City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Kent City Council meeting for 04/07/2026. If you could all please rise and join me in the flag salute. Right. Melissa, could you please call the roll?

Mayor Ralph. Here. Council president core.

Here.

Council member Boyce.

Here.

Councilmember Boyd

here

councilmember Larmer councilmember Michelle here councilmember Schroker here and councilmember Troutner

here.

Thank you.

Thank you Item number three is the approval of the agenda. Are there any changes or additions to the agenda?

Madam mayor, there are no changes from staff. I will note that we have a closed session, is much like an executive session as item number 11 on the agenda. That is to discuss the status of collective bargaining pursuant to RCW 4,230 one-44A, and that should take about fifteen minutes.

All right. So, just for the audience, that closed session, anyone in the room will need to have you leave the room, and there is no action expected following that closed session. All right, with no changes, is there a motion to approve the agenda?

So move. Second.

And a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero. That moves us right into public communications. We have a long list of things under public recognition to celebrate this evening. The first item on our agenda is employee of the month. Each month here at the city employees get together and they nominate a coworker. The nominations are based on the fact that the employees, their coworkers they are nominating exemplify the mission, vision, values and goals of the city of Kent.

Many times, it's not just in a single project, but it is in how they show up every single day. That is absolutely the case for our April 2026 employee of the month. Very excited that he is here tonight. So, I'd like to announce our April employee of the month is Brian Bond. Brian was first hired on 12/03/2001 as a maintenance worker two in public works.

He was promoted to a maintenance worker three in 2005 and promoted again in 2011 to operations technical analyst. He was re classed into his current position as an engineer project coordinator on 06/01/2016. Brian oversees and participates in the development, implementation and coordination of assigned engineering projects within the department. He is responsible for coordinating workflow and performing duties to ensure projects are carried out in an efficient, effective and timely manner. Brian was nominated because he is an outstanding employee of the city who in his day to day work brings his best.

His dedication to his work not only reflects well of the city but also he also completes projects on time and under budget. An email from a consultant who Brian has been working with on a project working with on a project gave the following unsolicited feedback. They said Brian Bond is an exceptionally helpful guide, manager and resource during our latest contract contract with the city, and while in my experience almost all of the municipal employees I have worked with over the years have been dedicated and skilled, Brian has been a standout in serving the needs of the city on this project. Our work will be delivered ahead of schedule and significantly under budget and Brian is largely responsible for that. He anticipated what we needed before we asked and packaged the city's interactions with our staff in a way that minimized our efforts and maximized our efficiency.

It is a really high compliment. Brian truly cares about the product he puts out. His attention to detail is nothing short of remarkable, and it shows in everything he does. He is an excellent communicator. His extroverted and friendly nature draws people in and makes them want to listen to what he has to say.

Brian is an out of the box thinker and never afraid to try new approaches when something doesn't seem to be working and he always is working to create new ways to organize for the future. His wealth of information and experience coupled with his exceptional attention to detail enable him to rapidly accomplish any task put before him. I can tell you I've heard from so many employees that say Brian is their go to, and that speaks volumes in the workforce that we have. So Brian, I want to say thank you and congratulations on being our April employee of the month. So I would like to invite up Dave Brock, our deputy public works director and

Good evening, mayor and council. Congratulations to Brian. I told Brian I'd keep this brief because he's going to be back to work in about eight hours, eight hours rather. He's an early starter and want to recognize him and get him home and get some rest. One of the strengths that Brian has is really the ability to bring people together. And I think that's been captured in what you've said. Another key part of Brian's job is emergency management. When he was promoted in 2011, his job is about 40% emergency management. And that is involvement with our department operating center in terms of the overall planning. Brian worked through the infrastructure command system, the ICS system if you're familiar with that.

The federal system really translating that and formulating a system with a team of operations staff members to really develop our DOC manual. And not only the plan but putting it into practice. Certainly have gone very fluent in activating that DOC through the years and getting that completed. He's been instrumental to that process. Certainly in the recent flood events you may have in the videos and in the pictures you've seen, certainly Brian was integral to that from the planning standpoint to just being an active member in running our DOC.

I remember that Sunday morning and talking with Brian when we had the river in the South Part of Kent coming up and kind of inundating that area between the UP tracks and 167 talking about we need to move our DOC off of the Valley Floor. Brian is already there. He already had this thing in motion in terms of getting it moved to the fire station up on King Kangley, work with another staff member, getting that all relocated, set up so we can transition from Russell Roads seamlessly to the East Hill and continue to run that DOC. I know that week alone probably worked well over one hundred hours that week. So he really puts in the time.

He does a great job. We succeed because he succeeds. So congratulations, Brian. You want to come up and introduce the family?

Thank you. Yeah. I'm here with my, wife, Ellen, and my son, Braden. And thank you. This is actually a huge honor. I'm very fortunate that

I get to help protect the city of

Kent in both my emergency preparedness role and in the infrastructure projects I get to do. So it's a great honor that I'm getting recognized and I just appreciate that I am able to do what I get to do on a daily basis. So thank you.

You.

Toby, you want to do a quick photo? Bring Dave and Brian up here.

Joe, come on up.

Get the

whole family involved, come on.

There you go, I love that. I love that. On over. Nice. Thank you.

I can vouch for the time of day, weekends, number of hours. I don't know that I've they've very often been to the DOC when it's been activated that I have not seen Brian there managing and doing the IT side of things. Even though you're not an IT employee, you seem to have all that stuff figured out. So I kid the number of times I have heard, well, somebody go get Brian. So, it is a real thing. We are very, very grateful. Thank you, Brian. All right. We are going to move into the proclamation portion of the meeting. I'm gonna go ahead and go down to the podium.

We will start. I will read the proclamation and invite the community member up that is gonna be accepting that. We will do a photo, and then I'll ask you to say a few words. We've got four proclamations this evening.

Brian, since you have to go to work tomorrow, you don't have to stay for this portion. If you and your family want to leave, it's okay.

Alright. The first proclamation that we have this evening is for sexual assault awareness month. Joining us is Hira Singh Bhullar, a member board member at King County sexual assault Case Arc.

Case Arc. King County Sexual Assault and Resource Centers.

Thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and read the proclamation here, and then we will do a photo, and I'll have you say a few words. So the proclamation says, whereas sexual violence affects people in every community with a sexual assault occurring every sixty eight seconds in The United States, highlighting the need to promote safety and well-being, and whereas sexual violence is significantly underreported due to fear, trauma, and systemic barriers such as language differences, immigration status, gender bias, and racism, and whereas many people experience harassment including online harassment that disproportionately impacts historically marginalized communities, and whereas sexual violence can cause lasting physical, emotional, and psychological harm affecting survivors health, safety, and ability to attend work or school, and whereas survivors can heal with the support of family, friends, and community resources including programs across King County and Washington State that provide free and confidential advocacy and assistance, and whereas communities play a critical role in preventing sexual violence by supporting survivors and challenging harmful attitudes and behaviors. Now, therefore, I, Dana Ralph, mayor of Kent, do hereby proclaim April 2026 is sexual assault awareness month in Kent and encourage our community to support survivors and work towards a safer future for all.

Good evening. My name is Ira Singh Buller. I'm a board member at King County Sex Assault and SOAR Center. So this is basically thanks for the proclamation. Thanks, Mayor Alf and the council for the proclamation.

First of all, for the survivors, so you are not alone. Sexual assault is very common. Almost half of the women, one third of men, in their lifetime, they face sexual assault. Most of them are children. If I talk about KSARC, last year alone, KSARC served 4,300 families and survivors, which were half of those were children and teenagers.

And as mayor said, the sex assault is bring a lot of problems, physical issues, mental education, relationships. So help is available. KSARC 20 line is available. There is a confidential line you can call anytime for help and they are available. So thank you very much for the proclamation.

Just really want to emphasize what Hira said, Case Arc is an incredible and unfortunately much needed resource in our community. I think the goal is someday we would like to not make them a needed resource, but the reality is there are so many people in our community that are affected by sexual violence and it is one of those things that's really scary to talk about. So the more that we can talk about it out loud and know that survivors have that that voice in that community behind them, think it is a really, really important thing. So thank you for the work that you do with CaseArc and the work that they do for our community. Alright.

Our next proclamation is for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. That title in and of itself doesn't exactly tell you what we're gonna talk about, but we're really talking about our amazing 911 system. So, Bonnie Mayer from Valley Comm is here. I'm gonna go ahead and read the proclamation and then we'll do a picture to have you say a few words. Whereas Valley Communications has been successfully serving the public public safety communications needs of Kent residents since 1977 and whereas Valley Communications staff are essential first responders who play a critical role in effectively coordinating emergency services to ensure the health and safety of our residents, businesses, and visitors twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

And whereas Valley Communications call receivers and dispatchers endure long hours, abnormal schedules, and stressful work situations daily. Their ability to remain calm under pressure has saved the lives of countless Kent residents, employees, and visitors. And whereas the city of Kent honors these men and women who play a vital role in the protection of our community members, businesses, and visitors, now therefore I, Dana Ralph, mayor of Kent, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12 through the eighteenth twenty twenty six as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Kent, Washington and urge all our residents to pay tribute to our 911 call receivers, dispatchers, support staff, and managers and to recognize the substantial contributions they have made to our health, safety, welfare, and quality of life.

Thank you, member Ralph, counsel, community. I'm honored to be here tonight on behalf of our nine one one professionals. Every day, our team answers hundreds of calls for help, emergencies and non emergencies alike, supporting our community through moments both critical and routine. But behind every number, every statistic is a human story. When someone calls 911, the voice that answers is a first responder, a calm presence in the chaos, a steady guide when everything feels uncertain.

Though they may not be physically at the scene, they are the first link in the chain of survival, ensuring the right help reaches those in need as quickly as possible. They do this all in seconds because seconds matter. With dedication, composure, and skill, they answer the call time and time again, supporting people through moments of fear, uncertainty, and crisis. Dispatchers manage fast moving, high volume fire and police radios, often coordinating 25 or more officers at once. That is a ratio of one to 25.

It's pretty immense. Just as the call receiver is a lifeline for those accessing 911 for help, the dispatcher is a lifeline to those in the field. And our communication supervisors stand beside them, providing constant twenty four seven support, often carrying immense span of responsibility themselves. Through their work, lives have been changed. Lives have been saved.

Families have been given more time together. They demonstrate not only the technical excellence, but compassion, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to others. These are the moments that define nine one one professionals, not just the calls they take, but the lives they touch. So tonight, we recognize all nine one one professionals, the unseen heroes behind the phones and the radios, the ones who answer no matter what the hour, the ones who listen no matter what the fear, and the one who's who act no matter what the pressure. Because when someone calls 911, they are there. They are first responders. They are 911. Thank you.

I will not be as eloquent as Bonnie, but I really wanna emphasize the idea. We we as residents call 911 on our worst day. Right? A family member is having a heart attack or someone's having a baby or somebody's your car's been stolen or your house has been broken into. The steady voice on that other end of the line is so important. And then that steady voice that is guiding our first responders and providing that information to them. Our system would not work. We would not have a safe community if it was not for everyone at Valley Comm. So I just wanna say thank you. Alright.

Our next proclamation is for Vaisakhi and Kalsadeh. And so, I now we've got a large group of community members here to accept. I'll go ahead and read the proclamation and then we'll do a picture and we can have a few words. So it says, whereas Vaisakhi is one of the most significant celebrations in the Sikh calendar, marking both the harvest festival and the establishment of Khalsa in in '19 in 1699 by Guru Gobind Singh ji, a pivotal moment in Sikh history that symbolizes sovereignty, justice, and devotion. And whereas the creation of the Khalsa represents a commitment to truth, equality, and to the protection of the vulnerable, embodying values that transcend time and inspire individuals to uphold justice and dignity for all, And whereas, Vaisakhi is a day of reflection for Sikhs worldwide serving as an opportunity to recommit to the principles of Sikhism including selflessness, courage, and community service while celebrating the vibrant heritage and contributions of sick communities.

And whereas this day highlights the importance of unity and resilience reminding us of the sacrifices made by sick leaders and communities throughout the history to protect their faith and identity. And whereas this important occasion in sick history celebrates and fosters understanding and respect for diverse cultures. And whereas let this proclamation serve as a reminder of the enduring spirit of the Psaki and the calls his commitment to justice. Now therefore I Dana Ralph mayor of Kent do hereby proclaim April 14 to be the Psaki and calls a day in the city of Kent and I encourage all residents to join in recognizing this important occasion by learning about sick history participating in community celebrations and fostering understanding and respect for diverse cultures.

Thank you. Sorry.

