City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good evening, everyone. It is six o'clock on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026. And I'm called this regular city council meeting to order all councils here present this evening. And if you're able, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. I'd also like to acknowledge that we, the city of Lacey, are on the ancestral lands of the tribal people of the Treaty of Medicine Creek, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe and the Squawks Indian Tribe. Can I get a motion to approve this evening's agenda and consent agenda items?

Move to approve the agenda and consent agenda items as published.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of that motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? Then that motion unanimously carries. We've approved this evening's agenda and consent agenda. First up on our approved agenda is public recognitions and presentations, our Lacey Youth Council recognition. I see Sadie come up and.

six lacy youth council tonight is their last report out they finished up the last of their term a couple weeks ago with a public safety update from chief and they are now here to wrap up and see you this year i know i say it every year but we had another great year of firsts this youth council went to the olympia youth council for the first time this term to plan for the DEIB summit and the youth involvement, which also resulted in having our first interagency youth subcommittee with the Olympia Youth Council to plan the DEIB summit. This youth council got to go see the Lacey Veterans Services Hub for the first time. They got to participate in the State of the City and Advisory Board Recognition event, which was a first time event for the city. They also got to participate in the Thurston Forward Regional DEIB Summit, which is the first for them this year. They hosted the North Thurston Student Achievement Advisory Council at one of their meetings. And for the first time, youth council members participated and spoke at this council's joint meeting with the North Thurston School District. So a lot of firsts this year. To keep on the theme of the firsts, tonight for the last report outs, we're gonna have all of our youth council members come up, give a report out for the end of the year, and then our youth mayor had the great idea to give stoles to our senior youth council members so the mayor will help me in issuing those out to all of our senior youth council members while they give you all an update on their post high school plans and then as usual we'll stop for a quick picture break so with that youth council will you come up please and we'll start with Hee Young, who is a first term youth council member for the Lacey Youth Council.

Good evening, council. My favorite thing about my experience as a youth council member is being in joint meetings. And it was nice hearing different perspectives and opinions. And my biggest takeaway is the importance of hearing other people's opinions and perspectives on topics. Thank you.

Harmony, if you want to come up. Harmony is also a first term youth council member this year.

Good evening, council. My favorite thing has been being a voice for my school and my local community. And the biggest thing I've gathered from my time here is that when youth gathers together, real change can be made in communities.

And Shalom, who is also a first-time youth council member.

Good evening, Council. My name is Shalom, and one of my favorite things this year was the Youth Summit and hearing people's different perspectives on the panel. And my biggest takeaway is your voice is a powerful tool that you need to utilize no matter what your age. Thank you.

And Mikayla, who is also a first-time youth council member. They don't know, but I mixed up the order.

Good evening, council. My favorite thing from this year was planning the youth summit and getting to listen to the youth panel and hearing voices from people from all walks of life. My biggest takeaway from this year has been being a leader isn't about being in charge, but helping and being an advocate for your community.

Thank you. Okay, Isabella, you can come up now. Isabella is a second-term Youth Council member.

Hi, I'm Isabella. I'm from River Ridge. My favorite memory from Lacey Youth Council is speaking on the youth panel at the youth summit. And my biggest takeaway is to never shy away from hard work. Take every opportunity that you're given to allow your voice to be heard.

And Luca, do you want to come on up? Luca is a second-term Youth Council member.

My favorite part was working with the Olympia Youth Council to work on the summit and My takeaway is that when you have something that needs to be worked on it's important to get different viewpoints to best solve the issue And Michelle who is a first-room Youth Council member

Hello council. My name is Michelle. My favorite part of this year was working with the commission on equity for the poet Laureate program. And my biggest takeaway this year was learning the importance of breaking a big project into a smaller, more workable process.

And Jennifer, who is also a first term youth council member.

Good evening, Council. My name is Jennifer. My favorite experience from this year was attending the regional DEIB meeting, where I learned from passionate speakers about important local issues and the efforts being made to promote equity in our communities. The most important thing that I'm taking away from this year is a greater appreciation for Lacey as a whole. Throughout the year, I've had the opportunity to see how many people in our local government work together, and it's become really clear to me how much everyone cares about their work in serving our community. So thank you.

Now we're going to have our seniors come up if you want to start with Arian.

Hello, council. My name is Arian. I'm a senior at Timberline High School. And my favorite part of youth council this year was the summit. And a key takeaway from this year is taking any action, any small step can still make a big difference. And my plans after high school is to attend University of Washington and study chemical engineering.

First one. And Dior.

Good evening, Council. My name is Yura Turin and I'm a senior at River Ridge High School. My favorite thing about this year serving on the Lacey Youth Council was volunteering at all of our community events. It brought me a lot closer to my community and also socializing and networking with others. And my main takeaways from this year and last year is to always advocate for the youth and how Coming together with a group of people can really make a difference more than you think. And also listening to other perspectives can give you a better understanding. And my plans next year is to attend Kaiser University in Florida to study diagnostic medical sonography.

