City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to what is apparently the biggest show in town, the city of Mount Vernon City council meetings for Wednesday, February 11th, uh, the time is now 7:02. I'll call this meeting to order and ask that you'd please stand with me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the republicansation or not in the individual literally Justice. Last, the city clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Beaton here, Council Mayor Damon here. Council Mayorer Hudson, here, Councilmember Oliver, here, Council member Tearo, Councilmember Van der Stoop, here, Councilmember West, here. Thank you, Becky Item 2 is the approval of tonight's council meeting. Agenda with council like to uh approve the agenda, change the agenda, I would move to, uh, just do a slight alteration, move item 6A to the top of the agenda. 2 OK, item 6A is the presentation for the Lincoln Theater, and I'll just double check and make sure that our guest speaker is ready to do that. So, um, but she doesn't have to be here through um a lot of time and um and we get to hear your presentation up front, OK, um any discussion on that council? No? OK. All in favor say aye. I all opposed say no Motion passes and I will ask, I believe Steve Sexton is going to introduce this item for council tonight. See. Yeah, Pigy been here, good evening, counsel. We have a guest joining us this evening from the Lincoln Theater Foundation. We have Jessica Wagoner, the director of operations, and Jessica has a presentation for you on Lincoln Theater. So, turn it

over to Jessica Hello, Jessica. Welcome Thank you so much, Steve Can everyone hear me well? Awesome. And I guess I just wanna say thank you so much to all of these people for coming out to support the Lincoln Theater tonight. That's good. My name is Chesa Wagener. I'm the director of operations at the Lincoln Theater Center Foundation, which operates the Lincoln Theater and as most of you are likely aware, the theater itself is actually owned by the city of Mount Vernon, and generously leased to the foundation for $1 per month. So that we can fulfill our mission of entertaining, informing, and inspiring our diverse community through live performance, film, and education, while still preserving our historic theater. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I do plan to share what makes the Lincoln a jewel in our community, Share updates on our centennial celebrations and then also explain our centennial campaign and project. I'd also just like to wholeheartedly think, think each one of you for the city's role in supporting our mission. In anticipation of our 100th anniversary, Duncan West, our volunteer historian, took on the massive project of going through every archived issue of Skagget Argus, Skagit Argus, because it was published weekly. We all love Siaabelli Harold from 1926 to the late 1990s to dig up and document the forgotten history of the Lincoln and our surrounding theaters. On a downtown street, an excited Navarre told a story from told Duncan, told an excited, well an excited Duncan,

sorry, told Navarre, a story from the early days of the Lincoln that led Navarre to suggest this presentation today. Duncan unfortunately has the flu tonight and he can't join us, but I suspect the story was of Doctor Zahm who, uh, vaudeville performer who drove a car with blackened all the windows blackened out down First Street using the new technology of a camera obscura. However, may have involved pig or pony giveaways in Pine Square or in in theater celebration using firecrackers with young children. Whether marveling at 100 years of old vaudeville performers and their signatures backstage under plexiglas dressing up in 1920s fashion to watch a silent film or connecting the stories of early showings of Swedish language films like Myself with the likely attendance of my Swedish speaking great grandfather living in Stanwood at the time. The Lincoln Theater brings history to life in our community and through its beautiful Spanish revival architecture, we can imagine the bustling streets of downtown Mount Burnham of yesteryear. with regular performances. that range from major international acts such as our recent Sheena Easton to Opportunities for local performers to showcase their talents in repertory theater or the upcoming Battle of the bands, the Lincoln serves as a cultural hub. With high school interns learning, business management skills and marketing by planning events like our upcoming gamers rally put on by Northwest Technical Academy. volunteers new to the

area, making friends while serving popcorn with locals to patrons, and patrons coming in for their first dates. and their 50th. anniversaries. Community is made within the walls of a Lincoln. That's that same community fills our downtown restaurants pre and post-performance driving over $2 million in addition to the revenues of the Lincoln and additional revenue, retail, and hotel revenue in our city. On April 21st, 1926, the Lincoln Theater opened its doors to the public with newsreels, a short travel documentary film, a set of vaudeville acts and a feature-length silent film accompanied by rollicking ragtime score played on theorrowitzer. While the Lincolns survived the demise of silent films and vaudeville with the opening of the 2nd multiplex in Mount Vernon, just kitty corner from where we're at today in the mid-1980s. The Lincoln Theater could no longer attract enough moviegoers to stay open. If you came to the theater, which many have you may have, as I did in the mid-1980s, you would have found a leaking roof, seats with the coils we probably could all maybe still feel those quails, um, pressing into us as we were trying to watch the movie, so the springs were coming through and repeatedly I did not see them myself. There was a host of backstage rats. So through our original capital campaign and the subsequent fundraising ende av or s we restored the Lincoln and its auditorium to its former glory and installed a modern and lighting sound systems that support our ability to attract major terrain

artists. However, we still have work to do From any of you have, that have been in the theater during the summer, you will probably aware that at times it is entirely unusable, and we also need to improve our fire safety and make the theater's backstage accessible for volunteers, staff, and artists. The centennial Campaign is a $4 million fundraising effort to fund our Centennial Capital project, which will take place June 1st through October 7th, not a full year if anyone's heard that, that's a rumor. And we'll add air conditioning, a sprinkler system, and an ADA lift for volunteers. feeder campers, and artists to the theater. With over 60% of our funds raised, our campaign is live and we are busy sharing that campaign with community members like all these wonderful people that came out to see us today. You can help each one of you can help by being an unofficial spokesperson for our campaign. You can um let me know if you'd like to volunteer to help us raising funds. You can do that in so many different ways, including, you know, hosting a house party and inviting your friends to come. You can become a member, which helps to strengthen our ability to get grants, and of course, you can donate to the campaign yourself. We also would like to acknowledge and thank that the city of Mount Vernon, as well as LAP funds for helping us to get to the portion of our goal that we've raised so far. In addition to waging our campaign the Lincoln So the Linc can be can be preserved for the next 100 years, we're busy planning the celebrations for the 100th anniversary this April. We're gonna kick that off. I'm Friday, April 24th with

our Centennial concert featuring Savannah Woods and Chris Eager, with the winner of the Battle of the band's opening the show. On Saturday, April 25th, or centennial showcase will include a selection of acts from the Lincoln stage, with 5 to 15 minute acts in an homage to vaudeville A host of performances will include from Benriloquist to Mariachi will include musical numbers from Theater Arts Guild and Knight, as well as Entertainment by the nationally renowned, but local performer, ran the juggler and a jazz performance by Joan Penny. among many others are annual on Sunday, we'll host our centennial silent film event at 1926 pricing, and it will replicate our opening night films of 1926 with short cartoons and newsreels, as well as celebrity gossip followed by a feature link Silent Adventure, the general with Buster Keaton. All of this will be accompanied by the mighty Wurlitzer and an original score played by Karen and the Kay Cats. As key stakeholders of the Lincoln Theater, I would invite each of you to join us for our 3 performances of our centennial weekend as well as in helping us to raise the funds so that we can make the improvements needed to see the Lincoln into the next 100 years. Thank you very much for your time tonight and I'm I'm not sure if I'm now supposed to answer questions, but I'm absolutely here to do it. We also have tours, exhibits, and projects that are going on throughout the year. All right, thank you, Jessica. Counsel, questions for Jessica. I'm just going to say that I saw this, I saw, OK, I'm gonna date myself. Star Wars and Greece at the Lincoln. So yes, I can visualize all that stuff. So, yeah, great.

Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for having me and thank you, Mary, please let Duncan know that, um, he is very appreciated. He is a treasurer to the Lincoln and to to the city. All of his knowledge and um I would hope that he offers tours this coming uh tool festival season and is able, I would just encourage whoever goes to our um our uh. street fair would join him for a tour around the Lincoln. We, we will, so throughout Tulip Festival weekend. We will have tours and we have tours that we're doing, some of those led by Duncan, some by others, but obviously much more information that Duncan has, and I shared tonight, just to give you a little bit of a tidbit tonight. But those tours are going on as well tomorrow night. We have the chamber, multi-chamber after hours at the Lincoln, and we'll have tours. Obviously Duncan won't be joining us, but that is an opportunity for anyone in the community to come and see the theater as well. And then Tulip Festival weekend and on April 21st, our actual birthday, we'll just be having an open house with cake and doing tours. Nice. Any, any ghost sightings on the tour ? No promises. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Peter. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we are going to move on on our agenda, and item 3 is community comments and seeing none, we'll move on. Um, that's true. There's anyone present in council, well, let's start actually. I, I think we may have someone online. I don't know that, but there was some indication that there was a request. Do, do we know if we have an online speaker today. I give a. couple of seconds

here to unmute if you're online and you want to address counsel tonight. OK. I don't see one or hear one, so we will move on, um, for the folks who are gonna come up to the podium tonight, if you could come up and please state your name, your city of residence, and we'd ask you to keep your comments about 3 minutes. Um, and if you need more time than that, please just let us know but ask that you, you stay on, on point tonight. We've got a lot of folks, I think that, that want to speak. And so, uh, we will open it up right now if there are folks in the overflow room who want to address city council tonight. Uh, maybe you could come to, to the door of council chambers here and, and, and line up. I don't know if that's the best way to do it, but um. we'll figure it out. So the microphone is open, the podium is available. Uh, come on up if you would like to address City council tonight. Thank you. And again, uh please state your name and city of residence. OK, uh, Mayor Dunavan and city council members. My name is Sarah Geering. I'm a Mount Vernon Ward 2 resident and ICU nurse. I'm here today to give comment because I believe our city can find much more effective use of the opioid settlement funds, then reinstating the police canine program. Earlier today, I was made aware of some accounting sleight of hand underway, which defunds the iOS and allocates the settlement funds to replace these funds effectively still utilizing the settlement money to reinstate the Kine program by means of a less transparent funding swap. 13 states and Washington DC have restricted this practice of substituting opioid settlement funds for existing dollars, a practice known as supplantation. While it may be technically allowable in our state. I believe that we as a city can do better and that citizens deserve to have their democratically elected city council members represent their wishes and best interests. A set of principles created by

Johns Hopkins University to guide jurisdictions in allocating settlement funds recommends the adoption of the following guidelines. Spend the money to save lives, substance use and behavioral health programs. Use evidence to guide spending, invest in youth prevention, focus on racial equity and develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend the funding. In the same vein, Washington State Healthcare Authority describes five priority goals in its state opioid and overdose response plan. These are preventing opioid misuse, identifying and treating substance use disorder, and sharing to, um, improve the health and wellness of individuals that use drugs, use data to detect opioid misuse, monitor and evaluate interventions and then support individuals in recovery. Having reviewed recordings of the city's meetings related to the use of these funds. I do not believe we've seen any sufficient evidence that reimplementing a police canine program would achieve any of these goals. We owe it to our community to spend these funds in a manner wherein they might be most effective in helping to address the opioid epidemic. Finally, I'd like to note the substantial research shows that the presence of police canines increases rather than decreases drug-related health harms, including incidences of fatal overdoses. Um, drug users have panicked at seeing the dogs, attempted to avoid detection by quickly consuming all drugs significantly increasing likelihood of fatal overdoses, and there's a lot of further research. I'm happy to send the council, um, as a critical care nurse, I see a lot of fentanyl use, a lot of all drug use up close and personal, and I treat these patients constantly, and it's something I take very seriously. It's very personal for me. Um, so, in conclusion, I request that the city council members vote no on resolution 1090 and facilitate a transparent process for allocation of these settlement funds in a manner truly benefiting our community. Thank you, sir. Sir, did I understand from your email that

it's your birthday today as well. Thank you for being here. Happy birthday. Um Anyone else Got coming up, I think Yeah, timeline Are you asking for extra time, Scott? Probably not. This will be around the world in three minutes. All right. OK. Name and city resident Scott Correa, Mount Vernon, Washington. OK. I'm not really in favor of spending one time found money. on a dog and a truck. that then create ongoing responsibility into the future because I don't believe that we with the current financial situation the city is in that ongoing things. are necessary, especially when a real quick look at the last two years of the public safety committee meetings never indicated that the police department had any interest in a dog. Item 2 I feel that we need to have our librarian start a project. uh teaching our youth how to write letters to the editor, how to write letters to representatives in government because the only way we make things happen is by being heard, and if you don't teach people how to be heard. You're not doing them the service that you should. I know how to communicate in the letter. I'm one of probably 25 people that gets published all the time, but I shouldn't be the guy driving the community think there should be everybody. Everybody has good things to say, and we should teach the people how to do that. And I think, I think it's high

time that that occurs. Item 3. halfway around the world now The older American Act of 1965 is at the root of our problem with wheels on wheels. We haven't been funding old people adequately. In the last 5 years, they have gone from $2.3 billion a year to 2.5 billion a year despite the fact that inflation has spent so high. I would love to see my city. start getting in the lead of that with possibly a proclamation or something like that, but I'll leave it to counsel to figure out how to make the city heard because ultimately we may be put in a default position to try to feed old people. OK. Next item Um I was told that Ward One's gonna have a meeting today. I thought it was really cool that Ward 2 and Ward 3 got it in the newspaper, and we knew when it was going to happen, and I guess maybe they arranged it today and it hasn't gotten in the newspaper, but Ward One should really have more meetings because I haven't seen any since I've been here Lastly, and I'll be a touch over and I appreciate the time A while ago, I was the only guy in the room that was bitching and moaning about the fact that we were going to truncate this from 5 minutes to 3 minutes, and I think you all missed it because I didn't say it clearly. I wasn't concerned about us. running over 5 minutes or all of that because this, these people here in this room, they let people speak to what needs to be said. I was concerned for the next guy. I didn't want some

draconian guy sitting in Peter's seat thinking that he's going to reduce the amount of speaking I can do to object to him. And my thought was, if we gave away 5 minutes to 3 minutes for free. The dictator that may or may not replace Peter would then take me from 3 minutes to significantly less. And I didn't want to give up that first step in the time decay for free, needlessly, and I apologize for not having made that clear when you guys voted for it. I don't want to go back and revisit it because the ink salt dry and all of the paper, and he's given me 4 minutes and 4 seconds today. So with that, thank you much. Good evening, Mayor and council members. Hello. Welcome. My name is Chuck Royal, and I've been a resident of Mount Vernon for 9 years. In its request for replacing the K-9 unit. Mount Vernon Police Department has been very transparent in the cost and benefits of replacing this unit and had presented a very detailed plan for the use of the funds being requested. Tonight I'd like to present several facts and information addressing the needs for this unit as well as the benefits the unit provides to the citizens of Mount Vernon. The first step in reducing, I think drug use and drug trafficking is through the use of a K9 unit. Um. the idea that they are much more effective in keeping drugs off the street if they can search and find out drugs and drug peddlers. A few facts. In 1996, Mount Vernon had 46 uniformed commissioned officers serving approximately 22,000 people, which works out to about 2 officers per 1000 people per capita. In

