City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to welcome you to the July 7th, 2026 meeting of the King County Council. I'm Sarah Perry, chair of the council, joined by Vice Chair Reagan Dunn and our 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've lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our communities. Additionally, I'd like to quickly recognize and welcome the council's new chief policy officer, Alyssa Benson. We are excited to have you with us and have you on board to lead our excellent team of legislative analysts and legislative clerks. Welcome. With that, Clerk Hay, would you please call the roll? Thank you. Council Member Balducci. Here.

Council Member Barone. Here. Council Member Dimbowski. Here. Council Member Dunn.

Here.

Council Member Fain. Here. Council Member Lewis. Here. Council Member Mosqueda. Here. Council Member Van Rijkbouwer. Here. Chair Perry. Here. You have a quorum.

Thank you. Please join us now in a Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice Chair Dunn.

Please stand if you're able and join me in pledging allegiance to our nation's flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the June 23rd, 2026 council meeting?

So moved.

Thank you. The motion is before us. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Minutes are approved. Clerk Hay, are there any additions to the council agenda? I have none. Okay, thank you. We'll now turn to the reading of items into the record and the hearing of public comments. Clerk K, will you please read the items into the record?

Thank you. Item 6 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0016, approving the City of Auburn Water System Plan, dated July 2025. Item 7 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0023, adopting and ratifying amendments to the 2021 King County Convention. countywide planning policies. Item eight is proposed ordinance number 2026-0047, correcting the legal description in ordinance 19723, which authorized the vacation of a portion of 152nd Avenue Southeast, file fee 2745, petitioners Micah and Florine Palmer. Item 9 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0050 approving the City of Black Diamond water system plan dated summer 2025. Item 10 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0113 relating to the withdrawal of approximately 67 acres of land from the Vashon Sewer District. Item 11 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0150 an ordinance authorizing the executive to enter into an amendment to the amended and restated solid waste interlocal agreement with the City of Bothell related to solid waste management services in areas of Snohomish County annexed to the City of Bothell after December 31, 2012. Item 12 is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0101 an ordinance relating to the prevention detection and response to fraud waste and abuse of county administered monies and creating an inspector general division within the office of public complaints. Item 13 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0090, renaming parcel 7812801985 of Skyway Park as Black Panther Park to honor the legacy of the local Black Panther Party chapter. Item 14 is proposed ordinance number 2026-0162 relating to the capacity charge methodology. Item 18 is proposed motion number 2026-0038, a motion acknowledging the receipt of a plan describing the analysis to be completed for the policy questions identified in the Regional Wastewater Services Plan Update Scope Document as adopted by Regional Water Quality Committee Resolution 2025-01. Item 19 is proposed substitute motion number 2026-0058 confirming the executive's appointment of Jacqueline Reyes, who resides in Council District 8, to the Conservation Futures Advisory Committee as an executive at-large representative. Item 20 is proposed motion number 2026-0059, confirming the executive's appointment of Eric Adman, who resides in Council District 1, to the Conservation Futures Advisory Committee as a Council District 1 representative. Item 21 is proposed motion number 2026-0060 confirming the executive's appointment of Ben Antonius who resides in Council District 2 to the Conservation Futures Advisory Committee as a Council District 2 representative. Item 22 is proposed motion number 2026-0072 a motion approving a memorandum of agreement to restructure the East Rail Regional Advisory Council. Item 23 is proposed motion number 2026-0106 confirming the executive's appointment of Ellen Walker who resides in council district one of the King County Cultural Development Authority for culture as an executive at-large representative for position 15. Item 24 is proposed motion number 2026-0123 confirming the executive's appointment of Nancy Salguero-McKay who resides in council district seven to the King County Cultural Development Authority as an executive at-large representative. Item 25 His proposed motion, number 2026-0127, confirming the executive appointment of Theophila Cruz-Uribe, who resides in Council District 8, to the King County Cultural Development Authority Board as an executive at-large representative for position 12. Item 26 is the motion confirming the executive's reappointment of Molly McCoy, who resides in Council District 8, to the King County Board for Developmental Disabilities. Item 40 is proclamation of July 26th, 2026 as Disability Pride Day in King County. And item 41 is recognition of Rick Riz for his accomplishments in baseball and exemplary public service.

And she breathes.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, the Council will now take public comment on those ordinances, motions, proclamations, and recognitions on today's Agenda for Action, which includes, as it is the first Tuesday of the month, Items 6 through 26 and Items 40 and 41. 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, please recognize the following rules for comment in chambers. Please limit comments to two minutes. Remain seated until time for your comment. Do not make audible noise during the meeting. It's 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 10, disruptive behavior can or may lead to the commenter being asked to leave the meeting or they may be muted. And finally, holding signs that obstruct the free passage of view or others attending the meeting is not permitted and no signs at the podium. For online comment, press star 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. And at the end of the comment, the clerk will lower the hands. With that, Clerk Foss, please begin calling the names here in person followed by those hands raised online for public comment.

Thank you, Chair Perry. First name on the list in chambers is Kevin Altimer.

