City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you very much. I'd like to call the Lakewood City Council meeting uh of Monday, May 4th, 2026 to order. Miss Atkins, could you please give the roll call? Council member Bransteader, here. Council member Laura. Council member Lynholm, present. Council member Pearson, here. Council member Talbo here. Deputy Mayor Bell here. And Mayor Boi, you have a quorum.

Thank you very much, Miss Atkins. And uh will please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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 all for being here tonight on this beautiful evening in Lakewood. And uh the first item of business is a proclamation recognizing May 2026 as Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I think Miss Lea Pritchard is here and we're going to have Council Member Talbo uh make the uh read the proclamation. All right. Thank you. Whereas in May, we take time to reflect on and call special attention to the achievements and contributions of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in our community, our state, and our country. And whereas in 1978, Congress created AsianPacific American Heritage Week in May to coincide with two milestones in AsianPacific American history. The arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on May 7th, 1843 in the United States and Chinese workers role in building the transcontinental railroad completed May 10th, 1869. And whereas Lakewood's connection to the

Asian community goes back decades from welcoming immigrants to the area as they arrived alongside service members stationed at Joint Base Lewis McCord to supporting business development and expansion endeavors within the city and celebrating the many cultures, customs and heritage of the kaleidoscope of countries from the Asian continent and Pacific Islands represented in our community And whereas Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders comprise nearly 12% of the city's population according to the 2020 census, and nationally are some of the fastest growing racial and ethnic groups. And whereas Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders are some of our most devoted community members who serve as leaders in our military and in law enforcement. as experts in the fields of science, medicine, and technology, as teachers, as distinguished lawyers, as innovative farmers, as business owners, as nonprofit executives, and as leaders within their community and beyond. Now, therefore, the Lakewood City Council hereby proclaims May 2026 as AsianAmerican Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Lakewood and encourages all residents to recognize the vital role Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders play in our community and urges residents to visit the AsianPacific Cultural Center to learn more about their programs and commitment to bridge communities and generations through art, culture, education, and business proclaimed this fourth day of

May 2026. And as the first Asian-American, FilipinoAmerican council member for the city of Lakewood, it is my pleasure and honor and privilege to now introduce Filua Lana Pritchard, executive director of the AsianPacific Cultural Center and hand this proclamation. And thank you so so much for for those who know Lua and know that she is a pillar in the community. It is my esteemed pleasure and honor. So, thank you very much. Thank you,

Mayor Baky. Respected members of the council, we want to thank you so much for this great honor. We are really, really, really blessed. And city of Lakewood has been my home for 36 years now. And the preachers have been here as a pioneer Samone family in the state of Washington living in the city of Lakewood. And there are so many of us like behind me today. But we would love it if we there are some of us who want to say something in honor of all of you today. And now we have our older brother and uncle Art Wong.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council members. My name is Art Wong. Um, I'm a former state representative and judge on the court of appeals and state agency director, but I'm here today on behalf of the AsianPacific Cultural Center as a an advisory board member. I've been on that since virtually the beginning of the Asian Pacific Cultural Center. Um, I have a confession and that is that I'm somewhat jaded when it comes to all the proclamations and things and sometimes they sound a little trivial and stuff. Let me tell you, this one is important. I know that sometimes when you're doing proclamations, all elected officials have to do proclamations and sometimes they get to be like fluff. This one is not. This one is important because particularly with our times these days, we are struggling with uh the the variety of circumstances. And it's just important to recognize uh May as as Asian uh Heritage Month. And so we appreciate your job in doing this and thank you very much.

And we have our sister Alice Fong.

Hi. Thank you so much uh for uh putting this proclamation together and honoring the AsianPacific um Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. My name is Alice and I am a resident here in uh Lakewood and I'm very proud of our city uh that we are honoring this and especially right before this meeting we had our youth council here uh and it really shows um our youth our next generation of leaders what it is to be inclusive and welcoming and having a healthy safe community. and we can't do that without your um your support uh and working together with community to make that happen. And so I just got off the call from um chairing our Pierce County refugee and immigrant affairs and that was the same thing that we're talking about is how do we um work together with our leadership so that we create that healthy, happy, safe um environment. And I think community and I think that is what all of you are doing and I want to thank you for that. Um for making it so that our young people see this, for modeling it um and working with organizations and leaders like Lua and the Asia uh Pacific Cultural Center that brings these events here in Lakewood so that our neighbors can connect with each other. uh and a shout out to um Lakewood's promise advisory board that I um am a part of and what that is also working with you to do uh that work. So thank you so much for all of that.

And now our sister Tuet Noen. Good evening, mayor, council member, and uh community leader. Um as a longtime resident of Lakewood, I truly feel grateful to call this community my home. This year also make 30 years since the Lakewood become a city and I was a part of it. So uh on behalf of our AAPI community and alongside with Asia Pacific Culture Center, I am very honored to be here with our sister and brother to um uh to this um honored recognition. Um it also um it celebrate not only our culture heritage but also the resilient and contribution of soul family who call liquid home. Um we sincere thanks the CD of Lakewood for your continued support and commitment uh to diversity and inclusion. Together we will keep building a stronger, connected and more compassionate community. Thank you so much and very proud to invite all of you to go online to Asia-Pacific Culture Center and find out how every day of this month will be will be active with all kinds of Asians and Pacific Islanders comm uh activities. So, we're filled we're in government. We're inside of different organizations. We're in schools. And then we're also over at our own

building. So, and we're in public. So, and Lakewood, city of Lakewood, we're always very proud that you always support our program. So, thank you on behalf of all Asians and all Pacific Islanders of this state and this city of Lakewood. Thank you so very much.

Thank you very much. So, we're all going to come down here and take a picture. It's great. Thank you very much. Next is the proclamation recognizing May 3rd, 2026 through May 9th, 2026 as water week. And uh Council Member Yeah, Lindholm is on his way down to and could we have I we have two commissioners here tonight, Mr. Gary Barton, Mr. Greg Riski, and I believe you're the new you're the new general manager, Mr. Marshall Meyer. Welcome.

Whereas water is our most valuable natural resource. And whereas drinking water serves as a vital role in daily life, serving an essential purpose to health, hydration, and hygiene needs for the quality of life our residents enjoy. And whereas tap water delivers public health protection, fire protection, support for our economy, and the quality of life we enjoy. And whereas the hard work performed by the entire water sector, designing capital projects, oper operators ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water or a member of a pipe crew maintaining the infrastructure communities rely on to transport highquality drinking water from its source to consumers taps. And whereas we are all stewards of the water infrastructure upon which current and future generations depend. And whereas the residents of the city of Lakewood are called upon to help protect our source waters from pollution, practice water conservation, and get involved with their water by familiarizing themselves with it. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the city of Lakewood, the Lakewood City Council hereby proclaims May 3rd, 2026 through May 9th, 2026 as drinking water week in the city of Lakewood and urges all residents to observe the week with activities to enhance awareness about drinking water and the benefits of drinking water. proclaim this fourth day of May. I am a huge fan of water. I drink it every day. I'm really thankful that we have our our water district here. I've been to these meetings. These gentlemen work very hard. They don't get enough praise. So, thank you for coming. Um, uh, Mayor Paul Bokei, uh, city council, and of course, uh, citizens of Lakewood, um, I just want to say, um, thank you for this proclamation. Water, uh, without water, we don't have a community. And, and that's the bottom line. I just want to uh say thank you

for the staff at the Lakewood Water District. They work very hard 727 make sure that you have clean, reliable water. I also would like to thank the city staff uh who work with us on various capital projects to maintain the water infrastructure and with that cooperation. We have uh always been extremely successful and uh so thank you so much for your cooperation and the community for entrusting us to serve you clean reliable water. Thank you.

Thank you. And I just want to echo the thank you. So, thank you mayor and council members for this uh proclamation of drinking water week. Throughout history, access to clean water has been key to a successful and healthy community. As the city works towards its goal of providing more housing, supporting a growing, thriving community, the importance of access to clean, reliable, and affordable drinking water has never been more important. In 2025, Liquid residents used over 7 and a half million gallons a day of water for their drinking, sanitation, recreation, irrigation, fire protection, and business needs. Now, the World Health Organization estimates that around the world, two billion people do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Fortunately, of course, the residents of Lakewood um do have access to that and in large part to the efforts of our dedicated staff who work tirelessly at operating, maintaining, repairing, and testing the water system for our that our city residents rely on. So, I also want to thank the city of Lakewood for its continued partnership in support in meeting our mission at the district of serving healthy communities through responsible water practices. So, thank you.

Thank you. We're gonna we're going to take a picture down here, but I do want I do want to say, and you've both made mention of it, of a very good working relationship when we're doing a lot of these putting a lot of these streets in that you're right there to put new water manes in. So, the the thing because there are very few things people hate more than seeing a road torn up. Hey, they just it could have been 10 years ago when we put it in, but they they'll say they hey that you just put that road in. And it's great the level of cooperation and the things that we've done. And I think a lot of m municipalities wish they had the the cooperation that we've had on on all all those projects. So, thank you very much.

Oh yeah. Thank you very much. And I'm going to ask Chief Patrick Smith to come on down. And I am going to read the proclamation for National Police Week. Thank you very much, Chief Smith. Glad you're here. Whereas each May during the week surrounding May 15th, our nation salutes the American men and women who put their lives on the line every day to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law. Whereas there are more than 750,000 sworn law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including 100 dedicated members of the Lakewood Police Department. And whereas since the first recorded death in 1786, more than 24,000 law enforcement officers in the United States have been killed in the line of duty, including four members of the Lakewood Police Department in 2009. where it is with heavy hearts we mourn the heroes taken from us only because they chose to serve and we rededicate ourselves to carrying their noble legacy. And whereas the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC. Now therefore, it be it resolved that the Lakewood City Council officially recognizes May 11th through May 16th, 2026, as National Police Week

in the city of Lakewood and publicly salutes the service of law enforcement officers in our community and in communities across the nation. Proclaim this day, the 4th of May, 2026. Chief, please come up and give us a few words. Thank you very much. Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor, and members of council. Um, actually, I'm very thankful that you do this every year to recognize those who have basically paid the ultimate sacrifice. Um, throughout my career, I can go to the National Mall and see several names of people that I've known, some that I've worked with, some who were very good friends. and um to have this opportunity to honor them, their memory, their legacy, who they are, what they represented, and what they offered to the community each year is absolutely amazing. So, I'm very thankful. Each year the city of Lakewood or the past few years the city of Lakewood police department we send um four or five of our officers to participate in the police unity tour. That's a 300 um mile ride on their bicycles doing 75 to 100 miles per day riding to meet the group there um at the police memorial and um I lend those officers whatever support we possibly can to make sure that they're there to represent our officers and our fallen in our city uh each year and so I'm very proud of them. So I just want to say thank you so much for all of the officers for the proclamation and what it represents and

what it means to us specifically those um who knew some of the officers or our officers here in the city. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next is we're proclaiming recognizing May 17th through May 23rd as public works week. And this covers another big swath of territory. Uh, Council Member Pearson is with uh uh Jeff Remac, our director of the city of Lakewood Planning and Public Works Department, and uh we'll present the the uh proclamation.

Thank you, Mayor. This is a uh good timing for public works week as we've just wrapped up some projects, so we don't have too many complaints right now. So, uh what what a spectacular timing. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of the city of Lakewood. And whereas these infrastructure, facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment and solid water uh solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities. is essential for our residents. And whereas it is in the public interest for residents, civic leaders, and children in the city of Lakewood to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks this marks the 66th annual National Public's work public works week. Now therefore be it resolved that the Lakewood City Council hereby proclaim May 17th, 2026 through May 23rd, 2026 as public works week in the city of Lakewood and urges all residents to participate in activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees to recognize and

to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health and safety and advancing quality of life for all residents. Proclaimed this fourth day of May, 2026.

Thank you, mayor, deputy mayor, city council. I appreciate this recognition for public works and what we're looking at, but really I'm just here to accept it on behalf of the staff. really it's the professionals that work behind the scenes that really make things go from operations at M and what we look at when it comes to engineering and then our capital projects. So those projects we see out there and the rapid improvements we've seen over all of our streets and street scrapes and things of that nature really it falls down to them. So thank you to all of them and thank you for giving them the recognition for what they do. All All right, next up. Thank you very much for all that. Um, next up is the youth council report and I'm going to call up the youth council members, but we don't have names today. So, uh, please state your name clearly for the record. This will go out on YouTube. Millions of people

will see hear your name. So, we're all listening clearly.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor Bokei. Deputy Mayor Bell and Council. I am Ire Hankle and I'm currently a junior at Harrison Preparatory and this year I served as vice chair on Lakewood City Youth Council and I was just elected chair for next year. We are pleased to announce we had a great turnout at the youth summit this year with 28 vendors and 121 attendees. We were privileged to have Dr. John Gaines as a keynote speaker. Students reported thoroughly enjoying everything that he had to say and how he said it. Dr. Gaines has also voiced interest in being involved in youth council and youth summit in future years. Besides that, the most popular activities were the coffee truck in Kona Ice, for which we gave students one free drink ticket, um the video game setup in the vendors area, the swag bags given to students at check-in and um and the parents cafe, which was extremely successful, especially considering that it was our first year having it. Additionally, the naughty knitts were quite popular with students as well as the 19 studentled um skill stations. Two of the most popular being financial man um financial fitness and stress management. Finally, the new location Pierce College rather than Harrison Prep was positively received and the free direct transportation through Pierce Transit was incredibly successful providing far more students access to the event. Um, we are pleased and excited for future years. And as we wrap up this year, we plan to celebrate with an endofear party on Monday, May 18th from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Fort Stilicum Park. It will be a potluck and we will do a few team building activities such as a water gun fight and other games and face painting.

Additionally, we will award prizes to the youth council members that brought the highest number of attendees to the youth summit. We invite you all to join us and in the festivities and team building activities. Thank you. And now I'll hand it over to Reita to discuss current the current election process. Thank you.

Thank you, Ireie. My name is Reita Bene. I'm a senior and I currently attend Clover Park High School. As the 2025 and 2026 Lakewood Youth Council comes to an end, it is time to decide a new executive board for the 2026 27 Lakewood Youth Council. Currently, I'm working with Elijah, our current chair of youth council to conduct interviews with potential candidates. Candidates were asked about their initiative, authority, time management, and creativity skills. With these interviews, we envisioned a voting process to be a 40 to 60 voting. 40% to Elijah and I based off the interview scores, then 60% to the group's voting. Once voting is completed, the new board will be led through executive board 101 training where they will be trained on how to write proper agendas, document meeting minutes, lead big groups, project management skills, and gain insight to youth youth council sponsored events such as youth summit. We will also teach them how to properly make points to present to council. Thank you so much for your time. Would do you guys have any questions for us?

