City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening everybody. I'd like to call uh to order the Lakewood City Council study session on March 9th, 2026 to order. The first item of business will be Lakewood Station Access Improvement Update. Troy Poxwinsky, capital projects manager. We'll go through I believe he has a slideshow for us. Thanks.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, I brought with me tonight Eric Swanstrom, one of the civil engineers here at the city to kind of go through the update for the Lakewood Station access improvement. So, we'll go through a brief history, very brief history, kind of go through some of the individual components of the program that Sound Transit has and then give you an update on where we sit today. that see if this thing is going to work for me today. We go. So, a background for the Lakewood Station Access Improvement. This is a function or a portion of the ST2 authorized by voters in 2008. Actually, it's one of the last portions of ST2. The funds need to be spent by December of 2030. uh the project or the program has two priorities with it. I'll dive into that a little bit here more. The priority one are the dark blue on this schematic. They consist of nine projects. Priority two cannot be started until priority one is completed. They're the light blue on this. There's four projects or or sub projects if you will. I believe I split out two uh projects in the I think it's the Spring Brook neighborhood. Yeah, I do. Uh Spring Brook neighborhood has the three San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago, and then uh 47th and McChord down there at the southwest southeast corner of the city. kind of going through each of the projects. We started work on New York first, New York and McCord as it's got uh the railway bridge or excuse me the railway the freeway bridge over I5 that we're doing. So we want to make sure that we gave ourselves ample time and

we're in the midst of that with wash dot for design review. Second project we have is actually under construction right now. It's the 112th Street Gray Lake to Bridgeport job. Eric will fill you in a little bit more on that here in just a minute. Third project, Kendrick Street from 111 to 108th. Again, Eric will fill you in as we want to really take as part of this update, give you an idea of what what's going on in the station district. Fourth project, 111th from Bridgeport to 112th, kind of the S turn there. we have he'll fill you in a little bit more on that one as well as 115th from Bridgeport to the Sound Transit Rideway. Uh the sixth project on the list is the Lincoln Avenue from McCord to San Francisco. We're getting started on that later this year for design. Um, we have a small uh implementation of a expansion of the right turn pocket from Pack Highway onto Bridgeport to allow for buses that turns a little tight for some of the larger Pierce Transit buses through there to run. Now, uh, the Clover Creek Drive connection from basically Clover Creek Drive or uh, Dian's a park drive to pack highway. We don't do the portion in red that Sound Transit is doing through the railway. They're still at the 30% design threshold. So, we're holding this for another year for design as we don't know fully where we're connecting yet and that's critical for their connection point. The last of the priority ones is 47th and we have begun work on that. Um we did we will get an a supplement from wash from wash dot from uh sound transit to do the work. The original scope of the grant agreement we had we signed

with Sound Transit in a in August of 2024 did not include this. Uh so there'll be a supplement for 2 to 3 million on top of the 31 million for the bridge over I5 that we're currently designing. Last of the priority twos is the uh excuse me, first of the priority twos is the San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston. Uh and then we also do the Davidson road connections from Davidson Highline Highland from 112th to 108th. We've got the 47th and McCord Drive. And finally, the last project that we're doing is 111th from 60th to Highland. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Eric to kind of go over the 112th where he's at.

Thank you. Um, so 112th, as you notice, has been ripped up for a few weeks. Um, they're moving along quickly. They're anticipating a pave date, late March, early April. Um, so they're moving along quickly. Storm drainage is done. uh conduit for street lighting is in and liquid water is is done with their main. They have a few tie-ins to do. Um but they're moving along getting out of our way and uh uh I said contractor should be paving late March, early April. So for Kendrick Street, that's the project I'm currently working on. We're at about six 60% design and it's in the station district. And what we're intending to construct is we're going to widen the roadway, add 6ft bike lanes, a 3 and 1/2 ft landscape buffer, 8ft sidewalks, and street trees. And in order to accommodate this uh wide crosssections, we will have to remove seven uh mature trees. Um, all of them are coniferous trees, either fur or cedar, but we will be planting 46 street trees along with the project. Um, Lakewood Water will also be replacing their main on this section and so we'll be coming to you in the coming weeks with an interlocal agreement to have them jump in with our project to to do that. As is typical of a neighborhood of this age, there are encroachments into the rideway that private property owners have constructed uh which we will need to um to take out to remove. We have uh four properties that have fences like

this one in the rightway and this same property uh has a shed in the rightway. So those will all have to be removed. In addition to the improvements that have been constructed, there are a few properties that have been using the right of way for for their parking. And unfortunately, we won't be able to accommodate the that street parking with these improvements. And so there's three three parcels currently using the rideway for for this purpose. Like I mentioned, I'm at 60% design. Our schedule is um to be able to add the late second quarter of this year um with construction wrapping up before the end of the year. I'll be sending out a public flyer or flyer project flyer for the project in the next couple of weeks. And with that, I'll be sending out notices to those individuals that have encroachments within the right of way. And I think that's uh all I got for Kendrick. Um with Kendrick, we are going to add in this small section of 111th to the bid package so we get some economy of scale. Um so that would be bid together as one project. And with that, um do you have anything to add for it? Oh, 15th. So 115th uh the we'll be continuing the sidewalk along the loop and then adding an enhanced crossing at Bridgeport Way. Uh tying into this will be a trail that the uh Sound Transit will be constructing that goes from the end of the culdeac directly to the Sounder Station. Anything else? So the last thing I do want to add is that uh this is not a small undertaking.

This program for the staff size that we have in the capital projects division uh 70% of our staff's going to be tied up with this from now until 2030 uh to expend the funds that we have. We roughly need to spend 800,000 a month every month between now and 2030. So that's what we are looking at. With that, we ask for any questions you guys may have. Does anybody have any questions? Council member Talbo.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you both uh for your presentation tonight. Um, one of the questions I had is it looks like there's a chunk of projects, I think it was three, four, and five are in that um, middle area where the schedule uh, seems to overlap somewhat where you've got um, timelines for, you know, a project starting in the middle of this year and then starting another one in October. Um given where we are time timelinewise for the first project 112th we're still not complete yet. How much do you expect holding to the timeline that are in the slides?

So we are currently on on schedule some the schedule that shown in each of these slides is for design as well as for construction. So that's when we start the project while it's where it's completed. I think what I showed and even these slides to be forthright with you are from 2024 and I think we've held to that schedule pretty tight as it is. Yeah, we're supposed to be finishing up for the most most of the improvements will be done next month for 112th. Uh this looks like it's a hair off just for public outreach and other issues we've got. We'll we'll we'll go into January, probably February of 27 for this one. And for this is the same time frame. Uh I I I think we're sticking to our schedule pretty tight to those ones. Uh the the mic. Yeah, this was the thing that worked the last time. Okay. As far as um lighting, um will we be using ped scale lighting? And then uh do we ever consider do we have a lighting standard that considers single pole dual head where you can get safety lighting at a

higher level and then ped scale on the bottom from a single pole? Our biggest obstacle that we have with with street lighting recently has been the clearance for the the overhead power lines. Uh that's typically what we're looking for when we're doing our lighting design and everything else. And that'll be no different for this project. So when we end up with shorter poles out here, it's typically the spacing becomes much much tighter. Instead of the 125 to 150, we start shrinking that down to 75ish. That's based upon overhead clearance what we have.

Thank you. Um yeah, the if we can however we can best accommodate pedcale lighting especially in the residential areas like on Kendrick makes sense. Uh and then as far as procurement for all of these projects um will you you they will all be going out for individual procurement. Do we use a bid service or how do we advertise for major capital projects like this? Major Capital Projects. We do advertise in the News Tribune, the DJC. We do a two-week advertisement for these and we have gotten a lot of bids recently, record bids. Um, and our prices, for instance, on 112th we had 19 biders. Um, which is a lot. And we're $900,000 under the engineers estimate. So, we're doing quite well on that.

Okay. Thank you. And I asked because that's great to hear if we're getting a lot of bids for capital projects. sounded like for the planning study raise grant, we only got two bids and that was nearly a million-dollar project. So, I was a little um surprised to see that that uh given the economic environment right now that there wasn't more hunger out there to bid on that project. Um the last um project I or excuse me question I have is regarding notices. Um can you tell us or construction notices? How are we uh notifying the residents and the propert the people that work and live in the residence versus just the people that own the property.

So we do a direct mailing to the property owners and then uh for the area itself uh social media seems to be working. Um, we can even go beyond the actual street frontage properties and do a buffer of 100 ft or something to get the area notifi notified. So, and when we go to construction, typically we do an EDDDM electronic or excuse me, every door direct mailer from USPS. So, we select the mailings in the area plus you know quite a bit. So, for instance, for 112th, I think we grabbed I don't know 2,000 people and it went out that way.

So, I think the only the the comment I want to say to that is um that this is a lot of construction to take on even in a a four or three year period and whatnot. and the noticing that we provide and the um information about the project that we provide upfront in our communications, including on our web page. Making sure that we have clear project web pages for each of these projects, that they're accessible and viewable on our front page. um that that nobody has to uh try to finagle to figure out and guess which um tab on our website to go look under. And I do notice that on our front web page um that we don't even have a a section under I think it's business and residents for construction updates. So, uh, that would just be some feedback that I'd like to lend on that front. Thank you. Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for the presentation. I think going back a number of times, the uh negotiating a series of projects, the breadth of which this uh exemplifies is a uh is is is good work for having been able to negotiate that with Sound Transit and getting their their approval to move forward and going to be able to go and do that. And I

I guess that I would just start with the the work that's ongoing on 112th which is proceeding certainly on schedule. Um and um was there was some trepidation in the community uh because of the of the of the the detour that would required overlapping with the detour on Nyanza. Although I haven't received from the public a lot of comments negatively about having to find an alternate route to to that section of 112th. It seems to be working well. And as I travel on 108th or on Main Street, I'm not noticing that that it's congested with a lot of detouring traffic and people have figured out how they they want to get to where they're going going to go and uh to the extent that the signage and that is has worked well and if it stays on on timeline, I think we're we're we're in good shape there. And as I look at the the range of the rest of the projects that you described to us, there don't seem to really be any u that are going to have major detour of a of of of a of of an arterial with the exception of maybe that one short section of 111th uh that that that's there. So that's goes on. But I did have a couple of questions uh on the slides and and on the around 47th Avenue. Um the very last thing on the bottom of the slide says city will now perform the bridge overcrossing of 47th and I5. And I'm would kind of like to understand

what that means. Is is that mean that the city is going to pay for because it's not money coming from sound transit and then since that's a state piece of infrastructure, what does it mean that the city will now perform and what is there a separate cost other than the total cost that you gave us before that that goes with needing to do that? because otherwise we we're creating a bunch of sidewalks to nowhere if we don't get people across the bridge to the station.