Good evening, Chair, Council, and black community and brown community. Today you're witnessing a tyrannical miscarriage of justice of these fake Politicians who have basically sat there and allowed that auditor and along with that guy sitting over there, Mr. Jeremy Bill, who allowed a report to come out based off of faulty data. Clark and Newberg states that none of that information within their investigation can be accredited as 100% truth. So therefore, it's flawed. Then you have Mrs. Rhonda sitting up there, who wasn't elected by nobody, selected by you to basically harm our black community. So what is happening? You guys are sitting up there knowing good and well that that $13 million that had just taken back You know why he took it back? Because Mr. Donald Trump was coming. If you guys would have called that fraud, he was coming to take the money like he did in California. So you know what he did? He called it invoicing. See, when they have problems with $13 million, you call it invoicing. But those four black strategies, you called it fraud, waste, and abuse. Not one case has been determined or adjudicated as fraud, waste, and abuse. Plus, on the 27th of May... of the director of DCHS said there is no fraud, waste, and abuse, and so did the state auditor. Reagan, Dunn, the wizard, and Dembowski, the other weasel, is up there trying to push this. And Rhonda, I'm going to tell you straight up and down, you are a disgrace to our community.

I'm sorry, Mr. Yeah, thank you. Mr. Reagan, how come Reagan gets to be a wizard and I get to be Fiesel?

Okay, thank you. Next, please. Next person in chambers is Alex Zimmerman.

Thank you.

Mr. Zimmerman, please leave your sign down. Thank you. Thank you.

No problemo.

Hi.

Yeah, my name Alex Zimmerman. I want to speak about agenda number 12, about responsibility, what is covered right now under Inspector General Rules. By definition, you all are criminal. You all are bandita. You suck blood and money from us. Number one, $35 billion stealing you from sound transit. Can country housing authority spend $100 million for a dozen thousand not legal immigrant without document? 20,000 homeless, most American or citizens like me, we don't have room. But people, what has come from shit, pardon for my French, is have everything. In third, what is absolutely critical, we have a syphilis epidemic in country. I never see like this before. Last syphilis epidemic is coming 15th century. What has happened with you, huh? You dirty Nazi pig, are you bandita? A debile, a criminal. What's happened with you? Why you bring king country to number one fascist county in America? You want to kill thousands and thousands of Americans who live in king country. Can you explain to you? So my opinion is straight. You need sue you. We need prosecute you. You supposed to be in jail because you steal from us a billion, billion money. It's important very much. So this policy, what is you make right now, is a good policy. I never see this for 30 years, but as I come to this chamber. New policy, what is give us power right now. Every American, you know what it means, citizen, can sue you. Make policy. Personal arrest, you know what it means, and put you in jail. It's important. Viva Trump, viva new American revolution, stand up, slave, and happy cow. Stop stealing us money, billion and billion dollars. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman, and our First Amendment. Please go ahead with the next.

Next on the list is Yvette Dynish.

Oh, excuse me. Allergies. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you. I'm referring to Article 12, I mean, Item 12. And for the Seattle Times on July 2nd, city county to rework homeless services. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. One thing that caught my eye was that the city and county have brought in our financial consultant to help strengthen financial control at the authority. And Rob Demboski was quoted as saying, it's a step in the right direction. And also, Executive Gourmay said he took measures this year to improve accountability within the department, including new financial controls and higher standards for invoicing have already transformed it. And he also noted that the vision that handles homelessness services has never had issues. I'm so relieved. that you're taking control because the money was poorly spent, obviously. And I look forward to the work you'll be doing to correct the homelessness authorities. Some people wanted it abandoned altogether. Yeah, I guess cut them a little slack and see if they can do better now that they have been exposed to misusing our monies. And also thank you, Council Member Luth. I believe you were responsible for the ordinance renaming Skyway Park as Black Panther Park. I was at the grand opening. It's a delightful thing. And thank you to Naima Clark for spearheading that. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Dinesh. Is there anyone else in chambers who hasn't had a chance to speak who would like to before we go online? Anyone else in chambers who'd like to speak?

Okay. Go ahead and call them online. First name online is Rebecca Saldana.

good afternoon um members of the county council um my name is rebecca saldaña for the record and i appreciate the opportunity to provide some public comment on behalf of my constituents as the state senator of the 37th legislative district and i believe it's in regards um some to item 12 around government accountability and oversight and um just for context and before i was a state senator i was an executive director of a non-profit called puget sound sage and we worked um along with the seattle foundation and many other community-based organizations to shape the Communities of Opportunity, which then became the partnership with the county and Seattle Foundation that I believe helped shape what became the Best Starts for Kids levy. In there, there's a commitment to working with small-based community organizations, communities that are closest to the people that we're trying to serve, as a value. And I'm really proud of the strategies that I've seen the county advance, trying to break the cycle of poverty and the generational engagement with our legal system in the jails and our prisons and I applaud you for doing that. Why I'm here before you right now is just I have concerns because I've heard from many of my community-based organizations, particularly those that are headed by our black leaders of my community in the 37th, who have, I think, been swept in to the concerns that have been raised about how do we, based on that audit that you received, that the county needs to tighten our oversight, your accountability, your processes, and that there needs to be changes But in the meantime, they have been doing critical service. They've provided services based on their contracts, their memorandums of understanding.

And Senator Saldana, I'm very sorry, but the timer's gone off. But we do encourage you to please finish your thought, and then we encourage you to come again.

Thank you so much. Yeah, I think what I'm asking is for them, they feel afraid that they're being punished, that they're going to be blackballed. And I'm hoping that your agency and you can provide some opportunities for real partnership and a process to move forward so that they can get paid. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next on the list is Joe Kunzler.