2026, Mount Vernon Police Department still has 46 police officers. two of which are school resource officers, so aren't on regular patrol but can be used in emergencies. Population is now approximately 35 with a ratio of 1.3 officers per capita. Comparably speaking, Burlington has a population of 10,000 people, 31 officers, and a ratio of 3.0 officers per capita. Currently Washington State is the lowest ranking state in the country per capita and has held this position for 15 years. The national average is currently 2.33 officers per capita. While there has been a 60% increase in residents in this time frame. Mount Vernon still has the same number of uniformed commissioned officers as it did 30 years ago. Calls in 1996 total 46,613 and in 2024 calls were 66,000 34, an increase of 41% over this period. K9 unit is much more effective in searching than humans and would take an additional 5 to 7 officers to replace the use of a canine officer. A Kan unit could clear a 5000 square foot building in under 2 minutes while using only humans, this search would take 20 plus minutes. and several more officers. Research shows that K9 units can locate a hidden suspect, 93% of the time. compared to 53% of the time using only human uh officers or human people. KNN also serves as a great de-escalation. tool and it has a low risk to officers who might be injured or lose their lives if

they don't have the use of a canine. And usually results in voluntary surrender, providing a peaceful outcome. without putting human lives at risk when searching for hidden suspect. You cannot put a price on a human life, and this is probably the largest benefit that a K9 unit provides. Based on the information provided and the fact that this request is to replace this unit, not create a new position, not to mention the benefits to the human life and that there's no reasonable solution other than to approve Resolution 1090. Thank you for advance for your consideration. Thank you, Hi, my name is Steve Quinn. I'm a Mount Vernon resident. I don't have a lot of numbers. I don't have anything else, and I, you'll pardon me, this will be difficult. Um. this, uh, unlike my predecessors is a very personal story. My um daughter was a drug user as a teenager from the time she was 15 years old till 19 years old. She got involved with a bad group in high school. She also did not win the genetic lottery. Her birth mother has a family history of mental illness and drug abuse. During her active drug using, period. We had several interactions with the police in every instance the police were calm confident, professional. and incredibly stressful situations. My wife, my daughter, and I all freaking out, and these people kept their cool I am incredibly grateful for everything that they did for my daughter at that time. and my family My daughter went to rehab twice, once for about 6 months, and then she

relapsed. This is enormously uh common. Once for about a year, in that time, she learned how to name her feelings anger, disappointment, fear. She learned how to control her emotions better. She did a lot of growing up. You do that when you're 19 to 22 She graduated from high school, got her first real job and lived apart for us for the first time. We spent her college fund to pay for her to go to treatment. We were incredibly fortunate that we could do that. There's no question today has a good job. that requires a security clearance. She is 5 years clean and sober. I am proud of her every day She's working on an apprentice program to move her dreams forward. She sets goals, achieves them, and learns. This year her long-term goal is to achieve financial literacy. He's amazing Um a canine officer cannot provide treatment. Treatment works Haine aphicer provides enforcement. I'm 67. I've watched the war on drugs for 65 years. How's it working Let's work on treatment. Treatment saved my daughter's life. Let me say that again Friedman saved my daughter's life. I

encourage you to make that possible, for another girl or young woman or young person who temporarily loses their way. and not to approve this change of funding. 12 seconds over. My apologies. Thank you all Thank you. Hi, my name is Niki Lavey. I live in Mount Vernon Um, true liberty and justice are measured not by how society treats its most fortunate or powerful members, but by its treatment of the most vulnerable and marginalized. It is astonishing to me that some of the council members believe being suspected of a crime is all you need to absolve your conscience of the harm canines inflict on let's be clear, people who have not been convicted of anything. They are just suspected of a crime, innocent until proven guilty is not something to be scoffed at. It is one of the United States' founding principles. One of our founding fathers, John Adams, said it is more important that innocents be protected than it is that guilt be punished. If innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, that would be the end of security. When I read this quote, it actually makes me wonder, why were the founding fathers so eloquent about freedom and justice. There's It's always a great freedom and justice quote either by Jefferson, the Adamses, or Franklin. They always had such a succinct way of illuminating the truth. And I really think now that is because they knew what it was to not be free. to be oppressed by a tyrannical government. under the thumb of a mad king It just seems more relevant lately to think to myself, what does living under tyrannical king look like? This is where I was going to say I would never compare this body to and the police

department to a tyrannical government, because when I look at an occupied city like Minneapolis, I'm so happy I live here in Mount Vernon. I'm thankful. I think this community is amazing. I see people every day doing the work to try and raise all boats. Our police department is top-notch, especially when we can see weekly somewhere in the US varying degrees of police misconduct. Thank you, Chief Crisman When you say you hire the right people for the job, I believe you. I can see the evidence of that. I know I can go to a protest without backlash from you. I can help my neighbors without backlash from you. And I can expect if I get accused of a crime, I can get due process from you. These funds are restitution for the abuses of the most powerful against our most vulnerable. and by some miracle we were able to hold the most powerful people to account. It seems utterly cruel to have this money in particular used for canine units. even though the mayor decided to switch the funds around so they can techn they technically are not being used for the canine, but you know, and I know that you still took them from this, for this purpose. Council members should be livid. He essentially took your power to vote on this matter away from you, even if you agreed with him on this one, what happens when you don't? The dog is going to be used on the most vulnerable, the most marginalized people The canine origins are barbaric. Their use is barbaric. The Supreme Court may say use of canines is not a violation of constitutional rights, but they've never been wrong about someone's constitutional rights before, right? I think we are seeing in real time what is happening when you see lawful versus what is right. As I've watched my neighbors get snatched by ice in Mount Vernon. with no due process, the time to protect and stand up for our

right to due process is more important than ever. If one person doesn't get due process, then none of us have it. We have to make sure as citizens that everyone, including suspected drug criminals get to have their day in court and not have the state violence directed at them. I would like to end with one more quote, and this one's from Thomas Jefferson. In questions of power, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution Thank you. Thank you, Mikey Good evening, Mayor Donovan and members of the council. Thank you. My name's Gary Katz. I'm Rosin in Mount Vernon and also a volunteer with the MVPD Citizens Patrol Program. I'm here to speak in support of the Public safety budget proposals that you're considering. in NovemBPD's outstanding public safety philosophy and record. I participated in the Citizens Academy began began just before COVID and it was completed the following year after being interrupted by the pandemic. This was at the time of the nationwide police reform movement. What was so impressive to me at the time. was that Mount Vernon Police Department had already for years embraced and was already implementing practically every single one of the police reforms being proposed and enacted across the country. An MVPD continues to be a community-oriented group of dedicated professionals serving our community today. This is an organization that focuses on one objective and does it superbly. It helps provide us a safe city to call our home, serving all of us in a way that our whole community can be proud of. MBPD has helped make and continues to

make our community the kind of place where people want to live and where they can enjoy their lives. The public safety budget proposals that you're considering support the absolutely essential services that all of our first responders fire as well as police, provide for us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These are necessary services. Services we depend on you as our representatives to assure or provided to the community. It's your responsibility to all of us to make sure that these services are adequately supported. Obviously resources are always limited. And that's why we've entrusted to you to make sure that the highest priorities for our community are the ones that get included. Everybody, of course, can have different ideas about how our tax money should be spent, and a lot of those ideas are really good. but we're dependent upon you to assure that the necessary programs receive the needed resources before we consider funding any other efforts, no matter how nice and how appealing they may be. Those in certain programs have to prevail over the myriad suggestions that I know you received about how to use those resources, no matter how strongly and vocally some of us might support other uses of the always limited funds available at any given time. Just a few words specifically about the canine part of the budget. Canines are absolutely not dangerous animals. Canines and their handlers are highly trained professionals who've shown time and again right here in Mount Vernon and the relatively recent past that they de-escalate dangerous situations and make strong contributions to our community's safety. Whilst trained canines are an asset for all of us. Kanji successfully pear and rescue, not just an emergency, but for kids or seniors who wander off and get lost. For education average They use visiting schools to help make the kids more comfortable with the uniformed police officers who were coming in to talk to

them. And they used to protect and calm children and other victims until emergency personnel can arrive to help them. This is in addition to the proven effectiveness in drug and explosives detection. Let me just share a couple of dog stories very quickly One, Vector was the canine from Mount Vernon when I was in the Citizens Academy, and he came in to give us a demonstration of his work. The officer hid packets of drugs in different areas around the room, and Vector found every single one of them. His reward. was to play a game of tug. with his handler He had a toy that he's his favorite toy. It was just like watching your pet in your living room playing with you after I'd done something well. Second story the Federal Beagle Brigade, you've probably heard about them also trained animals. canines in a sense, who focus explicitly on drug detection I happen to have the opportunity to be at a course at the FBI Academy with the handler of one of these, um, Beagle Brigade members, and I asked them what was the best find that your dog ever made? That little dog found a small packet of cocaine that was hidden inside a truck engine filled with transmission fluid inside the truck. Now, how many officers would it have taken to ever find something like that. These animals are a wealth of value for us. Just interrupt running up against 5 minutes. OK, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you very much and please support the public safety budget proposals. It's the right thing to do for all of us. Thank you for being here. Hi, counsel. Hi Peter. It's me, Stephanie Lejesse. I do live in Mount Vernon, um, and I apologize for not making eye contact. I'm just gonna power

through this. I'm here to urge council to vote no on Resolution 1090. Mount Vernon taxpayers were recently sold a bill of goods that a budget shortfall necessitated a levee lid lift. Suddenly there's money in the general fund to buy a canine program for MVPD despite community comment that vigorously opposes the idea. This money comes at the expense of the popular iOS program that I know Chief Chrisman is deeply proud of, which will apparently be defunded by $100,000 then purportedly refunded through opioid settlement money. This is a good old fa sh ion ed switcheroo and a backdoor way of pushing through an unpopular program that does not make us safer. The people of Mount Vernon deserve what the settlement promised. Durable solutions for addiction and recovery. The process laid out in the settlement MOU has not been followed. Proposals put forth and supported by the community have not been gathered. Attack train dogs often inflict severe bites worse than those inflicted by pet dogs, and not infrequently on innocent people as detailed in Peter Mead's paper Police and Domestic Dog Bite Injuries. What are the differences? What are the implications for police dog use. On March 2013 article in the Seattle Times covered the more than $1 million paid to 17 canine dog attack plaintiffs in western Washington alone over a five-year period. Please do your due diligence and solicit expert opinions on how best to use settlement money that rightfully belongs to support services. Moving this money around to fund a police dog, I'm afraid is underhanded. Thanks. Thanks for being here Stephanie. Good evening Um, uh, my name is Beth Herbst. I live in Mount Vernon, and I have a 46 years. um and for much of that time, I've followed the city council business. I'm here fairly often. and at the mayor's coffee hours, I care about

what are what's going on in our city. I'm here tonight in support of a specific issue on your agenda, the Kine program. Uh I support it. I hope you'll vote in favor of it, and I hope you'll vote in favor of it tonight. Last week, Chief Chrisman answered questions and provided a lot of statistical data. Check when he talked, had a lot of statistical data. I don't I want to talk about me and my relationship to this department. And for 14 years, I have volunteered with the department in their Citizens patrol program. I contributed more than 5000 hours to this department. Um, working alongside officers and staff. I've seen this department not just at community events, but in the everyday realities of patrol, emergencies, training, and hiring Many of my hours have been spent on patrol doing what COPP does. serving as extra eyes and ears and other patrol support such as providing traffic control at accidents, fires, and community events so officers can return to calls that require their training and authority. Just last week two other volunteers and I were called out at 3 a.m. and we spent 4 hours blocking traffic while the firefighters fought a fire in a house. That's part of what we do That freed up two of the three officers who were on duty at that time to go back on patrol instead of sitting there blocking the road. Resources matter tools matter Every

efficiency matters. COPP is a tool a canine unit is a tool also. It enhances officer safety, improves response capabilities and allows situations to be resolved more effectively. This is not about optics. It's about practical support for men and women tasked with protecting this community. In addition to patrol duties, I've also spent a significant time inside the department, the American can attest to that. He sees me here all the time. Um, in helping with administrative projects participating in training exercises and serving on oral boards. uh for officer applicants. I've seen how the officers in the department talk with the public. I've seen firsthand how seriously the department takes training, policy, and accountability. Community policing here is not a slogan. It's an expectation Some recent comments here, I've, I've been attending uh committee meetings for several months. uh, and some comments have raised concerns based on incidents in other jurisdictions or practices from past decades. Those concerns deserve to be heard. but decisions about this department should be grounded in the record of this department. In my years of service, I have seen professionalism, restraint, and thoughtful leadership. I trust this department to deploy a canine program responsibly and in accordance with policy and procedure. I urge you to approve this program tonight. to provide this department with the tools it needs to

serve Mount Vernon effectively. Thank you all for your service. Thanks for being here, Beth. Thanks for serving. No Good evening, Mayor and council. My name is uh Tom Wenzel, uh, maybe you know a couple of people here. I've actually currently live in Clear Lake. Um, I had a big long thing I was going to say, but, uh, my speaker right before me, uh, pretty much hit the nail on the head for most of it. I spent 27 years of my life as a police officer in this town. I retired in 2015, same day as my good friend Toby Ruxton. 35 years ago today, I started my career as a canine officer here with the city of Mount Vernon I have the unfortunate pleasure of being the shortest tenure canine officer here. 77 months into my uh career after my dog was certified. we got into a pursuit with some guys that had just done an armed robbery at McDonald's, 3 of them, for those who remember 1991, you remember Bolo He was the canine. He was shot instead of me I'm here because I had this tool at my disposal to go after bad guys. Fortunately my good friend Deputy Brown also canine officer with the county as the second bad guy is running out of the woods. His canine catches that guy. His canine then comes back cause my dog wouldn't come back Come back, we find my dog. I grab my dog and I'm running out the woods with him. And then his dog finds the other bad guy. and this is in a residential neighborhood up in Trumpetter. So we have this force multiplier. me and one other canine officer took down two armed robbers. My dog did the thing that we don't want our

