Metropolitan King County Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome you to the August 18th, 2026 meeting of the King County Council. My name is Jorge Baron. I have the privilege of serving as vice chair of the council. I will be acting as chair today. I'm joined by my colleagues, council colleagues here today and online, 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 people's past and present. We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our communities. With that, Clerk Foss, would you please call the roll?

Thank you, Chair Barron. Thank you. Council Member Balducci? Here. Council Member Dembowski? Here. Councilmember Dunn. Councilmember Fain here. Councilmember Mosqueda. Councilmember Lewis. Councilmember Mosqueda. Here. Councilmember Perry. Councilmember von Reichbauer.

Here.

Chair Brown.

Here.

You have a quorum.

Wonderful. Thank you very much. Next, I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you're here in chambers, please stand if you're able.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll have approval of the minutes. Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the July 21st, 2026 and July 28th, 2026 council meetings.

Move approval of July 21st and July 28th, 2026 meeting minutes.

Thank you very much. The motion is before us. Are there any comments or questions regarding the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. The minutes are approved. Clerk Foss, I understand that we have some additions to the council agenda.

I have one item being added to the agenda today. It's item 28-2026-0207, a motion accepting a King County Regional Homelessness Authority contract transition plan and report providing responses to motion 16970. And this item is being referred to the Committee of the Whole.

Thank you very much. We're going to turn next to a special item, which is a proclamation of August 18th, 2026, as Dolores Zabonga Day in King County. Council Member Dembowski and the Chief Operating Officer for Executive Sahela Hayokim will be presenting this item. So I would invite you to come to the podium and get started whenever you're ready.

Thank you very much, Chair and colleagues. It's my pleasure today to present a very special proclamation on behalf of the Council and the Executive. declaring August 18th, 2026, Dolores Sabanga Day in King County. I'm really happy to be joined by our King County Chief Operations Officer, Hale Kim. And together we're going to share a few remarks about a very special person who has lived a tremendous life in King County and made an incredible difference for so many folks. But before we get into the proclamation, those remarks, I thought I would let COO Kim say a few words as well.

Thank you, Council Member Dembowski. On behalf of Executive Zahala, I just wanted to acknowledge and thank Randy, you and your family for being here on behalf of your mother. It means so much to me as a young person who got started in politics. I think Dolores was one of the first people that I got to meet, and she was already retired, but still a force of nature. And like so many people, I think that have read about her life and are going to enjoy reading some more in her new memoir. I think it is such an inspiration to not only past generations, but to future generations to know that she broke so many barriers. She was such a trailblazer and she was so courageous in the face of incredible systemic challenges. Many of which we still face today, but she led the way in breaking barriers that I think So very few of us can really truly appreciate. So on behalf of Executive administration, I join Council Member Dembowski in just expressing our deep appreciation to your mother's leadership.

Very nice. Dolores turned 95 years old just a few days ago on August 12th. She was the first Filipino-American to graduate from the University of Washington journalism program in 1952. She was the first Filipino-American man or woman attorney in the state of Washington in 1973. She served here at the King County Council as a legislative aide to groundbreaking council member Ruby Chow. After leaving the county council, she worked in the county's Office of Civil Rights. She was the first woman of color to serve on the Seattle City Council starting in 1978, where she led the push for Seattle's first affirmative action ordinance and funding for parks and recreation programs. Dolores Sabanga was the first female executive of the Washington State Human Rights Commission. She served on the King County Board of Tax Appeals and Equalization until just very recently. Her family, where she got started as a little girl, ran a cafe in the Chinatown International District, a pioneering Filipino business in our community. And she writes about that experience in her new memoir, which I commend to everybody. She and her late husband Martin published the Filipino Forum, a community newspaper which advocated for and coalition-led civil rights for the Filipino American community in the 1970s. She paved the way for women of color to seek and win elected office. She has written the memoir, which I mentioned. I commend it to everybody. And here at the county now, as you all know, for a number of years, we have run a program called the Ruth Wu Emerging Leaders Fellowship. I think we've had 50 young people, maybe more, a little less. We're hoping for 50 soon come through the program. But we would not have the program, which brings young people who traditionally don't have access to opportunities in government into the halls of power here at the county. to learn about careers and to be able to serve across our various departments. The idea came from Dolores and her good friend Joan Yoshitomi. They came to see then Councilmember McDermott and I many years ago now and asked that we form it. And it's been a very successful program. And it is consistent with the life that she has led. in terms of building systems to create pathways of opportunity for those who Hale talked about might not otherwise have as easy access to it. So she has done an incredible amount of civic work in her time here, and we wanted to take a moment to recognize her today. And with that, maybe COO Kim, you could help me read the proclamation? Absolutely. All right, would you like to go first?