Perfect. Yeah. So, I mentioned that the uh as part of the original agreement that we signed back in August of 2024, the scope for the work was for Sound Transit to perform the bridge work itself. Since we were undertaking the bridge work on New York, we will execute a supplemental agreement at the time of construction with Sound Transit for them to fully reimburse the city for the portion of that work. They want to get a little bit more firmer number from the contractor before they issue a supplement, go to their board and issue the supplement. The money is going to be funded by Sound Transit for the improvements. So, basically what we're doing is we're stripping the bridge rails off and everything else, taking it down to the deck, rebuilding the deck on one side, and putting a bridge rail up on the other side, a new bridge rail up on the other side. So, Sound Transit will ultimately fund all of this. It just originally was not in the city's scope to do that work.

Thank you. Thank you. And um on numerous occasions over the years, we've uh gotten community feedback about the the the public transportation system. And obviously the whole scope of all of these is to get people to have access to the transportation elements that uh the sounder station provides to be able to go and do that. But I noticed that a couple of these projects there is an impact affected on the route 206 Pierce Transit bus which is the the bus that runs from from Madigan and runs through Tikcom and then through Springbrook and ends up in the town center. And there was frequently been comments that that bus doesn't didn't make good connections uh other than at all the way at the town center if people were trying to get to downtown Tacoma or or or somewhere else or even do that. And so it looks like there's a plan to reroute that bus. But do you know what the new route in the vicinity of these at the completion of the project would be for the Pierce Transit 206? It says adding a stop at the Sounder Station, but I don't know how that affects the rest of the route because right now it runs Lincoln and then Bridgeport and down and down to the town center.

So I do not know the new route. Uh the the the terminology used in these in this program is strictly Pierce Transit and Sound Transit ultimately Sound Transit's terminology. The improvements we're going to be making under the route 206 are strictly New York Avenue and McCord as well as Lincoln. So I don't know where the bus is eventually going to go or if that's where it remains, but uh that's what Sound Transit has given to us on that.

Okay. But did I understand from the slides in the presentation that they were going to adjust that route so that that bus at least went to the Sounder Station on its way back from Springbrook? Or did I misinterpret that?

So the idea behind some of that route 206 is for sidewalks to get to the bus stops is my understanding from Sound Transit on this. I'm not 100% certain of the reasoning for they're calling it Route 206 in that regard because ultimately if Priority 2 gets built, all of Springrook will have sidewalks with the exception of True Lane and Detroit, uh, which are local access streets. So, I'm not certain of their terminology on why they're calling certain things certain ways. Okay. Um and then um where there is where there's space in the design allowed. It looks like we're going to have planter strips and then street trees not in the planter strips but behind the sidewalk. Is that the most common design

for for Kendrick? The idea is to put street trees behind the sidewalks because in the 3 and 1/2 ft planter, number one, not a great place to put a street tree in a little 3 and 1/2 ft wide section. Uh the second reason why we wouldn't want to put that there is because there's a lot of utilities underneath that particular planter strip. So instead, we'll go with shrubs and then put the plant the trees behind the sidewalk. Okay? And if uh have we narrowed down the selection of species of trees that are going to go along these uh several places where trees are going to be planted?

We haven't yet, but there are overhead power lines uh that we have to be sensitive to as well as some other things that'll be developed as part of our 60 and 90% design.

Okay. And then uh on the 111th in Bridgeport to 112th um there were in in in other places it talked about that where there was street lighting on wooden poles. Okay. And that that's that's the way that would be. And this one says no street lighting wood poles. Um, what's the difference between those two comments of where on some things there is street lighting that's going to go on wood poles and this one just says no street lighting and then parenthetically wood poles and I'm trying to understand what that means.

Sure thing. So, this does not have scope for new street lights. It does have some wood poles at the intersections that have lights on them uh existing today. The intent is not to expand beyond that with the scope that we have and the funding that we have uh in place.

Okay. Um and then I I think I I think I had one more question if I can find my notes. Just a second. Mr. I I'll just I'll I'll just I'll just I'll just conclude that we're embarking on a a long-term series of of projects that are going to benefit uh some uh neighborhoods of of the city that have not yet benefited from significant transportation and particularly sidewalk upgrades. Um and that is a good thing.

Thank you, Council Member Branser. Does anybody else have any questions? Council member Laura Cella. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hey, we got a mic that works. That's good. Uh, thank you, Troy and Eric for coming in. I appreciate your uh your overview. I just had a few questions. So, uh, Clover Creek Crossing, uh, not starting until late 2027 into 28. Uh, I think I heard you say that's because we're dependent upon Sound Transit to figure out what they're going to do over the railroad tracks there. Uh, we don't know what to connect to until they figure that out. Is that correct?

Correct. So, we talked last week with Sound Transit. They're still at the 30% design level. Uh they don't have any vertical or horizontal information to share with us yet. With the tight area that we're working in, and really the tight area that they're working in, there's no sense in us doing much design work until 27 to get that started. Okay. Thank you. Uh for the rest of the projects, uh I don't know how far along the design process we are to establish whether or not there are any oak trees coming out or any other encroachments that we haven't yet addressed. Have we looked into that for all the remaining projects?

Uh other than Kendrick, um most of the other projects are looking pretty good other than priority 2. We haven't looked at anything in priority 2 at all yet. Um the New York is probably at about 60% design level. 47th is about the same. Uh there aren't any tree impacts for either of those two projects. Uh Clover Creek that's before us. I don't see a whole lot of impacts. 115th. No. I think for the most part these are projects in areas of the city where we typically don't have a lot of trees other than maybe some of the priority 2 stuff on some of the side streets.

Great. Thank you. Uh on the picture of the Kendrick Street right away where there was folks parking, uh you said that that was going to be coming out and that wouldn't be where they're parking anymore. Correct. Uh, does the do those apartments have other options for parking or are we eliminating that for folks where they live?

I believe this this apartment complex shown is on 109th 109th. The section of 109th immediately to the south of this apartment complex would be it does have a sizable ride of way that would be usable for parking. Um, to be honest with you, the city does not has not in the past dedicated on street parking in the right way for anything other than a couple of special All right. Thank you. I just want to make sure we're cognizant of if we remove parking for people who understandably it's part of the rightaway so they don't necessarily have rights to it but people need to get to their homes and if they can't park within you know two blocks it's a challenge. Uh last question uh you talked about how this is going to take up 70% of the engineering staffing for the city for these projects. Do you have enough staffing to work everything else? And if not, have you looked into additional contracting to tackle other projects that may fall behind?

Kristen, yeah, we we have looked into staffing levels. Thankfully, our federal stuff that we're going through right now kind of hits at just the right time when the rest of the stuff is kind of in a lull. So, we are good through 2030. We do not need any further staffing um with what we have and what we currently have assigned. That does mean, however, that we're maxed out as far as if there was anything additional the council wanted to bring on an emergency, it'd be a little bit of a stretch to try to get accomplished. All right. All right. Thank you.

Any other questions from members? Okay. I do want to a couple of things. I do want to go back to the Kendrick Street that council member Laura Cello How much of the parking are they losing how much of the the parking on Kendrick? Yeah, when I look at that um thing on page 25 right there. All of it. Unfortunately, you're going right up to the how

well to the back of the parking stalls or into the parking stalls will be where the sidewalk will go. But when time you add the bike lanes, you add the planter strip and the rest of it that will go into the parking stalls, which and the other half of this is is that to be honest with you, it's it's not really a sidewalk. If you're going to drop the entire segment down, you're not protecting the pedestrians at all. You just painted the asphalt a different color.

So, where are they going to park? For this, we would recommend using the 109th Street. When we go before with the public outreach, our intention now is to go to each property owner and discuss impacts for driveways or for mailboxes or anything else. And we fully expect some push back here and there because while we will say, yeah, you can park on 111th Street or excuse me, 109th Street, uh there there are impacts for him to do so. Uh he's currently got some garbage cans and other things back through there. Some of his tenants, I'm assuming, are using it for guest parking and such. Uh we do expect there to be some push back, but we're going to try to mitigate that as best we can. But in

So they do have other property they can access and create into parking that you're saying. Correct. It's right of way. It's city ride of the right of way on 109th. I keep saying 100th 109th is very wide. Um so it's it's a graveled that's kind of grown in weeds area through there. Have you spoken to the owner about it at some length? No, it's it's our intention in the next couple of weeks to we want to brief you guys on this before we which is the reason main one of the main reasons why we're here tonight.

Okay. And then I want to follow up with the the red circles or whatever that are sound transit especially the trail that'll go from 115th to the station. Is it your intent? I mean, is it your understanding that that they're going to do this at the same time or you're not going to do it under the same contract? It sounds like so that's why it's separate. But are they going to do this trail or what's So, how's this all is it going to come together is what I'm saying.

Yeah, it will come together. Um 115th Street could be a little delayed from what we show there because like Clover Creek Drive Sound Transit is planning on going out with just one contract for their entire portion of this program which includes improvements at the station for their PA as well as for some audiovisisual stuff and wayfinding throughout the city. They've got a laundry list of stuff that they want to do as part of this. That portion in red along with the Clover Creek Drive portion is a part of this. We are coordinating with them on the design aspect of it, but they will not be built at the same time and certainly not under the same contractor as the contractor the city is going to hire is not going to get into the railway. When you get into the railway, that is a very specific. There are a lot of requirements you have to have that we'd rather our the contractors we hire not follow, if you will.

They have enough right away then. Yes. Yes. Sound Transit has enough right away through there. Okay. Thank you very much. I'm with Council Member Brandsteader on this. Major Council Member Laura Sen. Thank you. Just one last before you dismiss our lovely transportation engineers. Uh since we have you here, can we get a quick update on the Tilicum to Gravaly connector and uh Nyanza road as well? Are they on track to finish on time?