dogs to do, but that's what they do. You get yourself into a situation where it's you or him. My dog is my dog but he's disposable That's part of it I can tell you that in the 7 months that I was a canine officer. We had over 45 finds, only 2 of which ended up in contact of somebody getting bit. None of those had stitches as she said, It's a tool. That tools under my control. If that dog is out of control, this officer is out of control. It's not the dog. My dog, I wish I had the video. I wish I had 3 hours to talk to you about this. After my dog was shot, we spent the rest of our time going to schools, and I've got video. Comoor front-runners. He was a big deal on front runners. Here's my dog rolling around on his back, partially paralyzed. All the little kids jumping all over him. Dogs are not vicious I can tell you this from firsthand experience, not Googling what cop dogs do. I can tell you from firsthand experience this is something this department has always done well, very very well, from the time I came here in 1988 till I retired in 2050. This is a program we need to keep. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you for your. Good evening. My name is Levi Hunt, and I live here in Mount Vernon Mr. Mayor and members of the council, thank you. I'll keep this brief. I've been a professional firefighter in Snohomish County for nearly 10 years. Throughout my career, I've responded to hundreds of opioid overdoses. I can say with a high degree of certainty that a majority of those individuals would have benefited from any number of the 15 pages' worth of recommendations outlined in the settlement document, ranging from better accessibility to Narcan for users, their families, and their friends. to more robust education on the dangers and long term, long term effects of opioid use to stronger community support networks and of

course treatment. I can also say with an even higher degree of certainty that none of those individuals would have benefited from a police dog. If the city council believes the police department truly needs a canine unit. I implore you to find the funding elsewhere and to use the funding from the opioid settlement appropriately and as recommended in the settlement document. It's naive to think that we can stop people from using, but we can help our neighbors live a long and healthy life by offering the resources to save lives, not harm them. Thanks for your time Thank you Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, uh, city members. My name is Aleka Stavnoy. I am a resident of Mount Vernon for the 4th year, and also I am a political refugee from Russia. I came here to explain my personal uh vision, and why I trust to police, that dog is a necessary, but not as a wish. So tonight, uh, I had a frustrations and misunderstanding about police in this room. In free society, people have the right to criticize the government institutions, including the police. However, some people are afraid of police because of a biases, myths, and aggressive YouTube shirts with police officers. I came today to speak in support of our Police department and briefly explain how, thanks to our officers, my view of the police specifically in Mount Vernon, changed by 100 degrees. 180 degrees. After I escaped from Russia to the United States. I was afraid the police I had every reason to be afraid. In Russia the police protect the dictator's regime from the citizens, not serve the people. I

was hit by the police batons simply because I participated in peaceful protests against the dictator. When I got to Mount Vernon, I remember walking past to the police building and later telling someone I knew about it. Someone who was from Russia too, but he had been living here almost for 30 years, and he said, Stay away from cops. they always trick you and create problems for you. That was the mindset I arrived with was lucky. When I was scat at Valley College student. I accidentally signed up for the Citizens' Academy. I honestly thought it might be preparation for a future citizenship exam, Instead, it was 12 weeks of police officers being open, direct and the maximum friendly, explaining who they are, how the department works, what policies they follow and why decisions are made, the way they are. When former Chief Keme spoke about the police department's mission and values. I didn't trust him. I didn't trust my ears. It sounded too good to be true at that moment for me. However, soon I got lucky a second time, 2 days after the Academy began, I had my right alone For 4 hours, I could ask the officer any that I was interested in, how I should behave during the traffic stop. What they say? What reaction to expect, and so on. That experience replaces fair with understanding. During the rail alone, some something happened that I never forget. We were driving down the street and the pedestrian waved at the patrol car. I asked the officer, why did he wave and the

officer said, he's saying hello. He welcomes us. I ask it again, do you know him? He said, No. So why did he wave and the officers answered, because he knows I am here to serve and protect him. So after 12 weeks in the Citizens' Academy in Mount Vernon police officers changed my view from extremely negative to extremely positive and uh and when I got an offer from Crime Prevention surgeon to become a police volunteer, I accept it with any doubts. So, uh, I want to send my message to everyone who listens to me. If you want to know more about the police department, how it works, and not fear officers just because you see a uniform or heard something negative, then get information, then get information from first hand. Sign up for a ride alone, join the Citizens' Academy, talk to your neighborhood officer find out who are they are and why they became officers, ask questions, build your opinion from real conversation and real experience, not myths, biases, and angry videos from the internet. So I'm here to ask the City Councils, please keep public safety as a top priority in our annual budget and decisions. Our city can invest in many good things, but public safety is foundational. If we can core funding the for the Mount Vernon Police Department and shift it away from essential work will fill it later in a slower, responsible time, less proactive presence, rise in the crime activity and more risk for residents and for officers alike. Support accountability, support transparency, and

also support and don't be afraid the people who protect our community every day for us. Thank you very much. Hi, my name's Andrea. I live here in Mount Vernon. Um, so I would first like to thank all of the council members who have replied to my emails. Uh, the mayor who returns my calls um, the Hannah, Melissa, Mary, and Andrew, um, for all meeting with me in person over this last week. I very much appreciate the willingness for all of you to engage with me, even when we disagree. And I would like to ground this conversation and back to that this discussion is not about how good the Mount Vernon PDR. This, it's clear that the community respects them, and I think that that's really wonderful, and I think that speaks a lot to our community engagement. This is about what are we doing with the opioid settlement money. So I'm here once again asking that you vote no on resolution 1090, even with the changes that were put in at the 11th hour. When the updated agenda came out this morning, I was disappointed to see the proposal was now to defund iOS, use that money to fund the K9 unit and divert opioid money back into the hole. that the original defunding effort has created, creating a shell game. So moving one shell of money from the left and one to the right, and we are right back at the original proposal. Giving opioid money or opioid money going to a K9 unit just written slightly differently. I hope the council can see the game that is being played in front of you. What is odd to me though is that when I first called you Mayor Donovan, about this resolution 3 weeks ago. We briefly discussed what other uses for this money we could have, and one of my questions to you is, was, why can't this go to iOS? And your comment was, this is not a good use of the money, as it is a

one-time funding source. You mentioned you were looking for longer term funding sources. but this was not one of them I greatly appreciated that perspective. And I agree with you, this is not a good use of that money as it is a one-time funding source, and it allowed me to broaden my perspective on what community organizations could use this money. Sorry, um so and to all of the city council members, we elected you to be a voice for the people, and I understand there are conflicting requests tonight. and I also hope that you can hear all of the comments that we're in over the last two weeks. The trove of emails that I know you guys have gotten as well. Um, and I'm asking you again to put this money into community-led efforts into things that will positively impact the community and to hear all of us when we ask you to not allow this last-minute shifting of money or a police dog to be used for these funds. While opioid settlements do not prohibit the use of money for initiatives already supported by other means, doing so squanders a rare opportunity to direct additional resources towards saving lives. To think that replacing what we're already doing and already spending settlement funds. to replace what we're already spending with settlement funds is going to the make things better. It's not. The spirit of this settlement wasn't to keep doing what we were already doing. It was to do more. The settlement outlines the process the city is supposed to go through in order to allocate these funds based on a combination of community input and cost-effective harm reduction, and it does not seem like that has happened, and I know I sent the last many emails today wanting to know when were these steps taken because I'm not seeing that they have been taken. We are asking you, uh, OK so 2 weeks ago, a representative from the Boys and Girls Club was here, and we heard

about how their middle school and team program will be shut down on August 31st because they have run out of funding. Why is the city not asked for a proposal from them on how this money could be used. Again, the spirit of this settlement is that we will work as a community to put these funds to their best use and prevention, as we heard from the gentleman earlier, particularly youth and teens must be understood as a foundational part of any effective holistic response to the opioid crisis. The settlement language itself emphasizes abatement, equity, and community-based strategies that reduce future harm. protecting young people from entering cycles of trauma, substance misuse, and justice involvement is one of the most durable ways to honor this intent An allocation of settlement funds to community-based youth prevention program represents a one-time contained investment with clearly defined outcomes. If at the conclusion of that investment, the community determines the approach, approach should not continue, the obligation ends. In contrast, investing in a canine unit that requires staffing, specialized equipment, vehicles, and ongoing care create long-term operational commitments that extend well beyond the life of this settlement. In today's economic environment where local governments are already navigating uncertainty around future revenues and raising our property taxes, this distinction is worth careful consideration An investment in youth prevention allows the city too. Direct settlement dollars towards upstream harm reduction aligned with the settlement's purpose. Avoid creating new perpetual costs obligated obligation and cost, sorry. obligations tied to a one-time funding source demonstrates a balanced approach that complements treatment and enforcement efforts already underway. and makes them measurable, time-limited investment in protecting young people before a crisis occurs. We are in time, Andre, just,, you're right. I'm asking you to please look at these decisions through a

long-term community-wide lens, youth prevention is not only consistent with the spirit of the settlements. It is essential to breaking the cycle that the settlement was designed to address. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Um, hello, my name is Asia McDermott. I was born and raised in both Mount Vernon and Cedro. Um, I'd like to take on over your time to talk about our resolution 1090. So I can't agree with the police. I love dogs too. However, they should be getting love from a family, not hate from a community. Um, I am opposed with opioid settlement money being used for anything other than community wellness. Canine units and attack dogs have been linked to major injuries and large medical bills that police don't pay for. If training these dogs to attack others requires a lot of padded armor to not hurt the trainer, then how would that how would that feel for both our community members? How would it look and how it feel? Um, even if the police do pay a settlement to an injured citizen, how could that money have been used for the community? I have some thoughts. First off, whenever we get money for the community, let's use it for the community. This does not mean to give most of it to Police and then give the leftovers to other programs. This means funding non-police related programs such as the Friendship House. My mom loves that place, um, homeless shelters, schools, child enrichment like the Boys and Girls Club. Um, facilities that can help overcome drug addiction and maybe we can even build a place where community members can interact with dogs in a positive way, like therapy dogs. Um, I urge the city council to please 1, not support any way that this funding can be used for canine unit 2, not supporting the misuse of these funds to enrich the police, and 3, use

these funds only to enrich the community. Our community is more than the police and a dog. Thank you. Thank you. Hm Good evening. Mayor and council members. My name is Arletta Gustavsson. I'm a resident of Cili. I'm here to speak on a resolution 1090, uh, to be clear, I'm the daughter of a retired Mount Vernon police officer. I, in fact, I told Tom as he was stepping out that I remember Bola I grew up in this department's family. I spent my childhood playing with our canines when they were off duty. I remember the first time I saw one of my best friends downtown when he was in the back of the car. First time I'd seen him working. It did not turn out well and I was very confused, but I have nothing but the best of respect for officers and uh the utility of working dogs. I have a service dog by myself. In fact, I was so inspired that I, um, studied criminal justice in in college and eventually I went and worked with special population unit over in Calum Bay. So I I have all the respect in the world for law enforcement, however, I'm deeply troubled by the budgetary shell game you bef before you tonight. Using settlement funds to backel integrated outreach services just so you can free up general fund money for our canine unit is a technicality that violates the spirit of the one Washington settlement. This is stealing money intended to fix the damage done to our our community, not to buy hardware that is already available to us through mutual aid We already have canine zik in anticortis, canine yogi and cedar Woolley, Kines Dutch

and espo at the at the sheriff's office, two of which are fentanyl. a certified, all 4 are narcotics certified. We do not need to duplicate these interdiction tools while our actual life saving infrastructure is underfunded. This month, the Star Center is comp is completing its expansion to 48 beds for crisis stabilization and detox as a volunteer and peer facilitator with Nnami and their various programs. I know the Star facility is extremely important. I've done tours there. It's great. This is a regional priority that our health department is struggling to sustain amidst the $2 million deficit. Every dollar shifted toward a canine unit is a dollar that we should be supporting the nurses, social workers, and clinicians at the Star Center who are on the front lines of saving lives As a handler of a service dog, I am aware of the high cost of maintaining a working animal, as has been mentioned, this is not a, this is a one-time input of money. It is a long-term cost that goes into this. The class belongs in a public safety budget, not in a settlement fund meant for public health. I urge you to vote no on resolution 1090. Let's stop playing games with the budget and put this money where it belongs into the Star Center and other outreach services that actually provide a path to recovery. Thank you, Charlotta. Thank you. Uh, good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Thomas Smith. I'm a resident of Mount Vernon Ward 2. I'm here regarding resolution 1090 and the proposal to use opioid settlement funds to reinstate a police canine unit. Over the course of the night, you've heard some compelling arguments with people stating their support for funding police and their tools while specifically speaking out

against the misappropriation of fines intended to help those in need and meaningful and measurable ways. Other people have painted the lack of support for this initiative is a lack of support for the policing community that protects us. It's dishonest to paint, uh, people against the resolution in an inaccurate light this way. I hope you don't let the people's false equivalencies they're painting here tonight sway you in your boat. Under Washington law, specifically RCW 43.79.483. opioid settlement funds may only be used for future opioid remediation That term refers to the treatment, prevention, recovery, and mitigation of the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. These funds are not discretionary. They're legally restricted to addressing addiction and its public health impacts. Public health impacts that I want to remind the council and the audience here that everyone has suffered from. in some way, shape or form Resolution 1090 argues that a canine unit supports opioid remediation through narcotics detection and interdiction. But that is a tenuous claim at best. The states, the statute speaks about care, treatment, mitigation, and prevention of misuse, not generalized enforcement capacity. Interdiction is not treatment. Detection is not recovery. If the argument is that interdiction qualifies as prevention, I would respectfully disagree with that. Prevention in the context of opioid remediation means preventing addiction through education, early intervention, treatment access, and harm reduction, not downstream criminal enforcement. By the time a K9 unit is detecting narcotics, prevention has failed a long time ago. To suggest that funding a canine unit maintains the continuity with the intent

