City Council - Regular Meeting

John Potter, Thank you very much. John Potter, And i'd like to call to order the. Lakewood city council study session of Monday, July 13th, 2026 at 7 PM. Um, all members are present except for council member Talbo, who is excused. Um, with that, I'd like to start with the joint lodging tax advisory committee meeting, and we've got at least two members of that board here while I'm on that board too. So that's three. That's a quorum. So we can start handling business here. Do you have a presentation or do you just going to talk?

No, no. I asked and was informed. We were just kind of a free form, kind of a question and answer session, as you may have had or have.

I'll just a couple of quick notes.

Just please introduce yourself. Sorry. Yep. I'm Dean Burke and I am on the LTAC committee. I'm CEO of Visit Tacoma Pierce County and been hanging around working with you all for a long time. Um, it looks like there's going to be about 2.3 million roughly in funds, uh, coming up this year for use. I think that's got a slight adjustment coming into it because a debt was just paid off, uh, or a final payment was just made, uh, probably to McGavock. And, um, so there'll be a slight adjustment to that number. So it is in your packet you got. Um, but coming up application season opens on July 27th for Lakewood this year. So That puts Lakewood right about the end countywide in terms of municipalities and LTAC applications. So those will be wrapped up or collected in late August and then presentations in back half of September. So no big surprises there, but I guess at this point, if you guys wanted to talk about anything or have any questions, we could give it a shot.

Are there any questions for the LTAC committee? Mike.

As you've had a chance to review the reports from last year of the folks that received LTAC grants, did you... One both think that they reflected that you were, were meeting the intent of, of both doing things in the community, but also promoting tourism. Or are we.

Yeah.

I'm not a service to the tourism element.

I'm not aware that the committee has been presented with any reports on the, on the summary from last year. So I have not seen them myself. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike we do not receive reports as a committee basically we're just presented every year with a request for funding but really during their presentations they might share you know attendance numbers and possible room pickups that kind of thing but we don't get an official report as a committee We submit reports, but we never say.

I guess that everybody that receives funds submits a report that talks about what they did and. That's correct. How they were able to document how many people participated and how many were from the nether regions and how many were local. Correct. They do able to do that. And. I don't know of anyone that ever got one of those reports that ever had it sent back to them asking what, what are you doing? I think Mrs. Krause wants to jump in here.

So on page nine is the JLARC report. We weren't required to submit the report last year, but we've included it in the packet for as an informational item. You know, as part of receiving the lodging tax, sorry, Thank you. As part of receiving the allocation, part of the process is to make an estimate on how many beds will be filled with these events. And so you'll see that there is an estimated amount and an actual amount. Most of the participants or the recipients of the lodging tax awards have been very similar in previous years.

And just FYI for the group. We are all receiving this information at the same time. So I didn't know this was in here either. So thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions. Preston

Thank you, Mayor Boki. Just for reference, LTAC funds can be utilized for things that bring folks to Lakewood in terms of tourism, that sort of thing, right? So potentially, if we had a multicultural community event center space that drew people in, that could potentially be a use of LTAC funds?

Correct. In the broadest sense, yeah. And typically, you'll have a reserve of capital funds set aside for projects that would be tourism-facing.

Certainly, we couldn't pay for it with one year worth of funds, but if we had a reserve fund, it could go towards that.

However, we do want to ensure that it is not just for local community events, right? It's in order to generate heads and beds.

Yeah, totally makes sense.

Any other questions? Well, with that, I look forward to working with you in the fall and going through the applications. Indeed.

Okay. Well, thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next is a joint parks and recreation advisory board. Please come on down all the advisory board members. That begins on page 10. Who's leading the way here? Okay. Go ahead.

All right. Good evening, City Council, City Manager Russell. We're here to give you kind of the annual update on the Parks Recreation Advisory Board. And so I'm going to cover kind of our accomplishments from 2025. Vito will go into our 2026 work plan, and then we had generated some questions from the Park Board that we wanted to discuss with you tonight. And so coming out of twenty, twenty five, uh, several meetings on street ends and actually made a decision to move forward on a street in the street in, which was a welcome relief for us after studying, uh, street ends, uh, three different times over fifteen year period to actually see movement on that is phenomenal. We're excited. Uh, Stacy writing just shared with us the preliminary design and it looks great. Uh, we're excited to see that come to fruition. Uh, you know, the, uh, we've been working on the development of the legacy plan and and working on that. Uh, got a consultant on board. Now, uh, we had discussion about adoptive parks and volunteer is on to benefit the city residents and, uh, help support and offset some of the maintenance at, uh, park properties. Um, we reviewed all of kind of the capital projects, uh, including the Ward Lake improvements, um, the, uh, Camp Murray boat launch and, and H barn and some of the other priorities, uh, sharing with us, uh, how we, we wanted to see that stuff move forward. Uh, we've had an evolution of the H barn conversation and, uh, we'll have a A few questions on that project tonight, but we're excited about that after 20 years in the making. We're getting closer every day. It feels like. And then this group in this board is always interested in how parks and recreation can contribute to helping alleviate some of the climate change problems we have. And there's particular interest from this group on the urban forestry plan and program that has been implemented and wanting to see that progress forward. And that was kind of the big hitters for 2025. And Vito will share our 2026 work plan.

Good evening, everyone. Mayor, this is a good opportunity to get together and talk about just parks and recreation in general. So our work plan for 2026, continue with the Nisqually Partnership Project. We had an update in May and how that's progressing. Parks capital improvement plan update in August with a legacy update, which we're excited to hear about. Special events update, we had that earlier in the year on what's pending. Street ends, Jason mentioned that, climate change. Legacy plan is a big one that we're real interested in how that's going to come around and how it's going to be implemented. Senior services update at the end of the year, how's that going to work? And we still don't have a location, and how are we going to make that work?

make it work better, I guess.

Historic preservation, H Barn, Jason touched on that, and I think we've got a couple questions. Code changes, as requested by the council, pending and parking in September. Youth council updates, playground replacement plan with the legacy plan, how's that gonna be implemented? And that's about it on the docket for 2026. So we've got a lot of stuff that we're interested in, and hopefully we'll get a lot of feedback from you tonight on what direction. Thank you. You want us to start with questions?

Yeah, it looks like desires of the PRAB.

You got it. Yep, yep. And Anessa couldn't be here, so I'm going to start with Anessa's question. She had texted me prior to the meeting, but Anessa was specifically looking for an update on the barn restoration project and wanting to know whether or not it's still a goal to be able to have dedicated space for senior services. kind of the two fall hand in hand. This group and the Parks Department and the City of Lakewood needs a home for senior services. And as we've been developing and morphing the H barn plan, people are just confused. There hasn't been a full update. And so we're curious on status and whether or not that's still a goal to have senior services in that.

Yeah. I'm not the one to talk about if we have the goal of putting the senior. I don't know that that we have the goal of putting the senior services in there. The final design may allow us to do that, but I don't know that the location of that makes it a great place for the senior services. We would have to have that discussion, but it certainly could be considered. Um, we are in the midst of, you know, I think we have, uh, agreed on a basics of a design for the H barn and we, uh, deputy mayor and myself, we're back, uh, in Washington DC looking for money and we're in the process of getting federal money. And when, hopefully, uh, if we get some federal money that the clock starts to tick on, we've got three years to use it. So, um, stuff's got to happen pretty quickly. Well, we got some in one bill and none in the other. So we do have some challenges on that.

Are we still looking at an open design on one wing?

We had an ad hoc committee and a design was agreed upon, but I don't know what the final design looks like.

What did you guys agree to?

So, as part of the ad hoc committee, some of the conversations were about trying to get a project moving forward where we could at least phase something if we didn't get all of the funding, but we would still have a project. And the design came back at, I think a little bit higher than really what I was hoping for to get a project going. So I think there, you know, right now we were, what was the federal ask like three and a half. And I think that we're not even at, you know, a few hundred thousand dollars on that. So, um, you know, that went away. So now we're at LTAC funding partners for parks and, you know, not much more of the historic, uh, thing is still kind of up in the air. I think on, on the million dollars for the, um, on that element of it, but you know, we're, we're not at the 10 and a half or $11 million mark. So there's a huge Delta there that I would be looking to say, okay, what kind of a project can we get done with the money that we do have? And at least start something that we do have. versus we never start something because we keep waiting for, you know, trying to get more money and more money and more money. And, you know, it's a 10 million and then it's 12 million and it's 14 and we still haven't started anything. So my personal desire would be to, get a phase project that we can at least start something. Um, but I think that the, the, the design goals that were agreed on was basically half of it open, some sort of an open space, um, open to the outside, um, or you could roll down doors or, you know, have some sort of kind of multi, um, space. And then the, the, the West side, um, was essentially going to be, you know, space that you could host events or whatever you could, you know, was the, was the vision for that. So, um with that we're still kind of not quite to a starting point right so um that's what i would still be looking for is is is a design that's actually feasible that we could get going with the money that we do have with plans potentially in the future to expand don't remember yeah i think um you know the uh

