City Council - Regular Meeting

I was trying to now we're recording. So, um let's go ahead and call the meeting to order and I'm going to hand uh the gavvel over to council vice president Shippen.

Thank you. So, tonight's a workshop. not our regular council meeting and this is Mayor Gayy's last workshop and last meeting. So this is his sendoff so to speak. Um Brett's been with us um as mayor since 2020 as 2026. So, as we were going through the pandemic and all the changes going on, not just locally here, but everywhere around us, um Brett was our leader, and he's accomplished so much in just six years. Uh I like I always say, he's a forward thinker. I I think every time I've talked to him, he's always thinking about what's the next thing we can do to help our city. What can we do? How can we use this piece, you know, of property? How can we get this park? how come, you know, he's just always looking for ways to improve our city. And when he wasn't doing that, he was traveling to try and gain funds through grants to help pay for things so that we could make some of these improvements in these capital projects. So, he's done a lot in just six years, which is not a very long time as cities go. So, I have a list of just a few of his accomplishments I would like to read. Um, so let's start with Costco. Um, the improvements here to Main Street. um North Coven downtown, the Cedarwood funding and acquisition, Bay View Trail and Westlake Park, which also just got funding to extend a little bit. um the transportation benefit district, the museum and ci civic campus behind us, 91st Street um sidewalks and safe routes to school, Cavalo Park transfer, Milspur, the food bank, COVID relief funds to businesses here locally, town halls about opioids and overdose prevention, Starbucks with the mayor. He made himself available by taking time

out of his day to sit at Starbucks or anyone who wanted to come talk to him. AWC and NLC board appointments, annual legislative receptions, Sunset Beach Park and New Do APWA accreditation, Lean Center of Excellence, 20th Street Widening, established a parks department, and something we've been working on a long time, the Ever Waterfront or excuse me, waterline um permission to build on that. We they've been working on that for years and so we finally got an agreement with Everett about their water line and being able to use that property industrial area sewer development. He established our family or farmers market. He um was involved in our veterans memorial 91st Avenue Southeast Road extension state route 9 roundabout gateway signs and rebranding. And we just got another new one just off um highway 92 and grade road. And um a or excuse me WSPC accreditation for our police department. Started a regional mayor's group focused on public safety safety legislation and transportation concerns. The acquisition of land to expand Eagle Ridge Park. Willard Wyatt Park was renamed Davies Beach and transferred from the county in early 2020. The boat docks were replaced. Public workshop remodel and modernization, Frontier Heights Park redevelopment, acquisition of land to expand Eagle Ridge Park, and a bond rating upgrade which affects the rates we pay on our bonds. So, this is just a list of some

of the things he's done. I have no doubt there is so much more that have been gone on behind the scenes and um everyone from the city that I've talked to when I'm talking about department heads and employees with the cities, every single one of them have said what a joy he is to work with, that he came to work every day with a smile on his face and an upbeat personality. Um he's certainly added humor to our council meetings and we've been very I've been very grateful um for everything the mayor has done and does anyone else at council want to say anything. I'll just add uh I appreciate the mentorship, right, as um I have explored city politics and getting into the planning commission and moving forward here, right? You've been active and trying to find the uh I'll say next generation of leaders to come behind and and keep that mantle going and so I appreciate that as well.

Thanks, Haven. Yeah, I'm going to say too that I appreciate you um as mayor and I was as you um announced that you're leaving looking at all the comments, tremendous amount of community support, tremendous amount of positive comments.

Um and I think it's true with any good leader that u takes a stand on issues. Um it shows from from the pros and the cons and the strong um stand behind each of those issues. someone who kind of goes along with the flow will not see any controversy at all. And I think that that that that says a lot about you and about um your morals and and the issues you stood behind and we appreciate that. And I got you something that will make you remember us. All right. Perfect. And I'll say you can take the man out of L Stevens, but you can't take the L Stevens out of the man. Open it now.

Yeah, sure. It's like glitter Christmas. I'm sorry. That was that was TJ Maxx for wrapping paper. I just think of glitter when I think of rats. I'm a big big glitter gang. Oh, I love it. That's Elizabeth Pearson. She's a local artist. Beautiful. Oh, very. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you so much. It's beautiful. Thank you.

I'm I'm absolutely excited for your new adventure in Idaho and I'm a little bummed I don't get to work with you. Um and so I just want to wish you the best of luck out there. Thank you Tasha. I appreciate that. And I don't want to neglect our other city employees up here. Gentlemen, do you have anything you'd like to add?

Yeah, and I got to talk to Brett the other day as well, but man, I tell you, the stuff that we've accomplished has been absolutely exceptional and your legacy for always be here. You know, uh your fingerprint uh your guidance is going to be missed. Uh all of our good conversations and the tough conversations and the changes that we've seen here at this city, you provided leader leadership and stability through the whole thing. And most important, you became a really good friend and I'm going to miss you. So, but um best wishes to you and your family and I'll be coming by to see you. Perfect. We got room.

That's great. Yeah, I was I made sure I could make it out tonight because I was really wanted to be here for your last meeting. You know, Brett was on the council when I first uh was appointed to serve as city attorney and uh I have to admit I was a little skeptical when he first ran. I would be and you kind of lack how's this guy job is he gonna do but I I I've been thoroughly impressed and what I really appreciate about you is you you don't just talk ideas and dreams you talk solutions and you talk the energy to get things done with your staff and so forth and I've been amazed by that and uh I think you've done a great job for the city and I think they'll miss Thank you. Oh Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay, I think we all wish Brett the best. Um, and his wife and boys are in the back there. Um, so I'm going to make Brett stand up like he's made so many other people stand up and accept a plaque. All right, perfect. You want me in the picture?

Okay. And what this plaque says is it says city of Lake Stevens, Brett Gaye, mayor 2020 to 2026 and grateful appreciation for outstanding service and commitment to the citizens of Lake Stevens. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Kim. Appreciate it. Thank you. Uh well, it's been uh I always tell people that uh when I became mayor, I thought it was going to be um costs and sidewalks and it was uh punched in the face by COVID and all the turmoil and um unknowingness of that and um Um the um I I was reflecting on on the list of things that that we've done um over the my my tenure as mayor and and I think of each one of those projects that we've knocked out and I think of Eric. I think of Jill and I think of Anya and I think of Aaron and Matthew and just and Russ. Holy cow Russ. And each one of those projects has their stamp on it, you know, uh throughout the whole staff. And uh obviously cannot do any of that uh alone. Um, I I'm often the good idea fairy who does bomb a room and walk away and know that there's great capable people behind me who can make uh the ideas that um that I get from our community and to better our community and um we've built a great

staff to uh to accomplish those goals and objectives of of our community and um and it's shown and uh I I will absolutely miss that opportunity to lead um what is a great city and and great people who are truly community-minded. So, Kelly Chillin, why don't you come on up here? So, you know, sometimes you wait the best for the last. So, Kelly, if you don't know, is our city clerk. And I've never had a city clerk to your level. Never have I had a city clerk to your level of keeping me straight and um keeping me making sure I'm not in jail, which I appreciate that because I'm sure I could have gotten there a couple times. Um but um I wanted to give you the coin. So, if you don't know, um you get a mayor's coin for stellar activity and uh stellar work. And her daughter actually has one before she does. So, uh

here's your coin. Thank you.

