City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I call the Gig Harbor City Council meeting of Monday, September 14th to order. And I ask City Clerk Alleman to please call the roll.

Council Member Alleman.

Here.

Council Member Coronado.

Here.

Council Member Eckberg.

Here.

Council Member Martin.

Here.

Council Member Rodenberg.

Here.

Council Member Tessicini. Present. Council Member Stone is excused.

Thank you. Please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. Before we begin this council meeting, we would like to recognize that we are gathered on not only the ancestral and traditional lands of the Swabash Band of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, but also on the side of one of the largest and longest standing historic villages of their people, the original inhabitants of the Gig Harbor area. Councilor, are there any changes to the agenda? Okay, we have three presentations for you this evening. The first is recognition of our employee of the quarter. Elizabeth Koval is our fabulous employee of the quarter, and I'd like to invite City Administrator Katrina Knutson to help present this recognition.

Thank you, Mayor. We are very blessed to have Liz at her very first City Council meeting today. She's in the back. Can you not hear me? You can hear me? Okay.

Nothing at Liz being in the back.

I think she chose it there. So while every nominee is deserving of recognition, Liz really stood out for this quarter's Employee of the Quarter. Her contributions have had a significant impact within our organization and have affected all of our employees. She played a crucial role in the success of our Paylocity implementation, continues to identify opportunities to improve our systems and processes, supports the onboarding of our new employees, and consistently provides exceptional service to her fellow employees. Liz's commitment to service extends way beyond her technical abilities, which are vast. You ask her any question and she knows the answer. Or if she doesn't, she gets back to you very, very quickly. She's assisted with, as I said, with new onboarding of employees. And there have been so many compliments about onboarding in HR and specifically with understanding the payroll and benefits side, which can often be very confusing. she's a very valuable resource to staff throughout our organization and always provides excellent service and not only that but she's caring and has a continuous improvement mindset so at this point I'd like to offer her director Shannon Costanti a moment if she would like to say a few words as well

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you, City Administrator Knutson. And I am pleased to recognize Liz just the same. I get to work with her every day. And it's such a joy. I've prepared a few remarks that may be a bit duplicative to what City Administrator Knutson had shared, but it's really... I'm pleased and all the more honored to recognize Liz this evening as our employee of the quarter. We've been celebrating her for over a month now. I keep promising her that we're almost done and yet we continue on because she's worth celebrating. Liz has been with the city for almost two years and yet her impact has transcended two years. It feels like decades really. Uniquely, Liz came into her role as payroll and benefits administrator, having assumed the role from someone before her that had served in that role for over 30 years. So to say that that task in assuming the role was significant is really an understatement. She's really been extraordinary in that. She's handled it with professionalism, initiative, and a real commitment to serving the organization. Over the last couple of years, she's made a tremendous impact, as indicated. As City Administrator Knutson has explained, she was instrumental in the Paylocity implementation, which, of course, Council and the Mayor has heard a lot about because that was a significant change for us organizationally. She's always willing and available to provide service to anyone who engages her, despite so many competing priorities on her time. She does it graciously every day. What I especially appreciate about Liz is that she understands that good public service starts with how we support one another. She is the model of teamwork, the model of service here organizationally. She's knowledgeable, she's dependable, approachable, and most of all, genuinely willing to help. So I just wanted to say thank you to Liz for everything you've done here at the city. What you've brought is such a positive impact in all that you've done already. It's genuinely a pleasure to work with you each day. So thank you very much. And it's an honor to celebrate you this evening.

Should we take a picture and then maybe if there's counsel would like to say any words, then that would be welcomed.

And that's what Liz, now you have to come to the front.

you to everyone at the city you know that supported me um it's been really great to work here and join this community so appreciate it i really appreciate this award thanks does anybody else want to say anything or

Well, I understand that this is her month. So I think that's pretty good. I don't know what more I can add to it.