Let me start with what I know best, which is the Nyanza um and try to fill you in as best I can with the TICU. Although the next guest, Mr. Aught, would probably be a little bit better on the tilicum grally. For Nyanza, they have one or two more concrete pores and they cong and the asphalt, provided the weather holds tomorrow, early tomorrow, they're going to pave the uh base lift on the final portion of the asphalt at the roundabout and get that ready to be opened up here very shortly. Uh looks like the weather is not going to be great for the top lift of asphalt for a week or two. Um, as soon as the top lift of asphalt is ready, they'll pave the top lift, get the castings adjusted, and be out of there until uh they can get striping done in 3 weeks after they pave the top lift. And then ultimately a couple more months down the line, the lighting will come in. So, Nyanza within the next 2 or 3 weeks should look completely different and should be reopened here very very shortly. uh the roundabout as soon as Wednesday the temp signal will come down provided weather holds for us tomorrow. That's the last that I've heard. Grally Thorn connector, they're actively moving forward with the they did the temp signal last week. We've had a little bit of a blip as far as our uh video detection down there. They're getting that up and running. So, if you do hear or experience complaints from people sitting at a light with nobody there, it's because the video detection's currently not working. So, they are actively trying to get that resolved. I'm not 100% certain. It they appear to be on schedule, though I don't know when that's fully going to be up and running for the Ravi Thorn connector. Might be a better question for Mr. Odd.

Great. We'll take that opportunity. Thank you very much, guys. This is a great these are great projects and and um you know as council member Brand Center stated in an area that really could use a lot of pedestrian amenities and so we're really looking forward to this. I think the city of Lakewood will be a much better place when these are completed. Thank you Mr. Aut. overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan and then we'll ask you about your knowledge of the Well, we'll ask Thank you, Mr. Go ahead. Oh, looks like we're having some mic issues this evening. Good evening, Mayor Bokei, Deputy Mayor Bell, and members of the council. Maybe I'll start with uh the last question first.

I don't have a a current schedule uh with me this evening. However, they are under deadline to uh meet some time requirements with the golf and country club. And as Troy mentioned, they're working on that temp signal so they can uh install the soldier pile wall and eventually the new signal pole there at Grally Pack Highway. But what I'll do is get an update from uh washd on where they are on completion on that project.

Great. Thank you. So this evening it's just a brief overview of the ADA transition plan and our process. We're at the the beginnings. Um on the call tonight we have Al King with King Technologies. I see Al on the Oh, there he is up there too. Al, can you wave if you can hear us? All right. So Al can hear us. So Al's available at any point through the presentation if you have a question and then definitely at the end. So, Al is putting together this plan with city staff. Um, and I'll go ahead and get going on this presentation. It starts on page 32, your packet. And again, this is just a a brief overview. And where do I point this, Briana? Over here. Is that which way we go? Ah, perfect. Thank you, Briana. So, these are the items we're going to go over this evening. It's the who, what, where, when, why of ADA transition plans. Um, and we'll go over each one of these items in the following slides. So, the WA plan um July 26, 1990, uh George HW Bush signed the ADA into law. Uh title two of that clearly says any local agency. So, we fall into that. A discrimination is considered if an a facility is not um someone with a disability is not able to transit that facility. And one thing I should have said at the beginning is we're focusing this plan that I'm discussing tonight on

work in the rightway or facilities in the rightway. And then we definitely fall into the requirements because we have 50 or more employees at city of Lakewood. All right. So what's in a plan? Um a a big portion of that to begin with is self assessment. Uh during COVID in 2122 the city did an assessment of uh all our pedestrian uh ramps uh sidewalks and traffic signal push buttons. So we did that uh self assessment but as you're well aware uh substantial capital work has been done since that time. So we are currently starting an update to that. Some of it's um very straightforward because whole corridors have been replaced like Washington veterans portions of Stilicum etc. Um what's required in the plan and an item to discuss is that method of barrier removal. Uh here I have a slide with a photo in the bottom right that shows South Toma way 92nd. If you take a look at the Google Earth photo, the old photo, there's no um truncated domes. Um if the plan was in place, that would have been uh noted as uh barriers to be addressed. Uh the previous slide showed a ramp with no truncated dome. So someone sight impaired would uh have a challenge with that. Um but we had a capital project funded by TIB to put that signal in at 92nd and South Toma Way. that was uh recently completed. But that's just an example of barrier removal. It can be something as simple as installing truncated domes or more

invasive of you know complete tear out ped ramps um push buttons etc. It can get much more expensive very quickly. So part of that plan will be looking at a schedule for uh removing these barriers and then a budget. And so public works will come forward with a budget request to modify uh the minor capital budget in the future to include an amount appropriate amount to uh address ADA barriers in the rightway. So that'll be forthcoming. public engagement. That's going to be a threepronged uh process and it's going to start here very shortly. We're going to take the plan through planning commission. So that'll include a hearing. Um there'll be three touches at planning commission. Uh the first touch will be March 18th. Uh immediately following that, the draft plan will be sent out to what I'd call as interested stakeholders. You know, Pierce uh transit, Clark Park School District, West Pierce Fire, and many others. Um I think center force. Anyways, I won't try to list them all from memory. Uh but that will uh start as well as we've already and I have it further in the slides. We've already put a notice in the bulletin, but we'll go out and just solicit general comment as well as we have a web page available. And then we'll keep track of all our engagement um for a three-year period at a minimum, which is a requirement of the ADA. So other requirements is a ADA coordinator and some of these things we city has in place and we've always

followed ADA and PROEG etc. Um, but our coordinator is our HR manager. Um, and she's not only responsible for in the rightway as far as receiving any ADA grievance, but um, citywide. Uh, we have notices about ADA broadly throughout uh, city website. Uh, we have the grievance procedures on our our web page as well as the appeals process. And the last one that uh uh council just touched this on March 2nd was the adoption of the new title 12 engineering standards manual and standard plans. So Al King had gone through uh all those documents as well as the web page and other documents uh uh the city has um and noted areas that needed to be addressed and those were addressed in the recently adopted update to the engineering standards and um the engineering standards manual both. So th that activity has been done. Those go in effect 60 days after March 2nd. So we're definitely in a good position um when it comes to where we're at with that. There we go. Here's the next one. So where we at in the process? So I got a little ahead of myself. Um we've done the code review, website review, um the ADA notice update. Well, that and the coordinator position updated. that was um just updating it from Mary McDougall to Nicole Camas as Mary had retired. Um the plan has been drafted and that draft plan will go forward on March 18th. We had that announcement back in January. Another announcement will go out in March

and as well as I'd already mentioned the web page has been started. If you go to the web page, you'll notice a couple dates. um slid a little and so I'll be working with Kelly to get that updated. So looking at a little more detailed schedule, I noticed the red on the very top item is hard to see on the overhead, but that's where we find ourselves today. And just an introduction to the council at study session on the ADA plan. Uh where we go from here is as already mentioned uh March 18th we'll be at planning commission. The very next day we'll start sending out uh the draft plan to uh all the interested stakeholders. Um be working with our communications manager on the bulletin. Um April 1st is the plan date for the planning commission hearing. 15th would be the uh adoption of the plan and then we would come back on the 11th of May to council and then adoption is tenatively scheduled for June 1st. Following that the um plan would be put onto the website. So just in summary, I've already gone over this, but our next steps um are are really the stakeholder engagement and refinement of that plan and just working the process so that we can have that adopted in June uh and be compliant. So at this point, Al King as well as myself are available for any questions. Um,

thank you, Mr. Are there any questions for Mr. or Mr. King? Mr. Pearson,

break it.

Thank you, Mr. Um, I just had a question about how we do this planning and and we did all this work to identify potentially wh which intersections or which ADA ramps are, you know, out of standards and stuff and and how does that how does this plan guide some of our work or um is there anything outside of our standard transportation projects that are planned that we're doing or is it just we're identifying areas or particular ular intersections and then as we come through with projects we improve those or is it something else that we're doing outside of these larger projects I guess

so it's the latter we'll have our capital program and then this would be identify uh areas that need addressed outside of the capital program that some funding would be necessary to work to remove these barriers. Um could it be something that comes up in the capital um program? You know that an example is that 92nd and South Tacoma way. Um had a plan been in place of that prior to that project, it would identified that intersection as needing upgrades. uh public works pursued TIB funds to remove or it wasn't so much just to remove those barriers but also increase access there at 92nd and South Dakota way because it's such a long distance between u cross excuse me um so there may be opportunities where grant funds can help cover you know those um types of projects but I anticipate a request of uh some funding to work to remove ADA barriers. One thing I I I skipped over, I should have mentioned, is the city has a lot to be proud of. We've only been incorporated since 96. Um we have done South Tacoma Way from Graly to City of Tacoma at 90th. We're just finishing that up right now. Bridgeport, a good portion of Stilicum. I mean, I could start naming roads on. You talked about many of them this evening. One thing to recognize, if you look at 2024, 2025, and this year, just those three years, by the end of this year, the city will have replaced 15% of our traffic signals. That's 10 signals that have been built and replaced. So, uh, it's something to be proud of. So, the good news with all that new

infrastructure, we know it's compliant. So that kind of helps us tighten up, you know, what to look at. And maybe some of those areas are things like um a different or we need to put audible push buttons in or head ramps that don't have truncated domes. Those are just two examples. So I hope I answered your question. I I'll go with council member l. Thank you, Mayor Bokei. Uh, and thank you, Mr. Uh, so this is an assessment specifically for transportation, right? It's not city facilities and that sort of thing. That'd be a separate ADA requirement,

right? Just just within the rightway. All right. Thank you. Uh, no, I was going to say we have Al King. So, Al, if there's something you want to add, just break in, please, on things.

I would uh to clarify a little bit. Uh, city's done an excellent job of uh taking care of the ramps and push buttons. Uh but the DOJ who oversees the ADA uh program uh expects agencies to go beyond their normal construction program. Uh city has been meeting all of the requirements in their normal construction program and but the the DOJ really wants to see some progress beyond that. the you know their ideal is you'd have it all fixed this year which of course in almost every city in the country is not feasible uh financially uh but that's kind of the intent the uh the only other thing I would comment on is uh the plan includes a a fairly comprehensive uh prioritization system based on the condition of the ramps and push buttons across the city. And when you program any additional uh ramps uh as an example, it would show the priority based on the condition and usefulness of those ramps.