All right. So, with that, let's um let's keep this party going. And I think we're going to take uh what do you want to do? 10 minutes. Let's do 10 minutes. I think we got a little cake. And uh then we'll get back into the meeting and and move on. Thank you.

All right. Okay. I think I'm live. Thank you. So, tonight our consultant from Conservation Techniques will be um presenting a uh PowerPoint presentation. This work uh has been uh since the formation of the parks and recreation department. We asked uh city council uh last year for a budget to ha uh have a to hire a consultant to help us draft the first parks and recreation parks recreation open space plan or the pros plan um for to guide our department and our uh community in the field of parks and recreation for the next 6 to 10 years. and our uh city chose conservation techniques and Steve D is here and I will hand it over to him.

Cool.

Again, Steve's got a brief presentation here. Make sure this time ask. Sorry. Good. All right. Better. Yes.

Super. All right. So, as I mentioned, just a brief presentation to give you a quick highlight of the parks, recreation, and open space plan. Um, let's see. Just as a reminder, the pros plan, parks, recreation, open space plan, is intended to serve the city as its 10-year strategic plan for all things parks and recreation related. So, about enhancing and managing your existing parks and facilities uh in your open spaces, but also planning forward for the next 10 years to make upgrades, improvements, additions to the Lake Stevens Park system. Um the pros plan will help guide future investments in the park system and it will also assist the city in pursuing uh grants at the state and federal level. So to help pay for and fund those great park projects that the community has said they'd want. With regard to community feedback, um the overall process for the pros plan um tapped into the community in a number of ways. One was through a community survey, and I'll touch on the data in a second. Um, others included two different community openhouse meetings, one in July and one in November, as well as uh three small group focus group discussions that were kind of topic based, as well as tableabling at community events. So, we try to um reach the community where they were and in a lot of different ways to get good feedback for the plan. Um, regarding the survey, we did a dual mode survey. So, it was a mail out and online survey. So, the mail out survey was a random sample of 2500 households plus we had the online version available for everybody else in the community to take part in. Um, those data sets were kept separate so we can look at uh any variation in data responses between the

two uh types of survey modes. Um overall we had over 600 responses and one key fact to just take away is nearly everybody who took the survey 97% uh feel that parks and recreation opportunities are either essential or important to quality of life in Lake Stevens and walking outside right now you can tell why it's a beautiful day and and people just love being at the lake or being in the parks or on the trails. Um in terms of some of the other responses we heard from the survey and and overall through the community um there's some top priorities kind of filtered to the top. One is with regard to interest in expanding trail opportunities. Another about improving and upgrading existing park playgrounds as well as um acquiring additional land for the future to fill some gaps and to accommodate some of the other recreational needs that the community has. One question from the survey was about um interest in additional indoor recreation space. 85% from the survey said that they were either very or somewhat supportive of developing additional indoor facility space. And I know the city's already taking the next step in that process with the recreation community center RFP and hopefully building in um program management for that. So that's great great direction. Um in terms of some of the other feedback we got from the survey um some high interest amenities again include trails as well as sport courts. There's a little bit of a deficit of access to sport courts in uh the system today. Um and this is again before Cavalure Hill. Uh so interest in providing additional

amenities for those as well as um community events and just spaces for families or people to come gather, picnic shelters, um picnic areas and things like that. Some of the reasons why community residents are leaving Lake Stevens to recreate include access to trails. Um, so again, internal consistency in questions is always a good thing to see in surveys. So there's high demand and there is limited opportunity. So they're going elsewhere. It's no um big shock, but it does reinforce the local need for additional trails and trail corridors. Other reasons for leaving the city include recreation activities, primarily indoor recreation. So again, the city's already starting to think about that in the next phase of its work. Other feedback we heard from the process um basically put into two categories. One is take care of what you have. Um, so upgrade your existing parks, look at accessibility for users of all abilities, and also balance investments between neighborhood type parks and lakefront type parks. So, make sure that those investments are spread across the community. Um, focus on communications and marketing, letting know that, letting people know what's available, how to access it, what's provided. Um, and when it comes to programming, what's available and how to get there in terms of recreation opportunities, again, expanding trail connections, uh, potentially expanding opportunities for sport courts, sport fields, covered spaces. Um, that could be picnic sheltered or just covered spaces for, you know, those wintertime um, activities or just being outside when

it's raining. and just generally um seeing how you can provide additional access points to the lake over the next 10 plus years. So the pros plan is structured um in a fairly straightforward manner um as you would imagine for a a city plan. So the first section, the first few chapters really is about the context, the process and the inventory. So it really just sets a tone for where the city is today, what process we went through for the community engagement and what is the existing inventory and existing opportunities. The middle section of the plan is really the heart. It's the needs assessment and it's broken into three uh core sections that are topical. Um, so parks, recreation, and events and operations. And within each chapter, we've identified feedback we heard from the community, as well as regional, state, and national trends, and what we saw from our our assessments of the city's system as it relates to the opportunities for improvements, recommendations, and um, future upgrades. Then the back end of the plan aside from the appendices is the goals and policies and implementation. Implementation includes the long list of uh potential projects as well as some strategies to implement those projects. Regarding goals and policies, they're structured again topically. Um so we used the prior community or I'm sorry the prior comprehensive plan goals and objectives as a framework. Um did some word smithing and modifications and basically restructured those around topic areas to just help the reader

understand where uh key objectives for the plan would live. Couple other points about the needs assessment. Um there's a series of maps that are included in the pros plan. Um they're trail tra I'm sorry travel shed maps and I think I've discussed this with council in a prior presentation. Uh but the intent here is to identify basic catchment areas for different types of parks whether it's a neighborhood park or community park or different types of amenities whether it's playground or sports field or um a dog off leash area. So with this particular graphic it's a composite of your mini parks, neighborhood parks and community parks um out to a onem catchment area. So the intent here is to say if you live within kind of a pinkish hue in the city, you're within a mile or half mile or a/4 mile of existing park. If you're in those white areas, it helps inform where future acquisition targets could be located. So, we use this process to really identify um and zoom in on key areas of the city where the city could in the future as funds are available uh pursue acquisition to fill those gaps. And with regard to the rest of the capital plan, couple caveats. Um again, the the plan includes a long list of potential projects. It's intended to serve as a 10-year planning tool. It's not an official budget. It is a list of projects that have uh planning level costs associated with those. And they're really intended to help guide conversations between staff and council