No, I think we should have her come back on September 28th for another presentation. She is. Okay. Thank you, Liz, for everything that you do. We really do appreciate you. Our second presentation tonight is a proclamation for Constitution Week. And I'm going to read this important proclamation and then present it to Rana Lavrovich, who is here representing the Daughters of the American Revolution. And she will say a few words about the Constitution before our final presentation tonight. Whereas in this 250th anniversary year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed to the world the revolutionary self-evident truths that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And whereas in this 239th anniversary year of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States by delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which created the enduring governmental foundation of we the people, securing these self-evident truths, And whereas it is fitting and proper to ask our citizens to reaffirm the truths proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, reflect upon the personal and governmental actions necessary to reaffirm and protect these truths as expressed in the Constitution, and execute their duty as we the people by participating in their government thoughtfully and actively, and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to these anniversaries through patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion, and whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuance of a proclamation by the President of the United States of America designating September 17 through 23 as Constitution Week, Now, therefore, I, Mary Barber, Mayor of the City of Gig Harbor, do hereby proclaim the week of September 17 through 23 in Gig Harbor as Constitution Week and encourage all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect upon the privilege of being an American with the rights and responsibilities which that privilege entails, remembering that rights lost are difficult to regain. Thank you, Ronna and the Daughters of the American Revolution. So our final speaker tonight is Gretchen Casarotti, the executive director for the Pierce County Library. And she is here to give us an update on the state of the library. It does sound very serious, which we all know is under construction right now. So I'm sure that's part of the update.

Thank you. Green. With Chrissy Pinocchi, the hard K, who is our regional services manager. So she may be familiar to some of you who have been out in the community. So we thank you for giving us a few minutes of your time this evening. It's been a couple of years since I've been here, Mayor. Four years have gone by very quickly in my role as executive director here at the Pierce County Libraries. Our hope is to be able to just share some information about what's happening in the library as a system, but also here at the local level. And of course, answer any questions you all might have for us this evening. Go ahead, next slide. So just to set the stage for everybody, if you're unaware, The Pierce County Library System is a junior taxing district who serves all of unincorporated Pierce County and all the annex cities they're in. So not Tacoma, they have a separate, they're a municipal system. Puyallup has a city system. And everybody else is a member of the Pierce County Library System. We have 20 buildings, 19 branches across the system. We serve almost 700,000 people now as the county continues to grow. So our service area is very large, about 2,000 square miles from the mountain to the sound. And we have, go ahead, next slide. The, about a, $50 million budget as like you all, we adhere to the 1% property tax cap. And so we've been increasing our efforts around transparency since I've been here, which include having a budget book online so each year now we use clear gov which has a digital platform that allows people to really get in and see what what we're budgeting for and then also the financial intelligence tool through the sao has on the expenses side and the audit side what the money was spent on and so we have a lot more tools available to be transparent about the library's funds Like many government agencies, the majority of our funds goes to our people. The expression around, you know, you show your values where you spend your money, and the majority of our money goes to our people. Our buildings would just be boxes of books without the people there that do the education and the community connection, the reader's advisory, the tech help, and provide all of those great services. So We're at 33 cents still. We haven't changed the levy rate since I've been here. I'm holding pretty steady in terms of the household impact there. Next slide, please. Let's just move through. It is almost October and October 24th is our annual fundraiser called the Trivia Bee in downtown Tacoma. It is a very fun event and it's a great way to support the library. Our foundation is the nonprofit arm that helps us secure grants, donations, corporate sponsorships. And so they raise money each year to help the library advance our mission. And sometimes that looks like giving all the books that are the giveaways for summer reading are sponsored by the foundation. And then we also have friends of the library that supports the foundation or the library, excuse me,

The Gig Harbor Friends of the Library accept donated materials for their ongoing book sale in the library's lobby. The funds raised through the book sale benefit the library and support our community engagement, programming, and outreach efforts. Last year, we were able to use some of these funds to purchase some new furniture for the teen and children's areas of the library, as well as enhance our presence in community events like the Maritime Parade. If you're interested in joining the Friends, you can email gigharborfriends at gmail.com. Just a plug for them. Yeah, thank you.

