City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Federal Way City Council meeting for September 15th of 2026. Would you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Mayor, why don't you sit? We would like to sing happy birthday to you. Today is the mayor's birthday. Actually, it's today. So we'd like to sing happy birthday. Please join us.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear mayor. Happy birthday to you.

Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. My wife, a couple days ago, said, what do you want to do for your birthday? And I said, I think it's taken. That day is taken. So they had a nice party at our home on Sunday. But thank you, everybody. That was very generous and very nice. Thank you so much. Okay, so let's see here. Now we're going to, let's go ahead and get started. We've got a briefing. We've got a very special guest with us today, Senator Tina Orwell from the 33rd Legislative District, just north of us, and talking about Senate Bill, or SB 5936, concerning the prevention of and remedies for human trafficking. Senator, thank you so much for being here. The floor is yours.

Good evening, council members. Happy birthday, Mayor.

Thank you.

It's an honor to be here. I don't know if I've ever presented in front of the council, so thank you for the invitation. You know, next session is going to be another difficult one. I hate to say that, but it's looking like it may be. So I think it's so important to talk about what meaningful policies we can move forward and to do it as a team. I was going to mention my four priorities, but I'm going to spend the bulk of the time talking about human trafficking. And the first thing I would say about that is that Federal Way has been a leader for a long time in this area, and I want to say thank you. You were one of the first areas that started going into the schools and training around awareness of trafficking and supporting students, so thank you. So next session, the reason I was going to mention four items is there's so much that impacts both of our communities. One of the priorities is we have an attack on our infrastructure. And so there is a bill that we're really looking at reintroducing that really is looking at the copper theft, the fibers and other things. It impacted us with Sound Transit, and we're so excited to have it right through our communities, and it really shut it down for some time. The other one is airport impacts. You know, a lot of us have the noise and the air quality issues, and again, we'll be trying to see how we can come together at our communities to make sure our communities have mitigation support. The last one I want to mention before trafficking is really expanding 988. and our crisis services, and I was so excited to walk in and see a rapid response team downstairs. So, again, thank you, because it's about a place to call, someone to respond, and a place to go. So, again, we'll be looking at how we improve services to veterans. So in regards to trafficking, South King County has some of the highest rates of trafficking, and when you look at the call lines and people asking for help, Over 40% are traffic victims are under the age of 18. So we're talking about our young folks. It used to be the median age was 15, 16. Now it's 14. And so we're really, it's a very difficult situation. I had a survivor, I think it was around three years ago, approach me. And she said when she was 15, she had been in a hotel. It was actually in the SeaTac area where she had been trafficked and held for like three days. And she said that sometimes they would come in to clean the room. They'd see her crying in the corner, and no one called the police. And it really struck me. how important these partnerships are with businesses. And so when I was approached on this bill that we're talking about, which is 5936, it was actually a best practice created by the Uniform Law Commission, which is a nonprofit at the national level that looks at all the states and they look at that model legislation. And so one of the areas that they felt we could do a better job in our state was holding businesses accountable. And so that is kind of the heart of the legislation. is again, we have entities that are not only maybe allowing trafficking but are actually profiting from it. And so, but I can tell you when I introduced the bill, I met with the business community because we don't want good businesses to be harmed, right? And so they actually negotiate the language in the bill so that we make sure we're going after the bad actors. And so there's language in the bill that says knowingly engage. So it really is showing that these businesses knew what was going on, did not provide any protections. The other parts of the bill are when these cases move forward to hold the abusers accountable, and they go to court, sometimes information about the victim or images are released and we want to protect survivors. We don't want information of their names or any images being released. So this bill also provides protection. So that does not happen to further harm someone who's already been harmed by this industry. And so that's kind of the two hearts of the bill. But again, I think it sends a really strong message that this cannot happen in our community. that we're here to create safe places, that we're all working together. I know I have gone to a number of the hotels in my area because they actually partnered with law enforcement to do stings. and have really held accountable some very dangerous people in our community. So, again, we want partnerships with our business, and we want to make sure that harm isn't being done in our community. So I was very – I just felt really good that you're looking at this bill. I would love to partner. It got through the Senate last year, and it died in the House rules. So I would love to see it, make it to the governor. And, again, thank you for considering it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. And I would love to see the city of federal way support this. Why did it die in the house?

It was in house rules. And my understanding is they reached a point last session where they were having trouble moving a lot of bills out of the house. Um, they ended up having some bills that took many, many hours on the house floor and they just, um, weren't able to move it. I didn't hear any issues with the bill. It's just they said they didn't have time to move all the bills that were seen as priority bills.

Do you expect it to move through the House this year?

I do think there's a good chance because I am partnering with House members. Again, I have the leadership in the Senate supporting this bill, including our majority leader. And so I feel hopeful that we'll get it moved this year. And, of course, with your help and priority, that will help it move hopefully even quicker.

Awesome.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Hamilton.

Well, thank you, Senator Orwell, for being here, and also thank you for this bill that you brought. And thank you for acknowledging what we've done at the local level. In fact, we just passed a massage parlor ordinance to try and go after the traffickers. But what your bill does is it goes after the businesses, like you said, that are willingly, you know, allowing this to happen and also directly benefiting from it happening and I think that's important to hold the businesses accountable as well and you had mentioned the provision in the bill where it keeps the victims identity sealed but the other thing that I noticed about your bill was the provision on the U and the T visas And that is so important because if we want these victims to cooperate during prosecution, that's important to have that. That's going to strengthen the ability to hold the traffickers accountable. And so I did notice that this bill had unanimous support in the Senate and also unanimous support on both sides of the political aisle. So I think it's a good bill. And how can we, as local electeds, help you, if you were to bring it back, get this across the finish lines? We definitely want to see this.

You know, and thank you for those comments, and I do think that provision on the visa is important if we want people to testify and hold these perpetrators accountable. I think part of what happens is when bills get to rules, you know, we usually at the beginning of sessions there's like 3,000 bills and 300 get passed, right? I mean, it's like a funnel. And I think when we know that we have members on rules, especially in the House, it could be emailing or reaching out to your delegation or the leadership in the House. I do hope to move it pretty quickly in the Senate side. So hopefully getting it over there sooner will help too.

Well, thank you. And maybe we can talk about possibly putting it on our legislative agenda.

You took the words out of my mouth. We'll talk about that. It will be on the agenda for that consideration. Councilmember Moore, then Councilmember Coachmark.

Well, in fact, I was just going to state that as well, that we should just work on adding this to our legislative agenda as our priority for our upcoming legislative session to send that message to our delegation. And I know our delegation will do a great job. relaying that and working on that and doing what they need to do to pass it. But just want to say thank you for being here. It's great to see you in Federal Way. And thank you for all the work that you've done in so many different areas, but obviously more particularly in this bill. So just it's good to see you. And yeah, welcome to our city hall.

Thank you. Look forward to partnering.

And Council Member Coachmark.

Thank You Tina very much for coming one of the reasons we asked you to come is to find out what it was we might be able to help with regard to once the Victim and I say this the girls are the victims Need places to go do we have anything at all any help for them after they've been out of the gut The perpetrators been arrested and they're being rescued

You know, that's an excellent question. I'm so glad you asked that we passed legislation. It's called, um, safe Harbor bill. And I think you may remember it. Um, I think that was four or five years ago and it was to have at least two facilities, one on each side of the state that would support survivors under the age of 18 safe Harbor, right? And that it would provide treatment. It would help stabilize them. It would, help them reintegrate to the community. And we had one open Spokane and there were some issues and it closed through daybreak. We've been trying to open one on this side of the state. And I know there's a lot of interest. They're looking in Seattle at the youth detention center that maybe they could temporarily put it there. But we are looking for location. And we also felt a very high percentage of these survivors also have substance use. And so we were looking at the opioid dollars as a funding source maybe to help fund it. But again, you know, I think the vision we had for our state is we would start with one on each side of the mounds and expand those. We actually have it. I work with Senator Wilson for over the age of 18. I think we have 12 in our state, and we do not have any for under the age of 18. So it's a missing piece, and I do think if...

the county and the cities and the state could partner we can figure this out because you know having a safe place to go is a critical to to break that cycle right sure if there's anybody or if there's any effort on that uh safe harbor bill uh for the eight under the age of 18 i'm positive that i believe that our council would want to be involved okay thank you whatever way we could that would be very helpful thank you council member sessions

Senator thank you very much for being here It's very informative this bill is something that I would support and I will go home and talk to my friends and my family about supporting it as well. But I wanted to see what sort of alliances you think you can make with the tribes. We're close to the Muckleshoot and Puyallup tribes. And as you know, indigenous women and girls have been disproportionately impacted by sex trafficking. And can you talk to us about any alliances or bridges that you're building?

Yeah, no, thank you so much. You know, I've worked on, I think it's been seven or eight bills on trafficking since I started. And I work with a very large survivor group, and one of the survivors actually was abducted off of her tribe when she was 14 years old and trafficked. The second bill I have on trafficking I'm doing with the Seattle Indian Health Board. And one of the things they approached me on is often they had a pretty horrific case that made it to court, and the perpetrator declined to have an attorney and was doing all the direct, you know, testimony with the survivors and he was keeping them like 12-14 hours and it was so traumatizing for the survivors to have the perpetrator basically you know drilling them and bringing up all those things and they felt like it was a further trauma. to the experience they already had. And so the other bill I have is, again, in partnership with the San Antonio Health Board to say when someone goes to court and they're a perpetrator, and I think this person did end up getting 30 years. I think there were like 12 survivors that testified. They have to have another entity like an appointed attorney that would come in work with the perpetrator, but then ask the questions directly versus having that person. It's a delicate line because everyone has the right to a trial. Everyone's innocent before proven guilty. But we want to do it in a way that doesn't provide or doesn't cause further harm. And so I do look and been working with the tribes on that. And I certainly I think that's a great idea to bring them into the discussion on this bill as well. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. And thank you so much for coming to our city council meeting tonight. Appreciate it. Thank you. Such an honor. Thank you. We will certainly communicate this with our legislative delegation, and we'll make sure that this is added to the agenda for consideration for the council to put forward on our legislative agenda. All right. Next, we've got the mayor's emerging issues and report. That's a picture of Chief Woody with South King Fire. And our own Chief Wong right before, I think actually right following the 9-11 service last week, which we'll talk about. All right. We had really a very moving and profound annual, and it was the 25th anniversary of 9-11 at the station on 320th, just east of the freeway. And you could see we have Council President Honda, Chief Bowe with the Des Moines Police Department, Chief Woody of South King Fire, our own Chief Wong, Council Member Hamilton, Council Members Hamilton, Coach Marr, Walsh, and Sessoms. It was great. In fact, actually, you'll see in many of these pictures, you've got a really hardworking council that has showed up to a tremendous amount of events in our community, as always. Chief, you did a great job, a fine job, representing the city, and thank you for your very poignant words at that ceremony. It's hard to believe it's been 25 years And our first responders clearly bore the brunt of what occurred on 9-11, and we just rely on them and we're so thankful for them every day. At the Chamber of Commerce luncheon, just a quick picture with Council Member Hamilton and Council Member Walsh. We had a good discussion at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon at our own Performing Arts and Events Center, and Becca was talking about a lot of the programs and initiatives that the Chamber is up to. And also, there was a really good presentation. It was about networking, and it was a really good presentation by the individual they brought in. Farmer's Market, new location. There's myself and everyone's one of our favorite residents, Cindy Dusich and Bill Vadino, at the new location. So we have consolidated the farmer's market up at the top of the stairs immediately to the east of the Performing Arts and Events Center, and that provides much better access for people with mobility issues and also with the food trucks and just a We've had it at that location two weeks now, and that was the first week, and it's just been a really good location. Thank you to all the council members for your support and omnipresence on those Saturdays. The Metroflex ribbon cutting, which is a point in time on September 10th, but I have to tell you, I have a big special thank you to our Council President Honda, who worked on this for quite some time, about Metroflex. In fact, Council President, can you talk about what this means for our community and the efforts you made?

This is part of Metro's... Metro is trying to make it available for every area in Federal Way in the greater Federal Way area so that people have access to transit and so if you don't if you aren't in the zone for Metro flex you're in the zone for another another mode of transportation and Metro is more than willing if you call them and you want to give them your address they will tell you what you have available to you because the goal is to get people out of their cars and to get people into transportation. And there are multiple ways to pay. You have your ORCA card, but if you're a senior, it's a dollar. If you're disabled, it's it's a dollar and if you're under 18, it's free. So and other than that, it's three dollars, so It's affordable for most people if it's not affordable for you and you have issues Metro will work with you with you on that because we want to get people to where they need to be and to get cars off the road and to get people into transportation and And MetroFlex, it's not a bus, it's a van. And the other modes of transportation could be a smaller bus or, you know, we're just trying to get people to where they need to be.

Thank you very much. And for that moment in time where we were down at the Auburn Transit Center, our King County Executive, Grimai, was there along with the Mayor of Auburn, Nancy Backus, and the leaders of... of Metro and representatives of Sound Transit. A lot of work to get that to happen, and thank you for all of that. Then later that day, we had the Seattle Children's Clinic Tour. On September 10th, we were very fortunate to have Seattle Children's Hospital in our community. It's a big deal for the region, and especially when you think about the mobility of people in South King County. And instead of going all the way up to Seattle, having this facility in Federal Way is such a big deal. And now they're going to be expanding. And their current footprint, where they're sort of they share a parking lot in the Costco, they're going to be taking almost the rest of the office space from their current location up to where Costco currently is, major expansion. And they're going to be doing, you know, quite an expansion of services there. with day surgeries and day treatments, and we were there with their staff. Council President Honda had to leave before the picture was taken, but she was there for the whole tour and for that meeting right before we took the picture. And then we also had several other council members present, Council Member Hamilton, council member more and it was really important they just do such a variety of service whether it's orthopedic whether it's you know somebody has you know a health issue they've got folks you know helping out on individuals with mental health concerns it really is a full service and also making sure that people who speak different languages and from different cultures are are served as well, and they've got great interpretive services. It really is an all-around service, and this is really the footprint of Seattle Children's Hospital is going to be greatly expanding, and we're very fortunate for that. All right, next. Then, on Friday, On September 11th in the afternoon, we had the Trap Lab Fitness Studio ribbon cutting. This is over there off Dashpoint Road, and they were there previously in a smaller location, but this is a two sisters who have started a business or ongoing business and decided to invest and Isia and Sade, the two sisters and actually we had six members of the Federal Way City Council present. I joked we almost had enough to start a meeting over there and it was great to just see this new business and really focused on people getting better and also just a culturally sensitive environment to help people really seek out ability to get in better shape and stay that way. Then we had Rainfest the next day, and we were there with, I always want to call it Dougie Fresh, but it's Dougie Fur. We've got members of the city council, and it was a great thing at Steel Lake, and it was a fun time, and thank you to our city personnel that were there, and thanks to all the vendors that were there as well. Okay, next, we have the Taste of Federal Way, which is coming up on September 28th, Saturday. And that'll end the market for the year where, you know, previously the market had gone into October. But with the weather, there are some just real challenges there. So the final Saturday of the Farmer's Market is going to be on September 26th. And make sure you get your tickets for the Taste of Federal Way at the Federal Way Farmer's Market at the top of the stairs immediately next to the Performing Arts and Events Center. Then we've got a shredding event at El Centro de la Raza on October 3rd. and that starts at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then we've got Mayor's Day of Concern for the Hungry, October 10th, and then we'll have a food drive Saturday, October 12th, and we'll be at various grocery stores starting at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The council will likely go to several of those stores starting at the Fred Meyer location, as is our custom. All right, and then we've got the Pumpkin Plunge at Federal Way Community Center on October 17th, and Tricks and Treats at Federal Way Community Center on October 24th. Got a lot going on in this community. We've got the financial literacy program, the Bobtown Financial Literacy, which goes on Thursdays from September 24th to November 19th. Registered now, limited to 40 participants. All right, and thank you to Bill and all the council members that are involved in that to really help people get the tools to get financially independent and just get those tools that we all need. Okay. I believe that concludes my report. And now we are on – we wanted to update the council regarding something that we worked on several years ago in regard to tax increment financing, which is a tool that we're using for our downtown. But I won't steal your thunder. We've got Brian Davis, our city administrator.

Keep going.

Exactly. Exactly.

