City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to welcome everybody to the 05/05/2026 meeting of the King County Council. I'm Jorge Barron. I'm the vice chair of the council, but I'm serving as acting chair today as council member Perry is unavailable. We're joined by Vice Chair Reagan Dunn and our other council colleagues today and this meeting is called to order. Before we begin, please join me in acknowledging that we are on the traditional lands of the Puget Salish peoples, past and present. We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since Township Memorial bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our communities. With that, Clerk Kaye, would you please call the roll?

Thank you. Councilmember Balducci. Council member you. Council member Dembowski. Here. Council member Dunn.

Here.

Council member Fain. Here. Council member Lewis. Here. Council member Mosqueda. Here. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer. Chair Barron. Here. You have a quorum.

Thank you very much. Next, please join us in the pledge of allegiance, which is gonna be led by council member Lewis. Thank you very much. Next we'll move to approval of the minutes. Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the 04/28/2026 council meeting?

Move approval of the minutes of 04/26/2026 council meeting.

Thank you very much. That motion is before us. Any questions, comments, edits to the minutes? Alright. Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. The minutes are approved. Clerk K, are there any additions to the council agenda?

I have no additions.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll turn to our special items for today. We will begin with a proclamation of May 2026 as therapeutic court month in King County, which is led by councilor Murray Lewis, our chair of the Law and Justice Committee. Councilor Murray Lewis.

Good afternoon. I'm very proud today to bring this proclamation forward to counsel. One of the most important effective, humane, and physically physically responsible things that county government does is to create and implement programs to interrupt the general generational cycles of substance abuse, foster care, and incarceration. King County's therapeutic courts are foundational and one of the most effective ways that local government helps our residents overcome addiction, protect the integrity of families, and transform their lives for the better. This work goes largely unnoticed.

While newspapers spout misinformation about crime statistics, This is one of the examples, a very good example, of how King County is quietly, dramatically changing people's lives and improving our collective quality of life. This is largely thankless work in terms of public acknowledgment, and that's why today we are shining just a little bit of light on this important work, these invaluable public employees, and the heroes who avail themselves of the services provided by therapeutic court to change their lives for the better and project hope into our communities. So today, we have joining us chief presiding judge, district court judge Rebecca Robertson. We have presiding judge, superior court judge Avril Rothrock, and we have an alumni, Tammy Seamers. And I would like to ask them to join me at the podium while I read the proclamation.

Whereas King County's Therapeutic Courts improved both public health and public safety using evidence based approaches to support adults, youth, and families affected by substance use and behavioral health conditions to rebuild their lives, creating safer, healthier communities that benefit us all. And whereas King County is a national and statewide leader in supporting effective pathways out of the legal system and towards recovery and family reunification, having pioneered some of the earliest therapeutic courts in the country and continuing to champion their ongoing innovation. And whereas therapeutic courts provide case management, substance use and mental health treatment, peer support and mentoring, connections to education, employment, housing, community based services, parenting support, and tangible resources, and structure and accountability to promote stability and help participants achieve their goals. And whereas the King County Drug Diversion Court, King County Family Treatment Court, King County Regional Mental Health Court, King County Regional Veterans Court, King County I'm sorry, King County Regional Veterans Court, Juvenile Therapeutic Response and Accountability Court, and several district community courts are therapeutic courts that provide meaningful alternatives to traditional case processing. And whereas therapeutic courts have an upstream impact, interrupting generational cycles of substance use and legal involvement and help to prevent adverse childhood experiences associated with parental substance use, incarceration, and foster care.

And whereas, King County's therapeutic courts provide demonstrable benefits to individuals and King County residents overall, with studies showing a return on investment and key outcomes such as higher likelihood of success in treatment, greater rates of family reunification, increased employment, crime reduction, and lower rates of psychiatric hospitalization and emergency department usage. And whereas therapeutic court participants and alumni create positive ripple effects in King County communities, inspiring hope and giving back as parents, good neighbors, dedicated mentors, productive employees, and effective role models. Now, therefore, we, the Metropolitan King County Council and the King County Executive proclaim May 2026 as Therapeutic Court Month in King County and laud therapeutic courts for their beneficial impact dated this May 2026, signed by all nine council members and the King County Executive. So I'd like to call our guests to the podium. You have

an order

Thank already figured you. Thank

you Councilmember Lewis and, thank you Chair Barone, Vice Chair Dunn and all council members. My name is Avril Rothrock. I'm the presiding judge of the King County Superior Court and I am just so thrilled to be here with you today talking about this very important work that our court team does. I'm here on behalf of 56 elected judges, our commissioners. We have a staff of 385 and I express my gratitude to the council for recognizing the vital role of therapeutic courts in advancing public health and public safety in King County.

This commitment has spanned three decades. We started in 1994 with our drug diversion court. We have a family treatment court. Council member Lewis recited other treatment courts including our approach to juvenile justice and the juveniles that we see in our system also has a therapeutic approach. Therapeutic courts are rooted in science and we are able to offer extend a hand to members of our community who are willing to take it and do the hard work that's required to accept the interventions that we have and in the end, this strengthens our community and makes everyone better.

It is some of the happiest work that we do at the court working with community members through our teams. I did wanna mention members of our team who came with me today and that includes, judge John McHale who has been the drug court judge at our court for the past two years, Judge Michael Scott seated here who's the current drug court judge. We have our drug court program manager, Christina Mason here and then with the family treatment court that I mentioned, we have Jill Murphy, the program supervisor here. And again, these courts strike a balance between providing compassionate support and requiring accountability and they help participants make long term changes. So we are just so thrilled with these programs and so grateful for the support of the council.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having us, counsel. I'm judge Rebecca Robertson. I'm the chief presiding judge of King County District Court, which is the largest court of limited jurisdiction in the in the, state. We have been a leader in therapeutic courts starting our mental health court in 1999, twenty seven years ago. It was the first in Washington state and only the second in the nation.

We also have our veterans court which was started in 2012 and we're looking forward to celebrating our fifteenth anniversary next year. The majority of our mental health court and regional veterans court referrals are felony cases that are actually reduced to misdemeanors so that folks can participate in our programs. We also have folks from jurisdictions and other municipal courts who refer cases into our veterans court and our mental health court so they can get the services as well. Our community courts started in 2018 in Redmond and we now also have programs in Shoreline and we just opened up one in Bellevue which started in July 2025. Over 4,600 people have visited our community court resource center in 2025.

Additionally, in 2025, 91% of our community court participants did not have new jail bookings within six months of their program exit and sixty eight percent did not have new law violations within three years of their exit from the program. Our programs have been recognized in Washington State as strong programs to be looked at for inspiration for other courts. And in 2025, we served over three seventy people amongst all our therapeutic court programs in addition to all those folks who visited the resource center. I am sitting here with some of our therapeutic courts team. Our judge Karama Hawkins could not be here with us today but I do have our Chief Administrative Officer, Othniel Palomino and Kate Traumantama and Christa Corbin Diaz from our community courts.

I'd like to read some participant quotes from our regional mental health court, our regional veterans court, and our community court. I was headed in a direction that was going to end in death, and if it weren't for this program and if it weren't for those people, I wouldn't be where I'm at. I am eternally grateful for the people that I've encountered who have lent me countless support and hours of their lives to make sure that I arrived in a better place. I believe this is a great court to help people maintain a more stable life and give avenues to go to for help. My destructive behavior is behind me, but it takes work hard work, commitment, and honesty.

Thank you for this chance to evaluate my experience of recovery, and I look forward to helping others. Thank you all so much for your support of our therapeutic courts.

Hi, my name is Tammy Siemers. I am a graduate of Family Treatment Court in 2016. I'm also right now a family recovery support specialist for Family Treatment Court. So I had to write my speech because I didn't want to go off topic. Again, thank you for having me here today and let me be a space of your day today.

I grew up in the both in the criminal justice system and CPS system without accountability, responsibility, and a sense of belonging. Most importantly, the love I was searching for. My drug addiction kept me trapped in the cycle, leading me to deeper into the system. Eventually, I ended up in jail and my daughter was placed in the foster care system. The same system I had experienced as a child and carried on to adulthood.

The past led me to Family Treatment Court, a therapeutic court that changed my life. It held me accountable, taught me responsibility, and for the first time showed me genuine love and support. Family Treatment Court didn't just help me Family treatment court didn't just help me. It taught me how to contribute to the member of the society. It gave me the tools, knowledge that I should have learned growing up.

The therapeutic court system works by aligning the tasks you must complete with your life decisions and goals. And yes, it was hard work. I left my house at like 06:00 in the morning, didn't get back till like 7PM. But I realized that if I could put that much effort into my addiction, I could put even more effort getting my daughter back and my life. I struggled with trust for a long time.

I had trusted someone early in life to keep me safe and that trust was broken. So my walls was very high coming into family treatment court. They walked alongside me and cheered me on every step away by showing me trust, love, and compassion. They taught me about community assets, helping me learn to trust professionals, build meaningful relationship. They taught me about social assets where I found a sense of family, friendship, and a connection with people I choose to have in my life.

And most importantly, they helped me build personal assets, gave me a sense of belonging within myself that I had lost as a teenager. From the judges to the commissioners to drug court and family treatment court professional, including my probation officer, which I hated in the beginning. Let me sit with her. Probation officer, they all were there to give me love, respect, and a sense of belonging. Since they held me accountable, they taught me how to fish and didn't just hand me the fish, but they did it with compassion, dignity, and love, something I've never experienced before.

