City Council - Regular Meeting

At this time, I would like to call the July 9th, 2026 Des Moines City Council meeting to order. Council Member Des Moines will be leading us in the pledge. Please stand if you are able.

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

Thank you. With that, let the record show that all council members are present. We're going to start with some proclamations. Is there a motion? Yes, go ahead, Council Member Netting.

I move to approve the proclamation recognizing July as Parks and Recreation Month. Is it?

THANK YOU. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND AND SAY AYE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND READ IT NOW AND THEN WE HAVE A SECOND PROCLAMATION THAT I HAVE FOR YOU ALL. IS AJ AND SOME STAFF HERE? THANK GOODNESS. GREAT. I'M GLAD TO HEAR IT. THANK YOU. WHEREAS, PARKS AND RECREATION PROGRAMS, TRAILS, BEACHES, OPEN SPACES AND PUBLIC FACILITIES ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR RESIDENTS AND VISITORS BY PROVIDING PLACES TO PLAY, CONNECT, LEARN AND ENJOY THE OUTDOORS. AND WHEREAS, THE CITY OF DES MOINES IS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING WELCOMING PARKS, RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES, PUBLIC SPACE AND COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT PROMOTE HEALTH, WELL-BEING, INCLUSION AND A STRONG SENSE OF BELONGING. Whereas parks and recreation bring people together by creating opportunities for families, friends, neighbors, and visitors to gather, build relationships, and enjoy shared experiences. And whereas the dedicated employees who care for our parks, beaches, trails, and public facilities, and those who plan and deliver recreation programs, community events, and enrichment opportunities together with volunteers, instructors, coaches, sponsors, and community partners help create safe and welcoming and meaningful experiences for people of all ages throughout the year. Whereas the 2026 Parks and Recreation Theme Month, the power of, recognizes the power of parks and recreation to connect people, inspire play, foster belonging, improve well-being, and build stronger, more resilient communities. And whereas the month of July provides an opportunity to celebrate the many ways parks and recreation enrich the lives of those who live work and visit the city of Des Moines. Now therefore I Yoshiko Grace Matsui mayor of the city of Des Moines on behalf of the city council hereby proclaim July 2026 as parks and recreation month in the city of Des Moines and encourage all those residents to celebrate the power of parks and recreation. Please explore our parks. PARTICIPATE IN SOME RECREATION PROGRAMS, ATTEND SOME COMMUNITY EVENTS, AND VOLUNTEER, RECOGNIZING THE INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE DEDICATION MAKE Des Moines A VIBRANT AND WELCOMING COMMUNITY. SIGNED THIS DAY, THE 9TH OF JULY, 2026. KYLE AND FOLKS, DO YOU WANT TO COME UP AND GRAB THIS?

I think Kyle has a couple comments to make, right? No, he had some ahead of time. I'm not just bringing that on him.

Yeah, just a couple things to say. Evening, thank you for having us here tonight. We're thrilled to be here this evening. TO WITNESS THE SIGNING OF THIS WONDERFUL PROCLAMATION FOR JULY BEING PARKS AND RECREATION MONTH. ALSO JOINING HERE TONIGHT, WE HAVE TYRONE, ADAM O'DONNELL FROM OUR PUBLIC WORKS TEAM REPRESENTING THE PARKS DIVISION WHO TAKE CARE OF ALL OF OUR FACILITIES, OUR BALLPARTS, MAKE OUR PROGRAMS HAPPEN. WE HAVE SAVANNA MATSON HERE, PROGRAM COORDINATOR. KELSEY COLE, PROGRAM COORDINATOR FOR YOUTH ENRICHMENT I wanted to acknowledge all the staff that aren't here this evening and all the hard work that they also do and put forth to make everything possible. Without them, we would not be able to do anything. The Power of Parks and Recreation this month is celebrated by many themes and connection, play, community, nature, belonging, well-being. These are all present in what we offer here in the city of Des Moines and what we strive to achieve each and every day when we come to work, whether it's through a program or a class, any sports league that we offer, any new playground that we put in. It's all with the goal to be able to achieve happiness for all the community residents. So thank you guys for having us out here tonight. We appreciate the recognition, and we always love the support. So thank you.

Thank you very much. And we do have another proclamation. Councilmember Nutting.

I move to approve proclamation recognizing July 18th, 2026 as Des Moines Water Land Festival Parade and Block Party.

Do I hear a second? Councilmember Desmone. All right. All in favor, please raise your right hand. Say aye. Aye. Aye. Passes 7-0. I'm going to take a moment to read that as well. Whereas the city of Des Moines is a proud waterfront community located along the shores of Puget Sound, rich in history, tradition, and community spirit. And whereas the Des Moines Waterland Festival was established in 1959 as a celebration of our city's connection to the water and the people who make Des Moines a special place to live, work, and visit. And whereas, for more than six decades, the Waterland Festival and Parade has brought together residents, families, businesses, organizations, and visitors to celebrate community pride and create lasting memories. Whereas, this treasured tradition continues to grow with the addition of the first ever Waterland Walk Party, creating a new opportunity for the community to gather, connect, and celebrate the spirit of Des Moines. And whereas the Waterland Festival Parade and Block Party showcase the heart of Des Moines through community activities, entertainment, and experiences that strengthen connections among neighbors and generations. And whereas the success of these events is made possible through the dedication of volunteers, so, so many volunteers, sponsors, community partners, and residents who generously contribute their time and efforts to continue and expand this beloved tradition And whereas the City of Des Moines recognizes the Waterland Festival Parade and Block Party as an important part of our history and identity, honoring the community spirit and traditions that continue to define our city. Now, therefore, the City of Des Moines City Council do hereby proclaim that July 18th, 2026, the Des Moines Waterland Festival Parade and Block Party Day. and the City of Des Moines and encourage all residents and visitors to celebrate this historic tradition and recognize the contributions of all those who helped keep the spirit of Waterland alive. Sign this day, the ninth day of July 2026. Thank you very much. All righty. I appreciate your patience with that. City Clerk, we're moving on to correspondence from the public. Is there any correspondence not previously received by the council? No, Mayor. Thank you. And now it's time for comments from the public. We ask that you keep your comments respectful. When I call your name, please come to the podium. You'll have three minutes to speak. Please state your name and city of residence. The first person I have is Susan, is it Eigner? Eigner. Okay. We have Judy Grandane.

Hi, my name is Judy Grandy and I live in Des Moines. If someone 20 years ago would have said we should have cameras recording our movements 24-7, people would have said they don't want to give up their freedom and their Fourth Amendment rights to privacy. But now AI has made it possible. And some people are making a lot of money and getting a lot of power owning and having stock in these automated license plate reader companies. First, Des Moines quietly approved the Flock Safety Contract and had 15 cameras installed a few years ago. The cameras record more than license plates. They record make, model, color of vehicle, descriptions of dents and bumper stickers, roof racks and more. All of this can be searched. They are not just license plate readers. Now there is a proposed noise surveillance system in the name of safety. The reason given is for loud noises, but these systems will also be able to record voices, which is not mentioned as much. Is there another way to address the noise issue? And you are looking at speed cameras, which will also record 24-7. There will be more cameras in more locations, all again in the name of safety. Again, are there other ways to address this issue? An even bigger question is, do the noise and speed surveillance systems also link to flock? Does the City Council know the answer to that? Do you see how it starts out quietly and then builds? Many residents of Des Moines still do not know about flock cameras. Will there be any articles in the city manager's report to inform them about them? Will the map of flock cameras be added to the Des Moines police flock transparency portal? The map's not on there. Does anyone know where the camera that was out of compliance with SB6002 moved to? I can see that camera on Kent Des Moines Road by the Walgreens driveway has been removed, but I don't know where it was moved to. ICE kidnappings increased greatly in June. They are happening every day all around us. This afternoon, there was an ICE kidnapping at Kent-Des Moines Road and South 230th Street, close to Taco Time. One person was taken. We cannot ignore the impact flock cameras are having on our neighbors being taken without due process. I urge the council to, one, immediately install physical hoods on all 15 flock cameras so residents can be assured that the camera is not recording, and two, to move toward a full termination of the city's flock safety contract. Please hear our concerns. Thank you.

I have Benita, is it Ristow?

No, it's Reister.

Reister. Thank you. And Christine Fredericks. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

WE ARE CURRENTLY RUNNING A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING.

YES, THAT'S CORRECT.

