Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order. The Pierce County Council today is September 1st, 2026, and the time is 3.01 p.m. If the clerk could call the roll. Oh, I don't know why your thing doesn't turn on either. I can't turn.

There we go. Okay. Council Member Morrell. Council Member Herrera? Here. Council Member Kruver? Here. Council Member Ayala? Here. Council Member Yambe? Here. Council Member Denson? Here. Council Member Hitchen? Here.

You have seven members present. With seven members present, we do have a quorum. Thank you all for joining us. In a moment, I'll be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence in honor of Victims who have been impacted by flash floods in two parts of our world. In Arizona, along the Grand Canyon, flooding resulted in the loss of life and many are still missing. And then in Nepal, the catastrophic flooding has resulted in significant loss of life. At this time, 939 people with thousands still missing. We pause to honor those who've lost their lives, who remain missing, and those families and communities affected by these tragedies. We also recognize those working to support survivors and others impacted during these times. So at this time, if you can, I'll ask you to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence and a land acknowledgement. I'm now going to read our land acknowledgement. We acknowledge that we are on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish tribes. Coast Salish people have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today. We recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step towards true allyship, and we commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land. We're now at the approval of our agenda. Is there any objections to our agenda as was presented? And we've gone over a couple times. Seeing none, the agenda is approved. During today's council meeting, there'll be multiple opportunities to provide public comments. And on the consent agenda, you may provide public comment during any final action item. This does not include items that are up for scheduling and introduction. During section eight of this agenda, we'll take public comment on each individual resolution individually. And finally, under community forum, there'll be an opportunity to address the council on any topic that is not up for final action. today. Pursuant to state law, the Pierce County Council may not accept public comment during a meeting that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure. This includes proposed charter amendments, statewide initiatives, referendums, levies, bonds, or any other measure that is appearing on a ballot in November. For further information, there is of course fine print on your agenda at the bottom. We are now at the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda includes one set of minutes and one appointment resolution. Is there any item that somebody wanted removed? And then before I ask the Vice Chair, I just want to check and see if Candy Lorenzo is here in the audience or online. not seeing them. So vice chair for a motion.

Chair move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda as presented. I'm going to ask one more time just to make sure. Candy, not present. If you're online, raise your hand. Not seeing anyone, then I'm gonna open this up for public comment on the consent agenda as it was presented. This is a time to provide comment on any final action item. Again, not scheduled items. Is there anyone in chambers that wanted to address the council on our consent agenda? I have to ask. I always assume no, but you never know. Okay, not seeing anyone, Mr. Dominique, we'll go online.

Good afternoon. For any member of the public who would like to provide comment on today's consent agenda, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. There are no hands at this time, Madam Chair.

Nope.

Oh, correction. They just put their hand down.

I didn't see who it was.

Okay. There are no answers to that, Madam Chair.

Okay. Seeing no other hands, we'll close public comment, bring it before the council. Any further discussion on approval of a consent agenda? Seeing none, can the clerk call the roll on the approval of the consent agenda?

Council Member Denson? Aye. Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

Council Member Herrera?

Aye.

Council Member Krueger? Aye. Council Member Ayala? Aye. Council Member Yambe? Aye. Council Member Hitchen? Aye. We have seven ayes and zero nays.

With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to section six, messages from the Executive or other county elected officials on August 20th, the executive transmitted the following ordinances, which were signed and approved. Ordinance 2026-453, which was granting a non-exclusive franchise to Citizens Water Association. And Ordinance 2026-544, which was vacating portions of 174th Street, East Gold Street, and East D Street in Spanaway Boulevard. And then a second message with The following ordinances, which were approved and signed on August 27th, which was ordinance 02026-557, which was an emergency ordinance adopting development moratoria, prohibiting the siting expansion and establishment of data centers. So we're at section seven now, which is proclamations. Our proclamation today is the Council and Executive designating September 2026 as Emergency Preparedness and Community Resilience Month in Pierce County. And I'd like to welcome and invite the following individuals to the podium as Council Member Krueger reads this into the record. We have Katie Arthur, our Outreach Coordinator from the Department of Emergency Management. Rachel Anderson, who is a leader of Pierce County Citizens' Corps. Stan and Lorraine Nelson from South Perry Ares, I think is how I'm supposed to say that acronym, radio. And Larry Dorothy from Homestead Ministries and Disaster Response. And then, so two people got up. Is anyone else here for... Okay. And I'm going to go to Council Member Kruver to read this in the record.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is a proclamation of the Pierce County Council and Executive proclaiming September 2026 as Emergency Preparedness and Community Resilience Month in Pierce County, Washington. Whereas the safety and well-being of Pierce County residents are of the utmost importance, and preparing for emergencies can significantly reduce the loss of life and property and help the community recover more quickly. Emergencies can occur at any time, often without warning, and may result from natural disasters such as earthquakes, flood, wildfires, and severe storms, as well as from human-caused incidents and health-related emergencies such as pandemics. And whereas in December 2025, a strong, long-lasting atmospheric river brought historic flooding to the Puget Sound region, including in Pierce County, causing the Puyallup, Carbon, White, and Nisqually rivers to flood and numerous creeks over their banks, prompting Level 3, Go Now, evacuations in and around Orting, Sumner, and Puyallup, requiring Pierce County Sheriff's deputies and swift water rescue teams to carry out more than 100 rescues over the span of three days. And whereas Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency on December 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency for Washington, and Pierce County was identified among the county's hardest hit, with recovery and federal disaster assistance efforts continuing into January 2026. And whereas this disaster also revealed the strength of our community's resilience as neighbors, first responders, local governments, tribal nations, and community organizations came together to conduct rescues, shelter displaced families, and support impacted residents. And the years of investment in flood control infrastructure helped spare communities such as Orting from far worse damage, demonstrating that preparedness and mitigation saves lives and property. and whereas preparing for emergencies can significantly reduce the loss of life and property and help the community recover quickly the nation counties nationally recognized pierce county department of emergency management staff and volunteers work diligently to help prepare communities for hazards that could impact their neighborhoods the county washington state and the nation And whereas the Department of Emergency Management works closely with many organizations and neighborhood groups in Pierce County to help maintain readiness, including fire departments and law enforcement, Pierce County neighborhood emergency teams, community emergency response team in West Pierce Fire and Rescue, the Citizen Corps Council of Pierce County, Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Coalition, the Medical Reserve Corps, Pierce County Search and Rescue, Pierce County Search and Rescue 4x4, Pierce County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, and many more community-based groups with significant role in keeping pierce county preparedness and whereas personal preparation includes developing an evacuation route from home and work knowing how neighbors will help each during each other during an emergency and knowing how to get information from trusted sources including the pierce county department of emergency management and local fire and police agencies supplies may be limited or inaccessible after a disaster and each household needs to prepare and emergency kit to survive for at least two weeks without external assistance. And whereas Pierce County lies in earthquake country, where Washington state records roughly 1,000 detectable earthquakes under magnitude 4.0 each year and experiences an earthquake greater than magnitude 6.0 every 30 to 50 years, most recently the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually earthquake in 2001. And whereas every community member is encouraged to participate in the annual Great Washington Shakeout earthquake drill scheduled for October 15 at 1015 a.m. and register for PC Alert at PierceCountyWA.gov slash alert, a free service used in an emergency to inform the public with accurate information, allowing community members to respond accordingly. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed on this first day of September 2026 by the Pierce County Council and the Executive that September 2026 is Pierce County Emergency Preparedness and Community Resilience Month in Pierce County, Washington. When disasters strike, the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management is ready to provide support activate and manage the Tacoma Pierce County Emergency Operations Center, support coordination of multi-agency response to emergency incidents, provide alert, warning, and emergency public information, and support recovery efforts. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Let's give them a hand. So thank you for joining us. I know we have some slides specifically from our department. So we'll start with you and then we will invite whoever wants to go next after that just for simplicity here. Thank you for joining us.

Hello, thank you for having me. My name is Katie Arthur. I'm the outreach coordinator for Pierce County Department of Emergency Management. So September, thank you, is National Preparedness Month. And it's an opportunity to remind everyone who lives, works, and plays in Pierce County why preparedness matters. Disasters don't wait for us to be prepared. Earthquakes, wildfires, floods, extreme weather, and other disasters can disrupt our communities with little or no warning. While Pierce County Emergency Management leads countywide coordination, we cannot do it alone. Our jurisdictional partners, county departments, fire districts, law enforcement, businesses, community organizations, and residents all play an important role in keeping Pierce County prepared. Emergency management may be the tip of the spear, but building a ready and resilient community takes all of us working together. That is why we are asking everyone in Pierce County to take three simple actions this September. Make a plan, build a kit, and help each other. Helping others starts in your neighborhood. Programs like Pierce County Neighborhood Emergency Teams, PCNET, or Community Emergency Response Teams, also known as CERT, help create prepared neighbors who are ready to take care of themselves and help others during an emergency. Preparedness also means practicing. On October 15th at 10.15 a.m., we encourage everyone to participate in the Great Washington ShakeOut. You can practice this by drop, cover, hold on at 10.15 a.m. wherever you may be. Last year, 264,000 people participated in Pierce County. This year, we are trying to increase that by 10%. So please register your participation at shakeout.org. Everyone can do something to become more prepared, large or small. One simple way is to sign up for PC Alert. This is a free way to receive emergency notifications from us at Emergency Management. You can make a family or workplace emergency plan, start or update your emergency kit, get to know your neighbors, and register your home, business, school, or organization for the great shakeout. Preparedness is a shared responsibility, and every person, business, organization that takes action makes Pierce County stronger and more resilient. Please visit piercecountywa.gov slash prepare to get started.

Thank you so much, Katie. Appreciate it. Next guest.

Hello, I am Rachel Anderson and I am the vice chair for the citizen core council and we absolutely love working with Pierce County and. Love working with you and seeing how engaged you are in this for. 2026, some of the activities that we did in order to engage with people was we did partner with Pierce County trying to coordinate with some local faith based organizations to provide parking lots to allow displaced RV owners to relocate. However, instead what happened is we gained a really wonderful learning opportunity. And so we have spent the rest of this year so far, and we're continuing this on providing trainings for RV owners. policy, partnering, and paperwork to prepare a lot of these organizations and these faith-based groups that we were working with that were very desirous to comply and to help and then ran into the wall of legalities and logistics. So we have shifted some focus on making sure that some of those things are being met so that they're in a much better position to be able to help when there is another event which we hope does not take place. We've also been able to identify, working with Pierce County, a few people who fell through the cracks and they didn't qualify for different programs but they still experienced a lot of loss and so we had the opportunity to work with a few different families and we were able to have a few different grants that we could channel to reaching out to them and some of them with several children that were involved. I will tell you that it is very rewarding to get to be there and I did take liberties but let them know how much you guys care about them and that they are part of a great county and that this is a really good community and that they were valued and it was significant for them to receive that that sense of hope and connection when they did not feel that they were even visible. So Other things, we've also graduated our youth board members because it's part of our mission that we want to make sure that we have preparedness-minded young people transitioning into the adult sphere so that they recognize if they're not going to pursue that as a course, that they're mindful that it is part of a overall life and community plan. And then the remainder of what we have been doing and are going to continue doing is Working and reaching out to organizations and these faith based groups and non faith based groups, because we realized they represent a large demographic and we have a finite about time and availability to be able to reach people. So it's. Strategically significant and that way we can then refer them on to the same programs that Pierce County offers to the people. So that's what we have done and we continue to look forward to serving our Pierce County families. Thank you so much for your time and support.