Good way to get those volunteer hours for the teens too. Go ahead, next slide. Thank you. We are still rebuilding a lot post-pandemic. While it feels like it was a long time ago, the lag for systemic adjustments and improvements can take some time. I believe the expression is the gears of government move slowly. That may be the case for us, but we are still plugging along. We have embraced something that we call embedded librarianship where we want to make sure that we get out of our buildings and are involved in our community at a much more purposeful with intention. So that's why I mentioned you might see some of our staff out at more events and serving on committees and participating in community life, not waiting for people to come to us, but rather finding ways that we can bring the library to them and make it more convenient. So when it looks at the stats, we're still a very busy system across Washington State in terms of library standards. What happens at the local level is probably what you want to hear more about.

Yep, and the Gig Harbor area boasts an incredibly supportive and engaged population, which explains why our branch is on track to, once again, have the highest circulation or checkouts in the entire system, despite not having the largest population. So kudos to us. Our community truly values its library, and the numbers reflect that. Yes. Industry-wide public libraries are seeing a dramatic drop in the checking out of physical materials as we see enormous growth in the use of e-books and e-audiobooks. While physical materials will continue to be preferred by many readers, many are appreciating the significant advantages of reading digitally. which include being able to adjust text size to your personal preference, loading up your device with all of your books rather than packing several heavy books in your suitcase, or being able to check items out at any time, day or night. And a significant percentage of residents in Gig Harbor are over the age of 65, And digital books and audio books are particularly impactful for those with impaired vision or who cannot hold heavy books for long periods. And staff absolutely delight in showing readers new to e-books how to use Libby, find books they'll enjoy, and help them get started.

Thank you.

Next slide, please. I believe I mentioned when I was here a few years ago, the library did embark on a strategic planning process, which allowed us to also update our mission, vision, and values. And we are continuing to work toward implementation of our strategic plan goals. I feel like I had a note for that, but I forgot what I was going to highlight with it. Maybe you'll remember for me. So the embedded librarianship was probably part of that. And we're working toward financial sustainability as one of the parts of our sustainable future. So in libraries, we call it the triple bottom line. We look at sustainability from an economic, a financial, and an equity lens in terms of social. We've got a lot of really good work that's happening and we'll be kind of hitting our midway point soon. So it's been a couple of years of planning, which leads me to the next slide, I believe is, yay, we finished. For three years now, we finished facility building, facility condition assessments. And then we worked with a consultant firm for 15 plus months to develop strategic planning for our capital needs in the library system. Next slide, please. And what we found is across the system that I mentioned, the state of the Pierce County libraries are that they are an aging system. system of buildings. They mostly were built in the late 80s, early 90s, the majority of the libraries owned properties. And they are all in need of updates, upgrades. And so the library system with our board of trustees will be starting to have the conversations about how to address these capital needs across the system. So, for example, with the Gig Harbor Library being closed for some repairs, we are tackling as many of the critical issues as we can in the first five years while we look to the long-range plan to determine how the community would support paying for the necessary capital investments for the library system. So three years of planning and still more work to do, but you can look forward to some more community engagement with Gig Harbor, which has such an active and supportive library community. So we'll be reaching back out in 27 and looking for more opportunities to get the public to get engaged with us to talk about the ways that libraries have changed and what we could be doing differently with our spaces as well. Next slide, please. Speaking of the Gig Harbor Library.

All right, the Gig Harbor Library hosts a variety of programs, events, and activities for people of all ages in our community. These opportunities are offered based on community needs, library trends and initiatives, and local interests. On October 19th, as you'll see there, our adult services librarians will hold a genealogy help desk program, which will guide participants through our genealogy databases accessible to library cardholders. Recently, a woman who happened to see the sign announcing the event was able to find an obituary for her grandmother, which she had never seen before, and she was very touched to find that. Another offering that had a powerful impact on members of our community was the result of a presenter-led program called Caring for the Caregiver. And as we know, when caregivers find support, they gain the strength to continue caring for the people who need them most. The Gig Harbor Library was honored to host a program to strengthen and support the members of our community. Just a couple of quick stories, or hopefully quick. After moving from Japan to care for her mother, one participant found herself navigating the challenges of caregiving in an unfamiliar community while adjusting to a new culture and support system. Seeking guidance and connection, she attended the Caring for the Caregiver program where she discovered local resources, built connections with support networks, and learned practical strategies for managing caregiver stress. Equipped with new tools and confidence, she left the program feeling empowered to care for her mother while also prioritizing her own well-being. Most importantly, she no longer felt alone in her caregiving journey. Another participant who cares for his wife living with dementia discovered services and support options he had not previously known for were available. With a clear understanding of community resources and caregiving tools, he felt better equipped to navigate the daily realities of caregiving and seek help when needed.