So we're currently running a committee of the whole. However, council members do serve regionally on other committees. Do council members have any items of interest to the public or the council? I would like to take a brief moment here to talk a little bit about the association of, no, that's the wrong one, the Sound Cities Association, there we go. We had a discussion last night at the Public Interest Committee about potential new sales tax increases that would include funding for affordable housing initiatives And we continue to talk about potential increases to the solid waste fees and rates for King County. I hope to come back to the council with some information about the process for how that works and how the discussion is evolving. And so I will let you know as we get more details, especially around the affordability increase in sales tax, which would add 0.2% to our sales tax in the county. ALL RIGHT. WE NOW MOVE TO OUR CITY MANAGER'S REPORT. I'LL TURN THE MEETING OVER TO CITY MANAGER KATHERINE CAFFREY.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL, WE HAVE TWO ITEMS TONIGHT. THE FIRST ONE IS SOUTH KING FIRE CHIEF RYAN WOODY IS HERE. AS YOU ALL RECALL, HE JOINED THE DEPARTMENT MAYBE DECEMBER, NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR? JANUARY 1ST. OH, JANUARY 1ST. OH, 5TH, OKAY. BUT HE IS HERE TONIGHT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON WITH SOUTH KING FIRE AS THEY ARE OUR PROVIDER. And what's going on with the department? So, Chief?

Well, we're not just your provider. We're your fire department. So, thank you for having me. Council, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, City Manager, I appreciate it. And residents. I'm just going to give a quick overview. So, who we are, what we do, and where we're headed. So, we are a dedicated group of public servants. We have five divisions. We have our operations division, which is our largest division. Those are the folks that are out doing the job. We have the office of the fire marshal, the support services division, and finance and human resources. So that comprises about 220 total people. The bulk majority of that are the firefighters out on the street. So the operations division is led by Assistant Chief Dave Michaels. Dave's been with the department for 34 years and is a very committed, very honorable public servant. Our daily minimum staffing is 32 firefighters. We operate out of seven fire stations, two of which are located in Des Moines. When the Federal Way and Des Moines merged, one of the stations actually is within Des Moines, the Redondo station. So that's where the two for Des Moines. We have one ladder truck, seven engines, four aid units, and one battalion chief rig in service every day. The Fire Marshal is led by Fire Marshal Shawn Nichols. Shawn has all the certifications, credentials, and over 25 years of experience, which is very invaluable in the areas of prevention, public education, plans review, and community risk reduction. The bottom one, the community risk reduction, is one that we're particularly putting an emphasis on, as well as public education. During the economic downturn in the early 2000s, we lost our public educator, and we're pleased to announce that we got one back this year. She is a former teacher. She's excellent, and Anna has been out in the schools, and will continue doing that and growing that program, and we're excited to have her because that's a key component for us. Support services is led by Assistant Chief Eric Suchel. Eric, like myself, grew up within the fire district. He oversees information technology, logistics, fleet, and facilities, which are all critical components and are greatly needed to assist our firefighters. And then finance is led by Finance Manager Kelsey Barrett. Kelsey is a THIRD GENERATION FIRE SERVICE MEMBER. HER GRANDFATHER WAS THE FIRE CHIEF AT PORT OF SEATTLE. HER DAD IS RETIRED AS A BATTALION CHIEF FROM SOUTH KING AND HER BROTHER IS A LIEUTENANT. AND THEN HUMAN RESOURCE DIVISION IS LED BY HR SUPERVISOR SHARICE GAMBLE. SO WHAT WE DO, SO WE ARE AN ALL HAZARDS MITIGATION DEPARTMENT AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS NOT ONLY DO WE RESPOND TO FIRE, WE OBVIOUSLY DO EMS car wrecks, special rescue, water rescue, hazardous materials, all of those things are covered by your fire department. Last year we responded to just over 27,000 emergencies. The bulk majority of that is EMS, but there are lots of fire and rescues involved in that as well. Station 66 is the Redondo station That currently has one fire engine. That's our busiest fire engine with responding to over 3,100 emergencies last year and 67 located closer to where we are right now with just over 4,000 calls. And that had an engine and an aid unit there. And I'll get more into what we have at each of those stations in a second. So where are we headed? I'll cover kind of where our staffing apparatus and stations, what we're busy doing. So we have just hired 18 firefighters that are attending the August Recruit Academy. The Fire Academy is 22 weeks long and includes, they will come out of that with their Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2 certifications, as well as their EMT, and they'll be able to come back. And with a couple weeks, we do an in-house academy to get them ready and acclimated to shift life, and then they will go off to shift. On that note, our shifts, we have A, B, C, and D shift. They are 24-hour shifts, so firefighters tend to work about nine days a month, 24-hour shifts, and we are per firefighter. At last check, I think we were the busiest department in the state on a per firefighter basis. That's why we're hiring more of them. Then we are also slated and budgeted to hire eight additional positions in January of 2027, and they will go off to the Recruit Academy that begins in early February. So a couple critical things for the residents here in Des Moines. Starting in January, we are going to add a second battalion chief. So battalion chiefs oversee the whole shift, and they're responsible for overall incident management of scenes. So that will add a big safety factor, not only for our crews, but also for our residents in early 2027. And we're excited for that. And then we're going to add a new EMS response vehicle that will be a non-transport EMS unit to our station in Redondo. And that will take place in Q3 of 2027 after we get those 18 folks and the plus the eight online. So that will make our Station 66 minimum daily staffing go from three firefighters to five, and 67 will go from five to six. In addition, at Station 67, we have an ALS rig provided by King County EMS, or King County Medic 1, and we also have an MSO, one of their shift supervisors, is out of Station 67. So that's a busy station for us. Well, as always, thank you. We are honored and humbled to serve you, and I have the floor open to any questions.

Councilmember Harris.

Thank you. What happened to Brad?

To who?

Brad.

Oh, Brad. Brad Chaney.

Yeah.

Yeah, Brad went back to shift. He's a captain back on shift, and Eric Kiphart is now...

doing our public outreach as of january oh okay he was just the guy yeah he was the guy for a long time everywhere in terms of just community engagement and um okay so yeah well he was just really appreciated by a lot of people in the area so just point it's worth yeah

Well, I appreciate that, and I'll share that with him. And Eric is getting out and about, and Eric is over 26 years with us, and he's also a legacy firefighter. His father also worked for us.

But that's a different position from the woman you described earlier.

That's correct. The public educator is for going out into the elementary schools. The public information officer is what you're referencing.

So that's different from what Brad was doing.

It's not different from what Brad's doing. Brad probably had... Never mind.

I thought he was the guy for all that stuff.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, no, two separate positions. Okay.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Yes.

Council Member Simons.

Yeah. Thank you for a nice presentation. Really appreciate knowing everything that's out there. You just used a couple of acronyms that I think would help people. Oh, I apologize. My son's a firefighter, so I know what ALS is versus BLS. Yes. Would you mind explaining?

Yes, of course. So in King County, advanced life support, or ALS, is provided by King County Medic 1, and basic life support, or BLS, is provided by not only the fire department but also private ambulance services. So thank you. We tend to get into our acronyms and forget that not everybody knows that.

Can you explain the difference between the two?

Yeah, the primary difference is that advanced life support or those paramedics can push medications. In particular, they're going to be responding to cardiac arrests, and they're also patients with strokes, a variety of different issues. But they There are a limited amount of drugs that a basic life support or EMT can administer, but we do need our ALS partners when it comes to, for example, a CPR call. Does that help? Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Oxiger.

Yes, Chief. Thank you for the report. Could you enlighten us as to the range and also the use of the Marine units?

it's down here at our sure as far as range is like how far does it respond it would respond with largely within King County but typically doesn't it doesn't respond too far out of our general area or shoreline and then the marine unit is is like you said located down on the waterfront and it's the cruise at station 67 they are the ones who are trained boat operators and firefighters for the Marine Unit, and they come down from 67 to staff that.

Thank you very much for coming to speak with us. I appreciate your continued outreach, and I'm very excited to see your participation in our upcoming parade. That's very exciting as well, and I'm very grateful to see that as This area continues to grow, that we're seeing an uptick in staffing, and that there'll be more folks ready to deploy in case our residents are in need of firefighting or BLS support. So I appreciate it.

Much appreciated. Take care. Have a good night.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief. Yes, Chief Woody has been incredibly open to engaging with us and working with us, so we really appreciate those efforts. The next item is Jeff Friend is going to talk about budget season, everybody's favorite season, which is kicking off now. Jeff?