And then one more after this.

Alright. One, two, three. One, two, three. Audience video. Okay. There we go. One, two, three. There we go.

Thank you again. I'm here for second time. This is Malik Chanto. So the cult, the Sikh religion, the Calta Day, this is basically on the April 1699 when the formation of Calta, the Sikh religion was formed for to support basically the minority communities that time was in trouble. This is basically Sikh religion promote equality and justice all the time.

That's why we are this if you see a Sikh wearing turban, that's the meaning of this turban, that's why for purpose. So thank you for recognizing the day. This is very important for us, for the Sikh community being especially the Canterbury area. We are basically most popular Sikhs in this area, especially Washington State. So thank you very much. And then also I'd like to extend invite that we have two community events coming up, one on eleventh in Cultural Wellness Center Federal Way and then also in the Sugar Center on May 23, that will be the main one. May 23, right? Yes, May 23. So please join for that one. So thanks again.

Thank you to our Sikh community who are here today. Sikhs have a long history in The U. S. Dating over a century being pioneers, early miners and laborers here in Pacific Northwest. And, I do want to share a name for our community to look into Bhagat Singh Thind.

He was one of the first immigrants who fought for immigrant rights here in The United States. First Asian actually who fought for citizenship. So, a very recognizable name and that man was a Sikh man. So, I want to just recognize thank you to our Sikh community who are here And I want to let our neighbors know too if you want to learn about Sikhism, we have Gurdwaras in Kent, Auburn, Renton, and I'm sure you have seen one, but we would like to invite you and as Mr. Muller mentioned, we do have two events coming up for the Sikh community for celebration of Esauqui on April 11 and May 23.

One is at Calcagromat Center in Federal Way and the other one is at Shuer Center right here in Kent. Community sees a large huge celebration that happens on Ashore Center. There's a parade that happens and there's education and lots of celebrations. So, please feel free to join us and I want to thank you Mayor for this proclamation again. Think we've been doing it for over ten years about now. So, you to my colleagues for always joining and with that, I just want to say best wishes to our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Definitely looking forward to the event this weekend. The willingness to share the hospitality, the desire to teach that the Sikh community brings to Kent and our surrounding areas is is something that until you've experienced it, I don't know quite how to explain it, but it's it's a pretty incredible thing. So I just want to say thank you and look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday. Alright.

Our last last proclamation was requested by Christina Blocker, co founder of Elevate Black Wellness. So have Christina come on up and we're gonna read the proclamation and do a picture and have you say a few words. So it says, whereas holistic wellness including physical, mental, emotional, and social health is essential to building thriving communities because when individuals are healthy, communities are stronger. And whereas, black wellness week honors the legacy of Booker t Washington's National Negro Health Week, which emphasizes community driven approaches to improving health and well-being. And whereas, wellness week continues this legacy by promoting holistic well-being while celebrating the rich traditions, joy, healing, and culturally rooted approaches within black communities.

And whereas this observance highlights the importance of prevention, education, and access to resources that support healthier lifestyles and stronger communities. And whereas this observance encourages collaboration among community organizations, public agencies, health care providers, and residents to promote wellness initiatives and expand opportunities for individuals and families to thrive. And whereas the City Of Kent is one of the most diverse communities in the nation, home to more than 17,000 black residents whose contributions enrich the cultural vibrancy, economic strength, and community life of our city. The city of Kent is committed to supporting efforts that promote health, well-being, and quality of life for all residents through inclusive programs, partnerships, and community engagement. Now therefore I, Dana Ralph, mayor of Kent, to hereby proclaim April 2026 as black wellness week in the city of Kent and urge all residents, businesses, and community organizations to participate in activities that promote health, wellness, and connection.

Let us use this week to celebrate community, support one another, and build a healthier future for all. I love that.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you as well. Nice to meet you. Thanks for being here.

Thank

you so much. Thank you, mayor Rolfe and the

Oops. Sorry.

No worries. Thank you so much, mayor Rolfe and the Kent City Council. This is Kent's first ever Black Wellness Week proclamation, and we do not take it lightly. Saying yes to something new takes a lot of leadership, and we're so grateful for it. Kent, as our mayor has shared, is one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and that is remarkable.

Black Wellness Week is about making sure that diversity translates into well-being for everyone, especially communities that have been historic that have historically faced barriers to health. This has really targeted universalism in its approach. We share the goal of a healthy, thriving Kent, and this proclamation recognizes that getting there means being intentional about who still faces gaps. This tradition goes back over one hundred and ten years to Booker T. Washington's National Negro Health Week, which was a recognition that health equity requires intentional action.

Black Wellness Week centers what's strong in black communities, traditions, joy, healing, and culturally rooted approaches to wellness. Kent, I'm so excited to share, joins governor Ferguson and a growing coalition of cities and counties across Washington. In fact, we just received a proclamation from King County today, so it is such an honor to be here with you all tonight. Elevate Black Wellness also partners with the Washington State Department of Health to connect health systems and communities through trusted culturally responsive resources. So thank you again, mayor Rolfe.

Thank you so much to the Kent City Council for opening this door, and we look forward to continuing to walk through it with you together. Thank you. Christina,

thank you so much for reaching out and highlighting this for us. You used words like joy and community, and I think that that's what everyone in this room strives for, is that connectedness and that health, and so we are grateful. You. All right. We are going to move on.

We have a reappointment counsel this evening for your consideration to the Civil Service Commission. Bruce Weisich, I see Bruce is here in the audience tonight, he has agreed to serve another term on the civil service commission, and so counsel it is on your consent agenda, and with your approval, we will make that official. So, Bruce, I want to say thank you for your service and your willingness to continue to serve. Next item, community events. Council President.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We have events happening at SSS Schubert Center on April 19, third day twentieth anniversary tour. On May 1, there's a concert called Dilt Chatha Live. On May 30, we have our very Kent International Festival happening and it's a great celebration of our community. Kent being a very diverse city, it's an event free to our communities.

It's all day event that happens with lots of entertainment, food and education. On May 27, June 27, there's a Parker McCollum and if you have not visited or bought any tickets, you can buy them at assessoshowarecenter.com. Thank you.

All right.

I also want to point out there's a Green Kent event happening on April 18 at Clark Lake.

Yeah, just want remind me that Juneteenth's coming up on June 20 at Miramar Park, and that's on a Saturday. Thank you.