If it weren't for Family Treatment Court and the Department of Correction stepping into my life and teaching me the skills and tools to live the right way, I would not be standing here today. Today, I am ten years clean and sober. I am married. I have a thank you. I have a teenage daughter.

I have a place that I finally can call home and feel safe. I have earned my bachelor's degree and now I'm pursuing my master's degree in clinical social work with a goal possibly being adolescent correctional in the correct correctional system. My goals and dreams are becoming reality because someone believed in me, because people like you choose to see hope in someone who once felt lost. I can stand here today. I'm I stand here today because everyone who believed in me, you let me be seen, be heard, and be valued.

So, again, thank you for all the professional for what you do and everything you do every day and for seeing hope in a stranger, for showing love and helping people like me from being lost to shining bright. Thank you again.

Thank you so much. It's so nice to have a success story right here in our midst that we can point to and hear and consider as we look at budget and other kinds of activities. So if I could get all of our guests up front and have my colleagues join me for photos.

Thank you very much council member Lewis and all of our judicial branch colleagues. I'm now gonna call on Councilmember Balducci who is going to be presenting a recognition supporting the Iranian community in King County. Councilmember Balducci.

Thank you so much chair. Before I begin, I just wanna add my voice to the wonderful proclamation we just heard. As, somebody who worked in the jail system for many years, I can testify to the incredible impact that our therapeutic courts have on the lives of the participants, keeping them out of jail and moving them on in positive ways in their life. And if you haven't been to a drug court graduation or any of their we get invited. You should go.

It's, it's very inspirational to hear from people working, to improve themselves and with the support of our systems. Chair, I wanna thank you and my colleagues for joining me today in recognizing the importance of King County's Iranian community. Washington is home to around 15,000 people of Iranian descent who make our communities stronger, contribute to our economy, and enrich our county with their beautiful and ancient culture. We have spoken of our support for the Iranian community before in these chambers, following council member Dunbowski's lead as he offered a proclamation of solidarity with the Iranian people in 2022. Today, it is as important as ever that we reiterate our support and stand strong with our Iranian community members.

We've been working on this proclamation for some time. The request came to us from a community member earlier this year, and, of course, the context has changed dramatically in this time in very painful and ugly ways. I am proud that our council today will continue to express our support for our local Iranian residents, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and proclaim that they deserve peace, freedom, and self determination for them and their relatives in their home country. Here in King County, we welcome Iranians and Iranian Americans. We honor their experiences and contributions and benefit greatly from their culture.

At this time, I would like to call up the rep the guest that we have here today, starting with council member Dombowski's invited guest, representative Daria Farivar. If you would please join us. Thank you, representative. Welcome. I'd like to invite our local colleague, Doctor. Marjan Deidra, to please come forward and join me here. And also, Doctor. Naseem Ghazanfari. Please join us if you would. Thank you. Yeah. Either way works. Thanks so much. Welcome. We're so glad you're here.

Now I'd like to read the proclamation and then invite you each to say a few words. Thank you. Whereas the people of Iran have repeatedly and courageously expressed their desire for dignity, freedom, and respect for fundamental human rights, including through peaceful civic expression and nationwide action. And whereas in response to such expressions, many civilians, including youth, women, and people from diverse backgrounds have experienced violence, detention, and intimidation. And whereas reports from international observers and human rights organizations have raised concerns regarding the deployment of security forces against unarmed civilians, use of excessive force, restrictions on communication, and barriers to accessing medical care.

And whereas credible reporting has described significant loss of life and injury during periods of unrest, as well as interference with medical services, including the denial of care to wounded individuals and the presence of security forces in and around medical facilities, and whereas the loss of life and suffering endured by individuals and families in Iran has resonated deeply with communities around the world, and whereas Iranian residents of King County are a valued and vibrant part of our county's cultural, civic, and economic fabric, contributing meaningfully to the strength and diversity of the region. And whereas King County honors the Iranian community for its cultural richness, civic contributions, and resilience, and recognizes the profound emotional toll that violence and instability abroad place on families and communities locally. And whereas expressing solidarity with communities affected by violence affirms our shared values of compassion, dignity, and respect for human life. Now, therefore, we, the Metropolitan King County Council, recognize the Iranian community and acknowledge the individuals and families affected by violence in Iran, honor the resilience and contributions of the Iranian people, and hope for a future of peace, dignity, and respect for human life dated this May 2026 and signed by all members of the King County Council.

It's okay to o'clock. Yeah. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Alright. I'd like to offer to say a few words. Let me just, if I may, introduce our distinguished guests, because we have three distinguished guests. Representative Farivar represents the 46th Legislative District. She was born and raised in Lake City in District 1 of King County. In the district that she represents, she is the first Middle Eastern woman and first Iranian American woman elected to the Washington State Legislature. Thank you for being here with us today. Thank so

much, council member. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you, acting chair Barron and all members of the county council. As was said, I'm Daria Farivar, state representative from the 46th Legislative District. Taking the time to honor the Iranian American community here in King County and to acknowledge the courage and the suffering of the people in Iran is extremely, extremely meaningful.

It tells my community that you see us, that you value us, and that you stand with us. The people of Iran have shown extraordinary courage in demanding dignity, freedom, and fundamental human rights while being met with violence and oppression. Acknowledging the struggle is critical and I believe that solidarity asks something more of us. It asks us to be honest about the full reality people are living through. Today, that includes not only condemning the repression and the violence of the Iranian government perpetrated amongst its own people and the war on Iran that is killing civilians every day.

The US has separated families through a travel ban, deported Iranians when they tried to flee, and decimated their economy with sanctions. Now we are bombing them into oblivion. When we speak about dignity and human life, we need to take into consideration the entire picture because the people of Iran deserve to live freely, safely, and with the ability to determine their own future. And we need to name what Iranians are asking for through protest, calls for freedom, and demands for basic rights. These are calls for a more democratic future.

The Iranian people deserve a government that reflects their will, protects their rights, and is accountable to them, and this cannot be achieved through bombs. So as we pass this recognition, let it be more than words. Let it be a commitment to stand with the Iranian people in their pursuit of freedom, to reject violence that harms civilians no matter the source, and to support a future where democracy, human rights, and dignity are not aspirations but reality. I am so grateful to council member Fal Balducci for continuing to uplift the experiences of the Iranian American community, and of course, the council member Dombowski for inviting me to this opportunity. Thank you all so much.

Thank you so much representative Farivar. I'd like to next introduce my honored guest and a member of our King County family, Doctor. Marjan Deidra. You all may know Marjan from her work here at the King County Department of Community and Human Services, but she's here today in her personal capacity as a longtime member of and leader in the Iranian community. Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you, council member Baducci. Good afternoon, acting chair Beron and vice chair Dunn and members of the council. My name is doctor Marshawn Tidra. I am a King County resident. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and to speak with you today. I'm here to support a proclamation that serves as a gesture of remembrance and solidarity with the Iranian community. Throughout King County, many in the Iranian community carry a profound and often unspoken burden. For them, current events abroad are deeply personal involving family, loved ones, and connections that cross borders. This proclamation does not take a political political stance or address foreign policy.

Instead, it recognizes loss, affirms human dignity, and ensures our community members feel seen and supported. King County has consistently shown leadership in uplifting uplifting communities, especially when acknowledgment and compassion are needed most. Even symbolic acts like this have meaning. They show people they are seen, their experiences are recognized, and their community stands with them. This proclamation also honors the Iranian community in King County recognizing their resilience, cultural richness, and meaningful contribution to our region.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to Council Member Balducci for sponsoring this Proclamation and to council leadership for your support on this. Thank you for your time and for your continued commitment to the communities you serve. Appreciate you all.

Thank you so much, Doctor. Deidra. And, now I would like to introduce, our honored guest, Doctor. Nazeem Ghazanfari. I hope I did that well. Who is cardiologist and the president and cofounder of the Iranian Women's Institute for Life and Liberty. We're so fortunate to have you here today. Please step forward.

Thank you councilmember Val Dutti. Thanks everyone from the council, from the members of the community, and the staff. It's an honor to be here today. And before I start, I would like to take a moment and acknowledge again and thank the body of the King County Council for this opportunity and sponsoring this proclamation, for standing with our community, a community that has been deeply wounded by grief, loss, by ongoing injustice. How much can one people endure?

Many of us are here because we were forced to leave our homeland, seeking safety and the chance to rebuild from a theocratic dictatorship. Some fled on the brink of being losing their freedom or even their lives. Many of us had already lost multiple family members or loved ones. And yet, even as we left Iran, Iran never left us. As we rebuild our lives here, we hold on to what makes us who we are, our ancient traditions, beauty beauty of Norils, our culture, our cuisine, our art.

But it is difficult. It is difficult to celebrate who we are when our people and loved ones are suffering, when each day brings more devastating news from our homeland, another teenager being hanged by the regime, a young woman murdered and violated postmortem, human right defenders being arrested and killed. Behind every headline is a human life, is a family, a future, a story cut short. These are not numbers to us. They are our people.

And as today, we endured the longest Internet shutdown in Iran entering its sixty seventh day, many of us cannot even reach our family members or loved ones back home. And yet every day, we survive this enormous pain. We continue to work, to contribute, to show up as we have for decades. Sometimes we feel forgotten as if our story is fading in the middle of the world's everyday crisis. Sometimes it feels like the world has moved on while our people are still fighting for their lives every single day.

But today, you showed us that is not the case. Today, you showed us we are seen, we are heard, and we are not forgotten. Your support expressed not just in words but in action means more than what we can fully express. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for standing with human rights. Thank you for standing with the victims of political violence and mortality. Woman Life Freedom, Zam Zandigi Azadi.