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council. We're going to present the budget overview of the budget process for the 27-28 budget. We're also, within that, going to take the opportunity to discuss SHOW SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS COMPARED TO THE OLD DAYS AS FAR AS THE BUDGET PROCESS GOES. SO, CALENDAR-WISE, JULY, WHICH, OF COURSE, IS THIS MONTH. SO, WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS MONTH? WE HAVE PROJECTS IN PROCESS. SO, RIGHT NOW, THE MARINA, PUBLIC WORKS, AND FINANCE ARE WORKING ON THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN. FINANCE IS ALSO WORKING ON THE INDIRECT COST ALLOCATION. THAT IS A COST ALLOCATION WHERE THE GENERAL FUND BASICALLY CHARGES OTHER FUNDS FOR SERVICES LIKE FINANCE, HUMAN RESOURCES, WHATNOT. WE HAVE A MODEL THAT WE USE TO CALCULATE THAT. AND WE'RE WORKING ON THE INTERFUND ASSESSMENTS. INTERFUND ASSESSMENTS ARE ESSENTIALLY WHEN MONEY IS SET ASIDE FOR A PURPOSE. IN THIS CASE, FACILITY MAINTENANCE, and computer maintenance. So IT is paid for the maintenance of the computers. Money is set aside for maintaining the city's facilities. And then money is also set aside by the general fund and other funds for replacing computers and replacing equipment such as vehicles. And later this month, there are department meetings with the city manager from July 28th through the 30th for all departments. The significance of this being just a couple of days in the past, this has been something that spread, tended to spread out over a couple of weeks. So in planning this, we realized we had lost a lot of productive time in having it spread out over such a long period of time. So we condensed it to two days so we can get those budget requests QUICKLY AND THEN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PHASE OF THE PROCESS. SO AFTER JULY, WE HAVE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT. IT JUST SEEMED LIKE A GOOD PLACE TO PUT IT IN THE PRESENTATION. SO THESE ARE GOING TO BE JUST EXAMPLES OF HOW THE BUDGET PROCESS WAS DONE PREVIOUSLY AND THEN HOW WE ARE DOING IT TODAY. SO OUR FIRST SLIDE HERE DISCUSSES POSITION CONTROL Position control is basically how finance manages the different positions, ensuring that they are staffed and funded according to the adopted budget. Because it would be bad if, you know, council woke up one morning and we had three police chiefs. So basically we have a position number for each position and a number of people who fill that position. So about five, six years ago, this is an example of it was done on paper. So you can see The previous finance directors notes of like each position has a number written in green to the side and different notes there. So it would be difficult to have that done on paper. Now we have it actually in our accounting system. So back then we didn't have a payroll module or anything in our accounting system. Payroll was pretty much outsourced. So now that we have payroll in-house, we have all the information and data in our accounting system. And this is an example of position control. You can see that's actually part of the module. It says that at the top. This is actually my position. It has a position number on there. And highlighted at the bottom, you can see maximum employees. So there can only be one finance director, but it has relevant dates and whatnot. So that's having the data in our accounting system instead of on a piece of paper, of course, is very helpful. Salary and benefits is a big part of calculating a budget because personnel costs are such a big part of the budget. This is an example of an Excel sheet from probably about four or five years ago that lists, again, all the positions in the city. If you look at the little tabs at the bottom, they're small, but basically there's like, what if we have a cost of living adjustment at 6.5 percent and then the next two what if it's 5.5 percent the next two none so different scenarios on different tabs and this you know workbook or spreadsheet we're looking at also it goes on for columns there's a lot of information there because there's a lot of information about personnel nowadays this is a screenshot of our accounting software menu so you can see there's a lot of different things in here but basically What's great about it is that because we have payroll in our accounting system, we basically can just take that data. It just is pulled into the projection module here. And so you can see we have a lot of tools for projecting. And we don't have to work manually in a spreadsheet or workbook because it's automatically in the system. And we can just run different scenarios from there. BUDGET SUBMISSIONS BEFORE, THIS IS TWO EXAMPLES OF THE SAME YEAR FINANCE RECEIVED FROM EVENTS AND FACILITY RENTALS ON THE LEFT, A SPREADSHEET FORMATTED SUCH AS THAT. ON THE RIGHT, YOU CAN SEE WE GOT A WORD DOCUMENT FROM I.T. MAKING THEIR REQUESTS. SO THERE'S NO CONSISTENCY IN REALLY HOW FINANCE RECEIVED THEM EXCEPT THE FACT IT CREATED A LOT OF MANUAL LABOR. AND NOW, We're going to show you what we have as a tool that we're using this year. If I can find the mouse or maybe Tara, can you click on it? Okay, thank you. So if you go to the red tab that says input, so essentially this is what every department will input their requests. So you can see on the left it shows the original budget. In the middle in the blue section is a projection input, so they have actuals through May. AND THEN THEY CAN DO, PROJECT WHERE THEY THINK THAT THEY'LL FINISH THE YEAR. AND THEN THE YELLOW SECTION HAS 2027, 2028, AND DIFFERENT COLUMNS. SO ADJUSTMENT TO BASE WOULD BE IF IT'S SOMETHING THEY USUALLY BUDGET, THEY'RE GOING TO, YOU KNOW, MAYBE REDUCE IT OR INCREASE IT. IF THEY HAVE A BRAND NEW ITEM THAT THEY NEVER BUDGETED BEFORE, THAT'S A BUDGET ENHANCEMENT. SO THAT'S BEING BROKEN OUT SEPARATELY. AND ALSO, ALL THE INFORMATION THAT'S INPUT HERE WILL AUTOMATICALLY FEED SCHEDULES THAT WILL APPEAR IN THE BUDGET BOOK and also will automatically fill a template that can be uploaded into the accounting system. So there's a lot easier to work with this than it was if we just get random pieces of paper or spreadsheets that we have to then go type in ourselves. So this is very much more streamlined. Next slide. Okay, and also we have new tools that haven't been used in the past to formalize DIFFERENT ITEMS IN THE PROCESS. FIRST ONE IS, AGAIN, BUDGET ENHANCEMENT REQUEST FORM. SO IT'S VERY DIFFICULT WHEN YOU HAVE DIFFERENT, OR I SHOULD SAY CHALLENGING, DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT MEETINGS, AND THERE'S CONVERSATION, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, DEPARTMENTS SAY, WELL, WE MIGHT WANT THIS, OR WE WANT THIS, AND THEN LATER ON, MAYBE WE DON'T REMEMBER IT, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING FORMAL WRITTEN DOWN, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, SO THERE'S A COMMUNICATION DISCONNECT THERE, SO WITH THE BUDGET ENHANCEMENT REQUEST FORM, THE DEPARTMENTS WILL SUBMIT IN WRITING A NEW REQUEST, AND THEN THEY ALSO HAVE TO DOCUMENT HOW THAT ALIGNS WITH THE STRATEGIC PLAN. SO FORMALIZING THAT WILL HELP OUR COMMUNICATION, AND THEN WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS, WELL, WE REQUESTED THIS, THEN, OH, YEAH, YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU SELL OUT A FORM FOR THAT. BUDGET OFFICE HOURS, SO KATHY ROSSICK, OUR SENIOR ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST AND MYSELF, SET UP SHOP IN THE CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM AND DEPARTMENTS CAN DROP IN AND ASK QUESTIONS AND SO WE HAD TWO DIFFERENT HOURS THIS WEEK AND WE HAD PEOPLE DROP IN EACH TIME SO THAT HELPS US BE A RESOURCE TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS WHEN THEY HAVE QUESTIONS AND SO THAT IS NEW AND THEN THE DEPARTMENT UPDATE FORM IS JUST A FORM WHERE DEPARTMENTS CAN UPDATE THE NARRATIVE ABOUT THEIR DEPARTMENT FOR THE BUDGET BOOK AND ALSO UPDATE THEIR GOALS SUBMIT WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN REGARDS TO THEIR PRIOR GOALS, AND THEN SUBMIT THEIR NEW GOALS. WHICH BRINGS US TO AUGUST. SO AUGUST, THE FOCUS IN AUGUST SHIFTS FROM PREPARATION TO DECISION MAKING. SO KEY EVENTS IN AUGUST ARE AUGUST 6, WE HAVE A COUNCIL STUDY SESSION, THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN, is prepared in July. We have a committee of the whole August 6th where there'll be a discussion about the projects and then council presentations on August 13th and 27th. So that would be the first and second readings for the capital improvements plan. Budget town hall is August 18th at the activity center and then we'll be speaking with the citizens advisory board on August 26th. And in case you missed it, August 18th, a budget town hall from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. at the activity center for the community to come and participate in the town hall. September. September is the refinement month. Staff incorporates council's direction, updates budget recommendations, and prepares the preliminary budget. So key events, the budget message is drafted. COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP IS SEPTEMBER 12TH, AND THAT TBD MEANS TOTALLY BEEN DETERMINED. IT IS ON SEPTEMBER 12TH. AND FINANCE ASSEMBLES THE BUDGET BOOK FOR COUNCIL REVIEW. SO ONE OF THE THINGS I'VE BEEN SAYING IS AUGUST IS THE DECISION MONTH, AND THEN SEPTEMBER IS WHEN WE PUT THE BOOK TOGETHER. AND PUTTING THE BOOK TOGETHER IN SEPTEMBER FOR OCTOBER 1ST IS SOMETHING BRAND NEW FOR THE CITY, AND WE'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT OF THAT EXAMPLE WHY IN A COMING SLIDE. Key events, so budget book submitted to city clerk by October 1st, which is state law. Council members can schedule meetings with the city manager and finance director to discuss the budget. Budget presentation to the citizen advisory board, we're going back a second time, October 28th, and because the budget will be out by then, we'll probably have a lot more fulfilling conversation about that with all the information and the questions would be based on that. AND PUBLIC HEARINGS FIRST READINGS OCTOBER 29TH. 2027 PROPERTY TAX LEVY WOULD BE COMING TO COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 29TH AS WELL AS THE 2026 BUDGET AMENDMENTS AND THE 2728 BIENNIAL BUDGET. SO I'D MENTIONED ABOUT SUBMITTING A BUDGET BOOK OCTOBER 1ST THAT WE HAVE NOT DONE THAT. SO WHEN I SAY A BUDGET BOOK, THAT'S THE PUBLISHED DOCUMENT THAT HAS ALL INFORMATION, THE MESSAGE FROM THE CITY MANAGER, HAS ALL THE DESCRIPTION OF THE FUNDS, HAS THE APPROACH TO THE BUDGET, ALL OF THE ITEMS THAT YOU, THAT THE COMMUNITY NEEDS TO HEAR OR READ. PRIOR YEARS, COUNCIL RECEIVED WHAT WE SEE ON THE SCREEN ON OCTOBER 1ST, WHICH IS ABOUT 74 PAGES OF NUMBERS, WHICH LACKS ALL OF THAT CONTEXT. AND SO, IN OUR VIEW, IT'S TO COMMUNICATE THE BUDGET AND EVERYTHING SURROUNDING THE BUDGET IS MORE APPROPRIATE TO HAVE A BUDGET BOOK on October 1st for council to read which is a lot earlier than we've done in the past so that's been our goal all along the whole process is to get that budget book in the hands of council October 1st and not just submit a list of accounts and numbers which don't really have any context or information surrounding them November November budget activities. November concludes the budget process. Council conducts the second reading, considers any final changes and adopts the city budgets. So the key events is the public hearings and second readings of the three items we mentioned at the end of October, the 2027 property tax levy, the 2026 budget amendments and the 2027-28 biennial budget. And that is the end of the presentation.

