City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Kent City Council meeting for Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. If you could all please rise and join me in the flag salute. All right. Could we please call the roll?

Mayor Ralph.

Here.

Council President Kaur.

Here.

Council Member Boyce.

Here.

Council Member Boyd. Council Member Larmer.

Here.

Council Member Michaud.

Here.

Council Member Shoker.

Here.

And Council Member Troutner.

Here. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Item number three is approval of the agenda. Do we have any changes this evening?

No changes from staff.

Hearing no changes, a motion would be in order to approve the agenda as published. So move.

Second.

A motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. All right, we are going to move right into public communications. We have some pretty Pretty great things on the agenda this evening. Very much looking forward to it. We are going to start out with our under public recognition, our employee of the month. So each month employees here at the city get together and nominate one of their coworkers to be the employee of the month. And these employees represent the mission, vision, values and goals of the city. in their job both in daily tasks or in special assignments and what what i find is generally it's a little bit of both and that's how they are being recognized by their peers very excited to announce that our june employee of the month is paul johnson so paul was first hired on august 16 1997 as a maintenance worker 2 in the street division of our public works department He was promoted to a maintenance worker three in 1998, and then a series of promotions following that into finally his current position as our water systems manager on September 16th, 2024. As a water systems manager, Paul is the co-operator responsible co-operator in charge of the city's water system and is responsible for managing supervising planning and directing the operations and maintenance activities of the water distribution and sewer subsections in public works paul was nominated because in his 25 plus years of service he has demonstrated many values of the city of kent for example paul often shows integrity he is always looking to do the right thing for his co-workers and the organization He is selfless and will take on additional work beyond his call of duty to make sure the city's best interests are taken care of. He is an effective leader because he knows how to bring the best out in the people he works with. He is quick to look out for individuals personally and professionally, and his integrity inspires loyalty and dedication. Paul has built a career in achievement and teamwork, taking on any challenge without hesitation. A current example of this is the work he's doing that's currently being done at Pump Station 4, a facility that is old and in need of renovation. It was discovered that the work at the site was far more complex than anticipated, and when Paul learned this, he was the first person called to take care of it, and he wasted no time in organizing equipment, staff, and contractors. Paul's success and leadership skills should be taught as a shining example of what makes the city of Kent so great. had the opportunity to know Paul for a really long time and I would say all of these things are very, very true and he is definitely deserving of our June employee of the month. Chad, you want to come up and say a few words about Paul?

Thank you, Mayor. Normally the words speak for themselves. I just want to point out as they said in the presentation piece there that Paul's been with the city just about 29 years and in that time he's a great example of somebody who's come up through the ranks and and is now in charge as manager and in charge of the water and sewer systems and is mentoring his folks. And as he put it in the piece, he's doing a great job of mentoring folks and showing them how to replace him. So we're very excited to have him as the employee of the month. He could be here tonight. These guys go to sleep right about now, and they get up at the track of dawn. So I wish he was here, but in his place, I wanted to say thank you.

Paul is another one of the examples of employees that went above and beyond during the flood, jumped in and absolutely saw something that needed to be done, figured out a way to do it, and we are very, very grateful for his dedication to the city of Kent. All right. The next piece of good news that we have this evening is, Council, we've got a reappointment to the Kent Arts Commission. Sandy Westman. Wave, Sandy. I won't. There you go. Sandy is seeking reappointment. She was first appointed in March of 2018 and has served as a very dedicated and loyal member of our Arts Commission, always stepping in when she finds a place where we need the help and assistance, is very committed to helping to the art program here in the city of Kent, and I am very excited to bring it forward for your approval on the consent calendar. So thank you, Sandy, for your willingness to serve. All right, we are on a roll with good news, so we're going to keep it going. The next item on the agenda is our presentation of our Charitable Contributions Committee Donation to Sound Generations. And I'm going to ask Carrie and team to come on up and tell us a little bit about the program and then there's a big check.