Okay. Thank you. Uh you mentioned something about uh audible and audio portions. So, I know at certain intersections where there's crosswalks, pedestrians hit a button that says, "Hey, you're now clear to go across South Toma Way or Silicon Boulevard." Um, how do we assess which intersections get those and which ones don't? And is the plan to have all of them have that?

Yeah, the plan is to have all of them audible and that can be a real issue to someone that's sight impaired. One that we had up updated was uh 93rd in Bridgeport. there was someone that was sight impaired that used that intersection because it's a T. They don't feel the normal push of cross traffic and so it was a challenge for them to cross that intersection. So we upgraded that one. I want to say it was about four years ago when the request came in. So, we've been doing a lot of the things requests come in, we evaluate them, you know, we address them through minor capital or other budget uh means, but uh this is the formal plan that will, as Al mentioned, prioritize uh what we would recommend to do next.

Great. Thank you. I know uh I got feedback from a resident near Lockburn that uh was requesting that on one of those intersections and it was installed and he got back to me and said thank you. So, thanks. props out to to your folks. Uh are there requirements for trails as part of this? For example, the Chambers Creek Canyon. Do we manage that as a city or is that all Pierce County?

Yeah, I'm going to have to defer to Pierce County Parks on that because that's a little bit different. Um I'm not probably the best person to speak to what's required on a trail for ADA. Um, I would just think at a minimum you would want ADA parking available, but um, yeah, that would be a question I could maybe help ask Pierce County for further clarification if you'd like.

Yeah, I'd be interested in finding out because that may be applicable to some of our street ends if we don't fully develop them and just have them as trails down to lakes. I imagine the same requirements would exist there. Uh and my last question is are there additional requirements for bus stops and transit centers in terms of accessibility for folks and ramps? Al, do you want to help me on that one? Uh additional requirements for accessibility at bus stops. I know many of the bus stops on our principal arterials um have sidewalks and many of them have ADA currently have ADA compliant crossings. Um do you have anything to add on that?

Yeah. And uh quickly on the on the trails issue, whether it's a a trail, a sidewalk, bus stop, all are required to meet ADA requirements. Uh this plan does not specifically address the sidewalks or the bus stops. It's only the uh uh ped ramps and the and the push buttons. Uh however, as upgrades occur, then uh it it behooves the city to uh to upgrade wherever those other facilities tie in. Now having said that uh for example if there is no uh trail or crosswalk uh or extension then the city's not required to put in something that is functionally not useful at that point. Thank you very much. Any more? Okay, Council Member Talbo and then Council Member Brandstead and then we're going to probably have to wrap this up. This is just anformational discussion tonight and we thank Mr. Mr. King. So

yeah.

Yeah. Thank you Mr. Um so when it comes to installation of new facilities especially like ramps and unsalized intersections. Um, do we have or will we amend our current maintenance policies so that we can incorporate things like upgrading ramps or even um installing the APS push buttons when we do signal upgrades or at at at signalized intersections and then uh ramps at unsalized interceptions. But overall just how do our current maintenance facil our maintenance policies address upgrades in that process?

Yeah. Historically that's uh process has been through public works. Previously we were called public works engineering. Um our maintenance group is pretty um modest. Um, so we have historically looked at locations um, more from a capital project standpoint than from an individual intersection that needs an upgrade standpoint. The exceptions would be when we get these requests to add audible push buttons or any request when it comes in, we've always evaluated. This is something that um should be done within the rideway if the infrastructure isn't ADA compliant, but uh historically we've been very capital focused. Thank you. Yeah, I know that um the APS push buttons can become uh in some cases require whole new traffic cabinets. So being cognizant of where we can maximize um upgrades in our current maintenance practices uh would be good. And the last question I have is um regarding costing. Will the draft of this plan include uh the the the cost associated with uh the wholesale um infrastructure needs that that we will that will be prioritized and presented in this plan.

Yeah. will at kind of a higher level. Uh the way envision this would be looking at the plan and the priority um working with the six-year tip and then the budget every two years um to vet out what what is available. Uh as Al had mentioned earlier, it'd be nice just to, you know, clear it all in one year, but um I think what you're alluding to is it would be very costly. So at a high level there'll be an estimate in the plan and then as we go forward this plan should also be looked at somewhat as a living document every 3 to 5 years be updated and we can continue to refine our our cost estimates like we do with the six-year tip. Uh Al, you're on the call here. Is there anything you want to add to that question?

Uh no, I I think that generally covers it. uh you know as a practical matter you you you're simply not going to be able to upgrade everything that needs upgrade. Now having said that uh the priority system would give you a list and you could project the costs. Um it will be very very significant to to look at the whole system because once you start you you you look at sidewalks and and your trails and and everything else. Uh I wouldn't as a general rule suggest you need to do that. I think your capital planning and the priorities looking at can we do a bit more to move this whole project ahead is the most practical way to to view it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, Won, I understand we're developing a specific plan with this focus because there's a requirement to do that. But I would say that if I look back 15 years, I've seen that we the city's planners have had a mindset to look at the ADA elements of numerous transportation projects and they've even had some projects and I think that on 108th Street we had a project one time where all we did is go down the whole street to every intersection and upgrade the ADA ramps to be able to go and do that. So, so I, so I think that having a plan meets a requirement that it will help us keep the focus that I think we've already had that I've seen to do that. Um, that being said, in the in the in the process that you've laid out for us for the development of the plan and the public engagement efforts that go into getting an initial plan approved. I'm a little bit concerned about two things. One is the U indicated that we're going to make some outreach to stakeholders and you described examples of stakeholders that we'd identified and you mentioned Pierce Transit and Sound Transit and I I think the school district, but I didn't hear any stakeholders that are from the disability advocates community like the Center for Independence which is located here in Lakewood or the Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with

Disabilities um and and some other similar groups that are in the business of advocating for individuals with disabilities that have a perspective of what makes a safe intersection. to do that and to be able to look at it. So I would ask that you make sure that the stakeholders who are going to be specifically invited to comment by email according to what you're doing u includes folks from that grouping of of organizations that are there. The other thing is is that I think that the making the draft of the plan available on the 20th of March, the 19th of March, where the the only public hearing to comment on the plan is uh on April 1st. Okay. April 1st is a bad day to ask for public comments on anything. But but but but you you but but essentially it's 10 days that you're going to put something out put something out that people can find it. That that's an extremely short notice to the broader public that you didn't come to mind as as stakeholders to do that. And then there is not another public hearing before the council uh about it after the planning commission works its way through. They take two weeks to do that and and and go forward. Um that see that seems a very abbreviated way to get uh uh significant public engagement to

to to be to be able to to to go and do that. And um if a a more robust public engagement can be done by extending the whole timeline out to getting this plan approved by the 1st of July as opposed to the 1st of June, you know, uh and and there is there are some options to do that because I'm not seeing a lot of time to take what you learn from the public engagement even at the planning commission's hearing and get it integrated into what is already a fairly mature draft to be able to go go and do that. So I wouldn't want you to feel rigidly confined if some things come up from the public engagement things that require another look to do that. And then the last comment I would say is regarding ongoing that that there may be as we review the tip every year in in the six the six-year tip to do that and there's quite a few tables in that but adding a table for the ADA transition uh as a with a with a series of projects with some years and and with the best available cost estimates might be a way to systematize making sure that it gets looked at every year, not by the planning commission and by the council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Brandsteader. Um, thank you very much and good luck on all this. Cut off. It doesn't matter. Don't take it personally. Just don't Yeah. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. King. Did we let him off the hook on the trail? Yeah, he talked to he talked to it first thing. He's going to get us information on that. He's got to get that from wash. Miss Silva, you're you're welcome to scream from the rooftops or something. I think you have to get the mic.

Here you go. Check one two salutes. So this is review of natural environment and climate change advisory board beginning on page 41 of our packet.

Thank you Mr. Mayor, deputy mayor, council members. Uh this is not a new topic before this body. So we are seeking specifically guidance on implementation of next steps. So, as the mayor mentioned, starting on your packet page, PDF page 41, this is intended to follow up from our February 17th city council discussion as the department was asked to provide more greater specificity on work plan items for what could be considered a natural environment and climate change advisory board or NECCAB for short. What's included in your packet through attachments A and B are draft work plans, guidance, and governance and scope based on current Lakewood Municipal Code when it comes to formal advisory groups and the adoption of annual work plans. In addition to what that looks like specifically in attachment B in a tabular format, what a sample annual work plan would look like by that group guided by specific statutory requirements related to House Bill 1181 and amendments to the comprehensive plan. Also included in your packet, this might be familiar, a draft uh ordinance which included creation of this news new advisory board and just in case if it gets brought up for discussion this evening, another not new document before you but at our previous conversation looking at the planning commission as an option. So, as a friendly reminder to uh the council here, um current discussions are kind of zeroing in on potentially formalizing this as a formal advisory group with the Lakewood Municipal Code. We hope to receive guidance if that's the approach this body would like to take or another option. Again the primary deliver is delivery and deliverables of this group and focus of

this group is house bill levity lady 81 which amends several different elements of the comprehensive plan but has implementing regulations or other plans to help facilitate that. Much of it is very specific or technical but also has policy related to it. So some of those items include but not limited to establishing a climate change element in the comp plan, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to that, addressing climate uh resiliency and adaptation, policy provisions to reduce vehicle miles traveled and establish multimodal level of service whether you're in the downtown or citywide. consider environmental justice and equitable outcomes as part of this effort as well as implement climate response through land use, transportation, and infrastructure planning. All of this must be completed by the city in by June of 2029. So, a phased approach in rolling out these technical and very specific deliverables is needed. In addition, this advisory board would look at an urban forestry management plan, which is guided in our current comprehensive plan, a climate vulnerability assessment, which addresses many of those previous statutory requirements and all-encompassing and integration, as well as an urban heat resiliency strategy and native climate resilient planting plan. What you'll see specifically in attachment A and more of a word document is what that council directed work plan would look like. the establishment of that work plan, the process to amend that work plan as well as assign new tasks which under current uh city code remains with city council. Not anyone can amend the work plan without uh approval of city council. In addition to that, it clarifies the role of this advisory group as advisory only. They do not adopt policy, amend budgets, etc. They provide recommendations to

specifically the planning commission if we're amending a comprehensive plan amendment to address climate change or as well as city council. In addition, they do not establish administrative policy or enforce or interpret our local codes. Another element of the work plan and specifically in attachment A establishes that operational boundary. what subjects against specific deliverables associated with HB11 discussed previously, the timelines, who would lead that discussion for the city, as well as required technical support. This is all intended to focus on HB181 compliance, the time restrictions to do that in a phase manner by June 2029, as well as how that is coordinated through a comprehensive plan update on an annual basis. The staff support structure would be housed within the planning and public works department who would assist with agenda preparation aligned with the council adopted work plan. support the technical analysis, legal and regulatory context, the coordination with the planning commission, which is a separate advisory body established by state but our own code and how that would be transmitted to of recommendations to city council in a tabular format. Attachment B goes into what those specific deliverables and mandates are in statute. I'll not go over great detail of what that table, but it's intended to describe the scope of work, the legal requirement, timeline to do so, but also the lead department support and status tracking for that. I'm going to just stop there. That was a lot of paper um work plans, statutory requirements, or I'll continue with the other attachments.