Matthew.

Good evening, Council. My name is Matthew Mandig, and my favorite part about being in the Youth Council was our special guests we had in the meeting, such as Shannon, our city manager, the chief of police, and Chelsea, our accounting manager. And then my biggest takeaway is that Community is one of the most valuable aspects of your life and to truly value your community you're in and to take action in it. And my plans after is to enroll in Seattle University where I'll be doing Air Force ROTC in order to become an Air Force officer.

Good evening, Council. My name is Michaela Pennington, and I am a senior at River Ridge High School. My key takeaway from this year was that you're never too young to make a change in your community. And my favorite thing about Lacey Youth Council was getting to know my peers, not only from my school, but from other schools as well. After the summer, I am going to the University of Utah and studying psychology. I plan to be a child life specialist and a pediatric sonographer.

Avani.

Good evening, council. My name is Avani Kumar. My favorite takeaway is that it's important to take every opportunity to advocate. And my favorite moment was definitely the youth summit. And in the future, I plan to study mechanical engineering at the University of Washington.

Hey, my favorite memory, I don't really have one because I enjoyed everything as a whole. So probably just all of it is my favorite memory. And my biggest takeaway is just showing up matters.

What are you doing after? Oh, yeah.

And I'm planning on attending Bates Technical College for electrical construction and electrical engineering.

Great. Thank you. And Kaitlin.

Hello, Council. My name is Caleb. I'm a senior at River Ridge High School. And my favorite moment for serving Lacey Youth Council was our joint meeting with the Commission on Equity where we discussed youth mental health, youth advocacy, and youth support in general. And my biggest takeaway from serving Lacey Youth Council is realizing how much of an impact youths can make as long as they go out and make that effort. And after high school, I'll be attending Boston College to study finance for the next four years.

One more round of applause for this year's LACU Council. Council, can I get you all for a photo real quick before they're off to another senior recognition?

Thank you.

I just want to thank Sadie for another great year for everything she's done for our youth council. This idea of having at least a youth council was a dream for a long time, and we've seen it take different iterations, but it's really Sadie coming up and really devoting so much time to it, investing in the youth and their growth in our community, and you've made such a huge impact on their lives, and I'm sure it's something they will always cherish, and I know I will cherish it as well. You're teaching leadership to this generation that is absolutely amazing. And so thank you, Sadie, for all your effort this past year. We really appreciate it. Okay. Our next agenda item was we were going to get an update from Together, but their presenters were unable to attend this meeting this evening, so we're going to Proceed to our next agenda.

I am which is our proclamation for national family reunification month councilmember City of Lacey official proclamation whereas strong families are the foundation of healthy communities providing children and adults with identity support stability and the nurturing necessary for personal growth and well-being and

Whereas parents and caregivers may at times encounter challenges that require additional guidance, services, and support to ensure the safety and well-being of their children, which can result in temporary placement outside the home. And.

Whereas maintaining and strengthening family connections whenever safely possible is vital to the emotional health and long-term success of children. And reunification with parents and family remains preferred outcome for children placed in foster care. And.

Whereas each year, many parents and families demonstrate resilience, dedication, and growth as they work through the dependency process to create safe, stable, and supportive home environments for their children and...

Whereas successful family reunification is made possible through the collective efforts of extended family members, foster parents, social workers, service providers, educators, attorneys, courts, advocates, and community organizations working together to support children and families, and...

Whereas celebrating Family Reunification Month is an opportunity to recognize and support families who have successfully reunified with their children, those families currently working through the process, and many support persons who help these families. Ann?

Now, therefore, I, Andy Ryder, Mayor of the City of Lacey, on behalf of Lacey City Council, recognize June 2026 as National Family Reunification Month in the City of Lacey. I encourage all community members to join in recognizing and supporting families working towards reunification, as well as the dedicated individuals who help make reunification possible. Signed by myself, Mayor Andy Ryder, on this date. And we can have Michael come up to accept this. Here, we'll do a quick... I do. Great. Here you go.