Yes, thank you mayor, thank you council for having us here. This is a charity, the second one of our two events that we do at the city to raise money for different charities. The spring, it's called a spring fling that we do. We reach out to our employees and sell flower baskets. They get to make for Mother's Day weekend. and do a bunch of other different things through the spring fling to raise money. The charity that we always donate to in the spring is to Sound Generations, which actually provide services to our seniors. So I'll let, I have Kat Munson who's come with Sound Generations that's gonna say a little bit about it. But really I wanna thank our employees for all the hard work and the money that they put into this. I have a committee that actually puts this together for staff.

this is like i said one of two events and this is our first one for the year that we raise um some good money so i'll let kat have a few things and then we'll let you know how much it was so exciting thank you so much for having me i am kat i'm the community engagement and advocacy manager at sound generations and basically what we do is provide we're a non-profit based in seattle we provide 13 different programs under the headings of food insecurity. So meals on wheels and community dining falls under that. We have transportation services. We have a fleet of high shuttles that take seniors all over King County. We also have health and wellness programs spread throughout King County senior centers, matter of balance and enhanced fitness. And then we also run an inbound line that provides elder law support, legal assistance. We have legal clinics. We have what's called the geriatric regional assessment team, a team of clinicians that goes out and helps our fragile seniors who are going through cognitive decline or isolation or abuse. Yeah, so last year, I know this is specific to the Meals on Wheels program, the donation. So we delivered 535,000 meals across King County. to seniors. And one statistic that I like to quote about the work that we do around serving our fragile seniors with meals is that one year of meals for a vulnerable senior costs as much as one night in an emergency room. So this is food is medicine. It's preventive care, right? If they get a meal every day through our program, then that is the same as spending one night in the ER. So anyway, we are tremendously grateful to the Kent City Council and to this committee, and I'm delighted to be here and to accept this on behalf of Sound Generations.

Great. So the committee has raised $1,911.69. So we have a big, beautiful check. Come on over. Thank you, thank you

So a huge thank you to our employees. You've heard me say this before. We really believe, our employees really believe that it is important for them to give back to the community that supports them. So we are really, really grateful. Kat, the work that Sound Generation does, There's that savings, that food is medicine, it's the lifeline. I know that I've talked to so many of our Meals on Wheels volunteers and they know every detail about the folks that they're delivering food to and know how to check on them and what questions to ask. And that interaction is looked forward to just as much as the meals that are being delivered. So thank you for the work that you're doing and thank you to all of our city employees for supporting that amazing work. Right item number four that we have on our agenda this evening. So about a week ago we got the news that former Council member Les Thomas passed away. And we just wanted to take a minute tonight to acknowledge that less served on our City Council for 20 years, but he was also a legislator in Olympia. Spend some time serving on King County Council and an owner of a downtown a lifelong member of the Kent Kiwanis Club. I think probably the longest standing member of our Kiwanis Club, which means many, many hours done serving our community. Les raised his family here, graduated from Kent Meridian High School. There are many of us up here that have known Les for decades, and he's been a very important part of our lives and journey to be Sitting up here and provided support and insight and was always willing to have a spirited conversation about where where he fell on the issues, but also always willing to tell you a really bad joke. And Les never failed to laugh or show up in this room with a smile on his face because he loved this community. He loved serving Kent. I had a chance to talk to his daughter a few days ago, and she said, I don't know that there's anybody that loved Kent more than Les Thomas. And you know what? I have to agree with that. So I just wanted to take a minute tonight to acknowledge his decades of service and commitment and love to this community. just in recognition of Councilmember Thomas. For those that are interested, there will be a memorial service on Saturday at his home church. That information is on social media and can be tracked.

Yeah, I think it's at 2 p.m. at Mountain View Christian Fellowship Church, and it's in Covington, Washington. It starts at 2 o'clock, so thank you.

I know that the family would love to see anybody that was inclined to attend. All right, with that, we are going to transition into community events. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Okay, so we have graduation season upon us. So Assessor Showers Center is hosting 26 graduations from the surrounding areas here. Approximately 100,000 students and families will be coming to downtown Kent. And I just want to say congratulations to all those graduates in the next coming weeks. On June 6th, we have PAWFest event, and June 27th is Parker McCollum. So if you want to get tickets for that, you can get them on assessorshowaircenter.com.