Thank you, Miss Silva. Um, this is the third time we've discussed this now. Um, staff has, I think, done a good job of presenting both options to us. So, if anybody has any questions for Miss Silva, and then we're going to have to have a discussion to kind of give to give the staff the direction that we we would like them to go. So, are there any questions for Miss Silva on this subject? Okay. So, um you might want to stick around, Miss Silva, so that we just in case. Um so, who'd like to start off the discussion about which direction we'd go? We we discussed this a couple weeks ago. Uh Mr. Brandstead was here. Council member uh Lyn Holm was not. So, uh, if anybody council member Reter, do you want to go first?

Watch it.

Well, we're not discussing a uh council chambers technology advisory committee, so we go forward with this. Um in our last discussion, you know, part of our discussion really had to do with what would this advisory board do and and as opposed to what would be better done by the planning commission and uh you know in in thinking about this u uh I have a very different view of what the advisory committee do and what the planning commission's role is. Um there seems to be a focus on trying to meet the requirements of h house bill 1181 and house bill 1181 is not that different than all sorts of bills that have come to us from Olympia that have mandatory things that we have to do on a timeline that involve the comprehensive plan and code uh to be able to go and do that to meet requirements that are set for for us and and I think that we we we really do need to say not add an extra step in front of the planning commission to deal with getting our obligations under House Bill 1181 done. That being said, I think that there is a need for us to have a natural environment climate change advisory committee of citizens that operates not in the realm of trying to figure out how to do mandatory things, but actually operates much more like the Arts Commission where we have an idea. But we really want the enhancements to how

we're addressing the national environment that are that we're implementing from the ground up because they're good. They're good for us, not because someone has created us and said that we have to do one, but because it will make the quality of life better in the community. And that it is the idea of of a place that will synthesize ideas that we as a council and and staff can evaluate as to how implementable they are, but that address the area of of natural environment, climate change, which is an area that is important to the citizenry and the residents of the city, as is shown on by numerous surveys that we've done about what do they value uh about here, but that it's not to to to do that. So I I'm sort of in favor of establishing a climate change and natural environment advisory committee that is able to make recommendations and investigate options for recommendations more broadly and bring them to us while at the same time the mandatory code type things that come to us that we have to implement are put in the already established processes of the planning commission to be able to go and do that. So I I I'm sort of sort of saying it isn't do one or do the other, but I think we should do both. Defining one role is a think tank. The other uh the other is yeah, we got to get this done and we got a timeline and there's rules. would like to go next.

Oh, it works.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so I I I kind of said my two cents the last time we were all here about really thinking it should go through the plan and commission. And I and I still I still am on that same um same track. And for a few reasons, um I think that there's so much integration with what this would be as it relates to urban planning and the things that go along with that and the planning commission. Um, but when I was on the planning commission, we had many things come through that were like the tree like the the the the tree plan and that went through an ad hoc committee and that documented that part of the record and then it went through the planning commission. And I think that once it gets to council, you really have a really good picture of all of the steps and it's not just coming through one um committee, it's kind of rolling through two and you see, you know, the concerns that were were raised at each. Um, so I I think that it's getting a more balanced like when it comes to us at the at council, I think you get a more balanced complete record of things if you have it go through planning commission and planning commission on some of these tasks, you know, forms an ad hoc committee that, hey, we want to, you know, have these folks go focus on this and then goes through planning commission and then it does. So, um, that's still my recommendation and, um, but I I I think that, you know, Mr. Brand Center has he's you know kind of on the right track there with the it's nice to be able to have the ad hoc committees to help out the planning commission and as needed kind of a thing. Um I also you know we ask a lot of city staff and it's a I'm a little

sensitive to um creating more meetings for them to to manage and and do. So um that's not really you know as important but uh I I think that that does go into the equation a bit. So, thanks. Any other comments? Council member Laurilla.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh coming into this discussion, I was heavily leaning towards uh we should really create this new advisory board to uh really drive any sort of um sustainable climate action and resiliency work and that sort of thing. But after hearing council member Brandansteader, I can appreciate the need to expedite resolutions for things like House Bill 1181, but not lose the momentum that we want to make sure we're keeping track of sustainable climate action and resiliency and and those things. So, uh, I would, now I'm leaning more towards the planning commission could manage this specific to this house bill, but I think we need to assess how we address the other piece of it, and I think we do need to have an advisory board for that.

Thank you.

Okay, Council Member Lynhol. I had the pleasure of listening to the many great comments from our last meeting uh where this was talked about by my colleagues and um I'm glad we're talking about this. The environment is incredibly important to me. It's incredibly important to Lakewood. Um the impetus for this is that we're doing this because of House Bill 1181, but also I think Lakewood and its leaders want to be really mindful of climate change and making sure that our comprehensive plan reflects that. Um, climate change is one piece of a larger comprehensive plan. The planning commission has a statutory role to review the entire comprehensive plan and make sure that it coheres, make sure that it all goes together, that those pieces fit. Uh, and there is additional, as council member Pearson mentioned, there's additional cost and burden to staff. So the question is how do we be good stewards of staff time and of of resident money but also make sure that this voice is heard. So it makes sense to me that the balance there at least to start with is to have the ad hoc committee that can make recommendations to the planning commission. We as a body uh are not bound by planning commission recommendations. if they receive something from this ad hoc committee that we don't like, that we don't agree with, that doesn't prevent us from accessing those recommendations that came in from the NCC. So, there seems to be a nice balance here available to us. And if that doesn't work, if we feel like we're not getting the council advice, thoughts that the voice isn't being heard uh of climate change that that we need to really, I think, represent the city well, we can make a change. But it is a significant step to establish an advisory board. So, I would be more in favor of an ad hoc committee.

Go ahead, Council Member Bell. Are you done then? Okay, so Council Member,

thank you. Yeah, I appreciate all these comments. Um, I think for reasons that Mr. Branser explained well. I I do think that I still believe that there is benefit in in a separate advisory committee because I think that the additional committee lends itself I think more transparently to allowing um additional voices that come from additional from a different perspective of the built environment because the planning commission it is true like m like council Mon Pearson, you've mentioned that a lot of a lot of these uh topics in this in this plan are are related to land use decisions, but they are related to land use decisions in response because of the impacts of the built environment. And so that's where you get, I think, the perspective from those individuals on the planning commission. Allowing a a separate advisory board creates a foundation to talk about other things beyond the built environment. And in response to um proactive uh thinking about natural resources and the natural environment future forward for not just this plan but also in our local and our local mix of issues that we grapple with. So for these reasons I am in favor of the of a separate advisory board. I am also in fa so I'm also in favor too though and I accept that that if the if we are going to task our planning commission to create an ad hoc committee. I would ask I do think it's

healthy to recruit and put out a call for additional members that are not on the planning commission to join to have an opportunity to be part of this advisory board because I do think that there are some organizations out there um that are very intimately familiar with the natural environment here in Lakewood, the conditions that we our habitat and our ecosystems and those are the voices that are very well suited in fact best suited to be on the the task force. So if that's the direction we're going to go, my only ask and request would be that we allow additional members outside of the planning commission to be on that task force. Thank you.

I think I'm working. Got it. Thank you, mayor. I really like that a lot. I think my the way I'm looking at it is that I brought this up last time is that I get really concerned that we're not going to have the subject matter experts available for us. We think we put it out there, we say, "Okay, it would be great. We could have this subcommittee. We could keep it going." We need to have people that are qualified to be on that. And I'm concerned with that already because I know that we have challenges getting people on our boards and commissions as is. So, I would like to make sure that I love the idea of it going through the planning commission because I think you're correct, council me council member Pearson, about the fact that there's a lot of integrations through there that I think could get missed if we had another side committee. So, I think it's a really good place for some checks and balances. So, I do appreciate that. I love the idea of adding maybe a couple other people that could have a special voice as part of an ad hoc I mean as part of the planning commission to review those things. Maybe they are the subject matter experts on that. Um and I also don't want to lose the momentum on this and get stuck behind things and we don't want to lose funding. We don't want to lose there's a lot of things that we don't want to get behind if we start another committee. And I also do think of staff like you mentioned. So we have to have another staff member to do the meetings. We have to have another like do we have those resources here? So there's multiple things that I think of I think we could get where we needed to be if um if it went through the planning commission and maybe we possibly added a couple extra. So thank you mayor.