Thank you. Council, any questions or discussion? Councilmember Harris.

This is real progress, schedule-wise. Thank you. Okay, so I got the compliment. The other thing is, no, it's like really. So since you now, you know, I go on about the magic wand thing, and is there any, you know, you've obviously got your hands full, but if there was some way to create a roll-up of budget requests just to get a sense of what, overall what departments are asking for versus what actually goes through the filter.

We'll be providing that at the September 12th budget workshop.

That would be great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Voss.

Thank you for the presentation. It's my first budget cycle process going through it, so I have a few questions. How much of the financial data of this year will we get by the time, say, September 12th? Obviously, we'll have first quarter, second quarter, anything from third quarter to help us kind of see what the trends are.

I think we're scheduled to have the second quarter financial update in August. So by September, I don't think we'd have third quarter. So we'll be working on the first half of the year, too. And that's pretty typical. Yeah.

Can you talk a little more about the new accounting system? Is it called Tyler?

Yeah, it's relatively new. So it was implemented, I think we went live in 2022. I think it's technically called ERP, but in the past it's been called MUNIS. It's made by Tyler Technologies. Tyler Technologies has like 80% probably of the market share of smaller government accounting systems. The accounting system made for cities. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

And they look like for the 27-28 budget process, you're still using Excel sheets on SharePoint? Yes. You can't use the other system?

Let me make a comment on that because I felt really strongly that we stick with Excel. Finance folks live in Munis, so they love it and know it really well. But a lot of our departments develop their budget recommendations like once or twice a year. And so it really can bog down. SPEED AND WILLINGNESS TO LIKE FILL OUT A LOT OF INFORMATION IF IT'S A SYSTEM THAT'S FOREIGN TO THEM. SO EXCEL, I FIND, REALLY GETS, YOU GET A LOT LESS RESISTANCE TO DOING THE WORK BECAUSE EVERYBODY KNOWS THE TOOL.

I TRUST YOU ON THAT. JUST WHAT WE'VE SEEN BEFORE IN MY EXPERIENCE, THESE EXCEL FILES CAN GET HUGE OVER THE YEARS AND THEN YOU HAVE 100 DIFFERENT COLUMNS.

IT ROLLS INTO THE FINANCE SYSTEM. WE'RE JUST HAVING THE DEPARTMENT HEADS THEMSELVES USE EXCEL.

And the format that you saw is actually an evolution of what they're familiar with over the last few years. And so there's the degree of familiarity with that. And there's other ways. We've had them do something new a couple times the last few cycles, and it was just good to have them do something familiar if they're doing other new stuff to the side.

So you have automatic connection between the Excel file and your accounting systems.

Yeah, it feeds into a template, and I upload the template. All right. Well, thank you.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRESENTATION. YOU SAID A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT JUST, I'M NOT IN ACCOUNTING, BUT IT MAKES ME EXCEPTIONALLY HAPPY. THINGS LIKE FORMALIZING THE PROCESSES, UNIFORMITY AND CONSISTENCY, AND THINGS THAT ARE LESS MANUAL. SO THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT POPPED TO ME AS BEING IMPROVEMENTS, LIKE COUNCILMEMBER HARRIS HAD SAID, AND I WANT TO SAY THANKS FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP ON THAT. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU. ABSOLUTELY.

WE HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION.

OH, GO FOR IT.

JUST WONDERING WITH THE STATE, SO WE HAVE TO send a budget to the state by October 1st and then they review it? No, no.

I give you the budget. Oh, it's just something that... After it's adopted, we give it to the state.

All right.

Will the clerk please read the consent agenda? Item 1, approval of vouchers. Item 2, approval of minutes. Item 3, speed camera ordinance second reading. Item 4, Citizens Advisory Board Appointment. Item 5, 2026, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee Spending Recommendations. Item 6, NFC Northwest Telecommunications Franchise Agreement, second reading. Item 7, 24th Avenue Suspensioned PSE Suspension. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT, AND THAT CONCLUDES THE CONSENT AGENDA, MAYOR.

THANK YOU. IS THERE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS READ? COUNCILMEMBER NUTTING.

SO MOVED, MAYOR.

WE NEED TO PULL AN ITEM ON THIS ONE.

THAT HAPPENS NEXT. DO I HAVE A SECOND? COUNCILMEMBER BLAS IS SECONDED. DOES ANY COUNCILMEMBER WISH TO PULL AN ITEM? COUNCILMEMBER SIMMONS.

I MOVE TO PULL ITEM FIVE.

All right. I'll pull item five. All right. So then we will... Oh, one more. I'm sorry. Yes, Councilmember Harrison.

Item three, please.

Item three. Okay. Thank you. All right. So now we will pull items number three and number five, and we'll be voting on the consent agendums one, two, four, six, and seven as read. Okay. Let's vote on those. Please hold your hand up until I would say your name. Deputy Mayor OXFORD Councilmember Steinmetz Councilmember Harris Councilmember Des Moines Councilmember Nutting Councilmember Blass and myself that passes 7-0. Let's start with item number 3 and that consent agenda passes. Thank you. Councilmember Harris.

Thank you. I would like to amend the ordinance to remove the school zone item from this particular thing and come back to it later. I'm fine with the three, but it's a little bit different.

Can we stick to a motion rather than a discussion?

Yeah, I would move to REMOVE THE SCHOOL ZONE 24-7 SECTION FROM THIS ORDINANCE.

DO I HAVE A SECOND? FOR LACK OF SUPPORT, THAT MOTION DIES. ITEM NUMBER 5. OH, I'M SORRY. OKAY, COUNCILMEMBER. OH, I'M SORRY, YES, THANK YOU.

I'll take the motion. I move to pass draft ordinance number 26-049, authorizing additional automated traffic safety camera locations in the city of Des Moines.

Second.

Motion's been seconded by Councilmember Steinmetz. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Deputy Mayor Oxiger, Council Member Steinmetz, Council Member Harris, Council Member Desmone, Council Member Nutting, Council Member Blas, and myself. That passes 7-0. I'm sorry about that. Let's go to the considered item number five. Council Member Steinmetz, you may speak.

Yes, I pulled this because I need to recuse myself on this motion. As many people know, my wife is heavily involved, one of the four members of the LLC that is putting on the parade. I THINK THERE'S AN APPEARANCE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST THERE BECAUSE WE'RE PASSING MONEY TO THAT ORGANIZATION OR THAT'S WHAT THE VOTE IS ABOUT AND I THINK THAT WOULD BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR ME TO DO THAT AND I HOPE THAT EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE COUNCIL AGREES.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT. COUNCIL MEMBER NUTTING.