All right, thank you. All right, we are going to move on. The next item on the agenda is reports. Each one of our council members that sits up here on the dais not only works for the community here during the council meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, but they also serve on boards and commissions around the region and the state. And, that is to ensure that Kent's voice is represented in those conversations, whether it be policy discussions or funding opportunities.

It's really important that the perspective of our residents and businesses are represented in those conversations. So this is an opportunity for you to hear about that work that's being done outside of just the council meetings. I have a couple of updates this evening. I first want to say thank you to everyone that attended our state of the city address a couple of weeks ago at our new operations and maintenance facility on the East Hill. Huge shout out to our communications and multimedia team for putting it together.

It was a fantastic, well attended event. It's always one of my favorite things during the year to get to celebrate the amazing work that was done in the year prior, and lay out the vision that we have all of us collectively for the city in the coming years. Want to say thank you to everyone for attending and again thank you to our communications and multimedia staff for making that possible. A couple of quick updates, I serve on the municipal research and service center board, MRSC, and they are an organization that provides legal and policy guidance to cities, other local governments. We had our board retreat talking about where the organization is headed.

Like many organizations across the state, funding is a continued issue, but the services they provide are instrumental in educating municipalities, providing guidance for interpretation of policy that's been passed by the legislature. I want to really encourage our council, if you have not spent any time on the MRSC website, go out and do it. They've got a lot of advice on how to navigate open public meetings and public records act and interpretation on legislation that has been passed in past years. So, really grateful to serve on that board and support the organization that does such great work for all of us. Would like to next report I have is our diversity equity and inclusion board met last week.

The chief chief petty and I attended that meeting to provide the DEIB board an update on Senate bill 6,002 which is the changes in state law to automated license plate readers There's been some significant changes in how municipalities can use those cameras, our DEIB board was interested in how that applies here in Kent, what that looks like across the state so grateful for the opportunity to spend some time with them discussing that automated license plate reader bill. Last thing today along with councilmember Schocher and Troutner had opportunity to attend the ribbon cutting at mossy a new restaurant that is here in Downtown Kent. It was a fantastic event the consul general from consul general Gupta from India was there to help us celebrate as well as senator Kaufman and senator Dingras. So, grand opening for a new local restaurant. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Pat Fitzpatrick, our Chief Administrative Officer.

Thanks, Madam Mayor. In the interest of time, I'm going to refer to my report, which is in the council packet. Thank you.

Council President.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I serve on Board of Health and PJ San Regional Council Growth Management Planning Board will be meeting on the sixteenth. And we had our council workshop earlier talking about opportunity zones. So that is available for our community, including our committee of the whole on our Facebook page and on CAN TV twenty one. That I'm now going ahead and get started with my colleagues here. Council Member Trapner.

Thank you, Madam President. I sit on the Regional Transit Committee and at our meeting on March 18, we approved our work plan for 2026. We also had a presentation on Metro's rider dashboard and an update on the King County Transportation District. So there is a link to that dashboard in the news council newsletter if anyone is interested in checking that out. It's pretty cool to navigate through.

The Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority Governance Board met on March 18. Notes on that meeting are also in the newsletter, but I do want to remind everyone that on May 2 is the annual teddy bear clinic. The first 400 people get a free teddy bear. It's from ten to one at Station 74 on 16th Avenue Southeast. It's a really great opportunity for kids and families to interact with firefighters, helping them to see that firefighters are really cool people that help you and they fix things like put a band aid on your teddy bear or wrap up something that might be wrong with them.

Kids also get to go in an ambulance, a fire truck, and even work a fire hose. So put that on your calendar May 2. And then lastly, the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority Citizen Advisory Planning Committee is looking for new members. The CAPC provides input, feedback, and guidance to the RFA staff and the governance board on issues that are critical to developing a strong relationship between the community and the RFA. People are always asking, how can I get involved?

This committee is a really great opportunity to see how the RFA works and see how they work with the governance board. So, you're interested in that, the information on qualifications and commitment are in the council newsletter. That is all I have madam president.

Thank you councilmember chartner. Councilmember Boyd.

Thank you madam president. As we know that 03/12/2026, the legislative session wrapped up and there were several bills that touched on toxic chemicals, some of them had dealt with consumer products and environmental health. And as a member of the management coordinated committee for local hazardous waste management program, we kept a close eye on proposals and bills that would affect on how people are exposed to hazardous materials in their homes and communities. When something comes up that falls within hazardous waste domain, we make sure our technical expertise is available to lawmakers in Olympia. And here's a quick recap of a field we tracked this year.

Senate bill five nine seven five Kyle and lead in cookware passed. This bill updates Washington laws restricting lead in cookware the final version as a compromise. While it reduces short term requirements under the original law, it sets clear standards for manufacturers and provide more information for consumers. The goal is to rule out how easy it is to follow and to enforce and understand how lead and cookware can cause damage to the human being. And then we had another bill house bill twenty five thirty two nitrous oxide sales it also passed.

This bill addresses concerns about the misuse of nitrous oxide. It's a gross misdemeanor to sell, distribute or give away either in the form or in oxide canisters except under specific exception. The goal is to reduce access that enables abuse and serious health risk. Those are some of the things that we talked about, and we discussed and we follow closely. As a matter of fact, I discussed this last time at our last, council meeting and those were the couple of bills that passed and the rest of my report will be in our upcoming newsletter. Thank you madam president.

Thank you council member Boyd. Council member Boyce.

Thank you madam president. I sit on the Lodge not the Lodge Intact, don't know. Public Safety excuse me. Public Safety Committee. There was no action on public safety but also on economic development I was sitting for Council Member Lama and one thing we talked about was the lodging tax and the lodging tax really is Washington State collects lodging tax on each hotel and motel and that money is used to a portion of money returned to the city to help promote tourism and so on.

So we have application process. I sit on for the council that we open up twice a year and then organization can apply for that fund. So we had about 10 organizations that was awarded funds and in return they will promote tourism into within the city. So that passed and went on to the consent calendar. Also, said on the Southern City Association PIT Committee and I think I told you guys a couple of time ago and we talked about and when we talked about it, making sure that we have conversation before things come up in front of the pit.

So we do have another one come up again that we're to be talking about tomorrow. This is around the sewer rate increase. What they're proposing is a 12.75% increase monthly rate. So a standard charge would be like from $62 to $70 And that don't even take into consideration what the city and other organizations do when they also have to increase taxes and so on. We feel like this year is really a come down to affordability issues.