Thank you deputy mayor Bill. Um, so, uh, great comments. And so, I I would note that the last time we did an ad hoc committee was, um, for the tree, uh, to look at the tree ordinance, and it actually worked very well. And if you're concerned that um the climate side will be buried, I I would I would tell you that that ad hoc group on the tree ordinance came forward with a very tough tree ordinance. In fact, it was described by the then city manager that if we had passed it like that, it would be the toughest tree ordinance in the state. um don't know if that's true or not, but so there there there was modifications along the way both at the planning commission and at the um and at the council. So I you know my concerns remain I still have the same concerns about staff time once you put together statutoily a committee. But we have we have gotten rid of some committees just kind of some have outlived their usefulness, others just outlived um we couldn't get members on them and and that kind of thing. So it's it's best to see we can always add a committee. It's very difficult to contract one. So, I think it's best to start with this um a plan similar to the one with the ad hoc plan where we actually went out and took I think this time we would need to be more specific in what skills we're looking for. Last time it was much broader. Um we we tried to get them from different areas of the city and various things like that. So we'll have to have those

discussions or or or come back with with some kind of areas of expertise. And so then we are we willing to go outside the city for those levels of expertise and an ad hoc committee rather than a standing committee which becomes much more difficult. like because I'm I'm not really always comfortable with standing committees that have folks from the outside um really making decisions for like with an ad hoc committee you have that flexibility of bringing in um um more folks like that um will depend on staff really to tell us kind of what areas of expertise we would be looking for. It's gonna hold this up a little bit, I think. But you I think that that this attachment is it D is really the one we're looking for with some kind of modification to make sure that they have and then and then if we create this ad hoc committee we should probably go through similar process of what we did for the tree ordinance because I think overall I I I I know we still have some people complaining about the tree thing but I think overall that that process worked pretty Well,

I think I'm hearing kind of a majority perspective to pursue the planning commission with the desire of an ad hoc task force, whatever we call it within that framework. I'm also hearing um that environmental voice, that policy, but also that subject matter expert. So what we need to bring forward to this body is not only amending attachment D which amends the work plan for the planning commission but also provides some specific specific you know what I'm trying to say specifics um related to what that task force that ad hoc could look like. Um what I don't know off the top of my head we'll review it internally is the rules of procedure for the planning commission the limitation of how many people that would look like. We want to make sure we're in the bounds of what this group is looking at, but specifically that work plan item. So, next steps, if I'm hearing correctly, we'll bring that forward to this body.

Yeah, I'm thinking that ad hoc wouldn't have I don't know how many members of the planning commission, if any. Right. I'm I'm if we have seven, I would probably again keeping it manageable. So, we have to be very tactful in in that approach. subject matter experts, environmental, residential, that's a broad swath of different voices we want to hear from. But how is that also a part of the public engagement through formal public comment periods at the planning commission, but also the council, but also public hearings?

Yeah. And once we get that rolling, I mean, we do have opportunities to talk to citizens about it. I mean, coffee with the mayors quarterly and that we're getting those started next month, I think. And and so once we get this nailed down as to what kind of we're looking for, we can start that that process to say this is because there could be people that object to this whole idea. So we need to be I mean we have to do it, but I mean there there could be folks that have concerns about where this could go. So Council Member Branded.

Mr. Mayor, I'm I'd be I'm certainly supportive of that in in the realm of getting on with the business of complying with a health bill 1181 of um essentially dealing with that through the planning commission work plan and including in their work plan for them to uh develop an ad hoc committee that could perhaps have members external to the planning commission if that's what they feel to do that when focus on 1181. I am not really clear though where we're establishing an incubator of ideas long-term regarding the national environment and climate change mitigation long-term for the community. Um I think u at some point we have to come up with the way to do that and the way to do that is not public comment at council meetings. Okay. In in other words, so so whether it's a apart from 1181, there is some some process that maybe we still need to look at to do that that allows people to come in rather than having a process that's defined by a document that says you can't talk about anything but this list that the council thinks important. It's it's the same sort of thing that we're dealing with with the American Lake Management Committee where we gave them a document that said and you can deal with mil foil and now there are other problems and they want us to adjust that but I'm certain but in terms of getting on with the 1181 and there's a myriad of things in 1181 um going through a process at the the with

the planning commission is I I am fine with that in the short term. term just don't want to lose the long-term ability to generate ideas and that every idea maybe isn't one to send to the planning commission. Thank you, Mr. Brer. Miss Silva, I think we've got that. Thank you very much. We've received our guidance.

Thank you very much. So, uh, it's now the Mr. Michael Vargas show assistant to the city manager. So we have another meaty topic here. Um public safety sales tax ordinance. Mr. Vargas, the floor is yours. Well, thank you. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and council members. Um I will be beginning on page 58 of your packet tonight. So, we are looking at HP 2015, a public safety sales tax ordinance to fund public defense here in Lakewood. Uh, it's been a while since this item has been before the council, so I'll take some time to go over some background here. Uh, and this all really impinges on changed indigent defense standards. Um, so back in March in 2024, the bar association changed its indiv indigent defense standards from 400 misdemeanor cases per attorney down to 120 cases per attorney. Um, that was originally set to begin in July of 2025. However, in June of 2025, the Washington State Supreme Court released its own interimm order which stated that this new 120 case limit would begin January of 2026 and gave a 10-year implementation window that we must hit by January 2036. Um it further stated in the order that implementation may be accomplished through phases where at least each year there must be an annual reduction of at least 10% um to meet the new case load standards. So if you do the math, we're going down from 400 cases per attorney to 120 cases. That's a difference of 280 cases. So, we must lower um the case limit for each attorney by at least 28 cases per year.

And what that really shakes out to, which is included in the model, we can review later, is that our main public defense um firm must hire um essentially 1.0 FTE every year to to reach that goal in 10 years. So looking at HB 2015 itself as a sales tax um in 2025 this legislature passed HB 2015. It created two pathways for cities to fund public safety um which includes public defense um created a new grant program and a new local sales tax and they both have the same requirements. Um to go over those um characteristics it's a broad use sales tax. It's onetenth of 1% uh can be used for any criminal justice purposes. Um and it specifically includes a public defense line. Um you have local legislative authority such that the tax can be imposed by council manatic action um at least through June 30th, 2028. So after that date, it must be approved by a boat of the people. It is a permanent sales tax. It won't sunset. Um requirements are created by the criminal justice training commission. It is stackable such that taxes stack with other sales tax and jurisdictions and revenues are not shared with other jurisdictions. Um there is a caveat here is that the jurisdictions voters must not have rejected any public safety sales tax within 12 months which Lakewood has not. Um and then eligible uses I pulled out a line from the RCW for public defense. uh we may use it um to ensure staffing adequate public defenders to provide appropriate defense for individuals which is what the recommendation is here before you tonight. So implementation details at this point the earliest date that the city can begin tax collection is July 1st 2026. The city needs to submit a signed tail

sales tax ordinance to do 75 days before the collection start date, aka by April 17, 2026. Um, and you are currently scheduled to vote on this ordinance on April 6th. and CJTC needs to determine eligibility which may take up to 45 days um from the date of application submittal which occurred on February 20th and also happens to be on April 2026. So the analysis here I provided um a model which um has been before the council several times now but it's been updated with the new start date here on the next page. uh but essentially that the city uh must add 1.0 FTEE um public defenders each year between now and 2020 2036 to comply with their case load limits. Um and table A shows projected sales tax revenue completely funds our primary uh public defender contract costs in 2027. Little bit of a net positive there. However, starting in 2028, uh projected sales tax is less than the projected annual uh contract cost with the difference growing to nearly $2.1 million by 2035. And that will be coming out of the general fund by then. So, it is recommended that the city council implement the sales tax starting July 1st of this year to fund our main public defender contract. And while the tax revenue is projected to fall behind starting 2028, it will be much more of an impact to the general fund if this tax is not passed. And with that, happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Vargas? Council member Branson.

Mr. Vargas, on the on the chart that you provided under the 2026 uh column, it says Q3 through Q4 and then you it projects a $700,000 revenue and then there is an annual contract cost with a with with a negative number that subtracted the 700,000 from it to be able to go and do that. But the annual cost is not just for Q3 and Q4. Correct.

So that um what really is the annual So is the is the annual cost half of that like 600? So the annual cost or the entire year? I guess I'm showing what what's what's the Q3 Q4 cost of the contract.

You could essentially divide that by half, but I was trying to show that um the I'm trying to show the impact to the general fund in 2026 outright. Now, that is to say that the sales tax revenue, as you mentioned, does begin in quarter 3. Um and so originally estimated a $1.4 million for a full year of sales tax revenue. um which we see in 2027, cut that in half for 2026, but I did yes include the full year's worth of contract cost for public defense.

Good. But the current reality of our current bienial budget that includes 2026 is the full cost of Pacific Point Defense's annual contract is already budgeted with existing revenue.

Correct. Okay. And um that uh what is this? And if we adopt this tax as a stop gap measure to to deal with things, it's only an effective stop gap until 2028. in which case we'd need something beyond this sales tax to do that. Even though

your chart shows that the the general fund money that we're currently spending towards this would end up being diverted to something else because we'd be using the sales tax money. Correct. You could look at that quote unquote negative number in 2026 as freed up.

And we and we we'd be looking at freeing up the,361,000 in 2027 being being freed up as well by doing this this tax because the general fund wouldn't have to to pay that. I I I I and and and and that's fine. I mean I mean the chart doesn't make a case for establishing a perpetual tax. That's that's only going to be a stop gap that really gets us to where what we want to do for one or year and a half. And uh I don't think that we've heard at least I have not heard any specific ideas about if we don't do this for for for what would happen and there and there's there's money to do that about um you know okay what if if we have to pay these increases here um I don't know what the trade-off is about what we won't do. Okay. Uh and I don't know what we can do to make this chart flatten a little bit by reducing some things that result in the changes to the need or that the state legislature will do over the next two years or four years or six years to do that. Um, I'll just say that I don't think that the case to start collecting this tax in July 1st of this year has been made to me in a way that I can make it to the

community and I'm I wouldn't be voting for it. Thank you for your work on this. You know, one of the questions I have is obviously the case loads are changing because we're trying to protect folks, give better representation to folks who can't afford to pay for it themselves. Um, this is a sales tax is a very regressive form of taxation. It tends to burden those folks who are at the lowest end of the income bracket. Do we have any alternatives to raising money that's not regressive? Alternatives provided by the state? No,

not provided by state. Do we have alternatives as a city that aren't regressive?