Hi, everybody. Ray Gore, Commodore Joe Kunzler here. It's always a privilege and honor to address the world's famous King County Council. And I want to begin by thanking you for Disability Pride Month. I think it's important that those with disabilities have self-respect and self-esteem, just as I think this council deserves the self-respect and self-esteem. And the first two speakers were very hurtful. I really, really appreciate this because I'm kind of fortunate compared to a lot of folks on disability because disability, as you may be aware, is a spectrum. Some people might be like me, are able to get up and walk around and see normally. Other disabled folks need a wheelchair. Some people on disability have great vision. I have one and a half eyes that work. And I also have Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of autism. So those are all things to consider as you work on Disability Pride Month. It is very, and I got to tell you, the feedback I got just from sharing on Instagram that disabled people are tired of having to explain themselves was amazing. So those are all things to keep in mind. But the real reason why I rose my head today was just that the first two speakers, and I don't want to get in the back and forth, I really think you should have been asked to tone it down a bit. You're out here serving the community, dealing with complex issues like homelessness.

Mr. Kanzler, I so enjoy your comments. If we can keep it on the agenda, that would be very helpful.

Yes, I agree. And since some of the issues I wanted to bring up are not on the agenda, I'll just conclude by thanking you for your public service and talk to you at your time. Thank you.

Thank you so much. If there's anyone else online that would like to speak that hasn't had a chance to speak, please raise your hand and the clerks will call on you. Anyone else here? OK, I seeing no one with that we will close public hearing and I want to recognize Council member Jorge Baron is with us online as well. Thank you very much for comments today. Will now turn to the first action items on today's agenda, which are consent ordinances 6 through 11. Vice chair done. Will you please move consent agenda item 6 through 11?

Move consent agenda item 6 through 11.

Thank you. Consent agenda items 6 through 11 are before us. Clerk Hay, will you please call the roll?

Thank you, Chair Perry. Council Member Balducci? Aye. Council Member Barone?

Aye.

Council Member Dembowski? Aye. Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis?

Aye.

Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer? Aye.

Aye.

Chair Perry?

Aye.

The vote is eight ayes, and Councilmember Mosqueda excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed ordinances number 2026-0016, 0023, 0047, 0050, 0113, and 0150. Turning to item 12, which concerns the prevention, detection, and response to fraud, waste, and abuse of county-administered monies and creating an Inspector General Division within the Office of Public Complaints. Councilmember von Reitbauer, will you please move Proposed Ordinance 2026-0101.2. So moved. Thank you. Proposed Ordinance 2026-0101.2 is before us. Councilmember Dembowski is prime sponsor of the legislation. Would you like to make any opening remarks?

Sure. Thank you, Chair, very briefly. I want to start by thanking Councilmember von Reichbauer, who chairs our Government Accountability and Oversight Committee, for having the hearings and shepherding this legislation through the committee process, receiving input from various stakeholders. Chair von Reichbauer, it's much appreciated. This legislation came forward really out of an amendment to legislation first offered last year by Councilmember Dunn to enhance oversight and accountability in our county functions and with some of our contractors following some pretty troubling findings by our independent auditor. I want to say at the outset that the vast majority of county operations and programs and partners are run ethically, credibly, effectively, and help us achieve investments in and supports for everyone in this King County to live a full and healthy life and really create a vibrant and incredible place to live. But our county budget has grown now over the biennium, that's two years, to $20 billion. And when you have that kind of money going through and the kind of complex operations we have, Every now and then you're going to have a bad actor. It happens. Despite all of our systems that are in place to prevent it, it does happen. Our auditor identified some programs that had some trouble, and then there were some systemic issues that have been identified. We've been working over the last year or so to strengthen and repair some of those systems. In the executive branch, we have built up an internal audit function. We will have and continue to have our independent legislative branch auditor that was established in the county charter originally in 1968. We have our ombuds function. We've also expanded investments in the last budget in our ethics program for enhanced training that had been whittled down over the last decade or so. Councilmember Dunn has some pending legislation on that. We put some money in the budget for it, and we've added some additional budgetary restrictions on certain grant programs. This piece of legislation really takes advantage of the vision of some of the framers of our charter who established an Office of Citizens' Complaint. It's section 260 of the charter, and it's that section pursuant to which our Ombuds Office operates today. They handle a lot of our ethics issues here at the county, but under the implementing ordinance, their work is focused primarily on something called administrative acts, and that is internal to the county. In looking at our systems, we've identified a gap, and that gap is whether or not we can look to our funding partners on the outside of the county when there are problems. And that has been a void. Councilmember Dunn ran his legislation last year offering an amendment to ask the auditor and the ombuds to look at whether or not we could pick up some learnings from the federal government, which is known for its inspector general function, whether local governments had that. They came back with a great report, said yes, indeed, certain local jurisdictions around the country do have an inspector general function, and it can be a valuable tool in receiving complaints, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, and having an accountability circle when that happens. So this legislation creates an Office of Inspector General here in the legislative branch to complement the work of our auditor and our ombuds and the new functions that are over in the executive side as well. It would be a place where somebody who believes that there is a problem can file a written complaint. That complaint can be assessed, whether or not it has merit or not, and then what steps to take. This office would be empowered with the subpoena power afforded to it in the charter and would have the ability to pursue recovery of wrongfully spent funds. Again, I'll say again, I think this is rare. But we also need a place to make sure that when it does occur, that it's identified and that there's accountability and where possible recovery of funds. We've tried to be pretty lean and efficient here. We have done some initial funding in the current budget that was adopted a couple of weeks ago. We're not talking about building up a big new bureaucracy. But this office would also, I think, run our fraud hotline, which is an idea that Councilmember Dunn has advanced. And I know, Councilmember Chair Perry, you have an amendment to strengthen that. But that, in a nutshell, colleagues, is what this legislation does. And I think it will round out what has really been historically, I think, a very... robust accountability and oversight function here at the government to look at our operations look at those that we partner with and make sure that we're delivering on the promise to taxpayers that their funds are going to be invested well and spent well and when they're not that we fix it