We're certainly looking for an affordable design that would maximize the potential for use of the space. But with regards to your specific question about senior service activities, I think it's I don't think that any is not going to have a dedicated space into it that is going to be set aside for senior activities. I think the as our current senior activities program is, it uses a lot of locations. It actually does them well, and I expect that an HBARN facility exists if we haven't gotten to the point through a a multi-generational community center, which would be the place that you would have something that was really dedicated. We're going to still have a senior services project done in satellite locations around. And so I guess my feedback to you would be don't put your thinking caps about that in a drawer anywhere, but still keep looking for ways that we might get something that would serve seniors well. They've gone from having a really this great facility to having to move from it to an adequate facility to now having to be inventive to keep things going and going on. And the HBARN isn't going to be a solution to that. Dave Kuntz, Regardless of the level of funding that comes in okay to be able to go and do that, other than in the same way that the pavilion is is used upon occasion for for senior services activity. Dave Kuntz, That. Michael Leccese, So sorry, so I guess in response to your specific question about senior services and tying it to the H barn. No, but it. I think that remains a an interest. Michael Leccese, On the console to do something in that regard for that population to do that in the same way that we want to do some things for the opposite end of the generational spectrum as well.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Council Member Laura so

I will echo what council member Branstadter said in that the needs of our community certainly include everything from childcare to a senior center. And while the space for the H Barn is also important, I don't think they're necessarily coupled together. I would like to see things move faster so that there's a senior center before I need it. But I I find myself often frustrated at the speed of municipal work. So it could be taking way too long. So I don't know if that's a question for our board or for our Parks Department in terms of can we accelerate by descoping and getting more things in work for street ends so that it's simpler and it doesn't necessarily have to be as in-depth and advanced and the Taj Mahal of lake frontage I don't know if that's a question or just a statement, but thank you.

And I just want to follow up a little bit on that. And there was talk about the ad hoc committee. And to my knowledge, there was one meeting for the ad hoc committee. And the timing was not enough, in my opinion. And this is my opinion. We had one meeting, and it was a summary of what had been done with the H barn to that point. for members like myself who have been involved with it for 20 years, it was just that. It was a summary session. But there was never any time or additional meetings that were brought forward to have discussion on Where could we change the design? How could you modify the design? What is an acceptable price range? All of those things to me are what would help and support the council and staff to make these decisions. Instead, there were a few ideas thrown out and it seems like we're gravitating towards that. And so to me, We really need to go back because it feels like we're gutting a long-term project. This H barn project has been the will of the community for 20 years. And so Anessa specifically wanted to know about the senior services, but based on your answers, it's a little disappointing as well. And the reason it's disappointing to me is because The H barn always was to serve as a multifunctional space. And so my hopeful answer that I was going to receive from you is that a portion of the time and the days of the week would be dedicated in that building for senior services. It doesn't give the senior services the home that is deserved and needed for probably about 10 years now, maybe a little less. It's probably like seven or eight, but it was right around COVID when we got kicked out of there. So we're about six years now. and searching, struggling, saying we have all sorts of satellite space for the senior programs. They're making do with what they have. They're using the lobby of City Hall. That is not adequate spacing for senior services. And saying that that is appropriate and right, it needs to be a bigger priority, needs attention. Part of what I think is being lost here is it's turnover and change, and the community still has this will. I mean, they came out for the HBARN meetings. And so to me, it's we need to expand that HBARN discussion. Where can we find some acceptable compromise within the community to not only get the price down and something we can afford, but something that's gonna have that multi-use space So it can be used for some senior services. It can be used for the community clubs to have a room, those sorts of things. And so it feels like we're going backwards on the H barn and this parks board and the community wants to see a move forward. Okay. Yeah.

We have a commitment from the city for $4 million in LTAC funds that has never changed. Right. The Partners for Parks is in the process of raising $3.5 million. I don't think that either hasn't changed or it's now increased. Any plan that I've ever seen is $10 million and up. So we have a $2.5 million problem. Now, we're looking for state money, although we missed the open window, I guess, for state money next year, which was unfortunate. and really did, I think, set us back. But there may be other opportunities for funding out there that we can find. And if we can get to that $10 million number, the more the merrier. If we can get federal money, If we get $3 million in federal money, when we were back there and they were saying they would get $3.5 million, well, then we're already over $10 million. So any state money would get us closer to the $14 million. The funding will determine what that place looks like. Right now, $7 million... project doesn't i don't think anybody would be happy with it i don't think anybody would be happy with i don't think this council would be happy with it i don't think partners for parks would be happy with i don't think anybody would be happy that's my personal feeling so we're in the midst of continuing design and we need we got to go find more money we just do and um you know so that that's where we're at with that how it's going to be programmed i don't know but Dave Kuntz, But, and those are for future things I agree with you on the senior Center we haven't been able it's kind of getting tied up in discussions around the Community Center and that kind of thing. Dave Kuntz, That could be 510 years out, so I don't we don't we don't have a good answer for you on the senior Center. Dave Kuntz, um. The street ends, the goal on the street ends was one every two years. And I think we're three or four years into it and we're just now permitting the first one. So we gotta get better at it. I'm not gonna pull any punches. We have to get better at it. We have to get better at execution. And on the street ends, it plays into the opponents. And you know that there have always been opponents to water access in this community. You know, vicious opponents. Visceral, you know, no public access kind of folks. And we play into their hands when we fiddle and diddle trying to get these projects done we got to get done we got to get better we're going to get this west lake one done fairly soon and then but we got to get better going forward we do we have to develop some core competencies in getting these things done i'm not going to disagree with you on that

And I'm not calling out that. And part of me, the concern is staffing and staffing levels, which is another financial issue that this board has got to work with. And yeah, we've got to live within our means. But many times staff are stretched so thin, they're really wearing two job titles under one salary. And so how we can be less lean is something that can help with that. And I understand that's another challenge, but that's why we sit in the seats we sit in, right?

We're hopeful in the next budget cycle, which is this fall. So we'll see what happens. I think people are aware of that.

Do you guys have a question you want to go on? I don't know the list. Let's see here. I know there's a great deal of interest with the urban forestry plan, even though it's parks. I know there's several members on the board that are driven by trees and taking care of trees and making sure that we don't keep taking them down. I know there was a lot of comment made about the trees at the elementary school on Custer and there was a lot of sensitivity and feelings for do we really have to do this? Can we look another way? Can we do it another way? So the urban forestry thing is a major component to even though we don't have it and we're not We're very interested and we want to see what we can do to help. How can we help? How can we advance that and get it further along? That's just a comment that was made by several board members. You might want to.

Do you have any questions you want to ask? Michael?

I would just say that the

City Council, we've had a couple of false starts on getting the urban forestry program going. But currently, we have authorized and asked the Planning Commission to take a role in that. And they have, in terms of natural environment things, have put together a number of task forces with people gathered from around the community who were interested in doing that and are charged to them, and they have just started, I think most of their task forces have had one meeting, but one of those task forces is very specific to urban forestry and going forward. And so we're looking for input from that advisory group as to how we can get off the dime on going and doing that. There have been a lot of comments in the community around specific trees and specific locations to be able to go and do that. And the delta between urban forestry and tree preservation and public safety and public safety related infrastructure improvements, And the rights of private property owners, it's working to make those mesh goes on. You can't make any one of those three the only priority that trumps all the others. It's got to be looked at in some way to move forward with that. So then I'm hoping that by putting it in the realm of the planning commission, but giving them, not asking them as seven people to figure it out, but authorizing them to go out into the community to assemble task forces of people with ranges of expertise that are on those committees. will get us to a point that a year from now of when we maybe see a direction that we can actually move in that will have some level of acceptance broadly.

Just to follow up on the urban forestry,

uh follow up on the urban forestry is is what one component is education you know i drive around lakewood and i see a lot of ivy that's choking out good fir trees or other trees madrones whatever um and that just that component of trying to get the community involved in gosh I need to start taking care of this Ivy that is just taking over our forest our urban environment in our city and you know I know it's tedious I know it's because we have that same issue in some parts of some of our parks that we probably need and we are working on it but it's a tedious task so that education component is just one element but it's an important element for the whole city