Thank you. Whereas Dolores Sabanga was born on August 12th, 1931, growing up in Seattle's Chinatown International District where her family ran the Itagoy Cafe, a pioneer business in Filipino town.

And whereas Dolores is a trailblazer in many different fields. As I mentioned, she was the first Filipino American attorney in the state of Washington in 1973. The first female executive of the Washington State Human Rights Commission in 1975. and the first woman of color to serve on the Seattle City Council in 1978, and whereas

During her time on Seattle City Council, she led the push for Seattle's first affirmative action ordinance, elevated workers' rights and employment issues, championed economic development, and fought discrimination against women of color, and.

Whereas her public service extends beyond elected office, and she served on several public service commissions, including the Washington Horse Racing Commission, the State Human Rights Commission, and our own King County Board of Tax Appeals and Equalization, and whereas.

Throughout her life, Dolores has been a voice for the community, with a journalism career spanning across print, television, and eventually garnering an Emmy nomination for her work with Como TV and Whereas.

In the spring of 2017, Dolores Sabanga and Joan Yoshitomi approached the county about creating the Ruth Wu Emerging Leaders Fellowship to honor their late friend Ruth Wu and provide disadvantaged young people with opportunities in government and whereas.

In these ways and countless others, Dolores shines as an advocate, a leader, a trailblazer, and a role model. Now therefore, we the Metropolitan King County Council and the King County Executive proclaim August 18th, 2026 as Dolores Sabanga Day. In King County, in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the community.

As Dolores texted me and Christina recently, we were going to go try and see her, she said, the mind is willing, but the body isn't. She's been in touch with us today, and she's sorry she can't be here, but one of my favorite constituents in Lake Forest Park, her daughter, Randy's here, and I wondered if you might want to come up and say a few words.

I am honored to represent mom today. She turned 95 last week and her mind is keen as ever, but her body unfortunately is really failing her. Otherwise she would be here today to express her deepest gratitude for this recognition. Mom isn't one to ever expect or want accolades for her achievements. So over the years, any number of community folks would urge her to write her memoir. She finally capitulated after realizing that, oh my goodness, this history of growing up in Chinatown in the 30s needed to be captured. And also that if her story would inspire anyone, particularly young people, to become activists and advocates, then it would be worth it. So at 94, her book, The Best Adobo in Town, was birthed. I asked mom to... think about three key life lessons that she'd want to share with you all today. The first is, and I think she talks about this in her book, When Doors Open, Walk Through Them. And she speaks about folks who came before her, trailblazers, like council member Ruby Chow. publisher Victor Velasco. And throughout her career, she's also tried to do the same. And as she's been declining in health, so many people have stepped forward and she's just been so comforted by the fact that people tell her, it's because of you that I went to law school. It's because of you that I got into journalism and decided to run for public office. The second is, You need to have a seat at the table if you want to make a difference. Be the advocate for folks who don't have a voice. And finally, know your worth and never stop fighting for justice. Thank you again. Thank you.

We'll just do a little photo right here.

Okay.

Colleagues, if you want to join Council Member DeBasque.

I know what I'm saying. Oh beautiful. She'll put it on display.

Thank you very much, Council Member Dembowski and CEO Kim for that presentation.