Back to you, Madam Mayor.

All right, thank you. We also have Kent Kitty Hall coming up on Thursday. So if you are looking for a new furry friend or just want to come and hang out with the cutest cats around right here in Chambers, you can adopt. I see a mom in the audience shaking her head. You will get sucked in. I will just tell you that. It is a very real thing. It's so much fun. We partner with... regional animal control and have an adoption event for the cutest cats ever. So that is happening on Thursday here. Then followed up by Pawfest. All right. Next item on our agenda is our Kent Police Student Board presentation. And I'm going to call up Stacey Judd from our Community Education Unit to introduce our special guest this evening.

Mayor Ralph. Council President Cower and City Council, thank you for having us here tonight. I thought it'd been a while since our student board has made an appearance at a council meeting, so I thought it'd be a great idea, especially with new council members, and we actually have a lot of fresh faces on our board, so they are gonna talk to you tonight about who they are and what we do, so you guys can come on up. We have one more meeting left of our year, and then we don't really see each other again until September. So it's kind of exciting to end our year this way. I know that Mayor Ralph, Council Member Troutner, you guys have had boys on the youth board not very long ago, right? No, not at all. not at all um so they're going to start by introducing themselves and then we have a short presentation for you as well so thank you thank you all right step on up we are missing a few tonight with other activities but go ahead i'm jack i go to can lab and this is my first year on the student board um hi my name is adeline um i go to cedar heights and this is my first year on youth board

Hello, my name is Jason. I go to Kent Ridge High School, and this is also my first year on the board.

Hello, my name is Emma Perry. I'm a sophomore at Kent Ridge High School, and this is also my first year on Kent.

I'm Liana. I'm a sophomore at Kent Laboratory Academy, and this is also my first year on Youth Board.

Hello, my name is Kira, and I am a junior at Kenwood High School, and this is my second year of Student Youth Board.

Hi, I'm Ekanpreet Singh. I'm a sophomore at Kent Lab, and this is my first year on Student Board.

Hello, my name is Rua McGarry. I'm a sophomore at Cambridge High School. This is my fourth year.

Okay, so we are a team of middle school and high school students who volunteer our time to benefit others in the Kent community. We meet multiple times monthly and we work on projects that impact the community such as the Game of Life.

And why do we do it? Because it impacts our community positively. Kent Police Student Board works on projects to better the youth community in Kent, and a big highlight of our year is the Game of Life, which we will later explain later in the presentation. Students walk away from Kent Police Student Board activities feeling more confident, ambitious, creative, and curious than when they first entered. leadership can please one of the few benefits from joining it is that students can gain better leadership qualities such as collaborative and better communication skills Students can also gain community service hours for volunteering and participating in projects. Something they can also get away from joining is meaningful connections. Members can create friendships with each other, mentors, and important people all across Kent. And lastly, but certainly not the least, everyone participating in Kemp Police Student Board can have wonderful and fun experiences. Each meeting is a great time, and our events are fun, educational, and impactful as well.

Good job. And connecting to that community impact point, the Kemp Police Student Board focuses mainly on two projects throughout the year. The first one is the Game of Life Conference. So I attended the Game of Life Conference this year, and that is where I was inspired to become a Kent Police student board member. I've been a student board member for about four months now, and it's been very fun. So at the Game of Life Conference, it's hosted locally here in Kent, at Kent Commons, actually. And we learn all sorts of things. So when I was there, I learned about different career pathways, as well as drug prevention and how to live healthier. Another thing we work on is the community-based project. So recently, we've been working on teen mental health first aid training. And with that, we've been getting instructions from a proper instructor how to deal with mental health crises in our schools. But other community-based projects we work on is mental health, student health and wellness, parents and community. And the pictures you see are some pictures taken at a Game of Life conference.