Thank you. We did not plan this, but we also have another wonderful and prominent Iranian American leader with us. I'd like to invite my colleagues and mayor Malakutian, if he would join us for a photo. Welcome. If you will, I'm just gonna come on down.

Okay. I got it. Alright. So Thank

you.

We'll take we'll take the separate. Okay. Let's go. Thank

you, council member Balducci, and to the community who came for this, recognition. We will now turn to the reading of items into the record and the hearing of public comments. Before the clerk reads the items into the record, Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to suspend the rules to relieve committee of the whole for the consideration of item 18?

Move to suspend the rules for consideration of item 18.

Thank you very much. The motion is before us. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The motion carries. Thank you. Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to suspend the rules to take action on items 19 through 21 without referral to committee.

Move to suspend the rules, for items 19, through 21 without referral.

Thank you very much. The motion is before us. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. All right, the motion carries. Thank you very much. With that, Clerk Hay, will you please read the items into the record.

Thank you. Item six are the special items proclamation of May 2026 as therapeutic court month in King County and recognition supporting the Iranian community in King County. Item seven is proposed substitute ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero two two authorizing the King County executive to execute an amendment to the landscape conservation and local infrastructure program, interlocal agreement between the city of Seattle and King County to update the list of open space improvement projects authorized by the program. Item eight is proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero two eight authorizing the execution of a lease at an existing location to support the operation of the department of natural resources and parks. Item nine is proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero eight two.

And ordinance approving King County's partial participation in the city Of Bellevue's tax increment financing project as authorized in RCW thirty nine point one one four point zero two zero and specifying conditions on the county's participation. Item 10 is proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero nine nine, approving and adopting the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by and between King County and the King County Juvenile Detention Guild representing juvenile detention officers in the juvenile division of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention and establishing the effective date of said agreement. Item 11 is proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero one zero two. Approving and adopting the coalition labor agreement negotiated by and between King County and the King County coalition of unions representing employees in the departments of executive services, local services, natural resources and parks, public health, and King County Sheriff's Office and establishing the effective date of the agreements. Item 17 is proposed motion number twenty twenty five dash zero three two three.

Motion relating to the fish pass passage restoration program accepting the strategic plan and updated work plan and summary of changes made to public facing materials as required by the 2024. King County comprehensive plan. Item 18 is proposed motion number twenty twenty six dash zero zero eight five approving the extension of the depart executives appointment of Megan Peterson as acting director of the king county department of human resources. Item 19 is proposed motion number twenty twenty six dash zero one zero nine approving the extension of the executive's appointment of Sandra. Balenciano as acting director of the Department of Public Health.

Item 20 is proposed motion number twenty twenty six dash zero one one zero. A motion approving the extension of the executive's appointment of Susan McLaughlin as acting director of the Department of Community and Human Services. And item 21 is proposed motion number twenty twenty six dash zero one one two relating to the king county regional homelessness authority requesting the executive to provide a briefing and report on the authorities corrective actions administrative funding needs and decision framework regarding the county's continued participation in the amended and restated interlocal agreement and potential impacts.

Thank you very much. All right. The council will now take public comment on those ordinances, motions, proclamations, and recognitions on today's agenda for action. Listening to the public and taking into consideration the public's thoughts is an important part of our process and one that enhances our deliberations. In order to allow everyone equal time to provide comment, I would like to set the following ground rules.

Please limit comments to two minutes, remain seated until time for your public comment, and do not make audible noises during the meeting. This is also a reminder that public comment may not be used for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. In addition, per council rule number 10, disruptive behavior can or may lead to the commenter being asked to leave the meeting. Disruptive behavior includes the following among other considerations. Standing rather than remaining seated except when entering or leaving the chambers when providing comment at the podium after being called on to speak, speaking from the audience without being recognized to provide comment, making audible noises in the audience beyond speaking, holding signs that obstruct your free passage for view of others attending the meeting, the use of bullhorns or noisemakers.

For online comment, please press 9 on the phone or click the raise hand icon on the Zoom toolbar located at the bottom of the screen to notify the clerk. The clerk will call the names or the last three digits of the phone numbers in order and will then unmute each line. At the end of each comment, the clerk will lower hands. Doctor. Clerk Foss, would you please begin calling the names here in person followed by those hands raised online for public comment.

Thank you. First name on the list is Barb Oliver.

Welcome.

Good afternoon, counsel. My name is Barb Oliver of Oliver Project Management and Consulting. Based on experience, the King County de facto expert on tiny home villages and transitional housing. In 2025, the DESC, which is the Downtown Emergency Services Center, got 2,056 people off the streets. Mary's Place got four and eighty four people off the streets.

The Low Income Housing Institute or Lehigh got sixteen sixty three people off the streets. That's over 4,000 people off the streets in just three service providers. I know that you're going to be talking a lot in the couple months and that you have some very tough decisions to make regarding homelessness. I want you to remember the thousands of people that are still on the streets and those people like DESC and Mary's Place and Lehi that are the service providers that take care of these folks. Okay?

My best advice to you is don't eliminate any agency or part of an agency unless you have something better to replace it with. Okay? Some of you already, speaking of which, have seen our plan that has been in place for four years that significantly reduces homelessness. We have a plan that can get King County to nearly functional zero in four years with 15,000,000 or less per year all in for everything, including wraparound services, case management, everything. If you'd like to see that program, I have agreed to stay here through the end of this session.

Come see me afterwards. I'll set up a time so you can see it individually. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much.

Next on the list is Alex Zimmerman.

The ayes.

Alex, remember, no signs of the pony, please.

Yeah. I

know. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Only for one second. I'm sorry. Yeah. My name Alex Zimmerman. I'm president of Stand Up America. I 15 time candidate for election.

Right.

Bella will prosecute me seven times. At least. Agenda number six. I want to speak about agenda number six. Yeah. Believil prosecute me seven times, all cases dismissed. And totally, I have from King Country government approximately 7,000 trespasses. Yep. This house, they treat Jew who support Israel and who support Trump. Yeah.

And I support Trump forever from beginning. I want to speak about something what is belong to Iranian Muslim. Is this exactly what has happened here? I know people different, but I want to speak about something what is in Bellevue. Bellevue Mohammad or Mohammad Khanian, they never use his name Mohammad. Never. Never in everywhere. It Consul Balducci.

Yeah. Sure. I would like to say that. I don't see I don't see any agenda item in our future here.

Alex, you're we're not talking about the mayor of Bellevue.

No. We're talking about Iranian Muslim.

Okay. Yes. You can talk about the Iranian community, but not about a

specific individual. About Iranian. Don't interrupt me. So Iranian man mayor in Bellevue for three year give me trespass so I cannot speak. It's a nightmare and prosecute me many time. Why? Because I am a Jew and he's here. You know what this mean? He's Iranian. He's a bandita.

You're Anticipate Alex, you're not talking about Iranian community. You're talking

about specific about Iranian community. You're talking about exactly example what is I give you. Example what is we have. We were Trump. We were new American revolution. Stand up, slave, and happy cow. This not matter who you are. You are Bandita or anti

Next on the list is Yvette Dyneisch.

Excuse

me. First of all, I wanna say that today's proclamations were enlightening, informative, and very expiring. So, thank you for that. And, I also wanna refer to article item 21 regarding the regional homelessness authority and the community and the council. Now we know that we need to be more vigilant and do better as far as their apparent mishandling of funding and how the taxpayer money is being spent and ought to be more fiscally, how it's being fiscally managed. And, shame on the providers and the other recipients that knowingly misspent the money, taxpayers money giving them for homelessness services. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next on the list is Tim Motts.

Welcome. Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members, chair and vice chairs. And I have with me today as well Chris Gonzalez, who's also representing this topic as well today. My name is Tim Motz. I have the pleasure of being the president and CEO for the Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, and I also serve on the steering committee for the Friends of the Grand Connection.

And good afternoon. Kris Gonzalez, chief development officer of Boys and Girls Club of King County. We're here today to express our strong support of the Grand Connection Crossing project. At the Boys and Girls Club, our mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens. Through the Boys and Girls Club of King County, we operate 33 clubs serving more than 10,000 youth. Our services are stretched South to Federal Way, as far West as Bainbridge, North to Shoreline, East to Sammamish, and all the Seattle neighborhoods in between.

And specifically in Bellevue, we serve an additional 18,000 youth through 25 sites in Bellevue alone. We believe that the Grand Connection is a critical step towards expanding opportunity and access for the youth that we serve. It's a car free design that ensures that young people from all backgrounds can move safely and independently through their community, connecting them to recreation, resources, and opportunities that support their growth. Over the past few weeks, you've heard from other organizational partners about the benefits this crossing provides, including the Housing Development Consortium, Outdoors for All, Africans on the East Side, Friends of Youth, Kids Quest Children's Museum, Transportation Choices, and East Rail Partners. These are just few of the 60 plus organizations that make up the Friends of the Grand Connection, all invested in the health and livelihood of our region.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and ask questions. We appreciate your thoughtful consideration as this investment in a more inclusive King County where every young person can access the outdoors, their community, and the opportunities that make for meaningful life. Thank you for your consideration and your time today.

Thank you very much.

Next on the list is Mo Malakuchian.

Welcome mayor.