All right, Brian, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council members and members of the public. Mayor Farrell wanted me to provide a brief, a briefing on our tax increment financing plan for those on the council that were not here for when we adopted it in 2024. And then also for those that were here, an update of where we currently stand. By way of background, the state provided this tool available to all cities, counties, and ports to establish an area within their jurisdictions to identify as an area to provide public funding, public improvements that would help enable private development. So we followed suit, and in 2024, we adopted an ordinance that identified a 215-acre area in the downtown portion of our city. So just a quick summary on the theory behind tax increment financing is that the dotted line that you see – well, the axis is the appraised value on the Y-axis, and the time is on the X-axis. Dotted line is, as Director Groom mentioned in the special session, our property tax revenue is pretty predictable. Even if there's fluctuations in value, the rates are capped, and so we can predictably anticipate what revenue we would get from a property tax. And so the dotted line represents, if we do nothing and we let the market run its course, That's an illustration of what we might see for property tax revenue growth over time. What tax increment financing allows us to do is it allows us to predict if we make investments in a specified area to provide public infrastructure that would then Stimulate private development then the values of that area the property values of that area would increase because of the increased development And so over time you would have greater return on property tax revenue To the taxing agencies our plan. It's a 25-year plan this timeline is 25 to 2050 our plan is 2024 to 2049 but this this is gives you an idea of where we stand and It effectively freezes the property values that all of the taxing agencies within the district collect to the 2024 values. As that grows over time, we take that increment and we use that as the basis for the public investment into the area that then, in theory, should drive up private development that, over time, creates the line above the dotted line, which, again, is a higher rate of return on property tax revenue, such that when it sunsets in 2050, when the revenue returns back to the taxing agencies, over time they would, in theory, collect more in the long run than they would had we just maintained that dotted line predictable one where we just let the market play out.

This is the area that we defined in the downtown area.

Again, it was a 215-acre portion that we selected specific properties in the downtown area. But roughly, this is the area that we're concentrating on in the city to do this. This is 320th, by the way, near I-5. So it's our transit center, the mall, our city-owned property on the town center. PLAN AND THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AND ALSO PROPERTY TO THE SOUTH OF THE MALL AS WELL. THIS IS WHERE WE CONCENTRATED THIS TOOL TO BE IN PLACE. AND THE GOAL OF ALL THIS, WHICH WE TALKED ABOUT AT THE TIME THAT WE ADOPTED THIS IN 2024, IS TO WHATEVER AREA YOU DEFINE, WE DEFINE THE DOWNTOWN AREA. WE WANTED TO TRANSFORM IT into a destination, one that is more distinct and vibrant than it otherwise would have been if we do nothing. So, as you know, we own property near the Performing Arts Center, which we affectionately call Talent Center 3 or TC3. We have a development partner for the development of that property, OneTrent. This gives you, again, this is an illustrative example of What would happen if we don't establish any kind of tax increment finance area and we just let development run its course? So Trent, One Trent, has a plan to redevelop the TC3 property, and that is represented by the orange bar graph over time. If we do nothing, that's what we could anticipate over time for the next 25 years. However, if we take the increased increment that we experience in that area and we invest it into public infrastructure, that, again, in theory, would stimulate even more private development and public development that go along with it that then, over time, creates tax revenue, property tax revenue that is greater than, again, if we do nothing. So the project list that we have, when we adopted this at the time, we focused on six project themes. I didn't get into the specific dollar amounts, but this gives you sort of a Yelp kind of rating of what the dollar amounts for what we're looking at. The big one is parking, to help with parking near the Town Center 3 area. Next is recreation to create another park or open space, civic plaza. We do have a civic plaza planned for the TC3 property, which comes at a cost. Mobility is another big ticket item where we have the city center access plan that you're familiar with. This is not something that we can do on our own, but it's nonetheless a very big ticket item that helps mobility of our downtown be improved to what it is now we've also talked about the some crossing concepts for between north of 320th and south of 320th and the grade separated crossings otherwise known as the 320th dip and other improved pedestrian facilities community building is another big one the public market there's there's a space or portion on the TC3 property that could potentially be used for a future city hall if we move downtown at some future point. And other meeting space is also contemplated as part of the community building. And then some smaller ones, and each of these have ranges. I'm making this as simple as possible just as an updated briefing, but each of these, and I can give you the exact project list, but there's a range of cost. But this is a rough estimate, a rough representation of what we would experience cost-wise to build these. Public safety and placemaking are the last two, and they are... important but are a little more on the low end of expenses to make it happen. So that gives you a sense for the possibilities of our own public investment into the infrastructure of what we identified as being the most bang for the buck in stimulating private development as a result of what we could do. So another reason why we're talking about this tonight is because if we're doing any of the major uh... let me just go back one so that the the big ones the parking garage or any of this deal the city center access for the dip or uh... public market anything like that is going to be a big discussion with the council of how we finance that uh... not only that but it's going to take sometime it's not just we decide to do it and then next year we're building it. And let me just work backwards from this timeline I have here. So if we wanted to build something in 2029, we'd spend roughly the previous two years with design and permitting to get those, because these are big projects we're talking about, so it takes a little bit longer, to get those ready for construction, which brings us to where we are today in 2026. So if we're wanting to build a big TICKET ITEM, SO TO SPEAK, THE DECISION IS NOW IF WE WANT TO DO THAT. AND SO THE MAYOR WANTED ME TO BRING THIS TO YOUR ATTENTION BECAUSE WE WOULD NEED TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT WE WANT TO DO THAT NOW OR WAIT UNTIL LATER. AS WE'LL SHOW IN THE BUDGET, WE ARE NOT PROPOSING TO DO A MAJOR PROJECT AT THIS TIME. IT WOULD REQUIRE FINANCING, DEBT FINANCING, WHICH WE in theory have capacity to do, but it would also impact the annual operating availability to operate on an annual basis, taken up with debt payments. And this 2029 date at the end, that's a deadline that is worked into the ordinance. So we have to construct a project. As the ordinance is currently drafted, we have to construct a project by 2029. One of the options, and again, we're not taking action tonight. This is just for your information. So future options that we could do to meet this requirement is to construct one of the lower cost items that's a quick turnaround. It doesn't take nearly as long as the timeline that I just showed, but is a little easier to do to meet that requirement. There's some pluses and minuses with that. One is that it gets it done, but then at the same time, we're putting in low cost infrastructure that may be obsolete or useless by the time we do a major project. For instance, we do wayfinding and signage, which is something that we'd love to do. If we put that plan in place for wayfinding in downtown, to satisfy this requirement. And then we build the major projects. And then that spurs development that we kind of have an idea, but it's a little bit unpredictable. So then we have wayfinding that then five, 10 years into it is out of date. And then we have to do it all over again. So there's some pluses and minuses to that as an example. The second option is to dissolve this. This is a great idea, but we're going to give the revenue back to the taxing agencies that we've collected for the last few years, which isn't a lot, but it's something, and just call it good. The mayor's not going to recommend that, but it certainly is an option. And then the last one is to extend the timeline, the 2029 timeline. that we have here, it's in the ordinance. And so if we wanted to extend that out, we can. We can take action to create a new deadline for construction that's available to us. The drawback to that is that it extends out construction, which then that slope that I showed you earlier takes a little bit more time before it takes off. And so in the end, it doesn't reach quite the potential that we are projecting it to be at. So anyway, those Those are our options. And again, we're not taking action tonight, but at some future point, we will have a discussion about these options where you do take formal action, whether it's a bid for one of the low-cost items or to either dissolve or extend it. Again, we're not recommending dissolve now or hopefully in the future, but it is an option nonetheless. I think that's it. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Council President Hynda.

Thank you. Can you remind us why we chose the 2029 timeline?

So, yeah, let me go back to...

There had to be a reason that we chose that.

Yeah, it's just to help us get projects out the door because we want, again, this top slope represent our... what we could accomplish if we invest sooner than later. And so the 2029 is something to kind of get us going. And we also worked it in, because we're working with a private developer, we gave them some deadlines based on that deadline, which we're going to have to come back to you and talk about, specifically one, Trent. We have been in discussions with them about their where they stand at this point. We have scheduled for them to come here to council on October 20th, I believe, to give you all an update on the progress that they've made and also their observations on the market and what they have put together as far as a financing plan to get their project going. Because again, their development, their project then ties into our Enhances our ability to then invest in the infrastructure because we were collecting the revenue in that in that increment area That otherwise would not be Collected, you know to other taxing agencies So if we were to build a parking garage downtown, which we've talked about since we built the pack That will take four years to plan and build it's it's a It's at least, so let's see, go back to the timeline. I'm being very simple with this timeline, but I just wanted to give you a sense for building something of that magnitude. I mean, just think back to the Minion facility or the Performing Arts Center. Those were not just a year project. They were a couple years, so this would be no different.

So what is the danger of extending it out past 2029?

I wouldn't say there's a danger. It just pushes out the... If you imagine a runway, if you will, we're extending the runway before we take off. And so by the end of the 2049 sunset, our cruising altitude is a little bit lower because we're taking off later. Okay.

It has to make sense. Can I add something? about the deadlines. So the authorizing statute that enables us to do this, to collect this tax, the initial deadline is five years. So that is where the 2029 came from originally, is that we have up to five years to start building the thing that's supposed to spur all this growth. The statute also allows us, for good cause, to extend that deadline by up to two years.

so we can give ourselves a little more time but either way you look at it we need to build something within seven years okay but yeah we probably need to extend it though yeah that's i wouldn't as soon as i got this information i thought i wanted to get make sure that the council got this briefing that the public did as well yeah okay thank you okay Council Member Moore.

Thank you. Brian, there was a slide in there that mentioned various projects. Go. So talking about, I mean, obviously community building, public market is something that looks appealing. I mean, can you talk about that a little more? The public market?

Yeah. Yeah, it's one of the things that we identified. There was community. When we did the outreach for this plan, we worked with the community. There was significant outreach. We worked on, you know, community, what do you want to see in this? And there was a lot of input and requests for a public market. And so that's something that we're still in discussions with to see what that looks like, cost, who our development partners are, what that might potentially look like, location, and ongoing operation and goals.

And, Brian, what terminology did you use in terms of, would that be a low barrier or, you said something about low barrier or?

The cost-wise?

Yeah.

Yeah. Would that fit in there? It's probably a medium cost. I wouldn't say it's like a parking garage, but it's going to be, it's not a sign either. It's going to be somewhere in between.

Perfect.

Thank you so much. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Thank you, Brian. Yep.

Sure.

Um, and then we'll advise the council when we believe, um, when we reach either consensus or we'll, we'll talk with the council and, and, uh, I get an idea about when to bring it back before you for, uh, action. Okay. Now moving on to item D on X, you see on the agenda, we've got our council committee and regional committee reports. Council member Walsh with a land use and transportation.

Yes, we met last evening, had a very good meeting. Five items will be going on to the consent agenda of our next meeting, of our next council meeting in two weeks. And then also we will meet again on October 5th at 5 o'clock right here. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Council Member Sessoms with Parks, Recreation, Human Services, and Public Safety Committee.

Thank you, Mayor. Our committee met last Tuesday, September 8th, all members in attendance. We discussed and forwarded items B, C, and D that are on today's consent agenda. Our next meeting will be next week, Tuesday, October 13th, 5 p.m. right here in the Council Chambers. Everyone's invited. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right, Council Member Kochmeyer, Finance, Economic Development, and Regional Affairs Committee, otherwise known as FEDREC.

Thank you, Mayor. Our next meeting will be September 22nd at 5 p.m. here in Council Chambers. And just to let you know, as we've already talked about previously, we are going to be this month discussing the budget. This is our 300-page budget document. Thank you, Mayor. Of this, we will have three study sessions in September alone. And we'll be discussing the budget for the... next two years. And just to let you know, in case any of you are interested, there will be a whole schedule on that. And we will be discussing a number of issues in our FEDERAC, including economic development, on September 22nd, moving forward for the following biennial year.

Very good. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Council Member Sefa Dawson for the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and Regional Committees.

Thank you, Mayor. LTAC met last week, and we interviewed all the TEG applicants. Why am I blanking? Tourism Enhancement Grant. I'm so sorry. Applicants, there were 10 of them and we interviewed all of them and looked at their applications. And so at our next meeting, which is in October, we're going to review and vote on the funding levels for each of them. And that would come to FEDRAC to the next meeting. I think it's going to be in November. We'll miss the October deadline and come to council for votes. heavy load for LTAC to carry, but those applications were very solid and they bring tourism into our city, so they're great programs and events and activities that are going to be in our city. And with The PIC, which is Sound Cities Association body, there were a lot of updates and discussions. And so there was the King County Transportation District, and I think Council President Honda is part of that. Regional Transit Safety Workgroup, Mid-Behavioral and Health Bridge. And then they also emphasize that the appointment season is coming up, and so making sure that if anybody here on the dais is interested in any of the committees, please keep an eye out and apply to those positions. And they also want to make sure that each city shares or levies or ballots. Those are being collected for the October meeting. And so making sure that those are turned in. And then I just want to shout out for SCA staff. They have become the regional subject experts at all the regional things that are happening, and I just am glad we're part of that, and I'm also happy that I'm able to chair that committee because there's so much wealth of knowledge, information, and they just do a fabulous job, and I just wanted to do a shout-out for them because they do a fabulous job.

small staff mighty work that they do so i just want to say thank you to them thank you council president for your report thank you so this is really exciting news we're having coffee with council this saturday at the farmers market from 10 to 12. it's going to be in the um the green space that the astroturf But we will have covered space if it's raining or not quite warm enough for people. We will be able to go into those little containers that we had stores in during kicking it. We will have pastries and coffee. This is not an event where we have an agenda. You can talk one-on-one with a council member, up to three at a time. We never have a quorum. And you can talk about whatever you choose to talk about. We hope you all come and visit us. It's a really good chance to meet your council members and to just let us know what's happening. And since this is budget season, it's even more important that we know, we hear from you. So you tell us what what you want to see in the future for the city of Federal Way. So please come. The farmer's market is located right next to the pack. There's plenty of parking. It's very accessible if you have mobility problems. And not only can you meet with us, but you can shop and get some good vegetables and fruit. At the farmer's market this week, we had 200 vouchers for seniors to, if you're age 65 or over, to get vegetables and fruit from our mini vendors. And we gave out just about every one of those vouchers. and so it there's quite a need in federal way for for this and i'm grateful that the city has stepped up and helped our seniors with with getting fresh vegetables and fruit at the farmers market i'm a little concerned what's going to happen in the winter time until we we open up next may but um Under SCA news for the council on Tuesday, 9.22 from 10.30 to 11.30 is their brunch and learn briefing on wastewater treatment strategies. If you're interested, the email came out on September 4th if you want to sign up for that. There's also, on September 18th, you can go to Kent and learn how they built their maintenance yard. But we don't have to do that. We just built one. But that is, if you're interested, that's 11 to 130. And that email with information came out from Robert Fieldstein on September 1st, if you want to sign up for that. AWC updates the district meetings, which are held once a year. And we're District 13. We're going to be meeting with District 7. And we will be meeting in Renton on October 28 from 5.30 to 8 PM. We do need to register. And I don't think they put an actual location as to where we're meeting. But the registration is open now if you're interested in that. And AWC is also having an online class on September 16th, which is tomorrow, on parks, arts, and creative districts from 12 to 1-15. And you can earn CML credits, which brings me to really exciting news. There is a program that Association of Washington Cities offers. and it's called the certificate of municipal leadership or cml this is a program where council members and mayors can take training across five competitors i can't say that word five on learning strategies the trainings provide city leaders with the knowledge they need to effectively operate within the law plan for the future secure and manage funds foster strong relationships and build safe healthy and thriving communities you have to get so many points you have to take um different classes in person or online or go to conferences to earn the certificate. There's a certificate, a basic certificate, and then there's an advanced certificate. And I am very pleased and excited to announce that Council Member Hamilton has earned her certificate, as has our mayor. So very exciting. It does take a lot of time. I mean, it's not something that you just want and it happens. You have to actually want to make it happen and put the time in. And I used to tell my kids, and I used to be really involved in PTA, and I tell everyone's kids, whatever you put into something is what you get out of it. I constantly take classes on how to be a council member because things change and evolve. And you need to keep up. And you need to learn from other people because what we do up here, maybe someone else did it. And we don't have to create it. We can copy what they did and make it better. And so I'd like to thank everyone who has their CML. And I believe everyone up here pretty much has it. And so does Council Member Moore and Council Member Assefa-Dawson.

We have advanced.