Thank you very much, Council Member Dembowski, for your leadership in bringing forward this timely and necessary legislation to strengthen accountability and oversight functions at the county. I want to pause here and note that Miranda Leskinen from Council Central staff is available to answer questions and brief any amendments. We also have Auditor Kimber Waltonson and Ombuds Director Jeremy Bell on hand for questions. Before I open it up for discussion, I want to check to see if any colleagues would like Miranda to provide a quick recap of the underlying legislation before we move on. Okay. Before we proceed with the amendments, do my colleagues have any additional questions or opening comments for discussion? i was going to plan to offer the amendments on behalf of council member barone to avoid technical when i'm ready okay great thanks very much for that i do understand that there are seven amendments and i'd like to ask miranda to brief all amendments together before we take them up so miranda please go ahead when you're ready thank you chair perry um for the record miranda leskin and council policy staff all the proposed amendments for today are included in your green folder

At the top of your green folder on pages two and three, you'll see an amendment tracker, which essentially is an overview of all the amendments that are proposed for discussion today. As you noted, Chair Perry, there are seven proposed amendments, one of which has two alternative versions, which I'll speak to in just a second. First amendment, amendment number one, is sponsored by Councilmember Barron. This amendment would amend, update the definition of abuse as it is used in the proposed legislation to clarify that the abuse be conducted outside of the norms and could lead to detrimental financial result to the county. That's Amendment 1. Amendment 2, also sponsored by Councilmember Barron, would amend the definition of fraud in the proposed legislation so that the false statement or information referenced in the definition must be material. That is Amendment 2. Amendment number three is sponsored by Councilmember Dembowski. This would direct that the division directors of the Office of Public Complaints would confer at the initial intake of a complaint in order to determine which of the divisions to which the complaint would be assigned and designates that the council's chief of staff would issue the final decision in the hypothetical event where a decision is unable to be reached by the two division directors. This amendment would also make some technical edits in order to align with this level of direction and then moves an existing subsection for improved flow readability. So in a nutshell, that is amendment number three. Amendment number four, sponsored by Councilmember Barron, would remove the requirement that the division directors be registered voters. Next is Amendment No. 5, sponsored by Councilmember Perry. This amendment would promote fraud hotline accessibility by requiring that reports be allowed to be made by various methods, calls out examples such as those received telephonically and electronically. So that is amendment number five. Amendment number six is the amendment that has two proposed alternatives. Amendment 6A would be offered if amendment three is adopted. This amendment would require the inspector general division director to provide an implementation plan to the council as soon as practical after their employment start date. The alternative version, Amendment 6B, would be offered in the event Amendment 3 is either not offered or adopted. It also would require an implementation plan under the same conditions. I should note, Amendment 6 is sponsored by Councilmember Fain. Lastly, Amendment 7, this is sponsored by Councilmember... I'm not sure if I misspoke. Amendment 6 is sponsored by Councilmember Fade. Apologies. Lastly, Amendment 7 is sponsored by Councilmember Dembowski, and this would just change the ordinance's effective date from July 1 to July 31 of this year. Madam Chair, those are the amendments in the green folder.

Thank you very much, Miranda, for the briefing. Do my colleagues have any other questions for staff before we take up each of the amendments? Okay, let's proceed with Amendment 1. With Vice Chair Barone unable to be here, I'd like to ask Council Member Demboski to move Amendment 1.

I move Amendment 1.

Thank you. Do my colleagues have questions or comments for discussion, or would anyone like a recap of the amendment? Whoops, we already had that recap. Comments or questions?

Amendment 1 would refine the definition of abuse. Abuse is kind of a subjective term. It's something that I'm not sure we manifested perfectly at the onset of the legislation. Council Member Barone has carefully looked into this and has brought forward some language which would add a little more objective test to it, and I encourage members' support for this amendment.

Very good. Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing no further discussion, let's proceed with the vote. All those in favor of Amendment 1, please say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay. Amendment 1 is adopted. Next, we move to Amendment 2. Councilmember Domboski, will you please move Amendment 2?

So moved.

Thank you. Do my colleagues have any questions or comments for discussion? Or would the sponsor like to speak to it?

Sure. On behalf of Council Member Barone, he again has looked at the issue of fraud or the definition of fraud, and this amendment would add materiality as a requirement to the fraud. It's a pretty standard requirement consistent with, I think, federal and state law, and I believe it's a very good amendment and encourage support.

Great. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of Amendment 2, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay. Amendment 2 is adopted. Councilmember Domboski, will you please move Amendment 3, and would you like to speak to it?

Sure. Briefly, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we are creating this Inspector General Division in the Office of Citizen Complaints, Section 260 of the Charter. There is a scenario where a complaint could come in that might have some overlap with with core functions of the ombuds office, which is operating under the same authority, this amendment at its core would say, well, in those cases, we ask that the ombuds and the IG get together, figure out who should have responsibility to handle it and confer and decide in the event that there was a dispute between the two, our chief of staff here at the council could make an ultimate decision. This is an alternative to creating kind of a head of the office which would be a new position and probably expensive, so it's also a bit of a cost-savings approach, but resolves, I think, a question that a number of members have rightfully had. What happens in a gray area between the two functions? How do you resolve that? This is a starter piece of language. We're going to see if this passes, how it works. I want to be clear on the record that if it ends up not functioning as hoped, that we're open to having other approaches come back in the future for further refinement.