NEW SPEAKER I MOVE TO APPROVE THE RECOMMENDATION AS SUBMITTED BY THE LOGGING TAX ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF THE LOGGING TAX FUNDS.

NEW SPEAKER IS THERE A SECOND? Councilmember Blass, any discussion? All right, all those in favor of consent agenda item five, please raise your right hand. Deputy Mayor Oxiger, Councilmember Harris, Councilmember Desmoni, Councilmember Netting, Councilmember Blass, and myself. All those opposed? And then abstention? And we have one recusal, motion passes six-zero. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Now it's time for new business and our first item is the establishment of the ad hoc city council budget engagement committee.

I am actually going to throw that right back to the mayor. This was something she's developed so I'll let her speak to it.

Oh great. Thank you. So folks today we heard from finance director friend that we will be heavily diving into budget season as we come up on looking at our next two-year budget cycle. One of the reasons that I have proposed an ad hoc budget engagement committee is to have a subset of our council really be the face and the primary body responsible for ensuring that we get as much community engagement as possible. There are already, as we heard, many outreach activities that the city traditionally does. But I believe that in a effort to be more transparent and to hear from as many constituents and residents as possible that I would like to be more public and be more engaged and provide more opportunities for folks to tell us where their budget priorities are and how we may align the city's spending with the THE VALUES OF OUR RESIDENTS. I KNOW THAT THIS WILL BE AN ENHANCEMENT. IT WILL NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF ANYTHING THAT WE ARE ALREADY DOING. THE CITY DOES DO OUTREACH. YOU HEARD ABOUT A BUDGET TOWN HALL MEETING. YOU HEARD ABOUT PRESENTATION TO THE CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD. I DO KNOW THAT THEY WILL, OF COURSE, BE ANOTHER WAY FOR US TO BE ENGAGED WITH OUR COMMUNITY, BUT THE CITY COUNCIL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BUDGET. AND SO I BELIEVE THAT IT WOULD BE A FANTASTIC WAY FOR US TO GO OUT AND TALK TO FOLKS, ENGAGE TO RESIDENTS, AND MAKE SURE THAT IT'S A DOCUMENT THAT REFLECTS WHAT'S GOING ON AND VALUED IN OUR COMMUNITY. DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? COUNCILMEMBER SHIMAS.

CAN YOU JUST KIND OF PUT A LITTLE MORE MEAT ON THE BONES OF WHAT YOU SEE THE ROLE OF THE THREE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE ACTUALLY DOING?

I really see it as truly an engagement. So folks that will go out and be like the liaison, like I am your liaison to the budget process. And while we all do that in an informal way, I would expect that folks who are on this ad hoc committee to really be a front and center and the face of that process so that publicly you can be identified. I ALSO SEE THAT THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO EDUCATE FOLKS ABOUT HOW THE BUDGET PROCESS WORKS. I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, WE SEE MANY, MANY TIMES THAT THERE'S AN EFFORT TO GO OUT AND TELL FOLKS ABOUT HOW FINANCE WORKS AND WHAT KIND OF SANDBOX AND TOYS THAT WE HAVE TO PLAY WITH, BUT IT DOESN'T ALWAYS BECOME CONCRETE UNTIL FOLKS ARE HIT WITH SOMETHING THAT PERHAPS THEY OBJECT TO. And I think that being very proactive and saying hey these are the realistic constraints. This is how city finances work. Here are some changes that have happened in the past or new things that are coming online things that might be going away would just be an opportunity for us to increase that face time increase our ownership of this process and to really help gather that information that will inform council's deliberations on the budget. Yes.

Just kind of to follow up, you talked about it very outward facing. What about the feedback that those members get? How do they bring that back into the budget process and are they working closely with the finance director? Do they bring it back to the council first? That's what I'm trying to understand is we're reaching out, we're getting more information, what do we do with that information? How are these three individuals

That is a fantastic question. And instead of saying that's totally been determined, it's more like to be determined. I would imagine that we would work most closely with city manager Caffrey on that, but we would absolutely have to report back to council and I think the other council members could be involved in that as they would like. And so this is an opportunity to sort of shape this idea because I haven't decided like, oh, this will be the relationship, this will be the reporting structure, it will result in this work product, but I'm hoping to get there. Yes, go ahead. One more, yeah.

Several years ago, federal councils ago, we had an ad hoc budget committee that actually worked with the finance director and shaped the budget a lot. This is a very different process and that's what I'm trying to make sure that is clear that there are

what we saw last time is not going to be what's going to happen this time oh absolutely it's very outward facing and it's very much about the engagement it is not duplicative of the finance committee or budget committee to develop uh priorities and then sell them to the rest of council absolutely not i don't envision it that way thank you councilmember harris um so um

Love the idea in principle, but I think this is more of a next year kind of an idea. And the reason I was so complimentary of Mr. Friend is that I keep pushing for a budget book that persists and there's this continuity. They hate to hear it, but I can go and look at a port budget going back 15 years, and it's like literally the same thing. and it's wonderful that I can look at apples to apples and they have the same schedule. I was so complimentary because the schedule this year is much improved and this is really very different from the first biennial budget and I think it would be better to have Mr. Friend and the team establish that system and then next year, okay, we have something, you know, a blueprint going forward. But this looks like something where they're developing a whole new system. Well, not a whole new system, but it's different. And I just think it would be better to wait until that thing is baked and then going forward. I think it's a great idea.

I appreciate your comments. The only response that I would have is that this is our big budget year and we're looking forward to putting together our next final budget and next year will be our quote unquote small budget year. So I do find that this would be most impactful if we did it this year. Although there can be changes to the budget next year as well. Councilmember Desmona.

Thank you, I do like this idea. I share the concerns of it affecting the timeline. As long as the timeline isn't affected, I feel like this would be a worthwhile adventure. Also as the only front facing council member, I am ecstatic for someone else to answer some of these questions. Is it something where you're asking citizens for this or is it collaboration with council? Who are these people on this committee?

Oh, it's a three-person ad hoc committee of council members. Well, apparently I volunteer. Okay. Thank you. All right. Other questions, concerns, discussion? All right. Well, I have not... established a mechanism for just appointing folks. I was hoping that folks would be interested in volunteering. And so we do have a suggested motion. But at this point, I would ask that folks who are interested indicate that they would like to be considered. Okay.

Oh, wait. Councilmember Harris? No, I mean, a point of order. I mean, shouldn't we vote on the actual committee before?

Yeah. The suggested motion has people's names in it. So then I thought I would just ask. But we could do it in two parts. Would that be more helpful? The establishment of the ad hoc engagement committee and then the council members? All right. I'm happy to break that. Is that OK? Sounds good. Someone want to change the suggested motion so that we can start first with the establishment and that we'll move to the second part of the self-nomination of committee members? Councilmember Nutting.

I move that the City Council establish an ad hoc budget engagement committee for the purpose of advising on the city's public engagement approach during the biennial budget process.

Councilmember Simons. I second. Thank you. Any discussion? Oh, we can add that to the next one. Oh, that will be dissolved? Any discussion? Councilmember Harris.

Yeah, I will vote no to me. This is like basically, you know, trying to do whatever that thing is about working on the plane while you're trying to fly it. And so, thank you.

Councilmember Simons.

You know, we... We often hear people want more public engagement. We want, you know, and I think it would be good, it's good for the council to get out and have some people that can really talk about the budget. You know, I don't, we are going into the next biennium of budget. As you say, it's the big budget, and I think that's an important piece. So there may be a little bit of figuring out exactly how we're going to do it, BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO AFFECT THE PROCESS OF PUTTING TOGETHER THE BUDGET. IT'S THE PROCESS OF ENGAGING THE PUBLIC ON IT AND MAKING SURE THE PUBLIC UNDERSTANDS IT AND BRINGING BACK SOME FEEDBACK, AND I THINK THAT'S AN EXCELLENT IDEA AND WELL WORTH DOING AND CAN BE FIGURED OUT ON THE FLY. SO I'M GOING TO SUPPORT THE MOTION. I THINK IT'S AN EXCELLENT IDEA.

OTHERS BEFORE I CIRCLE BACK THROUGH? COUNCILMAN RUHERS.

THANK YOU. THERE IS AN ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, FANTASTIC, BEYOND WONDERFUL MUNICIPAL FINANCE BOOTCAMP, WHICH NOBODY EVER ATTENDS, SPONSORED BY IWC, BECAUSE IT'S OUT USUALLY IN YACAMA OR SOMEPLACE LIKE THAT. MUNICIPAL FINANCE IS, REGARDLESS OF I THOUGHT I KNEW SOMETHING ABOUT ACCOUNTING BEFORE I GOT INVOLVED WITH THIS, AND IT'S VERY DIFFERENT.