All right. Good evening, City Council. My name is Michael Ritterick, and I am your constituent. It's an honor to receive this proclamation on behalf of the alumni. So I wrote something down because I could go on forever. My name is Michael Ritterick. I'm proud to be part of the Therapeutic Court alumni community. Today I want to share why this alumni group matters so much to me and why the work we do continues to change lives long after graduation. When I was getting close to graduation for Therapeutic Court, I felt something a lot of people don't talk about. I was excited, proud, and ready for the next chapter. But I was also scared for so long. The structure, the support, and the people around me had been part of my daily life. And as graduation got closer, I realized that I needed something that didn't just end. I needed a community. I needed connection. I needed a place where I could keep growing and keep giving back. That's exactly what I found in the alumni group. It wasn't just a program. It was a family, a family that lasts forever. Our alumni group isn't just about staying connected. It's about turning our experience into something meaningful for others. We take what we've learned, what we survived, and what we've built, and we use it to support families in our communities who need help. One of the things we do to help families with food support when someone is struggling, sometimes a small act, a bag of groceries, a meal, a little relief can make the biggest difference. We step in to make sure families don't feel alone during these moments. We also put on events to help parents build community because healing doesn't happen in isolation. Growth doesn't happen alone. When parents come together, share space, and support each other, it strengthens the entire family, and we get to be a part of creating that space. And when the holidays come around, a time that can be joyful for some, but stressful for many, we make sure families have what they need to celebrate. We cook holiday meals, we help make holidays possible, and we remind people they are seen, valued, and supported. Being part of the alumni group has given me purpose. It has given me a way to stay connected, to stay grounded, and to keep giving back to the community that helped me rebuild my life. It's a reminder that recovery isn't just about what we take back. It's about what we give forward. I'm grateful to be part of the alumni family, and I am grateful for a chance to serve. And I am grateful for the community that continues to grow because of the work we do together. Thank you.

Thank you. That's amazing. My best friend growing up, his parents always had foster kids, and they always became part of the extended family. And I saw firsthand how big a family can get in that circumstance. And I just want to thank you for going through the process and making your family bigger. Because at the end of the day, that's what we are. There's a community. We're extended family. And sometimes it does take a village. But I appreciate and thank you for being here and sharing your words. OK, next up on our agenda is public comment. We had two written public comments. We did have one pre-registered to speak for Zoom. Do we have that person now?

Hi.

Great. Introduce yourself and you have three minutes.

Hey, my name is Maureen Dannen and I live in Lacey and I'm speaking tonight about the removal of trees in the Lacey community. I am testifying today in order to bring up several points about why trees in our community should be preserved, not cut down, as a way to eliminate sidewalk issues. Most of the trees slated for removal are mature, having been planted 20 or more years ago. Currently, thanks to these trees, pedestrians can stroll down tree line sidewalks and enjoy plenty of shade. However, if those trees are removed, it will result in a substantial loss of shade and create heat islands in many locations. Not only would the loss of shade impact the day-to-day activities of the community, Increased sun exposure on concrete and asphalt will result in higher ambient temperatures, leading to higher indoor temperatures and increased air conditioning costs for citizens living in these areas. This effect will only amplify over time with our longer, hotter summers. Another impact that has recently been studied is the effect of heat on the deterioration of asphalt streets. According to the Center for Urban Forest Research, as pavement temperatures rise, the binder that holds the asphalt materials together begins to evaporate and harden, excuse me, cracks form, allowing water to penetrate the top layer and weaken the layers underneath. Once a crack appears, water can infiltrate to layers beneath. These cracks are often treated with slurry seals, an expensive maintenance cost. Complete replacement of pavement is even more expensive. The preservation of existing infrastructure, then, is potentially another benefit of a healthy tree canopy. Along with helping to preserve streets, trees provide additional benefits by soaking up storm water. Trees intercept rain in their leaves and branches, and water is soaked up by tree roots. This minimizes runoff from streets and sidewalks, preventing overloaded sewer systems and increased costs for water treatment services. It helps prevent flooding, which can result in contaminated water bodies. Managing stormwater via technological means is expensive. Why not let trees provide that service? We understand that sidewalks need to be repaired, but it is counterproductive to remove trees when there are other, less expensive alternatives that would be in compliance with a Thurston climate mitigation plan. It is contrary to our vision for the community to remove a large collection of mature trees. We need to give the city several more months to do further research into alternatives and provide recommendations. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next up, we have Margaret Green. That's all right.

That's from the previous speaker. My name is Margaret Green. I'm from Lacey. I appreciate Lacey's focus on sidewalk repairs in neighborhoods to make them safer and more walkable. I also appreciate Lacey's tree ordinances, both 1432 to protect trees and 1220 for managing street trees, which ties tree removal primarily to tree health, not sidewalk lifts. Please keep in mind the important city initiative for mitigating effects of climate change and also the city's comp plan goal of maintaining tree canopy. All good, but actions must follow policy. Removing trees is counter to these council and city goals. We are about to move backwards rather than forward toward our net zero goal for carbon emissions and climate resilience. For four years, I was part of our community's tree committee. We toured DuPont's tree and sidewalk repair program, later interviewed the owner of Root Cause, who does sidewalk repairs for the city of Seattle. Both cities are practicing successful sidewalk repair, saving mature trees and money. Lacey's repair program is similar, but leaves out the important step of adding a root barrier to prevent future lifts. I would like to see a commitment by the City of Lacey to investigate alternatives to mass tree removal and approach the problem more creatively instead of falling back on tired and old methods. We have smart and dedicated city staff who would be investigating more sustainable alternatives, such as decommissioning sidewalks on one side of the street, more flexible sidewalk materials, sidewalk diversion, et cetera. I'm very disappointed that this has not been done. We are not just negating all the environmental benefits the trees offer, but removing our oldest trees ruins aesthetics and changes the entire character of neighborhoods. Rather than adding to home values, it will reduce them. I'm very alarmed that this action, the way it's currently defined. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have John Green.