Advanced, yeah. As I do and Council Member Kochmar. You haven't done it. And Council Member Sessoms is brand new too, so he's working on it. He's been to conferences. So you do have to let AWC know that you want to do this. I mean, you know, you just... They're not going to guess that you're taking classes. You do have to remind them and they will keep track for you. So anyway, congratulations. We're very proud of you. Keep up the good work.

All right. Thank you very much. Okay.

Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to Council President Honda for mentioning the coffee with the council on Saturday. I do want to share some important information that the weather, it's going to be 70 degrees. It will not be raining like it did last Saturday. So that's another incentive to come out and enjoy the sun and enjoy being with us. Thank you, Mayor.

All right. Thank you. Congratulations, Council Member Hamilton. On your CML. All right. Oh, thanks. Okay. All right. Now for the most important part of the meeting to hear from the people that we work for you. And, uh, and we've, I think we've got some zoom comments as well. Um, so I'll call out some names, please. A cue toward the back. Um, we've got, uh, first we've got Doug Stensby, then, uh, Anna Patrick, uh, Jeffrey Tancredi, Hussein Ugas, Mike Bullidge Ziegler, Juan Ruarez Ramos, Rachel Jones, Reverend Katie Klosterman, Paul McDaniel, and then from there we'll go to Zoom. All right, Doug, the floor is yours.

Thank you. I'm Doug Stensby. I've lived in Federal Way for 22 years. You probably know that I am a retired pastor, so it's not a surprise that I read the Bible, and I started Genesis, worked my way through, and when I get to Revelation, I start at Genesis again. It's not the only thing that I do like that though. Every Christmas I find time to read a Christmas Carol by Dickens. And of course on July 4th, the Declaration of Independence. I would like to remind you that on the 17th of December in 1787, the Constitution was adopted and signed. And I would encourage you to take some time and reread that as well. I plan to do that, and I invite you to participate in that. It's an old document. but it helps that we, from time to time, reconnect with the foundations of our democracy. It can give us an insight into how we should structure our lives together. I realize that there will be nothing in there that would directly affect the work that you are doing here tonight in federal way. And on the other hand, we can certainly gain some insights from those who worked so hard to find a way together in that summer of 1787. So I invite you to join me in that along with everyone else. And I warn you, if I'm there on Saturday, I just might ask you what your particular favorite part of the Constitution is. I would love to learn from you. So with that, thank you. Thank you, Doug. Anna Patrick.

Evening, Mayor and Council. So I'd like to bring up something that's a little bit of old news, but important still. And that's the flag policy. I'm not here to advocate for the flags. I support not having the flags here at City Hall. I know that there have been efforts to work together to come up with a better solution. And the flags were removed by vote a while back, and there was an insistence on bringing some of the flags back. And in the process of that, the Irish flag was removed deliberately. There was a long-standing tradition of having the Irish flag raised and having proclamations. And the flag and the proclamation were removed deliberately. And there was some discussion about wanting to get the council on record. So it sort of seemed like a political pinata, really. And so I really think that some of the members of the council that were advocating for excluding, and we're excluding for the sake of inclusion, we're doing it wrong. I think there should be an apology to those who were advocating for inclusion, true inclusion, and making it work for everybody. I really think that it was just a blatant discrimination. And it leaves people disenfranchised. And people, you want people to work together, and that's not the way to do it. And I would also like to bring up the landscaping over by Mirror Lake Elementary. Just bringing this back, because I brought it up last time. I reached out to the county for the noxious weeds, and apparently they just track them. They don't do anything about it. So the noxious weeds are still there, and now the issues are continuing to get worse with the tree branches, and there's no mowing or anything. I reported it to the Eyes on Federal Way, and now it says void. So I'm just curious about that. So I just wanted to bring that up. And on another note, I think the farmer's market is great. The location is great. It's going to work out really good. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. Jeffrey Tancredi.

Good evening, Council, Mayor, Council President. It's good to see you all. Thanks for letting me speak. I just wanted to say it was great to hear that King County came to a resident of Federal Way for 29 years, almost 30. It was great that King County came to talk about the Booker House. We know that the Booker House was named after a very Just an amazing person. I read his story. Incredible person. But what I'd like to ask the council and the mayor if we can get some detailed information from them. Our taxes are funding that, so we have a right to know what's going on to a certain extent. So for example, how many residents live there? How many of the residents were offered treatment if they have a drug addiction problem? How many of them were offered treatment? How many refused treatment? So do you have some kind of a dashboard that they're tracking? How many are on probation because they're not living, abiding by the rules there? How many are progressing? How many are doing well and may be able to move on? So it'd be nice if we could learn that information. According to Jason Rance, King County and Olympia have no desire to solve the problem with drug addiction. He says that if you solve the problem, all of the money that goes to those nonprofits will dry up. And Jason Rance knows more about local issues than anybody in this city. And be careful before you criticize him. He's gay and he's Jewish. You don't want to be called a homophobe, and you don't want to be called an anti-Semite. So I think we have a right to know what's going on. I hope that you all can contact them and ask them if there's a dashboard, if there's a way to track these people, because I'm a homeowner. My taxes are going to that. If it's such a great thing, can we buy some homes in Twin Lakes and put the homeless drug addicts in Twin Lakes or put them in Stonebrook or put them in English Gardens? How would you all like that? No, you wouldn't like that. Okay? But you put it, they put it where there's a lot of minorities and there's a lot of immigrants. That's where they put the Booker House. Because they know they're not going to fight back. Thanks for letting me speak.

Thank you, Jeffrey. Hussein Yougas.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Hussein Ugas. I'm the founder and executive director of Rahman Recovery Center. We currently operate the first culturally responsive recovery residences for the East African and the Muslim communities in the state of Washington right here in Federal Way. And as a tradition for Rahman Recovery Center, we are now also have the honor to open the first ever recovery cafe in South King County. recovery cafe is not a treatment center and it's not a shelter it's a space where people go after treatment where they find belonging where they find peer support services recovery coaching and job placement and community that they belong for the long term now anybody from south king county who's seeking those type of services have to travel all the way to seattle washington And for someone in early recovery who's dealing with financial difficulties or transportation issues, that can become a barrier. I believe we deserve our own recovery cafe here. So tonight, I'm asking the city of Federal Way to partner with Rahm Recovery Center in two ways. First, explore whether available opioid settlement resources can support eligible startup and recovery support costs for the South King County Recovery Cafe. Two, work with us in identifying a city-owned surplus or underutilized property that can potentially become a home for this recovery community. Now, we're not asking Federal Way to do this alone. Rahma Recovery Center brings experience in recovery housing, lived experience in the leadership myself. I'm someone in long-term recovery, 12 years recovery this year. I'm also an immigrant from East Africa, Somalia, and I'm also a Muslim, hence why I do this work. Paul was there when we first opened our first man's house on Steel Lake, and he was one of the first people that was there at the grand opening when he was a council member here a couple years ago. Because recovery should not depend on your zip code or whether you can get a right to Seattle, let us bring recovery closer here to our home. Thank you for your time and your service to this city. Thank you, Hussein. You're welcome. And if you need more information, I had it passed off to you.

Actually, Hussein, what I'll do is I'll talk to Bill Vadino, make sure that we get that information, and connect you up with our human services folks for funding efforts.

Thank you, sir.

All right, thank you. For the other folks, at the very end of the – I wanted to do that right there, but when we get done with all public comment, then we'll talk about how we're going to follow up with each of those. Okay, Mike Bolich-Ziegler.

Good evening, council members. My name is Mike Bollig-Ziegler. I'm a Federal Way resident. I plan to comment on the budget, but agenda item C under council business has me a bit fired up, so I'm going to read some prepared remarks about your proposed council prepared remarks policy. Why is this worth the council's time? This has been a tough year for a lot of people in Federal Way, and council members, reading from notes is not a real problem that anyone is facing. Earlier this year, we were told PSE would come to a council meeting to address rate increases. The UTC hearings to vote on those are at the end of the month. Why is a visit from PSE or a discussion about those rate increases not on the agenda instead? Federal Way has some of the highest utility taxes in South King County. You all agreed earlier this year that the city's utility tax rebate program that only served eight residents needed some improvements. In a year of huge utility tax increases, where are those improvements? Wild Waves blew a $500,000 hole in the budget, and what have you been working on to plug it? Ask anyone in this city what their issues are, and they will not say that the council members read from too much paper as one of their issues. Yet that is what some of you are spending your time and energy on for the city. This is a waste of city staff time, our time, your time, and a waste of our tax dollars. It is also an ableist and discriminatory policy. Two months ago, you all signed a proclamation, and I'll quote from it. Disability Pride Month acknowledges a range of disabilities, including physical disabilities, cognitive and intellectual disabilities, non-visible and undiagnosed disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and sensory disabilities. People write out their words for a lot of reasons, and they could be to be more prepared, because English is their second language, to manage the effects of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, or other differences in physical and mental abilities. My daughter has childhood apraxia of speech. She's very smart and she knows what she wants to say, but her brain has a tough time sending the right signals to form word sounds, and so she can be difficult to understand. And it's something she's going to be facing for the rest of her life. One tool she'll have as she gets older is writing down what she wants to say before she actually says it. Under this policy, council members will have to ask first for permission to read what they prepared, which is right for abuse and playing favorites. Worse than that, council members would have to disclose a disability and get an accommodation approved in public by this body. What signal does it send when this council claims power over how someone communicates? I think it's an ableist, petty, power-hungry, and a distraction that we do not have time for. Vote no on this policy, focus on problems facing our city, and do your jobs. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Juan, where is Ramos?

I heard Council President Honda made a mention about wastewater facility treatments, and boy, do I know a thing or two about wastewater treatment facilities. And everyone from the council to the mayor to the public is more than welcome to visit our wastewater treatment facilities in Lakota and Redondo area. But I'm here on my own time, on my own private citizen title. You know, when I was in high school, I spent all four years doing speech and debate. I've gone to debate tournaments. I've come home with some wins, with some losses. But I always had pride in my work because it was my own work. Every speech I have made from high school to today has never been the perfect speech. I still have flaws in my work, flaws I still get coached on. After leaving high school and deciding to stay in my community that I truly love, that my parents put their hard work, their tears, and their dedication to the city, I wanted to give back. That is why I joined my local Kiwanis. Thank you Councilmember Honda, Councilmember Hamilton, and Coach Maher for letting me join the Kiwanis as well. Shout out to the Kiwana groups here in Federal Way. Giving back to my community, not only to my community, see, I'm flawed right there, but to the schools and the staff that made me who I am today. Aside from the Kiwanis, I had the honor of becoming my old high school's speech and debate coach. Now I'm entering my third year. Geez, I'm getting old already. I had the honor of hearing speeches from everyone, from professionals to amateurs, students, and elected officials. I've learned to recognize something when a speech isn't authentic. When it's polished, but how? when someone is reading words that aren't truly theirs. I love listening to speeches. I love hearing the original work of someone who poured themselves into their message, especially when it comes from an elected official, because the work matters. It shows respect from the people that you serve. Council Member Les Sessoms, you gave a speech for Juneteenth. My God, it was beautiful. It was amazing. And it was original. But it hurts to watch an elected official use their time to deliver a speech that just reads off like it was written by someone else or something else. As someone who coaches the youth in this community to find their voice and speak authentically, I'm asking you to support the new rule change. Thank you.

Rachel Jones.

Hello, my name is Rachel Jones. I've lived in Federal Way for 26-ish years now. I see that tonight you will be discussing banning prepared statements by city council members. I'm not sure what brought this on or who this is targeting, but I'm here to ask the city council to do the opposite. I'm having, I'm sure other people have more reasons why enacting this rule is a bad idea, but I would like to ask each council member to come more prepared to each meeting. There are times when members ramble on and seem to have forgotten what point they were making in the first place. While I don't want to watch someone read off a piece of paper, I would prefer it over veering off on tangents. But also we've had multiple instances of council members asking questions of city officials and guests about things that the council should already be knowledgeable about. We shouldn't be asking basic questions after the fact of things you've already discussed and voted on. It's embarrassing for the city to show that we have members voting on policies or to pass items that they don't actually understand. For the Booker House, we had council members asking questions as if they were surprised as to how the system works. Those questions were asked and answered at the last meeting, by the way. After it's done is not the time to be asking these questions. It does not instill trust in the public that the city council has any idea what they are doing when they're making decisions for the city. We're also losing wild waves because the city council approved on building a warehouse on the property, even though the owner said that he didn't want to. And now we'll see the loss of that culture and revenue and that it harms the city. Maybe if we had asked more questions and prepared maybe even some statements, we wouldn't be looking at that now. Thank you.

Thanks, Rachel. Reverend Katie Klosterman.

Thank you, Mayor Harold and the City Council members as well. My name is Reverend Katie Klosterman. I serve Browns Point United Methodist Church in Northeast Tacoma, but I live here in Federal Way for the past six years. I come on behalf of my community and my faith that tells me to stand up for my neighbors in need. Federal Way has two major problems going on. One is gun violence. My heart is sickened by what happened at the Commons Mall the other day, and I'm repeatedly sickened by the lack of information coming out from the Valley Police Investigation Committee. I would love to see more transparency. My member, church members, some live in Federal Way, and some of those members had a drive-by shooting across their street. asking for a plan to address gun violence, not just to talk about it. And I want to say I'm here to be a community partner in addressing gun violence. The second thing I would like to address is ice. We are seeing our neighbors and fellow residences being disappeared and kidnapped. For example, my daughter goes to school in Federal Way and three families have been deported or picked up by ICE and taken to the detention center. This is not the federal way we wanna be about, nor do we wanna keep seeing repeated ICE sites or sightings at our local grocery store. These are our neighbors. They're being oppressed. They're being unrighteously targeted because of the color of their skin and because they were escaping violence or trauma in their own home countries. Federal Way, we are the best when we are diverse and we protect our neighbors who are most oppressed and most marginalized. So I just ask the City Council, please, let us stand up to ICE and protect our neighbors and our residents because they are our people. There are people, and so please, please, let us address ICE and gun violence together. Thank you.

Thank you, Reverend. Paul McDaniel.

Thank you. Man, they give me a lot more things to talk about. I don't have enough time. I'm going to start off with Hussein, actually. I didn't know he was going to be here tonight. When I went to go check out his recovery home, the place was packed, like illegally packed full of family members, mostly women who were trying to find a way to fight against an opioid addiction that hit their religion that they had no clue was going to come. All because I came to America, actually. So on my other topics. Main topic, money and finance. You guys are in the budget season. My first one is the federal farmers market. I was watching a video earlier today, and on March 3rd of this year, I asked about last year's numbers. It is the 15th of September, and I haven't seen anything for this year. We were told that with the software you guys purchased, we'd be able to get information faster. I still haven't seen a single report. I'd like to know where we stand in the farmer's market, and I'd like to make sure that it's accurate with all the employees, good or bad, doesn't matter. You need to list everybody who works there to make sure we have an accurate reading on that. The next one, I missed the special meeting, so I'm not sure if this was covered, but I got two items on finance. Red lights. So we know that there's less money coming in, but what I do not know is there's less infractions going out. Are we actually seeing less infractions or just less people paying their bills? And the second part of that is, if we do increase, how many red light cameras do we have? How much does the state get? I know they changed the policy, so they actually take a piece of the action now. So I'd be curious to know what piece of the action the state now gets and what residual comes into the city's coffers. My next one is on B&O. I'm not a fan of it, but B&O can be designed to target strictly certain businesses like warehouses and also storage facilities. So maybe you want to take a look at that one. Don't like it, but that's an option you guys have. Council agenda, business C, the prepared statements. I have dyslexia, so I do have to write down stuff to make sure it comes out pretty smoothly sometimes. But there is... times that you guys on the council have kind of just babbled on for a long period of time, and I've seen some very long meetings this year. I'm not sure how this is going to go when you guys talk about it, but I'm curious to know if it's a time limit, if you're not allowed to have any kind of written statements, or if it's some kind of limitation on how long or when you can bring them up. I'm curious to see it. I'm not completely against it, but I just want to make sure it's going to be fair and accurate for everybody, because it is useful for quite a few people. The next one's actually on the shooting. I was doing some doorbelling today, and I had a lady ask me about the shooting. I would be very appreciative if the mayor gave us an update on that one. And the question she had is she heard that the shooter had a bolt-through vest on. A question I haven't heard before, so I'm curious to know on that one myself. And then I also want to talk about TIF real quick. I'm going to recommend you guys extend the timeline. If you extend it, it doesn't mean you guys can't start a project sooner. But TIF doesn't really generate money for quite a few years. And having a hard push this year to do it, I don't think is wise. Last I checked, First Trent had not turned in any kind of information, or One Trent had not turned in any information on doing permitting, which means they're not going to hit the January deadline. So T3 is probably going to be in our hands a little bit longer. So please take your time on that one. And I look forward to you guys meeting. Have a good night.