Thank you so much for being here and our last guest, unless there's the 4th person somewhere hidden in the audience or online comes over dense and I'm looking for you to. Okay.

Hi, I just want to take a minute and thank you guys for all your support over the last few years on one of the faith-based organizations that Rachel's mentioning, Homespun Ministries. My name's Larry, last name's Dorothy. Been in the CERT program for probably close to 10 years. and kind of involving different areas of meeting the needs for South Pierce County areas, Eatonville, Roy, to be exact. But my main thing was just wanted to come and thank you for all your, the proclamation. I mean, it pretty much says it all. And these ladies shared pretty much everything that can be shared about what disaster preparedness means to the county. And you guys mean a lot too, so thank you.

Thank you so much for being here and the work you do every day. Are there council members that wish to speak on this? And Council Member Krueger, I turned your light off. Do you want to go first?

Sure. It's, you never know when you're going to be in an emergency situation and it behooves you to be prepared. I always wonder if I'm prepared or not because they tend to have a reason to forget things. But I did want to mention that I did receive an email from a constituent a year or so ago who said thank you that I had put out in an e-letter that in my district where Chaplain Dorothy was putting on a program for emergency preparedness. and there was a situation that fear or deeply cut or injured and he was able to minister to his wife who had a very bad accident and he knew how to respond to that before she got to the hospital. And so it's just gratifying to know that there are these programs out there that people can take advantage of and that this network has so much information to give out and I just hope more people will take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to care for yourself and others. when the time calls. So it could be any day. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. And we will go to the Vice Chair.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate this coming forward. It's really important in this community. We have lots of examples of flooding and then many other things. I'm sure some people can remember the 2001 earthquake and that was my first time of, I think I just got a cell phone and then all of a sudden the cell phone didn't work and I wanted to call my family when that happened. And I didn't have a plan and I felt very helpless of what was going on. What I like about what's in this, it says emergency preparedness and community resilience. That's really important. We saw an example of this just recently in Spokane where we had those devastating fires and that was a test of that county, that city's emergency preparedness. Tens of thousands of people were displaced. Some people had their homes burned, others were threatened. I had the opportunity to go directly boots on the ground really quickly with the veterans organizations. And the community resilience of the immediate needs, it wasn't government that provided those needs right away. It was several grassroots people who were ready to provide immediate relief to people within hours after getting vaccinated. approval from emergency management. They were cooking meals for hundreds of people. Food bought and grills going and cooking people. It took some days for Red Cross and other government to get down there. So it's real important about the community resilience because sometimes that's what happens when government is slow or they're the stop gap of government in some aspects. And as a person who in public safety safety rescuing people on boats in flooded areas having a plan is so important i have a plan in my local community there's a neighbor who's actually 99 years old and i told his adult children who are my age that if something bad happens i'm getting them you know and they're coming with me i mean you can't run out the door and stuff like that so have a plan know your neighborhood know who's in there and i think that's kind of the theme today make a plan and make a kit, help each other. So thank you.

Thank you. And we'll go to Council Member Denson.

Thank you, Chair. I'm always really shocked and surprised at the number of volunteer groups that we have in Pierce County that work on these issues. We have our professionals, the Department of Emergency Management, and you all are wonderful, and you're everywhere in the community. They were just out at Airport Day the other day, and they always seem willing to go wherever and whenever. But the groups like Citizen Corps, Homespun Ministries, I know we've got the Geek Harbor Key Peninsula, PCNet out there in the rural area where I serve. We've got the 4x4 groups and the horseback groups and the ham radio clubs. And it really is wonderful that people here understand. It's good and bad. We understand here, I think, that we pretty much have the whole host of possibilities in regards to natural and man-made disasters here in the Pacific Northwest. And one thing that's really special, I think, about our population is that we've got residents that aren't just burying our heads in the sand, right? They're engaged, they're willing to get engaged, especially with leadership like groups like Pierce County Citizen Corps that I so appreciate all of your work. We had our moment of silence today for the flooding that happened in Tibet and Nepal that was just so tragic. And then very shortly after, it struck closer to home here in the Grand Canyon. And we know, we know things like that have happened here in Washington State and in this very county and can and probably will happen again. I saw a Facebook post, I think it was just today or yesterday from Mount Rainier. talking about, they showed one of the glacial rivers and showing, you know, when you kind of see that chocolate milk colored water going through and you see the water rising, you know, to move 200 feet up. I mean, these things could and will happen here as well with the changing environment. and the changing topography of our environment here. So it's so important that we have set up groups that are educating folks about being prepared. Thank you Council Member Herrera for that reminder. I know we hear a lot in our area the term yo-yo, you're on your own, because in the rural areas it's gonna take a couple weeks probably for any kind of professional rescuers to reach you and that's just the way it is. They're doing their best but we have bridges, we've got wetlands and we need to be prepared to help ourselves and our neighbors in whatever ways that we can. I appreciated the Citizen Corps kind of thinking ahead because even though we've got things happening and potentially all the time, you all are really thinking ahead to be prepared for the big disasters of the future. So I love the idea of making sure there's a place with these lots, with our faith-based partners and other community partners for people to go either with their RVs or their trucks and cars and a place to stay safe. That's so smart. And yeah, there are often hoops that we have to jump through for that. So thinking ahead and working with the partners, you've taken the time to do that. So that's really wonderful. And then finally, the youth are so important because we need this next generation to understand the importance of the critical nature of what's happening and to grow up not only with the skills, but also the ethos to help others in their community. And you all are taking the lead on this as well, as well as the number of groups that you work with. thank you all for all you do. This is life or death. This is really, really important. And it's important that we do this proclamation every year so that we remember and we continue getting the word out to our communities that we can't pretend this doesn't exist because it does. But we can be prepared. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Denson. And I will just express my gratitude to those of you that are here and to those that may be listening later or right now. Thank you. Thank you for the work you do before an emergency happens. And thank you for the work that you do selflessly, sometimes for a full-time job or sometimes as a volunteer role. You show up and say yes and put yourself in harm's way to help the community. So thank you for doing that. We're going to take a picture, and I think we have a couple other guests that maybe are here as part of this. I'm not 100% sure, but if you're here for this proclamation, you want to come up on the dais, and we'll take a picture up here.

I promise it's easy Okay, we're gonna need to shift this way a little bit. My right, your left. Perfect, yep. That looks really nice. And I have everyone take like one step forward. I know.

Yeah, we'll...

Yes. All right. I'm going to take a few photos and then you guys are free. All right. Awesome. Thank you.

so this afternoon we also are going to kind of under this proclamations recognitions and awards we are gonna get an update from the Pierce County library system during this open public meeting as they are an entity that serves so many in our County and so Gretchen Casarotti is the executive director of the library system and so she is going to come up and do kind of a what's going on in library

never a dull moment in the library This is on, it's green. The audio is different in this chamber. It's my first time here. Hello, good afternoon. Council, thank you so much for giving us a few minutes of your time this afternoon. I will do my best to be brief and honor your time and attention, especially with lots of guests in the audience today. We do have a requirement that we report to our legislative body annually, and while that may not be clearly defined in the state law as the group, the legislative body that authorizes the appointment of trustees with the county executive. I would like to continue to come here once a year and fill you in on what's happening in all of your districts as pertains to library services. So, next slide please. Thank you. For those who may not know in attendance, the library system serves all of the unincorporated areas of Pierce County and the 15 cities annexed therein. That leaves us with about short of 700,000 and continuing to grow residents across Pierce County. We have 20 buildings, 19 library branches in various locations outside of Tacoma, outside of the base. They have two libraries on base and around the county. We are considered the fourth largest library system in the state, mostly by way of geographic area, population, budget, number of branches. That's kind of a typical list of markers. Go ahead, next slide. Since I've been coming here for four years now, this is my fourth year in this role, I'm really pleased to be able to share the progress that we've made, particularly in financial transparency. Our 2025 financial audit is available through the SAO's FIT tool which allows any citizen to go in and see where the money went and our 2026 budget is the first year we've been able to have our clear gov budget book available online so while i'm sharing the 2025 year-end closed numbers with you all i just want to make sure to mention that we have the front end of the 26 budget book online and then are working to continue that as a practice and are already building 27's budget tools. As you can see from the pie graph, that the majority of library expenses are given to our people. The majority of our expenses go to salaries, wages, benefits, and all of the human beings it takes to run a library and to deliver those library systems across the county. Of course, we have costs that go, as any organization does, to utilities, legal expenses, and our facilities, which I'll share a little bit more with you all in this presentation today. The majority of that funding is property tax, so we've continued to try to look for ways to both control costs on the expenses side and making good headway there, as well as looking for new revenue that is non-tax revenue. We have held our levy rate at about 33 cents the entire time I've been here. As we continue to watch the markets and anyone's game, anyone's guess about what's gonna happen economically, we've been working for years now to try to really shore up our infrastructure to be financially resilient to withstand what may come to us in the future.

Next slide, please.