Good evening. It's been a while since I've spoken to the council and there's a few old faces I see and some new faces and a few gray hairs, Lenny. Anyway, I'm going to talk about trees and sidewalks as well. The city's new repair project removed 140 mature trees from my neighborhood. And this makes me a little upset. I'd like to point out that there are reasons the city's conclusions on methodology is erroneous. We were told that root pruning is detrimental to tree health. However, we found that the trees that the city has root pruned in the past, we had 78 in our community. They're all still alive and quite healthy, in fact. The results from surrounding areas like Lacey and Seattle also have had success using this process of root pruning and installing root barriers. The root pruning, we were told, was only temporary. But it's only temporary if you don't put root barriers in. The Lacey crews do not install root barriers after pruning and sidewalk repair. The cities of DuPont and Seattle have successful programs of pruning and repair and save trees and money in the process. Ironically, Lacey does require barriers on new plantings of trees. I'm worried about the decisions guiding this project and the execution and spending plan for it as well. The city letter written to our community accompanied by maps and lists of proposed trees for removal and sidewalks for repair contain many errors. One example is seven trees that are on the list to be removed were just repaired last year. The roots were pruned. There are no lifts whatsoever. In fact, there were some large lifts that were totally missed. It included removal of trees that were newly planted in our community, and the trees were this big around. So all I'm saying is that there's a lot of errors in this methodology, and we need to do more study on it. It was a pretty sloppy product controlling a project of this magnitude. Lastly, the city's current root barrier installation instructions are in error, which was pointed out in August of 2025, but still has not been corrected. This was pointed out by the previous controller of that product. But I'm concerned that the new contractors, when they install these, if they're going to install the root barriers properly like they should be, are they going to go by the old root barrier installations, which are in error? My reason for pointing out these errors is that I'm concerned about the execution of the project and monitoring to protect the use of public funds. I urge the council to delay this product or project until there's more study of alternatives and accurate information can be used to guide the work. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have one last person, Diane.

Hi, I'm Diane Chamusco, and I'm also here from Lacey to speak about the trees and the issues that are going along with Jubilee. It's the entrance to Jubilee as you drive in, and it's this tree-lined street that's just magnificent in the fall. The benefits of trees, as we all know, is that they improve air quality. In 2019, Olympia City trees alone removed 2,500 pounds of air pollutants. They lower asthma rates. Studies show lower rates of asthma in neighborhoods with greater tree density. They prevent heat islands. Cities can be at 12 degrees Fahrenheit higher than other areas because of density. And under climate change, this can be fatal. Trees lower heating and air conditioning bills. They provide cooling benefits in the summer and wind chill reduction in the winter, resulting in energy savings in nearby buildings. They help with storm water retention. They help with drought prevention. By roots drying water into the ground, they help lessen the impacts of drought. They provide wildlife and insect habitat, providing critical habitat for birds, mammals, and insects. Mental health benefits from trees. They have found that there is less depression on people who can even look out their window and see one tree. Mental health is very important. Trees provide aesthetics and increase property values. And we, of course, find trees beautiful, but that beauty also translates into higher property values. Trees also help with carbon sinks. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The carbon is stored in its roots and in the soil, thus reducing carbon emissions in the air. and trees take in CO2, a greenhouse gas, and in exchange they transpire oxygen which we breathe. So the IPCC's most recent report has said that we can no longer globally avert disaster by reducing emissions alone. It has stated that we must aggressively plant trees worldwide in order to increase our capacity to sequester greenhouse gases. Countywide, our annual drawdown of emissions from our trees is 2.7% of our total emissions. Countywide, our trees are holding roughly 14 years' worth of our total emissions. The forests in the Northwest are second only to the Amazon in their ability to sequester carbon. Tumwater has some of those forests. Your stewardship is critical. And part of the reason for this is size. A 30-foot tree provides 70% more environmental service than a 3-foot tree. So if we replace these large trees and put in 3-foot trees, it is critical to understand that these developers who say, well, we're going to replace A tree? And put in a new tree? The large tree, it can take up to 100 years to improve that. We're just asking for more time that the city would investigate ways to combat sidewalk lifts with knowledge for the trees. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to address the council this evening? Seeing none, then let's go on to our next agenda item, which is our mandatory watering schedule and water shortage response plan.