We are now going to turn to the reading of items into the record and the hearing of public comments. But before we start that, before the clerk reads the items into the record, we have a handful of procedural matters to take care of, colleagues, so bear with me here. First, Vice Chair Dunn, will you please make a motion to relieve the Local Services and Land Use Committee for items seven and eight? Move to relieve the Local Services and Land Use Committee for items both seven and eight. Thank you very much. That motion is before us. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The motion is approved. Next, Councilmember Dabowsky, will you please make a motion to remove item nine from the consent agenda? So moved. Thank you. The motion is before us. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. The motion is approved. Turning to our next procedural matter, which concerns agenda item 13, the sponsor of this legislation, Council Member Domboski, has requested this item not be taken up today and instead be placed on the agenda for first reading and referral. This item will therefore be referred to the Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee. I understand that Council Member Domboski would like to make a few remarks, so please go ahead, Council Member Domboski.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This particular ordinance is unusual in nature, I acknowledge, and it relates to a service change that is occurring largely in my district related to Route 372, a very popular route that basically runs from UW Bothell to the UW main campus, right down what I call the spine of my district, which is State Route 522 Bothell Way, Lake City Way, depending on where you are on it. It's a real workhorse route. It has been for many years. It's the, interestingly, the most popular University of Washington U-pass route. In 2025, they had 919,000 boardings using a U-pass on Route 372. A lot of riders. It's going away in a couple of weeks, and it's caused a lot of concern in my district. I think all of you received a letter signed on by a number of folks, including cities of Lake Forest Park, the city of Kenmore, the city of Bothell. THE NORTH URBAN HUMAN SERVICES ALLIANCE, TRANSIT RIDERS UNION, THE URBANIST SHORELINE, LAKE CITY BUSINESS ALLIANCE, THE NON-DRIVERS ALLIANCE AND OTHERS. IN MY TIME HERE ON THE COUNCIL, I'VE DONE A LOT OF SERVICE CHANGES AND WHEN YOU ELIMINATE A ROUTE, IT'S USUALLY NOT VERY POPULAR. PEOPLE DON'T LIKE TO SEE THEIR ROUTES GO AWAY AND SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO SEE THE REPLACEMENT ROUTES. BUT THIS ONE HAS CAUSED QUITE A BIT OF CHALLENGES. I had the ordinance drafted and introduced because there was some communication from Metro at a presentation to the Lake Forest Park City Council and then also in some written communication basically kind of saying, well, the county council did this and it would take a legislative act to undo it, which is true, but really what we did was adopt the Metro proposal. And I was... in communication with metro and the exec's office i thought perhaps there might be given the great interest in the route a pause administrative pause and they might need a legislative companion to endorse that so i'm not asking for a vote here today because it's not practical the way we run routes you know routes are picked by our drivers you got to have the equipment to run it THERE'S A LOT THAT GOES INTO A SERVICE CHANGE, BUT I DID WANT TO TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO JUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THIS IS A DIFFICULT CHANGE FOR THE COMMUNITY. WE INCLUDED IN OUR BUDGET A PROVISO ASKING FOR A GAPS ANALYSIS TO SEE HOW WE MIGHT, WE'LL SEE THE IMPACTS OF THIS AND THEN SEE HOW WE MIGHT ADDRESS IT LATER. BUT THE CORE OF IT IS A LOT OF ONE-SEAT RIDES SERVE A LOT OF COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING THE STRUGGLING COMMUNITY OF LAKE CITY, WHERE WE'VE LOST A NUMBER OF DRUG STORES AND GROCERY STORES ARE GOING TO HAVE SOME CHALLENGES GETTING THROUGH THIS CORRIDOR. THERE'S DEFINITELY REPLACEMENT SERVICE COMING TO CONNECT TO LIGHT RAIL, BUT FOR CERTAIN RIDES, IT'S NOT AS CONVENIENT AND NOT AS EFFECTIVE, AND THE TRANSFERS AROUND 145TH AND LAKE CITYWAY ARE PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING. SO I GUESS WHAT I WANTED TO SAY IS I APPRECIATE THE OUTREACH FROM THE COMMUNITY. WE ARE GOING TO KEEP WORKING ON SERVICE IN THIS AREA.

but this this is not uh ready to ready to take action on practically so thanks for letting me share a few words and thanks for metro for being here thank you very much councilman nevowski um we will move forward then with that uh clerk foss will you please read the items into the record

Thank you. Item number six, proclamation of August 18 is Dolores Sabanga Day in King County. Item seven is proposed motion 2026-0168, appointing a qualified person to position number two on fire district number 24, board of commissioners. Item eight is proposed motion 2026-0169, appointing a qualified person to position three on the fire district number 24, board of commissioners. Item 9 is proposed substitute ordinance 20260097 relating to the sale of surplus property parcel 1521049016 located near South 328th Street and Military Road South Federal Way, Washington in Council District 7. Item number 10 is proposed ordinance 20260117 authorizing the county executive to enter into an interlocal agreement for the provision of autopsy and forensic pathology services by the King County Medical Examiner's Office to Skagit County. Item 11 is proposed substitute ordinance 20260161 authorizing the execution of a new lease to support the operation of Department of Public Health. Item 12 is 20260165, an ordinance that adopts the Harborview Medical Center 2027 Capital Improvement Program annual budget for the year ending June 30, 2027, and makes appropriations for the capital improvements for the Harborview Medical Center. Item 18 is Proposed Substitute Motion 20260119, Acknowledging Receipt of the Harbor Island Studio Assessment Report Required by the 2027 Biennial Budget Ordinance. Item 19, Proposed Motion 20260146, Acknowledging Receipt of the Harbor Island Surplusing Analysis as Required by the 2026-2027 Biennial Budget Ordinance. Item 20 is proposed substitute motion 2026-0145, acknowledging receipt of the Harborview Medical Center long-range planning committee plan required by the 2026-2027 biannual budget ordinance. And item 21 is proposed motion 2026-0213, confirming the executive's reappointment of Francesca Renoir, who resides in Council District 2 to the King County Landmarks Commission as a representative of professionals with experience in historic preservation-related disciplines.