Thank you very much. And great numbers from the youth summit. I think 121 is a nice number and it's always great to give out free food as part of the deal that to get people in, but whatever works. Does anybody have any questions? Council member Ransteader.

Yes, thank you. And I would would echo that. It sounds like the youth summit was very successful. Um, in the in past years, the youth summit has usually taken place closer to the end of the school year rather than in April. Um so his what have you what what did this the planning for this obviously had to be accelerated to to finish earlier but uh did you find that that was an advantage to uh getting getting attendance uh of students uh in being able to to do that? Um, and is that something you plan to consider scheduling it that earlier in future years? Okay, thank you for that question. Um, I think planning this earlier in the year and not closer to like graduation and the end of school year really boosted our attendance because people are guarant gu guaranteed to still be in the city and like still be still be here to attend youth summit. Um, what was the other part? Okay. Yeah. Um, also during like the months of May, we also have graduation, not well, we have graduation for a couple schools as well as prom and that would have just been like a factor of getting in the way of hosting youth summit.

And at the beginning of this year, um, one of the questions that we we asked and I think we were told was going to be something that would be looked at is Over the past four years, we have seen a growth in the number of young people that have stepped forward to be on the youth council. Um and and the and the the the question was um how large is too large? uh or do you anticipate just continuing in that regard and feel that that is the um is is is is healthy and good for the community even if it may be stressful for Shannon. I I think I think that is a better So thank you very much unless we have other questions. Thank you very much and we're going to bring Miss Bennett up to kind of answer that if you feel you can and then we'll go on. That's a good segue into the next thing. So, thank you very much. Yes, please. If you can answer the council member Brand or or you didn't get that in advance, so it's maybe not fair to put you on like this and then we'll just segue into the next.

Um item. We will we will figure out a way to work with the current ordinance as it is written unless council tells us to look at it at another time. And that would be for future discussion. Um but the leadership team um they are aware of it. They're already thinking of solutions on how we can involve more students in the giving of the opinions and the activities and to be make it a more inclusive group. Great. Thank thank you very much. Thank you very Oh, you have one a council member Laurisel has a question then we're going to we need to move on to the next item.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Bokei. Uh, Mayor Bokei, just real quick, uh, you mentioned, uh, this end of year event that you're holding at Fort Silicon Park. Can we get a refresher on the date and time for that? It is, uh, May 18th from 4:30 to 6:30 out at Shelter 1. Perfect. Um, yes, I sent I think I sent the information to Brianna. Okay, great. Thank you. And then, uh, just a comment, I really appreciate that um, our youth council is going through board member 101 training. Uh there's a number of of boards that I serve on that could benefit from similar education. So uh that's really important stuff. So

as much as I would like to take any sort of credit for that, that was not me. That was B. That was that was Reita and Elijah. And that is one of the benefits. I have been trying to con uh release control over the past two years. This year I really did it. I stepped back. I gave the students the um directive to this is your council. you have autonomy here. Um, and I want you to take pride in this youth council and feel that it's yours. So, um, it was all them. That's awesome. It's it's a critical skill that a lot of folks don't necessarily have and puts our youth council steps ahead of other folks. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

So, Miss Ms. Bennett community collaboration update. So, you're just going to give us an update and uh

very brief. Yes. And I have my co-f facilitator here. So, good evening, Mayor Boi, Deputy Mayor uh Vel, and council members. As you know, my name is Shannon Bennett. I am the human services coordinator here. In addition to leading this amazing group of youth, I also am the facilitator for our community collaboration group, which a couple of you have attended. Um the um tonight's is just a brief briefing. So the collaboration for new members, the collaboration began in the late 1990s through a partnership between community member Annie Gernan and former mayor Claudia Thomas. They were inspired by Colon Pal's America Promise initiative and it has grown into a cross- sector network of youth serving organizations, colleges, nonprofits, city staff, human service providers, faith communities, Pierce County departments, and the Clover Park School District. In my role, I help support and coordinate this network, keeping comm community communication flowing, elevating needs to the city and helping partners connect resources across systems. We meet monthly to identify emergency emerging issues, share what partners are seeing on the ground and align services. These conversations often lead to quick coordination in real time problem solving. We t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t typically about 27 participants joining in person and online. And recently we've seen increased engagement from the faith community with new pastors from three churches joining to connect. Hosting meetings at partner sites has strengthened understanding cross sector across sectors and often sparks immediate connections that lead to meaningful results for residents. One key focus key focus right now is improving the community resource hub. Residents want a more equitable, user-friendly resource, mobile friendly for youth and digital users, and simple, clear navigation for seniors and others who preferred straightforward access. And with that inter overview, I'll turn it over to my co-f facilitator, Daniel Birdsell with the Tacoma Pierce County

Health Department to walk through next steps and share how we hope to engage council moving forward.

Thank you, Shannon, and good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and council members. My name is Daniel Bertzall and I'm with the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department. I serve as a liazison for our communities of focus program and co-f facilitate the Lakewood Community Collaboration. Many people know the health department for services like vaccines, food inspections, and vital records. But we also lead a place-based health equity initiative called communities of focus. Through this work, we've identified six areas across the county that could benefit from additional support. One of those being the Spring Brook neighborhood here in Lakewood. My role is to help strengthen partnerships, increase investment, expand opportunities for civic engagement, and ensure strong two-way communication between the community and public health leadership. At its core, this work is rooted in a simple belief. When communities have the opportunity to come together, share ideas, and shape their future, health outcomes improve. That belief is what drives our partnership with the Lakewood Comm community collaboration. I also want to take a moment to thank this council, past and present, as well as city staff, for your continued commitment to partnership. I work with coalitions across the county and it's rare to see something as long-standing and consistent as the Lakewood collaboration. What Shannon shared has been active since the late 1990s. That's incredible. That kind of longevity speaks volumes. Lakewood clearly values collaboration and it shows. Through this work, I've had the privilege of meeting people who are deeply committed to this community, their ideas, their challenges, and their vision for Lakewood. One person I'd like to share uh uh share with you is Steven Dworth behind me. He's a newer partner and pastor at the United Methodist Church in Lakewood. When he arrived, he took time to understand the community, who he was already doing the work, what resources existed, and where the gaps were. Recently, his church received donations of gently used clothing and planned a small pop-up boutique along the light uh along the lakes Lakewood Food Bank operated by Nourish Pierce County. Just a simple effort with what they had available. But when they shared this idea with the collaboration, uh others stepped in. Additional resources came forward, including a large donation of brand new clothing. What started small

quickly grew into the two-day event that filled their fellowship hall, serving more than 80 families with support from 17 volunteers and a scout troop. This is the power of collaboration in action. Turning a simple idea into meaningful impact for the Lakewood community. You're always welcome to see this work firsthand. A couple of you have been to our meetings. Our monthly collaboration meetings are open and we'd be glad to have you join us. Lastly, we'd love your guidance. How would you prefer to receive updates and stay connected to the work of the Lakewood Community Collaboration? Thank you for your time. Any other speakers? Happy to take any questions.

Okay. Does anybody have any questions for the folks? Okay.

So, thank you very much and you Oh, Council Member Brandstead. Well, well, certainly thank you for being here and uh uh reminding and emphasizing to us the uh the effectiveness of collaboration and and and of and of that the the value to the city of encouraging it to con continue and grow to be able to go and do that. And and Mr. Mayor, I think that u you know that that uh perhaps at a future meeting this this council might discuss ways that we can greater leverage the the strengths of of of this this collaboration to be able to go go and do that because I I think uh it's significant that they have asked for areas is that we are interested in their input or that we would like them to look into that we think collaboration could help. And um so uh I think we we we we owe them some feedback after we have have had a chance to think about it ourselves and be able to go and do that because although they're not an advisory committee to the council, they are a active resource for the community and that that's something that I think that we should uh uh take advantage of in our work.

Thank you, Council Member Brandsteader. And we will do that. Council member Lorisel.

Thank you, Mayor Bokei. And thanks to this this group. I've had the opportunity to uh participate in several of the the meetings that you held here in council chambers. And every time I I attend, I am blown away by the level of participation that we get from our community members. Uh it's really a venue for people who want to make Lakewood better and healthier and more vibrant and really care about our community. And it it doesn't have the same sort of structure as our formal boards, but I think that can be an advantage because it really allows people to self- select because they really care and it has the fluidity that you get from that sort of environment. So, thank you all for your participation in that.

Thank you. Thank you, council members. There are there any other questions? Everybody's running off. Okay. All right. Thank you very much for your presentation tonight. So, next we move into public comments. Public comments are accepted by mail, email, or by live, virtual, or in-person comment. Send comments in advance by mail or email to Briana Schumacher, City 6000 Main Street Southwest, Lakewood, Washington 98499 or B Schumacher at city of Lakewood. us. Comments received up to 1 hour before the meeting have been provided to the city council electronically. The clerk will read the names of those who have submitted comments in advance. Miss Atkins, did we get any advanced comments tonight?

We did not, Mayor Bokei. Thank you very much. There is a public hearing uh later this evening on the uh 2026 carry forward budget adjustment. So if you would like to speak specifically to this topic and there are a number of budget adjustments in 2026 that we're making, please do so under the public hearing portion of the agenda. So it's it's specifically in in that so we can get it on the record. Um, members of the audience may comment on items relating to any matter related to city business under the public comments period. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. Virtual comments. If you'd like to provide live virtual public comments, you will need to join the Zoom meeting as an attendee by calling on telephone dial 12532158782 and enter meeting ID 86872632373 or visit zoom. us and enter meeting ID 86872632373. Upon entering the meeting, please enter your name. Use the raise hand feature to be called upon. And for those participating by calling in by telephone to use the raise hand feature, press star 9 on your phone. When you're unmuted, please provide your name and city of residence. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes to speak. Outside of public comments, all attendees on Zoom will continue to have the ability to virtually raise their hand. For the duration of the meeting, you will not be acknowledged and your microphone will remain muted except for when you are called upon. So, we are going to call tonight first on in person. And I do have a list here. I think a number of the names were tied to one of the proclamations. So, I'm going to move down the list to Jean

G. Okay. Okay. Welcome. You have three minutes.

Uh, my name is Jean Conser. from live at 8824 Eagle Point Loop and I'm part of Eagle Point HOA and Oh, let me start over. Whoa. All right. Um, I just by way of introduction to y'all, um, I moved to Eagle Point about seven and a half years ago. My husband and I are the Brady Bunch. Second half of life and my first husband passed and then we met through uh public what am I telling him that anyway we met and we've gotten married and we moved here and on our about our sixth date we were on Eagle Point or on the lake and I said where do you you know where would you like to live and he said I'd like to live here and if that's ever possible you can afford it we would move to Eagle Point or in around American Lake. We've had a great experience. We have 12 grown children, six married to six. We have seven grandchildren. And with that, um, I'm on the Eagle Point HOA, and it's been a privilege. I also was part of the movement to see the petitions put in your hands. We have given, we've gotten over 150 names and signatures, but it's still growing. They're still coming in. You're going to get another surge. And I got to see the movement around the lake of people actually going doortodoor, walking the streets, talking to their neighbors, passing that petition on down the line and asking when are we going to have another meeting. So the movement is still there and we're here just to report in to you and actually let you know how we're doing. One thing that I have become more and more aware aware of in the last six months, I didn't know anything about the water in the lake. We were trying to figure out the lake water level at the beginning of this in October and uh became knowledgeable of what was wrong with the lake, why the level was so low and then became knowledgeable about water quality. And one of my little stories in this among many is I was over at Office Depot going to print something for all the people

we've distributed information to and actually you've gotten participant uh participate in that. The assistant manager at the Office Depot got to talking to me. I come on first name basis on a lot of the places here in Lakewood and he says why do you keep coming in here and buying ink and he said what are you doing now and I said well believe it or not I said I don't know what you know about American Lake but we're on a mission initiative to see um the water quality change and the level of the lake to go up up and he's had no other people in the store customers and he says he says I used to ski and I learned to uh swim actually in the lake he said, "I will never go in the lake. I'm 40 about 48 years years old." He said, "The lake is polluted." And I was not shocked by that because much of the study I have studied, I see the word pollution. So, what I gave you tonight is a picture of the way it looked four years ago and the way it looks today. So, when we moved there, it looked like this the first three years we were there. And this is what we woke up into the morning. This is on our beachfront, one of our shorelines. And this is what it looks like today. And my my only thought to you is would you want your children, your grandchildren to swim in that? Do you realize the diseases or the safety and the risk factor of having a lake like this? And you you can't you should have gotten a copy of this. And so basically, I'm just here to remind you we're still here and we're still in the movement stage of seeing this progress. Thanks for your time.

Thank you very much. Was it that being the what we're using now? Okay. Thank you. I missed that. Okay, next up is Mr. Joel Vana.

Yeah, there you go. Simple. And thank you for hearing me again. You know, I don't want to be here. You don't want me here. Same story. Because the story hasn't changed. About a year ago, we started investigating what it would take to be able to more effectively treat American Lake. And I've never run across so many obstacles in my entire life. Mostly because this is new to you folks to some extent, I think, and you're not sure what to do with it. So, we had so much misdirection on where to go to get this process started that it was really frustrating for us. The ALMD quite honestly is broken. They meet every quarter. We get to talk for three minutes just like we do here. We hear nothing else. We get very little responses. Thank God you have a great city attorney who actually returns a call and can explain things in in ways that make more sense. I don't always like what she says, but it is it is good. I will tell you that we've gone through every department that the city has sent us to. The department of ecology, we're good. DNR, we're good. Fish and wildlife, we're good. BLM, we're good. Core of engineers, we're they all say, "You're good with everything. You've already got your permit. All you need is the council's approval to put this to put down additional chemicals." And and so now we're being told that we need an RFP. And I will tell you this, if Miss Walker can show me one RFP out of the thousands you've had to deal with that says, "We will pay for the treatment. We will contract the people. We will monitor it. We will take the liability. We will do every single thing at no cost to the city. If you can show

me one of those, then I will be quiet and I'll do an RFP. But I don't think that is what an RFP is for. I think that's all that you have. And so you're trying to shove this square peg into a round hole, but it doesn't fit. This hand does not fit that glove. So what we really need to do is have a working agree, a working meeting with the ALMD where we can sit down and look at short-term, mid-range, long-term goals. What can we do to make this a better lake? It's great that you said that. Our water is our most precious natural resource today, but we're not treating American lake like that. We put millions and millions into parks, but the lake itself is suffering. The the pollutants in there are terrible. Right now, we have 64 parts per billion right outside my front door. And the state says over 20 parts per billion is actionable and needs to have something done. And we're saying maybe you should talk to ecology again. This is not an acceptable process. and I will be here banging on your door every two weeks until we can get something put together that can make sense and give us a direction that we can follow. We'll do the heavy lifting. We'll do the work. Help us help you.