Good evening, Council. My name is Charlene McKendree. I'm Water Resources Specialist for the City of Lacey, and I'm here to give you an update of our Water Shortage Response Plan that was initially developed in 2014, and each year it is updated, and so this is the new updated version. So the Water Shortage Response Plan provides operating procedures to be implemented by the City of Lacey Water Utility in the event of weather-related water shortage, such as multi-year prolonged drought, natural or human-caused disaster, EARTHQUAKE WOULD BE A GOOD EXAMPLE. OR OTHER WATER SYSTEM OPERATING EMERGENCIES, LIKE IF THERE WAS EQUIPMENT FAILURE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. THE NUMBERS THAT that dictate what the different triggers are in this plant is called the P3 number, the present possible production. It is calculated by our water utility engineers. So it's something that they use a lot of data to calculate these P3 numbers. The maximum well pumping time is considered 21 hours per day. when we can have the wells pumping nonstop, producing water, drying them up out of the ground, and storing it in the water reservoirs. So that's 21 hours per day is what we figure that to be. It's based on the availability, available standby and operational reservoir storage capacity. And it's in millions of gallons per day units. So the... The plan also can be modified throughout the year to especially during the summer season as conditions change or if there's something that needs to be updated. The water shortage response team then meets and decides if there needs to be updates and changes to the plan. So there's four different levels of the water shortage response plan, and they have different triggers. So stage one, is our mandatory watering schedule. The advisory stage actually is stage one, which includes the mandatory odd even watering schedule. And that is a demand management tool that we implement every year since 2006. And it is basically so that people take turns to water their outside areas. landscaping to reduce peak demand. That's the main goal of the advisory stage and we also encourage water conservation and that's something that we do year round. And then stage two is internal. If the P3 numbers trigger us into a stage two, the general public is not gonna know that. It's something that we make some changes internally at the City of Lacey to reduce. some certain things that we do, like watering, landscaping, stuff like that, washing vehicles, to reduce the water demand. It does not affect the public at this stage. And then stage three, mandatory. That's when things are getting a little more serious. And we do impose certain watering restrictions, like instead of three days of outdoor watering for residential and commercial customers, it's reduced to two days. And they're spread out so that the water demand will be as even as possible throughout the week. And then if we get into stage four, an emergency, emergency situation is we need that water for drinking. It's critical to preserve the water that we have for drinking and not for any outdoor use at all. So those are the different triggers. So here's an illustration of our water demand during the summertime months, the four months of June, July, August, and September. So the watering schedule, the Audium and watering schedule starts on June 1st, yesterday, and then it goes through September 30th. So for most of the year, the average peak demand is right around six million gallons per day. And then it starts creeping up, and in the summertime, for those four months, it averages about 13 million gallons per day, and it actually averages in July and August are in the hottest months, it gets up there right around 15 million gallons per day. And that is all due to outdoor watering. So that's above and beyond daily living needs. And so that just illustrates how much water people are putting out on their lawns and grasses and landscaping. So the advisory stage, it affects all customers, commercial and residential. And then stage two, like I said, we've had it for, or stage one, the audio event schedule, we've had it for 20 years. We're taking turns and it has been very effective in having the city be able to not need as much major infrastructure increases. It can be deferred for longer periods of time if we can reduce that peak demand. We won't need to build new reservoirs and wells just for those four months of the year when water usage is highest. So it makes sense to have this schedule. And some exceptions to the watering schedule, of course, is potted plants and hanging baskets, greenhouses, commercial and residential. Playfields where, like the school playfields and our Athletic fields that have a lot of money that has been put into them and specialized turf and everything those those are exempt from the Watering schedule and then washing vehicles and pressure washing so you can still wash your cars and still pressure wash Just water your grass on your assigned days take turns That's that's all we're asking on that And then you can get a six week temporary exemption if you just put in a new lawn, new grass seed or sod, give me a call. If you go to the City of Lacey odd even page, odd even schedule page, it has some information on there. It also has contact information to get ahold of me. I maintain a database of everybody who's requested an exemption. And then I also keep track of anybody who's had a reported of where they're watering on the wrong days. If one of our city staff has noticed somebody watering on the wrong days, I can keep track of that. I can get ahold of that person. So give me a call. It's real easy to get ahold of me. So And then like I said, internal action, stage, the public isn't gonna know about it. I do contact the top irrigation, commercial irrigation customers to let them know, you know, we'd like you to cut back a little bit if you can. And yeah, we do our best to not have it affect the public at that stage. And then, yeah, so we're in stage three. We're trying to ensure that adequate supply of water is available to maintain public health and safety. It is necessary to impose mandatory water restrictions. And then we coordinate with, uh, the fire department and in stage three, I also contact, um, the top 25 commercial irrigators to let them know that we're in a stage three and that we need them to restrict their irrigation, um, by at least 20%, um, and possibly more than that, depending on, you know, what the P3 numbers are. And then these are the days that if we were in a stage three, these are the days that would be assigned to the commercial and residential customers. And we spread it out so that there's only a couple of days that overlap a bit. But I think that would help quite a bit. to spread out the usage. And then like I said, stage four, an emergency exists, severe restrictions of water use are necessary to maintain adequate water supplies essential for public health and safety. And at this stage, there is no outdoor water use at all, no car washing at all. In stage three, the previous stage, you can still take your cars to commercial car wash facilities that recycle water. But stage four, we're not allowing anybody to be washing their cars in their driveway, no filling of pools. No watering your vegetable garden, sorry. You can still water your vegetable garden up through stage four. Once we get to stage four, it's all for drinking water. And then the water shortage response team, which is a team of utility managers as well as city managers, they make the decisions on which stage we're going to go into and the public outreach at that point. And at stage 42, the city is no longer watering, and the schools, North Mason's, I'm from Mason County, North Thurston School District also are not watering any ball fields or anything at that point. So it includes play fields at that time. Here is a graph of the P3 levels here. So the red line at the top is the emergency stage and the blue line would be like that's the 80% is that 80%? 90%, and then the green line is the 80%. So the yellow line that you see, the lighter yellow, that is a three-year average of demand or of water production. So you can see the highs and lows of the last three years, and then the The darker red line, that is an average of what is produced. And then the blue line is where we are right now. So you can see during that really dry stretch that we had a couple weeks ago that it peaked a little bit and we were in line with you know, where we've been in the last three years. And then it went down because we had rainy weather. People weren't watering their grass. But I have a feeling it's going to go back up again when we get, you know, into the warmer months. And that is... Does anybody have any questions about the plan?