Thank you. Any comments or questions from colleagues? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of Amendment 3, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay. Amendment 3 is adopted. Councilmember Dembowski, would you please move Amendment 4?

So moved.

Thank you. Would you like to speak to it?

I would. This is an important amendment that removes an old and I believe outdated requirement that the director should be a registered voter of the state. I have two thoughts on this. One is that one in four King County residents today was born outside of America. And while many do become citizens, many others are in the process of becoming citizens. And some don't choose to become a citizen. 13.5% of our residents are not citizens and therefore not eligible. voter. Those folks bring incredible talent from all over the world to our county and it is not really responsible or current thinking to automatically exclude them from employment in positions like this. Requiring them to be a registered voter does that. The second piece is kind of a First Amendment thing. And while I believe, and all of us do, that voting is very important, there are folks who choose to express their views by saying, I'm not going to participate. I will not be a registered voter. That doesn't mean they're not qualified for these jobs. So I think Council Member Barone's amendment here to eliminate the registered voter requirement is well thought out and appropriate and I encourage support.

Thank you. I want to note that on the 4th of July, Mayor Josh Amato from Sammamish noted that seven of the signers of our original signers were immigrants. I think it's very important. Any other comments? Seeing no further discussion, those in favor of Amendment 4, please say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay. 4 is adopted. Moving on to Amendment 5. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move Amendment 5?

Move Amendment 5.

Thank you. Colleagues, before we proceed, I want to share some brief remarks on the intent behind this amendment. The goal is to call out access and accessibility in the hotline portion of the legislation. The purpose is to create a mechanism for county employees and the public to report suspected fraud, waste, and abuse of county administered monies by the county and its officers, employees, contractors, and grantees. With this goal in mind, as with our county services and programs, it's important that we are creating systems and structures with access and accessibility in mind. Really appreciate that the underlying legislation calls out including hotline reporting options in addition to those made by telephone. This amendment takes that concept a step further by directing the hotline function to allow reports by various methods such as telephonically and electronically to promote accessibility. I urge support. Colleagues have any questions or comments? Seeing none, those in favor of Amendment 5 say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Amendment 5 passes. There are two versions of Amendment 6. So let's see. 6A is what we are looking at. Moving on to Amendment 6, because Amendment 3 was adopted, we'll proceed with Amendment 6A. Councilmember Fain, will you please move Amendment 6A and would you like to speak to it?

Move Amendment 6A? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you again to Councilmember Domboski for all of your work in creating this new division and I appreciate your collaboration throughout this process. So this amendment 6A complements amendment 3, which establishes a process for the division directors of the new, of the Office of Public Complaints to determine how complaints will be assigned. This amendment focuses on, on a broader scale, how the new division will be implemented in practice. So, you know, throughout this process, I've wondered how, I wanted to make sure that as we are launching this new division process, We have clear roles and processes and how it will work with the existing ombuds division. And so this asks the new inspector general to provide an implementation plan, really describing that coordination with the ombuds, the auditor, county departments, how it will be organized and staffed. That came up when I was curious about how budgeting will work. Will they submit? SEPARATE BUDGETS, ONE BUDGET. I AM TAKING THIS APPROACH LIKE COUNCILMEMBER DUBOWSKI TO MAKE SURE OR TO SEE IF WE CAN GET THIS TO WORK WITHOUT HIRING THAT OVERSIGHT ROLE. I THINK WE CAN. BUT I THINK THAT SETTING OUT EXPECTATIONS AND CLARITY OF ROLES AT THE OUTSET WILL HELP It asks the new Inspector General to let us know how and when the hotline will be implemented and overall timeframe and sequencing. It does not prescribe these decisions, it simply asks uh the inspector general to provide the council with the implementation plan i didn't put a deadline on it i wanted to make sure we are flexible but that we do get that information especially before it becomes fully operational and additional funding is requested so with that i'm happy to answer questions but would urge your support thank you

Seeing any comments from a colleague, Council Member Dimbas.

I just wanted to thank Council Member Fain. This was, in my opinion, a very thoughtful and actually needed amendment to the legislation. We're establishing something new here, and as drafted and introduced, we didn't really ask for a plan. We just kind of maybe hoped that there would be one, but I think... not only asking but requiring one to bring forward the issues and the recommendations from the new IG is a really terrific enhancement to this legislation, and I'm grateful that Councilmember Fain put her great mind to work on it. Thank you, Councilmember Fain.

Thank you, Councilmember Dabowski. Councilmember Dunn.

Thank you, and I want to thank Councilmember Fain for this thoughtful amendment as well, and I will support it. I think if I'm somebody looking at perhaps being hired as the Inspector General, I'd want to put together a work plan for my office. That would be an attractive thing to think about doing as you're looking at work. It means you really have an opportunity not only to take the job and take the responsibilities, but really scope things.

uh the the priorities the focus the structure within the confines we've set here in existing charter confines are moving forward i think it'll help seeing no further comments all those in favor of amendment 6a say aye aye all those opposed say nay 6a is adopted councilmember dembowski will you please move amendment 7 and would you like to speak to it

So moved. This amendment extends the effective date by 30 days from July 1, which is lapsed to July 31.

Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Amendment 7 is adopted. Turning now to the underlying ordinance as amended, before we proceed with final adoption, do my colleagues have any closing remarks? Councilmember Dunn.