It's gonna be really tough to have this year passed. So, PIT tomorrow, we'll be putting a letter together, making a recommendation not to move this forward. This is really going to impact a lot of senior citizens that on the fixed income. So we'll be discussing it tomorrow at Pitt. Then also talked about last time I was here, we talked about the King County Transportation District, where they are looking to increase the rate here.

Even though 95% of the revenue is coming from the city, they are really to fix the roles within King County. 80% of that money comes from the city role, right? And they only want to give the city barely any funds to really kind of to do their own role. So we felt like there should be some type of funding for the city. So we recommend 20% and I heard there have been several meetings already and they have not decided yet, but I think they'll listen to us about this portion going to the city so we can maintain our own role.

So right now, I think it's going to go back and forth, I think they are scheduled on May 9, I think it is, when they'll be making the final decision. So you continue to raise your voice and we as Pit, we will continue to try to do the right thing. My own personal opinion is that, you know, I think a lot of us getting tax fatigue here, right? I mean, I think enough is enough, right? So that's my whole personal opinion. So but we'll be looking at this year tomorrow and taking some action as well, too. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Maboyes. Wow. Councillor Maboyes. Thank you, Madam President. Keep up the good work, Councillor Maboyes.

Fight the good fight. All right. I serve on the human sorry, I serve as the council liaison for the Human Services Commission and the commission got a briefing from King County Health representatives. They presented an in-depth Kent community health profile, and that is I don't think anything in there was surprising to any of us, but South King County lacks a lot of resources, and we have like a lower, like all the bad things. So the reason for our briefing was just to let commissioners know where we stand as far as services and health outcomes.

So as we prepare to go over grant applications, we really understand what the Kent community needs. I also serve on the Regional Law Safety and Justice Committee. We had our first meeting of the year. We're still going through some things with King County staffing, and we got a briefing from the the Office regional, of Regional Gun Violence Prevention. We've had this briefing before. So we're working through it. We're trying to get some more meaningful topics. And then I also serve as the Washington Community Forestry Council AWC representative. That report is in our council newsletter. That's all I have.

Thank you, council member. Council member Schroker.

Thank you, council president. Over the past couple of weeks, I've had the opportunity to engage with several organizations and community efforts. I attended the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center breakfast, which highlighted the importance of supporting survivors and continuing prevention work in our community. I also joined the Kent Rotary escapades which raises funds for programs like backpack buddies that directly support students and families in Kent. I also got to attend the eighteenth annual celebration of affordable housing where regional partners discussed ongoing efforts to expand access to stable housing.

Lastly, I got to tour with council member Michaud the Kent Correctional Facility, which provided us both with helpful insight into operations and its role in our public safety system. Appreciate the opportunity to stay connected to the work and bring these perspectives back.

Thank you, council member. And, as you can see, all of my colleagues are busy serving Kent community and various different boards and commissions. And, we do have provider updates in our council newsletter that comes subscribe to that on cantois.gov. I'm pretty sure you can find it on there under council newsletters. With that, back to you Madam Mayor.

Thank you. All right, we are moving on in the agenda. The next item is public hearing. We will now hold the public hearing on the six month moratorium on additional or expanded jail, correctional, or other detention facilities. Staff will give a presentation, and then I'll invite the public to provide testimony, written statements, and other evidence.

Public input must relate to the subject of the public hearing, and council members, as you know, you may ask questions during the hearing. If you're here to testify on this matter or present written statements or evidence, please sign up with the clerk at the front table. With that, we will open the public hearing on the six month moratorium on additional or expanded jail, correctional, and other detention facilities. I would like to ask Kristen Holdworth to make a presentation on this matter.

Good evening, madam mayor and council. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. This is a public hearing that's a little bit unique because normally you take action immediately after you have a hearing, or you will close the public hearing and then take action at a later date. Because this is on a moratorium, there's a specific state process. So on March 3, council adopted resolution twenty one zero nine, which is concerning the citing establishment change of use of jails, corrections, and other detention facilities.

And that resolution did a couple of things. The first is it established an immediate moratorium on those facilities, and then it also set up it established findings of fact regarding why the moratorium is necessary and then set a public hearing date. So state law requires that within sixty days of adopting that that moratorium, we need a public hearing. So this is that public hearing tonight. No further action is required.

The moratorium is already in effect, and it will be for six months. At the end, we'll talk about what can happen at the end of that six months period. So, a couple just reminders of why this moratorium was something that was, before you all is, really, it it goes with consistency with our our city and our community visions and needs. And so we adopted in 2024 the comprehensive plan. It calls for 10,200 new housing units, 32,000 new jobs over a twenty year period, and it was based on thousands of data points from community engagement efforts.

So we had broad conversation. The community said they wanted more activity in Kent. They wanted jobs, and they wanted entrepreneurship. They wanted housing for all different types of households and income levels, and they wanted opportunity. We heard earlier about King County and South King County specifically, our health profile.

One of the things that really has come up multiple times is the need to maintain our current tax base. So as a jurisdiction, that is something that is really vital for providing the services to our residents, and it's something that a lot of times, unfortunately, we don't have control over. The state or county will do things that undermine our ability to have that current tax base system. Another comp plan goal and priority we heard is regional equity of distribution of these facilities. So facilities that are large like this don't just serve Kent residents.

They are for broader communities that all funnel in, and Kent already has many of the region's land consumptive non tax producing facilities. So there's Sounder Station, two light rail stations, we have two abandoned landfills that are having to be cleaned up, the King County Justice Center, We also have two other jails and correction facilities. And so when we looked at this, really, the moratorium purpose was to say Kent has done our fair share, and we also need to look at what is happening in our community. Over 63% of our land downtown is exempt from property taxes. And so adding other potential uses that could be exempt would undermine the implementation of those goals and visions in the comprehensive plan for our vibrant, safe, inclusive community that we're calling for.

So we are also we have Puget Sound Regional Council designations for our downtown and our manufacturing industrial district in the valley. Because we have those designations, we're eligible for funding. And adding some more of these facilities because of the balance that we already have an overabundance in our fair share of could also compromise consistency with those other plans that lead to additional funds for our roadway networks and other programs. And so because of that, you all adopted the moratorium resolution. We, as a city, this will be effective for six months, meaning that it will expire on September 3.