Thank you. Vice chair Baron, council members, good afternoon. I am Mo Malakoutian, mayor of the city of Bellevue. I am here in support of ordinance twenty twenty six eighty two and King County's participation in our tax increment financing proposal to help fund the Grand Connection Crossing. This is a half mile bikeped bridge, but it connects regional assets.

It links this it it links the second largest downtown in King County to Israel, the Wilburton neighborhood, and the downtown Bellevue Lytrell Station. It bridges a critical gap between downtown and Wilburton with a safe all ages connection. This crossing is important for housing. Wilburton is now zoned to deliver a mixed use neighborhood, including affordable housing. The crossing makes that growth viable by giving people a safe option to walk or bike to job services and the station.

This project also maximized King County's investment. The county has led for years on the 42 mile East Rail Corridor and the Wilburton Thrustle. The crossing opens those assets to more residents and it threatens a station access. And there is a direct economic return for the entire county. The crossing will create family wage construction jobs, and we estimate roughly 16,000,000 in construction sales tax revenue for King County that support countywide services including metro behavioral health, public safety, and arts.

Thank you and I respectfully ask for your support.

Thank you, mayor. Next

on the list is Daria Farivar.

I think a representative Farivar already spoke. She left. Thank you.

For the proclamation.

Yeah.

Holly Williams.

Welcome.

If that's for Hallie Willis, that's me. But if there's a Hallie Williams, go ahead.

I I think that's you.

Great. Thanks. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Hallie Willis. I'm the policy manager for the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness. Speaking in favor of the motion before you today from council members Barron, Fain, and Dabowski to respond to the audit of the KCRHA. The coalition has more than 50 member organizations who house, shelter, and care for people experiencing homelessness across King County. These organizations do the work every day to help people survive and work towards stability. That work needs to continue no matter what. This community has made it clear that we need a county wide regional approach to homelessness that operates with transparency and is a good steward of public funds.

The resolution before you today takes steps towards that goal. It represents a commitment to get this right, and we urge your support. As you go through this process over the coming months, we strongly urge you to include the many lessons learned in the establishment of the KCRHA and to deeply engage service providers and people with lived experience of homelessness in your process to determine what comes next. It's not acceptable to simply go back to the way things were, with each jurisdiction going it alone with their separate processes. We need to determine our next steps together towards a better system. It's more important to get this right rather together rather than do it fast alone. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Daniel Malone.

Welcome. Hi. Thank you, council members. My name is Daniel Malone. I'm executive director of DESC, nonprofit homelessness, housing, and behavioral health organization.

I'm also here to speak in favor of the motion concerning the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. I have previously emailed you about this matter, and I was, very pleased to see the motion that is being contemplated by you here because it takes, in my view, the appropriate, reasonable, but brief amount of time to thoroughly examine a variety of different issues that will go with considering the future of the Regional Homelessness Authority. It's a complicated matter. Much of the public attention, of course, has been on the management of funds, understandably so. There are other complicating factors in this as well, including compliance with federal requirements that may have some elements to them that would cause us to move in a certain direction versus others, and we won't know that until this thorough examination is done.

So I greatly appreciate the intent to have this work done. The executive has a challenge to perform this work before the briefing in mid June and then the report by the August 1, but, it was very welcome to see that, this is the charge that is being made here and thank you very much.

Thank you. Alright. Is there anybody in chambers that want to provide public comment that has not signed up? Alright. We're gonna move on to online public comment then.

First name online is Joe Kunzler.

Welcome, Joe. Joe you're still muted. Joe, we'll give you one more try. Otherwise, we'll bring you back in a minute. All right, let's try another.

Next online name is Nella Cummings.

Hi, everyone. My name is Nella Cummings, and I am here to provide public comment on the motion 112 relating to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority on behalf of the King County Alliance for Human Services. This is, as you know, agenda item number 21. The, King County Alliance for Human Services is in favor of this motion and I support.

Joe, we'll come back to you in a second. One second. Nila, go ahead. Joe, we'll come back to you in a minute. Nila, go ahead.

Okay. Thank you. The Alliance strongly supports the appropriate and intended use of county funding and taxpayer dollars as and as all of you are deeply concerned about financial management and practices of the, King County Regional Homeless Authority. As the county and the city of Seattle work together to maintain and strengthen services and programs for individuals experiencing homelessness, the alliance asks that the following feedback be considered. Homelessness services should continue to be undertaken through a county wide regional approach.

Homelessness services should not be interrupted as financial concerns of the KCRHA are navigated and addressed. Any potential impact to human services providers should be considered. As part of the change. Human services providers continue to serve the community at this time and should be supported. Human services providers should be involved in the design and implementation of solutions, especially human services providers with subject matter expertise. Thank you all.

Thank you very much. I think we'll go back to Joe. Joe go ahead.

Everyone hear me? Yes. Thank you. Sorry I'm on like two different calls so failed on my multitasking and I apologize to everyone. But first I want to condemn without qualification Alex Zimmerman's remarks. I think it was beneath you to have to put up with that. It goes beneath the audience and I hope that this council will enforce the quorum with more strangely in the future. Moving along, I wanna lend my voice to those that wanna have a reasonable homeless solution, but we need to have enforcement. We need to have a clear understanding that drug laws need to be enforced. We need to get people suffering through addiction and treatment.

And that we need to not waste a single penny on this because, you know, I'm getting really sick and tired of certain people who get paid to comment, saying that public transit is unsafe. I've rode a lot of public transit lately. I have not seen any drug use, thanks to the advocacy of so many of you, including more public safety investments around public transit. So I'll leave you with that Bill Spotts and thank you for your service as always. Thank you.

Thank you Joe. That was the last one that we have signed up. If you want to provide public comment you're online please use your raise hand function. Going once, going twice. Alright. With that we will close public comment. Thank you to everybody who participated in today's meeting. We are going to move on to our consent agenda item seven through eight. I'm going to ask vice chair Dunn if you would move the consent agenda items seven through eight.

Move consent agenda item seven and eight.

Thank you very much. Clerk, would you please call the roll on those items?

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dombowski.

Aye.

Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Chair Barron.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and council member Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed substitute ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero two two and proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six zero zero two eight. Moving on to budget and fiscal management committee, I'm gonna call on council member Dembowski to move proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero eight two. So moved. Thank you. The item is before us. Colleagues, we do have we've obviously all been briefed on this item previously both in this body and and well at least in the budget committee but certainly as part of the fiscal committee. Council Member DeBusco, would you like to start us off in the discussion? Or we also have Brandi Parabello from Council Center staff available for any questions as well.

Sure. I would defer to the prime sponsor, Councilmember Balducci, if she wanted to set the table here and then we could maybe have a staff report and cover the amendments.

Sure. Just by way of introduction, we've had a lot of conversation about this proposal over a quiet period of time. The City of Bellevue is pursuing funding for a really regionally significant and generationally impactful project to create a pedestrian community overpass. It's been more than an overpass. That's why they call it the grand connection over I 405 connecting the West Side Of Downtown Bellevue to the East side of our growing civic center.

And this is right in keeping, this project is right in keeping with the policies and procedures and vision that we have as a local government that cares about transportation, that cares about climate change, that cares about housing, that cares about recreation and outdoor activities and parks and trails. It it sort of checks all of those boxes. And it is a very ambitious project. It will require a a significant funding stack of various different types of funding. The city is working to put a lot of their own money into this project and they have come to the taxing jurisdictions that overlap with this particular part of the county to ask us to approve legally authorized financing mechanism called tax increment financing or TIF.

There, I believe there were five, I'm doing this from memory, I believe there were five taxing districts that have been asked to approve the TIF as we must by law for it to be operable. And many of them have already approved it. Sound Transit has. I heard from the library district today that they have at the Flood Control District, we sitting as flood control supervisors approved the TIF. And today, we are here to consider approval of it as a county council. I'm gonna stop there for now because that's just I'm very much in favor. I've sponsored the legislation. I know that there are some amendments to be considered and I would like to pause now and then say more on final passage after we've considered the amendments. Thank you, chair.

Thank you, Council Member Balducci. All right, Brandi. I'm sorry. Council Member DeBuschi.

Thank you. On the amendments, could I set the table before we are briefed on them?

Go for it.

Thank you. In the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, we had a discussion about a couple of ideas because this is a twenty five year or so commitment that we're participating in to not collect what we otherwise would from the property taxes. One would be what I call the buyout option. To the extent that the county had the resources and wanted to get back the benefit of the property taxes in the area, could we buy our way out of this commitment with a lump sum payment was the concept the notion that was raised- and brandy and- lawyers and folks at Bellevue have worked very hard over a number of iterations to come up with some agreed language and consultation with the executive office that would give us the option the opportunity to do that at no harm to Bellevue compared to kind of their base case, if you will. We would not have to exercise this option.

It just gives us the right to do it on, I think, three separate occasions that are tied really to the expected issuance of tranches of debt to fund the project. If I got any of that wrong, you will correct me. I hope I got close to right. The second amendment under the state RCWs for the TIF program. There's an opportunity to what they call mitigate.

In other words, we could apply a levy rate over the remainder of the properties in King County so we would have no net loss to our general fund from the taxes and that's kind of been I love this project it's super cool it's the best of what King County does in terms of our regional trail program Burke Gilman Trail, Sammamish Trail, Mountain Lake Desound Trail, Interurban Trail. I mean, are leading the nation in this work. I think that the support for this Bellevue project that connects with the East Rail is really right in our wheelhouse and we ought to be supportive of it. And I've said in the budget committee, think if we had had the opportunity during the regional parks levy development, we probably would have put it in there. So the buyout option, which means everyone around the region would pay share the the mitigation option here doesn't commit to do that my estimate was like about a dollar on an $850,000 house.