MAYOR, YOUR POINT OF ORDER.

YES, PLEASE STATE YOUR POINT.

WE'RE DISCUSSING. Can you limit your discussion to the motion?

It would be better to have somebody come in to train the council and the public and watch how municipal accounting works. That would be a greater benefit to the city. Thank you.

All right. Any further before a vote? All right. I'm going to call for that vote. All in favor? I'M SORRY. I THOUGHT WE JUST READ THE MOTION. WE JUST HAD THE DISCUSSION.

OH, OKAY.

YES.

I THOUGHT WE WERE ON TO THE SECOND MOTION.

NOT YET. NO, IT'S OKAY. SO I'M GOING TO CALL THE QUESTION. LET'S HAVE A VOTE ON THE MOTION AS IT WAS AMENDED TO READ. PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND AND I'LL CALL ON YOU. DEPUTY MAYOR OXINGER, COUNCIL MEMBER STEINMAN, COUNCIL MEMBER DISMONING, COUNCIL MEMBER NUTTING, COUNCIL MEMBER BLAS, AND MYSELF. ALL THOSE OPPOSED? COUNCIL MEMBER HARRIS, ANY ABSTENTIONS? NO. THE MOTION PASSES 6-0. THANK YOU. SO LET'S GO BACK TO THE APPOINTMENTS ON WHO WOULD LIKE TO SERVE.

POINT OF ORDER 6-1.

I DID SAY THAT. OH, I'M SORRY, 6-0. SORRY, MY FAULT. THANK YOU FOR THE CORRECTION. I APPRECIATE THAT. LET'S GO BACK. SORRY ABOUT THAT. LET'S GO TO THE NOMINATION PROCESS. Would someone like to attempt to make a motion? Council Member Nutting.

Thank you, Mayor. I move that the city appoints Mayor Yoshiko Grace Matsui, Council Member Desmone, and Council Member Bloss to serve on the committee and that the committee shall be dissolved upon the adoption of OF THE 2027-2028 BUDGET. COUNCIL MEMBER SIMONS?

SECOND. THAT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED. DISCUSSION? I APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT AND I LOOK FORWARD TO IT, SO I WILL BE SUPPORTING THIS. LET'S GO AHEAD AND CALL THE VOTE. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND. DEPUTY MAYOR OXINGER, COUNCIL MEMBER STEINMUTZ, COUNCIL MEMBER DISMONI, COUNCIL MEMBER NEDDING, COUNCIL MEMBER BLAS, AND MYSELF. ALL OPPOSED? COUNCIL MEMBER HARRIS. AND THE MOTION PASSES 6-1. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I APPRECIATE THAT. ALL RIGHT. LET'S TALK ABOUT ITEM NUMBER TWO.

As Rebecca comes up, this item is really for Joe Dusenberry as the chair of the airport committee to be here. But it sounds like based on a text I got, he was the last speaker at the port.

Do we have any idea where he is? I don't. I texted him. He hasn't responded. But I have what he was going to say, so I could read his.

either we could do this item without him although really it's about comments that committee wrote that staff can't really speak to or I know there was a request for a break we could do a quick five minute break let's do a quick five minute break unless there's an objection we can't go to executive session early we want to come back to this and I expect some changes in the lineup after the executive session so can we have a five minute recess and then we'll figure out if Mr. Dusenberry is on his way back Oh, is he right there?

What?

Look at that.

Perfect timing. The timing is amazing. You're up. Well, Joe, you are right up. Yeah. All right, so I'll let Rebecca take it from here, and then the chair of the airport committee, Joe Dusenberry, is here.

Thank you.

Okay, so a little bit of background. We kind of just went over this a little bit, so I'm going to skim real quick. On the SEPA, we're talking about the SAMP, the Ports to Lead Agency. They did give us 30-day notice before releasing the draft EIS. The cities requested a 90-day comment period, which was not granted, and we just recently actually requested 120-day, which they said was just under consideration. Still not granted yet, but they said it's under consideration. We'll see what happens. Not expecting it though. The comment period does end as of right now on July 21st. They did have a public hearing today that ended at 6.15. As was mentioned, Joe and Barton were the very last to speak. at that, which is why I showed up a little bit late because I stayed at my desk listening. Lots of speakers spoke on both for the project and a lot of speakers also on behalf of the communities surrounding the airport about the impacts of the airport and what the expansion will do to those communities. We are encouraging everyone to submit their comments And then we've got our meeting that's next Tuesday to help people submit, which I'll talk a little bit more about at the end of this presentation. This is the chart of impacts that it shows in the EIS and showing that the only impact that will have mitigation is transportation. According to SEPA document, it covers several topics, air pollution, human health risk assessment, qualitative review of ultrafine particles, analysis of impacts, and environmental justice. The SEPA found that with the implementation of mitigation for surface transportation and measures to minimize other impacts, there is no significant adverse environmental impacts that would result from the construction of the near-term projects. THE SEPA DRAFT RESPONSE FROM THE AIRPORT COMMITTEE. I'LL GO AHEAD AND TURN THAT OVER HERE TO JOE.

SO JUST AS JOE'S COMING UP, SORRY, TO HELP CLARIFY, SO AS YOU ALL KNOW, WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH CTAC AND BURIAN ON A SET OF OFFICIAL RESPONSE ON THIS DOCUMENT THAT HAS A LOT OF TECHNICAL EXPERTISE FROM CONSULTANTS WE'VE HIRED. THAT, AS REBECCA SAID, IS A SEPARATE SUBMISSION FROM WHAT JOE'S TALKING ABOUT. THIS WOULD SIMPLY BE COMMENTS FROM THE AIRPORT COMMITTEE.

Thank you. Just a quick comment about the public hearing tonight. I think it was very successful. There were far more people than were at the public open houses, or at least the two that I attended. So from that standpoint, I think it was very successful. A lot of, I think all of the opposition points that needed to be made were made. And I THINK, AND ANOTHER THING IS WE HAVE, ACTUALLY, WE HAVE REBECCA TO THANK FOR PUTTING US IN THE ROOM, BECAUSE SHE'S THE ONE WHO, AT OUR JOINT MEETING WITH THE TWO COMMITTEES, SHE'S THE ONE WHO SAID, HEY, DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD? NO, WE HAD NO IDEA. BUT WE DID. AND IT SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN, I THINK, SUCCESSFUL FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW. SO ANYWAY, JUST FURTHER ON HERE. What we did was we've submitted several documents authorized by committee member Jeff Bogan for your review. The committee members have reviewed and discussed these papers, and we believe they raise important questions about the SAMHSA DEIS. As a committee, we would like to submit these papers to the SEPA public comment record over our signatures as AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS. SINCE WE ARE A COUNCIL COMMITTEE, WE NEED THE COUNCIL'S AUTHORIZATION TO DO SO, AND SO THAT'S OUR REQUEST THIS EVENING. AND I'LL ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

DO YOU WANT TO MOVE ON TO THE PRESENTATION FIRST? YES. SO AS AIRPORT COMMITTEE, THERE ARE COMMENTS YOU SEE THERE'S EACH a different document for each of these items which are listed. And so I think that their memo covers that. And so I just bullet pointed there here on the PowerPoint. And then as City Manager was mentioning, we also are working on our own comments that are prepared through the ILA. Through the ILA, we have hired consultants including Pertit, which is changing their name to Ardora, Leland, and then we have attorneys that are also assisting in preparing our comments. Our comments include topics through looking at air quality, hazardous material, solid waste technical reports and findings, water resources, transportation, noise, economic and fiscal and socioeconomic impacts, as well as the legal and regulatory framework of the SEPA document. We are reviewing those memos. We're continually reviewing them through the three cities and through the legal process and working to make sure we're meeting that 21st deadline. As well as working to prepare for the presentation on July 14th for the public, part of that is to both tell people what the potential concerns are that we have as the three cities and We're also working on preparing an area that people will be able to place for people who don't maybe have a computer or maybe don't even have the money to or feel comfortable writing the letter and sending it in. So we're going to be there with paper and with computers so people can submit their comments. And so we're going to be there to help people submit comments. So that's our plan for that day. We'll have a probably a quick 20 minute presentation. And then we'll have people around the room. We may have boards. We're trying to figure out exactly what the layout will be for the open house portion of the rest of the time. But we'll be there to answer questions and help people submit comments. And so that's the rest of the presentation. And so we're both here to answer any questions you have.

Council, any questions? I'll go with Councilmember Blass.

Yeah, thank you for the presentation. Wondering about the process after, so we send these comments out, what happens after that?

So they are required to respond to them in the final EIS.

So they have to read everything we send them and they will respond to every point that we make? Yes. And it may influence their final decision perhaps?