Thank you, Paul. And again, I'll address all the items that are being raised at the conclusion of public comment. All right, next we've got Sarah Lee on Zoom. Sarah?

Yep, I'm here.

All right, the floor is yours.

I'm Sarah and I'm a homeowner in Federal Way. I first would like to ask for detailed clarity on the proposed rule to prohibit council members from reading prepared statements without prior approval. What constitutes a prepared statement? Why is it prohibited? And how does a council member seek approval? To me, this feels short-sighted and could potentially run afoul of the ADA. There are many disabilities that would make someone feel the need to read from a statement. How will seeking prior permission work in a way that, one, doesn't require disability disclosure per the ADA, and two, doesn't create additional work for a disabled council member before every council meeting? It also sounds like this is adding a lot of busy work for everyone that takes time away from the work council was elected to do. I realize this rule is in the state legislature and I don't agree with that either. Ableism is hidden in our historical institutions in ways we often don't recognize. So please consider if this rule has its roots there. Second, as we're set to hear the mayor's proposed budget tonight, and you'll be setting the biennial budget over the coming weeks, I want to remind council that a budget isn't just math. It's a moral document that speaks to the city's values and priorities. I'm concerned this budget is disproportionately skewed toward punishment and burdening the poor for revenue rather than community services and equality for economic growth. There's the public safety sales tax, now at 10.4%, and it will disproportionately impact lower income residents. Legally, it can be used for diversion programs and non-police interventions, but how much of the expected revenue will be dedicated to that versus things like perpetual police vehicle replacement and more money for jail costs? Diversion behavioral health and crisis response investment is proven a more effective and cheaper alternative to increasing public safety and decreasing violence than traditionally bloated police spending. Being tough on crime with no plan to address the root causes of that crime is not a good use of the public funds. Then there's the historical reliance on red light camera revenue. Utility tax revenue is jumping 2.2 million thanks to utility rates rising. but the burden is passed on to residents and the 1% increase in the property tax levy each year. All of that means a lot of the city's revenue growth lands hardest on fixed income, low income and working class residents. How do we change that? Are we trying to change that? I also want to ask the city to confirm in writing that no budget lines fund immigration enforcement partnerships and no city data systems feed federal immigration enforcement. Our immigrant community is key to our economic growth, and we should not deter their investment in our city by ignoring their concerns. Finally, with the city already bracing for federal cuts, is there a contingency plan laid out in detail anywhere? And will it protect human services first before police spending not last? I understand balancing a city budget in these times is difficult, as is balancing priorities for that budget. But please remember, these numbers represent people and the future of our city, not just dollars. What kind of future are we aiming for? Thank you.

Thank you, Sarah. And boy, it was just almost exactly three minutes. Perfect. Great job. All right. Ryan Lee, also on Zoom. Ryan? Hello, Ryan. Yes, hello. Hi. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor. Happy birthday. And good evening to the council as well. I'm also interested in agenda item 6C. I'm curious about how this proposed rule is going to be enforced. Do you intend to stand over each other's shoulders and compare what's being said to what's written on the page? And I'm not particularly up on exactly how these things work in this arena, but is there a punishment or some sort of consequence for breaking this rule? or other similar procedural meeting rules? Is there the equivalent of a swear jar somewhere for every page that gets read? Please do educate me on how this is intended to work and what the actual point is. As for the budget, I am curious about how your forecasting has matched up to the actual numbers in past years, specifically for the sales tax. Predictions are hard, and I'm just curious how much confidence those past predictions have given you about the ones that you're making for the coming years. And I'm also curious about what made you choose that 5% number that you're expecting to see the sales tax go up for each year over any other more or less conservative options. How do you balance the specifics of what we're facing today against just like a general numerical projection, specifics like the loss of the wild waste revenue, or the disruption of our community by ice as it comes in? and breaks up the regular patterns that you might normally expect to see influencing the economy in our area. And that's all I have for you tonight. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much, Ryan. Okay, Kevin Morris, also on Zoom. Hello, you got me? Yeah, we can hear you, Kevin.

Okay, Mayor, first of all, happy birthday. And to the council, I'm Kevin Morris, 40 plus year resident. And I want to start with just thanking the board for, or the council for its transparency over the years. And I wish and I hope sometime somewhere you can convince the Federal Way School Board to show the same kind of transparency. Next, I just wanted to comment that I looked on the 30th District Democrat website and found that there, with the fact that with the midterms coming up and Wilson, Reeves and Taylor running, that there is a council member that is the chairman of the 30th District, Democrats. And I see that as a blatant conflict of interest. I've said it before, and I'll say it one more time before the election. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, Kevin. Stephen Smith, also on Zoom. Stephen, can you hear us? Stephen? Hello?

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, yeah, we can hear you. The floor is yours.

So a voice from the past, longtime community leader, lived here in North Carolina now, still keep my ears in what's going on in the federal way, and just to wish Jim a happy birthday. All the way from North Carolina. Thank you, Steve. All the way from North Carolina. Oh, yes, in Federal Lake Kiwanis. You gotta get that in, too.

Thank you.

All right. Thanks, Steven. Great to hear from you. That was nice. That's fun. Steven was big into scouts in this community, and a lot of us on the dais know him, so it's great to hear from him. What time is it there now? Exactly. Good grief. Okay. Next... And I hope that was all he had to say. Okay. Harold Booker. And that's our last pink sheet.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council President, members of the City Council, and members of the public. My name is Harold Booker and I've been a resident of Federal Way since 1963. I stand tonight to speak on a topic which is dear to my heart, freedom of speech. I noticed the item on the agenda for this evening's session and it raises serious questions about the intentions of this council. Do you serve this community and the openness and the inclusiveness of the population or you deserve some other master? The freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution adopted in 1791. Now there are limits against incitement to violence, obscenity, certain hate speech, national security, but the First Amendment is foundational to the American civil liberties, ensuring robust public debate and protecting individuals from government overreach. This evening, the city attorney will be presenting a proposed rule regarding the text of the proposed rule. It tries to put restrictions on the manner and the method of how council members may address the body. Why? What's the purpose? Many individuals are not comfortable with extemporaneous speech. Shouldn't our goal be to encourage additional input and additional feedback? Shouldn't you be seeking more information, not less? If a rule to limit the method and the manner of speech is adopted for council members, how long is it before a rule is proposed to limit public comments in some manner? Anything that abridges me or my representatives right of speech is a strike at freedom of speech. I wholeheartedly stand against this proposal. Protecting the right of people to express their opinions is foundational to the right of our society. I support everyone's right to stand at this podium and express their opinion. doesn't have to be scripted or it could be scripted if that allows them to feel more confident standing to express themselves. Vote this proposed council amendment down. Do not come after free speech. Do not dictate how people prepare to share their thoughts. If they stay within the limitations placed by the First Amendment. Thank you.

Thank you, Harold. Okay, thank you very much for all your public comments. It is absolutely something that we all take very seriously, and thank you, and we all very much appreciate. With regard to follow-up, E.J., would you please follow up? Let's see, who was that about noxious weeds, about Mirror Lake Elementary? I don't have that. Anna, that's right. Would you please follow up with Anna Patrick regarding Miralek Elementary and what's going on with the county and what's going on there?

Sure. So the county, I'm looking at it, Mayor. So the county responded that it's not a high enough priority that they're not going to take action, but they've notified the school district and asked them to remediate it. I found the referenced closed one in Eisen Federal Way. It was closed because city staff went out and treated what was in the right-of-way, and there's pictures of the treated weeds in the right-of-way in Isilon Federal Y. Okay, thank you.

All right. All right, then with regard to update on Booker House and any kind of dashboards, Keith, do you know whether maybe are we going to have periodic updates about that, or how are they tracking this? So what do you suggest?

Um, so right now there's, there's not anything scheduled. Um, you know, if there's, if the council want a certain level of frequency for reporting of data, like if we want to decide on quarterly, we can reach out to the urban league and request that and see if we can get that set up. So if that is something that council wants, um, staff can follow up on that council before I, what do you think?

Any suggestions? Okay. Maybe quarterly.

Okay. Yeah. All right. We'll initiate a conversation with UrbanLink and see if we can get something set up for quarterly reporting.

We're new into this. We'll see how it goes. But, yeah, let's check into that. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Then I had... Oh, farmer's market financial update. Steve Grimm, didn't we talk about that you're going to update Fed Rec at the upcoming meeting later in this month regarding the farmer's market?

I know we're coordinating with Parks to provide a monthly report, and I've been consumed with the budget. I'll revisit where we're at with that.

Yeah, and I was going to verify with Kevin to make sure that he got that to Tamara, and so we had intended it's on our radar, and it should be on the agenda, so.

Okay. And also, let's shoot a copy over to our former council member here who's asked about it a couple of times. Let's send it to council electronically as well before the meeting, but let's make sure we send one to him as well since he asked.

Understood.

And then we're going to have it on the council agenda, and then likely we'll have it on the consent agenda as well so people can see it if they want to go through the materials.

Yes, sir.

Okay. How are the numbers generally looking for the farmer's market? Do you have any idea?

Pretty good, steady. I mean, is there a specific indicator you're looking for?

Let's see here. Well, Paul will definitely know. So I'm kidding. I tease. But let's take a look at it. You know, we're just looking at whether it breaks even or close to it.

Yeah, and we got the full financials.

Very good. Okay, let's do that. Thank you very much. Okay. Let's see here. Oh, red light photo enforcement. What I would say is, Chief, are you going to give, during your budget presentation, which is next week, are you going to give overall numbers about what's happening with traffic enforcement? Or how could somebody find out kind of what's going on with photo enforcement and whether the numbers are up, down, number of tickets, et cetera?

Yes. If you go to the police department website, we publish annual reports and biannual reports. So you can see the enforcement numbers. We've been doing this for many, many years. We are seeing more compliance with the drivers. So we are seeing a reduction. And so Many of the individuals who receive an infraction, statistics show that they're very less likely to commit those violations again. So we're just seeing better compliance because we've had these programs for a long time. We have had population growth, more motorists, our city's growing, our region's growing, so there's always violations and it's definitely made some of our intersections safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, the vulnerable population that are walking in the downtown area. It's an effective program, but I would just tell you they're down just because there's more compliance.

Okay. Why don't we do this? Bill, I see you're sitting next to our former Council Member McDaniel. Would you work with him to make sure that he's getting all the information that we have and you just work with the Chief and also just make sure that we're sending him any information he needs? All right. Okay, then, oh, with regard to what happened at the mall, it was, you know, there's a very distinct reason on why we cannot talk about it very much, and that officer-involved shootings actually have a very important process of making sure that The police agencies that are involved in an officer-involved shooting do not investigate themselves. And therefore, we are strictly constrained, probably why you're not hearing much about it, is we're strictly constrained to what can be said, which is almost nothing, until that investigation is completed. Chief, do you recall which agency in the Valley is taking lead on that investigation at the shooting at the mall?

Yes, the Valley Independent Investigation Team is leading the investigation. And the lead agency this time is the King County Sheriff's Office. And there are strict laws that restrict what the involved agency can say. So we did put out a press release of what occurred in general. But after that initial press release, we cannot speak about the case any further.

And then once the investigation is complete, will the King County Sheriff's Office release their findings and put that information out?

Yes, but by law, they have to put out a weekly press release. So the press release is sent to all the media outlets on a weekly basis, whether there's no updates, whatever updates there are, releasing officers' names. But from moving forward, VIT will take care of all press releases. Federal Way of Police Department cannot talk about it.

Okay. I hope that answers some of those questions. Okay. Uh, all right. Thank you very much. And thanks again to everybody who, uh, who came here to, um, and also on zoom, uh, who gave a comment. All right.

Now, uh, we are on to ask, um, we have school board member, Joan Murphy here. I'm wondering, could we ask her to come to the podium? We had Tina Orwell, Senator Orwell there earlier. Uh, Joan, come to the podium, would you please? Oh, so Joan is our school board member, and previously Senator Orwell was here talking about human trafficking, especially for girls under the age of 18. And we used to reach out to the schools to talk to, especially both boys and girls, about how they can be... sexually trafficked and they don't realize that it's very indiscreet or discreet and and how quickly it can happen and so do they could you go back to the school board and see if they would like us to come back and have some kind of a program to talk to the kids again the high school kids again about you know how this happens absolutely yeah okay thank you thank you director thank you for being here

Okay, now we are on to consent agenda, item five on the agenda. These are items A through D. They can be passed all at once. I'll read each one of the items to see if a council member would want an item pulled for separate consideration. Items on the consent agenda have normally gone through committee discussion and vote first. But once again, I'll read them. Item A, approve the minutes for the September 1st, 2026 City Council Special and Regular Meetings. Item B, approve the 2027 SCORE Jail Services Agreement Rate Amendment. Item C, approval to sponsor Senior Technology Pop-Up Event. And Item D, approve the Washington State Department of Corrections Master Agreement Amendment Number 2, Class, and it says V for Class 5, Community Restitution Programs. Council Items Item A through D are any items you'd want pulled for separate consideration. All right, hearing none, Council President Honda, do you have a motion?

I move approval of the Consented Agenda Items A through D. Second.

It's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right, matters pass unanimously. Thank you. Now we're on to item six, council business. We have Curtis Richards here seeking approval for an assessment lien for abatement at address 2020 South 299th Street, Federal Way 98003. Curtis? Good evening, Mayor Farrell. And I should say, Curtis, when I'm introducing you, he is our code compliance supervisor here at the City of Federal Way. Curtis?

Thank you, Mayor Farrell, Council President Honda, and the rest of the council. So our policy question for tonight is, per Federal Way Revised Code 115-080, subsection 4, should City Council approve staff to place an assessment lien on the property located at 2020 South 299th Street Federal Way in the amount of $3,023.06? So this is why I'm here tonight. City code requires council approval to file the lien to recoup the costs that the city has incurred during the abatement. This property has a documented background and history of code violations dating back to 2021. The abatement for this lien occurred back in September 25, 2025. DURING THE ABATEMENT, THE PROPERTY OWNER, MR. YOUNG, STOPPED THE CONTRACTOR, BIODECON SOLUTIONS, BEFORE THEY COULD COMPLETE THE ABATEMENT. DUE TO STOPPING EARLY, BIODECON SOLUTIONS PRORATED THEIR ESTIMATE AND INVOICED US FOR $2,427.71 INSTEAD OF THEIR ORIGINAL ESTIMATE OF $4,855.41. THESE PICTURES WERE TAKEN RIGHT AT THE START THERE. AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE'S A FAIR AMOUNT OF JUNK ACCUMULATED IN THE FRONT YARD OF THIS PROPERTY. THIS IS THE COST BREAKDOWN WE RECEIVED FROM BIO DECON SOLUTIONS, WHO COMPLETED THE BAKEMENT. THERE WAS $1,170 IN BIOHAZARD LABOR. THEY HAD $839 IN DUMP FEES. They invoiced us for $194 in supplies. There was $224.71 in Washington State sales tax. That total was $2,427.71, and there was an additional $595.35 in city costs there and administrative and personnel costs that are tacked onto the assessment lien. The options to consider tonight are to approve the proposed assessment lien on the young property in the amount of $3,023.06, revise the amount, and approve placement of an assessment lien on the property. Or you can do not approve the proposed assessment lien on the young property and provide direction to its staff.

OK. Curtis, actually, any questions? Council President Hunter, do you have a question?

I do. What does the property look like today?

It has unfortunately regassed considerably, so we're looking at starting the process again on it.

So how many times do we just continue to do this?

Unfortunately, yes. And that's why we have the lien process. We're able to recover costs. We'll send it to King County. It gets filed on the property tax roll, and they'll collect it for us.

Does the property owner live in the home?

He does, yes.

Thank you.

Okay. Council Member Sessoms?

So five compliance cases in five years? Correct. And then the last one was only partially abated?

Correct. In the previous cases, the property owner actually did clean up the property himself, or at least cleaned it up so it was able to close out the case. In this case, he did not take action to do that, so that's why we had to go in and do it.

So what would you say our plan, the city's plan, or would be to prevent it from returning to a state of noncompliance? What additional enforcement tools would we have available at our disposal?