The big question that I sort of always get from the public is, you know, right now we're on the odd evening schedule for residents. But does the city, like at our parks, is there an odd even schedule? Process that they're going through I know I know when it gets down later where we're getting to some of the higher Usages we start restricting that but do we ever restrict it just along with the rest of the summer months like we do in the residential side

They don't necessarily have city-owned property on the odd-even schedule. It's as needed. I know they do manage it with conservation in mind.

Okay, but there's not a particular schedule? Is that something that needs... It just feels weird that if we're doing it on the residential side, why wouldn't we follow it on the city side? Do we have an answer for that?

Well, as Charlie mentioned, we don't have it specifically prescribed for city properties. However, we do use conservation measures, but we can also have a follow-up in response to the question and get you some more information.

Because other times, it's like sometimes you see middle of the day and watering is happening on the middle of the day, which is absolutely the worst time to be watering. You want to... water in the middle of the night. Correct. So it's, you know, because water in the middle of the day, that just gets, it's evaporated, it's wasted, and yet you can see it someplace around town, them doing it like that.

Well, and again, typically, again, we're incorporating water conservation features. Also, too, we've got to make sure that if there's plain surfaces, that they're in good repair for, you know, activities and the use of that property as well. So I'll circle back with our public works team and get some more information for council on what we do do for our implement for conservation measures and how we manage the city properties. I think that's fair. Go ahead.

I'm just kind of wondering what staff's thinking is right now with the warnings that we're getting about having a super El Nino summer, the state already declaring drought emergencies over most of the state and all, like how likely are we to get to a level two, level three, level four?

The city of Lacey has three aquifers and we have multiple very deep wells. So it doesn't affect the city of Lacey as far as the statewide drought declaration at this point. Where you see it affecting communities would be like places that rely on surface water, like ponds or rivers or something like that. I think Yakima Valley is in a hurt right now, and they're thinking about some of the things they're going to have to do over there. cities that rely on snowpack for their water sources that then feed their reservoirs, but City of Lacey is not in that situation. Good to know, thanks. Yeah, it is good to know. Another thing, too, about the odd events schedule I forgot to mention was that on your assigned days, your three assigned days, we don't restrict how much water you can use on your grass. And if you water two or three times a day for your three days, or even one time a day on your assigned three days, your grass is going to be just fine. We don't want people to water on Fridays because we want our reservoirs and our wells to recharge. So we don't want anybody, commercial or residential, watering on Fridays. But on your assigned days, you can go ahead and use the water that you feel you need for your landscaping and other outdoor use. We just want you to take turns so that everybody's not using it all at one time.

So anyone else have a question? Go ahead.

I didn't see this in your report, but I think you touched on it a little bit, and that is the question of what do you do for families that depend on their gardens for food?

Right, so vegetable gardens, it doesn't specifically say in the plan that it's an exemption, but I know that if somebody does contact me and say, you know, I have a vegetable garden, is it okay for me to water on days that aren't my assigned days? I'm not going to tell people they can't water their vegetables and their food. I mean, that's what they need to live on, and they put a lot of work and money into that. But where we want to restrict people from watering is on turf. You know, grass is not needed to live on. But vegetable gardens are not something that I get real adamant about. Okay.

Does anyone else have any questions?

Another question. So as I was reading through the report, I saw through different stages that there is an allowance for washing vehicles if they have mud on them. And my first sort of reaction was, this is not a time to... Be having pretty cars or whatever and then I thought about it and it it makes sense to me that you wouldn't want to have mud say on your Your headlights that the the removal of mud is for a safety reason, but I didn't see that in the report I think I think this section you're referring to is was for the vehicles for the fire department and

like if they had muddy vehicles.

But it's for safety reasons.