But this amendment- would reserve our current reserve the right for us to be able to do it and have the executive transmit what the rate would be if we wanted to do it when the property tax ordinance is transmitted usually toward the end of the year. I think we usually adopted in December. Sorry, that was a lot of words and I hope I didn't confuse it but that's the thrust of the two amendments. Again, preserving rights for the county to buy our way out and preserving the right to exercise the mitigation option but committing to neither and none detrimental to the city of Bellevue and their project.

Thank you, customer. You didn't confuse it except that you read them in the opposite order of the way they're in the packet. All right. With that, I'm going to call on Brandi to actually walk us through the amendments that we're going consider.

Yes. Hello, council members. For the record, Brandi Parabello with Council Central Staff. Let's see. The materials for this, the different amendments, we have striking amendment S two, which is sponsored by council member Balducci.

And what this striking amendment does is it just makes essentially some technical edits to clarify legislative intent specifically in section f of the ordinance. It makes it clear that, the years 2028 through 2041 are the years in which apportioned levies are limited. That means none of the voter approved or levy lid lifts would be, counted until 2041. They would not be apportioned. After 2041, they would be apportioned.

So that is striking amendment S. Two and that was on page two of the additional materials packet that was sent out- councilmember Dambowski did just brief his own amendments- the first amendment amendment one to striking amendment s two is on page six of the additional materials packet. However, I did email out at 01:36PM, an amendment that is meant to replace amendment one, and this is amendment one b. Those in chambers have it, a paper copy in front of you. I also emailed that out for those of you not in chambers.

So essentially, council member Dabowski was correct. He briefed his amendments correctly. I won't, go into the detail there. And then, we have amendment two, two striking amendment s two, and that is on page, if I can find it. I've mixed myself up with all my paper- on page eight of the additional materials packet. And this- amendment two is the one that allows the county to make a lump sum payment to the city in lieu of annual payments.

Thank you, Brandy. This is my remarks. Can I just quickly, could you could you quickly tell us what changed in one B from what was circulated earlier because I took a look at one but I haven't had a to look closer

to the b? Essentially, one b, if you look at line 14 on one b, it says on page three after line 54, what has changed is that first sentence after c. So it says starting with the tax year 2028 and for each tax year through 2051, that beginning of the sentence has changed. It's nothing particularly substantive. It's just calling out the specific years in which the by.

Great. I see that change. Thank you. Colleagues, does anybody have any questions about the amendments before we start tackling them? Alright. Councilor Murphy.

Could you just tell us again what amendments we should be looking at? So not one to s two.

No. What it's a one b to s two and amendment two.

Thank you.

Great. Alright. So we're gonna first ask council member Balducci to move s two.

I move approval of amendment s two and if I may speak to it very briefly.

Go for it.

Brandi did a wonderful job of briefing it. It's technical in nature but I just wanted to say out loud that the technical changes were meant to affect the intent of the proposal that was transmitted by the executive. Thank you.

Wonderful. Thank you. Alright. Amendment s two is before us. Let's now tackle the amendments to s two. Councilman DeBusco, would you like to offer one b?

So moved.

Alright. Amendment one b is before us. Would you like to speak any further to it?

Again, just briefly, this is a reserving of rights, a permissive ability to be able to exercise the mitigation option, which we can choose to do annually. And we will have some information from the executive as to what that would look like in terms of a rate if it is not included in the executive's transmitted property tax.

All right. Thank you.

No commitment. You're not voting for a tax hike. You're just giving yourself a chance to do it later.

Alright. Any discussion on one b? Council Member Fein.

I just wanted to thank Council Member Dubowski for providing this as an option and laying it out there for us to take advantage of the future in the future should be needed. So thank you.

Alright. Any further discussion on one b? Alright. Amendment one b to s two is before us. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Alright. Amendment one b carries. Moving on to amendment two to s b. Councilor Renderbowski.

I offer amendment two.

Alright. Two to s two is before us. Councilor Renderbowski.

Amendment two turned into a little bit more of a technical exercise with the engagement of very fancy lawyers and bright minds like John Riesha and excellent staff like Brandy to put this together. But in short, it gives the county, I think, three options tied to expected financing at Bellevue to allow us to write a check and opt out in that way. Again, on terms that are no less favorable to the city of Bellevue than the original deal that is here. I'm seeing nods. I'm looking at mister Rishi so I'm making sure I'm getting this right and he's nodding.

Again, this is a permissive. The thinking here, just if you by way of example, we might put together in the next parks levy renewal, you might say, because of the impact to our general fund, will grow over time, might want to get out of that we might want the general fund to have resources for prosecutors sheriffs public defenders. Jails all the things that it's used for we all know that it's strange so that's been my motivation on this to give us some options to protect that this is kind of the second option.

Wonderful. Alright. Any discussion regarding amendment two to s two? Alright. We will go move to a vote. All those in favor of amendment two to s two, say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Alright. Amendment two to s two carries. Now we're on to s two as amended. Council any discussion before I call on council member Balducci? Do we need a title amendment? No? Okay, we don't need a title amendment. Council Member Balducci.

Thank you, Chair. And I wanted to correct something I said earlier. I believe it's true that all of the taxing districts that have to approve this have now approved, and we will be rounding it out. We're we're, we're batting cleanup here on this, proposal. And, I believe that our, ordinance, as it is now amended, contains a number of important protections.

We are the largest taxing district that will be contributing and impacted by both in contributing a portion of our property tax growth to this project that is due to the project and also in reaping the rewards of future property and sales tax growth. So, we have a lot to gain. We also have the most to contribute and I appreciate both of the amendments, that we adopted today and the thoughtful engagement with the county executive, to get to a place where, this, you know, is kind of this is a new thing. This is a first time we're doing something exactly like this, and I'm really interested to see how it works. I'm really interested to see what benefits we can provide to the community through participating in this way or through writing a check later on down the road.

And maybe this is something that we can do to support other parts of our county as we've talked about in previous committee meetings and we heard from council members hoping to use this approach to lift up projects in parts of the county that don't have access to a lot of financing tools. So, I think it's a very positive thing all the way around and I encourage all of your support and thank you for your attention. It's been complicated and complex and I know people have to think about it a lot, so appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right. With that, we have Amendment S2 before us. All those in favor of Amendment S2, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed All say right. Amendment S2 has been adopted. We're now on the underlying ordinance. Any final comments? I think we just heard final comments. Council Member Lewis.

Thank you. I just want to say that, you know, I'm really encouraged to see the the collaboration and the partnership that has gone into creating the legislation that's in front of us today. It bodes well for future partnership. I want to, echo what my colleague, Councilmember Balducci and colleague, Theresa Mosqueda said about using such creativity in some of our opportunity areas that don't have, the same, assets that, we're finding for those involved in this project. So I do, support expansion of the trail system and there's been a lot of work going into this.

So, just want to ask my colleagues to keep this in mind in the future.

Thank you, Councilor Lewis. Councilor Merlebowsky.

Thank you. Building on those prior remarks, I just I'm very proud of King County. We've had a little bad press lately and sometimes that over obscures or or clouds some of the great work we do and our parks department is one of the best in the country. The work that they've done to preserve open space and particularly to build out a regional trail network over decades is a lasting legacy that will pay dividends both for climate, for human health, just for livability and economic development for generations to come. This particular proposal is integrated into that regional trail network.

When I saw it, it looked a little bit, it reminded me of a little project up in my district. The reason I keep talking about the park levy is because the city of Shoreline wanted to build pedestrian crossing over Interstate 5 to open up a walk shed that would allow for increased zoning on the West Side Of I 5 at the Hundred And 47th Street Light rail Station. There's a existing car bridge there but that's not safe and pleasant for cyclists and pedestrians. They needed some help. That's a big lift for a little city.

We in the last parks levy, not the current one, but the last one put in what amounted to $10,000,000 to support that project. That bridge is being built today. They already have done the zoning hundreds, if not maybe more than a thousand new units. If you drive north on I-five and look to your left at 147th, you'll see that the housing came in. Infrastructure like this does make a difference for development.

The county has participated in a very similar project but on a not grand scale, a small scale. And it worked. So, the testimony about this project rang true to me because I've seen it in my own community. This is a little bit bigger investment but what's good for Shoreline is good for Bellevue in my book. So I want to thank as well on the amendments a simple idea turned into a complicated piece of work and Jennifer Merkel from the prosecutor's office and Kendall Moore tried to work this weekend and I wouldn't let them.

Maybe they did anyway but they've been working very hard and I want to express my gratitude for their excellence and to mister Risha, our alumna from Bellevue has been great to work with and Brandy Parabello has kept it all going. So, I appreciate everybody's work on it and I appreciate my colleagues, Councilmember Dunn and Councilmember Balducci letting me muck around a little bit in their legislation in their hometown. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me just before you close, Casparo Deliccia, I'll just also express my gratitude. I appreciate the work that's been done. I think initially, was unsure, I will say, but I've appreciated the education of the importance of the project. I value the project, and I appreciate that there's been work to improve the legislation, as it's been amended today. So I appreciate, the work, and I'm looking forward to supporting it. Council member Balducci to close.

Just very briefly, I I want to, acknowledge the strong partnership with the city of Bellevue. Their folks have been working exceptionally hard on this. They've, really, we've put them through their paces and asked a lot of questions and pushed back on some of the answers and really worked on this quite intently and with purpose. And there is a strong community group in support of this as well. They have formed into a formal organization, but just people who are community leaders, business community members, it has got a strong cadre of folks who are behind this.