The strongest tool we have is the abatement process where we go in and clean up the property when the property owner doesn't do that. So we'll have to do that again.

Thank you. It is, and Council Member Sessoms, it is puzzling and troubling sometimes where we have to do this several times, sometimes with certain properties. And while we hope that there's compliance, unfortunately sometimes there are just certain circumstances in which we have to go and there are chronic situations. So we have to make sure that we don't engage in that fatigue, that we just need to keep at it. and not allow a new normal to set in in neighborhoods like this. But thank you for the question. In fact, actually, sometimes I'll periodically ask, what about this house? What about that house? And it's concerning. Curtis, I want to ask you a question before we get started, but are there any other questions, counsel? Okay. With respect to this item, let me see here. Is there a motion?

Yes, I move to approval of the proposed assessment lien on the young property in the amount of $3,023.06. Second.

There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The matter passes unanimously. Curtis, can you give us just an indication? You've been supervisor now how long?

Since January this year. Okay, and how many folks have worked in your department? There's three officers and myself, so a total of four.

And you divide up the city in regard to areas?

Yeah, we have three separate distinction areas. We have a north, a central, and a south based on geographic locations.

All right. How are things going with code compliance?

Good. We're staying busy. Unfortunately, there's a lot of critical area violations where people have filled in wetlands or removed trees in wetlands, those types of things, which do take a lot more time for us, but we're working through them all.

All right. Thank you for the work you do. Of course.

Thank you. All right.

Okay, now we are on to the proposed 27-28 biennial budget. And I will be walking through the proposed budget. my proposed budget to the city council. So before we get started and get into the presentation, I just want to say a big thank you. A lot of what we do in the city, there's so many people that work so hard in the city, and they're working on behalf of everybody in this community. I would like to thank our directors and their managers and everybody who participated in this process. It really is a process that starts at the beginning of the year. And there's, you know, multiple stages and each and every one of our departments, you know, presents, you know, their needs, their wants there, uh, to, to accomplish the mission, um, that they're asked to do, whether it's the police or public works or, uh, parks. We have a tremendous city and a very dedicated workforce. I'd especially like to call out and thank Steve Groom, our finance director, your team, for your work in putting together what can only be described as almost a telephone book. uh full of numbers uh charts graphics uh it's a tremendous amount of work i know you've been working late and on weekends and to put this together you and your team and i'd also like to thank our city administrator brian davis who has been having you know and consultations not only with me but also the directors and really managing this process to make sure that when we get to this moment right now where we're starting the public process that the council is going to have all the information at your disposal for this very public and intentional process of making sure that we're looking through all of the issues. Because I think what was said earlier is your budget is a document that really says what your priorities are in a community. And we're going to work on this together. Your council is going to be asking a lot of questions, having some suggestions. We welcome that process and we're going to work together. I was talking to the council president earlier today and one of the things I think that we are in agreement on is that we want to make sure that the request that we'd be methodical about concerns and requests that the council has to make sure that if you want something contained in the budget or you think that there's something that needs to be tweaked or added to or taken away, that we have a very timely process for that. We were talking about perhaps maybe by mid-October knowing What if there's certain things you really want in there and you think maybe there's support for that or you want to seek support? Let us know that so we don't get down to the very end of the process and scramble because that you know as they say What would Russell Wilson used to say the separation is in the preparation? Well, there's been a lot of preparation for this process and now we're going to start working on this together So without all that said let's get started So The theme here, taking a look at our budget document, is that the needs that we have in our community and city government always exceed available money. We can always think of more things to do, and that's why discernment is obviously critically important. Budget requires prudent prioritizing and thinking about which things are more important than others, and that's a very difficult process, but that's why we work together with the council, your elected representatives. It's important to balance increasing cost and economic dips in revenues. So the priorities. When we take a look, when I sat down and started with our team, with Brian and giving direction to Steve Groom and all the directors as they were working on their individual department priorities, the very first things that we do just in regard to order of priority are you know, the safety and security of residents, businesses, people that are in this community, maintaining a balanced budget, all funds. That's required by law, but it's also really important to have structural, what they call a structurally balanced budget that that revenue and income meets ongoing expenditure, and that's referred to as a balanced budget. Some cities, and I think that this previously, years ago, the city used to engage in structurally imbalanced, or what they call one-time funding. That's not a good way to run a city or any kind of government. It's also, we want to assure, prioritize city services, whether it's parks, public works, police, all those things that really make up the quality of our community. We want to maintain our city fiscal health and make sure that we're in good shape. And then we want to make sure that we have good infrastructure on behalf of the city. And that means the newly laid, I have to tell you EJ, driving around I was with my wife in my car today, and we were driving on those new streets, and they look absolutely beautiful. And that's the kind of investment that we make, and we've got the envy of the region in regard to the investments that we've made on our roads. Okay, now, a budget goal is accomplished. The proposed budget, and it's just proposed at this time, the budget document that you have, and we're going to work on it together, Council, but what I have proposed, what we have proposed to the Council, is a balanced budget that does not include any new taxes. It fully funds reserve levels for each funds, you know, for the general fund, for reserve funds. So all reserve funds are fully stocked. We also engaged in what we called market adjustments for staff positions. It's really important that for our workforce, which is really the people who work, the over 400 people that work for the City of Federal Way, You know, they have their counterparts in other cities. And if we don't pay our people appropriately and within the market, they'll go elsewhere. And so we need to make sure that we are always looking at the market and making sure that we're paying people appropriately. Well, about $460,000 of the adjustment of this budget will go to make sure that we're getting positions in line with where it's at. It's not across the board, but that market adjustments are very important to make sure that individual positions are not out of sync with where the market is in the community. But it's also critically important to make sure that we've got COLAs, cost of living adjustment. Now, for folks out there and listening on TV and for the council, as you know, we've got certain segments of our workforce that are unionized, and they negotiate individually for the cost of living adjustments, and we do that sometimes up to two- or three-year contracts. We also have nonrepresented employees that work in our city and that COLA or the cost of living adjustment is set in this process. It was really important as we were working on this budget to not only get to the market adjustment but also make sure that we had a COLA. We went six years in this city back about 15, 16 years ago without Before I became mayor, there was a six-year period in which we did not have a COLA for the nonrepresented employees, and that was really harmful to our community and to our workforce. So our COLA for 27 is 2% and 2% in 28. Then it's important to note that we just completed a maintenance and operations and maintenance facility that is now fully in service. The debt, we have to serve that debt, which is going to be about $2.5 million a year, I believe, out of the general fund and out of funds that we have in the city. But that infrastructure was decades in the making of need. Okay, now. These are the challenges, and I think, you know, we had a meeting before this. We had a study session prior to this session, and Steve Groom, our finance director, was talking about, you know, some of the things that have been what we would call headwinds, some of the challenges. And with regard to revenue, sales tax is not keeping up with inflation. That's, I think, it's important to note. Real estate excise tax, REIT, is down for the last four years. Now, real estate excise tax, REIT money, cannot be used for the general fund. When we're going through this budget, keep in mind that we've got an operating budget and a capital budget. So real estate excise tax, by law, can only be used for the capital budget. And those are things like street overlay, like streets, or what they call capital improvements. But real estate excise tax, being down for the last four years, will limit our ability in the next two years to do certain things But as REIT comes in, we'll have a wait list. And we'll talk about that when we get to Public Works and some of those others. We'll fill that in as that revenue comes in. But we'll need to have a list of where we're at. Also, the city's investable cash was decreasing just based on the certain economic factors. And then we'll have the Wild Waves closure. That's going to be a $500,000 hit to our budget per year. And we were very sad to see Wild Waves closed for a number of reasons, but that is also a budget issue. With regard to expenses, we have $2.5 million per year debt service on the operation and maintenance facility bond. If you haven't had a chance to go by and take a look at that facility on 28th Avenue, north of 312, basically the east side of Steel Lake, I would encourage you to drive over there and take a look at it. We're going to have a grand opening here very soon. It's absolutely beautiful, and it'll serve us for the next... multiple decades as the years go forward. We also had $2 million insurance premium increases, both projected in 27 and in 28. When they're not projected, they are actually, that's totaling $4 million in our budget, $2 million a year. That's a big, big hit to our coffers, and that's why we had to really be judicious moving forward with this budget. And we also, it's critically important that we need to understand that we do have a commitment to our employees, and we want to make sure that we are compensating them appropriately and that we're keeping up with our neighbors. Okay, budget challenges in 2027 and 28, insurance premiums and deductibles increase. City vehicles are now self-insured, and it shows a graph there about where we're at. And we're going to be talking about one of the things to watch for when we're talking with the park during the presentations. budget presentations. We're going to hear from Parks, Public Works and Police and they have their own fleets and it's really about making sure the useful life of a vehicle sometimes is about five, seven years and we just need to make sure that we're investing to make sure that we don't get If you don't do that over time and put those investments in regularly, then at some point you're going to hit a crisis point because you cannot replace. E.J., how many total cars in the fleet?

Citywide we have 548.

That's right. So every year you need to make sure that you keep in pace with that, and the aging vehicles need to be processed out. Okay, jail costs has increased due to ability to pursue criminals and increased cost of jail rates. You know, as we talked about, you probably heard in the media and in the reports here, car theft in the past three years has dropped 80%. It's an astonishing drop. In the past three years, robberies have dropped 71%. Burglaries are down 40%. to his burglaries, both commercial and residential, are down historic levels. But when those individuals, and it's usually a small number of people who are committing these crimes. In fact, my last assignment at the King County Prosecutor's Office was the car theft case. unit. And you would have individuals with six or seven pending cases, not just in King County, but in, you know, Snohomish County and Pierce County. And there are professional car thieves. You pull an individual out of the population for a short time, and the number of stolen cars drops dramatically. And that's why we've seen an 80% decrease in the past three years because we can pursue. But what that means is the ability to house those individuals while their cases are pending. Now, what I would say as well is the stolen cars are felonies and they would go downtown, but we've also been really working hard on our misdemeanor crimes and making sure that those levels drop. And there was a concern that was expressed previously about gun violence. I'd tell you that the city has never been safer. The numbers have dropped to historic levels. All right, but what I would say as well, it's critically important when you've got a DUI offender, a a domestic violence offender in which arrests are mandated, that we do have to pay for those jail costs. Okay, how do we balance the budget? Number one, the leadership and teamwork that I was talking about before. And we're going to see a lot of leadership and teamwork by our council, but I just am so grateful for the hard work of all of our directors. They've been really working hard on this, and again to Brian Wilson as well. All departments participated. There was collaboration. There was prioritization of the city's overall needs. Line by line review. We scrubbed this budget down to the very, you know, every item and every vacant position that we looked. Do we really need to fill this position? And really looking at you know, an analysis of that. And now the council is going to do that as well. We have a waiting list ready to serve us in future budget amendments. There are certain things that the directors wanted or really thought that their departments needed, but we were very, very conservative about adding any new costs just to make sure that we could continue the work that we're doing. But when new revenue comes available, we need to make sure that instead of something flashy that we reach for, that we are thoughtful about where those next dollars need to go. Okay, belt tightening measures. We're going to reevaluate the vehicle replacement. We're really working with the police department at Public Works about which vehicles can defer that can wait. Can we squeeze more miles out of our cars instead of just reflexively just getting a new vehicle if those vehicles are not really at the end of their life? We all do that as individuals, as families, don't we? We think, are we done with this car? Well, maybe not quite yet. And we're going to be going through that process. And our folks take great care of their vehicles. We're going to defer, as I talked about before, the real estate excise tax, the REIT-funded projects, until the economic upturn. Underlying property values have remained stable. That's good. But we'll make sure that we identify which projects are going to have to hold until more of that REIT money comes through. Interest rates have actually, with the interest rates coming up, it has stalled significantly. sales, real estate sales. If that really starts to turn around, then we can fund more REIT projects. We'll identify which projects those are. And then continued commitment. What I should also say is we're still going to continue to do our overlay. We're going to continue to do the things that we need to do. But we only, I think, out of the normally over about 5 million of where REIT had been, it's normally right around the 3 million, the 3.5 million mark. And so that means certain projects need to hold a bit. And then a continued commitment to manage department budgets, monitoring for course correction. We've been really careful about, we don't just hire people and hire people. We only engage, we are very careful about making sure that if we hire an individual, it's for a position that we truly need at City Hall. Okay, revenue options explored. We did get $3.2 million in reimbursement for the state grant with regard to officers and officer retention. That was a big help to a lot of work by our police department. In fact, when the governor put out, this was as a result of legislation, I think $100 million was set aside. It was such a lengthy process that many cities had difficulty going through that. Our department just did a really great job filling out those forms, filling out all of the requirements, and the state had a very, very intensive process in which we received $3.2 million in reimbursable grants. Also, as you may recall, we did a 0.1% sales tax authorized by the legislature, also part of that public safety legislation that came through that authorized to do that. And that had previously been done earlier this year. And then we've got the continued speed enforcement cameras. We have heard, we did a study and many of you, I know that there's some citizens involved here, but also our police department and our public works about a serious problem that's occurring in our community about speeding and a serious concern about accidents and injuries based on speed through our community. And we're going to be looking at that to make sure that we address that. We have never viewed cameras as a revenue-generating option. It is a safety-generating option. But it has the side effect of providing revenue. And I think the Chief brought this up earlier. If we see a drop in revenue from that, that means it's working. And that's what it's for. OK, we've got continued challenges. The property tax cap, which is 1% per year, continues to put pressure on all other revenue streams that fund city services. This is an interesting fact that we noted, that once equal, the sales tax now funds double what the property tax does. It used to be that sales tax and property tax would fund equal amounts. Now the sales tax equates to double of what the property tax pays for. This is a, just so you know, the operating budget is over $200 million per year. This total budget is $400 million for the biennium, 425 right about there. Okay, we talked about sales tax. Sales tax has been lagging as something that we've been watching very carefully, and then REIT has yet to recover from prior levels as well. And as we talked about, we've got perpetual vehicle and infrastructure replacements, and those have yet to recover to prior levels, but it's something that we're really keeping a very close eye and making sure that safety is the number one priority. Okay. Overall, just to go back and to conclude, we have a balanced budget. There are no new taxes. We fully fund the reserve levels on all of our strategic fund levels. We did the market adjustments for cost of living adjustments. We did the market adjustment for our employees and the COLA for the non-representative, and there's a wait list for upcoming needs. Next steps, the most important part is the work of the community and the city council for input at study sessions. So if you've got a particular part of the city that you're interested in, make sure you come or watch that. All these are going to be videotaped. Then we're going to get policy direction from the council. We'll have deliberations and then adoption, hopefully, on November 17th. These are the dates of the city council and public input. Obviously, today we had the presentation from Steve Groom, our finance director, at 5 p.m. And we had this presentation today. Next Monday at 5 p.m., we have a study session. Then next Thursday at 5 p.m., then October 6th at 5 p.m., and October 20th at 5 p.m. Okay. Okay. Council, that's a conclusion. Now, that's just sort of the overall. Council, does anybody have any questions at this stage? Council President?

And, Councilor, if we need more meetings, we can certainly have more meetings.

Very good. Council Mayor Moore?

Thank you, Mayor. You know, I've been through several of the budget cycles with you from 2013 to 2021, and I will say this, that I am pleased to hear that you are leaving room for authentic, genuine conversation of what do we want to see in the budget as well. And I think the thing I appreciate the most is finding a way to work with it versus just drawing a wall and saying, nope, this is not going to happen. Not that you do that, but that sends a very important working relationship with your policy partners, as you've indicated. So I'm really grateful for that. That's something new that I'm hearing. Because I know exactly what you're referring, well, what you're talking about, whereas we've had debates on the budget in December, right at the last minute. And I know that I've talked to your staff, I've talked to Steve, I've talked to the person before Steve, that really we should be, the council needs to get their requests, get their thoughts heard earlier. And I appreciate hearing that. right now. So I appreciate that, and I'm looking forward to diving into this beautiful book. I know it's going to be on my nightstand and whatnot, but I'm looking forward to this robust conversation, and I'm hoping that we as colleagues can find areas where we can compromise, find ways where we can agree, and really be proud of the budget that we pass, whether it be in November or December. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. Council Member Walsh.

Very quick. You referred that this was the size of a phone book. Yeah. For the young people, you need to use a different analogy.

Right? Exactly. I know. Exactly. Council President?

We had an email earlier today, and the writer wanted to know where the public can find this, the budget book online.