So thank you very much for giving us a few minutes of your time this evening. And I'd be happy to answer questions if you all have them or let you get back to your meeting.

Thank you. Gretchen, remind us again the dates that the local library is closed. The 14th through the 26th.

So today is the first day, and we'll be closed through the 26th, reopening on the 27th.

Okay, great. Thank you. Does anybody else have any questions? Okay.

I just know you guys do a lot of great programming, and my daughters in particular really love your summer reading program and how much they enjoy that. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here. So we will now move to the public comment section on the consent agenda. Public comment on the consent agenda. If you are in the audience and wish to speak about an item on the consent agenda, please come to the podium now or press the raised hand button if you would like to comment. I do wanna note that late this afternoon, we did move business item number two, the adoption of the interlocal agreement with Washington City's Insurance Authority to the consent agenda. So that currently is on the consent agenda. So if you would like to speak on that item, you would need to do so now. So I will now close public comment on the consent agenda items and open it up for a motion from council.

Move to approve the consent agenda.

Second. It was moved by Council Member Eckberg and seconded by Council Member Martin to approve the consent agenda. And we do not have screens tonight, so I'll in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed? So the motion passes 6-0. So for my Mayor's report tonight, we were actually commenting before this meeting started, it seems like forever since we've all been together. I've missed seeing everyone and I'm glad we're back together, but the break is essential for all of us too. This past weekend, fall definitely arrived along with some much needed rain. And I wanted to talk today about the busy September that we have in the community. And I look forward to seeing all of you here and in the community at the many events that are on the calendar. We have two events, especially that deserve an extra call out. as there are opportunities for us to truly showcase our amazing community to visitors from around the country and potentially around the world. The first is this coming weekend when stand-up paddleboarders from around the U.S. will be here for the U.S. SUP Championships. I hope you'll join me at Scanty Brothers Park and also down by the old ferry landing for these races that begin on Friday afternoon and run through the weekend. The following week, beginning the 24th, filmmakers from around the country and the world will join us for the Gig Harbor Film Festival. And this festival is becoming increasingly more recognized by filmmakers as one of the top festivals in the country. It's an amazing and wonderful gathering of creative people who are showcasing their films and also talking about new projects during the festival. Passes are available so you can come to see the more than 14 films by visiting the Gig Harbor Film Festival's website. And again, like the suppers, these filmmakers will be enjoying and exploring our community, the restaurants, and all that we have to offer. And hopefully maybe they'll be bringing future feature films to Gig Harbor. Those two events are also supported by so many others. I think I have a list of at least 10 events for the rest of the month. So please check out the community calendar that lives on Gig Harbor Now's website to find the events you most want to attend. I do want to mention one other one before I finish. It's a little different. That is, Pierce County is sponsoring a mental health summit on Friday the 18th at the Penmet Rec Center. So please join everyone to discuss ways that we can prevent suicide. And that evening, there's a 5K run across the Narrows Bridge as well. And... In addition to these fun community events, our amazing professional staff is also running the city. It takes a lot to keep the water clean, the roads paved, and our infrastructure moving ahead. In the coming weeks, we'll be presenting to you a budget for the next two years that truly demonstrates their professional skills. And I do want to point out, as council has already heard too, the public hasn't heard quite as much, this budget does stretch the limits of our revenue. And so likely will result in some discussions about how we can deal with those issues in the coming years. Later tonight, you'll be discussing the multifamily tax exemption, a program that provides our builders with a much needed tool to help diversify our housing supply. And this is part of the council's strategic initiative to provide housing for those who need additional help. I have to say I am really proud of the work this community is doing in the area of diversifying housing.