Thank you, Mr. Rona. So, I have Glenda and I can't pronounce the last name. I think was she here for the Asia-Pacific thing? Okay. And then I also have Stephen Dworth. He was here earlier and I think he was here for the presentation. So Mr. Bryce, come on down. You have three minutes. Hello mayor, deputy mayor, council members. name is Paul Bryce, 20 plus year resident of Lakewood. I' like to start off by saying since the legalization and even before it's been studied and well known, zero people have died from cannabis overuse. Um, right now we have rescheduling happening. out of the 50 states, if you guys don't know, Idaho is the only state left that doesn't have some form of legalization or medical going on. Um, you know, trying to really figure out who we think we're really protecting here. Like, adults 21 and older are the only ones that are allowed in these stores. um you know the big corporations with the rescheduling, the Safeways and Costos and Walgreens where it will go next some years down the road where the kids are going to be able to go inside, walk across it. Right now it's set up to where no kids are allowed in these stores. Again, not sure what we're protecting here. For adults, you vegetarian, you don't want to eat meat and go down the meat aisle, don't buy it. You don't want a

McDonald's fast food sugar walk past it. You know, roughly two stores in Lakewood. Uh it's kind of easy to assume it'd probably do about 1.5 million monthly sales. Each average customer spending about $40. That's roughly about 30,000 37,000 people monthly that are that would that's buying marijuana throughout this west side of the of of Pierce County that would venture into these stores. The amount of gas stations, restaurants, corner stores that are all that would benefit from people shopping, spending their money into liquid. Almost seems negligent not to be looking at that. Like, you know, really no different from liquor. Take liquor away from Safeway. take liquid away from Walgreens and all those. Everyone's going to go outside the city. They're going to go to all the restaurants. They're going to shop everywhere else, all the gas stations, everything else. Not protecting anyone here. Uh all the people that say, "Oh, smells like pot." Well, there's not a single adult in Lakewood that smokes pot that ain't already smoking pot here in Lakewood. They ain't going to Tacoma to buy the pot to then smoke it in Tacoma because it's not allowed here in Lakewood. like don't know who we're protecting here. It's just the sensible not to mention all the perks as far as some employment and you know it is medical social equity a lot of other things reasons to get behind. Thank you for joining.

Thank you Mr. Bryce. So that's all the folks who signed up. Um Dr. Margaly, we have you on the public hearing for the budget. Do you mean to speak to that or you'd like to speak? You can speak later on on the budget if you'd like, but you certainly that and also okay uh others. Thank you. Thank you. Sure. You got three minutes.

Uh good evening to all of you. My name is Ibrahim Mir Jali. Uh I'm a res of city of Lakewood. Regarding the budget, I thought that I mentioned that the last call that was done by civic science in January 2026, they found that 60 I'm sorry, 76% of American live paycheck to paycheck. The year before that number was 67%. The year prior to that was 4% less and the country is in debt for 38 trillion 39 trillion. So the government is broke, so are the people. And that brings me to the next that first please use the fund that you have through a leaner city noter and also more efficient but not wasteful. Speaking of wasteful wastefulness, I need to bring the issue of the war with my motherland. Everybody agrees that was illegal, was wrong and but some obviously they disagree and I ask this council to condemn that. I still ask you to do that. I do condemn it because those kids were innocent. Whoever was responsible should be brought to justice. And the reason I say that because this is not doesn't start with them. Let me

go back please. In 2000 in 1979, there was a girl born in Olympia, Washington. Her name was Rachel Corey. She was crushed to the her death with a bulldozer in 2003. Her parents in 2005 asked the regime that was responsible for it to have a hearing on that. In 2012, the judge with the name Oed Gresion of Hifa court ruled that basically she she was regurgitatable. You know it her death was regrettable while blaming Rachel for her own death. If that would have stopped there, this would not happen today. I mean on February 28. So we need to have these cities are like the root of the government. Thank you.

Thank you doctor. I appreciate.

Next up and I can't read the name. Mars. Oh, okay. You can do public comment. We're not doing the budget one. That's later. So you you can do public comment. You got three minutes. Um, hello. Good evening, mayor and members of Lakewood City Council. My name is Mary Chris Castro, a proud graduate of St. Francis Cabrini Catholic School and a child of this community in that way. My grandparents built their American dream right here in Lakewood. Dr. Expedita Castro and attorney Jesse Castro, a World War II veteran, succeeded here and then gave back, building a hospital and a school in the Philippines so that others could rise. Service here and service abroad. That is the Filipino way. My Lola, my grandmother taught me Melissa care and action. My grandparents lived by Nihan, which means collective uplift of our community. And at the heart of all this is our Filipino value of capwa, the truth that we are bound to one another. Those values took root here in Lakewood and in me. Growing up, I actually never saw an elected Filipino leader in our region. Sorry. And I know what that absence costs. Uh as a mental health program manager at the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center, I see it in our youth every day. Young people searching for proof that they belong, that they matter, and that there is a place for them in these rooms where decisions are being made. Representation is not symbolic, it is medicine. So, it is a deep honor to witness council member Ellen Talvo's historic election as the first Filipina on this council and honestly in the South Sound region and to also see the immediate past pres

uh chair uh Elijah leading the youth council with vision and heart during this last summit. Uh when our youth see faces like theirs in leadership, something shifts. They stop asking if they belong and start imagining how they will lead. That is the power of this moment. This year's AA and HPI theme is power and unity, strengthening communities together. That is capo in action. And as a uh commissioner for immigrant refugee affairs, I carry this work forward every day in building belonging, building bridges, and building community. Thank you so much for recognizing us. We are one in heart, in spirit, and in action. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Castron. Hey, that's everybody who signed up and so uh just line up and you got three minutes to speak. Mr. Dunlop.

Hello. Uh my name is James Dunlop and I am a Lakewood resident. So we have just had an anniversary uh May the 1st was the sixth anniversary of the shooting of Sed Wim uh by a Lakewood police officer. And as a result of that shooting, I believe uh the family of Sed Wim was uh awarded I think it was $8 million against uh the city of Lakewood. And I'm afraid it's another anniversary as well. Well, just coming up, May the 23rd is going to be the 13th anniversary of uh the shooting of uh Leonard Thomas by a an officer of of the Lakewood Police. And as a result of the shooting of Leonard Thomas, uh there was a a civil action against Lakewood and the officers involved. I think also uh um the city of F was involved and it was uh a multi-million dollar award. And the this is the thing that really I don't understand. The thing I really don't understand those three police officers were not let go by Lakewood. I know that was a long time ago. Uh but uh you know uh Leonard Thomas's mother as a certainly as of last year was looking for a review of that case. So that was still it's still very recent. And now if those officers had have been all let go, you know, in including Mike Zaro, uh, lionized as the former head of Lakewood's police, if that they'd all been let go, I think it quite likely that quite possible that Sid Wim would

uh still be alive. After all, one of those three officers uh was was went on to uh shoot uh Sah Wim. And I find it amazing that, you know, if you're working in a company and you do something and as a result of what you do, your employer has to pay millions of dollars of damages, you surely would have expected to be let go. I understand uh it's a civil thing and I understand that there are unions involved in contracts and the and Lakewood would have had to have paid uh compensation to those officers that let go. But you know now you you know you you see what happened and I think we need to remember that and I think we need to remember that you know the city council to you know there are two members of the city council are still are still on the council. you know, they could have made a fast, they could have insisted, was it 2018, that those officers be let go, but no, uh, they weren't let go. And anyway, as a result, uh, yeah, we're having to celebrate last Monday, May the 1st, we're having to celebrate the sixth celebrate the sixth anniversary of the death of Sed Wim.

Thank you, Mr. Dunlot. So, that's Come on down.

Thank you so much. Um, I'm Haley Ivy. Uh, and I'm just going to speak again about our parks and, uh, any green lot that is, um, paved over or set dry and bare with no purpose at the moment. Um, but I do want to talk about Edgewater Park. Um, because I do go there almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day because it is one of the only spaces that is undeveloped and untouched. and it is so quiet from all the traffic. But um there was the Edgewater master plan project and I'm trying to find information about why there was a tree removal and a large brush removal from the water's edge suddenly overnight. I was there one day, came back the next day early in the morning completely gone. The tree was gone. Just dried dirt on the water's edge. And it was shocking. and I went there to go have a nice time, but I couldn't because that was devastating to see. There was no warning. Um, I did go searching for any information about the Edgewater master plan project. Um, I don't see any updated information and I also do not see any information or the video of the last public hearing, their final public hearing. I don't see that. I don't know why I I live in a neighborhood where Edgewater Park lives. I I need to know if trees are going to be destroyed and cut down, why and when. I assume that this area based off the Edgewater master plan project is possibly for the swimming beach that was on that development. I don't know. But the water is full of garbage. It's slimy.

There's glass. There's garbage all over this park. This there's invasive ivy covering these trees. And so when we have parks appreciation day and people come to that park, ignore the invasives, ignore the the the garbage in the water and then completely remove brush and trees. It doesn't make any sense. People can't swim in that lake because it's so dirty. I want to swim in cold water, too. But the last city council meeting, people from multiple all of the lakes are citing issues with pollution and the declining health. And again, I had to speak up for Celely Lake um which you if you look at a map is the only lush green space right next to uh what do you call an industrial park. Um that's a safe haven for wildlife in Lakewood. There are deer sleeping in my front yard because these parks are being destroyed and so is any green space that is happening to still exist in Lakewood. So, thank you so much for listening.

Thank you, Miss Ivy. Anyone else would like to speak? Welcome, Helen. Got three minutes. You might want to pull that down so we can hear you. Thank you. Is that it? I guess that's all the volume I'm going to get. I'm Helen Wagner. I more or less live in in Lakewood. Probably more rather than less. As I read through the city tree code, I see that there are many formulas for uh deciding how to legally remove trees regardless of the species. I see nothing that protects these trees. Sorry. On the rounds of simple aesthetics, beauty is a subjective term. What one person considers all right to look at is an eyesore to someone else. However, the admission that aesthetics quote counts unquote involves something that is more significant than an artistic issue. Disregard for aesthetics results urban sprawl. I live in the result of urban sprawl

with the underlying issue of livability. Some modification here is has been subtle. Some is earthshattering. Certainly some of the horrors where were perpetrated before the current code and are a problem of zoning rather than pre-management. My point is although modifications are legal, they may not be strictly humane. where I live, a community gathering place, the swap swap meet has been torn down to make way for a commercial building. Now, huge semis um connected with that business lumber through the neighborhood to the deterrent of of safety. Can I drive today without being uh run over by a truck? Yes, the sale of that property was legal. However, that business has been a contributing factor in the deterioration of a neighborhood. Let us stop allowing Lakewoods turning into a warehouse. community. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Wagner. Anyone else who would like to speak tonight here in chambers?

Actually, I wouldn't like to speak tonight. I'd rather be at home, but I'm here anyway. Hello, I'm Christina Manetti and I'm speaking on um behalf of the Gary Oak Coalition. First, eight months ago, in August 2025, we notified the city uh that three large Gary Oaks on Alpharetta, hundreds of years old, had had their critical root zones paved over with asphalt. Gary oaks, our city's official tree, of course, and a keystone species, are afforded special protections in the state of Washington. It is Lakewood's responsibility to enforce these. Today, the asphalt is still there. Um, one oak is entirely surrounded in asphalt up to its trunk. Two are half surrounded. Cars are now regularly parked on top of those root zones. This is a private house. This is ongoing active harm to those protected oaks. Mr. Remac told us on February 26th that we would receive an update the next week, but we have yet to hear anything more. Paving over the critical root zone of a Gary Oak causes, as you can imagine, a variety of harms. First, it prevents water from infiltrating the soil, causing highly exacerbated drought stress. Second, you might have heard that we're in the fourth year. It's like a record that we've never had four consecutive drought years. They've already announced it. Second, the asphalt suffocates the roots by cutting off oxygen exchange. Third, it leads to severe soil compaction, which collapses the pore spaces the roots depend on. You can't just smash down it. Maybe you've grown plants, maybe you know this. Fourth, it raises soil temperatures, stressing the trees even more. Fifth, the many serious toxins from the asphalt leech into the soil and poison the oak's root system. So the result is predictable. Canopy dieback, increased vulnerability to pests and disease, and eventual decline and even death, often decades after the initial damage to these very long lived oaks. It's also important to note that simply returning the area to the gravel that used to be there before won't solve the problem.