Thank you very much, Clerk Foss. Appreciate it. 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 without being recognized. 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. Speakers should address their comments directly to the chair. Per council rules, disruptive behavior can or may lead to an audience member being asked to leave the meeting. In addition to the behavior already mentioned, this includes holding signs that obstruct the free passage review of others attending the meeting or holding signs at the podium while providing comment and the use of bull horns or noise makers. For online comment, press star nine 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. With that, Clerk Mueller, please begin calling the names in person, followed by those hands raised on line for public comment.

Thank you, Chair. The first name on the list is Alex Zimmerman.

Hi, my name Alex Zimmerman, I'm president of Stand Up America.

Mr. Zimmerman, keep the sign up, thank you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rules, very important. Who destroy rules will go in jail, yeah. So because I know Consul Domboski for many years, you know what this mean? So I was speaking about buses proposition, what is he did. So for ten year, very interesting situation come to Seattle, Seattle is King County too. So 10 years ago, consul make third street only for buses. Smart idea. Exactly, absolutely. So for 10 years I'm talking why buses have a special street, number three in downtown, you know what I mean. But most buses go in downtown. Street four. Why? What is reason for this? Who is this people with soft brain who cannot fix this problem? It's idiotic situation. Please cost us a million bucks. And this complication because Ford in downtown very busy. So this buses make situation complicate, dangerous, and cost ton of money. I don't understand who this freaking idiot who different in approximately 30, 40 feet from one line to another cannot move buses to street number three. And I talking this dozen time for 10 year and nothing happen. No one... Sorry, men with soft brain, you know what this mean? One fixes this. So my question right now, why people in King County, you know what this mean, don't understand that they are freaking a Nazi buster, you know, a fascist, you know what this mean, what does not care about people money? We were Trump, we were New American Revolution. It's very complicate, stand up, slaving, happy cow. It's very complicate, make one third of the new.

Thank you. Your time is up.

The next name on the list is Yvette Dynish. Welcome, Yvette.

Quick aside.

I didn't know that was your mom. She was just so secret I had to comment on it. Good afternoon, I'm from the south end. And Delores was remarkable because it honors her achievements in advocacy, which in turn reminded me of another female trailblazer, Jennifer Dunn, which in turn reminded me of her son, Councilmember Reagan Dunn, which in turn brought to mind the article in the Seattle Times that he wrote. saying that the Seattle region's approach to homelessness needs a complete overhaul, and that it does. And in particular, I refer to the last paragraph in which he states that King County and Seattle have an opportunity to move beyond the false choice between compassion and accountability. We need both. A successful system should invest in our diversity of solutions, but not shy away from holding people accountable and intervening when people are too sick to help themselves. Other jurisdictions are proving that these strategies work. Local leaders should implement them here and reverse the failed policy experiments of the last decade. Well written, and I totally agree with what he had to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Reagan will sign that if you want an autographed copy of it.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker. That's good, buddy.

The next name on the list is Joe Kunzler.

Joe, go ahead.

Hi, everybody. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Great, Jill Kunzler here, always happy to call in. I understand Council Member Dombrowski needs a bus route saved from Nazis. And I very much support his efforts today. I think it's important we have neighborhood service. I think it's important that we have democratic representation over public transportation. And I believe that Route 372 should be renamed the Dombrowski Route to remain consistent with all my teachings. Like for instance, we should name the East Main Station the Claudia Battistucci Station. Hi, Claudia. And we should also, you know, while we're yammering away here, you know, really make sure that King County Metro is responsive to the local residents and fans of King County Metro, especially as I'll be riding Sound Transit tomorrow to go to the airport. So I want to thank you for your public service, and I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Jo. Chair Barone, there are currently no...

All right, seeing no further requests for public comment, we will close public comment for today. Turning to the first action items on today's agenda, items seven and eight, which concern appointments to the Fire District number 24 Board of Commissioners. Council Member Fain, will you please move proposed motion 20260168. So moved. Thank you very much. Proposed motion 20260168 is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that since the Local Services and Land Use Committee has been relieved of items seven and eight, we'll begin with a briefing from Sherry Hsu from council staff. After the briefing, colleagues can ask any questions with central staff, and then we'll move on to the next part of the appointment process. With that, Sherry, please go ahead when you're ready.