Yeah, for safety reasons and to make sure their equipment's going to function properly and everything. But the rest of the folks in Lacey, just take your car to a car wash that recycles water. That way the water's getting reused. And all the chemicals and the soap and the road grease and stuff that's on your car then is going to get filtered out. And it's just an environmentally better thing to do than washing it in your driveway anyway.

You can use four times the amount of water if you're washing it yourself at home than if you go to a professional car wash. That's what I've heard.

And it's fun to go through a drive-through one. Does anybody have any more questions about that? We also have our water utility engineers and our water maintenance person over here. So if anybody has any more questions about that, we've got experts ready to answer.

Okay. Thank you.

One more thing I want to plug before I go is the 2026 Water quality report for the City of Lacey. It's also known as the Consumer Confidence Report. It's required that we have this published every year. Next year it will be required to have this plus the water quality test results that are here. This part will have to be published. So this part will have to be twice a year, but the main report is done once a year. Hot off the press, just got it the other day. I want everybody to catch a copy of it.

We got a whole bunch of them over there.

And it's got a lot of really good information in it. It's got all of our water quality test results. And the City of Lazy has excellent drinking water. And it also has information in there about backflow prevention, about our water use efficiency stats that are really good too. And then links in there for stream team, Drought.gov and some other information about if you have leaks at your house, how you can go to WaterSense website and do some do-it-yourselfer repairs. It's a good report, and everybody can pick up a copy over there. Plus, I brought a stack of the reminder magnets for the odd events scheduled, too, to put on people's refrigerator over there. Brand new. They're nice.

Charlene, are those being mailed to every household this year?

They are not being mailed to every household. It's posted on our city website. You'll find it on the water quality page, which is... If you go to Trending Topics, it's a shortcut. You go to Trending Topics, pull down, and then Water Quality is right there. Click on that. This report is in six languages, including English, Tagalog Korean, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, and Spanish. And then the previous three reports, the previous years are also on there. But this is there and it's downloadable. If somebody wants a paper copy, I'm happy to mail it to them. In the Lacey Life quarterly that does go to every single household, including people who live in apartments, there is a QR code with information about the water quality report that they can access. And then it's also available at all city facilities. So here at City Hall, it's all over the lobby. And it's also at the museum, the community center, the senior center, the veterans hub. And then we also got it distributed to apartments, medical facilities like the St. Peter's facility that's out there near Panorama. We're just going to have it all over the city. And then we'll have it at events too, like Children's Day and Fun Fair and any other events that come along.

Okay. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

So our next agenda item, it's our Human Services Grant Policy Approval.

Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm happy to be here tonight to talk to you again about our human services grant program for 2026. I don't have any slides tonight. I shared all of my slides last Tuesday, the 26th, and we all went over kind of the program. And so tonight I'm recommending approval of option three, which is a motion to approve updating the human services grant policy. Which includes no administrative cap? Maximum award 30,000 for service projects 50,000 for capital projects No minimum ask and add points for number of Lacey residents served and add points for priority areas So moved is there a second?

any discussion Seeing none all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? That motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. That's great. We'll be opening the applications tomorrow.

Great. Thank you.

Easy peasy. Thank you.

Mr. City Manager, do you have a report? I do not have a report tonight. Council reports? I don't have a report either. Council reports? Deputy Mayor?

