City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay.

I call this hybrid regular council meeting of June 9th, 2026 to order at seven o'clock PM. Would you please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance?

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

Thank you. Okay, will the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Olson?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Creeley?

Here.

Council Member Pasarewski?

Here. Council Member Ramirez?

Here.

Council Member Keith?

Here.

Council Member Rasmus?

Here.

Council Member Edwards?

Here.

Council Member Southard? Here. Rolls complete.

Okay, Council, as you know, Council Rule 9.3 allows you to add or delete an item to the agenda if you provide a reason and get Council vote to do that. Does anybody have any item to add or delete? Okay, we usually don't have anyone, but I asked that question anyway. We are up to audience comment. This audience, this is your chance to step to the podium and take your up to five minutes. You don't have to use it all, but you have up till five minutes. And you don't have to have signed up, but we do have someone that did sign up. So we'll go to them first. And that's Carl Oler. I think that's how you pronounce it. And he wrote down for his topic of discussion, the Young Homestead House. Carl, why don't you step behind that microphone? Well, we want our online audience here. We have a couple people online, not many.

Yeah, my name is Carl Oler. I'm a 53-year resident of Edgewood. And I just want to bring it to everybody's attention that the young... Homestead is going away up here on 32nd Avenue. The last 16 acres of it are going, they've got a for sale sign on it right now. It'll go quick. John Young, who was part of the family, worked for Edgewood Water for many, many years. A lot of people knew him. He passed away last year. That was the last thing that held the family together, so the homestead's going. Now, on that property is the oldest frame house in Edgewood. It's only 16 by 24 feet long. It's in great shape. It still has the original curtains hanging in the window. It's right by the road. It'd be so simple to move, a lot easier than the windmill. And boy, wouldn't it look good sitting up here with that windmill. Somebody needs to go over there and take a look at it before it goes away or just be bulldozed down. And it'll be simple to move, a piece of cake. I've moved a lot of houses myself. I could do it in a day. So anyway, something for everybody to go over and take a squint at. I love what you all have done here, using original trees for your countertops in here. Preserving the barn, getting the windmill over here. This fits in with it perfectly. And it's so small, there's a dozen places you could put it here where it'd fit in. It'd be real easy to do. Especially where all the wires are now. So that's the first thing. I've got the phone number there. It'd be just as easy to just run over and take a look. Somebody needs to go look at it. If it goes away, you'll kick yourself later. I swear to God. Second thing, real quick, flags. While I was over there today looking at the farmhouse and whatnot and getting ready to come over here, there's a house there at 10015 on 32nd Street. It has a flagpole in front of a house with a lot of political slogans on it, which is great. I spent three years preserving that, our right to do that, in a jungle far from here. But on the flagpole, on the top is a Canadian flag. Under that is our flag of the United States of America. That's against the law. That is totally against the law, and that needs to change. If they don't display a Canadian flag there, that's fine. Just put it underneath the American one. It's against federal law to do it. Some hothead may see that, and there will be a big stink over it. The other thing is all the flags that I've seen around the city, which I think is great. They're on a lot of utility poles around. I don't know who those belong to, whether they belong to the city, utility, private property owner. Now, the ones that are up all night under a light are being displayed properly. The ones that are not under a light are not being displayed properly. Again, that's against the law to do that. You know, it would be so simple. Put a little solar-powered light up there above it to catch the rays during the day and light it at night. That's all it would take to put those into compliance. And as we come up on our anniversary here, I think that's one of the kind of things that we should be looking at. It's so simple to get it squared away. That's all I've got. And if you all want my notes, I'll give them to you.

Perfect. Thank you, Carl. Is your phone number on here?

Yep.