And some of you already know, but we have an annual fundraiser. We are supported by the Pierce County Library Foundation. That is our nonprofit arm of the organization. And they have an annual fundraiser in October, which I know is the same night as EFN's. So unfortunately, the dates just didn't align this year, so I know many of you are committed. Please help us share the word. The Trivia Bee is a really fun event to get together and raise funds for the Library Foundation who provides the free books that we're giving away to children across the county throughout the summer as well as other things that the library might want to do or support in elevating literacy across the county where tax dollars are not appropriate to be used for or to sometimes support library staff in ways with meals at our staff day or things like that. Also opportunities for people if they're young people in your life who want to have volunteer hours or you have folks who are wanting to connect because they're new in a community or seniors who want to get out of the house. The Friends of the Library are great groups that also contribute a lot to the library at the local level by handling donations, offering books for sale. It's a great way to reduce, reuse, and recycle by getting Christmas presents for people from your local Friends group and support them for a good cause. Just want to make sure we plug those two great ways for people to continue to be involved in their community and support the library. Next slide. So in 2025, we're continuing to rebuild post-pandemic. I've come and shared for a few years now how we've been working on that infrastructure. And so now we're continuing to track upwards in our use of the library facilities, the library collections. And next year in 2026, you're going to see a much market increase in our programs. One of the strategies we've done is to really look at regional services in the library system to better maximize our resources, the majority of which are people, to serve the community at large. What we know is, especially post-pandemic, people get their information from lots of places. access to different resources, travel can be a constraint, cost of gas can be a constraint. And so we really want to make sure that our librarians and our staff are also out in the community, not waiting for people to come to us in the library, but being out where people are and helping to connect people to resources, organizations to each other, and to find ways that the library can stay connected to what's really happening in the communities. And so we are gonna monitor those. Our goal is to have a dashboard We've been building using Power BI for this last year to build a strong data set that then we can start to make available more publicly about what the library use looks like. Let's see, I've shared before the trend continues that digital use does track higher than the physical use. And one more thing that you can look forward to in the coming year is an expansion of our library of things, which you probably have read about in the newspapers nationally, locally, Tacoma and other places where people can leverage their public library to borrow things they might not want to purchase for themselves. A sewing machine that maybe you only need to use once a year or for a program or things. So we are working on building that infrastructure to be able to circulate those at long last, and we'll be excited to share when that comes live. Next slide. I know I've shared with you that we've been doing strategic planning, and our Board of Trustees approved it in 25. We've built an internal framework to manage those projects and continue to advance them. I'm very excited that your proclamation this afternoon actually recognizes one of the tracks that we're working on around resiliency. So we have a readiness and resiliency team that's part of our goal for around sustainable futures. And we're working with Pierce County Emergency Management with a pilot. at our Buckley Library to provide access to the emergency management team if there were a disaster. So we don't have to wait for all the gears of government, but rather emergency management is dialed right in at that location, strategically selected. So there's some really great progress that is happening behind the scenes to build that infrastructure to work with our partners and to better support the community. Next slide please. The big monster for us is capital. So I've shared, we've been working on that. We started facility condition assessments in 2023 and then did long range planning through 24 and 25. Wait, I did that wrong. 24, 25 and 26. where we're at now. And each month we've been sharing profiles with the board of our facilities and where we're at. Go ahead with the next slide. We're almost complete. Each month we've shared a little bit of information about the library property, what the recommendations are, looking at some projections for the future. As you can see from our building portfolio, which still has the mistake, Key Center's year, but this is what came from the report. So when we finally publish this, we'll make sure that that year is corrected. So as you can see, we have a mix of properties that date back 30 plus years and mostly owned properties that were built as a result of the bond from 1986. So we've got our hands full with properties that need attention, decisions, and investment. Next slide, please. What we found through this whole project, and we haven't made any decisions yet, we're still making the recommendations and sharing with the board. Next up is the public. It's sharing with the public. What are the recommendations? What would you like to see? We've got some work planned in 2027. But the TLDR, too long didn't read, is we've got a six-figure in the... hundreds of millions of dollars of capital needs for the system, based on what the recommendations are. And all of us in this room know nobody has that kind of money in government, so we have some big decisions to make, and that will require our strategic partners, it will require a lot of grit, a lot of good strategy and good planning for the future, but not waiting. So I may be reaching out to you for requests for letters of support for funding to fix the South Hill building envelope, which needs work in this current year. So we do have a strategy that's a five-year facility plan that does tackle our most immediate critical issues. If it breaks, the building closes. So we're not waiting for the long term. But please, to manage expectations, know that these are really big investments and a lot of time and a lot of thought and that will be required of our Board of Trustees, of our staff, and so we don't anticipate having any direct decisions on the direction quite yet, but we will be sure to keep you informed as we move through that process. Now, two highlights and then I'll stop talking. Next slide is an introduction to the Sumner Library, well, not introduction, you all have heard about it before, but just an update, I guess. Next slide. We have completed the bidding phase. So we made it through and we are under contract. So I don't have a final construction timeline as of today, we just had our kickoff. with the company that was selected through that in contract. But we are continuing to pursue and to progress through all of the lengthy stages and complications of regulations and so on. And so we're planning to do some more public communications this fall. We've got our library capital facility area meeting scheduled with Susan in end of September, I think, coming up this month, I'm pretty sure. So really excited about moving that forward after many years of planning. And then also next slide, please. Downtown Lakewood, we completed a facility, excuse me, a feasibility study for the Wildair property. In continuing the commitment to the community, their recommendation was to explore rebuilding on the current site. So we have done that. So now we have a sense of what the cost would be, what's possible on the site, given that it's in the downtown district, given that there's Gary Oaks on the property and there are local ordinances around the trees. So we did have architects put together a feasibility study. So we have information that we can bring into our long range facility planning. So continuing to make progress there as well. So lastly, I made it through this whole presentation and I haven't said artificial intelligence once. So here, I'm gonna say it. AI is rapidly changing the landscape of every one of our experiences at work, at home, with our devices. And I would be remiss as a library director if I didn't put that into this space and acknowledge and recognize that that is also rapidly affecting the way people view information, the way people find information, the way people trust information that they're being exposed to or finding. So we recognize the seriousness with which that impacts society and internally we are committed to working to understand, train, develop staff so that we can better support the community in all the different ways that it shows up. Because for years we've experienced that people come to the library for assistance with all kinds of things. I once had somebody come in with a walk that wasn't working and somebody helped that person fix their walk, but I digress. People come in all the time and ask for help, particularly with that technology. So I'll leave you with the story about Shirley. Shirley came to the Milton Edgewood branch because she doesn't have a computer. She has a smartphone, but has very limited technology experience, a situation where the adult children gave the device to the parent to be able to support and help this parent. And she was desperate because she was getting text messages of PDFs that were important documents she needed for benefits. And as we know, many benefits you still have to fax to receive benefits. And so she came to the library branch to ask for help because it's very difficult to read a PDF on a small screen, especially if you're elderly and not confident using technology. And at Milton Edgewood Branch, our staff were able to help talk her through not just how to download the PDF to the device, but how to send it wirelessly to the printer to be able to print it for free so that she could read the content, manage, and be supported through the fax. So you might not even know that at all PCLS branches, we have wireless printing that is free for people to use, free across the system, not just at Milton Edgewood. But as I said earlier with the people, it's really important that our staff are able to help the people who are working through these challenges, accessing information through technology. And so I just want to assure you all that while those challenges are real socially and through technology the pierce county library system is always going to be here to provide practical help that can turn access into confidence so thank you all so much for your time today i'm happy to answer any questions if the chair or council has for me if there's a few questions we all know how to email you as well but just in case there's something somebody wanted to ask right now especially if it's clarification on the on the presentation or just wonders that you think is important

Okay, I waited long enough. Council Member Morrell, and then we'll go to Council Member Denson.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate the presentation. Always a pleasure to have the library folks here, especially the new guy in the tie there. He's looking pretty dapper. My question is on your slide where you had, you know, visits. How do you measure visits at a library?

Great question. We have sensors. So they don't track individuals, they track movement. They're motion sensors in the doorways. So it's not exact because some people might come and go a few times, but that's what it's tracking.

Okay, so I can, you know, do my spy stuff by trying to figure a way around these sensors?

Great question. Also, you could certainly do your best, but also know that it's all aggregated and none of it's individualized. It's not cameras. They're just tracking a click, essentially. Those are the most common ways to track that.

Okay, because I was... It was interesting because when the White River Bridge went down, the Parks Department put up a sensor that counted people. I didn't know they had it. So, you know, it was just a beam that you broke and that counted. So just curious to see if you had it at the entrance or just throughout the library.

Yeah, so it doesn't count staff entrance.

It's just the main entrance. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Okay, now I have a couple. We'll go to Council Member Denson first.

just a couple of comments and a question appreciated the presentation appreciate your continued focus on people and people helping people because i think a lot of us just love coming into the library seeing librarians that that we know and trust and and there's just something about libraries and librarians i think that makes us feel so safe and comfortable i just just love it and so it's great that that's being retained in this continually evolving world where technology is here and it's important, but it's also nice to have that personal connection. Appreciate all the work you are doing in the community in regards to your capital facility needs. I know you did a great job coming out to the Key Peninsula. We had standing room only because people love their library and you were able to be really reassuring that You're here to improve things and provide more things to the community and the partnership with the community was really important and you've just been so engaged in that community in particular. It's been great. My question is, what's happening with fines? Are we assessing fines or not assessing fines anymore?

I can't ever remember. Great question. We are not collecting overdue fines. We do collect fees. For example, if you don't return a book on time, we'll just send you automated reminders. And if at a certain point you just don't bring it back, we're going to send you a bill. So overdue fines have, through research, actually proven to be more of a barrier, and they actually don't prove, there's no evidence, scientific evidence, that shows that it actually has people bring things back. The science, the research that was done in Colorado through the state library there found that people just stopped coming to the library. So for a lot of people, you know, 25 cents was not a big deal, and for some people, it ends up being five bucks could be a really big deal, and so they just stopped coming. Eliminating fines has been a national trend for maybe 10 years now. Time has gone by so fast. I know. So Pierce County Library, like I think all of the Puget Sound libraries, have eliminated overdue fines, but maintain collecting any fees for items not returned.

Thank you so much. That makes sense. And thanks for all you do.

Thanks.

Thank you. Council Member Miambe.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Executive Director, for this update. And touching on a point that you made that, you know, libraries aren't just great resources now, but will, I think, play very critical roles going forward because in this age of AI and in the age of This information and all these different things. Um, I'm curious and I live with a senior and I get to hear all the, the stories and the frustrations from, you know, the. The social groups about, you know, there's a lot of information that. you can't always verify and you can't always tell what's ai and what's not and you know does um pierce county libraries offer any like page for patrons not not just like librarians but like patrons to understand what ai is what it isn't and then be able to hey you know sometimes education and discernment and even The technology, yes, it's so complicated. Even sometimes experts have trouble deciphering what is real and not. But are there courses that someone can go to the library and say, hey, how do I distinguish or how do I just get some tools to understand what I'm looking at and how you might... You know, for lack of a better word, if something is us, you know, is there any resources library that people can go to?

Yes, we have a mix of options that would be suitable for different people at different stages. And we're learning in real time with everyone else. We started planning. I think it was November of 25 when we started putting in the pipeline what type of programming would look like for the community. So there are some programs that are offered. I don't. recall off the top of my head where they are, but we're a member of a digital equity coalition. We have some partners that deliver specific programs that are in person. We provide tech help, which is one-on-one help for somebody. And then we also offer access through a suite of different learning platforms that you can use with your library card. So those are more of the more formal, like an online class that you might take. But certainly putting together more and more resources because folks are at various stages with their access, with their skills, with their confidence. Sometimes it might just be a website that we might use to work with someone. I don't recall the URL off the top of my head, but one that's preventing scams for older adults. So a mix of options and check the calendar at your local branch to see what's happening there.

i know you know i you know frequently go out to mid county uh community center and you know even sometimes the the text messages that even just some of us get sometimes it's hard to distinguish and sometimes you know you can look for the signs but it would be help it's helpful to know that those resources available to be able to at least have some basics that you can kind of figure out um but i appreciate that being available we

We propose presenting to the mid-county leadership meeting when we resume. So maybe we'll have some community presentations too.

I appreciate that. And it just shows that, you know, yes, that technology is going in a certain way. And yes, libraries are being tested, but it continues to demonstrate how important that our libraries are, not only now, but that continue to be relevant and even more important as we go forward. So I appreciate it.

Thank you. Vice Chair Herrera.

Hey, Chair, real quick, I appreciate Council Member Yami talking about libraries are being tested in some aspects. I'm this old where our family couldn't afford Encyclopedia Britannica, so if I really had to do research for a school project, I had to go to the library and Look it up there. But times are changing on that. But my question for you today is Sumner is chomping at the bit, and so am I. He just told us that the bidding process is over. When can we hear the first hammer hit the nail?

I don't have a date, but the first step is removing the dirt. There's 18,000 cubic yards, I believe, on the site to do the compaction. It's compacted more than a foot, which is what we needed to have. So even though there were delays, it worked to our advantage in reaching the level we needed for more of an expedited time. I will send a notice when I have a date. Once they clear the dirt, we've started drafting the neighbor notifications so that whenever that happens and they mobilize quickly because they can put their trailers and things on the property for the site work, there are aggregate peers. And so that will be disruptive so that we know that's coming and we're going to start prepping some of that right now. So it's eminent. I have to ask. And the good thing is that once we start, I mean, 20 months feels like a long time for most people, but this is an almost 20,000 square foot building. So it's a big project and we've got a great team and we should be able to get going. We'll have cameras, time-lapse, photography. We've been working on setting up a website for updates and community updates and things.