Thank you. I want to thank Councilmember Dabowski and all my colleagues for working together on this legislation. I'd like to thank also the executive staff and the executive himself for his efforts in this process as we work to restore public accountability and the exec worked with us on this legislation in a lot of ways in a constructive manner. What we're hearing out there over and over is that the public has called on this council to address alleged and potential fraud and waste that has been evident, I think, since last year's DCHS audit, among others. My colleagues and I took those concerns, we reached out to experts, we took findings from the Ombuds and Auditor's Office, and shaped together what we now have before us under Councilmember Nabowski's leadership. The creation of the Inspector General comes with great responsibility in a time of roughly government distrust across all levels of government. To restore that trust, we must be purposeful in ensuring hard-earned public funds are used efficiently, not scattered indiscriminately without regard to accountability. Week after week, the Seattle Times, Como, and many other news outlets have come out with new reports about how King County dollars are vulnerable to waste or even potential fraud. We have seen in the media that it is alleged the DCHS program manager allegedly diverted more than $800,000 in taxpayer-funded grants to five of her own family members over five years. In April, it was reported that KCHRA had $13 million in public funds that was unaccounted for. We were told that King County and Seattle owe $8 million that had not been financially accounted for by KCRJ. Taxpayers, I think, have had enough. They deserve a government that delivers real accountability and justice for financial wrongdoing. An inspector general will give King County the teeth it needs to conduct rigorous oversight, pursue independent investigations, uncover improper conduct, and ensure meaningful repercussions. This legislation will limit the ability of potential bad actors to utilize King County as a free handout and ensure that any attempts to potentially defraud King County are held accountable for their actions. By giving the Inspector General subpoena power, it legally compels contractors and grantees to provide proof of supplies and services. The creation of a fraud hotline in the legislation gives both King County employees and the public the opportunity to point out potential financial fraud, waste, and general abuse in our systems. In fact, we just allocated $600,000 in our recent supplemental budget to get the Inspector General hired. along with starting the fraud hotline. I look forward to bringing legislation to tighten conflict of interest rules across our King County government before this body in the coming weeks and months. The recent audit showed us where processes were failing and where we are most vulnerable. This Inspector General legislation works to rectify these failures and protects taxpayer dollars from these vulnerabilities. King County has I think a really good opportunity here to lead the nation in transparency and good governance. We should jump on that opportunity and begin restoring lost taxpayer faith. I urge your support.

Thank you Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you, Chair Perry. I want to start by thanking my colleagues and thanking everyone who has put so much thought and effort into this legislation, which is designed to work in conjunction with the executive order, creating an internal auditor and sub-cabinet. It is important to me that contractors follow the rules. It is also important to me that we set contractors up for success. So we need to ensure that our contractors are being trained, that they know what is expected and they know what the rules are so that they can comply. So the services that these contractors are delivering are very important and they deserve a system of integrity. I urge your support.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis. Council Member Balducci.

Thank you, Chair. I want to join my colleagues in appreciating Council Member Dembowski for bringing forward this proposal. We've had a number of discussions over the last couple of years about the challenges in contracting that were found through an audit and some of the difficulty, frankly, in responding to that audit and getting a full understanding of all the challenges and what we need to do to fix them all. And in that process, we've definitely identified some holes in the oversight function at King County. And this is a very important step, I think, to fill a key one of those holes. I'm very happy to support this and will be voting yes. I did want to say just as we start to stand up this new function, sort of in line with Councilmember Fain's amendment that we just passed, that I would encourage the folks who are already working in this zone, our ombuds, our auditor and others and the new inspector general lead when that person is hired to come back to us as the new function is being stood up and then periodically over time and share ways in which we can strengthen this function as we're standing it up and as we go on. I think that is really a very very valuable path that we've set out on and i look forward to continuing to get the most benefit out of it as we start to deploy these resources thank you thank you councilmember balducci

Let me add a word of thanks to everyone who's worked on the legislation over this past year, especially Council Member Dembowski for his leadership, Council Member Dunn, certainly, and Miranda Leskinen from Policy Staff, Kendall Moore from Legal Counsel, and all of my colleagues who have leaned in and had these robust discussions and providing amendment concepts. I believe this collaborative effort and care that has gone into the proposal demonstrates the seriousness of the situation and our collective desire to address the issues that are at hand. And the recent audit showed a need to help DCHS strengthen financial stewardship and build a robust internal control framework that can be used across county agencies. By design of the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, it is the responsibility of the legislative branch to provide a check and balance to executive branch agencies. The Inspector General Division does exactly that. It's a significant step forward in ensuring that King County does everything in its power to establish and maintain fiscal structures and practices that make us the best in the nation in financial management. I urge support. Council Member Dembowski to close.