Go ahead, Jason. There was just a couple other points I wanted to hit on and we'd be remiss. There's a couple council members, Kate and Janet, who are definitely lake residents and they have interest in kind of water safety and water quality through the management practices that we do at waterfront parks. And so having a boat cleanup get the milfoil off, those sorts of things to help protect the lakes is of extreme interest of definitely those two members and would be remiss if I didn't say something about that. There's probably not a council meeting I don't come to and I don't bring up the idea of maintenance and that we are lacking in park maintenance, both from a labor of maintenance and that we are lacking in park maintenance, both from a labor equipment. And so, I know that in the last budget cycle, some of the seasonal staff are rolled into a full-time worker, and I think we're seeing the troubles that that brings. You need a healthy budget for seasonal employees because Roxanne and the Parks crew, they're running a seven-day-a-week operation 18 hours a day. Dave Kuntz, And at a certain point you just need bodies, even if they're just warm it's good enough, but we don't even have money for warm bodies, and so. Dave Kuntz, This inadequate staffing on the maintenance side is definitely something needs to be addressed and we've been lacking in that area in the 23 years i've been on this board something that we need to address and I mean. I think we're well over 10,000 hours short in labor needed around the Parks Department. That's serious, yeah. And so, Yeah, I brought up some concerns on the H barn and some things like that. And I didn't want to just come and complain or bring up problems because I think there's opportunities for solutions out there. You know, an opportunity for solutions is one is let's reinstate that ad hoc committee and have conversations about the H barn and steps we can take, what would be acceptable to the community and, and work with the community, not just say, Hey, until we got money, we're done talking because it's, every year we kick it down, we're 30% behind the 14.2. And my number that I recall, it was about 11.2. Once you kind of did the revisions is really, really the number we were searching out. And so there's opportunities for solutions, creative thinking, but if we're not talking about it, we're not moving anything forward. And so that's, that's what I'd really like to see out of that ad hoc committee is not just one. That's more of a, John Potter, A history lesson it's it's actually trying to talk about the problems and find solutions. John Potter, But everything we're talking about here is financial and there's just not enough money to go around it's not just in lakewood it's every municipal corporation across the country. John Potter, And a big reason for that is inflationary concerns and everything costs more, I mean. I can remember paying a buck 98 for a two by four. You go to Lowe's now and you're paying $7.98 a two by four. It's insane. It's crazy. But we're operating on the same static operations budget. It's just carried over year to year. And we haven't seen any really increases in there. And it's unsustainable. And at some point, you're going to be shuttering things. And so some ideas I had for kind of potential opportunities is... I know in the municipality I work for, I had been planting seeds about park impact fees for years. Park impact fees offset, it's on new development and it's just like a school impact fee, but it's for parks. And those fees are collected to offset the impact that are gonna be on parks by this greater population. And the growth numbers that we're seeing from the state by 2044 are significant. We got a big multi-family housing development that's going in and we could have collected money for parks capital on every door that was there. It's a missed opportunity, but there's going to be more development in this community between now and 2024. And are we going to leave that money on the table? real simple it's a small contract with a consultant we'll study it we'll go off of your recommendation or the city manager's recommendation you can make that as low or as high as you want but just getting them implemented and starting to collect some money is a start The other is, you know, I know we get some money from the zoo truck tax that goes in. You know, to me, it feels like that money should go towards parks. If I'm not wrong, I may be wrong. And correct me if I am, that's fine. But I think it just kind of goes to the general fund. Even if you were to say 25% of that. 50% would be better, but you know, whole thing even better, but some dedicated money for parks. We've got to stop having parks be the redheaded stepchild and make it a priority. Big roads projects get the money. Yes. They got a lot more federal money coming in for those, but we've got to make parks capital park spending a priority. Um, you know, other opportunities. Do you go to the citizens for a, you know, a maintenance and operations levy? Metro Parks Tacoma does it on the regular. King County Parks does it on the regular. Our citizens want good parks, and I think they're willing to pay for it. So if you put that out to them, we might just be able to levy something that way. There was one other that I was thinking about, but... I didn't jot it down and it's not there, but I wanna come with solutions, not just complain about the problems. And I think I've tried to try to balance a little bit of both of those, but ultimately I think what the parks board wants you to hear is that We're here to advocate on behalf of the parks and for the parks and work at your direction. We just got to be called to, you know, take that input. And with that said, you've always supported the Parks Department. We appreciate that support and we look forward to continued support in the future.

So I, and thank you for those comments. Dave Kuntz, edgewater park we're working on we're still that's still going forward and we've I think we fully that is fully funded. Dave Kuntz, And the camp Murray site i'm looking at roxanne we're studying that right we're in some mutual agreement with the state, but there are issues to work out with them right, they have, but both those which will improve water access or. working their way through. But they are, as you know, anytime it's on water, it just takes time. And there are special, there are unique challenges at the Canberra site. So, and I appreciate, And as we're talking about adding parks because of capital, you know, we are going to have to deal with the fiscal situation. So I appreciate that, but those are discussions we're going to have to have for budget time.

Yeah, and they're not easy decisions. They're discussions, and I recognize that. But, you know, we want to be a part in however we can support. Yeah.

Are there any other questions? Council Member Loricella.

Thank you, Mayor Boki. So in the next month or so, we're going to have an update on the park's legacy plan, right? So in August, I believe. Is that the opportunity for us to provide feedback and guidance for things to change in the realm of parks improvements or acquisition of properties through conservation easements or divesting park property if it's not being used or prioritizing an operations and maintenance budget and that sort of thing, which then goes into our budgeting session. Is that the time to do that?

That would be the time to do when we start to see the parks plan because it works its way to the Council and the Council eventually has to pass it in some format. Right. Because we need it as a planning document, but it would be Off the top of my head. I can't recall any huge debates we've had about any of the parks plans that have come up.

but no but that's the time to debate it is as that being developed to do it because it might yeah yeah and i would think part of that conversation it would be really valuable to have members of our parks and recreation advisory board at the table we plan on being there yeah thank you

The other one that came to my mind, just if I can real quick, is just I know it's a career suicide for any of you sitting here, but whether or not we've got room to do a lid levy lift, that would be another opportunity. And I know we're in one of the most anti-tax states you can get, but maybe there's a chance when a few of you are seeking retirement and that might be a good time to do it as well. That way there's no stakes lost.

some of the plans we may get to the point where we're going to have to talk about the lid lifts bonds that kind of thing and we will probably need community support for that i'm not saying that's going to happen in the next months but no i understand but that's at least it's in the mind and we're thinking through all options and that's what i hear by that statement in there yeah Any other questions?

Thanks, Mayor Boki. To that same subject, we were at the Association of Washington City's conference a couple of weeks back, and I sat in on a whole session on bond financing and uh debt capacity of cities and that sort of thing which i think we'll be covering a little bit uh later on tonight as we get the update for our finance for the first and second quarter um so it's not out of the question it looks like we do have a lot of capacity the question is do we want to take it on sure so sure it's there is the potential for it even if it is political suicide yes win pros and cons because they're there yeah it's important yeah

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I agree that we need to prioritize parks funding and spending. But I would also say that we have and past councils have done a really good job of that over the past 10 years. If you look at what has been built in the last five years, we've got over $18 million in parks projects that have been completed or are in the process of being completed. And earlier this year, we as a council made the decision to spend another million and a half or $1.8 million on an acre and two thirds that we envisioned for more park space. So I don't want that to be lost that we are, you know, We're doing roads projects, but roads projects come a little easier at times with how the funding is, although I think we've kind of gone through the easy stuff and now we're going to be facing some, some challenges on, on more road projects, but you know, we've done a really good job of spreading the wealth on, um, parks projects at Ward's Lake, Springbrook, Fort Steilacoom, American Lake, you know, all over the place, kind of all around the city. Um, and, and, and I don't even think that number even includes the 3 million for, um, for Edgewater, yes. So over the past five, seven years, we have invested a lot in parks. And I don't think that we're anticipating on ending that anytime soon. But we have made some good progress on that. And I look forward to continued successes on these projects where we can make do. So thank you.

I am I am to please because you brought up next moves on the barn some already answer part of your question on next week on the consent agenda we have a authorizing execution of an amendment to the agreement for with Graham Baba architects for redesign costing and schedule extension for the H barn project so Do you want to speak to that at all, Roxanne? Or who's our expert in that? We just need a few words.

Thank you, Mayor, Deputy Mayor. In terms of next week, what is on there is an amendment to the Grand Baba architectural contract. And it actually is the whole life of the project. We did have to reset it, the 30 percent design. So the results of the ad hoc, they redeveloped it. They came up with the costing. So some of it is that additional work to now give us funding. What now on the construction side is a 10.2 estimated project that has part of it open air. So they did that work, but then also it includes taking that forward to the 60%, which is the current direction of council, which they want to deliver by the end of the year. And then because of the delay in the rescheduling, there were terms within their original contract that had a some rate adjustment so that's what makes up the amendment dollar amount that you will be entertaining next week thank you very much so does that that helps it helps me michael and i understand your

leave for investment. We've, you know, over 15 years, we've worked hard to look to be able to go and do that. And there were a couple of things when COVID took place. Quite a few communities around canceled things that they were planning to do in parks and being able to go and do that. and we were one of the few communities that actually used arpa dollars for parks uh in capital improvements so that things that were planned wouldn't be cancelled and would move forward um and and edgewater park and and the it remains a um The strategy in parks since incorporation has been to make significant improvements to the parks that we had to create new parks because one of the feelings that the public that really is cares and wants parks that that was a factor in the incorporation vote about why they wanted to be safer but they didn't want the unmaintained you know not real inviting parks that That were there. And, you know, and so, you know, we were we moved to become the owners of Fort Silicon Park that with community. help acquire the land for Springbrook Park to be able to go and do that. That we've used some inventive funding to try to add property to actually make Wards Lake Park a substantial area. And then we've just completed a lot of things that are there. And I think that we'll continue to do that looking forward. And I would also say that with the exception of some projects, certainly at the state level, our legislative representatives in our districts in the 28th and 29th have been supportive of what we have made going forward for parks to be able to go and do that. And I'm hopeful that that will continue. And, you know, the one thing, although you didn't mention it, that I think is when you talk about natural resources of staying active and on timeline with the project with University Place in Pierce County regarding the Chambers Creek Canyon and making that a, you know, it's a... It's not the traditional park with fields and that, but it is definitely a place for people to get out and engage with the environment to be able to go and do that and those sorts of things to do that. We get a lot of discussions and comments about people who are cyclists who want us to make cycling more safe in the city, which is kind of an extension of the trail system, park system to do that. And because of the way we've gone about it, about neighborhoods first and then the periphery and where we are, that the getting actual park activities and items in the downtown has not been at the top of the list until very recently of where we've gone forward to look to do that. And we got a piece of property that we don't know exactly what to do with. But it's there. And the fact that we have it means that it's somewhat of a blank canvas. So it's something that we want to invest it in to enhance the Motor Avenue and the plaza going forward.