about what types of projects go into the city budget. regarding those projects. Um broke it out uh with a simple pie chart here which represents about $64 million over again a 10 10-year window. Um big project related to the recreation uh community center in there with sports complex. Uh but other projects that are notable in the plan include adding additional amenities across existing parks for things like picnic shelters, splash pad, a pump track, and peer and dock upgrades as well as the multiple phases of the Bay View Trail. Um and then ADA's assess ADA enhancements and access in enhancements across the city. Uh periodic improvements over time uh to make the all of the parks accessible for all users. Um and then wayfinding and signage again so folks have a clear and consistent way to know what's available where it is. And then system expansion is about again acquisitions for parks to fill those gaps as well as trail acquisitions or easements to um again fill gaps or expand connections in the trail system over time. So that's a quick snapshot of what's in the pros plan. And in terms of just general compliance, um the plan does meet the intent of the growth management act. It includes the 10-year capital project list. Uh we went through a sea process and um the review period has closed. No

additional comments came through that. Uh so we're ready to move forward with city council approval. And then it has also been reviewed from the Recreation and Conservation Office, the RCO. They're the funding agency in the state for parks. Um, they did a preliminary review. They said, "You're good to go. Uh, once the plans approved and adopted, they would make a final approval on their end so the city can pursue grants." And that's all I have. Jill, do you want to add anything else about next steps or going from there?

Sure. Thanks, Steve. I appreciate it. Um I just of note I wanted to highlight the interaction and the participation of the public in this. I I think Steve covered it really well but um and then also the importance that the community felt uh towards parks and recreation and then um the some of the priorities you know that were identified in here are already underway. So that was nice to kind of reaffirm that we were moving in the community's uh direction or the way that the community um uh voiced their opinion on where we should move such as the um the pickle ball courts up at uh Frontier Heights and then of course the continuation of the Bay View Trail. So and other projects uh up there as well that we're integrating into other um master plans for specific properties. And then um the parks and recreation planning board also was um heavily involved in this process and they did forward a recommendation uh for adoption as well. And I think that's all I had to add but happy to answer any questions.

Does anyone have any questions? Yes. So just as far as the next steps of city council discussion and approval. So the intent is not to approve that tonight. That would happen at a subsequent meeting. That's correct. We wanted to have a conversation tonight and then it would potentially come back on your consent agenda for next Monday or Tuesday, excuse me.

Okay. So, I I do have um I guess one question. You talked about community engagement. Can you talk about the engagement between the parks department and the consultants in terms of um yeah how we rack stack the different ideas for uh prioritization of parks things like that? I mean how much of it was just the consulting firm versus you guys working together etc.

We did work really closely together. This was um a really uh not really but it was an expedited process. There was a lot of work to do over 10 months, but most of um what you're seeing before you was really informed by our public outreach and our collaboration with our stakeholders in that process. Um Steve, did you have anything to add on that? I mean, there are Sorry, as I hand it off and take it back. There are regional and national trends as well that we wanted to um be aware of and um and and get those data sources to inform our work as well so that we stay relevant in this field and that we're um comparable to what's happening in a on a regional and then also very focused in on what's going on in our local community as well. Now I will hand it over.

Thanks Jill. And I guess the other thing I would add, it was a very collaborative process between staff and our team. Um, but what is in the plan is also a reflection of what the city has had plans for because we have built upon the past um budgets and capital plans that the departments had. Okay. Thank you.

I do have a quick question. Um Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt? No. Okay. Um, I actually went to one of those open houses and it was really, um, informational seeing all of the different things that the pros plan had in it. Um, I was curious about the outreach as well, the community outreach. Um, I think that maybe, um, the demographic of people that really use the park um, obviously should be asked about what they think should happen there. Um, and I was curious as far as engaging the youth in Lake Stevens, what was done to um, communicate with the youth in Lake Stevens, like the people actually, you know, the kids at the parks or um, in the schools or um, if what if anything was done to get their opinions?

Great question. Jill, you want to start? We did have um, the survey advertised at with the school district and it went out in their peach jar advertisements. Um we did hold one open house over the summer where we went out and pulled youth from the park to come in. So we had some great comments from them. Uh they came in and commented on the boards. Uh and then we also engaged a lot of youth organizations. So in our stakeholder outreach, uh we engaged um little league the sports um providers as well as um I'm forgetting the third group, but it was like a um

users in general. Yes. And we did have some um some youth organizations or representatives in that stakeholder interview group as well.

Awesome. Thank you. You bet. have u maybe not the questions but kind of some observations as I was as I was looking at uh the plan. Uh great job assembling the information. I found it really I mean it's very comprehensive and I appreciate all the work that was done to to get it to where we can apply for grants. We have a pathway for growth. Um, as you know, we're we're talking budget and there's a tremendous amount of investments that have happened over the last few years in parks and I think everybody is appreciating that and um thinking about the maintenance that comes along with that and then determining the pace of growth. Um, I think what I keep in mind as I look at this, um, on page 45 of the plan 55 of our packet, um, there's a few, we're measuring ourselves against a few jurisdictions, um, Edmmonds, Mercer Island, Bathl, Mount Lake Terrace. Um, and and kind of gauging where we are. And I was looking as as I was looking at those jurisdictions, I was thinking two of them have had tremendous budget deficits this past year. Um, three other ones have almost double our budget and then one is kind of behind us. So I think I I I appreciate the ranking in terms of these are this is the population of similar jurisdictions and this is how we rank. However, we we're not looking at the context of how they're operating their budget primarily um or their budget problems that have recently surfaced and they've had to address. And so I think that's I I take that I look at that and I'm kind of just taking it

with um a little bit of a grain of salt, so to speak. And I I appreciate the work that was done into it. And as we're looking at these further, I think those are the kinds of questions in terms of the growth. What can we afford to grow at the pace that we can afford to grow? Because we definitely have to maintain what we have. So that's thank you. Anyone else?

Yeah. So you talked one of your things said it was a non-binding or not an official budget or something. Can we can you help me understand? So, some of the language in the actual um uh sorry, the resolution, right, has some language in there uh that talks about this becoming part of our official plan kind of for the city. Can you help me understand that a little bit more? Um, I guess in the context of how it compares to the comprehensive plan or the CIP in terms of its Yeah. H how firm is it versus just guidance versus I mean what are we signing up for by I guess by passing a resolution like this?

Absolutely. Great question. So in our comprehensive plan, there is a chapter for the capital improvement plan or the CIP and this is a breakout of the parks projects that will be part of the CIP when we go through the comprehensive plan update later this year. So it is just a single it's a separated off of the um of the comprehensive plans capital projects. The plan itself will additionally be uh eventually be adopted into the comprehensive plan by ordinance. So this is going to be adopted by resolution for the park standalone plan. So I guess um a different way of looking at it is it's like a miniature comprehensive plan for the parks department itself and then it will be in this year adopted into the comprehensive plan. And so you'll have uh and then the comp uh the CIP portion of this will be integrated into the CIP. So it will be coming back to council before any um adoption is done. The the capital improvement plan is the projects that were identified either through a conditions assessment or through a needs analysis.