Yeah, so when we had an EIS you basically respond to each one. It could require them to go back and make changes or it could just be NOTED OR THEY DISAGREE WITH IT.

AND TIMEWISE?

THERE'S NO REQUIREMENT FOR A TURN AROUND. THE ORIGINAL EA WAS ALMOST A YEAR BEFORE THEY PUT OUT THE FINAL DOCUMENT. THEY'RE CLAIMING IT WILL BE BY AROUND THE END OF THE YEAR, BUT WE DON'T KNOW THAT THAT IS.

BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE 60 DAYS TO RESPOND TO THERE.

CORRECT.

THEY HAVE A YEAR OR TWO.

THEY HAVE AS LONG AS THEY WANT TO PUT OUT THE FINAL EIS.

And then that's over? We don't comment back on their comments?

No, then it goes into the appeal period.

Councilmember Harris?

Thank you. It really pains me, but I can't support this. And if this is something where there's a council vote, I will ask that there be a footnote with my specific objection. This has too many errors of fact. And I'm sorry, they're not trivial. There is no such thing as a Seattle area metroplex. It does not exist. It's a specific FAA program, and that matters. An employment is not a passenger. There were not 52 million employments. An employment is when somebody gets on the plane. It's a specific FAA term regarding funding. These are the kinds of things that will just get, you know, I appreciate everybody's effort, but this speaks to the density of the material. Everybody means well, but this needs to go through some rudimentary fact checking. I would not, if it was just a member of the public, people can write whatever they want, but We are, I take these negotiations seriously and I am very concerned that the public will read this. I assume, you know, people watch our meetings and these kinds of things spread like wildfire and it's why airport committees struggle year after year because everybody puts out stuff that just is not accurate and I would encourage the committee to run this thing through a fact checker a little bit and come back with it. You've got until the 21st and I am very sorry. Thank you.

Other questions, discussion? Thank you very much and I appreciate all of your combined efforts to go in and give testimony and put your comments on the record today. In regards to some of the points that were raised, do we have time if we had a list of corrections or factual updates to do something like that?

There's definitely more time. This is just the last council meeting to bring it to you to get permission for them to submit anything under the committee's name. There is no additional council meeting before the 21st. This was the last chance to get in front of you, so this is the only chance to even get to you. So even if there was direction to make additional changes, they would have time to make them, but no more chance to come back in front of the council.

Gotcha. At this point, I would ask if Councilmember Harris has a list of changes that he could provide or suggestions.

I did not want to go through, there's just, it's like a lot. I actually tried to meet with the staff to talk about it, and there's just too much for this venue. We have other, I just pulled out a couple, and I, yeah.

Okay. Well, it sounds like we had two pieces of feedback. THAT WE COULD RUN WITH. BUT IN LIGHT OF HAVING NO OTHER SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO MAKE THOSE SUGGESTIONS, ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A VOTE OR A HEAD NOD HERE?

WE'RE LOOKING FOR DIRECTIONS TO WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN PROCEED SUBMITTING THIS.

I MOVE TO ALLOW THE COMMITTEE TO PROCEED WITH SUBMITTING to the port. I don't know. Sure. Yeah. Okay.

Are you going to talk about it?

Yeah, you could. Yeah. I mean, it's done an enormous amount of work, and I very much appreciate it. Obviously, Seattle Metroplex is a terminology that the airport uses, and it's important to use their terminology. So you're responding right to it. I don't see that as... But I think that the overall work is excellent and needs to be put forth out there. So I would support the council's approval of the airport committee letter.

Council Member Nutting.

I just would encourage the letter to be distributed to council prior to its release.

You bet. It's in your packet.

Thank you.

Councilmember Does-Money.

I am going to vote yes on this and I think this is the definition of leaving it all out on the field at this point. We are the underdogs and we are doing everything we can to get as much attention and get recognition as as possible. In the end it isn't actually our decision anyway but if we did our maximum and did all of the work and we are going to put it out there then I'm going to be a yes to vote to put this through.

Council Mayor Bulas?

Well, I'm concerned by what Council Member Harris has said. I don't have enough knowledge to know what is factual in this 340-page document. I think a lot of it is probably factual. And it's good to have that coming from the airport committee. I'm struggling, though, not knowing what, I mean, to put our name in something that I don't know how many ERRORS ARE IN IT, BUT I GUESS THERE IS AN OFFICIAL CITY RESPONSE, AND THIS IS THE CITY OF DES MOINES AIRPORT COMMITTEE RESPONSE WITH TWO SEPARATE DOCUMENTS.

CORRECT.

I WILL STOP NOW.

DEPUTY MAYOR OXFORD.

IT'S NOT UNCOMMON WHEN WE APPROVE CONTRACTING STUFF THAT THEY BE APPROVED AS SUBMITTED BY I just lost the... Substantially as submitted, and that there is some leeway on the part of the city manager to make the decision. As far as would this be appropriate to... If Councilmember Harris can submit what his specific... objections are that you can determine whether or not that's appropriate.

It is a very technical, intense document. So, I mean, candidly, I would not want to be responsible for ensuring a 240-page document is 100% accurate. But if the council says, the majority says we're supportive of them, if they make corrections between now and the 22nd, please submit it. I think that's fine. But I do want to be, you know, I'm I'M NOT EQUIPPED TO BE THEIR FACT CHECKER.

COUNCIL MEMBER HARRIS, YOUR SECOND TIME.

THE ONLY REASON I MENTIONED EMPLAYMENT IS WHAT THAT DOES IS THEN THERE'S THIS WHOLE OTHER STREAM OF CALCULATIONS WHERE THE ARGUMENT IS THAT THE AIRPORT COULD BALLOON IN ANNUAL OPERATIONS TO 880,000. which is like ridiculous. I'm sorry. It's just, it is physically impossible. And it is so, it's like you're getting to like Hartsfield Jackson territory. And so what I'm saying is I tried to be discreet by saying here are two things, but it's like any kind of math argument where You have a couple of axioms, and if they turn out not to be true, everything downstream, 5, 10 pages, 20, 50, that derive from it are not great. And I will stop there. Thank you.

Council Member Simons for your second time.

Yeah, and I kind of want to get back to the members of the Airport Committee were appointed because of their expertise, their knowledge of the process. their willingness to dig in and do that. I'm going to presume you got it right. And I think that I'm sure you'll go through the letter with a fine tooth comb at this point. But I think this is well worth supporting. It is the point of the airport committee to get that information out there. And we picked people to be on that committee with that in mind. This is the document that they put together. We need to honor their work.

Councilmember Boss, second time?

Yeah, I get your point. It is the job of the airport committee, and I thank you for spending all this time to volunteer for the airport committee and to write this document. I guess I will leave it to your expertise, and I will vote in favor of this.

Thank you very much for all of your work on this. I know it's been substantial and time consuming. It sounds like there are some, there's a little bit of some time left since these comments don't need to be submitted until the 21st that if folks identify things that they would like to correct or enhance or make suggestions of any sort of corrections that they can do that provided we get them in a decent amount of time. All right, fantastic. So if you all have concerns or facts or things that you would like to see, please submit those and I'm gonna say to Rebecca, thank you very much. Okay, so we have this in front of us, a motion to have the airport committee submit this on behalf of the airport committee, knowing that they are a citizen advisory group to the city council. We had our discussion, so let's move to a vote. All those in favor? DEPUTY MAYOR OXFORD, COUNCILMEMBER STEINMAN, COUNCILMEMBER DIMONI, COUNCILMEMBER NUTTING, COUNCILMEMBER BLAS, AND MYSELF, ALL THOSE OPPOSED. COUNCILMEMBER HARRIS, THE MOTION PASSES 6-1. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. OKAY. NOW, WE'RE NOT MOVING TO NEW BUSINESS. WE'RE MOVING TO THE EXEC SESSION NOW.

UNLESS THE COUNCIL WANTS, I GOT A REQUEST FOR A BREAK BEFORE EXEC BECAUSE IT'S A LONG ONE. BUT THAT'S UP TO YOU.

WHY DON'T WE JUST EXPAND THE EXECUTIVE SESSION BY FIVE MINUTES AND TAKE A BREAK FOR THAT AND I'D LIKE TO COME BACK FOR NEW ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO THIS TIME WE'LL BE GOING INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION. THE PURPOSE OF THE EXECUTIVE SESSION IS TO DISCUSS PROPERTY ACQUISITION UNDER RCW 42.30.1101B. THIS IS EXPECTED TO LAST FOR 80 MINUTES AND THAT MEANS SOMEONE DO THE MATH FOR ME. 842. How about that? 842. No formal action will be taken at the end of executive session. We'll see you back.

Thank you. Oh, that's fast. Don't you think? But that's how it works. That's how it works. . . .