And I really look forward to being there with you all, on the day we open it. So formally invited. I'm inviting people on your behalf. Just tell tell them back at city hall that I did that. Alright. Thanks. I encourage your support.

Alright. Thank you very much. With that, I'm gonna ask the clerk to please call the vote on this.

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dembaos.

Aye.

Council member Dunn. Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fein? Aye. Council member Lewis? Aye. Council member Mosqueda? Aye. Council member Perry? Council member Von Reichbauer? Aye. Chair Barone?

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes, and council member Perry excused.

Wonderful. By our vote, have adopted proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero eight two. Congratulations to our partners in the city of Bellevue and look forward to the grand opening at some point in the future. And now you can take back all your time that you've spent with us. Alright. Thank you. Colleagues, we're gonna move on. Now we have some items, regarding collective bargaining agreements before us. Vice Chair Dunn, could I ask you to, please move proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero nine

Move proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero nine nine. Nine for approval.

Alright. Thank you very much. We have, Erica Newman from council staff to, brief this item. Erica.

Thank you, mister chair. Erica Newman, Council Central Staff. The items for proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero nine nine begin on page 81 in your packet. The proposed ordinance would adopt the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by, King County with the King County Juvenile Detention Guild, which represents the juvenile detention officers and the juvenile division of the DA of of the Department of Adult and Adult Juvenile Detention. The county and the King County Juvenile Detention Guild began bargaining in February 2025, and they finally reached an agreement in February 2026.

The negotiated collective bargaining agreement will cover the period of 01/01/2026 through December 2028. The negotiated collective bargaining agreement includes, cost of living wage increases in addition to, it provides the management of Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention with more control of work schedules, effective attendance management, and improved staff and improved staffing staffing. The cumulative total for the duration of the proposed agreement, is about $2,000,000 in expenditures from the general fund. There was a supplemental budget request, included in the first omnibus, which was transmitted to the council on April 2026 to cover the cost associated with the collective bargaining agreement. We have Andre Chevalier on Zoom from office from the executive side to answer any questions.

Mister chair, that can that concludes my remarks.

Thank you very much. Colleagues, do we have any questions for staff or for, council member Dunn or Vice Chair Thanks, Dunn,

I should yeah. Appreciate that. Thanks. Thanks, Chair Morrone. Look good up there. Let me just ask this question. Is there anything in this collective bargaining agreement that solidifies working remotely less than three days a week?

I think I saw somebody coming off of mute. Andre, do you want to take that?

Sure. Yes. All the employees under this collective bargaining agreement do work on-site at the King County Corrections Facility. Okay.

Hey, thanks for that. All right, that will satisfy my response. I'm going to be asking this question a lot. I heard yesterday that there is a group of business people looking to run an initiative to require county employees back in the office five days a week. So I just wanna make sure that we have a basic understanding of what we're approving at the council moving forward for a lot of different reasons. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Any further questions from colleagues regarding this item? No? All right. That's for the next one. All right, great. That, sorry. Councilman Demescu.

This is again, for the executive branch. Labor policies require that the contracts be affordable to the county budget. This is a general fund funded one at the juvenile detention guild. Can the executive branch confirm, that this agreement is affordable?

I do believe Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention does have budget to cover the cost of this contract.

Okay. Councilmember Dunn is going have a recurring question, I'm going to have that recurring question. Maybe we can build that into our staff reports because we have just a I'm not sure how you do it. It's a tricky question, but I would like some thinking on it. Councilor Babaji has a Okay.

Councilor Babaji.

It's not a tricky question. Yeah, let me just beg to differ. You know, once upon a time, we were all expected in labor relations to get approval from PSB before we transmitted a contract because they would confirm that we could fund it. Because you wouldn't want to transmit a contract and then not be able to fund it. That would be an unf you know, setting the county up for an unfair labor practice.

So I would assume it's a bad idea, I know, that the county budget office has seen this and is aware of it and has confirmed that there's enough resource in the budget to cover the cost of the contract. I am seeing people in the front row nodding. Perhaps somebody could go on record as confirming my assumption. That would be super helpful. Thank you.

Sasha, I think I'm gonna invite you to come in.

As he's coming up the record. Acknowledge it somewhat of kind of maybe an obvious question you assume, but I I'm also making a little bit of a point here. Think with, for example, with respect to the COLAs, there's a there's a range here that is 95% of the CPI, which I think looks like an appropriate cost saving measure. We just all know we're struggling up here with that general fund budget and I'm on just you know sending a little bit of a- signal that we care I care about this. I think we all do.

Sasha Lesse from the King County Executive Office Relations or excuse me.

Sasha, maybe just pull up the mic a little bit just to make sure we're clear and clear.

You. Lesse with the King County Executive Office Labor Relations team. The fiscal note for this item does indicate a supplemental is needed. Councilmember

Roddy

to your correct that this is reviewed by the executive budget team in preparation for transmittal. To your direct question of where that supplemental might be or the amount needed for it, I would need a little bit more time to gather that information for you.

Okay, thank you. Any further questions or follow ups on that? Councilor Ndebeski. I'm comfortable proceeding

today but on a go forward basis it'd be great.

Okay, thank you. Councilor Bobaducci.

Yeah, thank you chair. Can, when can we expect the supplemental? Typically, they come either at the same time or close in time to each other. Will we expect a supplemental? Is it in the current omnibus, the funding for this?

That's what I wanna find out for you to give you a Yeah. Crack

We might now have to we might have to consider an amendment to the omnibus if there if there's not the funding in it. This is fixable and no need to hold up the implementation of a contract that's been negotiated with our employees, but we we should definitely figure that out. Thank you. One,

Erica, go ahead. But yeah. There

was a, supplemental budget request transmitted in the first Omnibus in, April 2026 to cover the costs associated with the collective bargaining agreement.

Oh, that's

the one that's pending. Excellent.

Thank you. Great. Any further questions on this item? Alright. Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dembaus.

Aye.

Council member Dunn. Aye. Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Barron.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and Councilmember Perry excused.

By our vote, have adopted proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero zero nine nine. Thank you very much. Next, we'll move on to proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero one zero two. Vice Chair Dunn, would you please move this item?

Moved. Move proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero one zero two.

Thank you very much. The ordinance is before us. Eric, is this you also briefing this one? Yes. Hi. Thank you.

I'm Erica Newman, Council Central Staff. The items for proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero one zero two begin on page one fifty one of your packet. The proposed ordinance would adopt the coalition labor agreement between King County and the King County Coalition of Unions that represent employees in Department of Executive Services, local services, natural resources and park, public health, the sheriff's office, and Department of Community and Human Services. The bargaining for these appendices begin on in May '25 and agreements were reached in March '26. The agreements negotiated will cover the period of 01/01/2026 through, December 2028.

The, for the first appendices is number 30 for the Department of Community and Human Services. And some of the changes made to the appendices includes the extension of probationary periods and a 5% premium on hours worked by employees performing lead assignment duties. An appendancy two one four covers the King County Sheriff's Office, and some of the changes includes a training pay premium of 5% when a bargaining unit member is assigned to train probationary employee, a 100 per month certificate cert certification pay for employees who obtain an international fire investigator, certification and reimbursements, for damage to personal property and for appendices three fifty covers the Department of Executive Services, Department of Local Services, Department of Natural Resources and Parks, and the Department of Public Health. And those are, those employees are, you know, as far as the titles go, they're they're in different trades. And so the total the cumulative fiscal impact of the proposed agreement is about 3,600,000.

And according to executive staff, the COLA although the COLA and ratification incentives were assumed and the 2627 adopted budget, The range increases and negotiated for some of the members were not budgeted and will likely require additional appropriation in the second omnibus of '26 '27. There is a title amendment and line amendment to this proposed ordinance to reorganize the list of departments for consistent flow throughout the ordinance and to include reference, for the Department of Community and Human, Services as one of the impacted agencies. We do have Sasha Alessi here, Labor Relations Manager.

James Crow, Senior I

thought that

was Your mic on, sorry.

James Crow, senior

It's still it's still not on. It's it takes a little delay.

There we go. Is that better? Yeah. James Crow, senior labor negotiator, office of labor relations.

Thank you very much. Alright, colleagues. We do have a couple of amendments on this, but any questions before we tackle those amendments? Alright. So, we have amendment one. Could you Erica, sorry. I know you just said it, but could you just again repeat what amendment one does?

Oh, the amendment amendment one just reorganizes the list of departments so that they flow consistently throughout the document and includes reference to Department of Community and Human Services.

Great. Alright. Vice Chair Dan, could I have a could you move amendment one?

Move amendment one.

Alright. Amendment one is before us. Any discussion, questions? Alright. All those in favor of amendment one, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Alright. Amendment one carries. We have a title amendment that's t one. Vice chair Dunn, would you move amendment t one?

Move t one.

Alright. T one is before us. All those in favor of t one, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Amendment t one carries. We have the underlying ordinance before us. Any questions, discussion before we proceed? Alright. I'll just call on myself and say thank you to for all the work that the labor partners have done in putting together this agreement as well as our labor relations folks. We appreciate all of your hard work. Councilor Dubuski.

I'd like to ask council member Dunn's question on this one with respect to the work from home just because it's a hot topic. What's in this? Thank

you, council member. There are three small table agreements in here. The first one is the fire investigators unit out of the sheriff's office, and they have continued to work on-site and in person since before the pandemic. And the same answer for the DCHS crisis and commitment services folks. They have worked on-site this whole time. And the final group is the Joint Crafts Council. That's various trades, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etcetera. And they have also worked on-site the entire time.