And quite frankly, even though it's

some trees and grass and benches, it's actually getting a lot of use to do that. And it was really noticed by folks of when we did the festival, the Dancing in the Streets Festival, there were a lot of people that came to a realization that that piece of green open space was there. And I see people there on a daily basis now enjoying it to go on. So parks are a build it and they'll come type business. And we continue to do that in Dave Kuntz, As long as we don't mean towards fiscal irresponsibility.

Dave Kuntz, Thank you Mike so yeah he detailed the challenges we're always looking for property, I mean we are staff has been tasks and they're working on that of always looking for property but it's infill and it's expensive and there's usually Community opposition. So, um, and, and even the sellers sometimes are not, not very cooperative, um, to put it mildly. So, so we do face some challenges in that, but we're, we're, you know, we're, we're supportive of it, but it it's costly. Right. And there's only so much we're, we're using REIT money and whatnot. So are there any other questions for them? Any, you got any more questions for us? Council Member Pearson.

A little different topic. So the last few things here in the 2026 work plan, playground replacement with legacy plan capital, and then where was the other one I was going with? Oh, just the legacy plan in general, but. The, the playground replacement kind of got me thinking we've had some. Brief discussions on council about trying to partner with the school district. Um. And really, you know, I see that as one of the biggest potential benefits to they've got a ton of properties around the city with playgrounds and stuff already there. How can we partner with the school districts to get access to their playgrounds for folks outside of school hours in the summertime and things like that? The city manager has been talking to Mr. Banner and the Clover Park School District folks about potentially something over at the Lake City property that they have, some sort of an agreement that we could put in some park facilities with them. hopefully they would stay there for a long period of time because i don't think they have any plans to build a school there anytime soon but some sort of partnership with the school district um i think would be really probably the biggest bang for our buck that we could get in getting access to people for uh to to folks to parks and I don't know how that fits in the legacy plan, but but if I was thinking about the legacy plan, or. I guess not really the legacy plan rather it'd be. More just your parts of your, your master parks plans, but. Identifying areas. specific school district sites that are in neighborhoods that are underserved by parks and using that as like a pilot program with the school district on okay you know we've identified these particular schools are really good for meeting our needs which are you know providing parks for folks in those areas And what can we do as part of an ILA or some sort of agreement with the school districts to get on the hook for some maintenance, some playground maintenance, or what do we have to do, right? So having those discussions, and I think that would be money and time well spent on that. Yeah.

Everything you're saying, Councilmember, I think is accurate. It's something we've done in the past, and I can remember going down the slide with Mayor Doug Richardson at the time when we did Lake Louise Playground, and it was a great program and fantastic. It's all about relationships and relationships at the staff level, and it's cementing trust between the two agencies. That's when you'll have a successful program. The needs you talk about are outlined in our existing legacy plan, PROS plan, and will be a part of this next one. We have identified where there is not a 10 minute walk or a one mile walk and where those park deserts are in this community are identified. So to me, the strategy behind that is finding the schools in those locations. The comment in regards that it's going to be your biggest bang for your buck. I don't know that that's necessarily accurate because you're going to be taking money from our small park system and putting it into a school property. Right. And so, yes, we have expanded our reach and we've met some of the legacy plan goals and we're getting recreation to more of our community and those underserved communities, which is a huge priority. But you then are reducing the pool of money you have. to make those investments in our properties that Lakewood owns. And so paying for your buck for the community and a community win, absolutely. I don't know that it makes our money spent as efficient as maybe initially thought. So that would be my commentary on those. But we're absolutely supportive of an ILA or a program like that.

Councilmember Lorisella.

Just a few final thoughts from me. So I appreciate that we over the past 10 years have made a lot of investments in acquiring more parks property and improving parks property, but it hasn't been coupled with increased funding for maintenance and operations of those parks. So we buy all sorts of stuff and then it sits and the trash builds up and we get lots of complaints from our residents because they're not being maintained as well as they expect and we expect as a council. We were short on resources two years ago. Attrition is really hitting our Parks Department hard right now. So we're even shorter on resources. And I think it's something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. And my last comment is back to the HBARN topic. So a couple of weeks ago, this council, I feel, was ready to approve $3.2 million in LTAC funds for a baseball team. That's no longer happening. We're about $3.2 million under that $10 million for the H barn. If we wanted to make it happen, could we? That's my last thought. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. If that is all, thank you very much. Thank you, City Council.

Thank you.

Ms. Miles, you're here to talk about Signal 2026 Utility Signal Box Wrap Project Update. Do you want to sit down? Are you going to stand?

Always one of our favorite subjects.

Cheap grace, as I call it.

Who is Kellis Parlette? Welcome, Ismaels. Who is Kellis Parlette?

Kellis is a member of the Arts Commission who has been co-chairing this process. So I am representing Kellis in the Arts Commission to you tonight as part of the policy. They facilitate the process to determine the art, but they share it. with you all before it is installed. Kelis is an art instructor. And so the art that you're going to see was actually done by students as we go through this. And some of them are very young students that put us all to shame, at least me. And some are of the older generation. But there was a process, and the students all basically entered like a contest, have donated their art, and these were all presented. So you'll see some numbers on slides. So that was just a way to identify the art to the Arts Commission. The submissions were all prioritized and then selected, and then they were matched up with the boxes. So the original goal was to be able to bring eight new locations on, bringing us to 40. We're only at 39 because in the middle of this process, the box at Weller was moved. It's across from the school because we did some street work there, and it's no longer on the arterial. But I'm going to show you that art because the group would really like to see it used in the future. session of moving forward the signal boxes. So when you hear from the Arts Commission, they're scheduled to be here September, they'll give you an update on how many boxes are left and how they want to proceed with that. Okay, so the first location is what we have looked at for 87th and Silicon Boulevard. Most of these are what's called a double box. Some of them are labeled that way because there's two, even though some of them, as you notice, are made up of several different elements. So actually taking the art and wrapping them to fit is quite an endeavor.

Okay.

So here we have the art that was selected to go on that box location. And it was one of the first choices that the committee was really looking at what presents our community and what grabs people's eyes. And so they also think about the location that they place that at. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I apologize. Kellis is actually teaching tonight, which is why she's not.

There we go.

And then also this one, The Loyal Gaze. Notice that the submission is by Clara, and she's 13 years old. Stilicum and 88th is also a double box. And Wings Above the Pacific. 10-year-old artist. Also, because there's the double box and they were looking at what pairs together nicely in terms of the colors in the images. Still a Cummins Phillips Road is another location. Tides of Washington, and this is another priority one of the intricacies of this. The Symphony of the Lake Shores is another one that complements for that location. It's nine years old. That's what I told you.

So both those are? Oh, so you're right.

Yes. And many times they were complementing in the way they fit together. So again, the location and how they'll face and how some of them wrap around.

Okay, so the first one will be the cranes or the parents. And then the next one is Symphony by the Lakeshore from Crystal Chang.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. She's on the commission and... So the boxes at Silicon and Briggs Road, again, another double box. And this coastal look will be there, again, 14-year-old artist. And so this one they thought complement very well with it.

And so absolutely. Sorry. One.

Yeah, two different images complementary and again, that determination that they would fit together well. So definitely some of them that are more natural and have a similar feel are in some of the same locations. And even though we call them double box, some of them have multiple units to them. So it really is the right complement together. And so they really were looking at basically the top 12 images and then partnering them together in the best location. So here there's signal boxes, but there's two of them because they're in different locations. So we'll actually still be wrapping two. This is an older artist, but really the memories that are all associated with Lakewood are pretty powerful in this selection. It's about two of their favorite locations. This is the only truly single box. It's a cross from Lakewood Gardens, and it's the warm page. Whether it's a poem or a sentiment, it goes along with that. And then Bridgeport and Pacific. This one you'll get to see, and it's kind of amazing because these are two separate submissions. So this was by June, who is a 14-year-old artist. But the vibrancy of colors also come by Brianna an 11 year old artist and so here we've given you how these two could complement together and really show how the two boxes come together so both kind of the characteristics of the images and the colors. As I mentioned, this was going to be the one across from Custer Elementary that's off of Weller. So we didn't get to place this particular one, but we're holding this art. And so again, how does it fit with the location? How does it fit with the boxes that are there? So when we move forward with the next round, this is one that's sitting for consideration. So those are the boxes that have been selected. So there's seven different locations. So they're ready for the wraps to be produced and put out there by the end of the year. And again, the Arts Commission plans to be before you in September and give you an update on how many additional boxes they believe are out there to do, as well as they'll talk to you about a sculpture project that was added to the work plan for Nianza. And also an additional element of public art that they're looking at wrapping roundabouts, which again would fit similar to the signal box element because there was a to be determined public art project. And that would fall under these similar rules to be able to show you the art that is being determined for any roundabouts. That's what I have for you tonight.

Well, there's a whole world of roundabouts out there. So, you know, we hear about them all the time. We must have 100, 150 or something.

say who would thank you very much yeah well some drivers get involved in a single roundabout they they use it as 10 and they're going around i i do say that uh i really appreciate the the reaching out to young artists that the commission did in their selection process. This is many, many more young artists than in any other sequence, year annual sequence that we've had. It is somewhat similar to the reach out for art to young people that we have done with stormwater calendars annually to do that. And with that particular group at the time when calendars are produced, but in this case, once these have all been installed, it would be nice if... all the artists from nine to 60 could be invited here to a council meeting and be thanked and and and and recognized to do that and that maybe that there can be some temporary display of a collage of what you've shown us today that is put out at some events. So what is the expect date that we will actually see these?