And those are um you know adopted you're familiar with those you've seen them for the whole citywide needs. And so they are not an official budget as in you haven't funded those um those projects but they've been identified as future projects. Does that answer your question?

It does. Yeah. I'm just thinking through yeah is the city going to see this and say hey the city is promising us xyz right and in 5 years from now they say hey you haven't done any of these things right. Um not that we don't want to do them. I just curious, yeah, how much we're being going to be held to doing them versus guidance and data and uh information to help inform that process so that we can proceed when we think it's the right time to proceed. Yes.

I also wanted to add one thing. Um I live in the south of the lake where the area is very white in terms of park presence. So, I'm looking forward to more parks there in the Machias um cut off trail. Definitely. So, as I was looking at the walkshed that you were that image that you were showing, yeah, there's there's quite a bit of work to do there. You It's a good point that you brought up. It's it's really reflective of our community coming from a rural um setting to an urban setting. And um so as we've annexed those areas in now, we've identified certainly that there's there's a need to um to give an even distribution across across our city. I appreciate that.

And I would um this is just an assumption, but I would also assume it has to do with available land. I know recently um some of our parks were donated to us. the top of Cavalo Hill for example and that dog park there was given to us by the county as well as the community park off Machias was given to us by the county. So sometimes these challenges are where there's available land.

Yeah, it's really opportunity dependent and so uh we have uh for years um attempted to purchase property in the south end and we haven't been successful yet. Uh but we're we're definitely trying and um and with this plan it helps really show where those investments are prioritized. So I always say this, but if anyone knows of anyone, have them have them contact me. Yes. And and again, um, Council Member Packard, uh, to your question, this isn't a discussion on how we're funding things at this point, but this was more a gathering of information. What's important to our citizens? What direction, you know, is important to Lake Stevens when it comes to the direction of our parks. You know, where are we strong? Where could we, you know, strengthen our parks department? Um, funding is a whole whole another topic.

Yeah. when I make my next comment. I'll I'll admit I did not read through the whole plan yet. Uh we got it Friday and it was a holiday weekend and so I I read the first 25 pages and I like the direction it's going. So partially, yeah, I'd be a little apprehensive about it being on the consent plan, especially since we don't have a couple or a good chunk of our city council here. I just like a discussion around it. Um the one thing I did want to touch on and maybe it's further in the plan again I didn't dive all the way in the uh the parks department or the parks district or what what's the appropriate term there like our transportation benefit district but the parks district metropolitan parks district.

Thank you. Can you help me understand kind of what that is and what that looks like or could be what are the implications for the city? And if it's in the packet, I can read it later. But there there is a section on that. I'm happy to give you a real high level. Um um Metropolitan Parks District is um it's a voter approved entity. um that then um Metro Parks Tacoma is our our state's largest parks district and they're their own functioning body of government. So it would be um you can pick your your boundary in a metropolitan parks district. It'd be the city um boundary and then they would have their own board similar to a city council.

Okay. So, it's different from a transportation benefit district where that is uh an entity that we use to fund projects, but we still have full ownership over that. This would be its own uh elected body, right? And it's just one of the options of funding parks. There's also, you know, a pro uh initiated uh property tax and um you know, possibly sales tax. There's some other funding options. I don't know if the mayor wants to to

I was just going to jump in and say, is the does the one that did exist still exists? So, the parks and recreation service area was formed to purchase community park originally and it had a governing body and um the city and the county and Lake Stevens Junior Athletic Association to the best of my recollection were the three governing bodies that went into the parks and recreation service area and those are limited uh generally and that one is uh the county prosecuting attorney has determined that that one is no longer active. Yeah. So, at one time they had one and it was essentially the school school district boundaries. Um, which is good, but then one of the constraints on it is now you have another governing body governing your parks and who the divying up of control and and stuff. So, it's a way. It's just is it the way?

There's a Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Especially as we I'll be politically correct. Consider some of the reasons why we want to absorb the sewer district, right? So that there's uniformity and a cohesive plan, right? That that makes me apprehensive from that sense. Why would we introduce something else that could cause

uh make it difficult for us to find that unifor from a tax base and a users base? It makes sense, right? Because essentially our our school district uses our our parks, right? But then how do you how do you figure out the control when you're cross jurisdictions and city boundaries and stuff? Okay, thank you for the summary. Absolutely. And um MRSC has a really great spreadsheet um that breaks down the different taxing forms um and I'd be happy to forward that along. That'd be great.

And I would also point you to the appendix on implementation which details out this in relation to the park service area and the parks district. So there's a couple different combinations. And with the metropolitan park district, one benefit is it is a permanently structured junior tax district. different than a service area, which requires you to go back to voters on I think a six-year cycle. So, permanence isn't really in the cards for a service area. Okay. Hey, Jill, would you mind send that to uh Caitlyn? She could put in the SharePoint site for the council have access. Thank you. Yeah.

And then just one um pro uh feedback on the format. The maps that you showed, those are very grainy. like the rest of it is very clear and you can zoom in and get a really high resolution image, but the map itself when you zoom in and and even the legend is very difficult to read. So, I don't know if there's a higher resolution images that we can put in to clean those up. Yeah. And on that fair point, um the version provided to council is low resolution intended for easy circulation. That sounds great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Steve. Thank you.

And so, moving right along. Um, next we have our city administrator, Jean. He's going to walk us through and review um the council procedures, the role of mayor prom um who is going to be Angie George, council member Angie Jordad, and the upcoming mayor vacancy process.