And I'm so glad to be part of that of this team.

We are happy to start our second year of the Youth Council this school year with 19 young people from around the community. They have had one meeting already, another one later this week or next week, and we'll be reporting back to you soon about their efforts. It's an incredible group of young people who live in the community and attend high school throughout our area. If you have the opportunity to meet with them or hear from them, they're absolutely amazing. And finally, work on the fishermen's home port mitigation has begun. The construction you see in the Maritime Pier parking lot is part of this project. We're creating a new water outfall pipe. For the community, that means you'll see some disruption of parking in the lot, but in the end, it will be a newer, more environmentally sound pipe discharging water into the sound. In addition, today, a crane arrived near the old Jurkovic Pier to begin removal of that pier as part of the mitigation. That should have little to no impact for the public, but it's the beginning of great things happening in the community. It's really exciting to see this project moving to fruition for our fishing community and for our culture. And with that, I will turn it over to the city administrator, Katrina Knudson, for her report.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. I have four items for you this evening. The first is an update on a conversation that the Council had at a work session this summer regarding aquatics and the Peninsula Metropolitan Parks District or Penmet Parks. During that meeting, Penn Met Parks had provided the city with a couple of options. One was specifically for aquatics, for aquatics access within our community that would have utilized the Peninsula School District pools with Peninsula or Penn Met Parks staff to see that our kids in our community can have swimming lessons with Open Swim. The rate for that was approaching $300,000. And at that meeting, the council indicated that they would like to hear more information and have more conversations before signing on to that. Subsequent to that meeting, Jennifer Harrow, parks manager, and I met with Penn Met Parks to discuss the council's feedback, which was understood and well taken by Penn Met Parks. subsequent to that we have collaborated with the peninsula school district and so now in a big swing of events which i'm happy to answer more questions about this in our one-on-ones the peninsula school district is now going to be restarting up their aquatics program which will mean that they will be doing um lifeguard safety training for their students who then can get jobs other places, but also opening up the district pools for a potential partnership for aquatics. The city, peninsula or panmet parks, key peninsula parks, as well as peninsula school district, we're currently working on a draft potential interlocal agreement between the four agencies to have this aquatics program be conducted in the peninsula school district pools. This will also allow the other swim teams that are not ours to be able to still have access to the pools under their current rules. And it looks like this is going to be somewhere in the range of $60,000 to $70,000 for the city, significantly reduced from the nearly $300,000 from the previous proposal. This aquatics program will not only open up the high school pools for the public on more than one day a week for open swim so that people can swim, have water aerobics, access to the water, but also it's anticipated that 700 to 800 kiddos will be able to go through swimming lessons on a biweekly swim lesson basis that are not currently being served. And in that, I will make an asterisk. The Tom Taylor Y is excellent and provides a lot of swimming lessons to our community. The pool is just not big enough for the amount of demand of kids that are here. So this is in no way a dig to the Y. This is an add-on for the community. In the future, there's potential for additional partnerships with this. Do we want senior water aerobics? Do we want the school district used to partner with us and the kayak team to teach if your kayak tips over how to get back up in the pool so you're not doing it for the first time in the freezing cold water? So those opportunities exist. But at this point in our discussions, we believe that, you know, the first step in opening up the pools to the public, getting swim lessons started with the added benefit that there's going to be high school students that are going to be able to learn how to be lifeguard and learn water safety that then can have jobs at various pools in the summer and the Tom Taylor YMCA for a potential job opportunity. So I wanted to provide that information to council much more to come. I think it's a win-win for the city and I'm really proud of the four organizations for partnering on this, noting that swimming is a very high priority swim safety as we are the maritime city. The second item I want to talk about is you may have read in the Gigabyte last week that the business assistance meeting article we did have Midway and Jack's representatives from there talk about the business assistance meeting process and how beneficial that was to their business to come in and meet with city staff about regulations in advance of making their business plans. We're still working with devoted kiss and invitation bookshop. They've indicated great response with our band process as well. I just really want to shout out Eric under his leadership as well as Jeff Lang home with engineering to put these forward. This is now trickling out to other cities, and I think that that is just something really to be proud of, that when you start something that's working and the word gets out. So really great job to those teams. Along with that, at the permit counter, oh, I'm not there. I'm just rambling. I'm really proud to announce that we will be hosting our 26th legislative delegation in October.