Thank you.

We're all chomping at the bit.

Thank you. I'm not seeing any other questions. So, Director, thank you so much for the update. Appreciate you spending so much time with us. Sorry, not sorry, but my comm director is with me today. It's all good. So we are now at section... which is resolutions, we have proposal R2026-189 before us, Vice Chair, for a motion.

Chair, I move proposal R2026-189 for approval. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Proposal number R2026-189, a resolution of the Pierce County Council confirming Ashton Allison as Director of the Economic Development Department.

Thank you. And Ms. Long, you're going to do a brief introduction of the policy side, and then we're going to turn it over to the executive to do an introduction.

Yes, this will be brief. So as stated in the title, the resolution before you today will confirm the executive's appointment of Ashton Allison as the director of the Economic Development Department. The county charter provides that except for those positions filled by election, the executive shall appoint the chief officer of each executive department and those appointments by the executive shall be subject to confirmation by a majority of the council. The economic development department was created by ordinance of the council and its functions and duties are set forth in the code at chapter 2.06. The required qualifications for the director are, as recently updated by the council, are set forth in the code as well, and they contain educational and experience components specifically related to leading the economic development department, as well as the core competencies required of all of the executive department directors. The Council's Rules of Procedure set forth the process for confirming these appointments, and they involve approval through a resolution, which you have today, and also holding an open public meeting and filling out a questionnaire to give you a little bit more information about the appointee, which is in your packets. And I will just note that the executive has appointed Ashton Allison. This is an appointment before you for confirmation. And this matter was heard before the Economic and Infrastructure Development Committee on August 25th and received a due pass recommendation.

Thank you. Executive Mello, welcome and thanks for being with us.

Well, good afternoon, Chair Hitchen and members of the council. It's good to see all of you. For the record, my name is Ryan Mello and I have the great privilege of serving the people of Pierce County as the county executive. I'm really excited to join you today to request the confirmation of Ashton Allison as Pierce County's next Economic Development Director. Thank you so much for scheduling this for consideration today. Madam Chair, before I introduce Ashton to you and the community, I wish to thank our now Deputy Director, back to being Deputy Director, Gary Westcott, who served very capably as the Interim Department Director during the transition. And he got to serve during a very exciting time. We were hosting the World during the World Cup this summer, as you well know, and other major initiatives that he kept moving forward during a leadership transition. And so, Madam Chair, I wish to publicly thank Gary Westcott, who's going back to his capable role as Deputy Director of the Department. Gary, thank you for capably leading the team. We're very grateful. As you all know, building an economy that works for everyone is one of our key priorities. To do that, we need to lean into every county-wide partnership and work with people who are on the ground, developing the local workforce, supporting local businesses and local business associations, helping residents connect to real family wage jobs. That's the work of economic development. Ashton Ellison has demonstrated that he is up to this mighty task. The council committee got to meet Ashton at his confirmation hearing in committee about a week ago. And so you got to spend some time with him. And I know he was made available to each and every one of you individually to get to know better his experience and what he has to offer our community. But for the benefit of the other county employees and all of our community members who are watching, I want to just share a little bit about why we're so excited for Ashton to join our team. Ashton has more than 22 years of experience leading high-performing teams and delivering strategies that strengthen regional opportunity for everyone. Ashton is a thought leader. He's skilled at building partnerships across government, business, labor, and community-based organizations. Before coming to us here in Pierce County at the end of July, Ashton was serving as the Economic Development Director in King County, where he moved King County forward while navigating significant challenges. I ask you not to hold that against him. He's very excited to be here, and he's going to bring all of his various professional experience right here. Despite the pandemic, inflation, national and global economic uncertainty, and rising housing costs, in his previous role, Ashton created programs and initiatives that improved economic prosperity for people across the county. Specifically, Ashton co-founded and built the Office of Economic Opportunity and Creative Economy. He oversaw more than $10 million in federal COVID relief funding dollars. These are initiatives with strong outcomes and transparency. He led strategic partnerships with the Workforce Development Council, the Port of Seattle, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and multiple cities across King County. He also co-designed the Community Business Connector Program. This program expanded local, culturally competent small business support ahead of the FIFA World Cup coming to town so that more of our small businesses could take advantage of that moment. Additionally, Ashton fosters workplaces that are highly collaborative and equitable. And that's what we need in this ecosystem. I'm so grateful Ashton chose to bring these values and his experience and his vision to Pierce County. We're truly lucky for it. And so while I don't want to steal Ashton's thunder, I do want to highlight a few of Ashton's priorities that I appreciate and why I appointed him to this important role. First, Ashton's major priority is leveraging regional partnerships with key organizations, such as Workforce Central, the Economic Development Board for Tacoma Pierce County, and Chambers of Commerce. Not just in our urban centers like Tacoma, but in our suburban and our rural communities, like Puyallup, Sumner, Fredrickson, the Key Center, and others. He also understands the need to partner with tribal nations, the South Sound Military and Communities Partnership, and other organizations who support residents facing unique challenges in our economic climate. His second priority is about supporting workforce development, making this a really high priority. This is incredibly important. Just yesterday, I announced our Building Together initiative. That aims to increase apprenticeship opportunities, reduce barriers for contractors wanting to do public work right here in Pierce County, especially small and disadvantaged businesses and more. Ashton has direct experience in implementing economic development initiatives with an eye towards supporting more vulnerable residents. I'm excited to watch Ashton play a key role in executing the vision that we laid out in the Building Together initiative, and he has a major role to play in executing it. Finally, another major priority that we have for Ashton is monitoring performance. Another piece of the Building Together initiative that we announced yesterday is improving data collection so we know if the efforts that we are undertaking are working. Ashton is committed to making policy decisions based on emerging trends to ensure Pierce County's economic strategy is nimble and rooted in sound data. I know Ashton is exactly who we need to navigate this complex and unstable economic environment we are in right now. And not just to survive through it, but to help our communities thrive. Ashton is who we need in this moment to guide Pierce County to a more prosperous and economic future. And so with that, Madam Chair, I'm pleased to present to you Ashton Allison, who's here to answer any other questions you might have and to further introduce himself to you and the community. Thank you again for hearing his confirmation today.

Thank you, Executive Mello, and welcome, Ashton. We'll let you do a brief introduction and then see if there are any additional questions.

Well, first of all, thank you, Executive Mello, for that kind introduction, and Madam Chair and Councilmembers, good to see you again. Again, my name is Ashton Allison, for the record, and I'm honored to appear before you this afternoon as the Acting Director of Economic Development for Pierce County. Thank you again for the opportunity to share a bit about who I am, the work that has shaped me, and why I'm passionate about serving this county. I've spent more than 22 years in economic development across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, with over 10 of those years as a public servant, my favorite sector. As someone who has had the good fortune of strong mentorship and folks who were willing to invest in me over the years, I became a committed lifelong learner early in my career. I earned my Certified Economic Developer designation through the International Economic Development Council over a decade ago, which is a credential that demonstrates competency across 12 core disciplines. I also recently graduated with my Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington Evans School at an older age than I care to disclose. Like many of my economic developer colleagues, perhaps some of who are seated in this room today, I stumbled into economic development early in my career. I was immediately drawn to such a rewarding work where I could use my skills to make a difference. And since then, I've been guided by a simple but profound belief, and that is that economic development is fundamentally about helping people. It's about giving our residents hope for the future, strengthening livelihoods, creating financial stability and maintaining financial stability, and supporting the ability for families and workers to build futures that they want. That belief is also a responsibility I take very seriously and has anchored me in every role I've held over the last two plus decades. In terms of the work that has shaped me, I'll share briefly. three major chapters that, in sum, make up the history of my career. The first chapter started in Texas, where I'm from. Again, don't hold that against me. After a six-year stint at a marketing agency where I earlier mentioned stumbling into the economic development profession, I landed the founding executive director role at Entrepreneur Alliance, which was a regional entrepreneur support organization that covered the top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle. and then later served as the Director of Marketing and Communications for my aforementioned client, the Amarillo, Texas Economic Development Corporation. There I helped build entrepreneurial support systems, secured federal funding, and led business attraction efforts in aviation, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and logistics. Those early years taught me that economic development is at its best when it's relational. When you know the people behind the businesses and help them navigate opportunities that can truly change their lives. The second chapter brought me up here to the Pacific Northwest about 11 1⁄2 years ago. As first an economic development consultant with a national economic development consulting firm, and then later the director of business retention and expansion for the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce, I launched the King County Associate Development Organization, or ADO, which is the equivalent of the Economic Development Board of Tacoma and Pierce County. There I administered the Governor's Strategic Reserve Fund, developed the Chamber's first countywide economic development strategy, and oversaw the first emergency grant program for COVID disaster recovery. That work reinforced the importance of regionalism in economic development and how important it is to align employers, workforce systems, and local government around shared goals. Most recently, I spent five and a half years in the King County Executive Department as the Director of Economic Development, as the executive mentioned. I advised two county executives, oversaw operating and federal recovery budgets, launched a new economic development division, which was King County's first economic development division in code, and coordinated cross-functional teams across infrastructure, workforce, and community partners. These experiences reminded me that economic development is not just about strategy. It's about stewardship, it's about partnership, and again, it's about responsibility. And it's about delivering results that matter to residents that call our communities home. Along with my professional work, I've served on several regional boards, including the Washington Economic Development Association, the Workforce Development Council of Seattle and King County, and the Central Puget Sound Economic Development District, among others. And for many years, I have volunteered as a big brother with big brothers, big sisters of Puget Sound, a commitment that I'll say keeps me humble and connected to younger generations and grounded in why my day-to-day work matters. It also gives me an opportunity to pay forward the great mentorship and investment that I received from others. What excites me most about working in Pierce County is the moment we're in and the opportunities that are on the horizon. This is a county with extraordinary strategic assets, I don't have to tell you, and a strong value proposition that includes a resilient industrial base, a world-class logistics and infrastructure, I'm sorry, a world-class logistics infrastructure, strong engaged community and business leadership, a growing and diverse population, and most importantly, great people. We have a slightly lower cost of living and cost of doing business than our peer counties to the north, and we also have an ecosystem with a willingness to collaboratively get to yes, no matter what the challenges are, and that's an inspiration to me. At the same time, we face real challenges and have to address them with real-world grit. Those are affordability, workforce shortages, uneven access to opportunity, a large outbound commuter population, and the need for clearer coordination and better storytelling across our regional economic ecosystem i see an opportunity in my role to bring all of those things including more alignment more clarity and more intentionality to how we support employers workers and communities since starting my job over a month ago i've been incredibly inspired every day by the work going on in this county also by the work our Economic Development Department staff has done and is doing, and incredibly proud to work with them and stand with them in undertaking this important work. If confirmed, my commitment is to continue to lead with listening, build strong partnerships across jurisdictions and with tribal nations, strengthen our relationships with employer, and ensure our strategies are grounded in data and practical execution. I want our department to be known for responsiveness, clarity, collaboration, and excellence, and for delivering results that matter to the people who live and work here.

thank you again for your time and the opportunity to serve i look forward to working with each of you to advance a strong resilient and inclusive economic future for pierce county thank you so much for joining us and that introduction for those of us that have not watched the eidc meeting i'm sorry i really meant to and i just didn't get it done um so i appreciate that i'm going to see if there are additional questions from members of that committee or the two of us that were not present we'll start with vice chair herrera thank you chair

And I appreciate you coming back. We asked a lot of questions at the Economic and Development Committee, and you answered them pretty good. There's a question I have here a little bit when it comes to just like the committee's name, economic development and infrastructure. My question to me would be for you is, how will you weave infrastructure and economic development, I guess, either into your program? Some may say those two kind of do matter. We have freight corridors that need to be connected or finished, or any other type of infrastructure that may help economic development.