Perfect. We're going to team up on this tonight. I will uh let Greg and the clerks chime in when we get to that point. Uh but tonight's purpose is just to provide you with a bunch of information to be considering in your mind before we bring it back next week to get some direction from council. So as we went through our code, uh we of course read the code and we uh have noticed that the there is a section in there talks about appointing the mayor from the city council, the city members and and we believe that's old language from when the city was really small. And so we're looking to yield towards state statute on this to fill that position. Uh but that language is in there and we've been looking at that. As we uh move forward, we're proposing if if if council would like to utilize the existing language that we have for filling a council vacancy. Uh in my history, uh I've never had a coun or a mayor leave. And so this is new to me and it appears to be new to the city because we've never dealt with it. And so at any rate, we're going to uh need to build a process, but that's one of the points of consideration. Do you want to use the existing process for filling a uh city council vacancy? And we've provided that information for you to look at. In addition, uh as we were looking at this, it's really a unique situation where we get to pick a mayor. And uh so one of the questions is when we have vacancies on a city position, a city staff position, we always look at and and re-evaluate it. Do we need the position? Should it be full-time? Should it be part-time? What are the um skills we're looking for? That type of thing. And so you'll see list in here for you tonight is do we want to consider department head input? What that would look like is we would put a survey out

to the department heads and say, "What kind of uh leadership qualities would you like to see in the next mayor?" That's something we could do. Uh staff wouldn't have a voting place or anything like that, but they would be able to provide council some input should you choose. Uh the other thing we're looking at is of course the position classification uh that that uh addresses the full-time mayor role right now. Do we still want to have a full-time mayor or do we want to have part-time mayor? Something to consider. Uh so be thinking about that between now and next week. And I will turn it over to Greg to give any other additional information or ask question or answer any questions on the code and anything else you might have for the city attorney. Uh well, I was asked to look at the issue and um um I first looked at the statutes and RCW 35A 12050 says if the mayor's office becomes vacant then and a new mayors to be appointed following the process in another statute 422070 that's a statute that says you you have 90 days uh uh to do it and that the position is open to any qualified person. Um, which I think is current law and to me state law is trumps anything inconsistent with our code. And so I'd recommend that we follow the uh state statute uh with respect to that. The other interesting thing is that 3581250 says that incumbent council member is eligible to be appointed to fill a vacancy in the mayor, but it's not. the appointments are limited to the uh the current council. So uh and so adopting a policy like June said I think is uh

important. You can use your process in your council procedures seems to work or if you want to add anything addition to that that's up to you that's within your uh prerogative. uh if you're going to consider um going back to a part-time mayor position there, you know, went to a mayor position what in 2020, late 2020.

Yeah. Uh when Brett was after Brett was elected and he came to you with a lot of enthusiasm and said, "Here's my vision. here's what I want to do and I need to be a full-time mayor to be able to do that. And uh the council uh uh accommodated that request and we amended the code at that time to make the provision a uh a full-time mayor. If you want to reconsider that decision for the for the future, we would need to amend the code. We could do that very very quickly. Uh but uh if if that's something you're going to want to consider, we need to make a decision about that pretty pretty quick. So because obviously the people that are going to apply to be mayor, whether it's a full-time or a part-time, that's a pretty big for most people, that's a pretty big uh decision uh uh uh to make. and particularly people that have employment uh whether they're seeking a full-time or a part-time position, you know, they need time to deal with that uh with their own circumstances and maybe even with their current job. So, that's something I think you need to to look at uh uh look at very very quickly pending uh the uh appointment uh of of a new mayor. your mayor prom your president mayor proan same thing uh serves in the capacity of the mayor they don't have quite all the powers that that the mayor has but uh can certainly um in addition to handling uh the meetings um can work with the staff and the city and administrator with with respect to currency uh uh projects. So those are my initial comments. If you have any further questions along those lines, glad to talk to you about

I do. Um, so I guess you you mentioned that our current I and Jean mentioned to it's an old uh provision and I'm I'm assuming that uh the language that the vacancy will be filled at the next regular meeting electing uh the mayor from the council member ranks. Um, I'm I'm assuming that was when the position was part-time

and that was um, but I don't think that that deems it um unlawful unless it's I guess you mentioned that it it conflicts with the RCW. Is it outside of Why is it still in there if we have a conflicting RC? Because it's it's been buried there and nobody's looked at it. We just looked it up nicely. Interestingly, yeah, it was interesting to me that it was buried in the council procedures. It wasn't it it wasn't reflected with that called out. And so I think it's just something that uh has been I guess other

other councils or other cities have the same rule that they they choose a mayor from among the council members. Are they are they against the RCW? I I mean I mean that's their way of doing that's the case. The I'm not I'm not sure aware if that's the case. Like I there's there's I think is it city of um Mount Lake Terrace or there's cities that elect the mayor from the council members as their mode of operations. Yeah. I mean, you certainly you have the as you select your mayor, you he formed.

Yeah, Greg. I think I think she may and I don't know be referencing the council manager form of government where the where the mayor is, you know, elect, you know, picked by the council members. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I know Mount Lake Terrace is that form of government, right? Yeah. Yeah, you always have to be careful with that as we uh as we as I think was pointed out during your council training what our classification as a non-charter uh you know code city with a mayor council form of government you know puts us in the a plethora of statutes that we use as opposed to other other cities but okay

but but I mean the rule of law is very very clear is that our local ordinances cannot conflict with statutes that regulate a particular area. And and it seems pretty clear to me that state statute in this area for us uh says to to uh get your mayor, you need to follow RCW4212 and 4212 has the process uh uh for selection from any qualified uh person and you need to do so within 90 days. So, I think that's the parameters that I would recommend that you follow. If you choose one of your own, that's certainly something you can do.

Will you bring back to us a draft ordinance that replaces the language that's um or is that the Yeah, I think that's a good idea now that I've been brought this has been brought to uh brought to my attention. And uh uh uh as far as amending the other section of the code, if you want to, that's pretty easy to do. I just need to know if you want to do that.

I have a comment on the part-time. I guess this was an issue. the part-time. I think I would have a hard time with the size of a city we we are and we've grown to be to have someone that can afford to support their family while being part-time mayor and having another full-time job. So, I would say that for me, I'm I'm very much leaning on keeping the the position full-time. Um, all I have

I have to say the same. I um with everything that we've accomplished these last six years since we've had a full-time mayor, it's a tremendous amount of accomplishment in a relatively short period of time. I would think also going from a full-time to part-time mayor. Would we need to involve like the salary commission as well? So, it wouldn't be as simple as just saying, "Oh, we're going to go part-time." It it seems like there'd be more to it than that. Well, you'll have to Yeah. the uh the salary commission would again regulate the uh the the salary for a part-time mayor. In fact, as I recall after when Brett was first appointed, we didn't have a salary

for a full-time mayor.

And it took a few weeks, the salary commission met and determined what that salary would be. Uh so that's the way that process would work if you did that. And then um when we had a vacancy on the council, we put out um notice that, you know, anyone could apply and we received letters that we reviewed, but we didn't have any in-person interviews, so to speak, where if we're appointing someone to the board, like when we just appointed someone to the parks board, we had a set of questions that each person who applied was asked the same question and had answers and we kind of, you know, we rated off that. So what would the process be once we get paper applications or we would or on the you know email applications? What would the process be next?

Um are you are you speaking of the last um the last round that we did when we were we appointed um council member Hilt? Yes. I think that process worked a little differently than when uh Ryan Donahghue was appointed. Um we did actually do a full in-person interview. We followed the process exactly as was stated in council procedures. We took applications. Um so I think with council member Hilt filling council member Tajent spot. That was just a little bit unusual situation. Yeah. And at the time you guys made a motion to forgo your council procedures and your rules and just go ahead with the appointment with council member Hilt. It was a very short period of time. Yeah, it was very short. Yeah. Yeah.