What is the Game of Life? The Game of Life hosts all Kent middle and high schools. We plan workshop topics, present and lead activities. Workshops include mental health, substance use prevention, leadership, traffic safety, online safety and much more. We also provide a vast variety of other stuff that we can also do and you can also make friends from there. And this here the video.

One impactful thing I learned today is how to make friends. Just be confident and know people. One important thing that I learned today was to step out of your comfort zone because I think a lot of people our age aren't very comfortable with it.

Today at the Game of Life, I learned hard working skills, not only for the leaders, but for the students and the teachers who were involved in the activities.

One important thing I learned today is drug uses can lead up to health and legal consequences.

Today at the Game of Life, the most impactful thing I learned is vaping can cause other people around you to feel stress and harm them.

Something that I learned today was the impact technology can have on others, like negative and positive.

Something impactful that I learned today is how interconnected the city of Kent is, how beautifully all these schools came together and they joined in this meaningful and impactful conference where everyone had a chance to learn and learn something new.

One impactful thing I learned was the warning signs of suicide and how to prevent them. One important thing I learned today is that the strongest friendships are the ones that have been through the most rough patches. Today at the Game of Life, one thing I learned is how public speaking is the number one fear for a lot of people. Death is actually number two. Here at the Game of Life, I learned the value of resilience.

One thing I learned is to, even if you're shy, just try and go out there and have some fun. You're not gonna get anywhere if you're shy. I made a friend by going over there and asking her if she wants to talk or she wants to be friends.

I have to say I'm super proud of all of them that are here. I get a little emotional. But they've worked really hard this year. Even our people that have only been on the board for four months now have like just jumped right in. And they can actually be on the board from the time they join. So some join in. Aurora, were you in seventh grade? I think so. I think Aurora joined in seventh grade and she can be on it until she graduates. And her two older sisters were on the student board as well. So it's nice just to get to know them over these years. So they're pretty awesome. Do you have any questions for them at all?

Yes, Council President.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Stacy. Thank you to all of you for being here. I have a question, Stacy. What is the requirement for a student to be on the board?

Well, they have to be committed to being healthy themselves, so we really try to focus on members who have made good choices. It's hard to teach, we always say this, because it's hard for them to get up in front of their group of peers and talk about the dangers of substances when their peers know that they go out and they party every weekend, things like that. But really the nice thing about the board is that we have such a range of students. We have some that would get up and talk to a group, no problem. And then we have others who do not put a microphone in front of me, right? And so really the requirements are there seventh through 12th grade. We have had students outside of the Kent School District, but a majority of them are Kent School District students. But it's fun to see how they grow and change over the years that they're on the board as well. So, I mean, we really take anybody. So, yeah.

Thank you.

Council Member Troutner. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you all of you for being here. I've had the pleasure of watching some of you grow on this board and become the leaders that you are. And you saw in this video how the game of life has affected so many people and what they get out of it. And I think that it's really important, the work that you're doing. Either Stacy or someone on the board, can you talk a little bit about how often you meet? I know your last meeting's coming up, but How often do you meet and what's your commitment during the school year?

How many times we meet? It kind of depends on how important the event that we're doing. We usually do it like every other week or every month. But when it comes up to an event, we always do it every single week.

And as I think Kira mentioned, they do get community service hours for being a part of the student board. So just the game of life alone is almost 20 hours of service because they're there two full days and then set up half days plus meeting time. So it looks great on college applications, resumes, all kinds of things.

Council Member Boyce.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you all. Great job. But I just want to say behind every great program, there's a great leader. So Stace, I want to thank you for your leadership and all you do for the kids. So thank you so much.

Thank you. That's very kind. They make it easy and fun.