Well, thank you very much, colleagues, for your work on this. I sent an email out a few weeks ago inviting folks to contribute your own amendments, and I was happy to see that that was done. I may be the first name on the list, but there are a number of co-sponsors, including council members Dunn, Perry, Von Reckbauer, Fain. and Lewis and others who even though they may not be co-sponsors have contributed important inputs to the legislation. It's hard to stand up something new. It takes a fair bit of work because there's 50 years in this government plus of structure, maybe 55 now, and we are dealing with some CHARTER PROVISIONS AND CODES. AND I KNOW THAT THIS ISN'T VERY, YOU KNOW, NEWSWORRY OR QUOTABLE, BUT THIS IS THE ACT OF GOVERNING, RIGHT? WHAT DID THEY SAY? YOU CAMPAIGN IN POETRY AND YOU GOVERN IN PROSE? We are working through the structures that we've been given to us. We've identified this gap. We're filling it in. There are a lot of issues, including, you know, for example, labor issues. We have some terrifically represented employees by the Teamsters in the Ombuds Office who took a great deal of interest in this. want to stay on the record that we believe this new division we've worked with our council staff and labor relations to ensure as best we can that there be covered under the same bargaining unit because the work is very similar and so that there was an issue you know around there there was this issue of do we have a overseer of the office but I think we've worked through it at least for an initial start 13 years ago or so, I sat right at that table and Councilmember Dunn asked me, why do you want to be on the King County Council? And I said, I would like to be a part of leading efforts to improve our community by investing in human services and housing and the social safety net. And I've really, really taken a great deal of pride and care in my time here in helping support efforts to dramatically expand our Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services levy, to help lead the launch of our Best Starts for Kids levy, to support the Crisis Care Centers levy, to go to the voters and ask them to invest in the Conservation Futures Tax Program, to support transit investments. And time and time and time again, King County voters and taxpayers have been incredibly generous, and our budget has grown by billions and billions. The quickest way to not have a yes vote is to lose trust with the voters. I truly believe that. To me, this legislation is not gotcha legislation. It's not we're coming for you legislation. It's accountability and making government work legislation. It's not controversial and 99 point. 8 plus percent 99.44 is that ivory soap of I think of our spending is really put to good use and helps folks and makes improvements in our community but you've got to have these checks as council chair Perry said you've got to have accountability one to prevent folks from thinking that perhaps if they could get away with it, they might try to. And two, when it happens, just to have accountability and recovery. So to me, this legislation isn't about some sort of attack on our social safety net. I believe in that strongly. I've supported billions of dollars of investment in it, but it has to work, and we can't allow people to cheat because that's how we're going to get to a no vote and less support. So that's my framing and thinking about this, and I really appreciate everybody's contribution to the legislation, and I'm hopeful that it will fill a needed hole in this county government and really support... A SYSTEM THAT WE HAVE THAT IS QUITE STRONG. I WANT TO REMIND FOLKS THAT IT IS THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH'S AUDITOR THAT IDENTIFIED THESE CHALLENGES. WE HAVE A SYSTEM WHERE THEY SAY WHAT SHOULD OUR WORK PLAN BE. COUNCILMEMBER DUNN SUGGESTED SOME AREAS THAT MIGHT NEED SOME ATTENTION ON THE WORK PLAN. THE COUNCIL ADOPTED THE WORK PLAN. THE AUDITOR LOOKED AT THE PROGRAMS. THE AUDITOR SAID THERE WERE SOME CHALLENGES, SOME PROBLEMS. THAT IS A SYSTEM THAT'S WORKING. This helps fill out that system and make it a little bit more robust. Appreciate everybody's investment of their time and thought and talent on the legislation, and I encourage support.

Thank you, Council Member Dombrowski. Seeing no further discussion, Claire Kaye, would you please call the roll?

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

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Council Member Fain. Aye. Council Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is seven ayes and Council Members Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0101.2 as amended. Moving next to item 13, Council Member Lewis, would you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0090?

Thank you, Chair. So moved.

Thank you. Proposed ordinance 2026-0090 is before us. Before we proceed, I'll note that we have Sherry Sue here from Council Central staff on hand to answer any questions. Council Member Lewis, as sponsor of the legislation, would you like to offer any opening remarks?

Yes, thank you. On April 19th, I had the honor of joining the Skyway community and King County for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome Black Panther Park to our King County Parks system. And then just last Thursday, I had the opportunity of visiting the park again with DLS staff to learn more about how the park is operating today. this park honors the legacy of the seattle chapter of the black panther party and is a result of a multi-year collaborative effort with nurturing roots stone soup gardens skyway solutions west hill community association the silent task force skyway coalition alongside king county parks and other community members Visitors to the park can enjoy a community garden and a food pantry, a lending library, public art created by local artists, among other amenities that the park offers. Black Panther Park stands as a living tribute to resilience, learning, and collective healing in the Skyway neighborhood and its unending commitment to building community. I'm happy to support this legislation and I hope you all get the chance to visit.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Lewis, for your work, dedication, and honoring of the legacy and important history of the Skyway community. At this point, do my colleagues have any questions or comments for discussion?

Okay, seeing none, Clerk Hay, will you please call the roll? Thank you. Councilmember Balducci? Aye. Council Member Barone. Council Member Demboski. Aye. Council Member Dunn. Aye. Council Member Fain. Aye. Council Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Council Member Von Reichbauer. Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is seven ayes and Council Members Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you very much by our vote. We've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0090. Congratulations. uh turning to item 14 which concerns the sewer capacity charge methodology council member balducci would you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0162 thank you chair i move the ordinance thank you proposed ordinance 2026-0162 is before us before we proceed i'll note that we have andy mcclow from council central staff on hand to answer any questions and i understand that this legislation is largely technical to fix an error in the previous legislation council member balducci would you like to add anything before we move forward

Just briefly, the technical changes to the title which left out a reference and we corrected that by re-adopting the ordinance at the Regional Water Quality Committee meeting last week and recommended to the Council for approval today so the record will be corrected. But in substance, the ordinance is the same as the one that we adopted previously. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Balducci. Seeing no further discussion, Claire Kay, will you please call the roll?

Thank you, Council Member Balducci. Aye. Council Member Barone. Aye. Council Member Domboski. Aye. Council Member Dunn.

No.

Council Member Fain. Aye. Council Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is six ayes, Council Member Dunn voting no, and Council Members Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted Proposed Ordinance 2026-0162. Turning next to Hearing Examiner Consent Agenda, Clerk Kaye, will you please read the items into the record?