And then um an additional question I have is what if a current city council member is interested in applying for the mayor position? How's that going to look when we do start the interview process and start discussing amongst ourselves the candidates or applicants? And if one of our fellow council members decides to apply, how's that going to look? Well, that's how uh I guess a council member who wants to do that and wants to apply, how they uh how they participate, they'll have some decisions to make, they are eligible to vote. They a council member who wants the position would be entitled to vote. That's that that's clear. there there's no question uh about that. Uh if there was, you know, in in the past you've uh you come up and written some some questions that you know the general public or candidates weren't privy to until they they heard them here. If you were going to have a process like that, would would would that would a council member should they participate in that or excuse themselves just from a a public perception? You you know, you you you're you're judged how you ask to be judged, right, by your conduct. And so people who if there's council members who would be interested in that, I think it's just something that they're going to have to individually weigh those things. There's no legal prohibition from then not fully participating

uh in the appointment process even though they might be eligible and desire to be appointed to the position. Can we introduce a policy that defines that they can't? I mean, I I'm not comfortable with having a council member who is up for that position be involved at all in the process. I'd propose they need to be fully recused from the process and have no input of either review of the other candidates or part of the interview panel or voting.

Yeah. I you know, if if a majority of the council voted uh that a council member who was had submits the name. Yeah. Yeah. Uh that they would be excluded from participating in certain discussion about uh the uh the procedure if there was something that the other candidates weren't going to be privy uh privy to. I think you could do that. uh but the council members still would have the right to vote.

And I I think just having candid conversations amongst the council with somebody who's applied for the position would be extremely challenging. Yeah. Um and I think would have an effect on the process if the person was sitting in the room. Yeah. I think well it becomes it becomes somewhat difficult. I think Tash has some comments. Yeah. I have a couple questions. So, I want to go back to the full-time part-time thing because I have I need some clarification.

Um, I remember in 2020 when when that switch was made. Um, and I'll admit I wasn't really engaged in that process, so I don't know all of the details admittedly. Um, but I'm curious because as a citizen, I remember specifically hearing that our city needed a full-time mayor. Our city based on the size needed a full-time mayor and that's why it was decided to do that. so that um our city could be represented in a full-time capacity. Um there was a lot of outrage about that in the community. There was a lot of people that thought that there was like a personal agenda or, you know, whatever. And so there was a lot of people that were really upset about it. And so my question is, do does a city this size in comparison in with a strong mayor um form of government, do they typically have full-time mayors? And if they do, how is that compared to our mayor position? Um because I think by having a full-time mayor if we don't need a full-time mayor, opening it up to part-time is going to expand our candidacies. Um and so, you know, there's a lot of people that I think would step up to be a part-time mayor that wouldn't h if they wouldn't have to quit their full-time job. Um and so I guess my main question is what does it look like comparing us versus other cities of the same size? I mean, we could even use the little diagram on the pros plan thing where it shows all the different part or all the different cities that have the same population as us. What is their form of government look like versus ours in comparison to having a mayor in a full-time or part-time position?

I don't know. I can't answer the question of how many uh cities of our size have full-time mayors versus part-time mayor because I haven't I haven't reached I know that there are cities with both and um I guess it depends on what size of city you might you might start to uh you might start to look at u that's something we could do for you but I I I can't give you the answer to that question whether this city wants it's it's been great and whether it's something we want to continue having a full-time mayor. Uh I'll let other people who are

well and I'm not suggesting we shouldn't.

Yeah, it's not really a legal question. It's just I'll jump on that. So, I think I think you've got to really assess like if you're going to stay with a full-time mayor, who you choose as the next mayor and who you think the voters might choose as the next mayor, you have to really assess is that person going to give you the ROI on a full-time salary, right? I I would hope I've done that. I don't know. Um I think uh we've got a collective $40 million in grants since I've been mayor. I think that's probably a pretty good ROI. So, and and not that all of that was mine, but a lot of it is me. The way Jean and I have worked the last six years is Jean uh keeps the team going and I stay outside the city bringing money in. That's how we've worked it. And um being on the boards in the right um committees and being in the right places at the right locations so that um so so we have our hand at the table to be able to to bring money in. You can send staff members to those meetings, but it's not the same as an elected. So, um, your ROI, if you have the right person in a full-time position at mayor, will will will get you assets back to the city. So you you just have to ask yourself, do you go back to a part-time mayor who is not fully committed 24/7 to the city? And can they really give you the ROI that a full-time mayor who can be fully committed to the city and can be out there um bird dogging all the holes for the right decision making and for the right grants and is that ROI worth it uh to the city? So, those are what you have that's what you have to balance. I'm not saying that the next mayor will have the same relationship that Gan and I do that allows me to confidently um have confidence in Jean

to really run the staff so I don't have to worry about it too much. Um, and I can go do that outside work. Jean's phenomenal with that. And and and a part-time mayor would have that great asset as well, right? So then you have to ask yourself, would that part-time mayor be able to get the same ROI?

So I guess where I keep going back to the strong mayor form of government because and and I had questions about this previously with the city manager because from what I had seen, there was quite a difference in um cities that have the strong mayor government um have uh less of a a hands-on mayor and the city manager basically does all of that. So that was kind of a little bit more confusion and I just want to clarify for anyone who doesn't know that ROI is return on investment because some people might not know that. Um but yeah, so I guess the the clarity that I need is do we need a full-time mayor? And I get your point. Um I'm not saying we we should or shouldn't have a full-time mayor. Um, I just think if we're going to come if you're going to come back with a new procedure for this, um, this is something we need to hash out, right? You said it needs to be done quickly. Um, the full-time part-time thing. So, I' I'd like to just be able to have more information to be able to make that decision. And as like currently sitting at the table here, um the longest standing council member, um I will say our city has challenges that other cities maybe of the same population don't. Um Lake Stevens has the largest lake in Snowish County. Um that we are the stewards of, you know, to maintain and um manage. And it's it's a lot. um our storm water is affected maybe more than another city of the same size because it doesn't all lead to their lake, right? So there's there's unique things in Lake Stevens. We've been trying for decades to get a new trestle. We need someone to advocate for us and maybe to, you know, continue what our current mayor has done, which is let's bring our mayors together from, you know, Everett and Snomish and maybe Monroe and Mary'sville and get a

collective group together to really focus on getting that trestle done. Um, there's some unique challenges with our city that I don't believe can adequately be addressed part-time. Not saying that the city of the same population couldn't, but I just find like Stevens has like I I kind of was went over the list how much we were accomplished with a full-time mayor. Well, and I think that's a little while why why I'm a little confused is because um why are we even talking about going back to a part-time mayor if that's not even something that we should be thinking about? So, is it a vote then? Is that a That's a good question. Yeah. Like,

if you guys don't even want to broach the subject, don't bring it up. This is just it's just brought up because this is an opportunity for you. Well, now that it's been brought up, yeah, to reassess how things are going and you obviously have a you're going to have a different pool whether it's a full-time or or part-time. You now have what almost six years of uh of of of experience and the city has grown