Under Lakewood Municipal Code 33830 definitions, gravel is considered 75% impervious. It functions more like pavement than like natural soil, especially when compacted and driven on. Gravel alone will not adequately restore oxygen and water infiltration or soil structure in a critical root zone. It will continue to fry the soil and roots underneath. The soil, let us remember, is also full of life and essential microisal fungi. We are asking the city council to direct staff to take immediate effective enforcement action resulting in the removal of the asphalt. Of course, prohibition of parking and restoration with truly permeable materials. These Gary Oaks need your help right now before summer starts. Immediate action by the city is necessary to uphold the protections these oaks have guaranteed in Lakewood's code. This lamentable situation is further evidence evidence that the city of Lakewood must start taking the fate of its very valuable Gary Oaks much more seriously. And now I have another comment on behalf of myself, Christina Vanetti Lakewood. A few days ago we marked a really, really horrible anniversary in our neighborhood. It was 10 years ago on April 28th, 2016 that new neighbors two houses away cut down all of their supposedly protected Gary Oaks. There were seven, I think, but it looked like there were a lot more because they had multiple trunks and they were a part of a grove on adjacent properties. So now there's a gigantic hole in this grove. If you look at the aerials, it's stripped bare. The sound of chainsaws for three days was excruciating. Logging trucks took away the oaks from our small residential street for three days. We thought the oaks were protected. I mean, we really did. I grew up thinking they were protected. We called the police who didn't even know what an oak looked

like. They said, "Could you show us what an oak looks like?" And um finally, somebody at city hall told us that the owner of the property could do anything he wanted without a permit because his lot was smaller than 17,000 square feet. Whose bright idea was this anyway? to flagrantly ignore Lakewood's need to uphold state law about critical areas and Gary Oak protections. Doug Richardson proposed the exemption in 2001 and Claudia Thomas seconded it. These two people had a role to play in facilitating the destruction of hundreds of and hundreds of Gary Oaks and Lakewood, probably more than a thousand for sure. After 2016, my family and I made comments and were told tree code revisions were coming. I naively thought those changes would fix the problem. I really thought I thought, "Wow, they must be on it." Instead, over time, it turned out the protections were actually weakened even further. In 2021, I found out that 114 Gary Oaks in a recognized priority habitat and critical area would be destroyed for a speculative warehouse. This shock made it clear that the city was ignoring its responsibilities under state law to protect its Gary Oaks and associated critical areas. The 2023 CRE tree code update addressed the most egregious loophole, the 17,000 square foot exemption. But the losses continue, including city projects, sidewalks, roundabouts, and paths. One of the Gary Oaks removed along the Tilicon path was estimated to be 570 years old. Let that sink in. How can we say that these oaks are protected when the city itself continues to remove them? At the same time, we are seeing Douglas furs, big leaf maples, and cedars stressed and dying all over town. I'm sure you've noticed. We cannot afford to keep losing mature Gary oaks because this tree, which involved evolved in drier times, most likely has the best chances of surviving. Now, we might not have any trees left. Basically, we need a tree code that truly protects the oaks, not one that

still allows for removal for convenience or minor development with a cheap and easy permit. This means stronger stat standards, consistent enforcement, and public education. I'm here tonight to ask you to begin work on new tree code revisions that would finally result in meaningful enforceable protections for Gary Oaks and other trees in Lakewood before it's too late. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Manetti. Is there anyone else in chambers that would like to speak tonight? Anybody else? So, I'm going to close that and we're going to move to online. Miss Atkins, do we have anybody who online who would like to speak?

Yes, we have two. Okay. So, who's who's up first? Uh, Mr. Dunlop Dunlop, you have three minutes. Hello. Can you hear me?

Hello. Dunlop, you've got three minutes. Uh, can you can you hear me? Uh, available or should we move to Miss Anderson? Oh my god. Miss Judith Anderson, can you hear me? Looks like you're muted. you please unmute so you could speak. Did you want me to unmute because I could hear the entire person?

Okay. Um, everything that Christina Manetti just said, play it back louder. Um, I can't believe that you guys keep passing regulations and you don't even follow them yourself. It's I'm I'm glad I don't live in your town. I'm done. Thank you, Miss Anderson. Uh, Mr. Dunlop. Oh, can you hear me now? Yes, we can.

Sorry, Zoom was acting weird for a bit. Um, hello. My name is Tamir Dunlop and uh, I'd like to make a comment about an experience I had at Edgewater Park a couple days ago. I think April 30th. Um, but also just more in general about uh animal control in Lakewood. Um, I was going on a walk uh with my dad and uh there was a stray dog or or a loose dog uh pitbull and um it was it it went right up to us and it like it didn't seem aggressive or anything, but it was well it might have been a like it was scary and essentially it followed us for for half an hour by Edgewater Park. We're we're trying to lose it. it would keep coming back to us. Uh there were some people fishing at Edgewater Park and and I asked them, "Is is it your dog?" And uh they said, "No, it's not our dog." Like we were scared of it, too. So the So there's this dog and it was following us for half an hour. We we tried to lose it. as we're going home, it it almost like got into a fight with another dog. And um we tried calling animal control and uh animal control did not pick up and said that that they would call back within 24 hours as there's an active situation. And eventually we got home and uh managed to trap the the dog in our front yard. But um it it was it was it's kind of concerning because if you look at the the city of Lakewood animal control page, it says that there's only two full-time animal control officers that cover or all of Lakewood, DuPont, and Stilikum. Uh and we've had this problem before that we've had issues with stray dogs before that if you call animal control, uh they won't pick up. and you know calling back within 24

hours like that that does not help if you have an a dog that needs uh you know that that need you need to do something with it. And uh we tried calling the non-emergency police number. Uh and the police basically said that uh they would only come if the dog was actively biting people and the dog wasn't biting people. Uh so like we're like what are we going to do with this dog? And luckily the owner managed to come by eventually. But um I I think it's a a real problem that if somebody needs to call animal control, they basically have no options in Lakewood because if you call animal control, uh they won't pick up. Uh and it seems like they're obviously understaffed. I'm not really blaming them, but because they have they have only have two people for three cities. Uh but yeah, it it's a problem and uh it was a pretty unpleasant experience. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Okay, that is looks like that's everybody. Miss Atkins. Okay, so I'm gonna public comments are closed. Thank you very much. Miss Atkins, would you please read the consent agenda?

A. Approval of minutes of the city council study session of April 13, 2026. B. Approval of the minutes of the city council retreat of April 18th, 2026. C. Approval of the minutes of the city council meeting of April 20th, 2026. D. Approval of the claims vouchers in the amount of 2,477,658.71 for the period of March 14th, 2026 through April 15, 2026. E. approval of payroll checks in the amount of 3,774,725 cents for the period of March 16th, 2026 through April 15, 2026. F motion number 2026-32 approving the 2025 Transportation Benefit District TBD annual report. G. Motion number 2026-33 authorizing the award of a construction contract to Asphalt Patch Systems Incorporation in the amount of $659,268 for the 2026 roadway patching and drainage repair project. H. Motion number 2026-34 authorizing the award of a construction contract to Sierra Santa Fe Corporation in the amount of $341,427.77 for the 2026 cheap chip seal program. I motion number 2026-35 authorizing the award of a construction contract to Tucci and Suns LLC in the amount of $684,858.70 for the 112th Street South Tacoma Way to Steel Overlay Project J. Motion number

2026-36 authorizing the execution of an interlocal agreement with the Lakewood Water District regarding the construction of roadway improvements and water manes along street southwest between 111th Street Southwest and 108th Street Southwest. K. Items filed in the office of the city clerk planning commission meeting minutes of April 1st, 2026. Thank you, Miss Atkins. Are there any items the council member wishes to remove from the consent agenda? Any items? Okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda. So, moved.

Thank you. Second. Do we have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda? Is there any uh council member comments? I'll just comment that there are a lot of big things in here. We just had the water district in here and we have the a a water district interlocal agreement uh for uh construction of roadway improvements and water manes on Kendrick Street. So it was very very timely and some important overlay work and chip sealing this summer. So we set up a lot of things here tonight in the consent agenda. So all those in favor of the consent agenda signify by saying I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. So, the consent agenda is approved. Miss Atkins, uh, please, um, give us the title of the next introduced public hearing.

This is the date set for a public hearing on the 2026 carry forward budget adjustment. Thank you very much. So, Miss Krauss, and this begins on page 112 of the packet for those of you watching at home.

Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and council members. Uh, before you is the public hearing which is required by state law uh before city council considers and adopts the proposed carry forward budget adjustment. Skipping over to page 115 is the summary. If the city council were to approve the budget adjustment as presented, the general fund ending fund balance would still meet the 12% reserves and unassigned proposed budget. Uh that would still be available would be about a million dollars. And here we've included the onetenth of 1% sales tax. So that unassigned 1 million would be set aside for uh future public defender um cost. This information uh was presented to the city council on uh the 20th of April. It has been made available to the public on the city's website as well as the finance website um since April 20th. And um that concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Miss Krauss. And we went over this at a study session a while back. So, this is a uh public uh public testimony is accepted by mail, email, or by live, virtual, or in-person comment. Send testimony in advance by mail or email to Briana Schumacher, city clerk at 6000 Main Street Southwest, Lakewood, Washington, 984499, or B. Schumacher at city of Lakewood. us. Testimony received up to 1 hour before the meeting have been provided to the city council electronically. Miss Atkins, do we have anybody any comments made electronically before the meeting? We did not. Mayor Bokei,

thank you. Miss Atkins, please announce that the testimony is limited to three minutes per person. When called upon, please state your name and city of residents and uh I'm going to call on folks in person. Is there anybody here in chambers that would like to speak to the changes that are being in in this 2026 carry forward budget carry forward adjustments? Okay. So, we'll go online. Do we have anybody online that wants to speak in the public hearing about these 2026 carry forward budget carry forward adjustments? Okay, I'm going to declare the public hearing closed. Thank you very much. We'll move on next to uh we'll now consider ordinance number 849 which was continued from the April 6th, 2026 and April 20th, 2026 meetings. Uh Miss Atkins, could you read the title of the ordinance into the record?

Ordinance number 849. amending Lakewood Municipal Code Chapter 5.60 related to rental housing licensing and inspection requirements continued from April 6, 2026 and April 20th of 2026. Thank you, Miss Atkins. Uh Mr. Program Manager Jeff Gum to provide an overview and please ask if there are any questions from the city council at the end. We'll have some council member questions, but we do uh we do have a couple amendments, too. I think we've got we I mean we we almost got there last time, but we Mr. Gum.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, deputy mayor, members of the council. So, again, before you is uh is an ordinance modifying municipal code 5.60. Um the changes amend a number of different things. There's some um spelling changes. There's some definitions that were changed in the sections. It added um some clarification as to the registration process versus the registration and inspection process. Um it changed the exemption, it proposes to change exemption from 10 years to five as well as adding a self-certification um component to the checklist. The language that council did request for staff to bring back um has been added. that was some specific language about accessory dwelling units and exemptions of them um from this code. So staff has proposed that those uh changes are on 16 54 and 155 of your agenda packet. The other thing that staff would um recommend to change assuming that council were to move forward with the ADU exemption um staff would recommend changing one of the definitions in the initial section under definitions 5.6010 6010 specifically changing accessory dwelling units. U we were proposing that we would use a the definition that's in 18A70. Um and that just creates consistency throughout Lake Municipal Code and and does clarify what specifically an ADU is under this code. So that I turn it back to council.

There any questions for Mr. Gum? Thank you Mr. Gum. So, uh, we need to move and second the the ordinance so we can be in discussion on that. Mr. Mayor, I I move to adopt ordinance 849. Do we have a second? Second that. It ordinance number 849 has been moved and seconded. Council member discussion. Anyone who'd like to speak to this? Council member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I have made these comments in the past but um I support the uh the two recommendations that Mr. Gum had outlined and I'll be making a proposed amendment to incorporate both of those two changes. The one um in 5.6.025 025 uh item number seven there, the the ADU language and then accompanying that with the uh staff recommendation um for the ADU definition. So, okay. You know, why don't we move those amendments? Uh which one do you want to do first? The one on page 155 of the Yeah. Okay.

Mr. Mayor, I I I move to um make an amendment to ordinance 849 to include the language provided by staff on page 154 that includes item number seven, accessory dwelling units located on the same lot as the primary residence and where the owner continues to reside in either the primary residence or the accessory dwelling unit. Okay, we need a second. I second that.

Been moved and seconded. So, it'll read this. It's at the bottom of page 154 of your packet. Accessory dwelling units located on the same lot as the primary residence and where the owner continues to reside in either the primary residence or the accessory dwelling units. And what that has to do with is the following res. If you go up to the top, there are 56025. The following residential housing units are exempted from the rental licensing requirements as provided in 56020 and inspection certification of compliance requirements as provided. So it it adds a a seventh and now there'll be eight uh types of units that are exempted. So any comments, Mr. Laurilla? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, from my perspective, I I believe enacting this increases the risk to folks who are renting these properties, right? I understand the the idea that, you know, if a landlord lives on site, then maybe he'll take better care of the facilities nearby, but I I still am concerned that there are landlords with ADUs that don't take good care of them and that the protections by exempting this uh go away from the folks who who need to be safe in those homes. And in terms of the I guess we have two separate movements on this, right? So, we're just talking to person.

We'll have another one. I think amendment. That may, Mr. Mayor. Council member Lynholm. Yeah, I certainly appreciate that sentiment. We want to make sure that everyone's thought of and safe. Um, I want to make sure we don't forget homeowners, too. They have an experience in this and and the good news here is if a renter has a concern that they can still call in and the city will respond so they're not left without recourse. And so, we can we can give the renters recourse and at the same time preserve that quiet enjoyment that homeowners deserve. Thank you, Council Member Brandsteader.

Hey, Mr. Mayor. I'm strongly urge that we not approve this amendment that uh I believe it to be shortsighted. Uh first of all, in that there's no real data to show that the owner of a property that constructs an ADU or that has an ADU on his site is going to take care of it to the extent intended by the rental housing safety program. Um, in in in actuality when we look at it in in terms of exempting them from a licensing, there's a significant difference between someone that establishes an ADU or has an existing ADU that they then put a family member or someone in. that that often those are done with uh not looking at market rental rates. They're usually done without leases and they're usually done in ways that there is going to be some constant observation and monitoring because it's a relative living in the house. In the case of where there is someone that has an ADU and they're renting it out, they will generally have they either establish it or they are doing it as an in money making investment opportunity. And so they should not be exempt from the licensing departments. And we should not assume that because it's close to their

primary residence that they're going to make sure that it is wellmaintained to include all of the standards in the rental housing safety program. In fact, when mo these will be rented for whatever the market rate is for the size of an ADU and it will probably be managed by a lease that will restrict the owner's access to it to a limited number of times and people to do there. and that much of the maintenance and the idea of reporting problems will resolve to a renter. And so there's not a reason to assume that these people are who are have these things are any different than other landlords of other type of rental units. And I will speak to my own experience. Okay. Um, a number of years ago, I purchased a home that was on a land and it had an existing ADU that was being uh being rented. Now, my wife and I were were particularly looking at for a price of property that an ADU was viewed to us as an advantage because we were considering relocating my 90year-old father from Wisconsin to here to where there was no family left in Wisconsin to be able to go and do that. When we acquired the property, the ADU was rented and there was a tenant with a lease to to do that. And we talked with

him about how in six months we were going to look to to move my father there and that we would not be renewing their lease. So that happened and we did that and because we were planning to put my father into it, we went in and we did a variety of things in that ADU. When my father relocated here, however, his doctor indicated that he was not with his level of dementia, not able to actually stay in an ADU, even if it was with us, unless we were willing to take on significant caregiving abilities, which would be probably not to his advantage, his having to relocate 1,800 miles here to some a very strange environment and encouraged us to find an appropriate assisted living facility and we did. And so then we were then here we have a house and we had an ADU and we went and we looked for to rent it out and we went through a sequence of renters who stayed in it shortterm who we had some good ones but we had some that ended up not taking good care of it. And when they were done, we hinted and we we did what we could, but we weren't ex applying all of the code type things that were there, but we were looking to do that. We essentially brought it up to shape of where someone would rent it again. And in the very last renter that we had um

it was it was a situation where we very had to handle it as as a business. Okay. of how we were doing. And I will tell you when we were shopping for that property and then when we were selling the property that that this particular property, the real estate broker who was either first trying to sell it to us and other properties that had ADUs increasingly mentioned that this ADU is a money maker and it will help you defer your costs like your taxes and other things. And then then that's why an ADU on your property is a good thing. And um the broker that we hired to sell our property for us did the same thing to prospective buyers. Okay. Marketed as as as a thing to be able to go and do that. And the last thing why I say that this is shortsighted is someone builds an ADU, they are going to be able to take advantage of the provisions of that they have the five years from their certificate of occupancy being able to go through and do that. But those properties are going to be eventually become 20 years old and 30 years old and 40 years old. which were the which and they will be affordable smaller rental properties that were exactly the time of group of properties that were the situation that we were trying to address and have a tool to make sure was kept up to standards around the city that caused us to establish the rental housing safety program. And I so I think that in the

long term we we should recognize that these landlords and the and the and the these properties will be sold. They will they will move from one person not the original person who built it whatever their altruistic thoughts about maintaining the property to having a second and third things. but they would remain in that category of where there's a primary owner and he's got a a rental unit on his parcel. So, I think that we should recognize that these are rental properties and that we should keep them like all other rental properties with the the limited exceptions that are there uh as subject to the rental housing safety provisions. Thank thank you for your comments, council member Branset. Council member Pearson, I'll give you the last word. I can have one more.