There's two options in the state process. We can do a rolling six month renewal if we decide that that is what we would like to do, and we would have another hearing. You would opt adopt new findings of fact, and we could extend that for another six month period and continue to evaluate the need for that moratorium. Other jurisdictions already decided to do a one year moratorium. I wanna address that just in case you've heard kind of the pros and cons.

The state law is very specific that if you upfront do a one year, you have to commit to having related studies and funding for that study. And so we had just completed the comprehensive plan. We have all these other plans in progress that are looking at the future of our economics for our city as well as the land use and meeting our housing targets. So we said we would do a six month because if we did that one year, it would have required us to spend money that we've already spent assessing the the compatibility as well as pulled staff time from other efforts. And so, this is not to say that this ends on September 3.

We will in the coming month request that we can continue to extend this moratorium. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Otherwise, I will turn it over to you.

All right. Council, any questions for Kristen?

Councilmember Michaud. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So can we just keep doing this every six months? Are there any other options?

Yes. So there are options. So for now, we decided that a six month pause made sense as we were evaluating. There's a lot of just changing landscapes. There's also intricacies with other state laws and how things may affect each other, and so we said swift action now made a lot of sense. We will have, as time progresses, I'm looking at our city attorney colleague because we have talked closely about this. We will have the opportunity to discuss. Obviously, we wouldn't wanna be here ten years from now with a moratorium that goes every six months. So what the next appropriate step is, this gives us time to identify whether there's code changes or anything else that we need to talk about as a community and bring forward with you all, counsel.

All right. Any other questions? All right. I would now like to invite the public to provide testimony, written statements, other evidence. Melissa, do we have any speakers?

We do, madam mayor. We have four speakers, and no written comments received. The first one is Barbara Clemens.

Invite you to come up, state your name and city of residence for the record. We do have a three minute timer and again because this is a public hearing the comments are limited to the topic of the public hearing.

Yes. Okay, Barbara Clements. I've lived in Kent for forty years on Scenic Hill. Oh, no, does it? Okay. Barbara Clements. I've lived for forty years on Scenic Hill and I want to congratulate the council for doing this six month moratorium. I would encourage you to continue to extend it. It was not mentioned in the staff briefing, but we all know this is to keep an ICE facility out of our town. ICE is going to keep on trying.

It has a load of money behind it. It's going to keep on trying to find a place to put up its center. So we have to be vigilant to protect our city from this agency which has a boatload of money behind it and the determination, and sometimes sneakily so, to get these facilities put up as detention centers and prisons any way they can. So I would just encourage you to keep extending the moratorium if you have to for as long as it takes until maybe they don't have the determination and the budget behind them anymore. And this is sort of side to the moratorium.

I'll make it short. They do our searching for office space. And in the recent times, they found out that they use these office space things, which really can't the moratorium can't affect or do as holding facilities for people that they're trying to ship out to places like Dilly. So I don't know if that's the inspectors going out to make sure that the land use is being appropriately applied, if office space starts popping up. But back to the original thing, yeah, please stop, Please continue the six month moratoriums as long as necessary to protect this community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Cara Haney.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Kara Haney. I have lived and worked in Kent. I felt like Kent School District because that's where I work. But in Kent for thirty years. I am also a member of Kent Indivisible. I'm here tonight to thank you for passing the moratorium on the new detention centers and to respectfully ask that we continue to expand it. I heard tonight that expanding it for a year would cost us money. I don't wanna cost us more money, but I would say in six months, let's talk about extending it for more than just six months. Can we do it for a year or two even?

Six months, just isn't enough time. Other cities in our regions are adopting year long moratoriums. And if Kent continues to set shorter timelines, we risk becoming the easiest place for these facilities to be proposed. And let's be honest, nothing fundamental is going to change in the next six months. Your concerns today will still be your concerns in six months.

We already have a detention infrastructure in the city. What we're being asked is to consider what we are being asked to consider is not necessary, but expansion. If the impacts of that expansion are real. We've seen in other communities that the presence of detention centers erodes trust. People stop reporting crimes, families avoid schools, health care, and even grocery stores. That doesn't make a community safer. It makes it more fragile. There are economic consequences when people withdraw from public life, local businesses and workers feel it. Beyond all that, this is a long term land use decision. Once a detention center is built, it's not easily undone.

A short moratorium risks locking Kent into something that will shape our community for decades. So I urge us in the next go around to take a stronger and clearer stance, extend the moratorium to for at least one year. I do also encourage you to consider seriously consider a longer term, two years, five years, so that Kent is not seen as an option for future detention and expansion. Because at the end of the day, this is about what kind of community we want to live in. I believe that Kent is a place that values safety, dignity, and trust. We should send that clear message to those that those values matter here. Thank you.

I ask the audience to please hold your applause so we can the clerk can continue to call up our speakers that would be greatly

My name is Karen Lysey. I'm a Kent resident in The Lakes. I'm speaking to support a continued moratorium on expanding detention facilities in the city of Kent. Kent is, as we said earlier in the evening, Kent is one of the most diverse cities in the country, and that diversity is what makes the city such a great place to live. It is an important part that we want to protect this part of our city.

We have been tracking increased ICE activity across all of South King County, impacting the safety and livelihood of our immigrant neighbors regardless of their immigrant status. Detention facilities are not regulated, and they are unsafe for those who live there who are held there. Expanding detention facilities in our in our community sends the message that we do not care about our neighbors. Expanding detention facilities is not who we are. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Thank you. Amanda Reddick.

Hello. My name is Amanda Radak. I chose Kent twenty some years ago because it is racially and ethnically diverse. It was important to me to raise my children in a community that welcomed everyone. I had the opportunity to go out to Bainbridge Island a couple of weeks ago, and it happened to be really close to the anniversary of the exclusion, the exercise of the executive order that tore our communities apart.

I don't wanna see it happen again, and I don't wanna see Kent be the destination of executive action. It's not what I know my community to be, and I commend you all for taking the six month step to prevent that for the moment and encourage you to continue to uphold the welcoming, inclusive Kent that I have grown to love. Thank you.

Again, if we could hold the applause so we can work through this Carol Parks. Great.

My name is Darrell Parks. I've lived in Kent for five years. I've lived in the in the South King County for just over ten. I, again, like the others, I want to thank you for enacting that six month moratorium and encourage you to extend it. Other people have covered economic reasons why this makes sense.