Perfect. Sounds good. Any other public comment tonight, either in the audience or in the virtual audience? Okay. I think that will conclude our audience comment. Moves us next up to the mayor's report. A couple of things. Want to acknowledge that progress is being made behind the scenes on the windmill. May not look like a lot's going out there, but there's been some progress made. We've... come to terms with a construction company to do the foundation. So that work should be progressing later on this summer. So we're excited for that next phase. I also want to acknowledge the Edgewood Celebrates America's 250th in the Park is coming along. We've got a group of people here at City Hall that meet weekly and we're making some good progress and things seem to be Falling together quite nicely with that. So we're looking forward to that. There's some brochures on the counter there. If you want to grab one on your way out, that'd be great. Tended a bunch of meetings last couple of weeks, PSRC annual meeting, PCCTA and some other meetings. I want to also say we had a meeting with Easy Fiber today, and knock on wood, things are going well so far in Edgewood. They have zero open tickets, meaning there's not a single issue that they're addressing. They haven't broken any pipes or snagged any wires or so far so good. I don't believe in jinx, so I'll say that. Yeah. But but things are going well with the easy fiber. So if you hear otherwise, you know, let us know. Let me know. But I don't I think everything's going pretty good. And again, there's going to be some hiccups as we move forward. But currently we're in pretty good shape. So despite what you hear out there, things are going pretty good here in Edgewood. I will be speaking next week at the Mountain View Community Center Seniors Lunch. It was kind of a council push to try to help increase communication with our community and specifically our senior community. So that's my quarterly lunch update. So that'll be next Tuesday. Looking forward to that. And also just want to acknowledge two weeks from tonight, which will be our next regular council meeting, I'll be zooming in. I'll be over in Spokane at the Association of Washington City's annual conference. It's kind of a week-long conference in Spokane. So I'll be zooming in from Spokane at our next regular council meeting. And that concludes my mayor's report. And I believe Rachel has a director's report as our assistant city administrator. So Rachel.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. From the Police Department, the Citizen Academy will conclude with graduation on June 11th. PD is also preparing educational materials for the ordinance that just passed on wheeled recreational devices and foot scooters. And then they are also, they have begun planning for the public safety operations at the Edgewood celebrates America's 250th in the park. And then from community development, staff continued to address code enforcement complaints with the focus on education and outreach while pursuing additional enforcement measures when necessary. Staff is also participating in the SR 167 implementation workshops. Both draft alternatives currently under consideration include improvements on Jovita Boulevard, as well as West Valley Highway intersection. And then finally, EDAB is beginning preparations for a small business event planned for November 20th. And so we'll have more information as that gets closer. And then from IT and facilities, the city's new mobile app launched on June 1st, and it's now available on both Apple and Android devices. Residents can find it by searching for Edgewood WA 311. And then you might have noticed we have new blinds in here, which will help block the sun, which gets really crazy this time of the year. And then lastly, planning is underway this year for Summerfest, which will be held on July 18th from 11 to 6. City staff has been meeting with Summerfest volunteers and coordinating across departments to support the event. And as part of our ongoing partnership, the city provides logistical and operational support to help make this annual community event a success. And we look forward to another great turnout and opportunity for residents to come together and celebrate our community. And that concludes my report.

Okay, thank you, Rachel. Council, are there any items to be amended or pulled from the consent agenda? Seeing none, may I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. And do I have a second?

Second.

I think I heard Edwards first. It has been moved by Council Member Rasmus and seconded by Council Member Edwards to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Okay, motion carries. Takes us to council business. Council, we have no council business tonight. So it happens every once in a while. Tonight is that night. So no council business, which takes us to our next item, council comments. So who would like to kick us off? I see Council Member Rasmus. Oh, Jenny's first. Council Member Hazaruski and then Council Member Rasmus.

I spoke with Chief Youngman before the meeting tonight. There is a new e-bike law that went into effect for Senate Bill 6110 went into effect today. I'm sorry, that goes in effect June 11th. I'm a few days ahead of myself here. And I just wanted to put Chief Youngman on the spot just to clarify what this new e-bike law entails and how it may differ or be The same of what we have been talking about in most recent weeks regarding motorized e-bikes.

Sure. Thank you, Council Member. Good evening, audience, Council Member, Mayor. I'll be brief. The new law essentially aims to help differentiate between e-bikes and e-motorcycles. Anything higher than 750 watts or having no pedals or that can go faster than 20 miles an hour is not an e-bike, it's an e-motorcycle. So it makes that more clear and then it puts licensing requirements for those devices. So you have to be 16 years old and have a driver's license with an endorsement just like a motorcycle. That doesn't conflict with anything that we've created in our most recent ordinance. Most of our ordinance harkens back to the RCW when it comes to licensing requirements and ages. So it's still in line with the current law. So no changes needed on our end for us so far.

Is that sufficient? Okay.

Councilman Rasmus, were you raising your hand or just pointing to council? I was raising my hand too. Mine's really quick too for Rachel. Is there a list or resource that has all of the open code enforcement items that you guys are dealing with right now?

uh possibly i can check with uh staff and then if there is all i can make sure to send it by email great thank you okay any other council comment okay i will say if i'm still looking for some volunteers for the july 3rd event so if any council members are going to be around town and would like to kind of volunteer some time let me know and i'll share with you some specific little areas that i'm looking for volunteers so that's all i have and seeing no further council comments we are adjourned at 7 15. good night everybody take care