You bet. Steve?

It's on the city website. Navigate to the finance page. There's a button for all of our budgets. You can even compare to the last budgets for probably 10 years or more.

But go to the finance. So go to our city council. Let's walk through this.

Go to the city's website.

Okay.

Go to government. Click on departments. Find finance. It'll be on, there's a button on our page.

Okay. And is it this document or is it?

That exact one.

Okay. Council Member Moore?

Mayor, you know, I normally don't like to get into the day-to-day operations, as I know in your field there, but if I can just make a suggestion that social media is a wonderful tool, and I think we can perhaps make it easier to add it on social media since the mayor has introduced his budget and whatnot. I'll leave that up to you, but I think that could be easier for some people, maybe not everybody, but a good portion of our public.

Thank you for the suggestion. Thank you, Council Member. Ken? All right, not seeing any others. Thank you very much. You've been a great audience. Thank you. Ah, yes, I have the clicker.

Good evening. So several council members have asked that this rule be debated tonight. And before I start and present, the issue and the actual text that we're proposing. I just wanted to address a few of the public comments that were made. as a preamble, and then I'll get out of your way and let council debate this, because it's really a personal choice of each council member of how they want to operate the council. So first off, in the council packet, it indicates that the mayor is recommending option one. That's my mistake. I'm sorry. The mayor does not have a recommendation on this. Option one is the default. that we have on our template and somehow in my rush to get this done, I forgot to delete that. So the mayor does not have a recommendation on this. It's up to council preference.

I did, though. My recommendation was that this be considered at the council retreat where we normally discuss real changes.

So also just as a preamble and to understand for the audience to understand what the rules of procedure are. The rules of procedure are not meant to control what's said. It's to help facilitate communication and more importantly to help facilitate a consensus. When you have a body of a bunch of people coming to a common consensus or even getting to a point where you even know what we're talking about can get confusing if there's not rules of how to express yourself. This problem has been It goes back to Greek and Roman times, Cicero and people like that. So this is not about censoring people. It's about whatever works for this group to facilitate communication. I have no position on whether this is a good rule or a bad rule. Cities do both. I did want to also address the First Amendment was brought up. Passing this tonight or not passing it has no impact on the First Amendment. This rule predates the United States by several hundred years. It goes back to British parliamentary tradition. It probably would have been considered gauche or rude when they were debating the First Amendment to read. a document at people. The idea of debate was to have a conversation that was a dialectic that had people going back and forth and people would change their position. It wasn't meant to be a battle of essays. That said, over history, back in the day, an education meant that you were trained in these things. Being an educated person meant that you read your Cicero, that you had trained in rhetoric, and you had a great facility in speaking language. That's really kind of going away every year as we get older and older as a country and as a society. So some groups have gone away from the traditional rule of not allowing reading from speeches because of some of the concerns that people have voiced tonight, but it is the baseline rule that's existed. And it's in Robert's Rules. The Robert's Rule is kind of the opposite. It says that you may not read from notes over an objection of any member of the body. So if anyone is annoyed by being read at, Anyone can object and then it's up to the body whether or not to let the reading continue. The proposed rule kind of flips that and makes the default not to read without permission. So moving on so that you can debate the issue yourself. The issue presented should the Federal Way City Council rules of procedure be amended to prohibit reading prepared statements during meetings? Here is the language that I wrote. It's just a starting point. Members shall speak extemporaneously and should not read prepared speeches except by permission of the body. Members may use notes to refresh their memory when speaking. Members may quote from written source material when reasonable and with proper citation. What I've attempted to do here is just to write down the historical traditional rule. So those are all my comments. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

All right. One sec.

Castle present Honda So we have a council rule that allows for items to come to council if two or more members request That happened and because it's a council rule.

That is why this is a before us today Okay, so who would like to speak to the to the issue Councilmember suffered awesome Thank You mayor

I didn't come prepared for this, so I'm reading my notes that I wrote here. But first of all, I was surprised when I saw this on the agenda. My question is, one, what problem are we trying to solve? And number two, are we talking about the message? or the messenger. Because this talks about the messenger and not necessarily the message that we're trying to get across. So if there's an item or an issue that I want to prepare for, get my documents together, and come prepared, I don't see why that's a problem. And so I'm still struggling with the fact that it's even on the agenda and that we're having this conversation. And so if someone can enlighten me and tell me what the problem is that we're trying to solve. And I know the word debate keeps coming up, and I don't think we debate, but we do deliberate. And we do it until we're done with whatever it is that we're going back and forth about. And sometimes we've stayed here until midnight. And so I honestly don't understand what we're trying to solve here. What is wrong with preparing? And if I get the information from Google or whatever tool that is available to me, what is wrong with that? Why can't I do that? And so please, the authors of this or whoever proposed it, if you can state, if you're comfortable stating why this came up, I'd really appreciate to know so I know how to move forward. Thank you.

All right. Council Member Hamilton and then Council Member Sessoms.

Thank you, Mayor. I do support the rule change, and I'm going to encourage my colleagues to support this. What we are proposing is really to protect the core functions of the policy body, which is to first listen and then discuss and then deliberate and then debate. We do have debates up here. Our council, our second council retreat that we had, we talked about very candidly about wanting to improve our communication up here on the dais and so this rule in my opinion is going to Help us become more productive and more efficient with Looking at policy and and doing those core functions which again is discussion, well, listening, discussion, deliberation, and debate, versus having a possible scenario of delivering seven prepared speeches. And I do also want to point out that this is a longstanding rule in the state legislature right now. They are not allowed the members are not allowed to read prepared speeches And when I say prepared speeches what we are really talking about is reading something that's prepared verbatim That's not allowed in the state legislature and they are also a legislative body as we are And so this is going to align us more closely with parliamentary procedure and the intent of robert's rules this rule change does not prohibit the use of notes in fact i'm using notes right now it does not prohibit free speech we voluntarily restrain ourselves with robert's rules otherwise this process of creating policy and debating policy would become very chaotic And in fact, during public comment, we have rules about public comment where it says that it prohibits any testimony, da da da da da. And so even our public comment time is under restraint to a level. And so I don't think that it's productive to, as our city attorney said, to have a battle of essays. We were elected to work together and to listen to one another. And when we come with prepared speeches, there's a question of whether or not we have listened. Because I know at times I have changed my mind on a policy when I've been presented with new information. And I also want to point out that this is not going to prohibit or impede on preparation. In fact, I would argue that the more prepared you are, the less need to read from speeches verbatim. And I do think though that there is a time and a place for reading prepared statements, and that would be mostly when we're being interviewed by the press. or if we're giving a press release. And so there is a time and place for that. But here, I am in support of protecting the policymaking process. And I think it's a good role. And so I would encourage support of that role. And I look forward to the discussion by my colleagues. Thank you.

All right. Council Member Sessoms and then Council Member Acevedo.

Thank you, Mayor. I do have notes to reference here, but I'll start off with a quote or a definition that I pulled recently from Google, one of the dictionaries, but it defines extemporaneous speech as a well-prepared presentation delivered conversationally using brief notes instead of a full manuscript or memorized text. Okay, that's the definition of extemporaneous speech. But there's a difference between speaking extemporaneously, which is in Section 4.2, and speaking accurately, deliberately, and from a prepared written statement. I think we can do both. I think we should be allowed to do both. And that's why I would rule against, uh, um, or decide or vote against enacting or adopting this rule amendment. Um, for council members dealing with complicated ordinances, budgets, legal matters, proclamations, constituent issues and policy questions. I would argue, that preparation can actually improve accuracy, accountability, and transparency. That's why we would need, it would be necessary for us to allow a council member to come prepare with a statement. Otherwise, we will run the risk of offering red herrings to the public, whether that would be unintentional or intentional. I don't want to get into get in the business of doing that, not from this seat where I am. So I would argue that the proposed ordinance, the proposed rule unnecessarily restricts how we as elected officials communicates on behalf of our constituents. We need to come prepared, yes. We need to come prepared. ready to deliver an extemporaneous speech if necessary. But we also should have the liberty to have a statement prepared, whether it's from an official document written from someone else, maybe the Constitution, or something that we created on our own. But either way, we should have that liberty to be able to do that. So I would ask the question, what specific problem did proposition our proposal seek to to solve I would argue it's unnecessary so let's move on we we're going into a budget season it's going to be a long a lot of long meetings and hours and debate so let's move on I agree with one of the public commenters

wish we have more things but bigger things to focus on thank you thank you councilman yeah i think i go back to the question that i had asked what problem are we trying to solve and council member systems also repeated that so um i still want that answered because i've been on the council for 12 plus years why is it coming up now number one and then When it says without permission, that also is concerning to me. Do we sit here and decide and vote on who gets permission to speak? What does it mean? I'm really confused, and so I don't know who can answer that question for me, but the permission part also is something that I'm...

I mean, I can explain what it says. Okay. Permission of the body to read from a written statement. You obviously don't need permission to speak. If you want to read from something that's not notes or a source that we're referencing, something that's before the body to vote on, then you would need permission of the body to do that.

So if four people say no, then I won't get to read it? Correct. But they don't even know what I'm going to read, probably. So how do we get permission before you know what I'm going to do?

Generally speaking, when you're seeking permission, you would explain what you intend to do. I understand the confusion, but just to be clear, this is not a novel concept. This is pretty much the norm in most bodies. The bodies that have gone away from it, it has been because As a society, we're getting less good at doing this.

Yeah, I really feel like we're trying to fix something that's not broken, but I'm not going to support this, so that's my opinion. Thank you so much.

All right, thank you. Council Member Coachmark?

Well, I spent an hour reading the MRSC Municipal Research Services Corporation handbook online, about council rules and procedures for running a meeting for mayor and council members. To get down to the bottom line of what I read, the councils can choose how to run their meetings any way they like. We can make our own rules. We don't have to follow any other rules. But let me tell you, after being four years in the state legislature, how it works. And there are reasons for this. So if you're going to speak from the floor And I'm talking about 100 people speaking. You are recognized by the chair. And you stand. And you may not read. You can have notes. And I generally, after four years, I'd have my notes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 listed so I could remember, so I could look down. But I wouldn't read from the notes. I would have prepared my speech and spoken to the issue. Madam Chair, I understand the issue is. This is what I think. I'm hoping that we can do whatever, on and on. And then I would get to a point where I might want to read a quotation. And then I would say, Madam Chair, may I read from Seattle Times article dated this date at this time by this person, and I would read that quote. And then I would go back to, I hope you understand that that's why I agree with this person with whatever they're saying. And that's how you do it in the legislature. I'm just telling you that that's how they chose to do it for many, many, many years. And the reason is this. When you are reading a document, how do I know that's you that have prepared that speech? How do I know that that's truly your thought? You are here, the elected person. The person who wrote the speech was not elected. Now, you may agree with that person, but they weren't elected. You were. So that's really, for me, the crux of the issue. I think we're making a bigger issue out of this. Personally, I'll vote for it. I don't see why it's a big issue. Just simply, you know, prepare. You know, if you want to quote, quote. And other than that, deliberate.

Okay, per Robert's rules of order, before I call on Council Member Hamilton again, is there somebody who has not spoken yet who would like to speak first?

Point of information, Mayor. I'm trying to hear and take it all in, and then I'm going to speak. Sorry. Thank you. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Chair. I don't think there's a problem that we're trying to solve necessarily, a singular problem. I think what we're trying to do is to first, again, come into more alignment with parliamentary procedure, longstanding parliamentary procedure. second I agree we are getting ready to head into a budget season we're gonna have multiple meetings and what we're I think what the point of this is and what the intent of this is is to try to make those meetings more efficient try to make them more productive and to have you know conversations with one another instead of the prepared speeches again this rule does not prohibit the use of notes it does not prohibit preparation and again I'm gonna argue that the more prepared the less the need for prepared speeches and I would also you know ask a question as well how how does reading a prepared statement before the public has spoken. Something that you've come prepared with, before the public has spoken, before you've heard from your colleagues, How is that fostering meaningful discussion? And so I think this rule, the purpose is really just to try to improve the policymaking process, and I think it's a good rule. I think it works well in the state legislature. I think it works well in other policy bodies where they adhere to this rule, and I think it will work here very well as well. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Walsh.

Yeah, I'm inclined to support it. I mean, I see some arguments against it also, but I think that the long tradition of not having written speeches in a legislative environment, that there's wisdom in it. And that wisdom is the accumulation of wisdom over the centuries, really. And You know, I can certainly see some reasons to change that, but I don't think that they outweigh the reasons to not have prepared speeches. I think that really as far as preparation goes, if you're prepared to speak from notes extemporaneously, you're a lot more prepared than if you were just to do a – written speech that you or someone else or AI wrote. And anyway, I do support it. And those are my thoughts.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Moore?

I don't even know where to begin, Mr. Mayor. I think this is ludicrous. I think this is just crazy. I think we have some folks that are really trying to micromanage how people try to do their job as elected officials, independently elected officials. How we come here prepared, that's each other's business. Our job is to represent our constituency that sent us here. Your job is not to create rules of how I do my job, of how I come to city council. And when we come here with pre-written remarks, it's because of a reason. It's because it is your views, it is your opinions, and on behalf of the people that elected you. You're entitled to that. And you know what? Then starts the debate. Then starts the dialogue. And let's call it what it is. I'm the one person, I'll be honest, I'll be frank, I'm the one person that's come here with pre-written statements. You don't need to shake your hand, Melissa, because I have. And I cannot help but to think this is a jab at myself and others potentially. Maybe not. People on diets will probably say no. But the reality is that I can't help but to feel like that's what it is. And the fact of the matter is English is my second language. I've had to learn how to speak English. And so having a pre-written statement says that, you know what, I want to be thoughtful. I want to be, I want to be sincere with my words. Those are my words. I wouldn't bring it up here if I didn't believe in it. Okay? And the fact, and it also helps me gather up all my thoughts. And I would argue the fact that there have been, In my eight years of service, and now this time around with this term, there are people that ramble and ramble and ramble. So having prepared marks helps you keep your comments concise and to the point. And it helps me convey my message of what I want to convey in a way that makes sense. And the fact of the matter is, this I've done my research. I've put an inquiry on MRSC and they didn't really come up with any cities. They have cities that do get close to it and have some other stuff around it, but not like the way we've worded it. Not like the way we've worded it. And here's the reality. The reality is I wish we could be authentic and really call it the way it is and tell us why. Because something drove this. What problem are we trying to solve? What was the issue that happened? What was the behavior that we're trying to change? What caused this? And I'd like to know what two council members brought this forward. And here's the thing, we've gone through a lot this year, a lot. This policy drives a deeper wedge between the division. because you're telling me how to do my job. And the fact of the matter is we have conservatives and we have Democrats on this council. And I find it odd how conservatives are trying to tell me how to do my job, generally speaking. And I just think this is a waste of time. You heard from the public that we have so many other things to talk about. And here we are, we're debating this. And I'm worked up over it because this is just crazy. And Mayor, I'm going to make a motion that we add this matter to the agenda for our next council retreat for a broader, deeper discussion. And we end further discussion on actions with this proposed tonight. That is my motion I'm making right now.

Is there a second to that motion?

I second.

There's been a motion and a second. The motion is to put this toward the retreat in, I believe it's scheduled in the last Saturday in January. and to end discussion tonight. And is there discussion? Would you like to speak as to the motion?

Perfect. Thank you, Mayor. We have council rules for a reason. Let's put it on the council rules. Let's talk about it. Let's be thoughtful and actually come to a compromise And work something out. Not like this. Not like this. This seems urgent. This seems like it just kind of came out of nowhere. And we have council rules for a reason. We have a retreat for a reason. Let's discuss it there. There's no reason to do this right now.

Council Member Seppard-Arson.

I'm just ready to vote. However, for people to say that if you understand it, if you're prepared, you don't need to read, I have had so many opportunities to share my personal story around the country, I read for the most part. Because I know there are words I'm not going to forget, or there are messages that I'm trying to get across, and then I sit down and I go, oh, I wanted to say this. I could have said this. I should have said that. It's my story. I know my story. I still do read. But that said, yeah, I was ready to vote.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Coachmark.

Well, I think that we should accommodate each other. I actually do. And, Martin, I've never understood that you didn't have a problem with speaking. You speak very well. And, yes, there have been more than one person speaking, reading from some document. or some other device, that you're, I mean, and I really take offense myself. I get to take offense myself. Mayor, point of order. Wait, you've got to let me finish.

Point of order. Hold on. What's the point of order?