I'm looking at a couple of them. They're not getting to work from home. Thanks for being here guys. Okay. Thanks for the answers.

Alright. Thank you very much. Any further questions or discussion on this item? Alright. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci. Aye. Council Member Dembowski.

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Barong.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and council member Perry excused.

By our vote, we have adopted proposed ordinance twenty twenty six zero one zero two as amended. Thank you very much thank you very much to everybody. We will move forward to our hearing examiner consent agenda items 12 through 16. Clerk Kaye, could I ask you to please read the items into the record?

Thank you. Item 13 is proposed Substitute Ordinance Number twenty twenty six-thirty, concurring with the recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve, subject to conditions, the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by Jason Gwerder of her property located in Auburn. Item 13 is proposed subsidy ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero three one, concurring with the recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve subject conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by Monty and Mary shy Shiley for a property located in Enumclaw. Item 14 is proposed substitute ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero three two, Concurring with the recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve subject to conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by Nils K Anderson irrevocable trust incarnation. Item 15 is proposed substitute ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero three three, concurring with the recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve subject to conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by Catherine Berwald for property located in incarnation and item 16 is proposed substitute Ordinance number twenty twenty six dash zero zero three four, concurring with the recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve subject to conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by Cheryl Grenbach for property located on Bashan.

Thank you very much. Council member Fein, could I ask you to move the hearing examiner consent agenda items 12 through 16?

So moved.

Thank you very much. Those items are before us. Could you clerk please call the roll?

Yes. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dembowski.

Aye.

Council member Dunn. Aye. Council member Bain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer.

Council member von Reichbauer. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Chair Barron.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and council member Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, have adopted proposed substitute ordinances twenty twenty six zero zero three zero, zero zero three one, zero zero three two, zero zero three three, and zero zero three four. Thank you very much. Now we're moving to, motions from standing committees and regional committees and motions related to collective bargaining for council action. Vice Chair Dunn, may I have a motion for consent agenda item 17?

Move approval of consent agenda item 17 proposed motion twenty twenty five zero three two three.

Thank you very much. That item's before us. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dombowski.

Aye.

Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Barron. Aye. The vote is eight ayes and council member Perry excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion number twenty twenty five zero three two three. We are now moving on to, committee of the whole items. We have, proposed motion twenty twenty six zero zero eight five. Vice Chair Dunn, could I ask you to please move this item?

Move proposed motion, twenty twenty six zero one

zero It's eight actually 0085.

I'm sorry. 0085. Thanks for that. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. That's item is before us. Erica, would you mind just, quickly briefing this one?

Thank you, mister chair. Erica Newman, Council Central Staff. The items for proposed motion twenty twenty six zero zero eight five begin on page three twenty of your packet. The proposed motion would approve the extension of the executive's appointment of Megan Peterson as the acting director of the King County Department of Human Resources, until 07/13/2026. The, miss Peterson was initially appointed to or yeah.

Appointed to serve in that role in December 15, and without the renewal, it would be up on May 14. And so, prior to being the acting director of, Department of Human Resources, miss Peterson served as the acting chief people officer and director of the office of labor relations. And so she brings an extensive experience in operations, labor relations, people strategy, and employee engagement. And, upon the adoption of this proposed motion, she'll be able to serve for additional sixty days, which, brings us to 07/13/2026. We have Garrett Holbrook from the executive's office to answer any questions.

Mister chair, that concludes my remarks.

Thank you, Erica. So, colleague, just to just to ground us with this, there's there's three separate motions here for three different appointments. With this one, the Megan has been appointed as acting director not for the full permanent position. So we're expecting a hire at some point and we're extending that acting director. The next two motions are for people who've been who've been appointed for the permanent role, we but haven't had a chance to consider them for the permanent appointment in the committee of the whole. So we're extending those acting pending full confirmation for the permanent appointment. I just wanted to clarify that. This one is just to extend the acting director appointment until we the executive identifies a permanent person for that position. Any questions or comments on that? Alright.

We will move to action then. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dembowski. Aye. Council member Dunn. Aye. Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Chair Barone.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and council member Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, have adopted proposed motion twenty twenty six zero zero eight five. We didn't amend that one, so that was just it. Okay. Thank you. Alright. Next we have items nineteen and twenty that we just discussed. Olivia, do you want us do you want to do a quick overview of this? And or does anybody have any questions? Do we hear what we talked about? We do have to do an amendment on both of these items. I want to flag so we're gonna take them one at a time. Vice Chair Dunn, would you put motion twenty twenty six-one-nine before us?

Move approval of proposed motion twenty twenty six-one-nine.

Thank you very much. The item is before us. This is again extending the executive's appointment of Senator Valenciano's acting director of the Department of Public Health. Alright. We are gonna do I'm gonna ask Council Member Dunn to offer an oral amendment, and the amendment let me Olivia, could you explain why we have to do this oral amendment? I'll ask you to do that.

I'd be happy to. The, according to executive branch, the director of Atalenciano began serving on December 15. We originally thought it was December 13, and so that is the reason for needing to just move the day to July 13 instead of July 10 as it is written.

Thank you very much. So vice chair Dunn, could I have the oral amendment to change the date from July 10 to July 13 to reflect the end of the sixty day appointment period?

Yeah. I'm offering an oral amendment to correct the end date for this acting director appointment. As you noted, the appointment will change the date from July 10 to July 13 to reflect the end of the sixty day appointment period. The amendment is this, on page two, line seven, after the word on, strike July 10 and insert instead July 13.

Thank you very much. That amendment is before us. Any questions? Alright. All those in favor of this amendment, please say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Alright. The amendment carries. Any further questions on the underlying ordinance or underlying motion. Sorry. Alright. I'll ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Thank you. Council member Balducci? Aye. Council member Dembaski?

Aye.

Council member Dunn?

Aye.

Council member Fain? Aye. Council member Lewis? Aye. Council member Mosqueda? Aye. Council member Perry? Council member Von Reichbauer?

Aye.

Jabbaran. Aye. The vote is eight ayes and Councilmember Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion twenty twenty six zero one zero nine. Now we have item 20 before us. Vice chair Dunn, would you move proposed motion twenty twenty six zero one one zero?

Move proposed motion number twenty twenty six zero one one zero for approval.

Alright, colleagues. This is the same exercise but for director of the commute Department of Community Human Services. Any questions before we take action? All right. Vice Chair Dunn, could I have an oral amendment?

Very well. I have an oral amendment. It's the same amendment to correct the end date for this appointment from July 10 to July 13. And the oral amendment is this. On page two after line seven line seven excuse me. On page two, line seven after the word on, strike the words July 10 and insert instead the words July 13.

Thank you very much. That amendment is before us. All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. Clerk, would you please call the roll on this item?

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Council member Dembasca. Aye. Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Council member Perry. Council member von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Gerberron.

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes and Councilmember Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, have adopted proposed motion twenty twenty six dash zero one one zero as amended. Colleagues, we're onto item 21, which I believe is our last item for action today. This is proposed motion twenty twenty six-one 112. Vice Chair Dunne, would you please move the item?

Move proposed motion number twenty twenty six-one 112 for approval.

Thank you very much. Colleagues, I'm gonna start us off on this. This is something that I alluded to at the last meeting relating to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and I'm pleased to work with council members Fain and Debowski on this item. As we discussed last week, the findings of the forensic evaluation of KCRHA are deeply concerning and require serious response. Our residents and the organization doing this work cannot afford for us to get this wrong.

The goal of the proposal that I that we bring before you is to set out a clear process and timeline for us as a body to make the decision on the future of KCRHA. It also asks the executive to gather information that I believe is important for us to have as we determine the future path of administering our homelessness response system. Over the past few weeks, I've heard from many of our nonprofit partners that provide homelessness service about their concerns about our acting in haste. These providers are the backbone of our system. And if we do not act with discipline and clarity, risk destabilizing the very services our unhoused neighbors depend on.

I appreciate that there's a sense of urgency in making these decisions. However, I think we can all agree that we do not want to take actions that will jeopardize federal funding or otherwise lead to reduced services for our unhoused neighbors And I believe we can move with urgency and still do this right. So with that, I'm going to call on Olivia, I think to, to provide a staff report and then I'll call on Council Member Buffain to follow that.

Great. Olivia Bride, council policy staff. In the interest of time, I'll forego the background but information on the governance changes, budget, and select audits on KCRHA can be found on page 15 of the additional materials packet. Moving to page 18, with the analysis proposed motion twenty twenty six dash o one one two would request the executive provide a briefing regarding KCRHA's administrative shortfalls and corrective action plan and a report assessing the county's continued participation in the ILA and a decision framework for the council to consider next steps. The proposed motion requests the executive provide a briefing by 06/15/2026 to address the administrative shortfall, KCRHA's corrective action plan, an assessment of the corrective action plan, compliance with funding requirements, and the progress report of the report discussed in the previous section, excuse me, in the following section.