Council, any other questions? I want to say thank you to all of our student board members. You guys are doing amazing work. That video, I've seen it, I don't know how many times, it chokes me up every time I see it and makes me so proud that you all are representing your peers and the city of Kent. You do an amazing job and it's incredible work. Very, very grateful for it. And thank you to the parents that are here. Good leaders, good parents, right? It all goes together. And just as a little bit of something for you guys to think about, so you're volunteering on the youth board now. You're gonna figure out what the next steps are after graduation. We have a member of our land use and planning board now that volunteers as an adult that was on youth board. Just kept giving back to the community. There's all kinds of opportunity that comes from it and the leadership skills. And I think that's a real statistic, right? That people tend to be more afraid to stand up in public than, I don't know, dying. But you all did it. You do it every time you step out and are a part of the youth board. So congratulations and thank you so very, very much. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

If we could have all of the students come up, we want to do a quick picture so we can brag on you a little bit on social media. in the most healthy way possible. You want to do that? Yeah.

All right, you guys want to come back a bit?

Tobias, have them back up.

Nice.

Thank you. All right, we are going to go ahead and move on. The next item is reports. All of your council members represent the city both at council meetings on that first and third Tuesday of the month, but also out in the community and on regional boards or statewide boards and commissions, making sure that the voice of Kent is being represented in conversations both around policy. and funding. I'm going to start off with a couple of quick highlights. The King County Flood Control District Advisory Committee group of electeds from cities that are represented by the King County represent the King County Flood Control District. We started meeting about a month ago. We had a meeting last week really laying the foundation. The purpose of that committee is to provide a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors at the King County flood control district or the King County Council members. We are working through how projects are prioritized. It's a large county and we've got multiple river systems. So working on prioritization and then budget conversations. The next report I have, um, tended, uh, was invited by King County executive to be a part of the breaking the cycle working group. And this was a group, um, mostly of local, uh, human services providers getting convening to talk about what, what steps the County can take going forward, uh, around issues of homelessness, incarceration, and, um, substance use and pulling people out of poverty. It was a several hour long meeting, really just presentations on sort of where the system has been, the different programs that the county has enacted, what the outcomes of those have been. My hope for this group is that we take a step back and really look at the things that are working and the things that aren't working when it comes to providing these services at the county level. maybe doing some course correcting. That was my commitment to the executive when I spoke to him after the meeting that I'd be very much willing to stand up and say, hey, maybe we need to look at things a little bit differently. So I will keep you posted. That group is scheduled to provide a recommendation to the executive in November around funding services and service delivery models. Last report I have, I serve as the Chair of the Transportation Policy Board at Puget Sound Regional Council. We had our General Assembly meeting last week. General Assembly is a meeting where the representatives from the four counties in the region come together to vote on budget and major policy documents. So I had the opportunity to present to the group the regional transportation plan, something we've been working on for the last couple of years. Highlights are we really focused on safety and preservation. Those are the two topics. two pillars of that document. The body unanimously adopted that plan. We also had an opportunity to hear from former Governor Christine Gregoire, as well as a panel, Brad Smith from Microsoft, Kerry Schroeder from JP Morgan, and Eric Nordstrom from Nordstrom's about their concerns about where the economy is in Washington state and the things that we need to be watching out for. It was a really interesting panel and highlighted some of the concerns I think that everybody is feeling. So thank you to PSRC for putting that event on. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Pat Fitzpatrick.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Real quick, two things. First off, I attended a meeting last week that was held by the Department of Health to discuss the ongoing problem that they are dealing with with unlicensed street vendors, food vendors. This is an issue that is not unique to Kent, but it is in Kent. It's in all of western Washington and Spokane area as well. What we learned from that meeting is these vendors, as you're probably aware, are unlicensed. They do not follow food handling health rules and other regulations. They typically post up on a sidewalk and block a sidewalk, often in a high traffic area, which can create traffic problems. Learn that these are typically out-of-state interests that are coming to Washington and Oregon to do their business, and the health department is struggling to manage this. They will issue a stop-use or cease-and-desist order, and the vendor will pack up. and show up in a different location the next day. So anyway, the Department of Health has reached out to cities asking for help. So I will be working with our departments to see if there's some way we can contribute to solving this problem. So that's what I have for report. I do want to acknowledge Deputy Chief Josh Kelch from the RFA is here to observe. I think he's here to try to figure out how the RFA can run their meetings. I'm not sure if that's true, but maybe tell the chief that. But anyway, I just want to welcome him here, and that's all I have tonight.