One quick report. The EDC met on May 27th. Just a couple items on the agenda. The first being the City Nation Place Conference debrief. So we had VCB come and you guys heard Council Member Dunning talk about this a week ago or two weeks ago. But the VCB came and kind of just kind of gave us A little synopsis on what happened at the City Nation Place Conference. One of the takeaways from that was your community, your county, or at least your urban area having some type of identity that's attractive to investors and developers and people who might want to come and move a business, something desirable to your community, and kind of developing that identity that they're kind of looking for. So we kind of talked about, you know, what is Thurston County's identity, what is our thing that we're known for, you know, and most of it is, you know, a lot of people come here because we have the greenery, we have the trails, we have the hiking, and we have the water and the mountains, and it's kind of a picturesque, serene place to To B, what else do we need to be attractive to the types of businesses that we want to attract to this community, like plugging the holes, things that we don't have, things that we would like to see here, things that maybe people leave this area to go and do, or business that they go and frequent because we haven't provided that yet or just haven't had the bandwidth to do it. So we kind of got into that, and it was a pretty good conversation on that one. We also continued our land use conversation. How does the EDC advocate for land use for development for whether that's residential or commercial? What is our role that we can play in either the legislative side or the building side, the local land use, the zoning side, and where is our energy gonna be most effective to help assist bringing those types of businesses that we would like to see here in this community. And the real goal is to stop money, again, from flowing out of the community. We'd like to see it bounce around the community a little bit more before it does leave. So some of that has to do with our port. So the port of Olympia was there at the meeting as well. They've got some projects and some designs and some thoughts and ideas about the kind of things that are needed at the port. From what I understand, you can't, can you fill up at the port? Okay, you can so so more You know, there's a new hotel project going in with with some retail ground floor. And so You know kind of you know, just making it such that this is more of a destination location As opposed to you know, kind of a bedroom community feel that we can't currently have just kind of bringing a few more amenities into the community and Um, so that, that is an ongoing conversation is not yet fully baked. So I'll be reporting on that multiple times throughout the year. I'm sure. Let's see, we ended up with a presentation from the city of Yale and they kind of went through all their projects that they have going on right now. They have an entire list of projects, a lot of road projects, some development projects. We really kind of got to see the way that Yale was developing and what their real goal for how they want to look in the next 20 years. They are trying to keep as many green spaces as possible, but also at the same time trying to produce as much residential and connecting roads and streets that they can to make travel a little bit easier in Yelm. They are also have a new housing project that's going in I didn't get a chance to ask the mayor about their school levy and how that new housing project could affect that that school levy in that vote, but they're they're really excited about their their new projects and then of course in the financials the Lacey makerspace doing really well operating in the black Actually having some record months recently and the are on the verge of potentially opening another day a week because they are running out of space in terms of how many people really want to get in there throughout the week. Right now they're open four days. And so hopefully, earlier in the year, I don't know if you guys remember this, but maybe it was late last year, but one of the things that I was trying to accomplish with Lacey Makerspace was to get the membership up and to get the numbers up so that maybe one day, sooner than later, it would stand on its own as opposed to under the umbrella of the EDC. So I asked city managers to get with the Abbey to... Clear-cut some of the brush that makes the building not visible I reached out to a sign company to see if they would be interested in putting a sign on the side Or at least give us some costs but now it seems as if we Don't need as many new members but at the same time we need to grow and open the door so it's kind of an awkward time for the makerspace right now in that We would like to open the doors more days a week, but we don't really have the capacity to do that yet. And I'm of the opinion that how are we going to have the capacity to do that if we are not actively trying to get as many new members as we possibly can? I mean, I don't want to oversell it like a health club, but at the same time, its growth is... is inevitable. It's just kind of a matter of what do we do first? Do we go after more members or do we open another day first? So jury's still out. We'll be looking at those options in addition to kind of a transition plan where the makerspace will stand on its own. And no longer be under the EDC, but the EDC will still Provide services for the makerspace. So that transition plan is designed to be completed by the end of this year And that is my report Thank You council member Greenstein.

I do not have a report Council member Cox. I don't have one either

Councilmember Dunning.

I'll just expand on what the Deputy Mayor was talking about with the VCB presentation. They gave it to the EDC, but on Friday we had our luncheon presentation, and actually had a really good turnout. Probably had around 50 representatives from every city, every jurisdiction, and lots of very influential business community members. the chambers, so it was really good. I gave a presentation on unity, not just with the cities, but also with organizations like the VCB and trying to get the VCB to more show how it can support other organizations and cities. And I kind of put it out there that the VCB has not done a great job of that in the past and that's something that we're really committed to moving forward and gave the examples of the fan zone and also kind of the partnership or the the structure of what they're doing with the encampment in Olympia about including partners and not just to be there, but also to feel like their opinion is valued and how we are trying to move in that direction as a community, knowing that we're not just, you know, we're a collection of cities with lots of different backgrounds, small cities, big cities, different priorities. And so how do we work together to have a common goal and a vision that attracts business that attracts tourism? And I think for a long time we've kind of been you know separate and had different ideas and so got a lot of feedback from the The members that came as well too, and they're gonna be putting a report together for that So and I think they're gonna come present it as well great And how about councilmember Turner?

I don't have a formal report, but I did take a tour of the Family Support Center in Olympia and learn about how they support Lacey and Thurston County people who have experienced domestic violence. And so that was really time well spent. It was my first time going to the Lacey Community Academy, and so I enjoyed that. I think the participants got to hear from new council members as well as more seasoned people, and so I hope they walked away with a good experience from that. And then the last thing I'll talk about is, you know, I walked my dog up to Bush Park and was happy to... Witnessed the christening of the SSS gateway. That's the park. We go to the Moses.

Oh, it's really happy to see that Councilor see you I was just gonna say yeah the park dedication or the opening of the SS gateway was really awesome and That was the first park my family ever went to in Lacey, and it's so nice to see the new park equipment up and being used, and it was packed there. It was really awesome to see. And then, yeah, the community academy was so amazing. So many hard questions from the people who were there. It was awesome. And then over the weekend, there was the South Sound Studio Tour, and so I was able to go to the Lacey Makerspace and see... all of the things that they're doing there and get a tour and it's such a gem in our community and my kid is now really interested in me getting a membership there so he can go and design things so hopefully that may be coming in the future for me but that's all I got.

With that we have reached the end of our agenda. It's hard to believe it's already June. I mean this This year is flying by. But time goes on. So without objection, I'm going to call this meeting adjourned. And as always, you keep it classy, Lacey.