Yeah. significantly uh in in the last five years, which of course is is a another dynamic. Do you need to do it? No. It's it's just presented to you as something you might consider before you decide on your process and put out the notice to the public as to for for applications. Uh so that's why I say it's something you need to consider fairly quickly, okay? Because you'll want to kind of make that decision before you really get your process uh seeking applications

and and my my personal opinion would be that we probably should have a full-time mayor. Um I think that that's appropriate here. Um but again, my concern is the pool of applicants. Um that's really you it really narrows down our options when we have somebody who has to not have a regular job. So sorry,

this is not a proposal. It's just an idea for now. I mean, what would it mean for us to have a part-time mayor for the next 18 months as a transition period and then whoever gets voted in in November of 27 or whatever that is, right, that goes back to that position so that you you have somebody Yeah. at least then whoever puts their name in the in the election, right, has had months and months of time to both prepare to file and to get their life in order to do something like that. Um, I get you could open up a can of worms where the city says, "Hey, we've been fine with part-time mayor. We don't need to go back to that." But so again, it's not a proposal. It's just a thought process because again, you can Yeah, I'm worried about the candidate pool. So question then connected to that uh let's say we have one person apply do we have to appoint that person whether we like them or not right

well you have 90 days to appoint someone okay um from the from the date of vacancy so 13th your final day right so you've got 90 days from the 13th to appoint someone if you seek applications, you get one person, uh, you're probably going to want to try to reach out and get more people, but you've got 90 days to work with. That's your That's your box. So, pardon me. What happens at the end of 90 days and we don't have any qualified candidates that we think are appropriate for the job?

We won't let Brett leave. I get I get Well, you I don't think you want the Snow Orange County Council appointed. That's what happened. Goes to the county choosing county council would appoint after 90 days. Yes. So, 90 days, end of bottom line, no negotiation.

Got it. I guess I I um understand and respect what you're saying that we might have a bigger pool if we make it a part-time position. I guess my concern of that would be losing momentum. It's a huge These are huge shoes to step in. Um I'm not necessarily in favor of interviewing people that want to dabble at being mayor. I don't want to do it full-time, but I've got a I've got a full-time job and I've got a family. I've got kids in sports and I've got this and I've got that. But if it's part-time, I might be have might have the time to be married. You know what I mean? I'm not sure that I want someone dabbling in being mayor and not fully committed to being our mayor. Um, I can tell having, you know, served on council for a couple years here with our current mayor, he is fully invested in our city and traveled and and I would I would hesitate to say let's take a step back for the next year and a half and then decide whether we want to go stepping forward again. Sam. Um, I think my concern comes from if someone does say, you know what, I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to apply to be mayor and I'm going to do this full-time position. Um, and then that's only what, 18 months. So, they're totally uprooting their whole career or whichever for 18 months unless they're, you know, I wouldn't quit my job till I was actually appointed mayor. Oh yeah, that first of all, and besides that, anybody that makes a career move, unless they have a a solid contract, is taking that risk. Now, cities are a little different because you do have to be elected and someone who's appointed doesn't have to go through the campaigning process, but um people uproot their families and move for their careers all the time. And this would definitely be a career move for anybody applying. Well, I think people

uproot their families for careers for like a long term, not for 18 months. That's that's that's my consideration. Um, and that's definitely part of the calculus. Yeah. Yeah.

I would say that I agree with council member Packard in that we it it seems like we do need an action on whether it is part-time. Um, I would like to consider the uh the suggestion that um we make it temporary. Um, I don't think I still am the of the opinion that a full-time mayor is warranted in Lake Stevens. And it has been great to have that. Even if you have someone leaving, then you have a back someone that can backfill that position, that's important um and can hold the city together. But I think that conversation is very important. And I think not having three council members here makes it a little bit difficult. um to the other point um that he made in terms of recusing someone who's interested in the position from the interview process itself. Um even though they can still vote on the position, that's fair. Um I agree with that. I think it would be very uncomfortable for someone to be interviewed by the person they're they're interviewing against or competing for that position. And so I would um second that suggestion that we introduce that following the decision or whether it's a part-time, temporary, part-time or full-time and then the the ordinance that outlines the process that that process would include that provision.

I would like to go further to say they don't get to vote. Uh I'm just not comfortable with them voting. If they're the deciding vote, that would bother me. But if if we're allowed to do that, I would like to propose that. If we're not allowed to prevent them from voting, then that's what the RCW says. Okay. Well, and I think you will have, let's say it's a part-time temporary position and you have three or four council members that are interested and they can do it, then you wouldn't have enough people to vote to make it happen. So, I think that that's kind of the flip side of that. Sure. Yeah.

Then they enter the ring and one comes out. If I could circle back to uh Council Member Edward's question about the full-time versus part-time mayors in our area, the the salary commission has um researched that in the past when they've um when they look at salaries every single year. So, I have that data and I can share that most of the mayor council forms of government in our area that are of comparable size and population do have a full-time mayor um with the exception of Monroe, which their population is half our size. They have a part-time mayor and um Muckle Tio, they have a part-time mayor. Anya, does it do they also have a full-time city manager? And they have a city Monroe has a city administrator.

Okay. Yeah. And I believe Muckle Tio does as well. And then most of the council manager forms of government have a part-time mayor with the exception of larger cities like Everett. Um, so the ones that around our area like um had that have a full-time mayor include Arlington, uh, Edmonds, Lynwood, uh, Mary'sville, and Mount Vernon. Yeah, those are all mayor council forms of government with full-time mayors. Okay. And full-time city managers and full-time uh, city administrators for the most part. Um, I believe Mount Vernon has, um, I'm not sure what the title is. Uh they have a they have a city manager like I think like chief staff or something.

It's like a chief of staff position. It's not quite city administrator. And then uh Lynwood has an assistant administrator unless they've just changed that. They were just um rehiring that position. Okay. Yeah. Um on that note, I like I said earlier, I'm I would think that a full-time mayor would be appropriate for our city um considering that's what we have already and we want to keep up with that. Um just keeping in mind that you know 90 days isn't may not give us much time to find the perfect fit. So

can I ask Jean and any department heads who are willing to comment? Uh, so I'm just thinking about change, right? Change management. If you if you bring in another full-time mayor, well, you bring in another full-time mayor who has an agenda potentially and they have nine months, a year at most before they jump into campaign mode and then, you know, they may or they may not even want to get reelected. I mean, what what's the does a full-time mayor coming in and rustling things up making life harder for you in the next 18 months versus a a part-time mayor that you know is part-time that they know the limits of what they can and cannot do within that 18month time frame. Right? They're they're a stop gap, for lack of better word, until the the citizens you vote them in. And it could that allow the city staff to have more continuity, more less upheaval, less or or yeah, does is that risk less substantial than the benefits that you see from having a full-time ARB present? I'm I'm looking for staff's input on their preference.