I wanna talk a little bit about kind of looking the problem in the eye. You know, we're talking about something intended to keep an out of control federal agency from building a detention center in our community, and they call it that because they know what concentration camp sounds like. They know how bad that sounds. Across all of human history, can you think of a time when this has been a good idea? When the when episode that began with the state began rounding up this group of people and putting them in camps, does that ever go well?

It's always a mark of shame for the nation that enacts it and a stain on the people who participated in it and were complicit in it. The rationalizations are always there, but the story is always the same. So very simply put, these detention centers do not make anything better. They solve nothing. They improve nothing, and they are repulsive to people who love freedom. So I don't want one in my community, not today, not in September, not ever. Encourage you to extend the moratorium and explore options for extending it further. That's all I have to say.

Wendy

Graves.

Good evening. Thank you city council. I know you all. Nice to see you. Thank you so much for passing this moratorium. I have lived, as many of you know, in Kent for over thirty years up on East Hill near Panther Lake. And like so many of my co residents, I speak very strongly against having any detention centers here in the city of Kent. Sitting here tonight and watching all of the different proclamations from all of our different diverse communities. We had the sick community. We had the black wellness week.

We have so many diverse communities here in Kent. How can we turn our backs on those diverse communities? It's what makes Kent. And every day, I walk around my neighborhood and I'm handing out flyers to them telling telling my neighbors of their rights because I am afraid that they are going to be ripped from their houses and from their families by ICE. And that is not what we should be.

We should not be supporting that in any way, shape, or form. Like one of my residents talked about concentration camps, that had happened here in Kent with the Japanese Americans. We can't be a part of it again. So I would encourage you to definitely extend this moratorium and see what you can do in making it a permanent thing. Do not let ICE into our city, please. Thank you.

Lakisha Smith.

Happy Tuesday everybody. Hey guys. I really wasn't going to speak today, but I saw my fellow community members come up and say a word that is heavy on my heart.

Could you give us your name and city of residence for the

I'm sorry.

She said my name Sorry to interrupt.

No. No worries. Oh, my time. Okay. Thank you. My name is Lakisha Smith, and I live in unincorporated Kent. I have been a resident of Kent since 1997. Okay. I don't know how long that is. I just really wanted to just put a word that I agree with everything that everyone has said, but as coming to you as a black American living in this country, there have been times and time and time again where those who are considered other are always put by the wayside, are always put in detention.

Look at my sweatshirt. Look at our history. Like can't be on the right side of it. Let's not be the ones who are part of those who are bending the knee. This is not the time to do that. The time is to be not divisive but unified. Kent, as everybody keeps saying, is completely diverse. I even done the research on it. I'm just like

we can't be

the most in nation. We are. So let's represent it well. Let's make sure that we are continuing to support our neighbors, continuing to fight for those who deserve the right to fair treatment, that don't need to be kidnapped from their schools, homes, their place of business just so they can be part of a city that should welcome them in open arms. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you.

Jasmine Mora.

It already The microphone's on. Just need

to Hi, everyone. I just wanted to give more of a youth perspective to what everyone has been saying today. Think

Can you give us your name and city of residence for the

rest of I'm Osman Moranboca, I live in Kent. And I'm not sure if you remember me, but I also interviewed you recently. So I think something that we talked about, especially as someone who is in Kentwood High School, is there's a lot of fear going around in high schools right now regarding ICE. And in a lot of our classes, like, as a senior in civics or in US history, the story is going on and on again about ICE and the fear as students in what is going to happen and what we've seen happen in places like Minnesota. And, you know, people being stripped away, like, from their families and everything that's happening, especially, you know, in schools as well and ICE trying to enter schools.

So I think bringing up this moratorium and if that will help, you know, block them from having so much power in our community, I think all I can do is ask that, as they said, please elongate this and allow us to have the diverse community that builds up how we are as a community. And I think that will also help satisfy some of the voices that have been speaking about this in our school centers as well and and the school protests that have also been happening at this time that regarding ICE. So I think it's important that in this time we also listen to the youth as well, and I think we're all singing the same song that ICE should not be really welcome here. Thank you.

Also, please let your civics teacher know that you get extra credit for going above and beyond. We spent nearly an hour together, and also coming for public comment. So, if you need a note for the teacher, let me know. All right. Thank you all, and no written comment, correct? Alright, so with that, is there a motion to close the public hearing?

So move. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed?

The public hearing is now closed. Alright, just a reminder for the public, the hearing was in order to satisfy the state requirement because the resolution the moratorium had been passed at a previous meeting it is good for six months that does not mean that were in any sort of jeopardy of making Kent a target council will determine what the appropriate action is and what you have heard in the news about other locations. Kristen made that point about there being a significant amount of data and fact finding and stakeholder engagement and plans that exist and so working to incorporate those into further action of the council will be the work ahead of us in the next six months. All right. With that, we are going to move into public comment.

Do we have anyone signed up for public comment?

We do. We have two people signed up. First one Michael Johnson.

While Michael is making his way up just want to highlight that the public comment period is the opportunity to speak to counsel and mayor on issues that relate to the city of Kent or agenda items that the council will consider. Is not an open public forum and comments that do not relate to the business of the city are not permitted. We do have a three minute timer and Mr. Johnson you have done this before so you know name and city of residence for the record and we will go ahead and turn the timer on.

Thank you mayor and council my name is michael johnson I have lived here fifty five years and it' a little hard to follow the passion of these people but I' on a different topic I'm here to on behalf of the Mill Creek Historic District and the Greater Kent Historical Society. In a minute, you're gonna vote later in the on the consent calendar, item d, to adopt some new language in the city code to prevent the demolishing of contributing homes in the historic district. This new code does not restrict accessory dwelling units in the back of the properties, but it protects the original homes that make up the historic district. This is a good thing that you're doing for the city of Kent and for historic preservation, and I wanted to thank you. I've already publicly thanked planning staff for all the hard work and coordination to get this code into the books.

I thank them again, especially Kristen Holdsworth. I also wanna thank the mayor and everyone else on the council that helped encourage the planning staff to move this along. We started this a year ago and didn't get it into phase one, but we're here in phase two and I appreciate that. And I hope that the vote tonight is in the affirmative if I'm not lobbying. Thank you.

Michael, I would like to say thank you to you for the work that you have done on behalf of the Mill Creek neighborhood and the historical society. And just say, you brought it, we reassured you that although it wasn't in phase one, that we'd make it here and we are here. So thank you very much for that advocacy.

Thank you very much. TJ?