Or do you have something that you want to talk about?

Yeah.

Yeah, I got a lot of things to talk about.

Yeah, no, I don't know. You know I'm going to buy it for you, by the way. See you later. Tim? Yeah, yeah. Tim? I'll be in just a second. Yeah. Right now I'm talking. I feel like Jacob . Yeah.

I get back. Okay, we are back, returning from our executive session. I want to make a note that council member Simons did have to leave. Before we go on to council reports, I want to make sure we spend some time with new agenda items for consideration. So this purpose is to present new business items for discussion on a future agenda. Any recommendation will simply need a hand raised from three council members. Do any council members have a new business they would like to propose? All right. Seeing none, let's move on to council member reports, which are limited to four minutes. We're going to start with council member Desmone.

Exciting. Thank you. I did have an exceptional time at the 4th of July star stripes and sunshine. I've been practicing that. And I did participate in the dunk tank. I'd like to thank everyone who gave it their best shot. I really would like to congratulate the other council members that took one for the team on that one. And yes, the question everyone asked me, it was cold. And yes, I will sign up again next year. So it was a great event. It was well attended. Kudos to the city. I understand change is difficult for everyone, but I'm willing to get in the dunk tank so we can do some change. So good work, guys. Council Member Nutting.

Thank you, Mayor. I have nothing at this time.

Thank you. Council Member Vlas.

I also attended the 4th of July event. I was also on the dunk tank. Some staff members did hit the target and got me in the dunk tank. The water was cold, the wind was cold, but it was for a good cause. We raised a lot of money for the food bank, so that was great. The event itself was really fun. I'm sad I missed the magician because it was the same time as our dunk tank because I love seeing magicians, and I had a big crowd to see him, and I heard great things about him. And the inflatables were awesome. There was that cool, like, Kraken getting a ship. So my kids had a great time there, and so did I. Thank you for everyone that organized it.

Thank you. Council Member Harris.

Thank you. I was not present for the fourth, but I want to show my appreciation for council members and the dunking and so forth. And also to the mayor and deputy mayor for showing up for the port thing today. I may have sounded a bit harsh to our committee people, but just again, I will say that The airport was supposed to, when they did the second runway, they pumped $170 million into the area. That was the level of mitigation. It was almost a one-to-one capital versus mitigation thing. And the second runway was $1.1 billion, and you ended up $600 million in mitigations. And it may not have been things that people wanted, let's say, you know, making the planes go somewhere else, but they were incredibly useful to protecting housing stock and the school construction and water quality and so on. And I am concerned. I've worked at this a long time, and I want to show my appreciation that I am hearing people now start talking about economics, which we never did before. But now, the reason I beat on people for accuracy is that they don't give you this kind of money. They will give you $60,000 if you you know, fudge things or whatever, but they don't get into that kind of deal, and if it's not the airport committee or it's not us, somebody has to have these numbers right on an ongoing basis, and that's why I'm a bit stroppy, is that we have to get into the practice of knowing what Part 150 is or what these numbers are, whether we like it or not, because in the same way that Deputy Mayor is able to talk with fluency about the Shoreline Master Plan. You just have to develop a certain fluency on some of this stuff. Otherwise, you can't get the useful agreements that you want. But this is progress, and thanks to you both for showing up. I think it definitely helped. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Oxegar.

Ah, it's left to me to run down the calendar. Sunday is Shark in the Park at Redondo. They're closing off a chunk of Beach Drive. This is primarily being sponsored by the Mast Center and in conjunction with both the city and the Redondo Community Association. And I believe the roads will be closed from 9 o'clock until 5. There's going to be some pretty intense detours. We'll see how it works. But it was a very successful event last year, and they're promising, the organizers are promising it's going to be even bigger this year. And of course, a lot of it is being presented on the brand new plaza and the new fishing pier. So it'll be a an exciting opportunity to show off those new facilities. Then on July 17th is the Waterland Kids Festival at the Fieldhouse Park, and that's being done in conjunction with our community engagement parks and rec, yes. Sorry, and that's That's being in conjunction with the city and with the Legacy Foundation. Highly successful last year. I think there were about 1,500 kids or something last year. It's all free, and so a great opportunity for the kids to be able to come down and just have a festival. It should be fun. I believe that starts at 11. I'm not sure, but anyway.

It starts at noon. Pardon? It starts at noon.

Noon. Okay. We'll get it. Okay, so then that means that on July 18th, which is Saturday, we've got the Waterland Parade with its new route, reverse route, and much shorter, and it will be – At the conclusion of the parade, they will then start with the block party, which is in the block in front of the theater. And that's a new event this year. So that should be, this is going to be very interesting, how we're changing things up and with the intent of making everything better. So we'll see how that goes. And then on July 19th, I believe, Have we gotten any word on whether or not the car show is still going on?

I've been told it is going on. Wheels and Keels.

So Wheels and Keels will be on July 19th in the North Marina parking lot. And so that's going on. But also then the Historical Society is having the Harbor Cruise, which is they've leased, rented, whatever they've got the... one of the Argosy tour ships coming down, and there's going to be, I think it's a two-hour cruise around.

I just have to look at Bonnie for everything. She says yes. Oh, it's three hours. Okay.

I'm sorry? Starts at one, yes. So anyway, we're in the thick of tons of activities going on and something for everybody, and hopefully it'll all come off. Smooth.

Yes. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate you doing the rundown of events so I don't have to repeat all of those, but I wanted to say a special thanks to Rebecca Deming, to Catherine Caffrey, to Deputy Mayor Oxiger, Council Member Harris for going to the hearing today about the Port Sustainable Airport Master Plan, I think we continue to be engaged and I think it's very important for us not to take our foot off the gas in terms of engaging with the port and also talking about what meaningful mitigation will be as a result of the increased flights, passengers and capacity that are going in at SeaTac Airport. The public is welcome to commit and send in comments up until July 21st and like we said we have the event coming up that Rebecca mentioned that folks can get assistance doing that and there are also I think templates available online that you can go and look at. Thank you. On that note, I also want to say thank you so much to Community Engagement Services, AJ Johnson-Newton, all of the folks in CES pulling off what really was kind of a last minute ask by this council to have a scaled down but different re-envision of the July 4th event. I don't know about you, I was not in the dunk tank, but I did go to the meadow at the beach park right at 10 a.m. And let me tell you, there were families there at like 10.01 ready to play on the equipment. There were adults going down the slide with the Kraken and the pirate ship because the folks at Park Run were so excited about it that they were like, we're going to test this out first. And so I felt like there was a lot of participation and folks do like having the opportunity to participate play with the lawn games, and we had a tug of war and line dancing and dunking our council members and the magician, and we had music that was very loud at 10 o'clock in the morning, which was excellent. And you know what? I managed to run over and listen to Burien Actors Theater deliver the Declaration of Independence, and it was, if you haven't read it lately... I encourage folks to go do that, because you know what? It was really interesting, because a lot of it is in the indictment of King George and what he had done to the colonies, and it's important for us to remember those things, and I thought they did a lovely job. So thank you very much to the folks who worked very hard to pull that off on a very tight timeline, and hearing the engagement that we wanted from the council to have those types of events, and really from our residents who said they want more family-friendly events and more options, changing this event allows us to support more than one event throughout the year with our limited dollars and resources. So let's make sure that folks go to Shark in the Park that's coming up. Please use the parking shuttle. I think parking will be challenging, but there are alternates in place for folks to go park further up the road and then use the shuttle to get there and things like that. We do have also Drag Bingo that benefits Waterland Pride and the Highline School Foundation coming up on the 12th if you don't want to do Shark in the Park. And then Jean, Deputy Mayor Oxiger talked about Children's Fest on the 17th and Waterland Parade Block Party. There's a lot going on as there always is in July here in Des Moines, but I feel like that is where sort of our art character comes out and where you see some of the traditions that have played out throughout the years come back. And it is an opportunity for folks to convene and be in community with each other, which I think is always a great thing to see. And I'm excited when folks get out of the house. And I'm excited when kids are engaged, running around. I was at the farmer's market last 4th of July, this 4th of July last week. And we had extra chalk and extra blocks, like Connect Four giant size from Costco. And someone looked at me and said, why don't we have this all the time? Kids are everywhere and they love it. And I was like, I know. Let's do it. So from that, I think that we can see the result of some of that engagement, some of that partnership, which is exciting for me. I'd love to see more kids out there. All right. Let's see what else I have on my list. I think that is it. We are going to adjourn. We're at the end of our meeting, the end of our agenda. And our next meeting will be a workshop on July 30th. And I'm going to look to Council Member Des Moines for an adjournment.

Council Member Des Moines. Sorry. It's been a long day. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Second.

All right. Seconded. And let's say aye. Alright.