Absolutely. Thank you for that question, Councilmember Herrera. I would say that infrastructure really goes hand in hand with the strategic assets I mentioned. And really, in many ways, they come before a lot of the work that we do on the ground. The infrastructure is really part of our selling proposition here in the county. They will appeal to the business community and the private sector. They'll kind of complete that selling proposition and make the community even that much more appealing to invest in. In many ways, I've worked in communities where oftentimes A private industry will have to invest in public infrastructure in order to make a project work. And I believe that that's our role. You know, oftentimes we do have to form public-private partnerships to advance infrastructure readiness, which is a necessary thing that happens. But I think it's our role as government and in the public sector to be able to invest in our infrastructure because that's a long-term asset that will pay dividends into the future. Okay. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Any additional questions? Okay. Well, I'll ask mine. So I have the honor of representing Joint Base Lewis-McChord and would just love to kind of hear some initial thoughts or ideas that you have around how we can support both people exiting the military and also their partners or family members that really struggle to find work close to home in a meaningful way where they're not commuting and just wondering initially just things that maybe you've done in the past or ideas that you have just to throw a curve ball at you?

No, absolutely. That's a great question, Madam Chair. It just so happens the timing is really good. I attended this morning the launch, along with a couple of my council members, the launch of the Skilled Trades Academy in partnership with Honoring Our Heroes. Boeing made a sizable investment, as well as Clover Park partnering with all four entities, which is a unique public-private partnership. And that initiative is going to help advance different high-wage careers, promising careers, and get folks plugged into pathways to those careers for exiting and transitioning family members. JBLM is another one of those impressive strategic assets that we have in our region. It's one of our largest employers and it represents one of our biggest opportunities and lowest hanging fruit to make sure that we are number one, making sure we honor our service members and for the work that they've done in the military and also giving them the opportunity to get plugged into those pathways of promising careers along with their spouses as well. It's also a great retention initiative that we can uh if we do it the right way to to keep those folks here so it's just one example i believe of some of the things that we can do in partnership with jblm and our other partners around the region to make sure those folks stay in the region and find uh thriving careers and that they're not driving up north or down south on a daily basis and are contributing members to this county okay thank you we're gonna oh see i asked a question and now more arrives so we're gonna go to councilman morrell thank you madam chair um

Thank you, Ashton, for putting the winning application in, and for Executive Mello for seeing the value in bringing you forward. You have a great team that you can depend on, because I can't tell you, you've got big pumps to fill. But, You know that a county's economic development is totally different than a city's ability to navigate. So I will be looking forward to your strategic plan to move the economy forward. A lot of things in Pierce County, as some of my colleagues had mentioned, Our incentive packages are far and few between that we can offer. We can offer, hopefully, quicker permitting. We can offer some work with impact fees, but as you know, One of the challenges that we have are out of your control, and those are the state challenges that we have in this environment. Pierce County has a challenge with, right now, vacancies and warehouses, because we built with expectations that companies would expand and come to Washington State. That hasn't happened. So your challenge when you're putting this strategic plan together is how to bring everyone together and collaborate. And I think, I'm believing you have the ability to do that and also the ability to interact with the other directors. public works, sewer, you know, they all hold the key to economic development in this county. So, you know, I think it's, great that we have all this skill training that we're launching, but we've got to have risk takers that are willing to hire and to take the risk in Pierce County to build, to expand, or to become entrepreneurs. So hopefully, you know, you have your crystal ball and that you can navigate that. But, you know, I look forward to once you figure the lay of the land and start moving forward to support, you know, your effort and your team's effort. So, you know, I'm in unincorporated Pierce County and, you know, I want to keep my companies going, but it is challenging out there right now. What's been one of your biggest aha moments you've had since you've been only here, what, a month?

I'm on my sixth week. Gosh, that's a tough question. There's been a lot of positive ahas, I think. And I knew this to a degree coming in, but there really is a really strong coalition of the willing to work together selflessly for a greater good. And I'll just give one example. I think it was my second week that I was here. I accepted a meeting from Michael Katze at the EDB and some other partners about an initiative to do some very targeted and intentional outreach to our top 40 major employers, among others, but starting with those top 40. And we were able to quickly kind of consolidate all of our individual priorities into just a one sheet of what we would like to ask these employers. I've said before during my previous hearing that I am a huge believer in the power of business retention and expansion and that being the core, the center of an effective economic development strategy because your local businesses represent 70 to 80% Of of your your total economic output and and there it's the low hanging fruit. It's a bird in the hand in terms of. Of what you can do, so we, um, it's always been a big impetus of mine to make sure that we were providing that TLC that outreach to our local employers. And so the aha moment came when I saw that everybody was working together, putting kind of aside their. their own turf issues their own individual priorities and working for the good of the whole and we were able to strategize and pull together a working document of exactly our our plan of action for reaching out to these companies and doing so in a way where we we trust the other party If we're not able to make a particular visit with an employer, we trust the other folks to be able to get the information that's needed to convey the message that's most important, which is we want you to stay here and we want to meet your needs. However we can do that, we're on call. And that's rare in economic development, I'll be honest. I mean, regionalism is a talking point that folks love to use, and it's easier It's easier in theory than it is in action and in execution. And I'm really seeing it in execution and action here in the county. And I knew that coming in. That was part of the reason that I was interested in this position as compared to other jurisdictions that I've worked in. And I was pleasantly not surprised to find that it's a reality.

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.

thank you and we're just going to go down the line here and go to councilman bryala

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. Thank you for joining us again. For those of you that were not part of EIDC, there were a lot of questions that Mr. Allison answered. So I don't want to repeat any of those, but I do want to thank your presence at the last EIDC meeting where we did have Michael Katze with the Economic Development Board and we have our Eric Johnson with Port of Tacoma who shared questions quite a bit about their experience and what they're seeing in their field. And one thing that we heard from our Port of Tacoma partners was around creating predictability for investors and creating reliability. And that struck me because a lot of the feedback that we hear in that world has a ripple effect with our workforce, with our educators, with parents with transportation. You know, it really ripples. And so I'm excited for the leadership that you will bring forward. I'm excited for your excitement around what you observe around Pierce County really binding together when things get rough and really seeing past the challenge and seeing the strength within ourselves. And also fully acknowledging that sometimes there's a long runway, excuse me, to some of these successes. And so, but creating that stability and that predictability is going to be very important. So thank you so much for saying yes.

Thank you. Couldn't agree more.

Thank you. We're going to go to Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Allison, I had the pleasure of your acquaintance at the LTCH meeting, and I appreciated your attendance because that's probably, for me, it's a very important committee. And I'm wondering, I'm in a very rural area. It is very highly regulated. Very few opportunities exist for advancing economic development. I'm wondering if you've had any epiphanies that you might pursue that will help in the rural development areas.

Absolutely, thank you, Council Member Krueger. Growing our own is one of my top priorities, especially for rural areas. I think that is, again, not to overuse an analogy, but it's the low-hanging fruit. I think when we can grow our own in terms of our, whether it's our workforce or our local businesses, those reap rewards long into the future because those folks are, they become kind of, vested culturally and in so many different ways in our community, contributing community members, and when they receive assistance from partner organizations, from private individuals, philanthropy, whomever it is, those folks are much more likely, whether it's a business or a worker, or both, I guess, they're much more likely to stay in a community. Plus, as you mentioned, there are, in a rural community, there are fewer opportunities to plug in whether you are looking for employment or looking to start a business. And so I think economic gardening, as we call it, or just entrepreneurship, small business assistance, those we have a dearth of great resources statewide and regionally that are available to those folks. And so that would be the first place that I would recommend kind of building a local economy around is that entrepreneurship and small business ownership and leveraging the resources we have available.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. And now we're going to go to Council Member Yambe.

Thank you. Yeah, that committee meeting the other day was fun to hear the rapid-fire questions and how you were fairly nimble at answering them, and I appreciated the thoughtfulness that you gave your answers. Now, this week, the executive's office, as you know, unveiled some of these project labor agreements, expanding opportunity for our workforce and partnering with labor and partnering with business and different entities to give more opportunity. And I'm sure that you're aware of the one in about eight You know, youth across Pierce County, I think they cite about like 14,000 who are either unemployed and not in school. And we at the county have made some investments in supporting efforts to partner with our small business community to give opportunity and, you know, internships and eventually not only get good skill training, but then apprenticeships and the like. Do you have any thoughts on how you might want to build on that work, or any thoughts on how you could make that effort, expand those efforts, or just what are your thoughts on that?

Great question. Council member, I would say that I would take a wait and see approach. I would love to see what some of the outcomes. I have a feeling there's going to be some very promising outcomes. And so based on the outcomes, I think that will help inform our strategy moving forward on what we want to do. But a few ideas come to mind. I think, number one, We, as I mentioned, I think in some of my talking points, you know, oftentimes it's an afterthought to do good storytelling. So I want to make sure that as we are piloting some of these programs, as we are investing in some of these youth workforce initiatives, that we are following alongside and doing a good job of telling the story, both internally and externally. Sometimes, you know, we get focused on telling the story externally, but forget to tell a good story internally. But that that. really develops ambassadors who will go out and kind of proselytize on our behalf for things that need to happen. It also attracts folks who have great ideas for other investments we can make. There's a lot of activity going on in a county this big, and so we don't always know what's going on. And so that can surface opportunities for us to invest in other initiatives. I think just the outcomes themselves will help inform some of the follow-on efforts, follow-on investments that we can make. So yeah, I think I'll take a wait-and-see approach. Definitely want to base any kind of decisions or future investment strategy on that data piece, both qualitative and quantitative. And yeah, I think that's how I would approach that.

I think that, you know, we and not only the executive's office, but council, you know, recognizes that this is an untapped, you know, group and it's really hard to make the inroads, but it can pay serious dividends down the line. And so I appreciate that. So thanks for the answer. Thank you.

Well, thank you. I'm not seeing any other questions. So appreciate you being here and spending so much time and with our committee, I'm going to go ahead and open this up for our public comment portion. So, I don't know if you want to sit down. I don't know if anybody will have any, but we have to do this. So, at this time, if any member of the public would like to provide comment on resolution 2026, 189 in chambers, we'll start in chambers. Anyone in chambers have comments. No one jumping up, so we will go online, Mr. Dominique.

Good afternoon. For any member of the public who would like to provide a comment on proposal number O2026-189, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star 9 on your telephone keypad. No hands at this time, Madam Chair.

No hands raised. We'll close public comment, bring it back before the council and see if there's any further comments from any of my colleagues. Well, thank you. I'm not seeing any lights come up. So thank you for being here. It seems like you, just in my very brief, just this meeting, I'll have to go back and watch that meeting. Sounds like I really missed out. So just truly appreciate the thoughtfulness to the quick question I answered and just the information that you've been able to share with us. And at this time, I'm going to ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of R2026-189.

Council Member Yambe.

Aye.

Council Member Denson. Aye. Council Member Morrell.

Aye.

Council Member Herrera.

Aye.