Thank you, Vice Chair Barone. Good afternoon, I'm Sheri Shu with council staff and the materials for this item begin on page 32 of the meeting packet. The clerk also emailed some additional materials out to members this morning. Before you today are two motions, proposed motion 2026. 0168 and 0169, which would fill two vacant positions on the fire district number 24 board of commissioners. All three board positions are currently vacant and the district has not held any elections for commissioners since 2013. Under state law, if there are less than two members of a governing body for a special purpose district, then the legislative authority of the county is responsible for appointing physicians until the body has two members. And then those two commissioners have 90 days to fill the remaining vacancy. As a brief background, Fire District 24 is a small special purpose district located in unincorporated King County. There is a map on the screen. And it's in between the cities of Tukwila, Kent, and SeaTac. Just some brief history, originally included what is now the city of SeaTac. The city was incorporated in 1989. Just 2% of the district at that time remained outside of that area. And then ten years later in 2009, three-fourths of the district was annexed by the city of Tukwila. So the district currently does not provide direct fire services. Instead, there is an MOU under which Tukwila provides services to a portion of the district that is within Tukwila's potential annexation area. And then under another legacy agreement with the city of SeaTac, the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority provides services to the remainder of the district, which is in the city of Kent's potential annexation area. Under state law, by June 1st of each year, the county's auditor, which in the case of King County is the Department of Elections, is required to search records and then notify the legislative authority, which in the case of King County is you, the council, if any special purpose districts appear to be inactive. After this notice from elections, the council is required to hold a public hearing before September 1st to determine whether these districts are meeting the criteria for being inactive. Every year since 2022, elections has notified the council of the apparently inactive status of this district. As I mentioned, elections has no record that the district has held any elections for commissioners since 2013. And the state auditor also declared the district as, quote unquote, unauditable in its report from 2021. The council has provided a public hearing in accordance with state law each year since 2022 and it has chosen to defer action. The next hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday, August 25th. So that brings us to today. As I mentioned, all three positions are currently vacant and the proposed motions would fill positions two and three, after which the two commissioners would then have 90 days to fill the remaining vacancy for position one. If those two commissioners do not fill that position, this will come back to you and the council will then have 180 days to fill the third position. As far as terms go, any of the positions appointed by council would be held until the next general election in 2027. And then after that election, position one would be a two year term, position two would be a four year term, and position three would be a six year term, to stagger those. Next up for the district, due to the apparent inactivity of the district and the need to continue to provide ongoing services, the council has considered different options over the years regarding the future of the district. And one potential would be a proposal to merge the district with Fire District 37. Filling the board would allow the commissioners to work together to determine next steps on their own. Proposed motion 206-0168 would appoint Mr. Anton Joseph Zagregan or Tony to fill position number two on the board. He grew up in the neighborhood associated with Fire District 24 and has served as a commissioner for King County Drainage District number two. and has experience in fund accounting from working with kent school district proposed motion 2026-0169 would appoint mr james donald hopf or jim to fill position number three on the board he has lived in a fire district number 24 with his family for 10 years and has experience in account management Mr. Hopp is with us today for an interview, and since Mr. Zergragon wasn't able to join, I believe Council Member Fain's office has distributed written responses to the interview questions, and as I mentioned, you all have the resumes in your email as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Sherry. I appreciate that report. Do my colleagues have any questions for Sherry or comments for discussion before we proceed? Council Member Fain?

Thank you, no questions, just would like to speak to it. Thank you.

Go for it.

Thank you all for allowing these appointments to bypass the committee. For context, they were referred to committee, but because of timing and somewhat urgent need to move this along, we asked the chair to bring them directly to us at council for consideration today. So motion 0168 relating to Mr. Zagregan's appointment is before us, but I'm gonna speak to, well, what I speak to will apply to both, so we'll save some time here. This is an unusual situation that has been unresolved for a long time, as you heard. Fire District 24 sits in unincorporated District 5. We had put the map up earlier just to illustrate that the unincorporated area is in red here in the center of the page. It sits somewhat of as an island. You'll see to the west, it sits SeaTac. Directly to the east is tequila in the dark yellow and then pale yellow to the east and south Sits Kent and then Des Moines is in the orange there It is complicated as you can imagine with several different potential annexation areas with takula and kent and then ctac also providing some services there so residents i do want to reiterate residents do receive fire service so they're not without fire service but it's through existing agreements and there's no functioning board of commissioners to oversee the district or oversee any outstanding financial issues or even really address the future of this district. So over the past seven months, our offices work closely with our local and regional affairs team and the residents of the district to identify available options and identify residents who are willing to serve as commissioners for which we are very grateful. After many conversations and meetings with property owners and residents, I agree with the residents that appointing commissioners is the best next step. It restores local representation, gives the residents a direct role in addressing the district's outstanding issues and ability to work on the best long term plan. As you've heard from Sherry's report, council has previously considered other options for the district, including a potential merger with another fire district. But rather than us making that decision for them, these appointments give residents a more direct role in determining what comes next. So with that, I am pleased to sponsor both appointments, but the first one here before us today is the appointment of Mr. Anton Zagregan, and he is a lifelong resident of the Fire District. He was not able to join us today, so he has submitted written responses to questions that we provided ahead of time with your office's collaboration. Those have been emailed and a hard copy, I believe, is at your desk. I think that restoring a functional board is going to be the best path forward, gives residents a voice in what happens in their district going forward, and ask for your support. Again, for both, I want to thank our local and regional affairs team, especially Tom Goff and Tanya Medaka for their work with residents in this small, unincorporated area over many years. I also want to thank Sherry Shu for providing policy support. Kendall Morris provided a fair amount of legal guidance, so thank you. And a special thanks to my district manager, Sumaran Padel, for leading this effort. It has been complicated. So with that, support appointment number one, which is motion, sorry, I lost that.