You have limitations on what can be done to increase revenues at the municipal level. Um, some of the things that you have to your access would be increasing some of the transportation fee components. Um, but I don't those are probably going to be specific to transportation. One of the things I wanted to identify if I can go back to council member Brandansteaders's discuss questions related to what the impacts would be. You will be looking at a reduction in services. Um when we first brought this up, we identified different things that those funds that would be used that are currently going towards the indigent defense and some of the things have been identified at the the year end including uh body warn cameras which were purchased as a one-time component. that contract is coming up and that so that would still be used as public service components but you will see even in 2027 well and I'll actually you'll be increasing an amendment for indigent defense here coming up for I believe 85,000

y

for cost to amend this year's budget but even going into 2027 you're looking at an additional close to $200,000 cost that we anticipate that is going to mean the reduction of other services. Um, when I brought this up at the end of the year, you have some council priorities including things that we signed off on that you're that may be impacted including some of the developments especially related to Edgewater Park that we discussed as we are going into it. So the consequence is you are going to have some impact of services that council is going to have to determine a reduction in service levels.

So if I'm hearing correctly, we may have an option with transportation impact, but otherwise there's no non-regressive form. You're but those will be restricted to transport. I just think that's a really important point because we don't want to burden folks at lower end end of the spectrum when at the same time we're trying to represent them better. The other piece is I wonder um what kernel are we planting? So in 2035 this shows over a $2 million deficit. Are we going to be having the same conversation about raising it again in years future? I mean as you're building this chart I'm sure it occurred to you, wait a minute, this isn't sustainable. Do you have any thoughts in that direction?

Yeah, as a local municipality on our own is it's not sustainable, right? I think quite frankly um you know the right to an attorney is in the constitution right I mean but it's unfunded it's unfunded um right if you will um now the state has you know there has been a little bit of movement if you will um but nothing has solidified this session unfortunately um to fund public defense at a greater level um like other states for example I mean if you look at what other states do some of them take on this burden almost completely right I mean here in Washington we just don't um so without state without changes at you know the federal or state level in terms of funding you know this fundamental right that folks have it's it's really on our own and to the city manager's point we're going to have to look at the opportunity cost and tradeoffs um but without this tax those the opportunity cost is just that much higher right so thank you

any Further comments, council members are still on. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Mr. Vargas. That's not an easy conversation to have, right? Anytime we're talking about burdening our residents, uh, especially in perpetuity, it's not something to take lightly. Uh, so Pierce County just approved an increase that matches this, right? A tenth of 1% for public safety. Uh, do we get any of that funding? Is that applicable to spend on this topic? No. or the RCW. Um, it is not sharable revenue. Yep.

So, looking at I was trying to figure out, you know, how much does this impact each of our residents, right? And if we're talking a million4 to a million5 per year, it's about $22 per resident, which makes a difference to people. Um, it's not something to be taken lightly. Uh so I was going to ask the same question about what other options we have instead of increasing taxes. So reduction in service reduction in services are there efficiencies we can drive into what we do to help also not just increase the revenue side but let's decrease the cost in other places. So it's something to look at. Uh you talked about two pathways that the state provided uh a grant program as well as this. Uh have we pursued that grant program? Not for HB 2015. No. And I believe that's for just hiring police officers.

It's not just for hiring police officers. It's for a myriad of things under the criminal justice system. But yeah, mayor was right. You just said you have to pass the onetenth of 1% first and then you have to go for um the funding.

Okay. So, it's not two alternative pathways. You only get one if you take the other first. Great. Uh, last question. Uh, so we keep hearing that crime rates are down across the city, right? So, in theory, if crime rates are down, does that mean there are less cases to charge? In theory, yes. Um however there are indigent defense standards um that state that we compensate based on case equivalencies as opposed to case cases outright. For example, um it's embedded within indigent defense standards to to compensate um for attorney of the day time on a calendar, which essentially means when an attorney is on a calendar, 1 hour equals.22 of a case in terms of compensation. So, and with, you know, even if you were to do diversion programs and such, public defender is very likely going to be there. Whenever a a client is on a calendar and they have a public defender, the public defender will be there. So, yep.

Any other comments? Council member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I echo Mr. brand setters comments wholeheartedly that um when you look at this you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's like this gets us through a year maybe two and then we're back in the same situation and we burden the residents forever and you know it's it's just like this never ending cycle. Um, and I'm I'm especially sensitive in in this current climate that we live in right now with where things are so expensive and it seems like, you know, the utilities are passing taxes and and we're, you know, potentially looking at at new taxes and the state's looking at new taxes and it's like, you know, when when is it going to stop, right? When's the bleeding going to stop? And and so that's why I I'm I'm very sensitive to it. Um I uh I think it's most people's jobs they don't get usually you would get money if someone quadrupled your work and I mean I mean that's like so gracious of the state to do right like you know they quadruple our work here give us no money and then make us look like the bad people that are having to increased tax burdens on our residents to get out of the hole for a year or two. And so, um, the alternatives are are all bad, right? Like, okay, we can not do parks projects for the next decade plus. We can, you know, cut six, eight cops or, I don't even know, 20 cops in 10 years, you know, to get up to $10 million in whatever this is going to be. Um, I mean, these are all just terrible

options. So, I um Yeah, but I I I guess even with the all the terrible options, this doesn't really get us over the finish line. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. So, um I yeah, I too would would not be supportive of this um just for the uncertainty that still remains after even passing it. So, thank you. Any other comments? Council member Talo. Thank you. I Yeah, I completely understand and agree with the frustrations expressed by my colleagues for this item. I think that this is particularly hard because I don't know at least when it comes to, you know, trying to provide for the the basic level of service for next year and forward. I'm not sure that we have a choice um to provide for those things without, you know, without having the back fill. And so while I do agree that the table I mean I still have some I I don't think the table makes the case either but at the same time I don't know that we have have much of a choice either to not or or at least we're pushing out our priorities. You know we're going to have a count a retreat in a in a few a month here and then what would it all mean? Is it all moot? because because we have no way to we're on a very long

path to to get to them. So I guess in that sense I don't think that I don't think that we have a choice but um and so and the other point I would make too is that when we when we did meet with our our legislative delegates we did tell them that we were supportive of this. So, I will just leave that there. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Tabo. Any other Okay, so I'll I'll speak to this. So, these standards are just, you know, incredibly burdensome and but they're a reality. And the the state legislature, you know, there's and I believe Wasach's correct. They're pushing a um a lawsuit that would call out the state that that the state is required to provide con, you know, constitutionally required to provide this service as they had to do with, you know, K through 12 schools twice in my lifetime. They've had to go to the Supreme Court to get them to admit that they have to fund K through2 schools. Um they didn't do it this year. They, you know, it's an odd year. Um it's possible they could do something next year. Um the cities and counties were going to get some of the millionaire tax and we were hoping in our discussions in in um Olympia that a portion of that which would be fairly substantial would go towards the indigen defense. and they took it out. It was actually in in the bill and they took it out. Um and then they went a step further and they reduced the number of um they they reverse some of the um yeah sales tax taxes that they put on last year are coming off in 2029. So this number is already too high, right? And they took it off diapers and they took it off toiletries and and they

should have never had it on diapers. That's my personal opinion, but that's beside the point. So, a lot of the things that we sell at Target and Walmart are suddenly now going to be tax-free. Great for for people, but the state didn't give us, you know, it's going to impact. Um, and I think you've seen that where they think it's going to be like $257 million a year statewide for for city and county governments. So, so we went from getting money that would help us pay for this to getting less money in the future. I would note that these are ongoing expenses. So, I disagree with comments made here tonight that, oh, we'll just stop a park project or we'll won't buy cameras or we won't do that. It's not going to help you. It's from a different pool of money. If if we're not going to do this to pay ongoing costs, we have to reduce ongoing costs in other areas. Period. It's it trying to buy time by oh let's you know let's start burning furniture here is not effective governing and it and it's it's you know I'm just I mean if there's four of you that want to burn the furniture go ahead I'm not going to be one to do it. I'm um so those are very difficult choices and we're going to be faced with them anyway. So, we also have the issue, but but I but I do want to say this about the the timing of the vote. If we pass the tax and we don't get that approval from the state, the state takes this whole thing basically because they're going to start taking a h 100,000 a month. So, shouldn't we wait

until we get the approval before we pass the T? we lose then we go into January of next year I guess because they don't do it in the fourth quarter is my understanding but if we don't but I just don't feel like I can pass it when I don't know that we've got that approval yet and the appro and without going into all this it's it's it's do we have the policies and procedures in place our police department I guess and it has to go and that has to get approved approved and then you can start collecting the tax. If you collect the t if you pass the tax but you don't get that approval until you get that approval, they start taking 100,000 a month which is essentially everything that you've shown us here. Is that right?

So actually we have up to 180 days after we hear back from CJTC to become in compliance before they start withholding tax. So, we have half a year to get into compliance and we'll actually hear back from them. We should on the same day that um you're scheduled to vote on this, April 6th. Actually, before then, we're supposed to hear back. So, we can still pass it and then we have 6 months if we're not in compliance to become in compliance before they start withholding. you're you're hoping to hear before the 6, but but up until a couple weeks ago, very few agencies had passed it, correct?

Yeah, there's two. I believe it's Kent and Black Diamond. Yeah. Yeah. So, two agencies. Black Diamond.

Yeah. According to their website, Yep. CJTC. So, and a lot of cities have applied for it though. So, that's probably going to impact response time. So what happens if we prove it? We haven't heard. Ideally, we would have heard. We don't qualify. We scramble around. Wouldn't it be better just to not pass it? Or can we can we turn around and reverse our decision until we because it doesn't make any sense to to pass a tax if the money just goes to the state then? And in our case, it'll all go to the state. Is it a h 100,000 a month? Is that am I right on that? I saw that on their website. Yep. Okay.

Sure. Go ahead. So, in theory, if we if we don't pass this, it sounds like there's a deadline that we'd have to pass it by. If we wanted to come back and do this later for a different amount or for the same thing, would we have to go to a vote of the people and then we'd at least have some buy in from our residents that this is a priority for them? We we we could go to a vote. Um I'll be honest with you. I mean, let let's face it. Here's here's my thing. Um it's onetenth of 1%. You're getting nothing from it unless you have to do a show up in our one of our courts. You need an attorney and you can't afford one. Who who would vote for that? I mean, who in their right mind, right? I mean, it would just be like like, "Oh, yeah. I want to support people who are in trouble with the law but can't afford an attorney." And oh, by the way, it's a state responsibility anyway. So, I mean, I'm Yeah, you know, I'm I'm not I'm not going out and selling it probably, right? That's not a good sales pitch. So, rocking a hard place. Um, uncomfortable rock and a heart, please. Um, any ideas, Mr. Vargas? Your plan is or the plan here is to get this to us April 6th.