Council Member Kruver. Aye. Council Member Ayala. Aye. Council Member Hitchen. Aye. You have seven ayes and zero nays.

With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

So I believe as we've done before, we're going to pause and take a quick picture. We've been going for a little while. So I'm not going to formally put us in. I'm going to take it. We've been at it an hour and a half. So we're going to take a five minute recess. So we're going to be back at 439 so we can take a photo and then we'll come back and call the order and take on our next item. So we are in recess till 439. Thank you.

Thank you. you

And we're going to pick up on item number two, which is resolution 2026-177. Vice Chair Herrera, we're going to you for a motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal number R2026-177 to be approved.

It's been moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into the record? Proposal number R2026-177, a resolution of the Pierce County Council affirming Pierce County's support for continued ethogen-related research for alternative treatment modalities, requesting that the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of individuals engaging in ethogen-related activities be among the lowest law enforcement priorities and affirming support for full decriminalization of these activities.

Thank you. And we've all practiced saying this word, but we're going to turn this over to Ms. Kelly to brief us and tell us what this does.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Andrea, Kelly, Council, staff. So as Ms. Call indicated, the resolution that you have in front of you seeks to affirm the council's support for continued entheogen-related research and for alternative treatment modalities, request that Pierce County law enforcement agencies, including the prosecuting attorney's office, avoid utilization of resources to pursue use of entheogen-related activities, or prosecution of entheogen-related activities when no other law violations are present. And then of course affirms the Council's support for full decriminalization of entheogen-related activities when no other violations are present at the state and federal levels. Um, excuse me, this resolution follows similar local resolutions in the city of port towns in Olympia Tacoma and King and Jefferson counties, either declaring or requesting the deprioritization of investigation, arrest and prosecution of individuals engaging in antigen related activities. The proposal addresses entheogens, defined as a full spectrum of psychedelic plants, fungi, natural materials that encompass any living, fresh, dried, or processed plant. and being used in religious, spiritual, healing, personal growth contexts including research and treatment for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other behavioral health conditions. This resolution requests that the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of anyone ages 21 years or older engaging in the personal use of entheogen-related activities which do not involve other controlled substances or create a public safety risk be given the lowest priority for utilization of county resources. The resolution states that the request for deprioritization is limited to circumstances in which there are no additional suspected law violations present, and the resolution would apply to unincorporated areas and would have no impact on enforcement in incorporated areas, including Sheriff's Office contracted cities of Edgewood and University Place. This resolution has been forwarded to both the prosecuting attorney and sheriff's office. The prosecuting attorney's office indicated that they did not oppose the resolution and concurred that since the Blake decision, the office sees very few drug possession cases. The sheriff's office provided comment at the August 10th, 2026 Public Safety Committee stating that enforcement of activities as described in the resolution are already at the lowest level of prioritization within the office. However, this resolution would not stop the sheriff's office from enforcement. Both offices indicated that they do not have access to data in the granular detail that would be able to show frequency of personal use of entheogens without the presence of additional law and violations. However, the prosecutor's office noticed that they expected those numbers would be very, very small. This matter, again, was heard in committee at the Public Safety Committee on August 10th. There is no expected fiscal impact, and a community impact note is included in the PACM.

Thank you so much for the introduction and the work of my colleagues to really pull this together and get us to this point. I know it took a while to get to this point. So I'm going to start with questions. Are there any questions from council members regarding this legislation?

Council Member Morrell. Thank you, Madam Chair. I had asked a few questions pertaining to gateway drugs, and I guess I was dating myself because it is no longer called that. It's called common liability models, or now what they're using. And I appreciate Ms. Kelly running that down for me, answering my questions. I think there again, I am constantly trying to educate myself on this, and I appreciate you answering that question. So thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for the question and learning. We should always be learning. Other questions before we open this up for public comment? Okay, Vice Chair Herrera.

I'm not really going to ask a question, but again, I'm just going to reaffirm why we brought this forward. We did talk about this in committee, and it's kind of a different one, especially coming from a former law enforcement officer, a former undercover narcotics detective. Why are we doing this? And for the public, I mean, you know, being in law enforcement and actually seeing the hope in people's eyes disappear, having no hope because of their mental illness, either it being from PTSD or other things, and especially for my veteran's friends as being a veteran. I think that this legislation will help set the tone and show some leadership out there on how we're noticing what alternatives are out there. Again, as a reminder, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced a few weeks ago groundbreaking clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of psilocybin and other things to treat major depression and other occurring PTSD in veterans. That came with the President of the United States signing an executive order aimed at accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness. So that opened that door. With that, the VA has picked five different VA hospitals across the nation to do these clinical trials, and one of them is Seattle. I know personally of one veteran who lives here personally who is, if he hasn't already, they're going to do it real soon to participate in this. In the veterans world a little bit, when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder or SA or any type of mental illness or trauma, sometimes they're prescribed SSRIs, which are, according to some of my friends, are terrible. For some veterans, they work for others. But this is just another alternative approach. on top of maybe using SRIs, something new. I think it's really important to take a look at some of these things. What I don't want to happen is that we have a veteran or somebody on a clinical trial going down the street for some reason gets pulled over and they have something that's part of this study and the sheriff office, you know, start investigating it or something like this. We're just saying that we, like they already said, the sheriff's office is low priority already, and we just want to emphasize that. And then at the very end of this, it says that we want to see that this be decriminalized at the end. I think this outweighs this has potential to help and save lives. So this is one of the main things for us. So I just appreciate work on this with Council Member Denson on this. This is kind of bold a little bit, but I think it's the right thing to do. So thank you.

Thank you for the comments. Not seeing any other lights come up for questions or comments. So we're going to go ahead and open this up for public comment. I had two that signed up on the form that I have. So I'll call on you and then anyone else that's here to speak on this one, we'll just kind of queue up behind that. So I have Sarah first. Sarah Razor and Matt Metzger are the two. You'll have up to three minutes and the timer should be right there on your little light up thing.

Thank you. Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the time. I know you're probably tired by now. Some of you have heard my story, and for those that have not, my name is Sarah Jett Racer, and I'm here to speak in support of this really beautifully written resolution. I'm really excited that this is happening in Pierce County. I've had the honor of supporting similar resolutions like this throughout the state, but I live just outside of Gig Harbor on the Key Peninsula, which means no matter how many cities take up this charge, I will still be unprotected. Many people in our county live with trauma, chronic and debilitating illnesses and treatment resistant conditions similar to my own. I have a handful of these chronic debilitating and eventually terminal conditions that took me out of the field as a wilderness EMT and an emergency management professional. Some years ago, I found myself in a wheelchair with best prognosis being a walker and a shortened lifespan and a really limited quality of life. I am able to stand in front of you today unassisted because I have been illegally healing with the support of cannabis and psychedelics. This is because traditional Western medicine failed me and abandoned me. These medicines helped me reclaim my mental health, not just from my job, but from the medical trauma that I had now gone through. I was able to reconnect with my body and heal and rebuild my life in ways that no prescription has ever been able to do. Today, I'm a cannabis and psychedelic health and wellness coach. I co-founded and run an educational nonprofit. I am on the board of Reach Washington, and I volunteer for a host of other organizations throughout our state and our country.

Pardon me.

I also went from 30 medications a day to just a handful of prescriptions. Today I am not suicidal. My PTSD does not impact the function of my everyday life. I truly believe that if these medicines had not been a last resort for me, I would still be in the field today. That was my life and my dream. And now I spend my time helping as many people as I can, in whatever ways that I can, and to help keep other first responders in the field and avoiding burnout. My healing did not happen in a medicalized setting. It happened through intentional, personal, and community supported use of entheogens. Healing is not a one size fits all and nobody should be criminally penalized for the use of entheogens. I respectfully ask that you support the healing of Pierce County and say yes to this resolution. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments. Matt?

Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Good afternoon, esteemed council members. My name is Matt Metzger. I'm a retired Marine Corps combat veteran. I served our country in the Iraq War in 2003, survived an attempted murder by my fellow Marines that same year. From 2005 to 2020, I was heavily medicated to function as a normal human being, just so I could continue to serve our country while living with PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and treatment-resistant depression. These pharmaceutical drugs numb me to the world, allowing me to simply survive and carry my trauma without truly living my life. I could not emotionally connect to my wife and sons, and many nights I prayed I wouldn't wake up or wish for an accident to end my pain. In 2020, just before retiring, I met a service member with trauma very similar to mine who found healing through psilocybin mushrooms. After retirement, I began microdosing these mushrooms, and with the help of my VA doctor, weaned off my mental health drugs within four months. Now, I take a single capsule every third day of a medicine I grow myself. This medicine has changed my life profoundly, allowing me to connect with my family and live fully again. It laid a solid foundation for other healing modalities such as therapy, which I still pursue. The transformative power of this natural medicine compels me to speak out and assist others on their path to wellness. I now... help others as a psychedelic wellness consultant and coach, focusing on harm reduction and safe and form responsible use. I also help others learn to cultivate and make their own medicine. We're not seeking to get high. We just want to feel okay in our bodies and safe for those we love. All humans deserve to live, not just survive. To be clear, I'm not a medical professional or a clinician, but as a peer, I've assisted hundreds of clients on their wellness journey with zero hysteria or hospital visits. A question came up again, if entheogens are or could be considered gateway drugs. I just want to point out that every study to date, these natural substances have proven to be anti-addictive and many microdoses have reported spontaneous reductions in both legal and illegal substance use. For me and the many folks I've worked with, they have been a gateway to self, connection, community, resilience, love, living, moderation, and well-being, and further service to others. Allowing community access and personal use protections for the use of entheogens will allow many more to find the relief and healing that I did. Let's give everyone the chance to live, fully connect, and connect deeply with those they love. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments and for your service. And I misread that. There's an Anthony, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to speak to this item. It didn't say. Okay, Anthony, come on up, and then we'll open it up to anyone else in the room. Thank you for signing in. I just...

Hello, council members. Thank you for having me today. My name is Anthony. I'm here on behalf of the ground style foundation. Uh, like many of the members that have spoke, I found the medicine myself many years ago because I was suffering from PTSD and other traumatic stress syndromes that came from my time in Iraq. I now stand here as an advocate of the medicine because it is life-changing. It's life-changing for the thousands of people that have received it and for the many more that are still receiving it. There are aspects of the medicine, though, that I believe you will be very interested in, and that is how it pertains to substance abuse, which we have an opioid epidemic that is throughout the country right now. We have two psychedelic medicines, one being Ibogaine, the other being psilocybin. Ibogaine has over an 80% success rate in its first time use ending addiction in people with opioid crisis. So that is something that I think is very effective that we don't see out there with other medicines. Psilocybin is being used with alcohol right now. It has over 80% success rate when combined with substance abuse programs. So there are many applications for neuroplastic therapies when you have a medicine that's capable of changing the mind, capable of healing the mind, regrowing neural pathways. And why it resets addiction is because it resets neural networks. So it's a neural network reset that is occurring there. So we have the ability there to heal people, not just on the mental and emotional side, but in a very physical and real way that will allow them to be able to find healing in all other aspects of their life and something that we're hoping to see a lot more. Decriminalization is an important first step. The real goal here is legalization because we need more studies. We need to have more access to the medicine so that we can proof the efficacy even more. And that is why I came here today and supported the bill. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your time and your service. Anyone else want to address the council on this item before we go online? And we do have a couple of hands, but just want to. Okay, no one's jumping up. So, Mr Dominique, we will go online.