20260168. Thank you.

Wonderful. Thank you very much, Council Member Fein. I appreciate your work on this to try to resolve this issue. As colleagues, as we heard, our first candidate, Mr. is not available to join us. But the materials were distributed to council members in the first green folder sent at 10.09 AM today. Do my colleagues have any further discussion or questions regarding the candidate and his qualifications before we proceed with the vote? Anything further from Council Member Fain? All right. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll on this motion?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci? Aye. Council Member Domboski? Aye. Council Member Dunn? Aye. Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Perry? Aye. Council Member Van Rykbaar?

Aye.

Chair Bratton?

Aye.

The vote is seven ayes and council members Lewis and Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20260168. Congratulations to Anton and thank you very much for your willingness to serve. We're now going to turn to item eight, which is the second appointment to the fire district number 24 board. We will be interviewing the candidate today. Council Member Fain, will you please move proposed motion 20260169. So moved. Thank you very much. That motion is before us. Sherry already gave us a briefing, so I would like now to invite James Hough to join us. He's at the table there. Thank you very much for your willingness to serve. We are going to have a series of three quick questions for you to answer. I'll be asking the first question, Council Member Fain will ask the second question, and Council Member Dunn will ask the third question, and then let's get us started. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your qualifications to be a commissioner for Fire Protection District number 24.

Yes, hi, thank you for having me today. And thank you for Stephanie Fain, Council Member Fain's staff. That's been amazing through this whole process. I didn't know such issues existed when I moved into this beautiful piece of property that we have. When I first started getting all of the letters, I was like, no, somebody else is going to take care of this. It can't be me. I'm not qualified to do any of this stuff. And then realized that we are in a very small district, and there really isn't a whole lot of other options. And so when Council Member Fain's staff reached out to me finally answered i'm like what's what's going on here like what can i you know is this a spam email a spam call like you know you get all these things like yeah sure sure buddy um but But realize Tom did a great job of outlining what it was that was in front of us and what we needed to do. The whole staff has been great in bringing this to my attention and knowing that it's not a spam issue. So who am I? James Hoff. I grew up here. Born in Seattle. Grew up on the east side. Moved out to Enumclaw. Quickly started a company back in 2000. We moved to Kent. I've been running a trade show exhibit company for the last 25 years. We started this company in 2000, quickly had to deal with 9-11, and being a live events company, that wasn't easy. Then 2007, 2010 happened and we had to navigate the whole economic downturn. And then COVID was the real one that really threw us for a loop. So I've been able to navigate a live event company through the ups and downs of the economy over the years. I think outside of that, I don't really have qualifications to be a fire commissioner, but I would look at this as I do any other project that's in front of me and kind of get the facts and get the what... what options we do have and kind of work alongside Tony to figure out what is the best course for us. So as far as qualifications, brand of business, I live in the district and I'm willing and able to help out and do what I can for you all and the people in our district.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hopp. Council Member Fain, do you want to ask further questions?

Sure, thank you so much. I would say that you are qualified as an engaged resident and you own a business and employ folks here in Kent in our district. And thank you for being willing to serve and for hosting us several times both at your home and your business in meetings so that we could meet with you and other community members. It's been very helpful to have you there so you are qualified. If appointed, what do you believe is the best long term path for Fire District 24 and the residents it serves?

Well, over the last seven months, we've went around and around about different options. And what seems to be the most likely option is merging with 37. Tony and I both kind of agree with this direction. I don't honestly think that there's any other viable option. There are other options out there, but I think that this is the best for our district.