Thank you. Item 15 is Proposed Substitute Ordinance Number 2026-0094, 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 Grow, Inc., for property located in Seattle. Item 16 is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0095 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 Peter Schilling for property located in Tukwila. And item 17 is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0096 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 Carrie and Sarah Dachau for property located in Carnation.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Clerk Hay, Council Member Fain, would you please move consent agenda items 15 through 17? Move consent agenda items numbers 15 through 17.

Thank you. Clerk Hay, would you please call the roll? Thank you, Council Member Balducci. Councilmember Barone. Councilmember Dumbaski. Aye. Councilmember Dunn.

Aye.

Councilmember Fain. Aye. Councilmember Lewis. Aye. Councilmember Mosqueda. Councilmember Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is seven ayes, and Councilmembers Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed substitute ordinances 2026-0094, 95, and 96. Turning next to motion, consent agenda. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda items 18 through 25.

Move consent agenda items 18 through 25.

Thank you. Consent agenda items 18 through 25 are before us. Clerk A, will you please call the roll? Thank you.

Council Member Balducci? Aye. Council Member Barone? Aye. Council Member Dabowski?

Aye.

Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer? Aye. Chair Perry? Aye. The vote is seven ayes and Council Members Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we've adopted proposed motions number 2026-0038, 0058, 0059, 0060, 0072, 0106, 0123, and 0127. Turning to the last action item on our agenda, which is the reappointment consent agenda. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda item 26.

Move proposed motion 2026-0138 for approval.

Thank you. Consent agenda item six is before us. Clerk K, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council member Balducci. Aye. Council member Barone. Council member Domboski.

Aye.

Council member Dunn.

Aye.

Council member Fain. Aye. Council member Lewis. Aye. Council member Mosqueda. Aye. Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is seven ayes, and Council Members Barone and Mosqueda excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed motion number 2026-0138. If there's no objection, the published marked agenda, together with any changes made in today's meeting, will stand as the... roll of ordinances and motions items 27 through 40 through 38 as listed under other business we have two special items being presented in the community the first of which is a proclamation recognizing july 26 as disability pride day in king county led by executive zahalai and me and council members mosqueda and fain if me uh if we are we were told that if we were done by around 2 30 The executive is holding a proclamation reading ceremony for this item at the admin building right now and all are welcome to join us. The EAC will then begin at approximately 3.30 p.m. Special recognition, second special item is the recognition of Rick Riz for his accomplishments in baseball and exemplary public service led by council members Balducci and Von Reichbauer. Additionally, in accordance with KCC 2.27.0015, I'm announcing two upcoming vacancies for council nominated at large positions on the Harborview Board of Trustees, and I'm requesting that my colleagues submit nominations to fill the positions. Council members may nominate an individual by sending an email with the completed application forms to my office by 5 p.m. on Monday, July 20th. after receiving any nominations and names will be announced at the july 21st council meeting and forwarded to the executive each of your chiefs of staff have also received this information by email also i want my colleagues to know that we had a clerical error with the transmittal last week on the june 23rd consent calendar by adopting proposed ordinance 2025-0286.2 we voted to authorize the executive to execute a franchise agreement with hyper fiber which was attached to the proposed ordinance. In committee, the proposed ordinance was amended to replace the transmitted version of that agreement with one that had been revised. That new revised version of the agreement was listed as the attachment to proposed ordinance 2025-0286.2 that we adopted. Unfortunately, the original transmitted version of the agreement was mistakenly placed in our folder and attached to the final ordinance I signed and sent to the executive to sign. When we were advised of the error, staff alerted the executive branch to hold off on signing that incorrect ordinance. I directed the clerk's office to prepare a corrected version of the final ordinance attaching the corrected version of the agreement which I signed and was sent to the executive to sign. The executive signed and corrected the ordinance and its number is 20083. And we have one final note from Council Member Von Reichbauer for the good of the order.

Thank you, Chair. Two things I'd like to remind folks. One is the 19th of this month, we're going to have a day at Emerald Downs, and all you need is your ID and bring your family or bring extended family, and they'll be very open and elastic about bringing guests to this event. It's King County Day at Emerald Downs, and it's an opportunity to signify a very big industry in our region. The second thing, and very important to me, when I was a young state senator, I met a a young person who was president of the student body at Central Washington University. And then this person had an opportunity to grow in his own position. He worked for Senator George Fleming when I first got to know him. And then he came to the King County Council in 1986. And from 1986 to 97, he served here. Then he went on to become county executive in 1997 to 2009. And then President Obama asked him to be part of his cabinet. Yesterday was his 78th birthday. I had a chance to extend to his wife, Cayenne, and to his three sons my very best wishes. And I'm hoping that we all recognize the incredible effort and the incredible opportunities he opened up for so many in this region. I can only imagine a young man out of Spokane going to Central Washington University and being so skillful back in that era to become president of the student body. He's probably one of the few African Americans in the student body, but he chose him to be president of the student body. Then he had the privilege of working with George Fleming, a man I knew, and many of you had the privilege of working with George. And then to come on this body and be a leader, chair of the budget committee, chair of so many technologies that were changing this environment. I know Claudia Balducci probably worked with him as well. an incredible human being and the president of the united states thought so highly of him they made him part of his sub-cabinet well yesterday was his 78th birthday and i expressed a cayenne to three to his three sons my best wishes and i hope today we express our best wishes to someone who made a lasting imprint on king county government

Thank you very much, Council Member Von Reich. We're in a hearty happy birthday. We do have Council Member Teresa Mosqueda on the line to give her votes. Would you like to give your votes at this point, Council Member Mosqueda?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Sorry for the technical difficulties. I vote aye on all the items.

So noted. Thank you very much. Have we missed any other votes today? Okay. All right. With that, seeing no further business before us, the meeting