In terms of the timing, they said they're ready to go to print and install. So definitely within the next two to three months, all of them will be up. We're already working on the communications plan that goes as well. So it can definitely add that opportunity as the promotions and the rollout, the communities to be done to have the artists invited as well.

If there is some sort of a... display of of these that sounds like it was something that would fit into trucking but i look forward to meeting some of those people who are um much younger than i and can uh and and and and can do that kind of work a thousand times better than i

The commission will be discussing it, but I think they found it really fruitful as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if they circle back to doing that again while they also do some more of the traditional.

Councilmember Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A couple of questions. One of them. So when on as part of the rap, is it does it show who who the artist was and their age and what the name of it is, or is it just the artwork itself?

Yes, I believe the rapid. I'll verify that usually we allow them to sign, but there's a kind of a plaque that is recognized, I think, on each one of them. So I'll be looking at proofs next week and make sure.

Perfect. I want to make sure that was captured because that's just like when you're looking at these and it's just incredible. You're like, there's no way a nine year old just did that. That's amazing. Like, wow. And then, so we've often talked about Gravely Lake and Nyansa being, you know, somewhat of a linear park and having, you know, some art, an art walk and stuff. And I'm excited that one of them is on, you know, the part of the loop. And I like that. I like the idea of incorporating some text into some of these to give people, you know, it's a bit of a destination and you can, you know, sit there and maybe if we have a bench and take a break and read, you know, whatever it is. I'd like to see if there's more opportunities for some art boxes around the loop. And then, you know, if we could expand on that and that could be our art loop or our art walk or something, you know, that we have. So anyway, yeah, these are amazing and I'm excited to see them out.

So I'd like to call on our rep to the arts commission, the distinguished deputy mayor, Ms. Bell.

You know, I'm all about this. I've seen these, and I think our arts commission is absolutely fabulous. They do amazing work and are bringing amazing things. I actually can't wait for you guys to see some of the ideas for the Gravely Loop. the Gravely Lake kind of new proposal about the sculpture that we were talking about, different things that are happening through there. So I think that'll be very exciting and fit into possibly making that a little bit more of a place that you could, a destination. I know since the walk around there is just incredible. But I have seen all of these and I saw their pairings and I love how the Arts Commission gets together and is very thoughtful with all of this. They really do think it through. They make sure that they are keeping our city beautiful and making it prettier and prettier with each piece of art that goes in. So I just wanted to put out my appreciation for that and that they work so very hard and they come up with really creative ideas and effective ideas too. So I think throughout the years, especially with this project of wrapping all the boxes, you can really see the beautification through the city and how it does make a huge difference. So I just wanted to put that out and sing my praises for the Arts Commission. Thank you.

So Great job. I mean, I think they just did an outstanding job and we're all about kids. So we're even more excited that they're kids who are humiliating us in our artwork or certainly I'm beyond humiliation on my artwork, but uh just great job of selection great job of artwork and um i think we do need to find a time where we properly um you know bring them in and we'll give them coins or something and um and uh or some kind of other recognition for for the work that they've done so that they can uh so we can be good stewards of that their artwork and so 20 years from now they can come back and see it so um And yeah, we're all excited. So work out with the city manager when would be a good time, you think, for them to come on in. Or like Mike said, a special event or something. I don't know.

Yeah, absolutely. Do whatever works. We'll be very excited about it. And again, the instructor who facilitated the process and who's helping to get the wraps done teaches on Monday nights, otherwise she'd be here, but really they, they have definitely grabbed hold of this and took probably all your prior direction, you know, to heart and making this project happen. So it's been a privilege to jump in. I'm the messenger, right? This all was well underway, you know,

And I make the joke, right, about cheap grace, but I think we get more compliments per dollar spent on those wraps than we do anything else. I mean, I just can't think of anything that people are like, wow, that looks great. So we're looking forward to the next round. Thank you. And we call on the deputy city manager, Ms. Ta Krause, who is going to bring us up to date with the review of the first quarter financial report. And again, thank you, Ms. Krause, for all the information you provide us. I don't know that any sitting legislative body in the state of Washington receives more information on a quarterly basis than we do. So Council Member Branstetter would remember a time where we got maybe a not even 10% of this information. So we really do appreciate that there's a lot of information there and we can cut it all sorts of ways. And if anybody has any questions of Ms. Krause, feel free to jump in and ask questions and she'll go through the first quarter report.

Yeah. And what I'm just going to be looking at or speaking to is on page 42, which is your Oh, sorry. So on page 42 of the packet is the general and street fund. And just really a few highlights. I know my presentation is not going to be as colorful as the art rep. And Council Member Branstetter said this isn't really like the state of the city. how it would be presented but overall our revenues are down compared to where i thought we would be taking a look at the past five years trends and primarily it's in our development service fees last year we did really well with all of the permits coming in um So it's down, but we're monitoring it. And then our local sales and use tax has gone up. So they sort of offset each other, but not quite enough yet. In speaking with Director Remack, It could be just a timing of when the permits are issued or when we collect the fees for that. Our sales tax seems to continue to increase. On the expenditure side, we're seeing similar trends as we did last year. Our police department is up compared to where I thought we would be, but that also has to do with some of the termination pay so when people retire they're cashing out and those amounts are very big. There's some overtime and there are just some timing differences of when charges are made so we'll be watching that as well. We had a similar situation last year but General Fund was able to cover it so not as huge of a concern. But I will give you some, well, let me just address a couple things that came up. So for the park sales tax, that is in the general fund, but it can only be used for parks. And so that's where the money is. In terms of, I think they also brought up about different financing levy, LIDLIS and such. Yes, we can do all of those things. Some of them will require a vote of the people, you know, the 60% voter turnout approval and such, but there are quite a few different options. It will, you know, cost for taxpayers and such, but there's some options. I wanted to give you just some updates. I ran some numbers just to see where we were or where we are as of today, and I'll also provide these to the city manager so that he he'll um if we get newer numbers i'll also include that but sales tax just for the first four months we're up by about 930 000 and a lot of that has to do with construction so when you look at it from construction it's not an ongoing but we do have some services that are also up um And that's more ongoing in nature. In line with the sales tax, our regular sales tax, we have the Parks and Criminal Justice sales tax, which is slightly up compared to where I thought we would be for budget. Real estate excise tax is slightly down. It's actually down for the first two months by about $80,000. admissions taxes up by 18,000 through May, gambling taxes down by 43,000. So we have a lot of areas that are major areas that have increased and then somewhere in between, some that increase, some that decrease, and then at the end of the day, they'll offset each other. So that's really all that I have in terms of updates. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Does anybody have any questions for Ms. Krause? Council Member Branstetter.

When we allocated the $2 million from the economic development fund that we created in 2000 or something like that, and we said that we would use it for Edgewater Park and the downtown park, How have those funds been spent? And what was the division of how much of those went to each of those two categories?

So I don't have that readily available. I did track it for the carry forward budget adjustment. I'm happy to track that again on how much we've spent. But we spent a good portion of that, if not all of it already.

Okay. I guess have we spent it in both? uh towards both goals both the down doing some things in the downtown and and at edgewater or has it all gone to edgewater i think it's been more of a combination probably leaning more towards the edgewater park but i'm happy to provide that information to city manager and maybe he can include it as part of the his update or so or if that could be addressed in the next quarterly report that would be fine sure for me anyway yes

City Council Chambers, Any other questions from his cross comes from over Laura.

City Council Chambers, Thank you, your book and thank you miss costs question that you may not have the information in front of you right now, but i'd be interested in knowing later. City Council Chambers, What has our we were just talking about parks stuff how has our parks operations and maintenance budget changed over the past few years as we've taken on. As we said earlier, lots of capital projects. How has our operations and maintenance budget adjusted along with that?

I would say, just without looking at the numbers it's not a I think there's been a lot more going on in parks, I mean if you look at it parks in terms of maintenance and then parks and recreation. The activities that you've seen I mean it's grown substantially we've not added a whole lot in terms of maintenance staff to handle those events. Not a lot of I mean we've added some dollars, but I guess just overall just looking at the growth, I don't think it's not. Yeah, thank you.

So while other people are thinking about it, I have a couple of questions. Rental safety program on page 92 of our packet, 53 in year. And yeah, under the, so the registration program fees, I'm looking at 291 in 2024, 443 in 2025. And this year we budgeted 273, which is down significantly. And then we've only brought in 111 so far this year. 273, why, did we change the fees and we didn't change that number? Is that possible?

No, I think what happened is was there was a lot more activity in 2025 and not as many that was required in 2026.

But aren't the fees charged every year, no matter what?

Yeah, but I don't think it's. I think some of it is inspections as well.

Dave Kuntz, Oh okay so it's not just the. Dave Kuntz, The fee right it's the right and we've changed the rules now, so when we need to, we need to figure out how that's working at some other point in time Okay, and then, what was the professional services. Dave Kuntz, 286 717 was that the inspections that we're no longer really doing now.

So this would be personnel costs that run this rental housing safety program. And so it would be like, I think you're all familiar with like Heather Halberstadt. I think she does some of that program in here as well. So it'll be the staff allocation of their time in the personnel costs.