Thank you, and Chair, for context, Fire District 37 sits to the west-east. It's right next door, so it would not have to provide its own services. And Fire District, the other option really is Fire District 24 would contract with Fire District 37 for services. make sense for a merger to be the most efficient way and then the fire district 24 wouldn't have to maintain a board of commissioners and maintain all of its structure going forward just for context thank you

Thank you very much, Council Member Fain. Are there any further questions, comments from colleagues? Just a quick comment. Yeah. Council Member Nabeski.

I just wanted to thank you for your willingness to serve. I think you're eminently qualified, and you do great in politics, except you're too modest.

Thank you, Council Member Dabowsky, I agree. Colleagues, we normally ask the candidate to step aside for a moment, but I don't know that that's necessary now.

So do we have any further comments or questions before we move to vote? Thank you very much, Mr. Hoffer, for being willing to serve. Seeing no further discussion, Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you, Chair Brown. Council Member Balducci? Aye. Council Member Dabowsky? Aye. Council Member Dunn? Aye. Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council member Perry. Aye. Council member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Chair Brown.

Aye.

The vote is seven ayes, and council members Lewis and Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20-26-0169. Congratulations, Commissioner or Board Member Hoff. Thank you very much for your willingness to serve and look forward to getting the issues resolved with the fire district. Real quick on the swearing. Yes, Council Member. Do we have plans to get them sworn in?

I'll be doing both separately. Great. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for checking on that. All right, colleagues, now we're turning now to the consent agenda, items 10 through 12. As a reminder, item 9 was removed from the consent agenda. We'll take it up after items 10 through 12. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda items 10 through 12? Move consent agenda items 10 through 12. Thank you very much. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

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

Aye.

Chair Barone?

Aye.

The vote is six ayes and Council Member Fain, Lewis, and Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted Proposed Ordinance 2026-0117, 0161, and 0165. Turning back to Item 9, Proposed Ordinance 2026-0097, concerning the sale of surplus property in Federal Way. Council member Van Rijkbouwer, will you please move proposed ordinance 20260097. So moved. Thank you very much. The proposed ordinance is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that we have Nick Bowman from council staff available to answer questions or to provide a briefing if needed. There is an amendment to this legislation, which is, I think, where we pulled it out of consent. Do my colleagues have any opening comments or questions for discussion?

I would just say this is before the council on a do pass recommendation on the budget fiscal management committee. There was a technical error with regard to the attachment, so we're merely bringing it off to get the correct attachment on there.

That's correct. Thank you very much. Nick, anything else that we should know?

No, I would just, if you would like me to brief the amendment, I can do so quickly, but the council member just described it perfectly. It's just a simple error with the attachment, and we're correcting that error.

Great, thank you. Seeing no further discussion, let's proceed with the amendment. Council Member Dabowsky, will you please move Amendment 1? So moved. Thank you very much. Amendment 1 is before us. Would you like to speak any further to it? No? All right. Any discussion from colleagues? No. If there's no further discussion, we'll proceed with the vote. All those in favor of Amendment 1, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Amendment 1 is adopted. Turning to the underlying ordinance as amended. Before we proceed with the vote, any further comments on this legislation? Seeing none, Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you.

Councilmember Balducci?

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

Aye.

Chair Barron.

Aye.

The vote is seven ayes and council members Lewis and Perry excused.

Thank you. By our vote, we have adopted proposed substitute ordinance 20260097 as amended. As a reminder, colleagues, item 13 has been referred to tree, so we will not be taking action on it today. We'll be proceeding to the next item in the agenda, turning to hearing examiner consent agenda items 14 and 17. Clerk Foss, will you please read the items into the record?

Yes, I will. Item 14 is proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0065, authorizing the vacation of a portion of 149th Avenue Southeast and portions of King County Road numbers 949, 1182, 1244, and 23-23-5-4, lying between the Cedar River and the existing cul-de-sac limits for 149th Avenue Southeast, north of Maple Valley Highway. item 15 is proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0148 concurring with the recommendations of the hearing examiner to approve subject to conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space submitted by justin and michelle van hall for property located at 16519 300th avenue northeast duval washington item 16 is proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0149 conferring with the Recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve subject to conditions the application for public benefit rating system assessed evaluation for open space submitted by Justin and Michelle Vanhole for property located at 16501 300th Avenue Northeast, Duval, Washington. Item 17 is 20-26-0151, 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 Jeremy and Kristen Tinder et al. for property located at 6505-6603-6515, 282nd Avenue Southeast, Issaquah, Washington, 98027.

Thank you very much, Clerk Foss. Council Member Fain, will you please move consent agenda items 14 through 17?

I move consent agenda items 14 through 17.