of settlement as this resolution claims. it really stretches the language of the law. These funds were created because communities were devastated by addiction. Families lost loved ones Treatment systems were overwhelmed. Prevention efforts were severely underfunded. The intent of this was to strengthen care and save lives, not to supplement existing enforcement operations. I think pointedly this is really a matter of fiscal stewardship at the end. Recently in November, as others have pointed out, Malvern voters approved Proposition One. I was one of those voters that voted in favor of that. I believe in supporting our policing community. I think it's important. We enco we voted to increase our property taxes to fund police staffing and equipment. The community already agreed to expand police funding through transparent levy. redirecting legally restricted public health funds into additional policing so soon after that vote raises serious questions about planning discipline and respect for voter intent. Beyond's legality there is a significant ethical obligation at stake here. These funds were entrusted to the city for a specific purpose, to respond to a public health crisis. using them for something tangential, such as a canine unit, well it may be useful to police enforcement activity. and may protect the police at times. is not the answer Using these funds for something tangential, of course undermines public trust as well. We trust you to make the right decision but also, if this vote goes the way I hope it doesn't. sends a very troubling message about the priorities of the council and how you represent our interests. I urge the Council to reject Resolution 1090 and to use opioid settlement funds as the law and the spirit of the settlement required

for treatment, prevention, recovery, and behavioral health support. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Thom. Good evening, counsel Mayor, audience. My name is Sage Wilkirk. I'm a resident of Mount Vernon, and I taught at the high school for the last 6 years. Um, I am deeply concerned that I only know about this opioid settlement and subsequent proposal to use the money to fund the canine unit from my connections to the community. This information feels deliberately obscured, and I really hope that's not the case. The movement of money into iOS in order to pay for the canine unit. This morning only solidifies my frustration in this process. The MOU states that our city must obtain proposals for the use of funds and ensure there's opportunity for community-based input on this on the priorities. It has not escape me that we are in the police station for the city council meeting, and the police are the only ones who have known to put in a proposal, other than the Boys and Girls Club I learned recently. You did not follow the MO MOU to accept this money. I went through the settlement itself. There's 11 pages of strategies that this money could be used for. We could create a mobile intervention, treatment and recovery service partnering with existing community resources like Consejo. We could provide training for ER staff and mobilize a peer recovery coaching program. We could even grow a pure recovery center with support groups, social events, and other services. We could partner with the school districts and and after-school programs like Children of the Valley, the Boys and Girls Club, the Y, the library, and Triumph to create a contact system for for prevention intervention, treatment, and recovery programs for our local youth. We could ensure that all individuals who have who have received Daxolone are immediately connected with treatment programs. We could provide best practice training for law enforcement, healthcare staff, judicial personnel, and correctional services. We could create affirming public advertising campaign and partner with a library for public education on drug disposal, including the many locations that participate in medication takebacks and how to appropriately respond when you

think a loved one is in crisis. Nowhere in those 11 pages was this suggest a canine unit. And uh I really hope that you take a pause. Vote no, maybe for now. Allow other organizations to propose to you, and then use research-backed um effective and pre-proofed use of this money. I'd also like to add that there's about 12, um, I believe Spanish speaking people in the back of the other room with no captions on the on the video or translation services. So there's a barrier of access as well. That's pretty easy to do with today's technology. So let's think about our, our neighbors as we move forward. Thank you. That's it OK. Hello. My name is Jack and I live kind of down the street, just down College Way. Um, I'm here to speak about that damn devilish Lincoln Theater. I'm just kidding. I'm also here for the canine I believe we've made ourselves pretty clear. We 30% of the budget already goes to police. We already have enough places to punish members of our community. We need ways to actually prevent harm going through them. We're spending most of our money on pounds of cure instead of ounces of prevention. And yeah, everyone else is already. stayed at their place, uh, tastes very well. That's pretty much all I had to say. OK. Thanks, January. Good evening, Mayor. Can you guys hear me OK? Yeah. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. My name is Yesenia Lopez Gammon. I have lived in Mount Vernon for over 30 years, and I am here tonight to stand in strong support

of the Mount Vernon Police Department and Resolution 1090, which invests opioid settlements to bring back a canine unit for a police department. I want to begin by saying from my heart. from my heart, our community deserves to be safe. Our children deserve safe parks. Our families deserve safe streets, and everyone deserves to feel secure in their home and in our town. When we talk about the opioid crisis, we're talking about the friends and loved ones in our lives who are struggling with addiction. This resolution helps her city take responsible steps to lower opioid use and the harm it causes by equipping law enforcement with tools that can make a real difference in stopping dangerous drugs from letting our neighborhoods. The canine unit is more than just a police resource. It's a bridge to the community. These dogs and their handlers engage with their schools, or events, and young people in ways that humanize public safety. They make officers more approachable and help build trust, especially when working together in positive non-enforcement environment. These interactions strengthen relationships and remind us that law enforcement and our community are partners not opponents. I know some folks have expressed concern about canine bites. It is important to understand that trained police dogs don't attack without cause. They respond to real danger when their handler believes someone is a threat, not because of who someone is or what they look like. Their training is about protecting public and their handlers, not about targeting people arbitrarily. Using opioid settlement funds for this purpose is thoughtful and responsible. It directs resources toward mitigating a crisis that affects families across Mount Vernon, and it does in ways that enhances both public safety and community connections. I want to emphasize something vital. This is not about race, politics, or division. It's about protecting all of us together as one community. We are stronger when we focus on our shared goals, safe neighborhoods, healthy families, and a city where everyone everyone's children can grow up free from fear. I have lived in the community surrounded by our Latino families and all my life here in Skeia County, not once have I heard that they feel unsafe when they say poli, when they

see a police officer with a canai. But everything that has been going on across the country with ICE as an immigrant myself, I want to extend my gratitude to the to the Mount Vernon Police Department because although these are scary times for our Latino community. They have done a lot to assure us that they are not working with ICE, and I appreciate to Chief Dan Crispin wrote to our families and distribution and the distribution to our Latino neighborhoods from Community resources office resource officers like Officer Serrano. The country might feel like a scary place for a lot of us, including myself, but I feel safe in my city, and I want to keep it that way by continuing to support the Mount Vernon Police Department and provide them with the tools they need to keep them safe. keep them safe, and so they can better serve and protect our community. Thank you for your service and for listening. Thank you, Sonia. Hi everyone. My name's Elma. I'm a city of Mount Vernon resident. and I wrote to all of you previously, privately on this issue, but I appreciate the opportunity to comment publicly and thank you for your patience. I know it's a long night for everyone. I'd like to start by reminding the room that a budget is a political document and a values document. They reveal our priorities, and I would like to implore the council to value treatment solutions and vote no on resolution 1090. Well, I appreciate that 80% of the approximately $500,000 of opioid settlement collections has been already allocated allocated to treatment solutions. I would like to encourage the council to make it 100%. A canine unit is a violent reaction, not a treatment solution. I encourage the council to vote no on 1090, no matter the funding source, because I believe in creating a world where basic needs are met and the whole community thrives. We need funding and

compassion to support our neighbors suffering from addiction and all its consequences. The war on drugs began over 50 years ago and has made little impact on the health of our communities. We need to stop going to war with our neighbors and instead create pathways that lead to healthy, vibrant futures. Thank you for your time. Thanks. My name's uh Ben Brandt I live in Mount Vernon. Um and I have a lot of wasted a lot of time wordsmithing things that have been said already, um, but did want to speak on 1090. and I think um as as we think about that resolution, uh, heard a lot of, a lot of against, and you've heard some pro, and I think uh one thing that's important to recognize is that um everything that's been said on the pro side can still be true, uh while still allowing you to vote no on this resolution Um, everything that's been said about the excellence and community orientation of our chief and the police department can be true Um, and even the value of canine units in uh apprehending suspects and detecting drugs can also be true. Um, what I believe is that this money should be allocated on some combination of community input, as others have noted, as well as uh cost-effective evidence-based um harm reduction approaches that can be achieved bearing the baseline funding levels in mind of what's going to treatment approaches and law enforcement approaches. Um I think if the city is acting with this evidence-based cost uh cost effectiveness approach in mind. Uh, I would appreciate hearing that evidence, um, and also how you're framing the problem to begin with. This can mean things like what are the objectives of the spending? Is it harm reduction writ large? Is it harm reduction for a certain population, um, is it harm

reduction through catching bad guys? Is it harm reduction? or is it just catching bad guys? What counts as a bad guy? Um. and I think also the discussion of these findings could, so. framing the scope, I think could help reduce a lot of the kind of cross talk and um talking past each other. I think we heard a little bit of today, um. and I think having community input into both the scope as well as the discussion around the findings and responses from all stakeholders. could allow them to elaborate why those findings are relevant or not, um, which would make it more robust and also address any concerns of bias in either direction. So, um, this is also to say that you can't vote no now. That does not mean that you believe the police department should never have a K9 unit. What it means is that you believe some additional steps should be taken to improve community involvement and or improve the evidence basis behind how these funds are allocated. Thank you. Thanks, Ben I'm sorry Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name's Arnie Svenson, and I live in Mount Vernon. I'm here tonight to express my support for the resolution before you to fund the purchase of a new drug detection canine, the necessary vehicle and equipment and training for the dog and handler. I also understand that several items such as leashes, vests, and a kennel will be supported through donations. Canine units are proven practical tool. They assist in locating missing persons, tracking suspects, detecting narcotics, and often help resolve dangerous situations more quickly and safely. In many cases, their presence can reduce the likelihood of injuries to officers and to members of the public. A well-trained canine is a valuable de-escalation tool, encouraging compliance without the need for greater

force. Beyond enforcement, a canine unit enhances community engagement. Police canine teams participate in school visits, community events, and public demonstrations. These interactions create positive opportunities for residents, especially young people, to connect with officers in a non-enforcement setting, that vis visibility helps build trust. and transparency A properly trained narcotics detection canine directly supports the goal of helping identify intercept illegal drugs. before they are distributed to our neighborhoods. Every load of fentanyl, meth, or other narcotics that is seized represents fewer overdoses, fewer families affected, and fewer opportunities for addiction to take hold. Proactive interdiction is one meaningful way to reduce the supply of dangerous drugs circulating in Mount Vernon. Equip in our department with tools that improve safety, strength and community relationships and help keep dangerous drugs out of Mount Vernon is a responsible and appropriate investment. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you Uh, good evening. I'm here, uh, interpreting a letter from for her. Uh, she's, uh, Martha Murillo. Uh today, I want to share with you my firsthand experience with the Mount Vernon Police Department. At the time when negative comments have been made about the department and cuts to its budget are being considered. Since 2015, I have been actively involved with the police department. I regularly attend the monthly community meetings led by officer Serrano. and participate in other activities with

the department. Throughout these years, I have witnessed the police department's commitment to building trust, respect, and a close relationship with our community. The program led by Officer Serrano. has given the children in our community experiences and opportunities that they might not have had otherwise. In addition, community meetings informed residents about valuable resources available to all. This program has been in existence for many years and has continued under different uh officers. Demonstrating the department's commitment to its involvement with the community. And this is not the only program that connects the police with the community. Mount Vernon officers are approachable, and the chief of police is also open to dialogue, listening, seeking, uh, seeking solutions and addressing community concerns. I have been able to verify these personally. by accompanying members of the community to meetings with him and with other officials. This is not the first time at attempts have been made to discredit the police department. A few years ago, a council candidate claimed that the children in his community were afraid of the, of the officers. and that the community did not feel safe. That person was invited to attend the monthly uh community meetings, and after participating in one of them, acknowledged that he was unaware of the activities that were carried out by the police department with the community. and with the children These races an important question. How can serious claims be made without knowing reality. Statements of this kind should be based on facts, not on assumptions or on

the interests of groups. or individuals who do not represent the interests or opinions of the entire community. Another very similar situation happened when my children were students at Malverne High School. It was proposed to add an additional police officer to improve security at the school. There were also voices repeating the same thing. that students were afraid of the police and didn't want another officer at the school. I, with my kid, um, I talked to my kids about this and they said they weren'tfected or worried about having another officer at the school. In fact, they said they would feel safer, especially considering the tragic events that have occurred in schools across the country. One of my, one of my sons added that in his opinion, those who were opposed or afraid of another officer in the school, well, probably the ones who were not doing things right. I share these two situations with you because they are very similar to the statements we are hearing today. I'm not saying there aren't any short shortcomings in the police department, but I'm sure that there are more good things that the community appreciates. I think that removing funds or reducing the number of officers is not a good option. I think solution would be a good dialogue between the community and the police department. Maintain funding for more training for officers. We all do this respect. I ask you members of the Motorne Council. to carefully evaluate any decision regarding the police department, cutting your budget or diverting funds to other areas. would have a real and negative impact on our community. Not only do we need more good officers. and they need resources to perform their duties. I

would like to conclude with by echoing my, my son's words. If you're doing the right thing, you have nothing to fear from the police. Thank you for your time and consideration. Martha, thank you. Thank you, Marco I will also, uh, like to present a letter from the Cashian uh community um Hispanic community, if I may. Sure. OK. Did, did you want to say your name and, uh, my name is Eric. uh, and I live here in Mount Vernon as well as Martha. Thank you. Um, good evening. Um, mayor and members of the Malverne Council. My name is Eric and I'm accompanied by many others representing the cashian Creek community of Mount Vernon. We are one of the largest Hispanic communities in Mount Vernon, if not the largest. I would like to share our experience with the Mount Vernon Police Department and express our full support. In the early 1990s, our neighborhood struggled with gangs, drugs, and violence. Since then, the police department has assigned an officer to work closely with the neighborhood. to help improve our quality of life. We have seen real positive changes. that uh that progress has come from the strong partnership between the assigned officer. and our community members. Some of us have lived in the neighborhood for just a few years while others have been there for more than 30 years. We have firsthand experience with how the Mount Vernon police officer, uh, police department has worked with us to make our neighborhood safer and stronger. Those who have not lived in our community. may have different opinions, but we speak from our own lived experience. As members of the Hispanic community, we understand that officers

need proper resources and equipment to do their jobs well. We do not believe that defunding the department would benefit. uh either the police or the community. We feel comfortable approaching officers of our police department, including the chief of police Many of us participating in police department events. especially when they're offered in Spanish or when translation is available. Contrary to what some may believe, we care deeply about what is happening in our city and our local officials Well, everyone's experience with law enforcement is different. Most of our experiences have been positive. We could share many personal stories, but that would take too long. Overall, we believe the department has made a strong effort to involve our community especially those of us who chose to be actively engaged. We encourage others to be getting involved as well. though we understand that not every, not everyone will participate. As a community, we would like to see the city council build a closer relationship with the Hispanic community. We invite you to attend to attend to our meetings and events so we can learn from each other. Open conversations help us understand what concerns us, what is working and what can be improved. We know we don't, we do not speak for everyone in our community, but at the same time, we do not want others to speak on our behalf. especially ones who do not live in our community and do not know us. We each have our own voices and opinions. Our police department is not

perfect. but neither is our community. As a city, we need to understand that not no neighborhood is perfect, but we have come a long way. Thank you for listening and supporting our community. We ask for your continued partnership and for your help in making sure we feel included because we're part of this community. Thank you. Thank you very very much. Thank you all. OK, I think there was an earlier speaker that was speaking for your group, um, uh, I'll just let the public know it's a good opportunity that uh in 2024, uh implemented a policy that we by request provide translation for anyone who attends our council meetings, anyone who needs help with translation at Hall. Um, that's something that I actually talked with this group about at the Colton Community Group and learned uh was a need, um, and it was a gap that we could fill, um, I appreciate that group and what they've taught me. Very much Mm Mr. Mayor, council people. and Kevin um, you're getting ignored. I, I was here for the last meeting, and one of the thing, oh, my name is Linda Aford. I am from Mount Vernon Uh, one of the things that impressed me at the last meeting was how many people had um a concept that these police dogs are dangerous and vicious. and I'm the longest member of the