So that doesn't look like that's really happening this year.

This is only for the first quarter.

Okay. Okay. I don't know that I have any other questions going on. I do want to talk about the park sales tax a little bit, just so we're all on the same page. And you correct me if I'm wrong. So the one-tenth of 1%, and I'm looking at Roxanne because she was probably involved in when they put it together. The one-tenth of 1% is countywide. Metro Parks to come, the zoo track gets half right off the top. then everyone else, then everyone goes, The rest is done by population, the other 50%. And that includes the people who are in Metro Parks. So Metro Parks gets two bites at the apple. They get Zootrec gets 50%. Then all the folks in Tacoma who are in Metro Parks get their portion along with the people in the county. And so ours is just population. So as a percentage, we're always going to be dropping because we're not growing as fast as the rest of the county. So it's been nice to get, but it's not a...

I mean, it's approaching a million dollars.

There you go. Yeah, if it grows 7%, 8% a year or more. Okay. Anything else we should know about? Like the REIT, I guess that's just because rates are high and activity has slowed down.

activity has slowed down interest rates. All of those different factors are contributing to it. It is lower than we have seen in the past. But again, you know, we'll take a look at where the dollars are and what projects have been committed and just see if we can swap out some of those resources.

Any other?

Yeah, I think what you always ask about is, Arpa, are we going to spend all of the money? We should be spending all of the money. As of second quarter, we have about $840,000 of ARPA funds and about $130,000 of interest earnings. And again, you know, whatever is not spent, the city council's already passed the policy to use it towards downtown parks and Edgewater. So we should be good.

And we could just convert that over.

Call it interest or something, right? Or something.

Okay. All right. Any other questions for Ms. Krause? Council Member Branstad, do you have a question? Okay.

All right.

Thank you very much, Ms. Krause. So next up is review of the resolution of intent regarding the Unified Regional Approach to Homelessness, the URA. It begins on page 182 of your packet. So that's almost towards the end. And we are looking for Ms. Speer online. Oh, you're gonna Oh, Miss Silva. Okay. Thank you very much, Miss Silva.

So I'll do my best to step in for Miss Spears as I know she is out of the office was but was trying. Oh, I will.

Who's gonna go? You were

How about I'll start and then Tiffany can jump in. So starting on page 182 of your packet is a draft resolution as follow-up from your June 8th study session on the URA with Pierce County Council Chair Hitchen, as well as direction to staff to prepare that resolution. Ms. Speer, can you hear me?

Yes, can you hear me?

Okay, we just started with a resolution. Can you brief the council on its contents?

Yes, thank you. And first, Mr. Mayor, members of council, my apologies for not being there this evening. I think as Ms. Silva just said, I've been ill and just, I'm not ready to try to drive around yet. So I thank you for your indulgence. I think also as Ms. Silva just said, this begins on page 182 of your packet. I'm going to share my screen. So hopefully be able to get you to that shortly here. So if you're able to see that all right, I'll go ahead. Can someone confirm you're able to see?

Yes, we can.

Thank you. So you've had several actually discussions about the unified regional approach since February of this year. Earlier this year, you had the consultant from Uncommon Bridges in front of you. And then just a few weeks ago, County Council Chair Hitchen and council staff, Mary Connolly was there along with myself in the audience. But the unified regional approach is something that Council Member Branstetter has been serving on the elected leadership group as it has been planned. And I've been serving on the staff working group over the last year, year and a half. So what you now have in front of you is a draft resolution that is the culmination of the work of the elected leadership group so far. It's something that you had request come before you. So I'm going to just walk you through it. Please feel free to stop me as I'm doing this or if you have questions toward the end. This is based on a template that the Council Chair Hitchen provided to the City Manager, I believe, after the conversation a few weeks ago. But this just recognizes the ongoing work that Lakewood does to support homelessness services and human services by setting aside 1% of the city's general fund on an annual or biannual basis for that work, which includes emergency shelter and other homeless services as I mentioned. This also recognizes the Lakewood Historical Support for Living Access Support Network or LASA. And more recently, the work that's been done with ARPA dollars for not only the hygiene center and then additional units to be built on the Lhasa campus, but also the ARPA funding that went to student mental health and workforce training programs during the COVID event. It also recognizes the Tacoma Housing Justice Project funding that was provided. And through that program, 645 clients were served through what was then hosted at City Hall and continues to be hosted at City Hall on a weekly basis, even though the funds have been exhausted. There is also now continuing support through Pierce County's Eviction Prevention Program for Lakewood's homeless seeking that service, just so you're aware. And then it moves into some of the other recognition language within the resolution of intent, which is stating essentially that the city is interested in supportive of creating a quote unified regional approach to end homelessness or to address homelessness. And what that would require of the city of Lakewood are a couple of bullet points I'll walk through in just a moment. So far, we have, in terms of support from other jurisdictions, not only Pierce County and Tacoma, but Auburn, Edgewood, Fife, Gig Harbor, Orting, Lakewood, Puyallup, and University Place have all been involved with the staff and elected group levels. As of tonight, actually, we now have resolutions of intent adopted by Pierce County, Gig Harbor, and Fife, and I know there are other jurisdictions that are scheduled in the relatively near future to take these types of resolutions up as well. The resolution here on its second and third pages are going through some additional clauses that talk about the idea here is creating a system. So homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring. and that an ILA is the ultimate intention under state law to be developed, but the group is not ready to do that. There's a recognition that time is needed to develop an acceptable ILA for a formal agreement that multiple jurisdictions would sign on to. And so this resolution of intent is to express support while that ILA work is ongoing. So the resolution then concludes with city of Lakewood council expressing support for the establishment of an ILA and identifying actions that Lakewood would do to align its homelessness response with other Pierce County governments, which as I mentioned are listed now in the final sections of the resolution in bullet form. Section two though, just directs the city manager to begin working with other governments to create that ILA and it would come before the council for consideration once it's completed. And then in the meantime, Lakewood expresses its intent through the URA implementation and preparation for that, the following additional steps. Updating or developing data collection requirements for homeless service providers, developing or updating a procedure to connect homeless residents to housing and shelter via existing systems like coordinated entry and the shelter access hub, developing or updating an inclement weather policy, including coordination with other governments and services to connect homeless people with resources during such events, identifying locations within the city of Lakewood that may serve as inclement weather shelters, and then supporting the establishment or expansion of at least one homeless intervention within Lakewood. A final section that's important for the council to note, this resolution does not authorize execution of an interlocal agreement, nor does it create binding legal or financial obligations for the city. One thing I would note and the city manager, I believe, and the elected leadership group, I believe will be getting this information as well at their next meetings. But at the last staff working group that I was at this last Thursday, there was discussion about a potential A couple of options in terms of financing for the URA. There was discussion, I know, when the county council chair was at the Lakewood City Council a few weeks ago about an anticipated amount. There were some questions about that and the scheme behind it, where the dollars were based on population. Are there other options? I know other jurisdictions have asked that question as well. And so now there's apparently a couple of other alternatives that will be coming before the elected leadership group to look at, and they would be shared with you and the city manager as soon as they become available. So with that, Mr. Mayor, I'm happy to answer any other questions. Otherwise, this is for you to be discussing whether the city is ready to move forward with signing this resolution. If the council wishes to do so, it's scheduled on your agenda for next Monday night for action.

Thank you, Ms. Speer, for that information. Do you have any questions for Ms. Speer? Any comments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Ms. Speer. So if I understand this correctly, this is a resolution of intent, right? So it's that we intend to support a unified approach with the rest of our cohorts around the county. It's not actually committing us to anything at this point other than saying that we're here to support them.

Mr. Mayor, if that question is for me, the answer would be yes, but I think I see Mr. Branstetter's hand raised.

Council Member Branstetter.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, you know, and I, you know, I'd urge us to take this step. I guess that I would tell you that when two years ago when this process started, I really thought we would by this time have gotten to the point of where we had gotten consensus from some governments on some more substantial things that actually would make a difference being able to go and do that. But that has proven really hard. However, One of the things that's there that if we don't start working together on some things and we continue to just do it as we have been, you know, we'll never make significant progress. So at this point, because this process, working to develop the URA, is essentially being funded by some leftover ARPA dollars, that were originally in this contract with Uncommon Bridges and then they ended the contract early. And so there's some funding for the staff that are trying to move this forward at the county to move forward. that of the five things of where they've sort of asked Lakewood to do something, I would tell you that the most significant to us is the first one, which is developer update data collection requirements for homeless service providers for the contracts that we write for people to do that. Because we have most of the municipalities in the county are using the same system. And we, a number of years ago, stopped requiring our people that we contract with. Dave Kuntz, To enter data on their things into into that system that was. Dave Kuntz, Essentially, at that time, some of our feedback for some of our providers is that it was. onerous and it detracted from funds that they could spend on doing things. The system has been refined, but it was at our next set of contracts that we award in human services, the ones that specifically are targeted at homelessness will have to move into, changing in the contract to be able to do that. And we may get some feedback from some providers who are not used to having to do that. The rest of them are things we have already been doing or are in the process of doing to do that. And that the very last bullet, the support establishment or expansion of at least one homeless intervention in Lakewood, there are actually several of those in the CDBG plan that we just approved. So that's not really a thing of what we're going to do. It's We're already doing more than one plan to move forward with that. I think that close to the end of the year, we will see they're going to be real efforts to move towards an ILA that it will not be a list of mandatory things to do, but a pathway to get to determining things to do. And I say, I predict that because the funding the county is using to staff the people that are working on this, being ARPA funding, it kind of has got to get, it's going to run out. And that's why at this juncture with this ILA, there's no cost for Lakewood or any of the other cities are not being asked to contribute to continuing the work over the next few months.