Thank you very much. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci? Council Member Balducci? Council Member Dabowsky?

Council Member Balducci, we had a hard time hearing you. Council Member Balducci, we did not record your vote. Do you want to try again? Aye. Aye, I take that as an aye.

Council Member Demboski? Aye. Council Member Dunn? Aye. Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Perry? Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer?

Aye.

Chair Barron? Aye. Vote is seven ayes, and Council Members Lewis and Perry excused.

By our vote, we have adopted proposed ordinances 2026-0065, 0148, 0149, and 0151. Turning next to the motion consent agenda, Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda items 18 and 19? Move consent agenda items 18 and 19 for approval. Thank you. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Balducci?

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Council Member Valducci, we still can't hear you, but you can give me a thumbs up if you'd like. Or down. Thumbs up, thank you.

Council Member Demboski? Aye. Council Member Dunn? Aye. Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Perry? Aye. Council Member Van Rykbaar?

Aye.

Chair Barron. Aye. The vote is seven ayes and council members Lewis and Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed substantive motions number 20260119 and proposed motion 20260146. Turning to item 20, proposed motion 20260145, which acknowledges receipt of the Harborview Medical Center Long Range Planning Committee plan. Council Member Mosqueda, will you please move proposed substantive motion 20260145.2. So moved. Thank you very much. The proposed motion is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that we have, do we have Sam Porter? Oh, she's online. Okay, thank you. Sam, thank you very much. From council staff is available to answer questions or provide a briefing if needed. Executive staff are also available for questions. With that, Council Member Mosqueda, would you like to provide any opening remarks?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank Sam Porter as well as Olivia Bray for their work on this, in addition to Chris Lampkin from my team. Colleagues, thanks for your support in the 2026-2027 budget, which included a proviso asking for the creation of the Harborview Long Range Planning Committee. This is a long-awaited committee that many people are very interested in, in terms of merging together conversations around financing, planning, and strategy for our county's hospital. Harborview Long Range Planning Committee will serve as a forum for Harborview, the University of Washington Medicine, and the Harborview Board of Trustees, along with King County members to support coordinated, forward-looking, transparent approach to planning. Very excited about this committee and I thank the members of the Health, Housing, and Human Services Committee for their feedback and making sure that this committee is creating an integrated, financial plan and will be focused on discussing topics related to long-range planning for the medical center. Very important as we think about the compounding pressures from the federal government and our need to make sure that our county's hospital has all of its revenue streams and financial planning in order. Very proud to work with you all on this. Thanks for all your support.

Thank you very much, Council Member Mosqueda. I'm going to call next on Council Member Fain.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Muscata, for putting this in the budget proviso. It is, speaking as a long time Harborview Board of Trustee member and Board President, I very strongly support this and I'm very excited to see this move forward. This gives University of Washington Medicine, Harborview leadership, the executive and council an opportunity to have conversations on all sorts of issues that we can't get to every month in our own public meetings here at council. So it allows them to discuss financial and long-term clinical strategies and hopefully the Harborview Bond Project. I very strongly support this, really appreciate all the work that was done with all the parties. And again, thank you to Council Member Mosqueda for leading this effort.

Thank you very much, Council Member Fain. I join in those comments. I think this is gonna be an important venue to have some important conversations about Harborview, and so appreciate that, and I wanna recognize Ian Goethe, who's here from Udo Medicine.

Look forward to this important venue to get started soon. Colleagues, any further discussion or anything else to close Council Member Mosqueda? All right, seeing no further discussion, we're gonna turn to final adoption. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci? Council Member Dembowski?

Aye.

Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Perry? Aye. Council Member Von Reitbauer? Aye. Chair Barron?

Aye.

vote is six eyes and council members balducci lewis and perry excused thank you very much by our vote we have adopted proposed substitute motion 2026-0145 turning to the last action item on today's agenda a reappointment consent agenda item 21 vice chair dunn will you please move consent agenda item 21. so moved thank you very much the item is before us clerk foss will you please call the role thank you council member balducci

Council Member Dembowski?

Aye.

Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member Perry? Aye. Council Member Van Rykbaar?

Aye.

Chair Barron?

Aye.

The vote is six ayes, and Council Members Balducci, Lewis, and Perry excused.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20260213. 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 referral and re-referral of ordinances and motions, items 22 through 25 as listed. Item 26, proposed ordinance 20260217 is listed as being referred to the Local Services and Land Use Committee. It will instead be referred to the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. Item 28, proposed motion 20260207 is being referred to the Committee of the Whole. And as I noted earlier, item 13, proposed ordinance 20260218 is being referred to Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee. Do my colleagues have any other business for the good of the order? Seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.