All right, Council President. Thank you, Madam Mayor. We had our pride flag raising earlier this evening. And Council Members Larmer, Michaud, and Shoker joined me there, and we had a proclamation. accepted by Andre Armano's Deputy Director, Jose Vasquez. And for our council workshop, we had a great presentation from our very own chief, police chief, and director of regional office of gun violence prevention with King County, and Mark Rivers from Community Passageways. Great presentation, very true to what relationship building and trust can look like in a community, so I would encourage our community members to go watch that presentation. I serve on King County Board of Health. We had our meeting last week, and growth management planning Policy board also had our meeting. I don't serve on planning anymore. I was policy board Meeting last week and all my updates will be in our council newsletter that comes out tomorrow But that I'm not going to get started with council member Troutner Thank You madam president I said on the Puget Sound regional fire 30 governance board.

We do run very efficient meetings and And our next meeting is June 17th. I also sit on the Regional Transit Committee, and we meet on June 17th as well. And that is all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Chartner. Council Member Boyce.

Thank you. I'll just throw it off there for a minute. I sit on the SEA Pet Committee. We haven't met since our last meeting, so our meeting is coming up on a week from tomorrow. So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Boyce. Council Member Larmer. Thank you, Council President. I'm super excited. After weeks and weeks of saying that we weren't meeting, the Growth Management Planning Council finally met on May 27th, so we had our first meeting of the year. Because there was a number of new members, a lot of the information in the first part of the meeting was just overview the role and the relationship between GNPC and Affordable Housing Committee. A couple things that I did find interesting might be interesting to this audience bringing back was there is a they they are actively working on the next annual reporting of the housing monitoring program and they are simplifying it they at the request of a lot of staff and a lot of the municipalities so they're committed to making it shorter and giving them a longer response time so that was good news for all of our staff the other thing is that there has been multiple requests from multiple cities about how the sub-regional committees, like in our case, SCIP, how the housing that's created by those groups is allotted. Because we know that a lot of jurisdictions, there is no more available public land to build. So how do the monies that we all contribute to these combined sub-regional activities, how do those get allotted towards our housing goals? And they've committed to looking at that. And so I hope that we'll have an update on their plan for that at our next meeting. And that ends my report that I was finally able to give.

Thank you, Madam President. There have been a lot of events, and so in the council newsletter there are some pictures and information. The Human Services Committee, I'm the council liaison, they are still working through the grants and paring those down and have another half-day meeting later this month. All right, Councilmember Boyce, this is for you. I serve on the King County Regional Law Safety and Justice Committee, and this month we received briefings from the King County Superior Court, the Department of Public Defense, and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The key takeaways from this meeting include the fact that the Superior Court has seen significant increase in anti-harassment petition due to new state laws. But most importantly, additionally, the prosecutor's office is facing budget reductions and is severely understaffed, especially when compared to the Department of Public Defense, because there are caseload limits for public defenders that we know about. There is no such thing that exists for the prosecutors. The Sound Cities Association members that are on RLSJC want to address this disparity and are bringing it to PIC for PIC members to decide what to do with that. And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Council Member Beshoker. Thank you, Council President. I also attended the Puget Sound Regional Council where Mayor Ralph presented. I just appreciated the chance to learn more about the collaborative work that's taking place across our jurisdictions and to hear from leaders working on our shared priorities.

Thank you, Council Member Shoker. And then I believe that is the end of our report.

All right. Thank you all. Moving on, public hearing. We do not have one this evening. Next item on the agenda is public comment. Melissa, do we have anyone signed up?

We do. We have two people signed up. The first one is going to be Stuart Anderson.

All right, I'll go ahead and read that. Go ahead and come on up to the podium. Public comment period is your opportunity to speak to the council and mayor on issues that relate to the city of Kent or agenda items the council will consider. This is not an open public forum and comments that do not relate to the business of the city are not permitted. Washington state law prevents anyone from speaking in support or in opposition to a ballot measure or someone running for office. We do have a three minute timer and if you could state your name and city of residence for the record, we'll go ahead and throw that timer up and thank you for being here.