Thank Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I I appreciate all the comments and I appreciate Mr. Lynholm's comments. Um, I I think that inherently there's always bad apples, right? But those bad apples are addressed through the rental housing safety program, through enforcement and other actions. Um but but really I guess what I'm trying to kind of accomplish here with this amendment is that the exemption number one talks about rental housing units occupied by owner or parent or child of owner. And that is a very tight term and I think that when you try to come up with something too cute to kind of like be more inclusive of what a different type of family unit could be. It could be my son and their friend or, you know, a a a family friend or an aunt or someone. It gets too messy trying to come up with some specific language about that. But what's what's very specific about those scenarios is oftent times the owner is living in one of the units. And so the owner's living in one of the units and their family friend or whoever else is trying to occupy another one of the units. And so that's what I'm really trying to get at here is to be more inclusive to all types of um family units and friends to, you know, and there there are always going to be bad apples, but um you know, I I think that I'd rather have a little bit of freedom for um some of the owner occupiers in Lakewood that are trying to help their family and friends and others out. Um they are they may also be making money on it. That's not to say that they can't do that, but um you know, there's there's other uh things at at play here.

And and I don't think that this creates a a a significantly worse situation um for hardly any units. We're talking about, you know, a good chunk of these. I I don't know what there's no data out there to support this claim. There's not really much to refute the other claim. So, it's kind of a more of a um in my opinion, you know, I guess putting something out there for the the homeowners of Lakewood. So, thank you. Thank you, council member. So, um not every member has to speak, but it is the first round. So, before I let anybody else speak in the second round, Council Member Talbo.

Thank you. Um Mr. Mayor, I and Mr. and Council Member Pearson, I understand and appreciate those comments. I think I guess for that reason yes it becomes all the more it it can become how you define family can vary. I mean, who is the city to say what is a relative and what counts as a direct relative or child or or parent? And the my initial reaction to this uh amendment when it came forth or this uh idea when it came forth was that I like council member Lauraella, I had concerns about the welfare of the renter. um because I thought that in by exempting ADUs uh I don't want to create a scenario where where it becomes subjective or undecipherable at some point who is related and what is related and it's not anybody's business or role to to to dial into that but at the very most I believe that renters no matter what facility type or building room you live in. Renters deserve protections all the same. And especially vulnerable renters who have limited abilities or facilities or skills to advocate for themselves in situations when their living situation is not um does not meet their needs. Sure. Certainly the law on paper says that they have uh the right to um seek inspections or or go through the process, but adding this exemption in this ordinance here, I think um weakens those rights in in these cases. So um for reasons

that I have heard tonight, I agree with Council Member Lorisella and Bransitter. I will not be supporting this amendment. Thank you. So, we'll go to the second round. Council member Lindholm.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I really appreciate the many thoughts and concerns Mr. Brandstead put forward. Um, I do think that that's based on a number of assumptions that just aren't true. You know, I've been a licensed real estate professional for 16 years now, and you know, it's absolutely the case that ADUs tend to not necessarily be at market rate. um they are often rented to friends of friends, folks that are somehow in your circle and landlords are often incentivized to lower the rent so that people stay and that they have someone they know and appreciate and trust on their property. So they they often aren't at market rate. Um I also think it's the case that these are different than other landlords. Um somebody tends not to somebody tends to take care of their home better than a renter might. And so what happens in these situations is that you have a homeowner who's not going to abandon one part of their property that's right across the yard when they're taking care of their home. Uh so there is a typically a higher standard of care that happens in these situations. Um I also think we just want to be careful that about the logic that if it if it makes money we can inspect it and tax it. not least because we're trying to encourage affordable housing and when there are cost cost burdens laid on landlords that raises rents it raises uh it discourages creating affordable housing and ADUs tend to be more affordable than other market housing uh so for those reasons and and others I think it's really important to support this amendment it's also the case that having personal experience with the rental safety program I don't know if you guys have it doesn't always make the property safer but it always raises the cost every single time.

Thank you, Council Member Lauris Cellah.

Thank you, Mayor Bokei. Uh, and thank you, Council Member Lindholm. Uh, I appreciate your input and I too want to protect businesses, small businesses, landlords, that sort of thing. Um, my thought though is, you know, if we were to depend on renters reporting to drive improvements, we would never have needed the rental housing safety program in the first place, right? Uh, if everyone self-reported, that would be an issue. And we have needed it because there are properties that aren't maintained. Uh, and I think a lot of that is because renters are often fearful. uh they're afraid to report because they're vulnerable as council member Talbo said, either they're elder residents, they're afraid their rent's going to go up as a result of this or they have limited income or they're undocumented. Right? There's there's a fear of putting yourself on the map and the attention that that brings to you. And I think we need to be able to protect those folks. So that's why I will be voting no. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council Member Loracella. Council member Bradetter. Um,

okay. I would just say is that when we when we're as the ordinance is written that uh or and as the amendment is written, the amendment is particularly focused on exempting them from the licensing requirement. And the licensing requirement is not financially significant. Okay. Uh and and while I would agree that when we have landlords of all types of rental properties around the city that there are good landlords, there are bad actors and there are careless landlords in between that don't really know what what what they're doing. So, I think that licensing ADUs that just happen to be on the same parcel as a as an owner of the parcel is the best thing to do is say trust but verify. And the way that you trust and verify is you have them licensed that they they they follow through uh do that in and with a five-year inspection or as the ordinance is establishing a self inspection. But there are clear clear standards being able to go and do that. And the rental housing safety program simplifies the manner in which even a reluctant renter can bring something

forward. Um, and so I think that we would be uh um well served going forward into the future, particularly as these ADUs will begin to age u to uh keeping them in the program.

Thank you, Council Member Ansteader. So, we'll take a voice vote here. And let's just make sure we understand this is at the bottom of page 154 adding another um the following residential housing units are exempted from the rental licensing requirements as provided in 56020 and inspection and certificate of compliance requirements as provided in 560 080. So with that, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Nay.

So I think it's uh 43. Let's do a roll call then. Miss Atkins, please. Council member Pearson. I. Council member Talvo. Nay. Council member Brandansteader. Nay. Council member Lauraella. Nay. Council member Lynholm. Hi. Deputy Mayor Bell. I and Mayor Boi. I. With that, the amendment passes 43. So, we're on to amendment number two. Council member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I would move to amend this amended ordinance um to include the definitions recommended by staff if the previous uh amendment had passed. And so that is included on page 156 of our packet to include the uh ADU definitions expanded.

The definition is expanded there in red, I believe. Is that how you wrote this, Mr. Gum? A habitable habitable dwelling unit added to, created within, or detached from, and on the same lot with a single family residential unit, duplex, triplex, town home, or other housing unit that provides basic requirements for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation. Correct. That is the definition as it's written in 18A70. Okay. Thank you. So, uh, we have a motion for that. And then do we have a second?

Second. Okay. Any, uh, any discussion around this amendment, the definition? Okay. Council member Brandsteader, let me just say in given that that that we're incorporating some specific language that relates to ADUs in the ordinance and in the program that then having a definition of ADU that is clear is of value. Thank you, Council Member Brandsteader. So, all those in favor of the amendment uh signify by saying I. I.

I. All those opposed say nay. Okay. So now we have the um ordinance as it stands with the two amendments in it. Uh we've talked about this quite a bit. So this is council member discussion. Who'd like to kick it off? Anybody like to speak to it? Okay, I'll jump in then. We really uh really worked hard as a council to get this thing passed the first time. We we ended up with only one NA vote that night. We amended it a number of times. Also, um some of those amendments are like we had a 10-year lockout period. Now this is going to a five, but we were going to get inspections every five years. Now we're giving up on that. And so I have a little bit of heartache about this ordinance in general, about what what might what may happen because I believe this has been a wildly successful ordinance. if if you were here when we had public comment on this thing and and you know it just and it was it's proven to be actually better um than I feared because I feared and we had reason to believe that there would there would be whole tearowns. I mean, we were we when staff was very concerned, that's why we didn't do a a geographic inspection. We did the the lottery system because we were worried that it would go into certain neighborhoods and we had to shut down

apartment buildings especially, I guess, we would end up in really tough situation of putting people out on the street. It was a real concern at the time when we did it. I don't know that that happened. I don't know that it ever happened. Um, but I but I think that the rental housing safety plan ordinance has been instrumental in improving the living conditions of people in the city of Lakewood. I I I really do believe that was not going to happen on its own. It wasn't happening on its own. And the reason we did it is because Lakewood had this reputation of, well, that's where the cheap apartments are. And we literally had testimony that said, "Well, this is Lakewood." Like, love it or leave it, right? It's Lakewood, so of course they have cheap apartments. I mean, that was the attitude of some of the folks. Uh, a lot of out ofstate landlords. Um, we still have out of state landlords. It's not a bad thing. They bring investment. Um, a lot of landlords who just didn't care. So hopefully, but I will say this, I trust Mr. Gum and I trust our staff when they say we're spending a lot of time just going out on inspections now and finding GFI plugs, that we're not finding any more of the large problems. I do have concerns that we are going to slip. I I really do. I I I I just I I I just believe that there's going to be slippage because when you tell people who they can self-report, there's going to be some people who are incredibly honest. They're going to say, "We went through your checklist and we found problems." There's going to be other people that say, "No, there's no problems." And then the place will be a wreck. So somehow we have to figure out a way that people know that they can still contact the city and get an

inspection. We're still going to license them. I think that's positive. We've actually expanded the licensing a bit. I think that's positive. Um, so I'm willing to support this, but I really I I really do feel like we're taking a step back, but I'm going to I'm going to back staff on this that this is that the the heavy inspection system is no longer a really valid use of their of their time that um the the inspection system that we're moving towards. So, you know, hopefully in a year we'll have Mr. gum up here to tell us about how many people have self-inspected, how many people have actually still got calls in from people, and how we're continuing some kind of expect inspection regime that allows us to know that where the really bad actors are, but those things aren't going to happen overnight. So, I'm going to support this because I I I really do want to support staff in making sure that we have an effective program and not just one where people are going out and spending money on inspections that aren't really finding anything. Been 10 years. I think it's been highly effective, but it's a it's a tough vote for me to to because I feel like I'm walking away from this a little bit and cracking the door open again to really dangerous landlords, really bad people who we've had a lot of in this city and who really drug our reputation down. And so, and of course, nobody will admit that, and we can't just point to people and say, "You're a bad landlord." So, we had this inspection system, right, that was on a on a lottery system that made sure that everyone was five years. I'll

leave it at that. Um, I'm going to vote for it with reluctance, but Council Member Lorisel,

sorry to uh to interrupt your uh your reflection. I I really appreciate the uh the care that you expressed with this, Mayor Boi. Uh I too will be supporting this, but with a fair share of reluctance. Uh I am concerned about self-certification, right? And the the risk that that carries and that there is no consequence for someone to self-certify and be found in violation of that compared to someone who didn't self-certify and be in violation of that. Right? So that to me can breed problems and I I I want to make sure that uh we're supportive of staff because this is something that they've done a great job on up to this point and I I trust them. Uh but I think this needs to come with a short leash and maybe we need to review it again in a year to see how it's going. But I will support this as written. Thank you. Council member Lynholm,

I think that's an excellent point. I would strongly support if there was to be an amendment or a rewriting, and I know we don't want to keep putting this back. I would strongly support making sure that there is some kind of a penalty. If you lie to the city, if you use a photo that's not true and accurate, um, we want to make sure people are giving us good information if we're giving them the right to to self-certify. No, I think we should give staff a chance to put something like that together. Is there any penalties right now for gum? Yeah, it's it's it's kind of a good point. So, the certification that I have worked on and put together so far, there's there's a number of provisions. So, one of them is not necessarily something that is typically enforced, but

Sorry, Mr. Bum. I'm having a hard time hearing you.

Oh, sorry. So, I'll I'll There we go. Should be better now. So, the the certification that I've been working on has a number of provisions. Um, one of them that is not typically enforced is somebody who knowingly and willingly um submits falsified certification of inspection information. Um, it's it's it's a gross misdemeanor gross misdemeanor and punishable with up to $5,000. That's one provision. Um, not something that we would typically um enforce, but we could. Uh the other provisions would be somebody again if you knowingly and willingly or willfully provide false information um you're disqualified from future pending self-certifications from that property or any other property. So if you own multiple properties and you provide the information and it's incorrect, you can't do that ever again for any of your properties. Um that would go for management and um ownership. So there's there's actually two processes to a self-certification. There's the who does the inspection, which is either going to be a private inspector or management. And then the owner is also certifying, yes, I I visited my property and it it does in fact meet the requirements. So, there's two people that are certifying this process, or at least that's what we're proposing. Um, and then there's a provision that if if any information is is incorrect, they the owner of the rental property confirms that the city can follow up with a a full inspection of the property. And that would be the staff's recommendation. If if we do find um that false information is provided. It would be a full inspection of the property, which is something that the RHSP already does anyways. It does allow the city to do a full inspection of of any property if we find code violations. So, and most likely we would be informed of somebody necessarily providing false information after we had multiple tenant complaints of a property and and followed up. So, not necessarily the first complaint because somebody can miss something. Um, and it can be seemingly insignificant and not knowing and willful. But if you continue to get complaints and and

you're seeing the same thing, then that pretty well stacks up to becoming knowing willful misrepresentation. So,

thank you, Mr. Gamble. Any other questions? Council member Brandstead or I guess comments, questions, Mr. Mayor. uh you you know thank you for your for your earlier comments and I do that and and the the the idea of the self-certification uh I think is a significant weakening of the program. Um and uh Mr. Mayor, I I would move to amend the ordinance to delete under 5-60-8 um paragraph C. Uh and this is on page 160, which is the paragraph that establishes a selfcertification program. I'll second that. any comments?