Thank you, Council Member. And I'm glad because you answered my question then, because my question was on those first three or four items, develop or update data collection, develop or update a procedure to connect homeless residents to housing. and update an inclement weather policy. I was just wondering, is that a hardship for us? But apparently it's not because we're doing it.

We are ahead of the average in the county in terms of being at, largely through the fact that we work closely with University Place and Silicon and West Pierce and that, and we have processes for inclement weather. Whereas there are some cities in the county that just don't don't have a plan and they don't have a thing that's funded, particularly some of the smaller jurisdictions.

Do we have a plan for heat right now? For what? If it's 105 degrees next week or something, do we have a plan?

We have a plan and we have implemented it over the years from time to time. West Pierce kind of monitors that, but we've opened this room. at times of where we've had folks going on and we have another a number of other sites in the city that actually have some supplies stockpiled should they ever be needed as a severe weather shelter or a severe disaster shelter for that matter be great to have a community center wouldn't it um

Any other questions for Ms. Speer, Ms. Silva, Council Member Pearson?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had a question about what, gosh, I lost my spot here. Mr. Brand said or touched on it. It was in here, it says that Lakewood should get at least one of a homeless intervention or something. That was like a defined term, it seemed. What does that really mean? What are the different? What does that mean? Out of this, we could get a rental assistance or something? You know, is that as little as that?

I would just say that when that has been discussed, that could be a myriad of things because different jurisdictions see homelessness different, but that they will do at least one thing more enhanced or one thing new than what they have been doing. Most of the jurisdictions are actually going to do this in a We kind of in a in a combination of some of their efforts around affordable housing for for the lower income bands of folks that are there. So it's it's and it is. Not specific and to be honest, the resolution doesn't even ask us to report. what it is. At some point in time, it's kind of like at the end of the year, what have you accomplished? We would have a number of things we're doing or planning to do that we could choose from to say that was our one. We will have more than that.

Ms. Speier, would you like to weigh in on that?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would just respond to the question that the way this could easily be satisfied is to in this next biennial budget, just take a note of what has been done historically and what the council wants to continue to do with its homeless services as have been done historically, or if there are changes you want to make, but taking that and furthering it along. So whether it's continuing and expanding support for Lhasa, whether it is looking and identifying other shelter opportunities within the city, whether it is providing additional facilities funds to other human services organizations as the city has done with CDBG or other funding in the past. All of those things would satisfy this bullet. And then if there's any other new original things that the council would want to add to the budget as well. So it's a really open option. And I think Lakewood will not have difficulty in satisfying it.

Thank you. Council Member Pearson.

Thank you. This is a good idea. I do have some hesitation about... I feel like we're potentially committing to something that I don't have a good understanding of how it actually benefits the Lakewood homelessness population. And that's hard for me to like... We're committing to doing something and there's no... end goal inside of exactly what that is like what are we we're going to do more coordination we're going to fund some non-profits but like at the end of the day is there an actual goal of you know dropping the number of lakewood homeless folks from x number to x number it's like well no it's ending it that's very vague we're not going to end homelessness with this right like but so that's what that's where i'm i'm a bit cautious with this and i think that the further down the road we get, you know, we approve a resolution that says what it says. You know, each time we take one step closer without getting, you know, being more specific and targeting what we want for Lakewood in this, the further away we get from being able to incorporate anything. So that would be my my my caution to this is i i would like things to be more specific like you know i i don't know if it would be i think it would be beneficial to to take a look at some of this language and and really really pick it apart and say yeah okay so what does one homelessness intervention instead of saying homelessness intervention let's say exactly what we want out of this right like we want one of xyz you know things to happen rather than well it's very vague and we got some rental assistance or something well we're already kind of doing that like is that that's not a benefit of us joining this right so i just want to make sure that that as we move along, that we still have, you know, how does this benefit Lakewood residents and Lakewood homeless population? That's what we're here to do. And I like the, you know, homelessness doesn't end at city city borders. So I get that element of it, but I really, I really have a hard part, a hard time with not seeing how, you know, what the end goal is here for Lakewood and how it really directly benefits Lakewood. So thank you.

If I could.

Mr. Mayor? Go ahead, Tiffany. Then Council Member Lindholm has a question.

I'm sorry. I'll wait until Council's done.

Oh no go go go ahead.

Okay, well, what you see here in section three is my only response is that this is what liquid is agreeing to do per adoption of this resolution. And so, a should the Council wish to change what it is wanting to do right now, while the inner local agreement is put in place, and then the implementation of the uri overtime occurs. You have the prerogative here to change this wording. So if there's more specificity about any number of these things, you're welcome to do that. But at the same time, I think when it was drafted, the reason it was drafted this way is to allow the city a lot of discretion in terms of how to quote, satisfy them. So there may be a resolution that you adopt today, but in your budgeting process, for instance, maybe you'd wanna identify a specific thing that would satisfy that last bullet point. Or maybe you want to look at more than one of these about how you are actually going to do this within the city of Lakewood moving forward with your next budget decisions. So this doesn't tie you down, nor does it limit the council with how it wants to handle homeless services for Lakewood residents. And it also doesn't say you have to do a specific certain item to satisfy each one of these bullets.

Okay. Any other questions? Oh, Council Member Lindholm.

Yeah, I was going to, I guess, echo in some ways what Ms. Spear said, and I share your concern. We want to be very clear on what we're agreeing to here. As I understand it, the way these conversations really took shape is if we were to put something very specific here, we're now tying ourselves to that intervention. So if we said we want a high barrier family shelter in Lakewood, and then a year down the road, for whatever reason that doesn't work, we want to put it in the community center, and the community center doesn't come to be, whatever that is, it makes it harder to pivot. And so this allows us to do, I think, allows us to contribute in the way that feels good to Lakewood, but also means that our folks have somewhere to go for whatever they're facing because there's so many different kinds of homelessness. And the person who is very much needing detox is different than the family of four who has nowhere to stay for a month. And so it allows us to input there what feels good to us, also knowing that we don't have to provide everything, which is, I think, an incredible goal. Incredible burden left.

Council Member Branstetter.

And I would just address that there are quite a few folks that have been working on this that wanted to get where you were. They wanted to get to where there are some very specific actions that could be taken that would actually impact people. And in some cases, most of the ideas around that had to do with putting specific kinds of things in contracts. And they just haven't gotten to a consensus around that. And part of that is that some of the people who are in the business of helping homeless people are leery about that. But the For this resolution here is that I think there is a commitment to try to work towards what would be beneficial on behalf of a lot of communities, even though communities view homelessness and have different things that they want. But this resolution allows you to sort of stay at the table while they're developing the ILA that might have more structure that would cause some things that we could do. I will say that one thing that is in this that will actually help folks from Lakewood that are getting engaged with the homeless response thing is that first thing about the data collection requirements, because a common thing was is that when data collection requirements vary, The feedback from homeless folks is that every time they have to engage with a new contractor or a new something, they have to go through a complete new litany of intake questions because there's no database of where someone can say, oh, you're already in the database, so we know all this, so you don't have to do all that. And... Folks who are experiencing homelessness have said that's a real frustration right now, that there's not a central thing of where you go to the second person for help. He wants to know all the same things you told the first person. And that the data collection process that's envisioned would mitigate that somewhat. How much remains to be seen how well it's put into practice by providers.

Thank you. So this is what I'm hearing, and then I'm going to express an issue that we're having as a council. So it sounds like generally there's support, but there's some concerns. Council member, this is scheduled for a vote next week. Council member Bell and I are going to be gone. I think we'd like to be part of the discussion at final. And I also have... Councilmember Taubo, is gonna need time to kind of get her questions answered. So what I'd like to propose to do, that we do, is take this off next week's agenda and move it to the first, well, the next council meeting, which would be Monday, August 3rd, if that's generally okay with everybody. And then I think we'll have everybody there. Is everybody gonna be there on the 3rd or are we, missing anybody for you. And because I want to give Council Member Taubo time to get engaged on this. If Council Member Pearson has some issues, he can work on some amendments or amend it. And then I think the Deputy Mayor and I would like to be there for the final.

Is that okay for everybody then? Okay, good.

We'll move that then to Monday, August 3rd for final. Does that work for the thing, Mike?

Well, I think it works for the folks that are trying to get as many groups to pass a resolution. The fact that we'd say we have a date when it's on the council agenda, and if that date is August 3rd, That'll be sufficient.

Yeah, I really want to be respectful of Council Member Taubo right now, too. And then, of course, Deputy Mayor Bell's a player, and if she blesses it, then it's going to get done. Just joking. Anyway, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Speer, for hanging in there.

Thank you. I appreciate, again, being able to be remote tonight.

Thank you. Hope you feel better. Ms. Silva, thank you very much. Okay, so next, reports by the city manager, Mr. City Manager Doug Russell.