COPP. I'm the old lady of the group. So I've, I've been with the, the organization 26 Years, and I've enjoyed every moment, and I've I've worked with both Luther and Vector, and I found them to be very pleasant dogs. and I just, I wanted to say I looked up um some of the information about the different breeds of dogs. There's 7 recognized by the American Kennel Club. And the, uh, some people mentioned why not have a Labrador? Well, Labradors are gaming dogs. They are built and trained to hunt birds animals of other kinds. And that's their specialty, these, these categories that the AKC has are um breedspecific for the tasks that they are bred to do. So, um it actually surprised me that the German shepherd started out as a herding dog, and I thought they were working dogs, not that they aren't working but, um, hurting is their natural job and because they have the natural intelligence and responsiveness. of a dog that's needed to herd, whether it's sheep or cattle. And the farmer doesn't want a vicious dog to be hurting his animals because he can't afford to have an injured animal or an animal that's hurt. Um, and these are dogs that need a job. That's that's their main thing when they wake up in the morning, they want to go somewhere and do something

And that's why they're such good police jobs. Um, they started out, of course, raising them in Germany. and they were described as courageous, smart, loyal, agile. and in 1899 is when they started to um make the breed. I'm gonna run way over. Um, anyway, um, they've been guide dogs since the 1920s. uh, which is over 100 years. Um those dogs helped in uh the 9/11 rescue and recovery of living people and not living people. And the trainers have said the AKC trainers, if you breed right, you socialize right, and you train right, you're gonna have a good dog and they're, they obey their their leader, their owner. So one of the things that has struck me tonight is that um some of the people say they really appreciate the police department and they support the police department, but it it struck me, why don't you trust the police department to make the best decision for the department. I work with IOS since it started. I know there are funds available. I don't believe they're doing away with iOS. So I mean, that's, that's not true. And I really think that a, a good versatile police dog would do the most good, and I'm sorry I

took more time. I, I encourage you to vote yes on 1090. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else Good evening, Mayor counsel. My name is Glenn Davis. 39 year residence. I volunteered at the police department. I've been there 16 years. Uh, 3 mayors 4 chief of police and 5 sergeants We have a big asset invested in these police officers. So I'm gonna get to, uh, I was a UPS driver for 35 years. I know dogs. I have a 5-time loser. I've been bitten 5 times. What is the common thing in all those docs? The owner The owner did not have control of the dog. What was the when you say, they say, did that dog bite you? Yes, he did. He's never bit anybody here. You feed him. I think this is such a big, let me tell you the story. Just pretend you have a 114 year old daughter. We're gonna move my oldest son to Seattle. We're going to be back before 12 on a Saturday night. uh my daughter said she didn't want to go. My oldest, my other son he wanted to go over to a friend's house. We said, OK, we come back 11:30. My daughter's in a heap on the floor. so I'll be and just uncontrollably. someone broke into the house. pulled her out of the bed, and they got into a big fight when we

opened the door, he ran out the back door. Who And we just, it was just chaotic. We called the police, they came up and uh, uh we're pretty close. What did I do as a dad ? I wanted to run after that guy. He ran into the woods. The police guy said, just sit, you know, hold on. The police guy said, I'm not going to run after you either. Let's get, let's get the canine and come up here and we'll see if we can track this guy down. And that's what they did. They brought, uh, I think it was Luther at the time. I could hear him. They never let the dog go. He's on a big leash. You could hear the handra go and the dogs go roof, come on, keep up, keep up. And that's one of the assets of the dog. The other thing it protects our, it protects you It protects the police officer. We have a big investment and these police got do you want, did you want that police guy to run into the woods? Did I want to run though? I did, but I, the, the bad guy has and that's just, and the other thing we're talking about $1000. All these programs that people are bringing up, that's a drop in the pocket. You can, there's not much you can fund for that. There's gonna be a lot more money going into that. This would be a good use of our asset, and I think it would be a good tool for the police department to have, and I think we should vote on that. You've been kicking this thing around since December., let's get over it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, bye. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and council. My name's Lennis Herberger. I live here in Mount Vernon. Uh, I'm here to express my concerns regarding the city's proposed use of opioid settlement funds for the purchase of a police dog. either

directly or through shuffling money from one account to another to pretend you aren't. As the mayor and council are aware opioid settlement funds were specifically awarded to address the ongoing public health emergency and were paid by the companies whose actions contributed to this crisis. The intended purpose of these funds is to support community recovery and mitigation efforts related to opioid-inflicted harms. While I recognize and appreciate the city's previous efforts including the sport for Northstar, the impacts of the opioid emergency persist, and the settlement funds available will not fully address the community's ongoing needs. The decision to allocate these resources towards a pet project that has generated significant community opposition is deeply disappointing. I'm confident alternative funding sources will be identified for a police dog. However, I am less confident that comparable effort will be dedicated to securing resources for the programs that directly address the direct harms these settlement funds were intended to mitigate. And while Libod claimed that no viable opportunities exist to use this one-time funding source other than the police dog, a timely example of alternate programs was evidenced during the original council meeting when the boys and Girls Club presented information which has been talked about this evening. Support such program, sorry. supporting programming that would abate align with abatement strategies outlined in the One Washington memorandum and would not create ongoing financial obligations that the city should be a priority. I remain deeply disappointed by what I perceive as a missed opportunity to demonstrate leadership and vision in advancing the well-being of our community. Thanks for being here, Hello, everyone. My name's Ingrid. I live here in Mount Vernon. Um, I

appreciate everyone's time and energy and listening to all of these comments and for all the folks that have spent the time to be here tonight and share. I wasn't planning on making a comment, but I just wanted to share um my observations of the evening, which is that clearly our community is quite divided on this issue. There have been a lot of comments on both sides, um, and I think if anything, that should encourage um the mayor and the council to pause and take a moment before moving forward with this resolution, 1090. I think, um, what's the rush? What's our timeline here? Is there a reason we need to move this forward immediately? Why can't we take a beat and take, take some time to really hear all of the sides that our community is presenting forward this evening. Um, clearly this is an issue that has a serious impact on our community. And so, therefore, I think thinking that through and giving yourself some time to hear more arguments, um, and to hear more evidence, um, would be beneficial Um, and I, I say that also knowing that um this country in this time, um, there's so we get caught so quickly in binary thinking. in this or that, um, and the division and the poll gets further and further apart. We're not talking. I want to echo some of the comments. We're not talking about defunding the police here. Clearly, Mount Vernon has an incredible respect for the police department here. That's not at all on the table. Um, I think the question of how to use this opioid settlement money, um, clearly needs some more attention and maybe some presentations by folks that work within the community, um, that worked directly with folks that, um, struggle with addiction or, um, are struggling with um, you know, how to recover from, from addiction, um and um and, and prevention

type resources and so I just wanted to put that forward, you know, it, it, we get so caught sometimes thinking, OK, we have to vote yes or no on something right now, and I want to say that we don't have to vote right now, possibly and also there could be a third pathway that we're not thinking of. Um, and so I just wanted to put that forward to you all as a potential option, um, and, and to say again really clearly there's a lot of different voice and perspective on this. Um. and so, you know, let's, let's really take the time to think about it. Um, my personal, uh, perspective is that I would urge you all to vote no on this evening for multiple reasons. I've, I um, make comments at the last city council meeting, um, but even just to vote no, I think would be an effective pause, um, and thank you all so much for taking the time to hear out all the different voices, and I, um, appreciate all the time and effort. Um, of everyone here that have shared their perspectives. Thank you. Thank you. Andrew. Good evening. Good evening, Mayor Donovan, city council members. My name is Ken Salzman. I've lived in Mount Vernon now for about 3.5 years Before that, I've lived in 5 different cities. and I must start with saying I never had a whole lot of trust for police. Uh, when I grew up in the 60s in Los Angeles. Uh, there were many instances when there was reason not to trust. As time went on, and I lived in different places. It did get better, thank goodness. Um, and I've, I also worked as a social worker, clinical social worker, uh, for 35 years and in that time I worked

with 3 different police departments. Um, and I must say, the police department we have here is Head and Shoulders uh, over any force that I came in contact with. I currently am a member of COPP and I got there in a funny way. When I moved here, I had some contact with the police department and it was extremely impressed and then I heard about the Citizens Academy. and naively thought the citizens' academy was all about learning about Mount Vernon. But when I got there, I found out it was about policing in Mount Vernon. Um that convinced me that I moved to the right place, uh, not only did I have a fine city to live in. but I had a fine police department to protect me. Um A few weeks ago, you heard from um Keith Chrisman talk about the canine program. And how we hire police officers and how we decide on getting a cane on you Um some of that information was new to me, and I was very impressed with that. Uh. I think that we probably need to fund the canine unit. I think it would be an asset to the police One of the reasons I was interested in, in uh, getting on citizen's patrol. was the fact that I could contribute to the city and free up some plea police officers. I think the canine unit would do the same thing. As I listened to people tonight. just about everybody. I have to agree with in some way or another. I think we need to

fund uh programs for opiate addiction. For a while when I, when I lived in another city, I worked as a director of a heroin program. And what I found was I couldn't really do the job unless I had the support of police officers. Now I think that a cha canine unit would help and I think that how the city council spends the money. is up to the city council. Like I said, many of these people have had differing opinions from mine and from other speakers who support the police. What it really comes down to, I think, as a matter of trust. And for me, moving to uh Mount Vernon. and learning to trust the police and trust the city council. to provide the best place to live I've ever lived. is what this is all about Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. I don't want to close it too early. All right. I think we've heard from everyone and anyone in the other room wanna rush over last second and dive in. I think we're wrapping it up Uh, I, I think I speak for counsel. I don't do that often. Uh, when I say thank you all for, for being here tonight and, and for voicing your, your concerns, opinions, uh, support, whatever it was, uh we, we appreciate that. Um, we are going to move on on the agenda, um. item 4 tonight is the consent agenda that includes meeting minutes, payroll checks,

and deposits, wire transfers, claims, and routine agreements. Councils like to move for approval of the consent agenda. Second motion by Navor, second by Melissa. Any discussion on this one? All those in favor say I, I, I'll opposed say no. Motion passes. OK We we'll move on to item 5 reports. Item 5A is council member comments, any council member comments this evening. Yeah. council member there, it was referenced earlier, uh, a ward meeting in Ward one, and this is long overdue. The scheduled for March 2nd at the uh senior center starting at 6 o'clock and hopefully winding down at around 8 o'clock. So, uh, yes, um, anyone from the city is invited, but certainly we want to focus on our residents that lived there in Ward one, so good And I think, uh, Mr. Correa, who spoke tonight, was given that information as well, right, right now. other who gets to go and just to add that uh both Warrun representatives will be attending that looking forward to it as will, as well as at large and at large, great, thank you. Yes, counts um tomorrow from 5:30 to 6:30 at station 3 will be Ward 3 and at large, so if you're around and you wanna come and chat with us, come on by at 5:30. Right. Yes, Councilman. Um, I have a few things. Um, first, I want to give a shout out to the students who on Friday um had a little event outside the courthouse. It was a really great showing of solidarity, really awesome. I just want to shout out our

really amazing middle schoolers, high schoolers who did that. Um, and I also want to say, if you are a high schooler or middle schooler who are watching this, or if you have one in your life, I really want to make sure our youth voices are heard by our counsel. So please reach out. I would be happy to meet with you, to meet with you, your kids, um, my email is hannaho at Mount Vernonis.gov. Please reach out. Um, I also want to share that we do have a award to meeting coming up. Um it is Friday, February 2nd from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hillcrest Lodge. March 2nd. you are the date again? You said February 2nd. 0, 20th, sorry. Next Friday, um, and then lastly, I just want to thank everybody who spoke. Really, I hope that, um, well, I know that it took a really long time, uh, to get through everybody. I do hope that this continues. I think it's really important that we hear what the community has to say. Um, and it makes me really happy to see how many folks showed up today. Thank you. Council member Van deroo. Now, um, everybody, thanks for showing up. Thanks for attending. Um, I just want to say thank you, um, and especially those that did not disparage during their comments. Um, I really appreciate you. Um, I think everybody showed up. because they love our community I think that's pretty obvious and maybe we have different opinions, but I really appreciate it um how kind people were to people of differing opinions. Thank you so much. Um, I just wanted to make it clear because I won't have a chance to talk to all of you about this, but um my worst case scenario is that we become more divided. That is like the, the worst thing that could happen here. Um. whether or not this passes, I, I don't want to see this