October?

October date TBD to come to the permit counter and see what it is to have a permit submitted, what staff does, how it's routed, what review needs to go through, what things are considered. We know that our legislative delegation and others are have been going through a lot of housing bills lately and a lot of things about permitting. And our delegation has expressed interest in coming to learn what it looks like on the permitting side and what staff look for in permits. So we'll be hosting them and be really happy to discuss with you the outcome of those. second to last our civic academy i could not be more proud of this um this is something i think that we've been working toward for maybe three years the website is going to go live for our civic academy in october Applications will be accepted November 2nd through December 6th for the first inaugural cohort in January of 2027. The residents and business owners within Gig Harbor that join this cohort will get a firsthand behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run the city from finance to police to the city clerk, communications. They'll get a full half-day tour with Director Langholm going to all of our amazing public spaces, learning about water, wastewater, and more importantly, learning about our form of government and the Open Public Meetings Act and what public records are and all of those things that if you're not

Thank you.

not going to say it again uh so i just knew of this officer that was moving here from colorado and i imagined a trailer driving with donkeys and a zebra and we fast forward 10 years and that same police officer has shown up every single day incredibly dedicated to our city dedicated to the rights of the people that live here and come into the city has been an internal leader with folks showing the way of positivity, really leading best possible service as a motto, both internally and externally within the department. I am overjoyed to present Trey in front of you, just to embarrass him, with his 10 years of service plaque. So...

Many of you. Yeah. Yeah, right. She was I don't know what you're talking about.

And Trey's on the screen now at the conclusion. Thank you, Mayor. That concludes my report.

I was hoping it was Zebra Trey. Okay, moving right along, you can tell we're all having technical difficulties tonight. So our business item tonight is the first reading of ordinance 1566, adopting a multifamily tax exemption, parentheses MFTE program. And I'm going to turn it over to our housing health and human services program manager, Shay Smiley for the staff report.

Maybe.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council. I'm going to go ahead and share my presentation. OK. Myself and Director Baker have been in front of Council the last two study sessions. One took place on July 30th and the other one was August 13th. To ground everyone who has not tuned into those study sessions, we're gonna give a brief overview of what the multifamily tax exemption program is and the direction that council gave staff in bringing forth the ordinance tonight for the first reading. So a little bit of an overview of what the Multifamily Tax Exemption Program is, and I will refer to that as MFTE for the remainder of the presentation, is a program that is a Washington state initiative designed to encourage the development of multifamily housing. Under this, RCW local governments can give exemptions for new construction, conversions, and rehabilitation of multifamily residential improvements. And within these exemptions, a property owner does not have to pay property taxes on the residential improvements for a given number of years. The important thing to note is the property owner still pays taxes on the land and on non-residential improvements, like a commercial portion of the mixed-use building. There are three different types of multifamily tax exemption programs that are available for jurisdictions to utilize. We are going to focus on the 12-year program. The 12-year program has a stipulation that at least 20% of the housing units must be available for low to moderate income households. This is used for providing affordable rental housing options, including choices in market rate private rental housing projects. There are several jurisdictions in the state of Washington over 50 that utilize the multifamily tax exemption program. They're listed up there. I'm not going to read through them. Within that, you will see some that are highlighted in green. Those are jurisdictions that are similar in population size and are utilizing a 12-year MFTE program. Here in our Community part of the reason that we need a need additional multi excuse me need additional affordable housing is due to our median income being 118,000 with that i'm going to show you. a chart that is going to break down what a average market rate rental is in the city of Gig Harbor and what a multifamily tax exemption program requiring that rents are offered at a certain percentage or below would break down as. So as you can see down at the bottom, the font is a little bit small. In our community, the average market rate apartment, two-bedroom apartment is going to rent between $2,500 and $2,550. And a house is going to rent for about $2,900 to $3,000. That includes utilities. Up at the top, there is a table breakdown. We're going to focus on the 60% to 80% area median income. 60 to 80% of area median income would be roughly a rent between $1,700 and $2,300 a month. In going over all of this with council, council pointed out that a priority was to ensure that if we are going to have a multifamily tax exemption program, that it ensures the rents are going to be below market rate. Therefore, council provided direction to staff that they would like to see an ordinance that had a cap at 70% area median income or less, that we utilize the 12-year program requiring affordable housing, that the MFTE program would be able to be utilized anywhere within the city limits of Gig Harbor that allows for multifamily zoning. It is important to note that this will require a separate resolution and a public hearing establishing the new boundary of being able to utilize the program. The direction given was that 20% of the units within a affordable housing project would have to be at 70% AMI and below. There's a requirement that a minimum of 20 units would need to be built and at this time there is no cap of units in the program as a whole. So with that, that concludes the presentation. Staff's recommended motion at this time would be for Council to consider during the second reading at the next Council meeting.