For any member of the public who would like to provide comment on proposal number R2026-177, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we have several hands at this time. I'll read them off as they appear on my screen. First up, we have Angelyn. Please state your name for the record and you have three minutes.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Angelina Izquierdo. Can you hear me? We can. Yay. Hello. So I am commenting on the importance of this clinical trial being understood. So with the intention of decriminalization, mental illnesses are so overly diagnosed as lazy diagnoses. When doctors and civilians do not want to hear a complaining patient or concerned citizen waiting to voice their opinion, or there is a popular annoyance of a supposed too loud patient. Oh, my sound just switched. Uh-oh. Can you hear me? We can still hear you, Andrew Lynn. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. So back to there. So, oh, there is the popular annoyance of a supposed to loud patient in pain that is not supposed to be, that's not supposed to be crying. So the mental health professionals would rather answer that with another pill bottle to manipulate the mood of the patient for the convenience of their surroundings. This is concerning. I have seen this in an institution as well as outside of an institution, and those institutions being different types of medical facilities, whether they are public or private. Psychedelic medications have been overused, including in the area of sexual violence commonly combined with date rape drugs. There is history for the past seven years, or excuse me, seven to eight years at least, that I know of via research and also experience. This is a huge problem. especially in human trafficking, including veterans. So while I am happy how Seattle has been recognized in the United States for their innovative medicine, medical practices, and research, However, I'm concerned of how things can be used or go awry if things are not following protocol. So during these clinical trials, as we're selected as one of the five main ones for the country, I hope that there's close attention paid to not just the steps of the trials, but the before, during, and after of the patients, not just looking at symptoms, but their overall wellness as well as treatment throughout the entire process. So I hope that things have improved since beforehand with clinical testing. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments.

Next we have Rachel. Please state your name for the record and you have three minutes.

Hi, good afternoon, members of the Pierce County Council. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Rachel Cervinac, and I'm Zooming in from Seattle. I live in District 36. I've worked as a paralegal at psychedelic-focused law firms, stewarded the Psychedelic Bar Association's Religious Use Committee, and am an incoming JD candidate at the University of Washington School of Law. As a part of my commitment to destigmatizing psychedelics and promoting safety in personal use context, I've also volunteered with Fireside Project's free psychedelic support line, holding space for people navigating challenging and transformative psychedelic experiences. I believe psychedelics are powerful and should be engaged with responsibly. At the same time, I trust that Washingtonians are capable of making informed decisions about psychedelics as they do with alcohol and cannabis. Decriminalization is a cost-free evidence-based approach supported by leading medical organizations like the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians. These experts recognize that criminal penalties fail to improve public health and instead fuel stigma, reduce access to harm reduction resources and disproportionately impact marginalized communities. I respectfully urge the Pierce County Council to adopt Resolution 177 joining Jefferson County and unincorporated King County and affirming a compassionate approach to drug policy reform. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next, we have Cody. Please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Cody Zaleski. Can you hear me? We can. Okay, great. I'm speaking as one of the co-directors of the Psychedelic Medicine Alliance of Washington. My background is in clinical research with degrees in neurobiology and pharmacology, spending over seven years studying data particularly focused on veterans with traumatic brain injury. For some disorders like PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, we have no pharmacological solutions currently. We can only treat the downstream effects. As Councilmember Herrera mentioned, the first-line drugs such as SSRIs only work for barely half of people who take them. Yet, based on the data that we have, this class of entheogens offers incredible hope for so many people. The unique properties seem to promote what is called neurogenesis and they help form new connections between brain cells as a novel mechanism of action. Normally this becomes harder as we age, but through creating these new connections in the brain, these drugs may offer a shortcut for increased mental flexibility to address many of the ruminations behind mental health problems. And I do want to add, based on some of the comments before, Not only are these entheogens not a gateway drug, but they actually help treat substance abuse, including opioids like fentanyl. In addition, methamphetamine, nicotine, alcohol. We have incredible promise from these entheogens in treating substance abuse. Whereas 12-step programs have a success rate of between 8% to 20% after six months, entheogens seem to have a success rate treating substance abuse for many different types of substances of over 50%. We understand the toxicology and side effects of entheogens. These drugs are not a mystery. Entheogens are well-tolerated enough that we should not be treating them as a criminal matter, especially for the people who are trying to use these to heal. Despite all this, the current legal status of these entheogens creates a chilling effect for those who could potentially benefit and find hope through their use. We have seen similar legislation passing communities around the country and dozens of different communities and counties. The sky hasn't fallen, and Pierce County could take this very small step to help better the mental health and the welfare of the general public. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And next we have Trevor. Please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Hello, my name is Trevor Dutton and I'm from Poulsbo in Kitsap County. Though I live in Pierce County, I can almost guarantee there's a burgeoning psychedelic underground there because it's happening all over the country and gaining momentum. The truth about entheogens is getting out. So how can something like magic mushrooms that we're all familiar with as a recreational intoxicant also be used as a powerful medicine? As a kid, I was taught in public school to be terrified of drugs. One puff on a marijuana cigarette would undoubtedly land the user on Skid Row. In high school, I had friends that experimented with cannabis and mushrooms and saw that that wasn't necessarily the case. In college, I tried them myself a handful of times. Psychedelics seem to have a common reoccurring theme of connectedness to nature and to other people. As an adult, I stumbled on something called the psychedelic renaissance, which is the term given to our current cultural rediscovery of the beneficial merits of this stuff. As it turns out, LSD, which is very similar in effect to psilocybin mushrooms, had been used widely in psychiatric offices in the 1950s and 60s to effectively treat alcoholism and tobacco addiction. In the late 60s, psychedelics were prohibited. Around 2005, academic research quietly restarted and has since been gaining steam. enough so that its adoption is currently leaking into the mainstream. When approached as medicine, there are important steps for preparation. Then during the experience itself, closing your eyes in a quiet setting and focusing inward makes all the difference. The patient mentally goes into the sensation of connectedness that I mentioned previously. Oftentimes, they're afforded a broader perspective on their life and might be given opportunities to reevaluate points at which their personal growth has been stuck. After a journey, there's also one or more talk therapy sessions for the purpose of incorporating insights that may have been gained. It's not uncommon for this information to be profound, transforming, and reparative. Thank you for your consideration on this important resolution.

Thank you for your comments.

And there are no more into this time.

I'm sure no other hands raised. I'm going to close public comment. Bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion on this item? Council member Denson.

Yes, thank you, Chair. Councilmember Herrera expressed much of what I would like to say. I just want to thank Councilmember Herrera for his partnership and his leadership on this issue. I want to thank the advocates, some of which are here today in person or on Zoom. It has been a long road, but this is a topic that, for me, was very new and required a lot of educating, a lot of asking questions. Now, when I came to Council Member Herrera and broached this subject, he knew all about it already because of his vast interactions with the veteran community. So already, he's like, I know, I know, I know. So what was new to me, it was wonderful having a partner in this that was already so educated about the benefits of these natural substances. I learned a lot and we've learned a lot here today about how some of Western medicine, some of the pharmaceuticals that many of us know as the treatment options presented to us how they don't work for everybody. And in some cases, they have very negative impacts and negative effects on people that are devastating not only to them, but to their families and their communities as well that they're building relationships with or trying to build relationships with. Whereas, you know, for folks that we've heard from today, these entheogens are changing lives and in some cases saving lives. And The stories we heard in public safety, for those of you who are not there, I encourage you to listen. Some of the stories we've heard today as well were just so touching. And for me, taking an action like this just is the logical thing to do to help people take care of themselves in ways that work for them, in ways that are healthy, in ways that not only bring and restore their health and their lives, ability to function happily in society, to be members of a family, to communicate well, to give back to their community. It's also inspiring to me that not only are the folks that are here today talking about the impact on themselves, but so many of them are advocating for others and making sure that entheogens are available in a way that folks feel comfortable utilizing them, trying them when other treatments have failed. I want to thank Ms. Kelly for her work on the resolution. We did a lot of outreach to stakeholders, making sure, as we always do, that we're hearing all sides and we're understanding all consequences, positive and negative. And honestly, the feedback that we received from folks on this was very, very positive. And a lot of credit goes to the folks in this room and online for continuing to talk to me and my colleagues about how this is not only benefiting you, but can benefit others as well. And yeah, it's been a great learning experience for me. And I want to thank you because you've really made a difference here today. So I encourage you all to vote yes. I will be voting yes today. Thank you.

Thank you for the comments and the leadership, both Vice Chair Herrera and Council Member Denson. When this came up on the, do you want to sponsor? And I was like, what is this? And then I was like. Okay, I have some research to do. I just so appreciate that you really both dug in and then made sure that Ms. Kelly was ready to answer the myriad of questions that all of us brought to her and bringing the voices, the different voices that came to speak on the benefits of this. And while it is not formally legalizing them, which I know is the end goal for many in this room, it is creating a pathway for the therapeutic side to be More accessible to people where there's less fear and so you don't add to someone's potential anxiety that they are trying to manage through some of these resources. By doing what they're doing to care for themselves, because. It can be a lot. And when we put barriers in front, it can cause a problem. I spoke long enough to give Council Member Krueger some time.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm kind of looking for some clarification on something, because I remember listening to an interview on this, and my understanding from the interview, and both gentlemen had used it, but it's a very intense, very intense discussion. use what happens it's almost as i don't know if that's right or if i'm if i'm correct in understanding that it isn't something that it's done without someone else there because it can be so profound on what it what it does and i'm wondering if so we'll start with miss kelly but i know we have some actual trained people in the audience who might be able to help out but miss kelly

Certainly. So there are, and I will defer, but there are different methods of dosing. There's microdosing, which there is no psychedelic impact. There is no explosive journey or turning inward, as the caller was saying. So it depends on the use and it depends on the circumstances under which that happens. Generally, and you'll hear from trained peers, would indicate that... Yes, it would be in a supported session that someone would be with you if you were to do that more intensive experience.

I guess that's what gives me hesitation in that when there are interactions that can be with other drugs that if it becomes legalized and we're getting into another arena where what will happen with kids? I don't know. How do we keep it where it's... where the microdose, you don't need to have someone else in the room, but the others where to get to that breakthrough, you really need to have a professional with you.

I would defer, but in regard to it, that's what this resolution is affirming is that Pierce County Council is seeking to have these treatment modalities continue to be researched and determine what would be the best way for that to be supported. Is that in a clinical setting or what sort of setting is that in should the substance be completely decriminalized? so at this point it's being done at university of washington in studies and in sanctioned studies that as councilmember herrera indicated that there have been additional studies as of late that is a recent development prior to 10 years ago psychedelic substances were not being researched and so the re the body of research is growing significantly now to determine what that looks like and i know that the advocates have indicated at the state level that there is some concern with regulating prior to decriminalization and so because there is more information needed before that happens would it be correct to assume that there's other states that are working on the same project same subject so it's not just Washington State yes yes Colorado Oregon of course New Mexico Okay, thank you. And to be clear, the studies that Council Member Herrera was indicating, those are federally backed studies.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate the questions. So we now have R2026-177 before us for approval. I'm going to ask the Clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Ayala. Aye. Council Member Yambe. Aye. Council Member Denson. Aye. Council Member Morrell.

Aye.

Council Member Herrera.

Aye.

Council Member Kruver. Aye. Aye. Councilmember Hitchen?