Okay. Well, I I guess guess I I propose this because I believe that it is uh um while the idea of saving time is an argument that can be made. I think that it drastically has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of this program or to make in the cases of problematic properties to do that. You know when we first did that and you spoke about the history, you know what really happened after we did this after all the contention was there were a significant number of properties particularly multifamily properties that owners sold them rather than fixing them. and and new landlords came in knowing what that that we had the program and and it and it generally helped to be able to go and do uh and I think that that is a uh one of the strengths of the program the idea during COVID we did modify the inspection system because we did some video inspections where of inspect ctor didn't go there, but that we had folks go through and do that. But that was always intended to be a temporary given all of the different restrictions and in in and the and the problems that people had about strangers coming into their house and doing all that. I think we're we're past that. I think we should continue to keep the

program as as it is. Okay. And um I I I don't think that uh that just saving time is uh an adequate reason to abandon that the actual inspections either by a city inspector or by a a a certified hired inspector by a landlord. Thank you, Council Member Branser. Council Member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And this has been one of the one of the tough points for for me looking at this as well is I I don't and maybe Mr. Gum, can you elaborate on why why this was added? What what were we what was staff trying to accomplish here or what was the I guess why was this change proposed in the first place?

So it was proposed for a number of reasons. um after inspecting properties for eight years, we've kind of as a mayor kind of capture I mean we've we've seen all of the the really large scale failures and and code deficiencies and haven't seen a lot of those for the last probably two and a half three years. Um so we're not necessarily finding the same things that we used to be finding. Um, a lot of what we're finding now, it tends to be electrical fixes, plumbing fixes, just just kind of small things, just general maintenance, those types of things, holes in in ceilings from plumbing leaking upstairs into a lower unit. That it sounds bad, but I mean, that's that's that's going to happen. So, we're finding a lot of that. We're not finding necessarily threetory decks falling off the back of buildings like we used to. Um, entire floors of of structures kind of collapsing and so forth. So, um, that was one of the components. Uh, one of the other things was we've had some of the properties that have done a good job maintaining the properties over the years and and it's fairly easy to find those properties and identify them. They've been consistent since day one. Um, and they have been asking, hey, it's kind of a an ownersome task upon us to to inspect 300 units of properties and make sure that they're all done every every five years. Our maintenance guys are out there every day. We're doing this thing. We know what our units look like. So, that was a request of some of the property managers um and the owners that were out there. And the other thing was just the staff time and our ability to kind of shift focus from not necessarily inspecting the ones that we know are going to be fairly easy to pass to focusing on the ones that we need to to correct and and get some of those issues fixed on a on a different level versus just kind of everyday things failing. So, there was kind of a threefront that we were looking at. So with that, I guess it would there be some sort of a middle ground in which instead of requiring the city to go do these inspections, could they hire like

a a building inspector or something to go do a third-party inspection to satisfy this? They they can, and that's part of our provision that allows that. Um the the third party inspector is typically charging $150 a unit. Uh which is yeah fairly expensive. If you're looking at a single family house, it's going to be even more than that. They're going to charge you probably $300 or $400 to do a single family house. So it's not necessarily something that saves them any money. It probably cost them more. We we do a free inspection for the first rental inspection process through the city. So Okay. Thank you, Council Member Laura Cell.

Uh, thank you, Mayor Bokei. Uh, I appreciate Council Member Brandstead uh and his motion to take this out. I think so. I I'm very appreciative of the city staff and their time and trying to get efficiency into our processes. uh and especially when we are very resource constrained that it looks like we'll be more resource constrained as we go into the future. So to me, the better option is to have a self-certification process, but having the teeth of something like he suggested is a a gross misdemeanor for intentionally and knowingly um lying on your application essentially, right? Um to to try and pull one over on the city, right? I think uh having the teeth to be able to enforce that if and when it's discovered uh to something as as high as a gross misdemeanor as well as if I'm a property owner and I knowingly uh falsified documents that said this was certified and there's a fire and the insurance company comes and they're going to find out from the city that you self-certified something that was false. That's a big deal. So, uh, I think having some teeth to it, but still having it in our overall ordinance is the way I would like to go. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Loris Cell. Uh, Council Member Talbo.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I initially had concerns with this entire um ordinance when it came to us along the sim along similar lines that you discussed in your comments. I my reaction was that Lakewood being uh more than 50% renter occupied it seems like we would not want to weaken our renter protections for them but sustain if not and sustain renter rights and protections um for them. So I but to your point I I also being a new council member I would confess uh not having a history enough long enough. So I do in that sense do want to trust staff with with being able to um you know enforce and implement a program that works for the resources that we have available. At the same time, I also worry too about our larger uh our larger rental units, our larger rental complexes because there are several throughout the city. And I understand that this ordinance when it came about initially was geared towards kind of those smaller complexes old much older that had, you know, much older like pre pre-incorporation days. Um, but our older complexes are getting old too now. I mean, they those are not fresh off the block and they're going to and they are going to, if not already, encounter um issues like everyday, you know, s everyday issues that the much much older complexes that we were trying to uh deal with in the first place. And

so I worry about the protections and the enforcibility of addressing issues at those larger complexes particularly also because those larger complexes are often um under man corporate management companies and therefore they typically enact thicker leases with much more nuanced finer print to their tenants. In many cases, it's not uncommon for corporate uh lease um holders to in in insist that their tenants sign NDA disclosures as a as a condition of their rental lease agreements. And so I guess so so it makes it in some cases harder for tenants in those complexes. And if we're allowing those larger complexes to now self-certify, I fear that we are then further weakening protections for our renters that are again 50% or more of the city. So, I do want to support this because I do want to support staff. I'm not going to um I am going to vote to support this, but um I I also don't know what the answer is to um council member Branser's proposed amendment to remove uh letter C of 56080. I would like to not try to come up with that solution and put it in an in an amendment. I would like to entrust that staff comes forward with some point some solutions. So yeah, so I'll leave my comments there. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Talbo, Council Member Brandsteader. And I think we'll be ready to go here. Our issue is not whether we're support staff. Our issue is whether we're supporting the majority of the community that are renters. that I think that that that at this point in time saying we want to make this change because the history is sort of showing that as we go through some second inspections and things but you know one we have in the ordinance in front of us we're reducing that no inspections for 10 years down to five which is a which is a strengthening of it but we have places have never been inspected yet because of that. Okay. That we have uh uh situations to do that. And I accept Talabo's idea that I think staff could come back with something that really has some sort of enforcement that would not rely upon a renter to be able to go and do that. And uh and uh you know I I listen to the the abatement rules over there and we seem to be finding places that have serious problems. And we have had to close places down in order that they be people removed and ordered landlords to help pay for relocation of folks. Um,

you know, I I think we need to retain the the the things that have made the and and the inspection program is what has made this program as excess successful as it has been. that certainly um a a clear a more clearly identified way that that that a selfcertification wouldn't do this that that had some real teeth or that it provided some like you could self-certify after you've had two consecutive past inspections, which would be after a period you've gone through 10 10 years of where you had instincts to do that or something. And I'm not proposing that, but I am saying that staff could bring something like that back that would make it clear to us as we sit here how this wouldn't be a significant weakening of the program and more importantly that it wouldn't be a significant weakening of the program to current and potential landlords. That's why I am proposing this th this amendment. Uh and maybe at some future time there is something with an up teeth that that I would support, but I wouldn't support it now for the reasons that I've heard. Um and given what is really a short history of the program to say that somehow we've made everybody actively compliant.

Thank you, Council Member Branset. I I do have one more question, Mr. Gum. Unfortunately, have there been any other You know, when we started this, there were a number of cities that had started rentals plans. A number have started since then, I believe. Have any moved this from an active what I would consider an active inspection plan to a more passive program like we're proposing here?

No. There's one city that had a certification, sorry, that had a self-certification from the get-go and I forget it was Reton or somewhere in around there. Um, but no one has has gone from an active to a non-active. So, how about Council Member Branset's point there that we've got we had that 10-year lockout period, which was one of the amendments we had that night to help you get it passed. Um, and we've kept that in place. Now, you're going back to five years. But, as he points out, if you're in the 10-year lockout period, some folks have never been inspected. So, I'm going to move from no inspection to The idea was that after 10 years, these places would start to get old and and beat up and Now, they need an inspection. So, how does how's that going to work? They're just going to go to self inspection and write this thing off.

They could I mean that it's an option under this that they could go to self inspection. They can still have the city inspect or a private inspector. So, I mean it's it's it's one of three options is what it allows them. So, and and the city still does have the provision to follow up with tenant complaints and so forth. So,

thanks. Um we need to vote on the amendment. A rental housing owner may provide self-certification that there. So the amendment is to strike uh on page 160 section 5.60080 paragraph C which uh is the self-certification program. So, all those in favor of striking paragraph C signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed? Nay. Nay.

We're going to have to do a voice vote or excuse me, division. Council member Brandansteader. I. Council member Laura Cella. I. Council member Lynholm. No. Council member Pearson. Nay. Council member Talbo. Hi. Deputy Mayor Bell. Mayor Boi. Nay.

So, the amendment fails. So, now we have the underlying um ordinance as amended by the two amendments that have passed this evening. Um, again, I think this is a a really big step. I think it's a potentially dangerous step. Um, I'll make I'll make one more comment as as mayor. I mean, council member Ransetter lived through this. You know, we're we hear a lot about mom and pop and whatnot, but increasingly the rental market is increasingly populated, like council member Tabo mentioned, by very large corporations. I mean, Invitation Homes owns something like 500 or more residences and they may own more now in like Pierce County alone. Um, and dozens here in the city of Lakewood. They were owned by Blackqua Corporation and they were spun off. Black Rockck's really like often joked of as the fourth branch of government. I mean, when when Larry Frink talks on CNBC, I watch because he's really telling us how the world really is going to work. So, so the idea that we're dealing with the kind of naive people who just want to make a buck and whatnot, it's it's it's nice. It's I think it's um it's sentimental in it's true in some cases, but increasingly it's not. even for single family homes, they're they're they're run. So, this opens the door um I'm again I said I would support this, but it opens the door and um to to folks that um you know, it could potentially be a problem. And so, I hope I hope this is not really the taking all the teeth out of it and ruining this program that I think actually worked very very well. Um, so with that,

just one question. Well, those Okay. Uh, do adult family homes are they considered to be rentals as well or are they completely separate? They're separate. Okay. They're under one of the exemptions. They are not. They're licensed by Washington state and are not part of our rental program. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. Yeah. Totally different can of worms. Yeah. Mr. Mayor, can I just make a very quick comment? I think it's absolutely true that we have larger and larger conglomerates owning our rental stock. Um, but one of the reasons why is because we make it so hard for small landlines. The moment we pass more and more regulation is the moment they get out. So, it is helpful to have steps that make it feasible for those folks to to compete.

Perhaps your marks are well taken or in the record. Thank you, Madam Council Member Lind. Okay. All those in favor? Council member Brandstead. Let me let me just say then that I'm going to vote nay on this ordinance because I think we've done sign it does significant harm to the program and I'm going to vote nay. Thank you. Council member Senator. All those in favor of ordinance number 849 as amended, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed.

The eyes have it. So uh ordinance number 849 as amended is uh is adopted. Okay. Next resolution number 2601.

Miss Atkins, could you please read it in to the record? Resolution number 2026-01 amending the city of Lakewood's purchasing policies continued from April 20th, 2026.

Good evening, Mayor Bokei, Deputy Mayor Bell, and members of the council. Heidi Walker, city attorney for the city of Lakewood, and we're here tonight looking at some amendments that were uh spurred on by changes in state law. I misstated what was going on with the small works roster because a lot of us had heard, oh, it's all been repealed. There was a repeal, but there was also a replacement to state to small works. And that's what is reflected um in your uh proposal now that has the change language in red. And I'm looking at for small works page 175. Essentially what happened is we had been following a practice of using the MRSC small works roster. that is now the state small works roster and they provided different um dollar levels at which that's going to be fully implemented over time. So this uh proposal in the uh resolution would put that into your purchasing policies. Um additionally we've addressed the alternative small works roster. That is a very specific thing that's outlined in RCW and it's it's a situation where you wouldn't want to use regular bidding and it's a very involved process. I don't see us using it a lot but now it's in our policies in case we would ever need to use it. and the apprenticeship program that I had previously mentioned um that is now part of state law and that's pages uh 176 through 179 and it is all in red so that you can see what the track changes are. There's also at the beginning of the resol resolution uh language there's some changes to the definitions that have been built in to accommodate this new language that I've just outlined for you. I'd be happy to try and answer any questions the council may have.

Thank you, city Attorney Walker. Is there any questions? This is the same thing. Is there additional language than what you showed us in two weeks ago? There's not new language. What happened previously was I failed to bring you something that tracked changes and then when you had questions I couldn't see even I I like to follow along with the track changes as well so that I'm focused on that for you. So that's what we have for you tonight. We we appreciate you doing that, Council Member Pearson.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. No, no questions, but I just appreciate um us taking it off the agenda a few weeks ago. There was certainly some confusion around that and now I think everything's been pretty well ironed out. So, I will be supporting this and I appreciate the clarifications and the track changes makes it much more clear. Thank you. Thank Thank you very much. So, uh I need a motion. I move to Oh, I'm on the wrong one. Which one? It's 20 resolution number. Move to adopt resolution 2026-01. Second.

Been moved and seconded to adopt resolution 2026-01. Are there any comments by council? Okay. So, we'll take a voice vote. All those in favor of approving resolution number 2026-01 signify by saying I. I. All those opposed? Nay.

