state legislature Tina Orwell to talk about human trafficking human trafficking is really just it's one of the most complex largest criminal enterprises in the world and so a lot of the human trafficking that we're dealing with in federal way is international human trafficking and so it is going to take more than just local government addressing this we will have to work in partnership with our their state representatives and and even with our federal partners to you know if we really want to you know take this down head on so but for now we have a very strong ordinance in place that's going to help us identify and and track down the illicit massage parlors and that is a great first step that local government has taken to address this issue and with that i end my report great thank you customer more

Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Walsh, that sure is a lot of pressure, but I accept it. Probably will fail with that, but here it goes. So just one personal thing I wanted to kind of share. Yesterday was the finalization of our son being adopted. So after a thousand days in custody, In foster care, we became a full family legally yesterday. So that was really special. I wanted to share that with the public and my colleagues. And if you're a foster parent, I just want to say thank you. That is a difficult thing. task and as my wife said in her post we see you and recognize you and we appreciate the work that you do as foster parents and to those that have adopted what a special thing that that truly truly is so just wanted to share that and that being said I also had my son my chief of staff show up at the shabu zone at the ribbon-cutting there so that was cool he got to ring the bell from the chamber the greater chamber the greater for the white chamber of commerce so that was exciting he was very thrilled to be there no he was not but he was so that's that and then Also had the chance to meet with Tonya, our new economic development director. We covered a lot of ground and I'm sure it was all over the place. But I just want to say thank you for your time and just for the conversations that we had. And I know that we talked about minority businesses. We talked about diversity in our community. We talked about how do we create partnerships with unions, labor, businesses, and how do we focus also on creating pipelines to support our youth as well. So I think those are just some. We talked about curbside appeal as well with FedAway and part of building a strong economic excitement. So I just really, really appreciated that time. So thank you. And I also want to say thank you to the public comments today. I greatly appreciated them. I find them to be very informative and productive. And so I just wanted to say that. And so Safeway, you know, obviously we heard Harold mention in the 60s his parents didn't allow him to go to Safeway. And here it is, 2026. And we're still questioning the safetiness of Safeway. So, Mayor, if I may, I do think In addition to the emphasis that you're doing in there, I think we need to do more. That is the main grocery store on that corridor. And I think it is absolutely appalling to me that so many years later, we're saying the same thing. And I recognize that we have challenges. I mean, I went out there with the police officer several, several years ago, and he's just pointing out where the challenges are, where the issues are. And I appreciate the mayor and the chief doing more emphasis on that area and more presence there, but I think we need to do more. I think we need to do something. There's got to be more we can do because I think we need to change that direction that it's going in. So I know I'm kind of being a little bit vague, but I can be more specific in one of our walks that we take now. So that's that. also i wanted to kind of spend just a few minutes so camp moxie joe it is a beautiful beautiful asset to our community and i know that our our community development has been in touch with them i know that they have the desire to work with camp moxie joe but you know i had the chance to tour it early in the year and it It is an absolute asset to our community. And it is an idea that a member of our community had, And she tried to bring it to life. Now, she doesn't know about government. She doesn't know about the processes. It was just a simple little image that she had, a vision that she had. And when you step foot in it, you don't really feel like you're in Federal Way. And so I just, I share that because there's so many cool parts of Federal Way. And this is one thing that we can kind of grab onto and try to really work with the owners and make it come to life. Obviously, there's some challenges there. And I just wanted to just encourage staff and the mayor to continue to work with them because I know that they are – I know that there may be some challenges coming up in terms of voluntary correction agreement and that they may be running behind that, but they're making active movements. They're making changes, and I just really hope that the city sees the beautiful part of that and just helps it along. This is a win-win for our community and could be a win-win for our government. This is about tourism, it is about recreation opportunities, and it also adds to our public safety. It could be a place for our youth and for our families. There's so many endless opportunities in that little space. And let's just see what we can do to keep pushing them along and working with them. So I know there's going to be a lot more discussions coming up. I believe Council President Honda knows what I'm talking about and other members of the council as well and the mayor. But I just want to continue to advocate and just encourage that we continue to work with them. So I wanted to put that plug in. And my last comment is Steel Lake. Obviously, having a five-year-old, you look at life a little bit differently. And that was an eight-year-old kid. that drowned. And I'm grateful that, again, one thing that our mayor is really good at, and it feels weird for me to say this because he's just right there, but one of the things that he's good at is when he hears something, he's really good at convening and troubleshooting and making results happen. And so I'm really grateful that there are things that you're doing in place. And one of the things I wanted to add Once again, if we're looking at signage, we are a very diverse community. I think that signs should have some stuff in different languages to reflect that. And then I know that we have a swim scholarship, and I really humbly request that maybe we do a social media promotion to promote safetiness and get swim lessons in place. I think that's an easy ask. I think that the more people that know about that swim scholarship or swimming lessons are possible, that is always a plus. My five-year-old is at the King County Aquatics taking swim lessons. And he's been there several times and now he loves it. And it's really cool to see adults in there taking swim lessons. and so I just urge that and then I hear what we're talking about with the lifeguard I would just encourage there to be more thought about seeing what we can do to add a lifeguard position in the next upcoming budget cycle because that is a very busy lake and there's a lot of people that are there and I know that I'll be advocating to see if we can add that. So I wouldn't rush to get rid of that life card station, but I just wanted to advocate that we consider adding a life card position for next year because, you know, I'm used to hearing about drawings from other cities, but when it happens at Steel Lake Park, when it happens at Vetaway, it's a whole different thing. And I just want to do everything I can as one policymaker to advocate for a safer community, for a safer park, and a safer experience. And I know we're working on that, but I know we can do more. And so with that... I feel like I'm forgetting something, but that's okay, and I will end my report. Thank you so much.