So I will now ask Council, are there any clarifying questions about the presentation that you just heard? I am not seeing any clarifying questions, so I will now open public comment on this agenda item. If you're in the audience and wish to speak, please come to the podium now. If you're on Zoom, please press the raised hand button. And I'm not seeing anyone, so I will now close public comment on this agenda item and open it up for council deliberation. Council Member Eckberg.

Thank you, Mayor Barber. We've been working on this for quite a bit now. It's a huge challenge to provide more workforce housing in our community that has been pushed down upon us by the state and a condition of what we wanna do. I think this council shares the goal to provide more housing for different ages, stages, and wages, and I'm proud of the work that we've done so far. There's not one silver bullet for this problem, but I think MFTE is a big lever that we can pull on to help move the direction. We've studied the housing conditions in our community. We've done lots of work here, and I appreciate the diligence of staff providing the details and the context and the numbers. And I've seen it personally from trying to help my 21-year-old niece move out of our house and find her first apartment. She was not able to find something that she could afford an assistant teacher's salary in Gig Harbor. She had to move further out. So it's very real. Excited to see us go forward with this and proud to support it.

Are there any other comments from council?

Mayor? Yes. The council may adopt this on first reading with a super majority should they choose to. That would be a minimum of five.

And then we would need to have a second ordinance that has the boundary in it as well.

We would then come back at the next meeting with the resolution with the boundary, but council could adopt it tonight with a super majority, which is five.

Okay. Council member Eckberg. Hearing no other comments, I'd like to move to approve ordinance 1566, adopting the multifamily tax exemption program in Gig Harbor.

Second. It's been moved by council member Eckberg and seconded by council member Martin to approve ordinance 1566, adopting a multifamily tax exemption program. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Aye.

You're saying aye or nay? Nay. Okay. Motion passes five to one with council member Coronado voting no. Thank you, Council. Okay, we have no staff reports tonight. So I now want to open the public comment period for comments on non-agenda items. If you are with us tonight and wish to make a comment about something going on in the community, something you want to talk about, please come to the podium now. Or if you're on Zoom, please press the raised hand button. All right, I will now close public comment on non-agenda items. Are there any reports from Council tonight? Council Member Ekberg.

Just one quick comment. Yesterday was the 16th running of the Race for a Soldier here in Geek Harbor. I saw Councilman Coronado out there with his kids running. I was out there with my son in the finish area handing out drinks and snacks. It's an outstanding event. It's one that's personally close to me. And it's a great testament to the work from our public works, our police, our city that helped put that on here. So thank you to everyone that had a hand in making that event such a success.

Council Member Martin.

Yes. On this Saturday, the 19th from 12 to one at Uptown, there's going to be a let's beat breast cancer rally. I'll be representing the city for that. As the mayor mentioned, there are many things occurring on the 19th and we're trying to split our time here. I encourage everyone to show up because there's going to be a really neat special item that is going to be presented, but you've got to be there to see it first. So I look forward to doing that. Thanks.

It's so cool. any other reports you have one or no okay great there is a list of upcoming count city meetings in that is attached to the agenda and if there are no other comments or agenda items i will ask for a motion to adjourn move to adjourn second all right all in favor say aye aye aye