happen again, where we become very divided in the communication clearly isn't there, um, and people aren't feeling good. Uh, either way, um, I'm gonna speak for myself but I feel like probably a lot of people up here feel the same as I do, but I don't win here. There's no winning for me. I, I lose no matter what, and it's not a good feeling. Um, and I want to avoid that in the future. Um, so I'm going to encourage us to figure out a way of us all communicating better with you and having a two-way dialogue once again. I would love to set up something like a ward meeting for all of us to just go over specific issues like this. Um. and that's, that's, I'm off my high horse. Thank you once again for coming. I think truly thank you for showing the amount of respect that you did. It was really generous. Yeah agreed. And thank you for stepping up and uh hosting award meetings, all of you. It's pretty awesome. It's a first. It's a first and I know there's at least one person in this room who's beaming um at the axis, but that creates. So, um, well done, other comments I don't, I cut them. OK. We will move on to Mayor's report. If Steve could give me a hand there, um, just wanted to share a little bit about a, a trip that I got to take to Washington DC, um, I was invited to attend the winter meeting for the Mayor's innovation Project. This is a, a group of mayors from medium to large cities around the country who get together and share ideas that, that make things better in, in their cities. Um, I was invited to share the story of Mount Vernon's floodwall and talk a little bit uh about the value that that this public infrastructure has brought to our residents and businesses, and yes, I told them up front I had absolutely nothing to do with the construction of the blood wall Um, I was just there to take credit for it Um, I, I, I would say that, that our story was, was well received and definitely

sparked some interest in in some other city lead uh leaders who, who are dealing with storm and flood events that are more frequent and more severe than, than they ever have been. So it's a fun opportunity to um kind of put Mount Vernon on, on the national radar. Um, speaking of storms, do you love stormwater. Of course you do. Do you love stormwater management? I thought so. We have something for you. The 2026 stormwater Management presentation happens every year for our public. This is a requirement of the city's municipal stormwater permit. This year's presentation will take place during the public works Committee, um, the meeting is right here at the police court campus on March 11th at 6 p.m. So come on down for uh the acronym is the swamp. Come on down for the swamp meeting. The stormwater management program meeting on March 11th. I know it's already on all of your calendars. Uh, and finally, uh, please put the next mayor's coffee on your calendars. It happens on Tuesday, February 24th at 10:00 a.m. Uh, this month we're gonna be talking in the Littlefield Celtic, uh, center south of downtown. Excited about that. Please come and join us. Bring your city-related questions and ideas, and we will chat, the little field Celtic center is located at 1112 Cleveland Avenue, and that is your mayor's report for February 11, 2026. Thank you. See you. Well, counsel, uh, you moved item A to the top of the agenda, so we are now at item B under new business. Uh, it is an agreement for funding for a fish passage improvement project and our capital projects manager, Frank Reinhart is going to present this

item as he stands up and stretches his legs after 2 hours. Good evening, mayors, city council. I'm here for you tonight, uh to follow up on a topic I presented to you here last month, which is the construction funding opportunity that we have for our Carpenter Creek Hickox Road, Fish Passage Improvement Project. Staff recommends City council authorize the mayor to execute a grant agreement and applicant authorization form with the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office for the state grant funding that has been awarded to the city for the construction of the Carpenter Creekickox Road, Fish Passage Improvement Project. Uh, this grant, uh, was a follow-up to the design grant that is currently funding the design of the project, um, as I've mentioned to you before, very often, uh state grants follow in in trends if the state funds a design project, they are usually willing to fund a construction project and we partnered with the Skagget Fisheries Enhancement Group to win this particular grant award. So the total state funding award for construction for this project through this grant is about $3.2 million. The city is required to match that award with about $563,000 or $564,000 I should say, uh, for a total grant agreement authorization associated with this project of $3.76 million. We are at a 90% design phase for the project right now and the construction estimate for the contractor construction alone is $3.8 million so this grant in one go will pretty well take care of the construction expenses associated with this project. We will have some additional construction management and

monitoring expenses associated with the project, but this represents an ability to in one grant largely pay for construction of the project. The anticipation is to finish the design here in the beginning part of this year to the middle of this year, bid the project in the fall. Uh, we're required to build this project during the habitat fish window, which goes from July 1 to the end of September every year, so we're anticipating a 2027 construction period for this project. And the agreement that came with your package, it was attached to it is the uh grant agreement that is produced by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and uh we're required to execute that agreement in order to contract funding once it is executed, we will follow up with RCO and uh be set up and ready to go for when construction arrives. And so without any further ado, do you have any questions for me? Questions for Frank? Yes. Um, I, when we originally, uh, heard your report in committee, and there was a question about the quarry not having access to that road there, um, how is that being resolved or how is, is that? So this summer, one of, one of our tasks and, and we're actually started working with our parks department this spring as the parks department is, is the landlord for both the archery range and the uh quarry as both are located on Park's property. We will be starting, I should say restarting, we've already briefed the query and the uh arch range on this project last year, including the bad news about the only road in and out of this place being not accessible, we will be restarting that conversation again to

uh find the best way forward for them to minimize the harm to their business, at least during the period of time next summer, um, that's part of the reason why we deferred the construction to 2027 to allow us plenty of time to have that conversation during the summer. Other questions An emotion I'll make a motion to author that council authorize the merit to execute the grant agreement for Carpenter Creek slash. The Cox's rug Fish fish passage You know that's a lot Second we should buy Melissa and the second by Mary. More discussion. All in favor, say I. I all opposed say no. Motion passes Thank you very much for your time. Thanks, Frank Thanks, Frank. Item C is a resolution to stand up a canine program in the Mount Vernon Police Department, and Police Chief Dan Christman will present this item, Chief. Mayor Cassel, good evening. I don't know if you've heard much about this, but um, what a fantastic night. Um, for everybody in the room. Thank you. Everybody in the room, thank you. I appreciate your point of view. Um, and I mean that. Tonight you heard from your constituents representing both sides of the canine issue and many people tonight here are in favor of the, uh, of the canine program. There are others who express their concerns about the opioid uh uh allocation and being used for canines, and I acknowledge that too. The mayor and I discussed this and while we both agree that the K9 program would, would be an, uh allowable strategy to employ um under the opioid settlement agreement, we thought perhaps our public would be more at ease with 100% of the opioid settlement going directly to behavioral and social service programs. Uh, we know that 80% of those

funds have already been directed towards, uh, those programs. And we had in reserve that 20% and uh you know, we've been talking about this since I believe back in October and certainly into November and December. and the public has been, um, you know, very vocal about this. Uh, if council wants 100% of the opioid funding to go to treatment and social services the mayor and our financial director, uh, has had both indicated there's adequate funding in the existing budget without using levy funds to fully fund the implementation of Kine program at the Mount Vernon Police Department. Um, Mayor, do you want to talk about this idea? Sure, yeah, and because it's been brought up, yeah, it, it absolutely involves, as, as I've told everyone who's asked, um moving funds around to to fund this and, and to honor uh what was in the budget for 2026. Um, I'd say that the proposed resolution isn't a dramatic departure from, from the draft resolution, save for that one thing. And if we want to, if we want to talk about that and uh alternative ways to, to use that 100 and uh you know, we can do that. Um, I think this resolution does a couple of things for you. It, it establishes a canine program in the city of Mount Vernon to combat the rise in drug-related crimes. I'll say again, the rise in Mount Vernon of drug-related crimes and the increasing stream of fentanyl and other opioids coming into our city. Um, and, and secondly, the resolution remains again true to the 20 26 budget. It honors the decisions that have already been made by Mount Vernon City Council last fall when we passed our budget. Um, that is counsel approved the

reestablishment of Mount Vernon's canine program and implemented a spending plan to fund it. Um, this resolution adds adds the program. It designates the, the opioid funds to, to social services as, as you know, 80% of those already were. Um, it does not add or remove any additional revenue or expenses to the, to the 2026 budget and it um it it doesn't impact all any of the, the programs that were already funded and planned for. Um, I, I, it sounds to me like almost everybody who spoke tonight once more safety in in our streets and our parks. I think they want to see a meaningful response to a couple of things. I think I heard that people want a meaningful response to our neighbors who are suffering as a result of the opioid crisis. The designation of opioid settlement funds addresses that demand. Um, I also heard that, that people want to see a meaningful response to the predators who bring in and distribute this poison and prey on some of our most vulnerable neighbors. Um, this resolution is proof, I feel like that we don't have to have one or the other. We don't have to choose whether we address the impacts of opioids in our city, or we address the supply of those opioids. Both of those things need to happen simultaneously. Um, speaking about this a couple of months ago I had a, a water line break in in my house Bear with me a second. Um, water everywhere in the house and in that moment of panic when water's going everywhere in your house, uh, my wife and I had a quick decision that we had to make. Do we, do we

grab a bunch of towels and start drying the floors and addressing the impacts of this water that's pouring in and ruining our home, or, or do we go and shut off the water main to prevent that ongoing flow, and the answer, of course, is yes both of both of those things, please, quickly. Um, if, if we begin on a, a path of, of defunding enforcement in Mount Vernon, and we focus our efforts solely on the impacts of crime we're not getting to the source of the problem. And conversely, if we are all about aggressively enforcing and uh we neglect the human beings who are being victimized, then we lack the very basic human compassion, that I believe is required to govern. Fortunately, I, I don't feel like we have to choose, uh, between those two extremes. And I, I know that it's been said here many times in, in Mount Vernon, we police differently. We're being very upfront about that. We, we lead in being in presenting a balanced approach and strategy that includes accountability. but that is tempered with compassion. Um I'm talking more. I am, I again, just grateful for, for every person who, who commented tonight, um, who advocated, who engaged with us over the past several weeks around this topic. Um, I won't pretend that I found a solution that's going to work for everyone and make everyone happy. I will say that I've done my best to listen, to provide a reasonable response that sensibly accomplishes, I believe, what, what Mount Vernon uh residents are telling us that that they want I believe that's what this resolution at least gets us closer to. And if we want

to continue talking about it, OK, um, but I'm not going to right now. So counsel, I will stop here, um, and, and just open this up. Questions for Chief, um, discussion, uh, motions, whatever. your turn now Yeah, that's why Bradson. Yes, um thank you, Mary. Thank you everybody for being here. I I am hm I'm very much in favor of after listening of the canine unit. I trust my police department. I know my police department. I've worked with them for years, and I know what kind of people we have there, my friends, they're my neighbors, and I trust their decision-making powers implicitly. I would and, and I appreciate the fact that you worked on trying to find a solution that would best serve both. pieces of the of the pie if you will. Um what I would, what I would like to propose is um approval of the resolution 1090, but with a caveat with that $100,000 that we're putting into iOS. I would like to propose to my fellow council members that we open um a process where we have people, uh, organizations that would be able to apply for this kind of funding. to give us a presentation so that we can decide amongst us what the best use of that money is, like the boys and girls' Club could could ask for, um, any, any number of organizations could come and ask for that money. But similar to our CDBG um process. So I'm just, I'm throwing that out as a as a thought, just, just to try to figure out how we can move

forward on this tonight. Discussion there. Um, and, and I was gonna say also our 1590 grant process where the city is given millions for housing and yeah. Yeah, that's main all of it Um, so just clarification, Mary, on what you were saying, because it is only $100,000. So are you proposing we give that 100,000 to iOS, but then also split it up. Now, I, I guess I'm, I'm saying let's, let's have that $100,000 right? And um opioid abatement. I don't know what the right term is. I'm, you know, I'm struggling with that. But then open as a council we can decide, do we want to do that? Do we want to go through a process where we open it up to organizations that could apply for that funding, and then we as a council could decide. Is it the do we feel like it's the best use to go into iOS? Is it the best use to give it to an organization I just wanted to see if we can go through that process to have some input from our partners in the community. Yeah. Um I will say I love the idea of using this $100,000 and seeing what proposals the community comes up with. But with the funding that we're talking about, we cannot both fund the canine unit and also use the same funds to give to the community. I might not have explained it. It's not the same. It's, it's two different pockets of money. I, am I saying it incorrectly? Can you help me with that? So, uh, what I heard you advocate for was that we keep the, the budgeted item that canine unit in the budget and we start that, um, that, that is $100,000 program. Right. And I also

heard you say that you want to take 100,000 of the 500,000 opioid settlement fund dollars. The balance of what we have in that fund. balance, is that right? Am I saying that right? Or am I confusing myself? I don't know if we can do both of those things without a budget amendment, and an additional funding. And Doug, if, if feel free to come up and, and correct me if I'm, if I'm off, but that, that was that was part of saying, OK, if opioid funding um is going to be a hang up for some folks, even though we believe it's an allowable use, um, for canine uh that, that we would take, that we would put that to iOS and take general fund money out of IOS, um, so just different source. OK, yes that's what I'm trying to say and I'm not doing a very good job of it apparently. Doug, can you so, so, um, mayor, council, um, just a little bit about, first of all kind of uh really understanding about the iOS budget, how how it's budgeted right now, I think that could kind of benefit everybody. Um, so it's funded right now, it's about just under a million dollars for the total program and it's funded between the general fund and then our hospital 1590 affordable housing sales tax money. Um pretty close to 50/50. So, um, with that general fund money, there is, um we get reimbursed by the Sketch County. We have a contract with Skagit County for 77,000 and also a contract with North Sound that that reimburses the general fund for that. With the 1590 mining and everything, that leaves about $115,000 that actually impacts the general fund. OK