Absolutely. Pardon me. I'm Stuart Anderson with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I'm losing my voice been talking all day. Or FEMA on the intergovernmental affairs specialist assigned well to King County for the disaster that occurred in December. The flooding disaster. I'm just here to update you with a few few numbers. My city. I forgot my city. Currently I married a gypsy, but currently I'm in from Natchez, Mississippi. Was from Casper, Wyoming. Little closer, but. Some of those numbers for the individual assistance that survivors have, and when we talk households, we talk that's an address with a family or a single person, doesn't matter. We count them as households, so it might be many more people, especially if it's a large family. So far, households on the two zip codes that serve this area, and that's how they break it down as zip codes, 46 survivors have, or households have, registered and total disbursed to those folks, or to those households, excuse me, $141,419 in assistance. Another number we want folks to remember is June 10th. That is the last day for folks to register. Even if they register that day, it isn't like they have to hurry up and do stuff. They'll have 18 months after that if they need paperwork or whatever. That's required, and I believe we're going to have a pop up tent at your on Thursday. Yeah. So, and that's all so I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And next week, TJ.

Hello, folks, council members, mayor. Female officer, thanks for coming out and let us know. We've got a firefighter in the audience there, pretty cool. I want to talk about Renna Flattery. She died in the jail last April 25th, I believe it was, of 2025. Last December, December of 24, January of 25, I started hearing rumors, hey, things are getting a little bad in the jail. Things are getting a little sideways, things are getting weird. And people are kind of getting scared, and that's why I asked around, talked to somebody that wasn't an inmate, da, da, da, da, da. It says, yeah, things are changing, da, da, da, da. I actually told a city council member, hey, I'm hearing some things about the jail. You might want to take a look at this, maybe just show up over there, see how things are going, what's changing. And April 15th of 2025, A gentleman comes in here, makes a presentation. Mike Armstrong had his tactical gear on and all that kind of stuff. I guess he was trying to project an image. Talked about the detox programs, the MAD, medically assisted treatment, and what's going on with the opioid crisis and our neighbors who are struggling with this drug addiction because we have people dealing drugs on the streets of Kent. And 10 days later, this lady dies in a cold cement cell. No blanket, just a pad on the floor. I think maybe the council member should look back at this video, the workshop video of April 15th and listen to what the police, the commander had to say. A question from one of the counselors at the time was, if somebody has some disciplinary problems, are you going to be restricting them from some of these MAT treatments and these drugs? And the commander was like, oh, we're worried about these drugs getting into the system and all this. And you all make your judgment out kind of a... Feeling vibe you got from that when we're talking about our neighbors that are struggling. Some of the most marginalized people in this community that have been intentionally marginalized. I got these pamphlets, emergency pamphlets. No treatments, no detoxes in Kent. Look at the video April 15th and like I said, I hope when I talked to the counselor, maybe he didn't communicate to the rest of the Council that I had concerns about the jail. That's a communication problem with the Council. You guys are responsible for everybody's safety, health and welfare when you're in the custody of Kent. This was probably a minor charge. I had another thing I want to talk about, but I guess the time is gone and. Let's look out for our neighbors, especially when they're under your care. I mean, you're all responsible, who oversees, who makes the policies. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright, that brings public comment to an end. The next item on the agenda Council is our consent calendar. This is a compilation of items that the Council has worked on over the past several weeks. Both that workshop and committee of the whole had an opportunity to ask questions, have debate, and these things have passed out of committee of the whole without controversy. This evening we have items A through G. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? So move.

Second.

A motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion it carries the consent calendar passes We do not have any other business bids or executive session tonight I do want to quick reminder that on Friday here at City Hall from 2 30 to 4 there will be a gun Lockbox giveaway it same program council that you heard from tonight at workshop they are absolutely free encourage the community to come down and pick up your Gun lock box to make sure that your firearms are stored safely in your homes with that We are at the bottom of the agenda and we are adjourned