I'm confident in our selection process that we're going to get somebody that's going to fill the shoes. And what you've stated is what we run the risk at every election. Sure. But you don't get to choose that in other elections. This time we have a chance to choose our own destiny a little bit. Correct. And I again I I think that we've got well I know we've got strong leadership here and we do a great job of mentoring. I mean you guys have already had a opportunity to work with us and we would do that with the next elected or appointed official in this case. And so, uh, yeah, you know, I think we, some of us probably share that same concern, but again, I've got to fall back on believing in us in our process. Okay.

Um, on the note of asking the staff for things that they would like to see in our new um, mayor, I think that's a fantastic idea and I would welcome all feedback from staff.

Director Halverson, are you going to say something? Well, I'll say um well, this uh April this year is 20 years uh employment for me in local government. So, two decades. Uh yeah. Yeah, it's pretty fun. Uh uh I, you know, I think to answer your question, Council Member Packard, is um we really work for Gan. Okay. So, that's the way the structure works. We report to Jean. He's our boss. Um so, Jean's not changing as far as we know. And so, that's the continuity. um who who the mayor is matters, but it really matters that we report to Gan. And uh that's our view of it. At least that's my view of it. So um hopefully that um gives you some comfort in sort of where we are.

Yeah, thank you for sharing. Yeah, throwing two cents on that. staff is always concerned uh at election time, but the stability um rod within that is is a great city administrator and you have one. So worry about that, but don't worry about that.

Okay. I'll I'll echo what um director Hverson said, but I'll also add that I think for if I were a council member, I would look at like the pace of the organization and um you know, the mayor did a great job going out and getting a lot of funding and a lot of projects done and is it the council's wish to continue at that pace and the level of staffing that we have and looking at that because you've heard from staff that we need more staff to accomplish things and so that's what I would encourage you guys to think about and planning over the next several years is uh capacity and um is a full-time mayor, are we going to want them to go out and do the the same thing that that um Mayor Gaye did? And if that's the case, then how are we going to make sure that staff are supported to get all those the mission done?

Thank you.

Thank you. Is there um concerns or thoughts about I know Mayor Gaye has so many connections. You know, you've served on so many boards. He's been elected to different things. He's been requested as guest speakers at other cities and events. So, we have all these connections that he's worked so hard to make. And I guess my concern is if we take a step back for the next year and a half, we're going to lose that momentum. we're going to lose those connections that the city as a whole has worked, you know, really hard to create. Um, but especially Mayor Gaye, as you know, he mentioned, he's out and about. He's brought back approximately $40 million. Um, you know, in grant revenue and and that type of thing. I'm my concern is by taking a step back because Jean does such an awesome job and our department heads work well with him, what is the cost of that actually going to be like? We'll be able to coast along, but are we going to lose those connections? Are we going to lose our standing within other cities and other governments, other forms of government? I have some thoughts on that. All the staff are incredibly active regionally and at the state level. So, um the people that Mayor Daly knows, I know, um Gene knows, Aaron knows, Anya knows. So we all have our intertwined circles. So I don't think we lose a step in connectivity. Um it's already been pointed out though what you lose is the momentum and the ability of a mayor to be available um at more hours to those people if you were to go back to a a um halftime mayor. But I think the connections were all strong within the the community and region. And then obviously we've budgeted for a full-time

mayor for the remainder of this term. If it resolves your concern, I'm willing to do a neurolink into an optimist robot. Um, hand over your black book. Yeah, drop down. It'll be a small fee. great discussion tonight and we'll be ready for next week to, you know, go over all these items again, but can't thank you enough for your input and uh, you know, desire to have staff input. I think that that's really great. So,

so to clarify for next week then, we're we're bringing an actual new ordinance with a defined procedure that we're going either approve or amend and approve. That's the intent for next week. next week is to go over all these questions I provided you tonight. You guys give us direction on how you want to put together and we'll probably come back the next meeting and get it finalized in an ordinance and we'll have everything cleaned up by then. But I definitely want the entire council if possible next week to have this discussion because it is obviously important and the but the action item wouldn't be till the following week.

That's kind of the timeline we have in our mind. Yeah. Jean, did you want me to go through a timeline real quick that we came up with? Yeah, if you want great I know um we're getting to the almost 8:00. Um Hey, Aaron. How long do we need for the exact session? 10.

So, this was something we put together today. Uh staffed it. If if you wanted to accelerate this and get somebody appointed as quickly as possible, this is how quick we could probably do it. Um, so at the next meeting next week, you would approve what the vacancy process would look like. Um, perhaps this is very short, but give a couple of days for staff um to compile some input, prepare the notice. We could have the notice go out on Friday. Um, this would assume only a oneweek recruitment period, which is very short, I know, but again, if if the goal was to get somebody in here as soon as possible, a week would be minimum. uh closing it on the 24th and then having a special meeting um on the 29th perhaps for interviews.

But again, very fast. It's very fast. You have 90 days. Um we can spread this out quite a bit, but this is something that we would be looking at with you guys next week. So, let's say we get the applicants in the oneweek period and then we do our interviews and we're not excited about it. We can open it back up for another week or two and keep trying. Yeah, Greg, I Yeah, you got 90 days. Okay. Yeah. So, we already one week off from this timeline because we said we will discuss and then action. Yeah. This is next week. Yeah. So, would this we need to be pushed out a little bit?

I would I would I would say one week is very short considering somebody has to think about it, prepare a resume. Um, so I would I would suggest that the it's open for two weeks as opposed to one week. Uh, that's just my personal um preference. It it feels very fast and furious. Somebody can be on vacation. Somebody I mean Yeah. Yeah. But but there's no reason why we can't start with compiling staff input. Yeah.

Are we as council asking that from just the department heads? Are we opening that up to all staff? Uh how do we feel about that? Or we want the department heads to compile whatever input they get from their teams because come from the department. Yeah, I would have the department head talk to their teams and then come back with the the qualifications that are important to them. Um and I'd be happy to put together a survey however you want that directed. We've done that in the past with other positions looking for inputs. So I could get that put together for you guys to review. Yeah, I just don't want it to cause hours and hours of churn, right? So quick actionable stuff. So

okay. Um we've got about 15 minutes left in this meeting and we do have an executive session and we are going to continue discussing this. Are we good for tonight? Are we ready to move on to the executive session? I'm ready. Okay. So, we need 10 minutes per RCW423110 potential litigation. No action to follow. Uh, we'll be back by Let's give 1 minute. Um, 7:56

one minute. Okay, we're back from our executive session. Could I please get a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. I will second