Yeah. So, Ryan, the point of order is that we need to speak to the motion that I've just made. That's what we're debating on at this very moment. I appreciate what Councilor Cothman wants to say, but I feel like we're not speaking to the motion that I just made.

I'm getting to it. You're not allowing me to get to the point. The point is, yeah, I think we should accommodate each other. I probably would agree with talking about it at a retreat. I think, obviously, there's a lot of emotion here. But I also think that when we come to this dais, we leave. lot of things behind because we are non-partisan this is a nonpartisan council this is you have to remember we don't talk about liberal or conservative there are people who think certain ways that's true so you know I I'm going to recruits myself not because I'm speaking to the motion Not because I don't want to agree that we should. I do want to agree that we should accommodate each other. But I believe in what the legislature does. That's simply what I believe. So when we vote, I'm going to be recusing myself.

OK. Is there anybody else who would like to speak to the motion? Council President Honda?

So the motion, again, is to discuss this at the retreat.

Yes.

What additional discussion do you think we'd have at the retreat?

Well, I think, and Mayor, stop me if I'm out of order, but just in answering the question, I feel like this kind of came out of nowhere. quite frankly, and so a council retreat will give us the opportunity to discuss this and just try to, I mean, retreats are working meetings. We're supposed to come up with a product, and I want us to be able to get to a space where we can compromise, dissect this, and work it through, and then take it to the council meeting and vote on it.

like we do with every other council rule so that that's why i'm proposing that we put it on the agenda for the council retreat so can i talk about how i come prepared for meetings is that part of this motion yeah i believe that's germaine okay um so when i first got on council i would go to every council committee meeting because that's where we do our real work as a council we have um The meetings are a little bit more relaxed. We have staff here that presents information to us. We can ask whatever we want. We can ask staff to go research things for us. And my first few meetings, I was at home on the whole weekend just going through the packets. And we used to have paper packets that were like this. And then I realized one night that pretty much everything in the council meeting was from the council committee meetings. And by going to those meetings and asking questions, that was how I was being prepared for the council meetings, and I didn't have to spend my entire weekend getting ready for a Tuesday meeting because I already had the information from those council committee meetings, and I just needed additional information for additional questions I had. So when I come to a meeting now, I come, I'm ready to listen to the public. I'm ready to listen to the council members and to staff with any further information that they have or that we had asked staff to bring to us. And in the years I've been on council, I have had one prepared speech that I wrote out. It was a very emotional topic. Can you guess what that was?

Internment.

No.

Internment with Japanese.

It was the PAC. Oh, okay. The PAC vote. Because I was going to... I think that some people, well, most people didn't know how I was going to vote because I had never said how I was going to vote on it. I was very concerned with how we were going to pay for the PAC. We were looking for money everywhere to pay for it. I wanted it. I was an arts commissioner. I really wanted it. But I wanted it to be done the right way at the right time. And so I wrote a speech out. It took me days to write that speech out. And I read that speech. And I still have that speech at home. But it was the only time I ever did that. because it was the only time I ever felt I needed to do that. And we're not saying that you can't do that with this rule. What we're saying with the rule is if you want to read a speech, you just ask for permission. You know, why are you going to read it? And if you've taken the time to write it, you have a reason that you want to read it. It's not saying you can't read from notes. I take lots of notes, and I look at my notes when I speak. I don't have a problem with taking this to the retreat, but I do want to make sure that we're ready to discuss it at the retreat then. And I believe if we're going to be ready to discuss it at the retreat, then we're going to have to have discussions us before the retreat it's we have four months to the retreat and if that's a decision of the council that's fine but we need to do the start the work now so that at the retreat we're ready to have a discussion on this on this issue thank you

Councillor Walsh, Councillor Hamilton, and then back to the maker of the motion, Councillor Moore.

Councillor Walsh? I was unaware of this until a few days ago when I saw it on the agenda also. And I'm fine with it going to the retreat. I think that that actually may be the more appropriate place to discuss it, is at the retreat, and we can discuss. You know, I'll do our own research and thought and everything, and so I'm fine with waiting for the retreat. With that, I think that we know at this point how the vote on Martin's, on Council Member Moore's motion will go, and I would like to call the question.

Is calling the question? Yeah. Does it require?

It requires a supermajority. Is there anyone who doesn't want to take a vote?

Counselor, is there anyone who did not want to take a vote right now?

I'd like to hear from Councilmember Hamilton first. But that's not the... Well, yeah, that would be not taking a vote.

Then we need a vote on the motion to vote.

Okay. All those in favor of calling the question and voting now?

Aye.

All those opposed?

Nay. Council Member Assefa-Dawson. Aye. Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Hamilton. Nay. Council Member Walsh.

Aye.

Council Member Sessoms.

Aye.

Council Member Kochmar. Aye.

I'm recusing myself.

This is just calling the question.

No, I'm just going to recuse myself and the whole thing, and I'll explain later.

Okay. Nay. You didn't call me yet, but I know you're going to.

Council President Honda. So it appears the motion passes.

What was the count?

It was four to two.

That's not a super majority.

What's the count? Four to two.

That's not a super majority.

Right. It would require five. One over majority. Okay. So the motion fails. Is that correct? Okay. Obviously, Heather, the minutes should reflect that. Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you. I did not want to call the question yet because I do want to make my statement. and i am okay with moving this to the council retreat for further discussion i think that that could be a good thing however i'm not a democrat or a republican Council member Moore, I'm a nonpartisan. I'm a nonpartisan.

Council members. You're a member of the 35th.

I am not. I am not.

Council member, please. One at a time. Council member Hamilton.

When I am up here on the dais, I am operating as a nonpartisan. And this is the kind of political divide that we do not need on this council. We all have our opinions, but we are all nonpartisans, and we need to foster that and stop accusing one another of being this or that. We work for this city. I work for Republicans. I work for Democrats. I work for independents. Everyone is welcome at my table, okay? I want to make that very clear. Also, I want to point out this is a rule in the state legislature that we are debating. The state legislature has a majority of Democrats.

All right.

Council Member Moore.

Thank you. The rule in the legislature is that you may The rule in legislature is that you seek permission from the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate. And in this rule, proposed rule, it states that you have to seek permission of the body. So I just want to clarify that. And I think that should be added for a discussion at the counter retreat. Because, and really quite frankly, Robert's rule of order, already has it specified. So really, the question is, do we really need a rule on this if we're already following Robert's rule of order? But I think I digress. But I wanted to correct that information that it is the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate that gives you the permission to read from a body, from your voice. Could I read? That's not technically accurate.

Yes, it is. So how it actually works is the President makes a call, and then if the body disagrees with the President, they take a vote. So the chair of the body acts as the surrogate for the body until the body expresses a disagreement with the chair. So it would work identically here as it does in the state legislature. But I don't think any of this is germane to the motion.

All right. Council President Hundon.

I was just going to read the rule from Robert's rule. I don't believe that's germane to the motion.

All right. Then I won't read it. All right. There's been the motion. is to put this on, I believe it's on the 28th, but it's the last Saturday in January at the council retreat. Last Saturday in January of next year.

I heard February. I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. The motion is to move this to the council retreat next year, which I believe is currently scheduled for the last Saturday in January. January 30th. January 30th. Thank you very much. And that would end the discussion at tonight's meeting about this issue. There's been a motion. There's been a second. There's been a discussion. All those in favor of the motion?

Aye. Aye. Aye.

All those opposed?

Aye. Aye. And I recuse.

Aye. Aye. All right. Aye. Let's have a roll call, please.

Council Member Stafford-Dawson. Aye. Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Hamilton.

Aye. Council Member Hamilton. Aye. Aye.

Council Member Walsh.

Aye.

Council Member Sessins.

Aye.

Council Member Coachmark.

And I recuse.

And Council President Honda. Aye. The motion passes.

Okay. 5-0 with one recusal. I mean 6-0 with one recusal. 6-0 with one recusal. Thank you.

Mayor, I just want to say really quick that I am glad we've had this discussion. I think it's a discussion that we've needed to have, and I think it's healthy. We can all disagree. We can all say our piece, and whether we all agree or not, it's the way it is.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Now, thank you, Council. Council Member Moore?

Thank you. Council Member Coach, I agree with what you're saying, that we can agree to disagree on things. But there was a question that was asked. I'm sorry. Excuse me.

We're done with the debate. The motion actually contained that we were going to no longer discuss this. All right. Thank you, Council Member. All right. All right, now we're on to item D, the council discussion. Washington State's Men and Boys Commission. Council President Honda and Council Member Hamilton are listed to discuss.

I will defer to Council Member Hamilton who wanted to bring this on and discuss it.

Council Member Hamilton.

Thank you, Chair. So this discussion, this agenda item was brought to us actually by our Human Services Commission. And it was a unanimous recommendation on that commission to have the council support a specific bill that would be made in the legislature, obviously. And the bill attempts to create a state commission on men's and boys, so Washington State Commission on Men's and Boys. And I felt like it was important to at least discuss, because it was a unanimous recommendation by the Human Services Commission for us to support this. Rather, though, support of the policy objective of the bill rather than the bill itself because bill numbers are changing. And with this particular policy objective in the legislature, this has actually been brought up every year since 2022. And so different bills have been brought up trying to create this. Some were partisan. Some were not partisan. Some were, you know... bipartisan but I think I think the policy objective that's clearly there in the legislature is to create this Human Services Commission asked us to support that objective and we can go about that a few different ways we can discuss that one way to do that would be through kind of a resolution process Another way to do that would be to put it on the legislative agenda. Another way to do it would be just to simply sign in and testify when this policy comes back. Or we could write a letter to our 30th delegation that we have here and just let them know that we are supporting this policy objective. And so with that, I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on this.

All right. Thank you. Council Member Moore and Council Member Cepeda.

Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Hamilton and Council President Honda. It seems like you're both bringing this up. Is that right? Yeah. So thank you for that. I think this is fair. It's interesting because I'm still learning more about it. I'm still having more conversations, but I am impressed with the host of the commission chair. Gordon Bach. Gordon Bach. Thank you. I am impressed with Commissioner Bach on getting a unanimous consent from the entire commission on this item that came, well, that he read to the council. And so I think there certainly is a lot of options of what we can do. I tend to favor, I'm open to any of them. You're looking for direction, is that right, Council Member Hamilton? Yes.

Yes, I'm looking to see where the council is on what the Human Services Commission brought to us and what they requested.

Yeah, thank you. I would tend to favor... know getting it on our legislative agenda i think i'd be favorable favorable of that of course you know if we decide to uh testify of course that's something we can possibly do as well but um in terms of bringing forth the resolution i would want to kind of review that and and uh and look at that but i think it's I mean, all of those are good options. But I obviously like the legislative agenda because it's something that we vote on, and it's something that sends a clear signal to our delegation in Olympia.

All right. Council Member Savadasan?

Yeah. Thank you for bringing this up because last time after they read the letter and reading their email, I did look into it, and I think it's very important for especially young boys. So it's something I'm glad you're bringing it up. I'm glad we're going to support it. I am. Onboard and so writing a letter might work and giving it to our legislators But again, like everyone else said either way is fine, but I think sending a strong supportive message Collectively, I think sounds better than individual testimony But that also could be an added value if anybody wants to testify but for those of us who probably don't have the time to go down to Olympia or call in, I think having that voice and then also maybe someone could even represent and speak on our behalf would also be something I would support. So thank you very much.

All right, thank you. Council President Honda.

Thank you. So I've been listening to... podcasts on the upcoming legislative legislative session in Olympia and Over and over I'm hearing don't ask for money. We have none except for capital projects and The things that we've asked for tonight to support senator Orwell with the human trafficking bill and in this item I would probably fit better on our legislative agenda this year than in other years because cities are being pretty much told you're not gonna get funding for things so these kind of things I think would fit very well this year very good thank you very much councilmember Sessoms yeah Thank You mayor I I believe that this is a slam dunk I think we should throw all of our support

in whatever way possible behind this effort to get this to become the Washington State Boys and Men Commission signed into law by our governor. It's a slam dunk, just like the Women's Commission was a slam dunk. Anything we can do to address the challenges and disparities that boys and men face as they grow up, whether they're entering the educational pipeline or the career pipeline. Let's see what we can do as a council to make sure that we throw our support and let our legislatures know how we feel by letter, by testimony, whatever we can do. Thank you, Council President Honda and Council Member Hamilton for bringing this up, and I commend Commissioner Bach for his leadership. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Walsh?

Yeah, I'm also very supportive of this as well, and I think the legislative agenda may be inappropriate, but at least one way of doing it. In the past, generally, we've had some major asks in the legislative agenda and those asks are probably not going to go very far this year. I think that we should still highlight our asks in the legislative agenda. even though they're doubtful, and then have these as this and also the human trafficking support as secondary alsos, so to speak, but still that we emphatically support them.

Well, Council, I'm hearing consensus that you would want this on the legislative agenda. Is that right? And both Brian and Bill, can you note down that we've actually had two items on the agenda today to address at our legislative agenda. Council Member Hamilton, would that suffice at this stage?

That's what I'm hearing, and that's what I was hoping to hear was a consensus on how we go about this. I think we all are in support of it. That's the feeling I got even at the last meeting when it was brought up, that everybody had various reasons for supporting it. I support it. Again, I just want to make sure we're supporting the policy objective because of how the bill numbers change and not putting in writing a specific bill. I think that would make most sense. And then that kind of keeps us out of the partisan weeds of, you know,

that so yeah I think I'm hearing a consensus and those two items would be great on the legislative agenda and council I'll take that as direction councilman more yeah and I think it's something that we can also discuss I'd be open to a discussion at any time but I mean I am also here in a letter that we can write as one body so if that's a desire as well I mean that's fine too so

Yeah, and perhaps that would be well-timed. It was also, as part of our legislative agenda, and obviously, you know, we're in September now, this and the child trafficking or the trafficking bill that Senator Orwell was here talking about would definitely be something that we would want to maybe go down and testify about when the hearings are. And that's something that we can coordinate through my office and through Amy and the council. As well in the council present to make sure that we have our presence known both through letter and through testimony So, all right, I've received that consensus and and that will do that. All right now that brings us to Mr. Hamilton and council president Honda. Did you think that addresses the adamant complete?

I do Okay, that was what the goal was

Very good. Okay. All right. So that agenda item has been addressed. Let's now go to council reports. It's the second meeting of the month. And so we'll start with Council Member Coachmark.

Well, thank you very much, Mayor. I really liked when Senator Orwell was here. And, by the way, she was my chair when I was in the House, Senator Orwell. And she would have cut me off at the knees if I had stood there and read something. But just to let you know, I liked her idea of the bill for the safe harbor bill. So when you do your legislative agenda, include that, the safe harbor bill. So that's a bill she's formulating right now. The other one went all the way to rules. House rules is after it's been in the Senate, after it's been in the House, they've agreed, they've sent it to a rules committee. It was on the rules committee. And it died there because they figured it wasn't going to get through for some reason or another or they had something more important. But that will probably come back. So it's a good thing for us to talk about. But the new one that she's talking about is the Safe Harbor bill. So that would be two things to put on the legislative agenda. Brian you got that okay we used to have and I make this really quick we used to have this group in federal ways really wonderful group it was probably about 10 years ago maybe 15 I know Susan was involved with it Lydia you were on sex trafficking and what was going on with our girls in the schools And whoever needs to hear this, if you're listening on Channel 21, you may need to hear this. We've been working on the massage parlors. And Andy, on the massage parlors, did we say that those women were worth a million a year to the pimp in the parlors? I can't remember. Was it 300,000 or a million?

I don't think that's very difficult to quantify and measure, but yes, I think with human trafficking, they're certainly looked as an asset, and there is tremendous money involved. It's organized crime. Right.