? Um so what we were saying it, and what we were, when we were looking at this is um the 100,000 that we were gonna use for um the opioid money into the iOS or excuse me, into uh for the canine unit that let's let's not do that. I think that the mayor was just talking about that. Let's use that $100,000 and put it to the iOS program or some other program that council decides. I think the part that we're missing here is, well, then where's 100,000 coming from? That's actually going to support um the canine process, or the K9 unit. Um, so right now, like I said, the, the. iOS program has almost a million dollar budget. They are gonna be they are not gonna be hitting that number, not even close. They have 3 vacant positions right now. Um, they're in the process of, of getting reclassifications and trying to do it, so we are going to have over $100 100,000 dollars in vacancy savings. That goes to the general fund because it is a general fund. So this is really benefiting the iOS program because what happens then is if they don't spend that money in the general fund, it goes into back into the general fund. If you are like the mayor said, designate that $100,000 to go to the IOS, that benefits the IOS program because it stays in there um, or um, Councilmember Hudson would, or wherever you guys decide you want to go. I hope that kind of makes sense. and clarifies where we're getting that. It's uh, we're not going over the budget. We're actually gonna have vacancy savings in there because we're not going to be using the entire budgeted amount because they have, they can see savings and some other savings and they're

operating expense to offset that. Doug, bottom line, um city council if they wanted to do a $100,000 grant program, opioid settlement grant program. Um, they could do that. and they could fund also fund a canine unit one time expense for with um with vacancy savings with general funding $200,000. That's correct. And again, the ongoing expenses as was presented in the police report last last week, or about $4500. a year Um, and we have donations coming in for, for much of that. There are questions and discussions about this idea. Did that make sense? Did that help because I was trying to say I wasn't. Yeah, yeah, and I, and like I do understand where the money's coming from. Like we are taking $100,000 from the iOS program of general funds to give to the canine police dog program and then we are giving these funds, um, the settlement funds, $100,000 back to the iOS program. So in the end, IOS program has the same amount of money that they started with. We're not adding any additional funding, which I would like to really see us do because I would like to see the program expand. It's done a lot of really good stuff. The only thing that is getting additional funding is the Kine program. So I, there's a little switchro, like the money is going directly to the iOS program I get that. In the end, it, it is the exact same proposal. We just shuffle some money around and it's the same thing. Yeah no. Um, the, the only thing I would point out about that, counsel, is that if iOS

right now loses that money, it's gone. So by doing this, we're ensuring that there is money there available for iOS in the future. to be able to do those types of outreach things that iOS. is effective at doing. And so in some ways, I, I, it seems like one hand is, is just switching with the other, but in essence, we're actually ensuring sustainability for iOS in the future. Does one if you just, I'm not sure if it, if we if that, if what you said was reflected in Councilmember Oliver's statement. So the IOS program is funded through general fund money. I part. big portion of it If it's not all used. then it goes back into the general fund could be used for any other general fund activity. Now, right now, to expand that program, I mean, um, every everybody agrees that's should happen, giving this $100,000 to iOS, then it impacts then then it says, yeah, they're going to get that and they're going to keep that and that's so that's an extra $100,000. At this point though, in the budget for 2026. they're not going to be, they don't have they're, I mean, they're doing this great of a job as they can right now. They're trying to hire, they're trying to, but they're gonna be under budget, even if they were fully staffed, everybody, you know, in the next 6 months, then, you know, but they're still going to be under budget, so that budget amount doesn't stay with iOS. It goes back into the general fund. So that's what the proposal is here is now that we are making uh we're designating that

$100,000 to the iOS program that they can keep and they can use and it will remain with them instead of this general fund that keeps coming and going out because it's part of a bigger program. I hope that makes sense. It's not, we're not shuffling any money around. It's actually that money's gonna be gone from iOS. It's gonna go back into the general fund. And, um, that's just how it's, it's, uh, um that's a financial plan for that. And so this way you're getting that $100,000 that's going to stay in there. and um it's so it's, it's a benefit of the IOS program. and which leaves some extra money into the general fund that council can choose to use with it because we're still under our this appropriation for the general fund. So you could use that $100,000 in the general fund for anything else without a budget amendment because we're not going over the appropriation. and so here we're saying you could use that for the K9 unit. Council member I would just like to point out also that as um rough of a budget process as last November was. We did set as a priority in that budget process. This canine unit. So this has already been an idea that we considered and said, yes, we want to prioritize this. Yeah, yes, this was discussed in, in public meetings. It was put in the budget. There were public hearings regarding the budget before the budget was passed. Um yeah, so this was the intent of city council for 2026, when the resolution came that, you know, more,

more voices came and, and we stalled a little bit. So that, yeah, that's where we are right now. And so I think, and constant Trese, you're completely correct, and I think the confusion that we're all having here right now is really the iOS program and the general fund are, are the same. They're funded through the general fund. So if it had its own thing that we said. general fund money is going to this new fund, which is the IOS program, which we currently don't have, then we would be taking it out and that would be defunding that. We're not. It's it's all within the general fund right now. Mm Council member West, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, effectively suppose we did not fund the canine. What would happen with the iOS money that's available. and it's relation to any of the North Star funds. So basically, just, if you could just detach the canine for me fiscally, so I can understand where the money is coming from in each pocket. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So um again, OK, so the our overall budget for the IOS program, it's, it's $922,000 and some change. We have a contract and it's budgeted through the general fund. and it's split. There's two funding sources, the general fund and then our hospital 1590, um. um, affordable housing sales and use tax, OK? And but there's only a limited amount of that, that, that we can, that we have for that. Um. and that's part of the council's decision. There's a piece, a small piece of that that can go also for like operational costs for that you guys will be able to,

people can put in an app request money for That's part of the this the split of that 1590 money is, um. um. 60/40, you know, 60% goes to um programs out there for for um capital projects for help, affordable housing, and then the 40% is that we can use for other things and that's what we're using for the iOS program for services. Pardon me, services, yes. Um, so um I, I went off track there. Sorry about that. So that's, that's what the funding sources for the iOS program. So out of the general fund money that we have going to that, we have, it gets reimbursed through contracts with the county? and North Sound. Um we use that first. and whatever is left then that's general fund money that we have to um to, to pay for that program. This year in 2026, the program as it is right now with vacant positions that they have in there, they're not going to be going over that, the money that we're getting from the county or House Bill 1590 or North Sound. So the general fund money overall. stays in the general fund and um for the use of counsel to decide what to do with that cause it's we're not going over our appropriation. I don't know if that helps. I'll, I'll ask it really easy. Um, if we don't have, if we don't buy the canine. Mhm. We have an excess $100,000. Correct. OK OK. So there's not funding for both of

these items We either, we have the 100,000 we either spend on the canine. or on on iOS. as it is now except iOS does not they they're not gonna they don't have that much. They're not, they're not gonna need it. So it's just going to go back in the general fund. Do you anticipate, Doug, that there would be 100,000 or 200,000 Um, about 115,000 of vacancy savings that they won't be using in their budget. OK. And Mr Merriman, second question. It's so that's the end of my financial question, but if someone else has a financial question while Doggie's hearing me. Maybe you could other questions for. Thanks, Doug. I clarity there. OK, so we've just heard the financial picture of this, and I think we're understanding it a little bit better now. Um, my concern is still what are we buying in terms of how will it be deployed Chief Chrisman, I think last week you and I agreed that a canine would not be properly deployed in a property felony, correct Um, I think I what I said was, uh, serious crimes and felonies, the dog would be used. We, I think the delineation was between misdemeanor crimes and felony crimes and, and I know that we had an email exchange and it it sounds like it, it may not have gone well, and I, I hope we can have that discussion. Well, I mean communication is communication. It's not a matter of did it go well or not? I'm just trying to understand what your perspective

is, and I want to make sure that council members, you know, understand your perspective as well. Uh, so would you agree that the the canine would not be used for nonviolent felonies Is that something you're willing to put into policy? I, I have said all along that the, the felony line is really the, it's the bright line for the Kine deployment. Um uh the, the handler, um, goes through the training as far as when the dog can be deployed. Um, the, and I, I shared with counsel the um uh model policies and our policy, you know, highlights that. I, what I, what I wanted to make sure um also remember that there was no confusion on is there are misdemeanor crimes that are very violent. And, and in, in the email that I sent you, I referenced DV assault. So we have a domestic violence assault that occurs in a house, one party leaves the house and as they're leaving the house, they say, I'm going to your parents' house and I'm gonna beat him up. I'm not gonna kill him cause that's a felony. but I'm gonna beat him up Would we not want to use a canine deployment to track that individual and stop them before they further victimize that family, but my answer is yes, we would want to do that, but that's a misdemeanor crime. And so I, I, I just want to delineate that there may be sometimes when a handler would deploy a dog on a misdemeanor. Property crimes say I think that that we agree on that. A property crime is a property crime. OK, OK So we did have this email exchange and the part of the email exchange that is giving me concern, and I think it's really not just for myself as a you know, a resident

of Mount Vernon. It's for the council itself because it puts us at risk, legal risk Um, and that's where you say other. right? Kevin, City attorney, can you define other for me? The use of force is based on the totality of the circumstances and everything. of course under the constitutional standard. I can't find other people that I maram dictionary, but yeah, it's, that's big. Yeah, I guess it's vague. Yeah, and um, but the policies typically are modeled after the Attorney General. Constitutional restrictions, and then any statute that have been developed on use of force, de-escalation, things of that nature. If you guys want to go further. than that, you can. OK, so if we've got these, I think you gave me 3, it's domestic violence, a cup and a couple more. If we've got a couple of instances in which it's OK to use the canine explicitly. and then we have in that same paragraph and other what you're creating is an illusory situation in which the law is defeating itself. and that puts us at risk. What do I have to ask is what's your what are you, what are you referring to, an email or a policy? I'm referring to an email in which the chief stated what his policy would be regarding the use of the canine So and, and that, you know, please tell the council members so that they understand this before they vote, but when you I'll,, say it, I'll say it if you

don't want to. But basically, if the law contradicts itself, anyone who ever brings a claim all they have to do is file the claim and we automatically lose. because the more you get, the law can't say, you can use it in these two cases, but then you can use it in an other, which means universal. So I, I'm gonna defer to the chief. The email is not policy. Uh, I don't know what was in the email. You're absolutely right, though, if your policy contradicts the law. that's a really bad policy to have. Uh, but what is, you know, what is the policy I can read you the email of verbatim. It's on my phone right here. OK. And Celts remember, uh, the other, uh, is what I, uh, what I gave you were two specific instances, right? Domestic violence assault. and criminal trespass in the 1st or 2nd degree. Those are gross misdemeanors, and so it's, it doesn't elevate to a felony level. And here's the wording I think that Human West is referring to these situations and then in Peren. and others, meaning I'm not gonna put a laundry list in this email. uh and other situations um Start as property crimes but can quickly escalate and require tools like a police canine to protect life and safety. For this reason, I am reluctant to exclusively uh prohibit canine use in all property crimes. because they escalate, and it's up to the handler, and based on their training, whether or not they can legally deploy the dog. And so that's all the point I was trying to make, Council member, was not our policy doesn't say other things. It doesn't say

that, nor would it. I, that was my word, those are my words to you. Um, I mean, I could have created this longer list. Well, I wouldn't want you to create a list that includes every scenario that's possible because that's what others defined as, right? So instead of doing that, why not just say if it's your intent, why not just say the true intent? This canine will be employed whenever we feel like it. Yeah, because that's against the law. That's is it against but that's what the other is Exactly. No, sir, that's not true. That is not correct. I, I, I simply told by saying and other situations. I, I could have, I, I could have dumped 25 different scenarios in there for you, council member, but I didn't. I gave you two and just said, and others, and at the end of the and the end of the email, I even encouraged you to call me so we could discuss this Then that would have been the time that you and I would have had this discussion. The other, other is a, it's a squishy term that doesn't belong in law. So why put it in policy? Because it was a conversation between you and it's not in our policy. It's put it in an email to me? I'm not, I'm just not understanding because last week, you, you agreed with me. And if you read the, maybe, maybe for the record, we should read the full email for me. Because I was trying to support I just, I, you know, I ran on supporting the Mount Vernon police, the Reds and the blues, the fire and the police. So us trying to support you, that was the intent of that. I just wanted clarification that what we talked about last week is that it wouldn't be used for a for a nonviolent felony.

because felony was what you, you had told us it wouldn't. Now, but other is a concern. And, and it's and this is the reason why I wanted to get this right. Chief Chrisman, is because all of the jurisdictions that have canines that are being used improperly. They get out of jail free. What they've tried is that other. But the thing is when the other conflicts with what else is in the policy. they automatically lose any time a claim is brought. Yes, uh, but I need to make this clear to everybody on council. Other does not exist in our policy. It doesn't exist. Would you put it in the policy? I would not put it in the policy. It's too, it's too squishy. It means as, as our council said, it means nothing in law. The key aspects of the use of force generally. were constitutional policing cannot be defined by every fact pattern. that's defined by objective reasonableness, um. considering the factors So when there is a challenge to a use of force generally. speaking, canine has a subtier. You don't define every potential deployment, specifically because situations can arise. In fact patterns can be unique The officers may not experience where it would be reasonable or necessary to deploy a use

of force. So the legal standard recognizes that we can't create a bright line rule. Use force here, you don't use force here under the constitutional standards. It is squishy a little bit. on purpose to allow people to effectively do their jobs. so long as it's done in a manner that is objectively reasonable considering the severity of the crime, the immediate threat, things of that nature. So it's more than anything goes, but it's less than you cannot game out in the law a legal standard of every situation. It is impractical. It's the law recognizes that jeopardizes the ability for officers to do their job because then they're going, oh, it's a situation, I can do it. This is a situation I can't. um So I'm just trying to give you the general principle of criminal constitutional law. You're absolutely right right, council member, that if you just said, it's completely up to subjective officer discretion. to deploy the use of force. That's a policy that I would be. really wanting to look at and revise. That's what we've heard. OK. That's what we've heard. So it Mr. Mayor, I don't want to waste anyone's time. Um, until, until we have a better policy I, I make a motion to back out of this canine, um, it's, we don't know where it's coming from fiscally. We don't know where it's coming from policy-wise. We don't know how it's going to be deployed. This too many