All right, thank you. All right. Council Member Sandoval.

I can add yours to mine if you remember. Yeah, I don't have much to add, but last week, Council President Honda and I went to D.C. for the AI Summit and Healthcare Summit, and there was a lot. I don't think we had enough time to really cover and address all the issues and all the concerns and or all the future enhancements that are happening, especially with AI, because I'm one who's afraid of it. But I think my takeaway from that was to embrace it and take advantage of what I get from it. So I'm going to try. And with the Health Care Summit, also there were a lot of things. particularly around obesity, diabetes, and all health issues. Actually, there's a booklet that I downloaded, so I'll send it to Amy for her to share with all the council members here. And then there's several meetings that I'll be attending. I'm not going to list them. However, I do appreciate what you were saying, Paul, about the link. I've attended their meetings, and the one meeting I attended, maybe it was the week before, I was impressed at how each case manager or therapist or who they work with, the social workers, how... They knew their clients individually. They knew what they liked. They knew what they wanted. They knew what they needed. And they knew the family dynamic. So as they were talking about each individual student that they were working with, it was just incredible to me to think that people would take such interest in the individual and their well-being and the family also. So there was, for example, there was one where they just happened to mention, It had to do not just with the kid at this point, it was also with the family, the mom. And so I just wanted to say yes, that is an amazing group and I love what they're doing and I think it would be great if we can learn more about them and invest in that program or encourage the school to highly invest in it because it's just dynamic and there's more meetings coming up. that I would be attending, but that one I almost felt out of place because of course I didn't have anything to report on. I was just there by invitation and yet I felt like, well, this is intense and almost depressing because I didn't realize, no, it makes you realize how much young kids are going through right now emotionally. what they are dealing with it's not what i dealt with growing up and so hearing what is being said about each student by name was just beautiful and yet it brings you back to reality to say these are our future and we need to invest in them and take care of them make sure that they're well and um i think with that i end my report thank you so much thank you council president honda

Thank you. I'd like to talk a little bit about the healthcare summit that we attended in Washington, D.C. First of all, we got a scholarship to go, so it wasn't a cost to the city. And this is a organization National Foundation of women legislators that has been around for about probably 90 years or so about this time and they their mission is to support women in in politics because it's a really hard place to be for for women and they hold two conferences a year and they do pay for the majority of the conference for us to attend but as some of you might know I've been working with a local resident on having a place to dispose of sharps, which are, you know, syringes that we have used and you need to dispose of them. It's illegal to put them in your garbage. You don't need to, it's very bad to put them in your toilet. And that's, those things have been happening. But I found out that it's a national problem, not just a local problem. And got some resources from a national organization that's working on that. And anyway, the AI summit was very interesting, because I don't know much about that, even though I'm married to an engineer. And oh well. But I did learn a lot. And it is scary, too, when you don't know about something and you get some education. It is helpful. I while I was there, I hopped on a zoom meeting for the regional transit committee. And we talked about metros next stop. Next stop. It's a little magazine here. And they took quite a while to to put this together. I'll have it in the council office if you guys want to read it. Oh, at the at the conference, we had information on human trafficking, and I gave you all a um thing for the national hotline for human trafficking there's yours mayor great thank you uh and we talk about that at least once a year with this organization and see what what the other states are doing and other jurisdictions are doing for human trafficking My husband and I attended Rosebud Children's Theater Conservatory, their annual summer youth musical theater festival. And last weekend was the young kids. I think they're eight to 13. And they put on Jack and the Giant. And it was so incredibly cute. The young boy who played Jack is nine. It was the first time he'd ever been on stage. And it was the first show. They had three shows last weekend. And he was so incredibly cute. You could tell he forgot his lines the first couple minutes he was on stage. And the older kids were trying to help him. But then he got really comfortable. And I talked to his parents at the end of the show. And he just had such a good time. And I'm sure we'll see him in the future. But next week, July 31st through August 9th, the teenagers will be doing their play. It's called The Drowsy Chaperone. It's at Federal Way High School. And this is a really cool program. This is their 17th year. Holly Rose, who at one time worked for the city of Federal Way down at Dumas Bay, came up with this idea of having a theater program for children. And she's been really, really successful. She teaches theater at Federal Way High School as a teacher. But she gets these when they're eight and nine and they start in their education in acting, which I could never do. It's just really impressive. So anyway, if you can go see the older kids, the teenagers, it's July 31 to August 9. And I just wanted to talk about the swim lessons that Councilmember Moore brought up. I fully support swim lessons. I think it's extremely important that every child in our region knows how to swim. I went to Stadium High School, which is in Tacoma, the castle. Back in the 70s, you had to pass swimming to graduate. And I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pass. Because when I was little, I almost drowned at Steel Lake. There's a drop off. I knew how to swim because I'd been in swimming lessons my entire life since I was a baby.