The eyes have it. So resolution number 202601 is adopted. We will now consider resolution number 20262. Miss Atkins, could you please read it into the record? Resolution number 2026-02 adopting the fiscal year 2026 consolidated annual action plan July 1st 2026 through June 30th 2027 for CDBG and home programs including amendments to fiscal year 2023 2024 2025 consolidated annual action plans

Mr. Gum program manager Jeff Gum to provide an overview and we've talked about this a number of times. So summarize and let us know if there's any changes or

Right. So again, good evening council. So this was reviewed initially um March 16th. Since the initial review, kind of the only thing that has really changed um is we learned our CDBG and home allocations. So the when we originally reviewed it, we were putting together what we thought were the allocations. Um we are actually in 2026 will be receiving $512,515 um in CDBG. So that's a 6.2% increase. Um and it's also an increase from our proposed allocation. I believe it was $480,000 that we were proposing. Um our home allocation is $251,791. That's were fairly similar similarly flat um to what it was last year 250,53. So the the funding allocations since we originally reviewed came in they are slightly higher. Um the only thing that we have modified in the plan is to prrate or the take the increase on a prora basis and run that across the board for all of the previous fundings that were proposed. So they've just been moderately increased. Um, since then we've had a a public hearing and I have not received any other comments on the plan to date. So, with that, I turn it back to council.

Little bit little bit of good news there. I get a kick out of the home one, which is just a few dollars or something. It's this is the first increase in probably six years now. So, it's been a while. All right. Are there any questions for Mr. Gum? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gum. So, uh, before we start discussion, I need a motion on resolution number 20262. Council member Brandsteader, option of resolution 2026-02. Thank you.

Thank you. It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution number 20262. Are there any more comments on the CDBG? Thank you everybody for your efforts. A lot goes into putting this together. All with that, all those in favor of approval of resolution number 20262 signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed? Nay. The eyes have it. Resolution number 20262 is adopted. Mr. City Manager, do we have any unfinished business? No, we do not. Any new business? No, we do not.

So, Mr. Reports by the city manager, Mr. City Manager Doug Russell, world traveler.

Yes. Uh try and be brief, but um I have a couple topics here that one look for guidance and then uh we'll have uh some information related to information we sent out earlier and heard public comment on tonight related to uh American Lake. Um first item uh wanted to discuss a little bit on sister cities. Um, we just returned from Gimhi and had a pretty extensive itinerary of some of the cultural components and had good discussions with museum curators and executive directors related to their work there and really related to their historical artifacts going back to the 4th century. Um some of the talk that we had uh related around the concept and it's very preliminary you know it wasn't an offer wasn't by either side but about potentially trying to work with Gimhi and potentially bring back essentially some form of a historical museum exhibit to someplace locally here and really bring in that cultural exchange that is the foundation of theus within the sister city programs. I bring that up in relation to a previous discussion we had about Summerfest this year where it was talked about inviting the four cities or delegations from the four cities uh to Summerfest. Um I've previously expressed some concern and talking with our sister cities committee here about the logistics related to that and demonstrating a level of uh hospitality that um I think would fall short just based on resources. you know, when we travel to Kim, for example, they have a whole department dedicated to uh really international relations and those components and are set up much more beneficial than than we are. So, I'd like us to revisit that initial suggestion about inviting the four and really just invite one um and look at that as potentially gimmay just to further that relationship that seems to

be, you know, a really strong one we're working on. Um, right now I've had multiple exchanges over the last few years and with this potential option and avenue for some higher level cultural exchange for the community, I think it is is ripe for that. So, I just like to get some direction from the council if you're meaningful to that. We can work on an invitation um and work with the mayor and potential letter to go out uh requesting or inviting them and a delegation including potential uh museum directors and and curators to attend that as well. So looking if if that's meaningable to council and then get that guidance, we can start working on that. You want an answer right now?

That'd be good. If there's any objections or any just kind of looking for some consensus. Okay. We need a consensus. So first I'm looking at the folks who went who went. Okay. I I would strongly support that. They're an incredible partner. They are about 10 times our size, so they have more resources, but that doesn't mean that we can't uh show them a good time, for lack of a better way to do it. And their museum directors in particular are really engaging. Um they talked about all the many things that they can do with and for Lakewood, including archaeological surveys. I mean, it's really fascinating stuff that I think bring out our history. Wow. Okay.

I I totally support that. Um, I think that they between meeting with the curators and the executive directors and the people who could make some decisions, I think there's a lot of potential to tie in with the Korean um, women's association, with our Asian-Pacific Cultural Center, with Pierce College. There are so many great tie-ins. We have an enormous Korean population here, and I love the history that we learned and how we could bring that to our residents of Lakewood. So, I think it's a really good start for conversation. So, yes, I would support that. Anybody else I can comment? Council member Talbo.

Yes, I'm I'm absolutely um the GIMH delegation was um incredibly generous and receiving of hosting us and um it would be a pleasure to host them here. I think on a separate just for a second on a separate path, I think that we do need to have um a broader conversation or at least um at a level of just general sister city programming so that we can ensure how we can be successful with our other cities. But overall um this this was a wonderful trip. Um, it taught us so much about about just I think cultural and ambassadorship and like Philip mentioned is they are they are a city that is 10 times their size. So, um there is quite to learn, I think, even in resource-wise, um how we can leverage so many different things in the in the arenas of of culture and the arts to support Lakewood.

I think it was really incredibly nice to offer, you know, the the art stuff or at least to begin the discussions of that. Um I wasn't there but you know the folks that were there and the city manager. So I think that's a go. We'll just invite one. Um we we do need a future discussion on our sister cities. One we've never hear from at all. One we hear from and they give us 30 days notice. The other one has kind of dropped off the map a little bit and I'm not sure why. Um so um we yeah we need a study session probably about it and some examples of what other cities are doing. Does that give you enough?

Yeah, sounds like you can go ahead and extend invitation to GIMH for Summerfest and uh mayor I'll work with you and we'll get a a official invitation drafted and sent out. Uh next item and we did hear public comment related to cannabis. That was one of the directives provided on April 18th. Um what we didn't talk to you about is the process related to that. Um to bring an ordinance back with a land use change component. Those next steps should be to go before the planning commission and have that full public process identified through the traditional land use there. Like I said, we just didn't talk about that much. It was just discussed to bring forth a vote on it, but really should go through the planning process or through the planning board process prior to coming before council. Council would prefer to have a study session to get more of a general consensus. We can do that, but again, the the guidance we were looking at is to bring it forward through a vote, which would go through the planning uh board process. So, that's our intent. Um, unless there's a difference of opinion tonight where someone may want to have it as a study session type beforehand.

Council member Loris Cella. Thank you, Mayor Bokei. Just a question. Uh, if this goes through the planning commission process, that would potentially include a public hearing of some sort so people could participate. Yeah. And I'll defer to our city attorney. Do they have a specific public hearing at the planning process or does it come before we hit the council level?

Typically the planning commission has heard the public piece. That doesn't um change the fact that the public can come to the council and make comments. Um I would want to look at the specifics of exactly what's being proposed to the planning commission to be clear on that. But that's one of the things that we've done in the past is held the public hearing at the planning commission and then it comes to the council for consideration. Continue.

So, okay, we'll continue on that process then is what I'm gathering. Um I hit a few things then we'll come back to uh lake management and walk through some of the components related to requests the council has heard and where the legal authority relates to treatment uh of a publicly owned body. Um but did want to hit some of the things that are coming up. Um this Saturday there's event at the Asian Pacific Cultural Center um for cultural and arts. Next week we'll be traveling to DC to meet with our elected delegation there with the mayor and deputy mayor. Um homeowners association meeting or not homeowner but uh neighborhood associations in telecom downtown neighborhood association in Lake City on Friday. Um Puget Sound Regional Council has a mini academy workshop for elected officials on on home ownership or home um housing workshop. Um, and then on the 16th we have uh the youth fishing event. Um, as it relates to some of the comments we've heard, um, I know that a memo was produced and sent out related to previous meeting and where the legal authorities lie in terms of publiclyowned water beds versus privately owned water beds that extend in and some of the things that are being requested conflict with that. So, I'll turn it over to city attorney just to kind of walk through some of those components and why yes, we do fall under the procurement process of the city because we are the ones that are liable under this component or oh, sorry about that. Is the microphone on? Okay. Yeah. Um, so I was uh requested to take a look at this

issue and I provided a memorandum to the lake management district and um I believe that that memo has been provided for you as well. I will tell you um it took a while to produce this one and if you've known me for any length of time, this is probably the longest memo I've ever written on a on a topic because I usually try to keep it pretty concise, but there are a lot of moving parts and pieces and I think that um I would acknowledge the frustration of anyone who's been involved in it. They're dealing with department of ecology who when they say something like go talk to the city, they don't know our process. They don't know whether or not we have a lake management district or what role that district plays. They just know that the city has the permit for the lake. Additionally, we have I think it's like 17 lakes throughout the city and at least two of them are privately owned as far as property owners owning into the bedlands of the lake. If you own into the bedlands of the lake, you can treat it. If you don't own into the bedlands of the lake and your waters are state waters, you can't privately treat the lake. And so if you're someone trying to to get through that process, it gets a little frustrating because you know that someone on another lake has been able to privately treat their lake and you know that the Department of Ecology is telling you to go talk to the city and then you're trying to come to the American Lake Management District. So that's just a little bit of background as to what is kind of going on there. I did speak with a representative from the Department of Ecology. I have spoken with um somebody representing the homeowners association. I have spoken with staff at public works and I've done a lot of emailing and looking at RCWS and some other things. Bottom line, and we went round and round about this, American Lake is a public lake. There is

no part of the lake, regardless of the maps you may find, that have bedlands going to a private property owner. And I did specifically at one point request any documentation anyone had to the contrary. And at that point, it seems like one thing we all agree on now is that American Lake does not in any part belong to the adjacent property owners. That brings you to the issue of the APAM, which is the permit that someone would have to get. An APAM cannot be privately acquired on American Lake because no one privately owns part of the lake. So the current APAM is owned by the city of Lakewood. So once you have that understanding, anyone treating the lake is the city treating the lake. That's it. And so there's not a way to carve out a private treatment program under the public permit. That means that we either can have the city council authorized treatment of the lake or we can have the district add it to the work plan and bring it to the city council and in that way have it be the public process do our RFP or add it to one of our existing contracts or something like that. that it has to follow all of the procurement laws that would apply to the city. And essentially to do otherwise because of the way the permitting works, it's kind of um carving out sort of a private privilege to not have to follow any of the rules

that are attendant to the public permit. And it it's frustrating to people who have been in the process this long to be getting that answer. But that really is the answer because of the nature of what the lake is. My ultimate recommendation and it's it's a recommendation. I mean it's not necessarily legally required to do it this way. My recommendation is that they go through our appointed um AMLD advisory board, see whether that board would authorize adding it to the work plan and follow the process, which um the other issue here is at the end of the day, if you've appointed a lake management district board, that board is not required to accept every recommendation that comes to it. They might say, "Yes, this is something we want to add to the work plan and we'll assess ourselves accordingly or seek grant money to pay for it." Or they might say, "This is not a project we're going to take on." Essentially, that's why you've appointed a lake management district advisory board. Um, the alternative is that these folks could come to the city council and the city council ultimately has authority over the whole thing and you could skip your appointed board. I just I can't recommend that as a municipal practitioner. I think if you've appointed people to serve a purpose, it it sends a chilling message to say that when people come to you directly, they're going to get to skip the line.

I'd be happy. I I'm not going to say I'd be happy, but I will engage any questions. I guess the question I have is, so this has been going on for several months. Have these people gone to that board?

Um, what I will tell you is that I've gotten mixed answers on that. I did however in one of my discussions say to the person and and they testified to this effect in public comments to you that this problem has been going on for many many many years and I asked you know have you gone to the board previously? The earliest I've heard of anyone going to the board might have been sometime late last year and I believe that there are emails to the effective city people encouraging these folks to go to that board. The board makes the work plan at the end of the year and brings it to you in January and so January 2026 is what when they would have brought the work plan to you. I can't answer to what degree. I know they've attended at least one meeting that was recent and I don't know how effective that meeting was. It got a little crowded and I'm working with um the staff who are helping that board. We are going to be in this room on their next meeting of June 4th and try to kind of restore a little order. There were a lot of people with a lot of ideas in that meeting and I think sometimes it's challenging if you're a citizen who's been on a board that hasn't had that much action and I think that's where we're at with that board.

So in the 2026 work plan didn't include anything besides the mil foil treatment is what I'm guessing. Uh that's true. However, what I can't speak to specifically is exactly what the board was approached with prior to that work plan being made. I talked to our staff that work with that board um as recently as today. There is nothing in the minutes or the correspondence that suggests that this was actually brought up as a topic before they made their work plan.

The other question I think seeing people out of my left eye here, Council Member Lorisel.

Thank you, Mayor Bokei. This is something that clearly we're able to make this decision as a council, but I agree it makes sense to have it go through that American Lake management board. Is it something that we could request as an exception to the work plan process for that board to make a recommendation one way or another and then fasttrack that through council to make that decision in a sooner way? My recommendation on that would be that you ask that this be put on their agenda for that June 4th meeting and convey that you would be receptive if their desire is to amend their work plan. However, um they may not make that recommendation, but it's not that different than when you get something from the planning board and don't necessarily want to go in the exact same direction, but you would want them to have the freedom to choose what their recommendation is. At least then they've played their role and then the council can play their role.

Absolutely. That was my intent is to give their recommendation one way or the other, right? So that then we can choose our action. Thank you,

Council Member Pearson. Yeah, I would echo uh Council Member Lorisella's comments on that. That was one of my um I appreciate the memo. It was I I feel like now I have a full understanding of kind of where things are at and I I'm hoping that other folks do too because it is a complicated subject. Um, I also do not want this to bypass going through the American Lake um board uh or um committee. Um, but I but I do think that it and it sounds like there's been some frustrations with the quarterly meeting schedule and maybe we could um usher them to have a special meeting to discuss this issue. I don't know how much else is on their agenda to to talk about on their you know meeting quarterly I can imagine that you kind of have your standard stuff that you have to run through and and anything else is like ah we don't want to talk about it. So um if they have if they were open to it I I would um hope that they could maybe have a a separate meeting if they needed to to discuss this issue. And I I really would like to see the issue well vetted from all sides and and ultimately get a recommendation on, you know, there's they've it sounds like they've got a ton of signatures, 150, you know, residences on on American Lake and and I I go to American Lake on the north side or the norththeast side, I guess, and there's not really that much of an issue with like dirty water and stuff, you know. It's not as apparent, I guess, rather, but when whenever we go to the far south side and the far, you know, it starts to get noticeably like some of these pictures. And so, it's a it's a much bigger issue depending where you're at on the lake. And so, you know, if you're talking about, you know, half of the

lake, well, it's not an issue to us. You know, we don't want want to raise our fees to treat this, but the other half is like, you know, where it's shallower and stuff. Well, that that that's good com. I think we're just talking really about we just need to get informed here. So I think what I'm hearing is that when you have the meeting on June 4th, I I mean what I'm hearing is there's never been a proposal to to fix this. So they they come to us because the lake So let's officially get this out in front of the lake management board. Give them a shot at this. Mhm.