Yes, Mayor and Council, just a couple items. One, tomorrow night, summer concert series continues. We also have conflict with the Tillicum-Woodbrook Neighborhood Association meeting, so we'll put that out there. A couple things as we look forward, did have a request from Pierce Transit, wanted to come approach Council to talk about their sales tax initiative. I don't know if that's something that Council wants to schedule or it's not really, but more of a platform. So I just need to get direction from the council if you would like something like that scheduled. And don't have to answer it tonight. We can bring it back up later on if that works. And last thing, as we're getting ready to hit our next legislative session, it's just around the corner, even though it seems like it just ended, wanna reset kind of our state and federal platforms. I'll send out some meeting invites, or not invites, but some dates to try and schedule it as a standalone special meeting. Probably look at a Tuesday or Wednesday towards the end of August, like near on the 18th or 19th, 25th, 26th, somewhere in that timeframe, just to try and get that started. So we have a legislative platform that's kind of rebuilt and more conducive to some of the things that we're facing, that we're looking at as a new body and moving forward. That's all I have.

Mayor Mrakas, Any questions for the city manager. Mayor Mrakas, Okay, Council member comments let's start with Council member Laura sella.

City Council Chambers, Thank you mayor bookie looking forward to farmers market tomorrow. City Council Chambers, I wanted to thank counsel for covering last week, I know you were very short stat with just four of you here, but you did an excellent job of navigating a very vocal crowd which which I appreciated those listening in. Yeah. So last week I was able to, I wasn't here because I had gotten away for my 15th wedding anniversary and went up to the San Juans and saw some of the biggest and healthiest Madronas and Gary oaks I've ever seen up there. So there are oaks up there that are easily four feet and larger in diameter and just look really good. So something to aspire to over the next 500 years. Lastly, something that was brought up by a council member brands that are on my behalf, last week, I understand it's late in the process and potentially costly, but I proposed a solution to be looked at in regards to the dower Oaks. Which involve looking at a potentially a permeable asphalt path through the through the property there but i know the city won't move forward unless we have a a decision on behalf of council so we have to have enough people interested so i will leave with that to see if there's other interest in having the city look into that because i know they need an official agreement in order to contact the school district in an official capacity thank you

on that but i guess that's good and and i have you down tomorrow for tilikum but i also had you last how is it that you end up in tilikum like every month and the tilikum woodbrook meeting it's june 9th oh no that's lindholm you end up going three or four times this year so so my question is who's going to go out to tilikum woodbrook tomorrow uh

I was hoping to go to the farmer's market, but if needed, I can. The deputy mayor, are you planning to go? Yeah.

Okay. So if anybody can go, I mean, I can go too, I guess. It's at 630. And it goes for like an hour and a half.

Council Member Lindholm, but apparently every other month is Council Member Lindholm. Actually, looking at my calendar, I'm not available. I have a different board meeting at that time. Okay.

So Council Member Pearson. I'm calling on you to talk, not to volunteer.

Thank you. I took it that way as well. thank you had our our second or third sewer general plan review meeting last week and continuing that forward so got some input from from the various parties that are involved in that and I think that I'm hoping that one element that may kind of come to us as a as a benefit that's not directly tied to sewers, but rather environmental element is getting all of, you know, parkland span away connected into the sewer system. So we have less nitrate and organics kind of coming through the aquifer into our lake. So hopefully, I think that if you look at Spanaway Lake is really in the mecca of all the septic systems and has had a historically horrible time dealing with those issues. So I think that as that would maybe be one of the first ones to kind of feel some relief as, as sewer does slowly expand. Um, I think that our, our legs could, could see some of that relief over time too. So, um, yeah. And then outside of that, uh, trying to hit up the farmer's market as well. And, um, I don't know if I would be able to attend the, uh, the telecom neighborhood association meeting tomorrow. And as far as the project. Well, I think it's a good idea. My preference on how we should really be the city staff, you know, should really be dealing with with trees along arterial projects or projects in general is having some sort of, and I think that we do have evaluation criteria. So, you know, however that's evaluated early on, it really should be part of the early on process to drive the design rather than when we're, you know, at this stage in the project and we're trying to get things out to bid or we are out to bid or, or, or those sorts of things. So that would be my preference is to, to do it earlier. And I don't know, what sort of challenges could come and how, you know, kind of project delays. So I'd be cautious about changing things at this stage is all. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Branstetter.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, first of all, to address, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the Custer Delaware thing, I'm not, I'm not in favor of going back and at the 11th hour, again, looking at that. This was something that has been looked at by the council a number of times in past years. And keep in mind that in the original discussions, they were talking about maybe needing to cut down 17 trees. And staff went through and re-looked at it, and it's got it down to four oaks and three other trees, I think is where, or three oaks and three other. But First and foremost, this is a safety project. And the most important parts of the safety project that we should not delay have to do with the ones that deal with the roadway and the intersection. That is, an unsafe intersection needs to be there. But also recognize that the current design of sidewalks close to the highway and visible to do that, data shows that sidewalks that are like that tend to help reduce traffic speeds. We have seen that when we redid Hipkins, we got a lot of comments that there are sidewalks now, and then we got comments from drivers that I can't, And there is a noticeable difference in the speed at which drivers drive on angle lane now. And then when they, what they drive on Elwood, because they drive down angle lane and there's a sidewalk there and they, and they, and they, and there is a, Dave Kuntz, An electronic sign that tells people how fast they're driving but once they turn on to Elwood where the path is now off behind the trees in the. Dave Kuntz, Almost looks like it's in the park it's not right. Dave Kuntz, Speed on Elwood is still. viewed as problematic. So, you know, there's some negative safety aspects to having a meandered path, even if the school district would allow to do that. And even if we were to spend a significant amount of extra money, we shouldn't delay getting the safety things that it's the primary reason for the project that's there. The one other thing, Mr. Mayor, that I wanted to bring up is the city manager in his last city manager weekly update published the schedule of meetings that were leading to the reconsideration. whether we continue our prohibition on doing it. And I have some problems with the fast track schedule of meetings You know, the planning, this is something for the planning commission to consider because it's a land use issue if we add another category of businesses. And I understand that. And they have an introductory meeting, a study, you know, a public hearing and then a thing to do that. But for us, it's condensed down to a study session, then a public hearing, and then a vote. And when we were at our study session and we talked about it, we were we had discussions about when we want to make this decision we want there's some information that we need we need information about the finances involved because some that was that was a significant question that plays into the decision some we want to know what some some information about community impacts of what is going on and to do that. And then the third thing was is that some updates on the regulatory process of actually licensing and regulating these because the the Alcohol and Cannabis Board has made changes since the time 10 years ago. And 10 years ago it was, will you authorize there to be three or not? And now they've gone to the point of where they don't commit to how many licenses they'll give to you if you're willing to do that. But I'm not really sure how their rules apply there, and we should know that as something as we move forward to making a decision. so i would think that i would like to see for the council's agenda to be a study session the public hearing then another study session where we can both digest the public hearing and hear back the answers that we developed in our first study session and then a session to vote which would add a week or It would add two weeks to that timeline to go from October 3rd to October 17th for when a vote was scheduled. And the other reason why I'd like to make that extension of time is that amongst our grouping of advisory committees over the past, 4 years. The one that has been most active in working on and doing things with respect to the spectrum of substance abuse and use has been the Youth Council. they have in contract particularly in collaboration with their companion group that that is is the superintendent's advisory group they have made films they have made it this is just a topic of discussion at their summits they have gone through and and doing all of this And I would be interested in their take on this particular item. And the problem is there is no youth council. the youth council won't reconvene until mid-september so to try to ask them the question gets having them to have some meaningful discussions amongst themselves on a couple of meetings and then get back to us just isn't doable by 3 october but it's but we can formulate them they can get organized and we can ask them to make that an early order of business to collectively talk about what it would be that what is their thought on that particular issue um their thoughts would have some influence on what I would do. And so by extending it out to the 17th of October, the new youth council can be formed in the first 10 days of September, can hold their, get organized event, what they always do, have a real regular meeting or two and give us some feedback. And that's the one group whose feedback I think is, do that. Those of us who went to AWC, and we heard the keynote presenter who talked about the 13 ways to destroy your city. One of those was don't listen to the young people. And I think it's important for us to do that because the decision that we're contemplating, unlike the decision that we made before to not allow them, the decision to begin to allow them is one that is virtually irreversible if we make it. You know, it's kind of like what happened with, you know, once the early city council said casinos are okay, then any discussions about maybe we don't want them became, you can't go there. Okay, you can't do that.

So, Council Member Branstad, we've heard your remarks. I mean, you're now getting into it. We're not debating.

No, again, the thing to ask is that include an additional study session to vote on October 17th.

Agreed. Councilmember Lindholm.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Representative Tillicum, I think, would put by here. We'll work on that title.

Tillicum Woodbrook.

Looking forward to Farmer's Market tomorrow. Unfortunately, not available in the evening. And that raises something I brought up earlier in the year. I really think it'd be beneficial, rather than randomly assigning council members to things, that we lay out the schedule and let folks sign up. I think that's going to result in a lot less shuffling, a lot fewer conflicts. That'd be my suggestion to council. That's all I have, Mr. Mayor.

Dave Kuntz, Thank you yeah I think we need to have some discussions around scheduling because we've added quite a few of these at our request Community meetings and then there are there are seemed like they're increasing number of. Dave Kuntz, of conflicts so besides tomorrow night. Dave Kuntz, there's also. Okay. Dave Kuntz, um. i think we're fine going into next week i thought there was some other conflicts this week too but that that's good okay so um correct yes so i think that was really kind of my only uh real comment and i do have to agree with