Aye. You have seven ayes, zero nays. With seven ayes, zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you all for your time and advocacy. We have one more item to work on today. We have resolution 2026-178. Councilman Morial, I'm going to you for a motion, but I didn't give you a heads up, so there you go.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal number R2026-178.

It's been moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into record?

Proposal number R2026-178, a resolution of the Pierce County Council accepting the 2026 residential facility notice of funding availability, funding recommendation, and approving expenditure of the housing and related services fund.

Thank you. And this afternoon, almost this evening, we have Ms. Mary Connolly, a policy analyst, to brief us on this item. Ms. Connolly.

Thank you chair Hitchin for the record, Mary Connolly council staff. This resolution comes to you via the health and human services committee, which forwarded the resolution with a do pass recommendation. The resolution approves a capital award from the marine Howard fund also known as the housing and related services fund. And this Council has approved other Maureen Howard Capital Funds awards before, but I wanted to flag that what makes this award different is that it is for a residential care facility providing behavioral health services. So I wanted to flag that before I start the background. Uh, so now I'll dive into some background in March 2023, the Pierce County Council adopted the marine Howard affordable housing act, which imposed a 1 10th of 1% sales and use tax for housing and related services. The ordinance also created the housing and related services fund where the revenues are deposited. Pierce County Code allows the county to use distributions from the fund as authorized by state law, and it also allows the council to periodically establish funding priorities through the resolution or through the biennial budget. State law allows fund revenues to be used for a wide variety of purposes, and you'll be most familiar with those uses related to affordable housing. However, state law also includes other allowable uses, including constructing or acquiring behavioral health. Related facilities and construction constructing or acquiring facilities where housing related services are provided. In November, 2025, the Pierce County Council adopted the 2026-2027 biennial budget This ordinance appropriates $3M from the Housing and Related Services Fund for capital costs associated with the development of one or more residential facilities that provide housing-related services to people who have behavioral health needs. Once in operation, the project must meet certain criteria outlined in the budget proviso. In April, 2026, the Pierce County human services department issued a notice of funding availability for 3Million dollars from the housing and related services fund. For capital costs to acquire or constructive residential facility, meeting the requirements outlined in the budget. In addition to those requirements, the also requires that the project be self sustaining. So, in other words, the project, the county will not provide ongoing support for client services, operations or maintenance of the facility. The department received 1 eligible application in response to the requesting a total of 3Million dollars. The department convened an application evaluation committee that scored the submitted application. The committee recommended funding the application for the full amount requested, and the county executive approved the evaluation committee's recommendation. This funding is subject to chapter 2.111 of the Pierce County Code. According to the chapter, this council may approve the executive's recommendations in its entirety, reject the executive's recommendations, and direct that the funding opportunity be republicized. And typically there would be an additional option to approve a revised list where you add some other unfunded or partially funded applications. But since there's only one application, that is not an option in this case. So moving onto the resolution in front of you today, resolution number R2026-178 accepts the department and, excuse me, Except accepts the department and executives funding recommendation and approves expenditures of the housing and related services fund. The recommended funding award is 3Million dollars for healthcare's Saint and assisted living phase 2 project. The project proposes the new construction of a 100-bed state-licensed assisted living facility located in the city of Tacoma near existing Truvet St. Anne's, which is also a state-licensed assisted living facility. The residents of this facility will be provided with housing and behavioral health support services. As I mentioned, the Human Services Department and Executive's Office recommends approval and the Health and Human Services Committee forwarded it with a do pass recommendation. The fiscal impact is de minimis because this funding allocation is included in the county's biennial budget. A community impact note is available. And if there are questions, if I can't answer them, we have Brian Schmidt, Affordable Housing Supervisor with Pierce County Human Services here as well tonight.

Thank you, Ms. Connolly. I'm going to pause and see if there are any questions from any of my colleagues. Council Member Murrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Connolly, you should be able to answer this. What is the timeline to use these funds? Is there one?

Brian will actually be a better person to answer that. It often will depend on the project.

Good afternoon. Brian Schmidt, Affordable Housing Supervisor with Human Services. Timeline to use the funds is typically three years from the date of award. There's time given to assemble the financing needed to complete it. In this case, we're hoping that they close on financing before the end of the year or shortly thereafter in 2027. Okay. Yeah.

It says that they put together 24 million in private funds. And you verified, I mean.

We go through a due diligence process on that and we do verify all the funding awards are committed, yes.

Okay. And then this is a question that either one, Brian, you might, you could center at the podium. Why are we taking the money out of the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act versus Therapeutic Court Behavioral Health?

That's probably a question I can't answer other than the state RCWs for the Housing and Related Services Fund allow a behavioral health facility capital construction of those facilities.

Yeah. Okay. And Mary Connolly, do you know if Behavioral Health Therapeutic Court, do they... um pay for capital projects or is it just services i would need to double check on that okay Okay, I just want to make sure that, you know, I understand based on what was stated that this is a capital housing project, unique for Pierce County, but I just want to, you know, if people ask, well, why are you using affordable housing dollars for this? um when we need so much affordable housing out there so um that i just wanted to see if someone could take a shot at that question and we're okay with that right one other sorry one other thing i'll just add is that this proviso was added to the budget by the council um so that would be a question for us rather than the department

But I would need to look a little bit more into what is allowable for the behavioral health sales tax.

Okay. If you could do that and follow up, I was not going to hold up my, my vote on this. I just, you know, and looking at this, making sure we're taking the money out of the right pot. And since we have both of them, because I assume that Truve may ask at another time to take funding out of the behavioral health account also, but that's in the future, so. Those are my questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry. Could I add one more thing? I'm getting pinged from Andrea in the back who might be able to also help with that question. Andrea, do you want to come up? Thank you.

It's team sports staffing the county council in real time.

Thank you. Um, so, Andrea Kelly, council staff, RCW for therapeutic court courts tax 8214 460 monies collected under this section must be used solely for the purpose of providing for the operation or delivery of chemical dependency or mental health treatment programs and services for the operation or delivery of therapeutic court services. Monies collected by cities and counties under this section may be used for new construction of facilities and modifications to existing facilities to address health and safety needs necessary for the provision operation or delivery of chemical dependency or mental health treatment programs or services otherwise funded with monies collected in this section.

So, it sounds like we could pull capital out of either or.

If if the. if the facilities are used for operation or delivery of chemical dependency services. Okay, got it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Okay, any additional questions? Okay, thank you. Mr. Schmidt. Thank you. Ms. Kelly for phoning a friend. That was great. Um, and we're going to go ahead and open this up for public comment. If anyone would like to address the council on resolution 2026, 178, we'll start in chambers. No, 1 signed up for this 1, but just in case. Not seeing anyone jump up. Mr. Dominique will go online.

For any member of the public who would like to provide comment on proposal number R2026-178, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And there are no hands this time, Madam Chair.

With no hands raised, we'll close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further comments on this item for my colleagues? Well, I will just urge support on this one. This is a need that was identified. We've continued to collect data and really see a growing senior population with needs and a growing population that needs basically supportive housing around behavioral health or mental health. True Bay has Applied for this pot of dollars explicitly, because they have figured out a way to make this work and are willing to do business in Pierce County and the state of Washington, which are all good checks for us, because sometimes that's an issue. I know that I did reach out to true Bay around try care because that did not show up in any of their. Leg work and like the documentation that we got, and they said they'd be willing to figure it out, but it's not something that they have done in under their regular book of business. But we know we have a large population of veterans who also potentially in the future may need services like this. And this could be potentially something that is helpful for them. So see no other comments or lights up. I'm going to ask the clerk to call the role on the approval of our 2026 dash 178.

Councilmember Kruver? Aye. Councilmember Ayala? Aye. Councilmember Yambe?

Aye.

Councilmember Denson? Aye. Councilmember Morrell?

Aye.

Councilmember Herrera?

Aye.

Councilmember Hitchen? Aye.

You have seven ayes, zero nays. With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you and congratulations to Today, we have no ordinances this afternoon, and so we are going to move directly to Section 10, which is community forum at this time. If there's any members of the public that would like to provide comments. Let me just read the script. Community forum is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on any topic of significance to or affecting Pierce County government that did not appear on the agenda for final action today. There is a three minute limit. Please state your name if you'd like it on the record and address all comments to the chair. We will again start in chambers again. If it was already on the agenda, then we don't get to talk about it. But if anyone else has anything else they want to talk about in chambers going once. Going twice. Not seeing anyone, we will go online. I do see at least one hand, Mr. Dominique.

Ooh, excuse me. For any member of the public who would like to participate in community forum, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And as you alluded to, Madam Chair, we do have one hand. Angelyn, please state your name for the record and you have three minutes.

Hello, good afternoon council members. My name is Angelina Scarrido from Pierce County District number two. The awareness provided in the Emergency Preparedness and Community Resilience Month of the proclamation of the network of partners, whether staff or volunteers, answered the urgency of climate-caused disasters is both educational and refreshing to see a variety of resources be brought together to help the community. I'm hoping to see something like this transferred to other types of emergencies like sexual and domestic violence and also evictions or homeless incidences to be taken as seriously as a whole. The need is there for those who get denied resources or have them stripped away unexpectedly due to the illegal actions of others. Thank you for putting our community needs health and wellness during recovery of small and large-scale disasters from when it strikes. On another note about the Pierce County Library System has been very supportive in honoring years of requests for answering the fulfillment of my needs and others for different stages of life like homelessness, job preparedness, and the inclusion of adults in activities where children are still educated and entertained at the same time. The library that I go to is the South Hill Branch, and I am a witness to the transformation of this specific building, providing more safety for all ages, cooperating with additional services, and allowing more individuals to thrive in the access provided with various office equipment and services, like individual laptops, phone chargers, the fax machine at the front desk, the copy scanner machine, the law dictionary, my has has been such a huge help for me in all of my legal cases and writing research foreign language books encyclopedias teaching manuals the office supply desk yes and more i am so grateful and cannot wait to see what else awaits as additives to the range of options offered at the library also shout out to the library director who i have partnered with as well hello Thank you for letting me speak today. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. There we go. uh not seeing anyone else signed up or raising their hands for community forum we're going to go ahead and close that portion of the meeting and bring it back before the council is there any other business or announcements this afternoon vice chair i'm going to go to you okay thank you real quick

Just a friendly reminder of District 2's having their in-district meeting on September 9th, which is a Wednesday, at 5.30. The theme is social enterprises in District 2. We're going to be featuring Step-by-Step and St. Francis House, two non-profits that... Don't take too much government money and kind of our self-licking ice cream cone that help people in the community. We're also gonna have Rogers High School ROTC presenting the flags. And we're also gonna be doing a very important proclamation on suicide awareness. So we invite everybody to come down to listen to some of the great presentations and the important proclamation leading up to our suicide summit.

Thank you. Looking forward to the meeting. Council Member Denson.

Thank you. I just wanted to let folks know, especially since we have some KP folks here, that the Key Peninsula Art Walk is this Saturday from 10 to 4, and it's at the Key Peninsula Civic Center. Typically, it's right in the middle of town, which I think is a lot of fun, but people get irritated trying to drive through. So it's going to be on Saturday. It's going to be all day at the Civic Center, which is a great venue, and we hope to see some of you there. I will be there.

Thank you. I'm not seeing any other lights come up. So seeing no other business before the council, we are adjourned. Have a wonderful evening, everybody.