Thank you very much, council mayor. My name's TJ. Lived in Kent. I'm kind of a newbie, only been here about forty ish years, on and off. Tonight on the consent calendar, also want to touch on that. You guys are voting tonight to accept grants for the public safety. Good job. I mean, it's like, hey, a lot of work's gone into this. Maybe give a little shout out to some of our local delegation who made this possible. HB 2015, I believe it was a 1% sales tax.

Some connections to $100,000,000 in staffing grants. Good job for Kent. I think it's really great that the police department was ready to apply for these funds. I know there's some skin in the game from the city. This is going to fund a balanced approach to proven public safety strategies. It kind of broke my heart a little bit over the last couple of years. I heard some people from the administration walking around saying, our legislators let us down. Our legislature does not have our back. I found that unseemly. I found that kind of rude.

I want to give a shout out to the representatives from the 47th District, Deborah Enteman, who prime sponsor of this bill, the twenty fifteen that got us this 1% councilmatic approval. Sales tax is troublesome because it's a very regressive tax for the city, but we really need the support. Hopefully, now the police department will be staffed up enough to maybe look out for some of the most vulnerable people in our city. There's a lot of people in the city that are concerned with crime. I understand that.

There's a lot of people in the city and marginalized groups that are victims of crime that don't really have protections right now. I really want to give a shout out to the police department because I know they're going to they've been talking about for the last few months, some of the street level drug dealing. I've been seeing the same people out here slinging dope to the homeless community and the people in our community for almost a decade. It's not rocket science how this happens. We're talking about this.

So I'm really hoping that these grants and this funding is really going to be put to a good use. I trust it will be. And let's maybe keep the rhetoric of our legislatures letting us down, not having our back. Like I said, I think this is a good balanced approach. This is something like I said, the sales tax is something we really got to be careful with because it's very regressive. And then money is fungible. But thanks for voting this forward. Let's give a shout out to Deborah Enteman, our 47th District Representative who made this possible and the coalition she put together. Thank you very much for the work you're doing and luck to the police department. I know these resources will be used wisely.

Thank you.

Alright. Do we have anyone else signed up to speak? Alright. We will move on to the consent calendar. The consent calendar is a compilation of items that the council has discussed both at workshop and during committee of the whole. I had an opportunity to ask questions and dive into dive into the work. These are items that have passed out of committee of the whole without controversy. Tonight, have items a through m. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar?

So move. Second.

We've got a motion and a second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero.

We do not have any other business this evening. We will move into bids. We have four bids tonight. Chad Baron will be presenting on all of them. We're going to start with the 2020 6 asphalt grinding project.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council. It's been busy several weeks, and we've had some bids that come in for work to wanna get going on this summer. First one up, 2026 asphalt grinding project. This is where we hire out a grinding company come out and grind pavement in advance of our operations crews going out and repaving some of the streets throughout the city. So put that out, got three bids. Low bid was from statewide parking lot service, just over $98,000 on an engineer's estimate of $124,000 and we recommend approval.

Okay. Council, any questions? Alright. Hearing none, a motion would be in order.

I move to award the 2026 asphalt grinding project to Statewide Parking Lot Services Incorporated in the amount of $98,175 and authorize the mayor to sign all necessary documents subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the city attorney and public works director.

Second. We've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero. Moving on to 2026 Crack Sealing Project.

Thank you. Yes, next one up. The 2026 Crack Sealing Project, this is where we go out and preserve the roads by essentially, a different compound than tar, but in the old days it would be tar in the cracks, keep the water from getting underneath the pavement and ruining the subgrade, which breaks up the pavement. So this is a relatively inexpensive way to help keep the streets up and extend their life a little bit longer before we have to completely rebuild them. Advertised for bids, we got five bids, received five bids. Low bid was from Central Paving LLC for $133,684 User's estimate on that was 293,000, just shy of $294,000 and we recommend approval.

Any questions? Alright. Motion would be in order.

I move to award the 26 Crack Ceiling Project to Central Paving LLC in the amount of $233,684 and authorize the mayor to sign all necessary documents subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the city attorney and public works director.

Second. We've

got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero. Moving on to the 2026 pavement preservation project. There's a theme here.

This is the time to get the pavement projects ready to go for the summer. Shown on the screen are the locations for the 2026 pavement preservation project. It will be throughout the city. These are the grinding and overlay of the full street. We'll also be including improvements to curb ramps at the corners. These are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act when we improve those streets with an overlay. So had four bids received on this one, low bid was from Tucci and Sons for just over $3,600,000 Engineer's estimate was just below $4,200,000 and we approve or recommend approval.

Any questions? All right. Seeing none, a motion would be in order.

I move to award the 2026 pavement preservation project to Tucci and Sons LLC in the amount of $3,619,318 and authorized the mayor to sign all necessary documents subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the city attorney and public works director. Second.

We've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero. You're on a roll Chad. Last one, pedestrian hybrid beacon at 108th at the Panther Lake Library.

Yeah, excited about this one. This is a request we had from a number of years ago. We were able to go out and get a grant from the state through the grants of the state's pedestrian and bicycle safety program. It's for a signal at the 108th Street crossing near Panther Lake, and there's a two time housing project just across the street. So this will help get kids back and forth across the street to the library.

There's also a separate grant on SR99 for crossing just between 248th And 2 And 50th, another high volume area where folks are crossing to get to the bus there. So we're excited to have both of these in the project and paid for through the grant funds from Washington State Department of Transportation. So had three bids on this project. Low bid was from Northwest Cascade Inc, just over $1,000,000, and the engineers estimate was just under 1,200,000.0. So again, underneath the estimate and recommend approval.

Right. Any questions? Okay. Motion would be in order.

I move to award the pedestrian hybrid beacon 108th Avenue Southeast at Panther Lake Library and State Route 99 at 24800225000 Block project to Northwest Cascade Incorporated in the amount of $1,060,138 and authorize the mayor to sign all necessary documents subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the city attorney and public works director.

Second. All right, any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries six zero.

Thank

you. Thank you. All right, we are going to now move into a closed session. Council will be going into closed session to discuss collective bargaining as per RCW 40 two-three zero one-four zero four a. I would ask that everyone in the council chambers please step out.

We are going to be in closed session for approximately fifteen minutes and there will not be any action following the closed session. All right. Welcome back. Council has just returned from our closed session regarding collective bargaining. We do not have any additional action this evening.

So, with that, we are adjourned.