The proposed motion requests that the executive transmit a report by 08/01/2026 with a recommendation on whether King County should continue, amend, or terminate its participation in the interlocal agreement. The proposed motion request that the report be developed in consultation with the city of Seattle. Entities providing homelessness response services funded through KCRHA, members of the KCRHA governing board, leadership of KCRHA, and other stakeholders as identified by the executive. The proposed motion would include the, would request that the report include a decision framework, transition steps, impacts of the continuum of care, a timeline of whether the twelve month period outlined in the interlocal agreement would provide sufficient time to complete a transition, county readiness, compliance with funding requirements, actions for continuity of services, financial risks, potential reforms if the executive recommends against termination of the ILA, and other considerations including an update on the status of KCRHA's corrective action plan. I'll note that the proposed motion, notes the council's intent to consider proposed motion twenty twenty six DashO107, which was introduced at the last council meeting, which would provide the county's notice of termination in the ILA at the 08/25/2026 committee of the whole meeting, which would allow the transmittal of the report requested in this motion.

Vice chair, that concludes my remarks. Would you like me to brief the amendments now or to wait?

Why don't you go ahead and brief the amendments?

Okay.

So the, amendment one was is provided in the additional materials packet on page 12 and it would request that the report from the executive include an assessment of KCRHA's King County investment pool and any other necessary actions to mitigate risks. The amendment would also request that the executive protect the King County investment pool and provide a monthly report to the executive finance committee, the chair, and the vice chair of BFM, as well as the chair of the council on protective actions taken or recommended. There's also a title amendment to conform the, motion.

Thank you very much. I'm gonna call on the cosponsor, councilor Murphy.

Thank you. And thank you, acting chair Barron for your partnership on this legislation. I think all of us were deeply concerned by the results of the audit. We all have a responsibility to ensure that we're spending, that tax dollars are being used wisely and services are working for those who need them. And this audit flags some serious gaps in financial management and internal controls that really put our accountability and service delivery at risk.

And so acting with urgency is critical, but also we need to make sure that before we make any final decisions on the future of this service delivery that we have a clear understanding and have done a clear evaluation of KCRHA's financial condition as well as our options moving forward without disrupting continuity of care. And that does take some time. It takes a lot of expertise and thoughtful decision making. And so I wanted to also thank Councilmember Dembowski for your co sponsorship on this motion and for introducing last week's legislation. You really helped elevate a really important conversation about the long term sustainability of this agency and our region's homelessness response.

And I think that together we're creating a really strong framework and timeline for the council to make an informed decision about the future of KCRHA. This approach reflects our shared commitment for good governance, transparency and accountability while also maintaining continuity continuity of services for those who rely on them, for the service providers, who are delivering them, and the organizations that make up our homelessness response system and urge your support. Thank you.

Councilmember Damascus. Thank you

very much. I express my gratitude to councilmembers Barron and Fein for their initiation of this work and their leadership in putting together and their willingness to partner with me as a co sponsor. When you've got three legislators writing legislation, each person might do it a little bit differently, and I was a little bit late to the party. I think that big picture, that this motion if adopted by the council does give a helpful framework to inform our analysis that will occur later this summer on kind of a big decision. Definitely sheds light on and asks for some details about what it would look like to shut down the KCRHA in terms of continuity of service delivery, I think is something that's paramount and must be front of mind in all of this.

I think there's a little bit of a trickiness that has to occur here because some of the things we're asking for are about the KCRHA finances, but this is to our county executive and we can only work from the county side. I think it'll probably dovetail in with the letter from the mayor and the executive to KCRHA asking for some of that information and we'll we'll get that. I wanna speak a little bit right now as your budget chair and I believe we have a five alarm fire here. I am extremely concerned about the position that this agency has put county taxpayers in by continuing for years to borrow money to run their operations and worse, spend more than they had appropriated to them. They have dug a hole.

Councilor Balducci chaired the budget committee before and she knows with that assignment comes membership on something called the executive finance committee. It's a little bit of a hidden committee because it doesn't come up on TV and most people don't attend it, but we get these reports. And if I can in plain English, for the public and anybody watching, I want to share why I am so concerned about where we are. And let me start by saying that the audit from Clark Newburgh looked only through June 2025. There's eleven additional months of operations at the Regional Homeless Authority that we don't know anything about.

Is it getting worse? Are things getting better? Is it is it the same? So, there is an additional void of information but what we do know is the county essentially acts as the bank for the Regional Homeless Authority. We issue the checks to service providers.

And like many of you, well I'll speak for myself, I have a little bit of a line of credit on my checking account so if I go over, I don't bounce the check. Okay? We have a similar operation here at the county where we will advance funds if there's not enough money in this particular agency's account. We get a chart for the organizations that we do. This is about 16 of them here on this interfund borrowing by district and non county funds.

And a whole bunch of our partners are on here like the Shoreline Bond and Izakwa Go Bond Fund, Europoint Drainage Utility, Federal Way Lift Revenue. And their cash balances range from a low of $304. This is in the green to 593,000. These are the kind of numbers we're talking about. Kirkland has a geo bond fund.

It's negative $3 is the cash balance as of April 16 rounding error. The worst one and it's not anything to be worried about is that there's another general obligation bond fund, a cash balance of $1,762. Then you get to the King County Regional Homeless Authority. Their average cash balance in April was negative $23,400,000. Their cash balance as of April 16 was negative $38,215,518.

They are overdrawn regularly on their bank account and that's gone on for quite a while. They've dug a hole and we are going to use our county investment pool which is we take care of the money for every public entity in this county to cover this debt. And I just I've sent you all an email because I think this is a very serious issue. We have folks looking at it on the executive side. I have an amendment today to kinda highlight this issue and ask for increased scrutiny and increased reporting because we're in a position that is you can see by the comparison to anybody else we do this for, there is no comparison.

It's really, really serious and I'm I'm I'm very concerned and I know that the executive shares that concern and I know all of you do too. This amendment, amendment one, which Chair Barron, I offer now, would ask the executive to take all practical steps to protect the county's investment pool and to give us some monthly reporting on this. And we are doing some of that work as well at the executive finance committee. But this has my attention, and I and I know, everyone is concerned about it. And, I think that's why we've gotta move expeditiously on assessing what we're going to do here while at the same time, I agree, do it with caution and an understanding of what a transition of services would look like in the event that we decide to deliver services to unhoused neighbors on the street in a different way.

Alright. I think I heard a motion for amendment one. Yes. So unless anybody has an objection, I'll move to the amendment. Amendment one is before as any further comments or questions regarding amendment one. Councilmember Balducci?

I support this approach and I support this amendment. It is very important to maintain the fiscal integrity of our risk pool and the oversight. Those numbers are completely unacceptable, very high. But just for context, just for the purposes of the public who may have heard the words risk pool for the first time today, the risk pool balance typically ranges between 7 and $14,000,000,000 at any one time. So it is this is not okay. It cannot continue. I will vote for this amendment. I will vote for this legislation. I just wanna be clear about that. But I don't wanna leave people with the, sense that it's causing our balances to be at risk. It's not. It still needs to be put a stop to. Thank you.

For the record, should concur concur with that. In terms of the kind of the scope there, yes.

Alright. Any further comments on amendment one? Alright. Amendment one is before us. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Alright. Amendment one is adopted. We also have title amendment t one. Council Member Dubaschi? So moved. Title amendment one is before us. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Alright. Amendment t one is adopted. Now we have the underlying ordinance or sorry, underlying motion. Any any comments from colleagues? Council Member Lewis.

Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues for working jointly to put forward the amendments that we saw today. I want to reiterate that as we go through this process of reviewing what what happened, you know, where we are financially with KC RHA, that we don't lose sight of the population that's being served. And I think my colleague said that as well a little early earlier. When we're in an environment where there's more and more need based on what's going on in the other Washington, I mean, we're gonna need to continue these kinds of partnerships.

I want us to learn from the contracts that we have now, the services that have been provided, what works and what doesn't work. I believe we can serve our vulnerable population in a fiscally responsible way. Thank you.

Thank you very much Councilor Merritt Lewis. I will just close and just add I appreciate the amendment from Councilor Nabowski. I share your urgency, and that's why we kind of structured the motion to have this kind of check-in period in June, mid June. I wanna emphasize that also councilor Raffin and I serve on the governing board. We we formed a finance committee to address this issue, something that I think we have been working on even before the results of the evaluation.

That finance committee will be meeting soon. As part of that process, we imposed some restrictions on KCRHA to make sure that, you know, we prevented, you know, further actions that might exacerbate the problems. But but I think there's multiple ways that we have to work at this. I appreciate the willingness to support this motion because I do think it charts a path and it also provides clarity to community about how we're gonna structure this very important conversation. And I think I I appreciate customer Lewis' centering the the point that, you know, I I think we need to consider what's best for the people who are being served by by the work that is being done by our nonprofit partners, some of whom we heard from today.

And so I appreciate the opportunity to provide some clarity and urge your support. And with that, call the clerk to ask the ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Dembowski.

Aye.

Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda.

Aye. That was a great

trick that was Ken Phillips.

Councilmember Van Rijkbauer. Aye. Chair Barone. Aye. The vote is eight ayes and Councilmember Perry excused.

By our vote, have adopted proposed motion twenty twenty six zero one one two as amended. Thank you very much. Now if there is no objection, the published marked agenda together with any changes made in today's meeting will stand approved as the first reading and referral of ordinances and motions item 22 through 26 as listed. Under other business, in accordance with KCC four a one hundred zero eight zero, we received notification regarding a capital project exception notification On 04/22/2026, the clerk distributed a copy of to all council members under the code a transfer from an emergency fund exceeding 15% shall be noticed on two council agendas to give council members an opportunity to object at either of these meetings. In addition to inclusion on today's council agenda, this notification was included on the 04/28/2026 council agenda.

With that, seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned. And a reminder that we have EAC will start at 03:40.