If they don't do anything with it, let's figure it out about what we want to do. But they don't have any money to do this. If we implement it this year anyway, it goes with the property tax. So, they don't have any enough money anyway this year to do.

I'm glad you mentioned that because that is the slight curve to this. This is in some ways, not completely, but I think of this as almost like an LI, but for a lake. So the people who are in the lake management district assess themselves in order to pay for what they're doing on the lake, right? Um if there is additional work, we would either want to talk about are there grants out there that could help with this? Is there some other way to pay for it that the AMLD could help with? Or are they willing to go through with an assessment? Because um you're right, it has to be paid for somehow. and the current assessment is 66 cents a foot on the lake and that that will cover the work that they're currently doing. I would also let the council know I think this thing exists through 2028 like June of 2028 is the sunset for this body.

Well, let us know how the meeting on June 4th goes because I I until they officially get that in front of the board, I don't think we should get in involved in this because otherwise we're just bypassing the board. So, why do we have the board? So, um, but you know, I guess we're just hearing about this every week and it just doesn't everyone seems to be talking past each other.

I'm confused as heck. I'll tell you, you've helped me more tonight than and uh but I but I realized why we're confused because everyone's just talking past each other. No one's getting anything on the work plans and that there might not be even agreement about the the state of the lake and these poor folks have problems clearly right in front of their house. So I I but them meeting in June let us know how June 4th goes. We have a clear message from you that you want this on their agenda. So we'll make sure that it happens. Thanks. Um okay. Anything else, Doug? That's all I have.

Okay. So, uh, council member comments, it's it's past 10 o'clock. Um, we need to be respectful of people's time, so I'm gonna ask you to all keep it to three minutes. So, Council Member Loricella.

All right. I get to feel what it's like to be a public commenter. Excellent. Uh so last week or the week before I was invited to attend uh the state's release of their comprehensive climate action plan uh in Pierce County and represent the city of Lakewood at a round table with a bunch of other electeds and it was a really good experience uh to hear where people's priorities are um and to be able to share ours. So it was well received. Uh I also attended the downtown neighborhood association meeting uh and heard about uh the little pantries uh in the in the city to address food insecurities. So it's a great program uh and I think folks should look into that more. Um there's also some community input from folks in the room about parks spaces and how they can provide input to what they want in their parks. And I know we just did our whole parks plan that invited people to do that, but these are new new voices that weren't there. Um, and they asked about uh things like perhaps a basketball court over at the Motor Avenue downtown park area or at the old library site. So, something to look at as well as I think maybe council member Bransford will talk to this because he was there too. Uh, there are some folks there that were looking for low impact fitness equipment for our elderly uh as part of their daily routine. They could walk through a park and use that fitness equipment and move on. So, uh, run out of time, I'm sure, but parks appreciation day was great. Uh, I hit up Harry, Todd, Edgewater, Kowana, Springbrook, and Wards Lake, uh, and saw people at all of those and it was really cool. Um, I felt bad showing up just in time for a picture and then running off on one at Spring, but, uh, I appreciate them making it look like I was working. So, that was great. Um, and WS Lake is amazing, right? It's uh that park and I heard other people say it and I agree on the east side of that park. It feels like Point Defiance in the five mile drive just all the trees and the space. It's so clean and nice and I it's it's now the east side gem of our city as

opposed to where we're still silk being the west side. So, uh opioid abatement council last week uh got to represent Lakewood and serve as the chair uh and hear what other cities in our region are doing. Uh Gig Harbor is kind of leading the way. They've hired city staff with their opioid funds. Uh, and they've conducted training for all of their people and put Narcan in all city vehicles, which is something I would like to see us consider. Uh, and I will talk to our community services advisory board about that. Um, at the end of the week, I'll be attending a wildfire, smoke, and heat preparedness workshop uh with a bunch of other cities in the county. um want to echo the thanks to council member Tabo for helping us uh with better representation of the folks in our city uh which is really important and I want to see more of that. Uh so thank you for speaking on her behalf. Uh and the last thing uh speaking of council member Talo's um comments at our last session I talked about having an additional meeting occasionally so we don't have to stay here till 10 o'clock. Uh this is a good time to bring that up I think. Um, so her proposal was a fourth Monday on months where we have five Mondays. And I I like that idea. That would be June, August, and November of this year. Something for consideration. That's all I got. Three minutes probably took five, but thank you.

Darn close. Council member Talbo, the the person of the evening tonight.

Well, I guess I I will also alternatively propose. I I also thought about that afterwards as well, and I thought, well, maybe If we feel that there is more time needed for other meetings, then perhaps on the other two Mondays, meeting at 6:00 instead of 7 perhaps as an alternative gives us some additional time, but more to continue talking about um excuse me. Um on tonight's comments, thank you to Pierce Transit for providing free direct service to the youth summit. Um although I I suspect that out of the uh cleverness, willingness, and intelligence of our youth council and creativeness, I have a feeling that much of that uh work was coordinated and and um uh spearheaded by them. So I want to give them credit too for coordinating their own youth summit and making it successful and very much look forward to it next year when we can attend because we won't have anything conflicting with it. um the community collaboration tonight. I have attended that one of those meetings before and I would I did not know that we have this network and um whatever I would like to support this group um so whatever we can do to either bring that forward as a point of topic and future exec session or study session that would be great. I would also encourage uh any our I would also encourage you um to attend any one of those meetings one time at any time. They really are it really is a great network of nonprofits and organizations that feed and help Lakewood our residents just be just shine. So thank you to that group. Um

I did RSVP to attend the PSRC housing workshop. So I would also encourage anybody to attend that as well if they can. I attended the last PSRC um new council orientation and it it is uh pretty insightful and hopeful in connecting with new other res other cities and city officials um especially on the topic of housing. So I will keep my comments there. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I guess on the PSRC topic, so not exactly city of Lakewood business, but kind of. Um so there is a bridge uh funding pilot program and Pierce County was awarded $7 million for engineering and design for replacement of the Chambers Creek Bridge. Um which scored particularly well for a number of reasons. Um, but one of the larger ones is that it would be part of a larger Chambers Bay estuary restoration project that would remove the dam and open up the river going up there, Chambers Creek going up there. So, um, would be an absolutely wonderful project and it sounds like there's some funding available for that and that is going to move forward. Um, so I think that we do a butt part of that over there. So, um would be a huge benefit for for Lakewood, uh UP, Silico, and Pierce County. So, um and then I heard from a frequent writer of the 574 route um that she had a lot of concerns about the route being cancelled. and she works for um one of the airline or I guess not one of the airlines, but she's one of the baggage handler folks, but there's a lot of there's a lot of people and the bus is like nearly packed um in the early mornings and then in the afternoons when folks are getting off of work, but she brought up the the concern that and she's worked for the airport for like 30 years. Um she starts her work at 3:30. Well, the 574 bus is the only one that's running at those hours. And so if they take away the 574 bus, then there's a lot of work, you know, there's a lot of employees that are relying on that to get to work. And so that creates

significant challenges for them. She said, if they, you know, if they get rid of that bus route, I just don't know what I'm going to do. I the next available bus route is at 5:30 in the morning. That's two hours past my, you know, start time. and so he doesn't really have any answers for that. So, um I would just I I spoke to the mayor about potentially including some concerns about this in our letter to Pierce Transit. Um, but I think that this is a a really important issue and um, you know, if they're looking to cut the bus route, maybe consider removing some of the midday routes, but keeping the early morning when when when that when there's no other buses operating, you know, at that time to to do that. It's one thing to remove a service or delay a service, but if there's if there's no other option, then you know that that's a significant impact. And so anyway, those are my comments. Thank you,

Council Member Brandstead. Well, well, I I'll ask you Council Member Pearson's uh comments about the value of the 574 route as as it as it now runs and and the dependence upon of many many people upon it. It it primarily serves people going to work, not people going to the airport to go further. Uh I I attended the uh the shape executive board meeting. It it it was their discussion about their 2027 budget and they are one of the organizations that looks to approve their budget early summer in in in in June or July because their budget then has to be referred and and and approved by the city councils of all the members that are that are there to be able to go and go and do that. And it's not a huge budget, but but I would tell you that the u the budget that we'll that we'll probably see in July where we'll be asked to pass a resolution saying we support it, which means we would incorporate it into our budget. um is is is they're proposing that all the municipalities including Lakewood have a 12% increase in our in our cost. But it's and that is somewhat because the because of staffing turmoil, they've ended up having a budget balance at the end of the year. And so they've been been using that instead of increasing fees to legislation. But in

order to um begin to do some other projects that that that involve using fund balance, they are proposing a 12% increase for 2027, a 10% increase in 2028, an 8% increase in 2029, 4% increase in 2030, and a 2% increase in 2031. is in order to uh be able to make room in their budget for some special projects that would have benefits to housing in in the area. So that'll be coming to us. out the the the bottom line when I say 12% that means that you know our our our 2027 thing would be 25,000 25k you know this is not a huge huge amount but it is uh going to be progressive to where we will get to 50k in five years to be able to go go and do that and um so so so that that will be coming. Um the public comments that we heard today um um the one that was most distressing to me was the one that lasted 15 seconds of the person who was not a resident but said you know you have developed a reputation of a city that passes rules but does that doesn't does doesn't enforce Um, and um, and I'm glad I don't live here. And and she went away. Okay.

I think that there is some occasional truth to that, but um, it was disappointing to hear. Thank you, Council Member Brandstead. Council member Lindholm, please. Oh, and I'll talk to you later. Um really thankful for the public comment tonight. It's robust as it usually is. Uh really am glad to have the information on American League. Thank you M Walker for that. Um I would appreciate some followup from staff doesn't have to be tonight on um the proposed or the suggested lack of enforcement on tree code. As we all know uh a laws you know without teeth is just a suggestion. I don't necessarily think that's happening here but I'd love to hear more so I can be more informed as a council member. And same thing on animal control. I don't know exactly how the department works, how it's staffed. I'd love to hear more about that. Um, one potential segue um from our from the sister city trip is looking at possibly incorporating a Zen garden into one of our park projects. That's not only great for GIMH, it also could be a nice conversation starter for some of our other sister cities. So, I think getting some input there um as it makes sense to do so would be a really powerful thing. Um, I agree with council member or council member Pearson on the 574 having just taken it for the first time. It's fast, it's efficient, it's three bucks. If we can keep that in place for the community, I think it'd be powerful. That's all, Mr. Mayor.

Deputy Mayor Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just wanted to say thank you to the youth council and their report. It's always very informative and great to hear from them. I love that they get to get up to the podium and speak to us. I think it really does a lot for them. So, I appreciate that. Also, the proclamation today. Great. Yes, our superstar today and representation, council member Talbo. So, I uh I identify with the representation part and I think that it's very good that it's brought up and I appreciate your presence here. So, thank you. And I was about the community collaboration. There is a network of resources. They are online. So, I it's one way for people to start to get information out. I think what would be good for us is if maybe we started promoting it more, letting people know that these are the resources that are online. So, however that gets promoted out would be really great so the community knows that these are here and that might just be a start to the community collaboration and getting information about the human services and what is available. I know there's more conversation on all of that to come. And then um tomorrow, no not tomorrow, but on Wednesday I will be going to the community and schools lake in Lakewood breakfast. So that is um in the morning on Wednesday. So it'll be great to see everybody, some people that will be there. And then finally, yes, I spoke a little bit about the trip to Gimhi. It was amazing and I really think that we're going to have a lot of collaboration. A lot of opportunity to bring um things back to from Korea to here and continue to grow our sister cities relationships. There's a lot of really great ideas and like we had mentioned um we met with some key people that could are key decision makers and love how we could possibly loop in more partnerships here in Lakewood. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Bill. Um, I'll just go back to parks appreciation day in Wards Lake. I got to play mayor, so that means I didn't get my hands dirty at all. Just like above the fray. Um, just but the Wards Lake thing was a lot of fun. Um, I have to admit I've never been in that park. I think I drove in the parking lot one time and then just drove out. Um, it's incredible. met a met a family there and the dad and the two kids and the mom and they were they were using the pump track and they came from Puallup right so that's exactly what they want I'm just really impressed about how that park but I got to walk the rest of it so thank you we had the FN walk emergency food network walk on Saturday uh made some opening remarks there great partner um lot of folks there in a beautiful park and they used our they used the page, the gathering place, um, as their kind of central area. That's where they made their announcements. They had a band there. Just a a really good event. Of course, the the weather was great. Uh, the communities and schools breakfast. I still got room on my table. I have to admit that I I may just show up very quickly. Mayor, the thing again. Are you going? Okay, I'll let Holly know. Um, oh, you are. Okay. Um, and so and but you're at ours, I think. Um, so great. It's a good event. So the sound transit letter I'm still working on. My editor didn't like it. Uh, or they they found fault with some of the things I had said. I really and I'm trying to get the bus thing in there, but I don't know that it's gonna going to happen. I think maybe we should write a separate bus one because the bus one really is locked in.

I mean this thing is it sounds like when I talked to the executive mellow I mean and we talked about the letter itself and just trying to tell you about the they made that decision just at the drop of a hat right as soon as the stuff went to federal way it was like okay the bus is going to federal way and it was like well okay but there's there can be some issues with that right and so um but apparently they they have done a really good job of really selling it. So, I think we probably need a separate letter about the 574 um different than the one that we're saying like, "Hey, we um but I so hopefully the the letter will be done and out here pretty pretty soon." Um a lot of good work tonight. Thank you very much uh for everybody. And then next, who is not going to be here next week? Two people told me Tristan and Mike. Yeah. Okay. Um study session and we've got four or five items. The big item is we have somebody coming from out of town to to discuss um potentially bringing a baseball team in. So um to to the city um and they'll need some, you know, to discuss that. And so they're going to make a a a short presentation and then you get your opportunity to make ask questions and they'll be um I think other opportunities to discuss things but things are are moving along in that regard. So with that, I'm going