Well, when Senator Orwell talked about a 14-year-old girl hiding in a corner in a hotel room in Sea-Tac, that very well could have been a girl from one of our high schools. or junior high in our area. In my heart, as a mother and a grandmother, it tears it. So I think that we just need to make sure, because we've lost our group. That group is no longer here. And I'm not sure what's going on, whether the schools are emphasizing this anymore, but what's going on in the schools, those girls are being proposition by young men in the school popular young men a girl might be shy she might be a quiet she might be new and she thinks she's in love and then then they take that girl and they this is what was explained to me years ago and they because I was on a task force in Olympia and they you'd have them down in in Oregon by the weekend And the girl would have no idea what was going on, and the family would not know what was going on. We just need to let the kids in the schools know. I mean, we've got kids in those schools, in the bathrooms, smoking pot and doing drugs. I am literally just with what happened in Decatur. I just can't believe what's going on in our schools, that young man. that got into the altercation with the paraeducator. I just think that we need to have more of an emphasis with the council, with what's going on in our schools, and helping the police with maybe we need to get more information into the schools or have speakers or try to get these girls, even if they get into... being trafficked, they need help getting out, and they need a place to live. And that's what the Safe Harbor Bill does. Because what they do is they give them drugs. And once you're hooked on, you could be hooked. And then you've got to get them off drugs, and you've got to find them a place to live. The parents may not want the child back. It's a horrible decision. And I just think that we need to cut it off now and try to do what we can to help before it gets anywhere. If the massage parlors are going, hopefully, leaving our community, I just see this matter not going away. Thank you. I've said my piece. That was my report. I just hope we get involved in it. Thank you.

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

All right. Thank you, Mayor. So proud to say that I joined the Federal Way Rotary Club. I am a – thank you, thank you. I'm looking forward to – the conclusion of the annual food drive this weekend. Um, also this weekend we have our coffee with council engagement, but I'll be there at our early staffing, uh, the booth. And, uh, I'm really, really excited about that. Uh, I've always wanted to be a member of the Rotary Club, Rotary Club International. And, uh, I think it's going to be a, a lot of fun. Um, Let's see. I had a chance to attend the ribbon cutting of the trap lab. That was a lot of fun. I was very happy to see many of my colleagues there as well supporting this wellness and fitness establishment right there on Dash Point Road. Also on the same day, 9-11, I attended the 9-11 ceremony at Station 64. Chief, your words were very poignant and powerful. It was a very solemn day today. Let's see. I'm looking forward to the Taste the Federal Way on the 26th. I hope everyone can join me there. I hope to see everyone there from the dais there as well. Come hungry, come prepared, and just be ready to have some fun.

All right. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Councillor Walsh.

It's been an eventful couple of weeks, and you mentioned, the people who mentioned some of the different things, the trap lab, the rain fest was a delightful little thing, and I had not attended it before. I think this was just, what, the second or third one? Second? Okay. But it was great. I'd encourage people next year to go to the rain fest. It was fun. While I was there, I actually called my son that lives up in West Seattle and said, hey, you should come down here for the rain fest. It's right down his alley anyway. The most significant thing this week was, this last week, was the 9-11 commemoration. And, you know, I agree. You know, Chief Woody, Chief Wong, Chief Bowe, They gave tremendous speeches, especially Chief Wong and Chief Boe, the Des Moines police chief. I mean, extremely touching, touching speeches. You know, that day 25 years ago is something that I can never forget. And I think that we need to some way, there's a whole generation now that does not remember, that was not in their lifetimes. And we need to help them have a greater understanding of how that day changed the world. And also, just as important as September 11, 2001, was September 12, 2001, when the world truly came together. And I think that all of us need to work on remembering that day also, the unity that was felt, the feeling, you know, we were one. We were one. And I think that that's something we need to remember. Actually, there's one day probably more important than that. The day before, September 10th, that was my wife's birthday. And so I didn't attend some of the events that day. It was my wife's birthday, and she's the most important person in my life. But anyway, with that, that is my report. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a few things to report on. So I was at the Seattle Children's Federal Way Clinic tour. That was really exciting because we got to hear about how they are going to be expanding. And one of the industry areas that we've identified as a city as having Potential is health care. And so it was really exciting to see that actually happening and coming to life is health care is expanding in our city and They're adding a lot to the Seattle Children's Hospital and it was just really exciting to hear from them one of the one of the Points that they brought up. I had to ask them, you know how well I had asked them what what the barriers were to expanding health care and in cities and I One of the things that they mentioned was just something as simple as infrastructure, transportation. So that's why transportation is so important to keep advocating for honor of legislative agenda. Um, because for, for hospitals and healthcare, it's very important. They're bringing ambulances in, people are trying to get there in a hurry. Um, and so, uh, that was something that was, um, really enlightening to hear. Um, also attended the nine 11 ceremony. Can't say much more than what everybody else has said. Very special ceremony of those of us, um, that remember that day. was 25 around 25 I believe when that day happened and and it was it was it was a very sad day for this country but like councilmember Walsh said it was also a very unifying time for the country and so we do need to remember and to not forget and to pass down our stories to the next generation Also attended the ribbon-cutting at trap lab fitness studio. That was that was a fun group of people and Yeah, it was it was a lot of fun and it's good to see businesses thriving in our city attended rain fest now The cool thing for me about rain fest was last year I actually manned a booth at rain fest because I was on the steel lake management district committee and so living On a lake, environmentalism is very important to me, and especially water quality is important to me, and we need to keep our natural resources clean. And so Rainfest was all about how we can be kind to the environment. Lots of booths. Love the new location of the farmer's market. I think it serves the people that attend better, and I think it serves the businesses that are there better. Let's see. Also, thank you, Council President Honda, for highlighting the AWC certificate of municipal. Leadership certificate AWC has been a really great resource for city electives. It's a lot to learn you know local government and how that works and I'm a big proponent of being a lifelong learner so certificate won't be the end it'll just be kind of the beginning because I'm gonna get that advanced certificate like some of my colleagues have so it was well worth the personal investment to spend 30 hours and going to conferences to obtain that and yeah so that is my report and I look forward to meeting with my colleague Martins, we missed our meeting today. So I look forward to rescheduling that. And with that, I yield back.

All right. Council Member Moore.

Yes, thank you, and hopefully you got my text. I did. Because I try to communicate, and I do look forward to a meeting. So obviously, some items I just wanted to put out there that – It's great to have Senator Tina Orwell in the House and in the Chamber. So I really appreciate the work that she's been doing on Senate Bill 5936. I also wanted to add note that Senator Claire Wilson has also co-sponsored that bill. So she's very, very familiar with it and really, really appreciate the work that She's doing and she's actually invested quite a bit of time in this issue. And so I also wanted to bring it to the attention of the body that she has also prime sponsored Senate Bill 5355. which this may address Council Member Coachmar's question that she's been bringing up, or thought that she's been bringing up a couple times. But Senate Bill 5355 was actually passed in the 2023-24 session, and uh mandated uh it's mandating instructions on sex trafficking prevention and identification for students in grades 7 through 12. so it should be in process it should be taking place um and um you know so that that's law of the land uh so that's uh it was signed by the government so uh and furthermore um She's also worked on Senate Bill 5114, which it's supporting adults with lived experience of sex trafficking. So Senator Claire Wilson has also prime sponsored that. i just wanted we're talking a lot about sex trafficking um and i wanted to put that information out there that our delegation is working on it and it's very much aware so it's just a matter of continuing that uh dialogue and really that bill has also passed as well so um so i'm looking forward to having those continued conversations um and uh furthermore um um you know some of us on the dias uh like councilman coachmar has indicated um You know, we're heavily involved in supporting the Federal Way Coalition Against Human Trafficking. I very much remember going to the meetings. Appreciate their work. Brenda, I forget her last name. Brenda. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Brenda Oliver is an individual that's missed. I think it's safe to say that. But that also became Seattle Against Slavery. So that's where that group is housed through. So as my colleague to the right said, they joined the Seattle Against Slavery. So that's that. And there's just many other nonprofits like Rust and Best. which are great nonprofits and organizations that are working on this issue. So I just wanted to bring that out there to the body because I know we're talking a lot about that. I appreciated the public comments today, and thank you. And even with the ones I disagree with, I appreciate those individuals taking the time out of their day to come to City Hall, exercise their right, and to share their thoughts and what's on their minds. So I really appreciate that. I appreciate the gal that's been talking about the Reverend that mentioned ICE and being fed away. It is a fact that they are in fed away. I don't think it's something we can hide from. I've encouraged people to call into the non-emergency line to the police department. You know, just that way the police department is aware of it. But, you know, like I said, as I've said before, our hands are tied. There's not much that we can do. But as I've indicated to the mayor, that it is my personal opinion that I think it is absolutely disgusting that they are in federal way. And it's my personal opinion that, you know, it is mind-boggling. And it's... I think it's just not right. I think there's many ways to handle this issue, and the way they're doing it is just not right at all. In fact, I actually stopped and visited a business where they had just been to, and I am absolutely driven to do what I can as one individual to help educate folks and let them know what their rights are, because that is absolutely important, because human dignity is what is at its core front for me. we're all important individuals and so that's I just want to put that I think it's I I think everybody knows how I feel on that issue so I too I know my colleagues gonna be so excited I'm so I hope they'll be excited but I have also joined at the Rotary Club so there you go look at the excitement

They're so excited.

So I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to serving with my Rotarian brother, Les Sessoms, and maybe we'll get the mayor to become a Rotarian. And that way there can be even more. Never mind. It's okay. He's busy. He has a lot of things going on. So that's that. And I didn't really... At the September 1st meeting, I didn't really get to say this, but I know Council President Honda mentioned this, but with my son starting off kindergarten, it's going really well. He loves it. Great, fantastic teacher. And again, I have joined the PTA. I went to my first PTA meeting on Monday, and wouldn't you know, I was the only male that was there. Not sure why. So that's something I'm going to work on. Breaking those glass ceilings. So anyways, that being said, I'm looking forward to that adventure. And so if anybody wants to go to the Menchies, you may find little geckos there. Geckos are the... what do you call it, the mascot of Green Gables. And so if you go to Menchies in Fetaway and mention Green Gables, then the PTA gets a pro sheet of that. So unfortunately, I've signed up to do their fundraising. I don't know why I did that. Hopefully, I'll still be married later. But anyways, I just want to say happy I'm wishing all the students good luck this academic year. I've already started in the classrooms. We have a lot of great students. We have a lot of amazing faculty and staff that have addressed a lot of the concerns, at least where I'm at in terms of what's been stated here. But we just have amazing staff members that are working day in, day out to pour passion into our students and so on. i'm really grateful for that to have a front row seat at that and to see that on an everyday occasion and a shout out to our school resource officers uh they do an amazing job connecting with our youth and with that mayor i've talked for way too long because i don't have a script in front of me that i'm reading off so i will hand it back to you thank you okay hey hey councilmember stephen austin thank you mayor um speaking of pta i was the pta president at christian faith um school also so i guess our numbers are increasing and the president of the rotary club has

you're going to try to recruit me, so I don't know now. I might just join you guys. I'm not sure. I was in Edmonton the week of Memorial Day, and then when I came back, I had a bad cold, so I couldn't even join any of you at the... September 11th Memorial, I would have loved to do it. But Mayor, when I was in Edmonton, and I did this several years back too, their city hall is the most beautiful city hall I've seen. And I took pictures. If we ever build a new city hall, I would encourage us to follow them. It's just amazing, including how they use the lobby. It's like they have health fairs and even farmer's markets, and they use it. It's multipurpose, so the lobby is big enough to accommodate that. But the outside also has a plaza. So even if none of us are here, I'm just putting it out to the universe if a new city hall is ever built. Something I didn't mention earlier, save the date for SCA dinner on October 28th. It would be great if we could attend. It's where people just gather, talk. You know, the mayor, you've been there. Susan, you've been there, council president. And so I think it's just where you get to network with other council members and mayors and city elected. So it would be great if you can make it to that. Earlier, when we were talking about cars, actually, I'm still having car issues. And while I was gone, my friends were kind enough to start it for me. But then I came back, and I got sick, and I didn't start it. So today, I couldn't get it to start. I was bummed after all that work. Something about September 11th, because I was at home, I was watching the September 11th over and over and over. And for the first time, it gave me appreciation for Todd Beamer, for the school, named after one of the people who... was on flight 93, American Airlines flight 93. And, you know, I knew who it was named after, but I think there was a higher level of appreciation for what they did on that day and the sacrifice they made. And, oh, Booker House has been brought up. And I think I keep hearing that It's placed in the low-income neighborhood because they can't say anything. And if I remember correctly, King County bought it when it was up for sale. It had nothing to do with what neighborhood it was placed in. And I think hearing that, and it's been stated a couple of times, and so just thought I'd bring that up. And September 11th was also Ethiopian New Year. So there's that conflict for me where it's a somber day, and yet it's a celebration for my family.

from my community and fortunately we did celebrate it a week prior.

Finally, on a personal note, my granddaughter is involved in, she's competing in the cutest baby competition. And so far she's number one. Yes, if you want to. And so it's kind of fun watching that. If she wins, though, she has college funds that could be started. And then the donations also go to a nonprofit called Baby to Baby, where they give out diapers and other necessary stuff for babies for families that don't have the funds. But I'm excited. If she wins, she has college funds started.

Gosh, Lydia, I got to tell you, don't send money to them. We got involved in that. Please don't. And I'm sure your baby is absolutely gorgeous, but don't send them any money, okay? Just vote, but don't send them money.

But what I'm saying is any money they collect goes to Baby to Baby. Yeah, I know.

Don't send them any money.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm literally telling more people. have been involved in that too.

Okay, thank you. We've got three minutes left, but I think we need, the council president needs a few more minutes in that. Council President, do you have a motion?

I move that we extend the meeting past 10 o'clock.

Second.

Is there a motion and a second? Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. Matter passed unanimously.

So now I have two hours? You can expect more than three minutes. Council Member Moore, one of my best treasurers when I was PTSA Council President was a male. He was a CPA. And we were short $0.05 in membership dues for the 48 schools we had to account for. And we spent hours finding that. And he found it, even though I was more than willing to give him $0.05. early in the evening, and he wouldn't accept it. He had to find the air, and we found it, or he found it. I'm very thankful to Seattle Children's for, first of all, coming to Federal Way, and I think when Council Member Coachmar was in the legislature, she had something to do with that. But not only are they serving children from urgent care to all sorts of different specialties, having the mental health unit opening now is just Amazing because we really need mental health for youth and they can get care right here in their own city So that that's amazing and I'm very happy to hear that they're opening a same-day surgical center and starting on it in the next few months, so That'll provide much better health care locally for our families and they don't have to go to Seattle and We had a little one that had Crohn's disease and driving to Tacoma in Seattle for his care was overwhelming at times, especially when he was sick. So I'm glad families have that option for health care in their own city. So the proposed council rule tonight was not directed at any one person. And I need to be really clear about that. It was not directed at any one person on the dais. I'm asking that when we bring this to January 30th at the retreat that we're ready to discuss it Rationally and and do your research? I know that there are cities councils that do not allow people to read prepared statements and I will bring a list if I need to but I just think that we need to be talking to each other before that time and to find out What the concerns are among council members with this but it was not You know, I'm not a great speaker. I had a very severe speech deficit when I was a child, and was even made fun of by my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Chaperlis, in front of the whole class. And then my mother made her apologize to me the next day, which embarrassed me even more. But my friends still remember that, and we're pretty old now. And I'll never forget that. But I'm not a great speaker. But I do take notes, and I do use my notes when I read and when I speak here. And Council Member Moore, I've never noticed that you've had a... I think you speak quite well, so you're doing well. The budget discussions that we're going to have are neither Republican, Democrat, Conservative, or Liberal. They are the budget... made to run the city effectively and efficiently to provide the services that we need and I Am asking that all council members come prepared for the budget discussions. We know what we're going to be hearing each meeting especially next week what departments are going to be talking to us. So take the time and read those chapters. That would be the easiest way to do it. Don't go through the whole book this weekend or whatever. Just go through the chapters for Monday and then the chapters for Thursday because that will be the easiest and most efficient use of your time. When we are done with the budget, hopefully voting on it in November, but we have gone to December when we've had to. And we can take as long as we need as a council. Because at the end of the day, this is the council budget. Right now, it's the mayor's budget. But at the end of the day, when we take that vote, it's our budget. And we need to be happy with what we did. So come prepared. Know what you want to discuss. Know that when we take that vote, you can support the budget. And if you can't support it, you're going to know why you can't support it. Because that's happened too. We've had budgets where we had a split vote. We don't want to be there this year that wasn't comfortable, but that's happened. We are a nonpartisan organization. When we fill out documents to run for local positions, like water commissioner, school board, fire commissioner, city council, mayor. It's nonpartisan. We sit here and we represent every single person in this city, no matter who they are. And that has to be what we're thinking about. So tonight was a little uncomfortable, probably for many of us, for all of us. And I'm available to, if anyone wants to talk to me about anything, please let me know. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Well, Council, great work. Thank you very much. And we are adjourned.

And happy birthday, Mayor.

Thank you. Happy birthday. Thank you.