problems with it I make a motion to remove the canine from consideration. I'd like to call the question because we already have a motion. Yeah, Mary has, has brought up the idea of, do you want to restate what? No, you go ahead. I'm, I'm gonna say it wrong, and I don't want to say it wrong. Remember what you said. So let me know if I, if I mischaracterized what you said. The, the first thing you said was that you were in favor of um funding the K9. Um, you also said that you want a um some sort of a grant program for $100,000 Um. of opioid settlement. Correct. OK. Um I, I'm not sure after what Doug shared that, that we have. $200,000 uncommitted. I understand there's savings in iOS. It was 115 Yeah The savings in the general fund that council could use for the K9 unit The 100,000 of that opioid money is still out there. You can use that for um. excuse the uh or the um iOS program if you guys choose that or any other kind of program that you want. So it's a financially viable proposal to say that what Mary's saying is we want to fund a canine. program and at $100,000 and we want to take $100,000 and as a grant. $100,000 of general fund money, which is still within

the appropriation. OK. And 100,000 of opioid money to go to. whatever we determine as a group Yes Yes, thank you I didn't hear there was a second though. I don't recall. Are there any seconds on hold, hold on just a second. I just wanna ensure that this we've got a question on the floor. Is there a second for Mary's motion to fund the canine uh program and also have a $100,000 grant process going once, twice, OK, motion fails. Now, Council member West, did you have a motion you wanted to propose? Yes, I'd like to propose that we I'd like to propose that the council does not support the canine program as it's written. OK. So, let, let me clarify a little bit. That sounds to me like a no vote on the resolution. Yes. Do, do we want to call the resolution to question and vote on the resolution. And that would give you the opportunity to vote no and give council the opportunity to vote yes or no. It, it is that I don't, I don't wanna there's something you can help me understand the choice, the choices that are available, right? We could either vote yes or no as it's written or I, I don't know that there's a need for motion if you're saying to not vote for something So if nobody makes it, sorry, this is horrible. Anybody who's done Robert's rules, I'm so sorry that you have to listen to this, but um um, so there's no motion on the floor right now. Everything's so we don't have to do anything. Um, we could do, uh, uh, what,

like a motion in order to say, to condemn something or to say that we don't want to do it, but it's not necessary right now because we haven't said that we're going to start anything or do anything. So we can just let it die by, I can't remember what the term is, but we, we don't have to do anything. So we can just not, not have emotion, not have a second, and it just withers away. And then we can move on. or we could, once it's um motioned and seconded, then you can move to table. Um, you can vote no, you can do all sorts of stuff. OK. OK. So I understand. OK. So I'd like a motion to restrict the canine to not, not being used for nonviolent. felonies And if I don't, if I don't win, that's fine, to be honest with you. I just want the record that I'm not exposing the city. to illusory laws I just want that in record I so, yeah, I definitely think I would say you're, your, your opinions on the record, I think voting on a resolution or voting on a canine unit that doesn't exist yet is putting, putting the cart before the horse here. We we either vote on this resolution or we propose something similar. Kevin, do you want to help us out with procedurals getting, I, I think about it. OK, so there's a resolution 1090 that's being proposed by staff, which would it's a budgetary - ba s ed resolution to allocate general funds for something that you've already budgeted, which is a K9 program. You can vote on that resolution or you don't have to vote. You're not required, and you're compelled

to vote on anything. So that's before you. The second issue is policy-related in terms of police procedure. If you want to adopt a policy on use of force tactics I would recommend that be done as a law. because that is an ordinance. That is a that is very similar to the state legislature doing statutes on how officers are to as a matter of course engage in de-escalation tactics. OK, that's just an analogy, but that's a, that's a statute. So if you want to uh have the council adopt policies on uses of force. Um, that would be we would do that in writing And we would have an ordinance. a majority of the whole would agree on. and my recommendation is you have the authority to do that as a governing body, but you really want to work closely with your uh police department because you don't want unintended uh outcomes when you're dealing with tactical operational issues. at that level as a policymaker. Um. so I, I don't think we can do that tonight without having uh a written ordinance in place. You always are entitled to adopt policy. They do it at any time and we can put that discussion on a future agenda as an agenda request where we can have that, you know, that discussion at a a staff level and because it impacts staff as Kevin said. Council member Terra, I would like to make

the motion that we approve resolution 1090 is it? And then we take a vote on that, yes or no. The move that we vote on resolution 1090. Second. been moved and seconded. Can I ask a question? Yep, time for discussion. Go ahead, Council member B Sorry, I know it's getting long in the night, but, but we already approved a canine in the budget. Mhm, right? We heard from our community tonight um that the, the, what is also true is that they want the opioid funding 100%. whatever the total amount is, we've already dedicated 80% of it to have a public process. to go towards um recovery and and everything that comes along with that support and all of that. So I think we've just sat up here and made that we've already decided that. right? So the whole opioid piece is off. And we've already put the canine in the budget. Yes When you say we 2025 when you coil of 2025, 3 of whom have collectively 2/30 years of service to the city who are not here. That's what we decided So why are we voting right now? Because this was proposed in a resolution. Um, that resolution came before council a couple of weeks ago. Counsel wasn't ready to vote on it. I think the reason was you wanted more public input. You've had two full community comment sessions just on this.

That's subsequent to passing the budget and getting public comment then. But wasn't that because we were dedicating opioid funding for it. I mean, that's the only reason why, if I understand this correctly, this is continued on, so I'm not sure why we're, we've already approved the budget, we already voted on it. So I don't know but we of course corrected, so I don't know why we're here at this moment Mm If, if that makes sense. Mhm Discussion Can I remove my motions and no, you can't. Uh, it's been moved and seconded. We're just discussing it now. Hannah, did you have something? I'm pretty sure you can remove it if he wants to. I'm not a parliamentary. I recognize that it is already in our budget from the former council. If we need to do a budget amendment. I highly support that. Um, it seems to me like during that budget process. maybe the council didn't do enough outreach to the community. because we have heard from dozens of people who say that they do not want our city funds going to a K-9 unit. Today we had 16 people that said, Please vote no. We had 10 people saying vote yes. I was looking through my emails earlier today. There was another 16 folks emailing us saying, please vote no on this. In 4 people saying vote yes. So I recognize that it is already in our budget. I don't think the council did a good enough job. in meeting

with the community. when we made that decision What I would really like us to do is not vote on this. Um, and I like a lot of what Mary was saying and a lot of what community members were saying. And I think if we put the $100,000 into iOS. and we take $100,000 of the general fund and open it up to applications from the community to use those funds for services in recovery. That is what I would like to see happen. Any more discussion on the motion on the book, yeah, yeah, so what I hear Hannah saying is that she's looking for a budget amendment. for the additional funding. is that I think it's true. So, so I'm saying if if we need to do a budget amendment to not get a police dog right now. That is what I recommend Specifically talking about the opioid funding. I would like to see that going to the iOS program. in $100,000 of general funds. going to the community for organizations that do prevention and other services. Like it seems like the community here wanted today Other discussion Andrew, um, this is really messy and ugly. It's hard to believe that this has gone as poorly as it has. It's been fun to watch it unfold as bad as it is, um I don't see, like I said before, I don't see it going well. I see it becoming more divisive, um, and I see it becoming divisive on the council. Um, and I, I cannot support um, seeing more divisiveness at this time. Um, and, and

that does not mean that I don't support a canine. In fact, I believe that I do actually in fact support having a canine unit. I will not vote for that tonight. because I, I cannot ignore how poorly this is all gone. and like I said at the beginning, it's more important to me that we come together and that we talk this through, than anything else, and I still feel that way. And I'm sorry, but that's it's just how it's gonna be It's fine. And um, and as jumbled as it's been, um, we have clarity at this point of the motion that's been seconded that we can still discuss and you absolutely can can vote yes or no on it, and we can move forward from there. Is there other discussion? Yes yeah, I kind of want to echo what Andrew said. I feel like tonight, we've heard both sides of the coin. We've heard from everybody, um, good and bad and um I think that as a group, we need to come together a little bit differently. We're all pretty divided on this subject and I think if we're going to make an impact and make sure that we're hearing each other, that we have a little bit better communications with ourselves and. we have a little bit better process with what we're doing up here. OK He other thoughts, yeah. Um, would I be in order to make a motion to table? Oh, there's a motion in a second. Um, you could, the only time you can table I believe, sorry, if anybody here is a parliamentarian, um, I believe the only time you can motion the table is when there's motion on the floor, and it's been seconded. Yeah, since, since we don't like strictly adhere to Robert's rules, right? We loosely use it um to provide some guidance. You all can create your own path forward, um, this is just a framework that we use to if, if the council's legislative intent is clear to table it, and that's fine. OK. My, my intent to motion table is that you set a time in the future to bring a subject back up, and it has to come back

up at that time. And so if I was to make a motion, I'd open to discussion, but I would say motion the table for 2 weeks from now at the next city council meeting and in between that time, I think that we need to have at least a couple meetings, probably not at our regularly scheduled time, but a couple meetings to try and work this out a little bit better. So I would make a motion to table until 2 weeks from now at the next scheduled, um, city council meeting. I'll second OK. Uh, discussion on, on that. Um, I just wanna make sure you, when you say to discuss it, are you talking about between the count amongst the council? I mean, it'll be an open public meeting, but yes, just what just you were going with. Thank you. And I and I want the ward, sorry, to continue. Yeah, please. I want the ward meetings to be something that is impactfulness. I'm, I'm ruined, honestly, but it's going to ruin our warn beating. Um, but I think it's a good thing. I think that you should come and we should talk it through in a two-way meeting and if we need more meetings than that, um, also, I don't know if my phone number's up, but please reach out to me um via email. I want to schedule a meeting with everybody here. OK. All right. Other thoughts on that? Yeah, yeah. And please understand my, my concern isn't that um we're getting divided here. My concern is that we need to be careful and sometimes it's better to take a vote. but in any case, um councilmember Vander no matter what happens with this vote, you know, we will continue to coordinate. I'll make that again, you know, for all of, all the council members, the mayor, you know, the mayor, the, the chief of police, you know, we'll continue to do the work we have to do. Whether, however this goes, but to protect myself and and hopefully to

protect you. you know, before you take a vote on this, make sure, make sure that you're not exposing the city to because, because think of the worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is the canine does its job. you know, finds 20 kg of fentanyl. in the engine of a car or something, I don't know, whatever we heard earlier, right? So but that's a, that's a great, that's a great scenario. But then that defense lawyer says, hey, this policy and this law contradict each other Not only does he go free or could be a issue. Not only does that person go free. now they have a claim against the city. I think it's worth to go through this a couple more times before we take a boat. Uh, I would agree with that. Uh, let me just ask, uh, Council member Terro, Councilmember Beaton, because they made the motions. Are you are you OK with this discussion, this direction of tabling No, I, I would rather just take a straight vote and either we voted up or we voted down. OK, I took it. Yeah. OK. And, and it can be, the resolution can be proposed at, at any time and you can change the, the resolution language after meetings and things like that. No, I, I'd like to take the boat tonight. I'd like to, we just vote on it and um yeah This is why I actually having parliamentary procedure is very important. This is a good example of why yeah. Well, I, I think we have a, we have an understanding of where people uh sit right now on on the topic, um, they call the question has, has been made. Um, it's been moved and seconded. I, I don't, I don't want to leave that hanging. I understand that they likely are no votes,

and, and that's OK. At least we've answered the question. um, that, that Council Terro and and Councilmember Beaton have asked, um where, where do we stand on this? So, um, uh on favor of this motion, which is resolution 1090 as proposed tonight. all in favor say aye. I would please call for a division. roll call vote OK. Uh, council member West, we will start with you. Uh, yay or no? Nay. Council member Damon, yeah or no? Yes. Councilmember Beaton. No Hmm Councilmember Hudson. Councilmemberro. Yes. Council's member Oliver. No. Councilmember Van deroo No, OK, so it is 4 to 3, um, and in favor of the nose. Councilmember Vander Stoop's idea of tabling this and further discussion, uh. next meeting, do you wanna do you want to refine now, like that discussion or is it too late and we'll just, we'll work offline on, on what that format would be. Let's do it now. Police chief. Do you have any ideas? Um, I'm sorry, what was the question again? We're I'm swimming, counsel and I, uh, are, are going to meet again, um, and it'll be a public meeting and discuss the the Kine program. They want to dig in a little bit more and um and ask some questions of, of you and your staff, I think. So I think that for some of us, it would be really helpful to have the direct RCWs that's referenced in law. I'm sure that I'm assuming, Kevin, you can find those and it'll be useful for. So are we talking

about the use of force policies? Yes, I think the chief can probably provide the exact language of how we do that. I can also provide the RCW to find use of force to all of you to read through. Uh, do you want that ahead of time before the meeting next week? So you have time. Um, so if I get this right, uh, you'd want the RCWs and the department policy on the canine unit, which, and I, and I, I know I've also sent a few of the uh CJTC model policy, which is a mirror of, you know, pretty much what we've got, um that, that follows that to the law. So, yeah, happy to do that. Uh, I can be prepared for next week if that works for, uh, everybody here And if it please, the castle, it sounds like there was robust discussion regarding budget issues. Do we want to bring our finance director to discuss those issues as well. I, I think that I understood clearly what was happening. Is everybody here? Does everybody here understand to a certain degree and maybe it's not a bad idea anyways, but we talked about calling in regularly. That's fine. It doesn't matter to me either, right? Do you want to put it on a, a DS committee next week. I hate that I'm the person that's in charge of it. It's your idea that my literal nightmare, uh, DS that's fine, sure. And you're the chair of the DS Committee, so um that's, that's ruining my day. OK. And just to put a framework on us so we can get the right people with the right information for you to make good public policy decisions. There's also discussion regarding formalizing a process. to entertain greater public input and proposals on use of opioid funds through the settlement. Do we want to discuss that as well? Yes, 100%. OK. I'm gonna say let's do one at a time. OK, but it doesn't potentially, no, no, I, I was just

thinking one at a time if we wanted to just do one piece at a time instead of the whole, the whole enchilada, if you will. Oh yeah. Somebody else take over for a little bit. I, I don't, yeah, I, I'm fine with doing one at a time. That's just my thought. Do we want to talk about public process next week so that it doesn't take away from your DS agenda items and then have the bigger conversation a week later. Steve and I are fighting about the DS committee party. I think it's fine just to take it up. He's fighting with me. Yeah Clearer. Mhm OK, um, clear move on for item 7, I'll ask City attorney, uh, if there's a need for executive session. Uh, there is not. With that, we will adjourn the city of Mount Vernon City Council meeting for Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 10:01 p.m.