Correct. Yep.

Mayor, is it okay if I take the mic again? Because I want to call people's attention back to the chart. I think what the chart does a very good job of doing is identifying the danger of adding ongoing programs should this be implemented by council into the future because that means we're going to have to use any potential savings in the general fund that are going to engine defense right now to apply them into the future. So I think that's what the chart does a very good job of identifying is should we even pass this that doesn't give us a freedom to add ongoing expenses and we should not add ongoing expenses because we are going to be at the end of this life cycle pretty much using the entire amount of that general fund that is going towards it right now. But we'll have to start supplanting or not supplanting but subsidizing the indigent defense with those general fund dollars as early as 2028. So that's just an indicator of where we're looking at into the future in respect to the rising costs of that Supreme Court decision. Council member Brandanstead,

I would just say when the legislature established the ability to assess this public safety sales tax, they did not do it in response to telling cities and counties that here's your way to deal with the indigent defense issue because the indigent defense issue hadn't happened yet. You know, it was designed to do a whole lot of other public safety things in an environment of where there were many cities and counties around the state that were in far worse shape of trying to fund their public safety needs than us. Um, I am uh again not looking to just grab on this as a short-term stop gap to be able to go and do that. I am more in favor of being more aggressive in pressing the legislature in the next their next bienium that you need to aggressively adopt everything that is an in that is the increase at least you don't maybe they don't have this fund funded the way that they have been but that as every year it goes up the legislature needs to take responsib ability to be able to go into that. And I am not immune to saying when we have to make some reductions in services or something or or go to one of our other alternative revenue options of essentially pointing to this and saying that it is essentially an unfunded mandate. I'm not this is cuz this this is this sales tax

was not an effort to fund this issue around the state for everybody. It was something else and it was really directed towards places that couldn't hire enough police officers and and and do other things. So I don't think the time is right for us to do that. I think the time is right for us to look at how can we re perhaps reduce some of the case load issues that might in fact future contracts that I think the the that the time is right because there are some revenue streams that we in Lakewood haven't chosen to take advantage of that um that other cities have um and that's issue about is there a segment of our business community that could be uh impacted by us in interpreting a of business and occupations tasks on warehousing which was something that we discussed at one time to be able to go and do that that we are significantly below the percentage threshold that that is the maximum threshold the state allows on our gambling tax. Okay. Um you know so there are options that we can look at as we go through and maybe we look at them from year to year and we have to if we reduce services we have to be honest with the public about we reduce services because we couldn't pay for them and we and instead we're paying for this and that's what we we have to do and I'm not adverse to put putting this in in in front of the voters. Although I am as pessimistic as

the mayor is that that that voters would thank us for doing that. Okay. So, we're clearly split. Um I would like the information on the BNO tax on warehousing. I would personally like to do BNO tax on adult family homes, but I don't know that we could do that separately. Um, is the same square footage? Yeah, I think I Well, we'd have to look at what can't

I was just asking is warehouse BNO the same as square footage looking at when you look at BNO. I was just provide followup. I don't.

Okay. Thank you. and see how much that works and what that does and try to get that to us. Like we don't have a meeting the last weekend, week of the month. So, um might just have to send I don't know what we're going to do. We might have to postpone that April 6 vote for a little bit. We'll see. I I would really like to get the certification prior. Um and if if we get the certification, then it's we're going to have to, you know, think think about it. Um because there'll be push back on a BNO, right? I mean, um that's something we've never had here in this city. Um we've and um so We might have some issues with that. Um, but I but I think we should look at that because Kent and Auburn have it. They have more warehouse space though than we do. So, thank you. I think I the the only thing I would say is in regarding council member Branser's comments about looking at other revenue streams that we don't do that other cities do. Even if we took those on, such as park impact fees or transportation impact fees, those and and let's just throw in a BNO tax from the mix. I mean, hypothetically, each of those things would definitely encounter some level of push back. Not because we've never done them, but just because

they would they they would encounter a level of of push back. Um, but also even each of those in their own right would get you a very small sliver of the pie back into the general fund and there would still be a gap to pay for this. So, I just I I know we know that, but I just want to caution that that we're mindful of that too going forward.

Thank you, Council Member Talo. Any other comments? Okay. So, you got your marching orders. We'll keep we'll keep moving towards April 6 and we'll see um what's what's going on. But, um you know that the BNO thing is cracking a seal that that's been a policy of this council for a long time not not to go there. So, it'll be an interesting discussion. Thank you, Mr. Vargas. And you're up next. Do you want to take a break?

Yeah. Uh, Mr. Vargas, uh, review a franchise agreement for Ziply Fiber Pacific LLC and then right after that you'll go to NFC Northwest LLC. Please summarize and tell us the if there are any major differences between these two or is there any reason we should not vote for these franchise agreements? Not if you don't want more internet in the city. Um but to go over this quickly um the two are related in that they are essentially I mean they are the same exact franchise for two different companies. Um, and I would like to um call on a guest here to sort of explain how the two companies are related. Um, I think that would be a better job than I could with the whereases here. Um, so if Miss Jessica Epley is in the room there, um, she is a regulatory uh, and external affairs VP for Ziply Fiber. And yeah, she can explain the sort of relationship between Ziply Fiber and NFC Northwest here. So

any questions? Oh, Miss Epley is going to explain. My apologies. I had to rejoin as a panelist. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and members of the council. For the record again, my name is Jessica Epley. I'm the vice president of regulatory and external affairs of Ziply Fiber. Uh I believe Mr. Orgas has an infographic that he could put on the screen which would help maybe uh expedite this conversation. Is that I don't have it on me. Jessica, are you able to share? Um I could it give me two seconds. Sure.

To get that pulled in front of me. My apologies. It's been a long evening for you all. I'm sure you just want to go home. I mean, I can simply say there's no reason not to vote for these. They're great little franchises, well negotiated by the team. Uh, okay. Let's see here. Okay. Can you all see that? Okay. Yes.

Perfect. Okay. So, Ziply Fiber Pacific is the affiliate of Ziply Fiber Northwest, a local exchange carrier, an incumbent local exchange carrier serving approximately 40% of Washington. Um, we have decided to expand our network beyond our traditional incumbent footprint. Uh and um there are multiple cities that are within the pathway of where our existing network trans our transport network exists. Uh late last year, Ziply Fiber was purchased by Bell Canada and Bell Canada being a publicly traded company raises debt capital differently than we did as a private equityowned uh entity. So, we formed a partnership and that's the name NFC Northwest that you see on the second franchise you'll be considering this evening. When you think about this in terms of continuity of service from the internet all the way back to a customer's home, from the internet to a point of presence in the city of Lakewood, there will be a line, a single line that will be owned by Ziply Fiber Pacific. It's actually a couple of different lines uh geographically dispersed, but you get the point. That's the connection out to the internet. Once we enter into the city and we distribute through the ride ofway, that section of the network would be owned by NFC Northwest. Now, what's a fun fact about NFC Northwest is that 49% of its ownership is Ziply Fiber. So, it's it's really uh an investor's money and the same group that would be doing all the other work in the city under the name Ziply Fiber. That's the name that customers will see. That would be the only name that customers would interact with because we'll be performing all the construction, maintenance, and operations of that network on behalf of NFC Northwest. But because there are two

separate entities funding this work, uh we do need two separate franchises. We'll be happy to take any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Vargas or Ms. Epley? Council member Ransstead. Um, Mr. Eley, thank you for extending your day into into this hour as well to be able to do that. Um I'm not totally familiar with uh Ziply Fiber and I'm wondering is you know Lakewood is a a diverse community in many ways to include having a a significant number of lowincome residents to do that. uh the the what what sort of community engaging programs and helpful programs does Ziply Fiber or would Zippy Fiber bring accessibility to to for Lakewood residents if you begin to uh deploy your infrastructure here?

Thank you very much for the question, council member. uh we have the opportunity as an eligible telecommunications carrier to provide federal lifeline subsidies to qualified residents. So we have a a lowinccome product that then receives a further subsidy which we help connect the customer with through the federal communications commission. Okay. And that would be available to students like in the high schools from lowincome families that want to be able to keep up with others by having having this access in their residence.

Absolutely. Okay. Is is is that a uh an easily an easily qualifiable program although there are qualifications? It is. Yes. In fact, there's a uh a website where um individuals can go and get pre-qualified um or when they contact Ziply for service, we can connect them and walk them through the process. All right. Thank Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, Mr. Vargas. On to the next one.

Yep. So, I'll go over um Yep. NFC Northwest franchise. Really, they're the exact same franchises. The council has seen this um telecom template franchise um throughout the last year on multiple occasions such as Easy Fiber and um Forged Fiber. Um just to quickly go over some of the substantive clauses contained in both franchises. Um the under definitions the city remains um the definable um entity when it comes to an emergency situation. Um this is very important to the city because we want to be able to control what is a emergency situation and what is not because that ultimately controls um who has to compensate back who for fixing a problem quickly if you will. Um so we still control that. Um construction and maintenance. Um, this section still refers to our uh payment degradation fee as well as our 5-year cut payment moratorum. Um, if there's substandard work, um, that will be fixed within 5 days um, at the grant's expense. Location and relocation of facilities, punchline remains, no new polls as applicable and that the grantee may offer alternatives to relocation if their facilities need to be moved for a city project. As for the franchise term, um we would like to um keep an initial 5-year term with up to three five-year extensions for a potential of 20 years. Uh when it comes to changing technology, keeping this sort of cadence when it comes to revisiting the franchise for telecom is important. As for undergrounding, the city may direct the franchisee to underground um above ground facilities at no cost in lie of lo relocating them. Um this is pretty standard practice for section 12 shared use excavation and trenches. Um it's much more efficient that you know if any

entity whether it's the city of the grantee cuts into the pavement that we should share that excavation to do work while we're down there. That's what that states. Bond requirements are still the same and that they are set and approved by the planning and public works director. And for street vacations, uh, the grantee must remove those facilities at no cost during a vacation unless it is a condition of the vacation to allow them to remain. And that is contained, all of those are contained in both franchises. Yep. Thank you very much. Do you have any Oh, Miss Bill.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say thank you for um I think this is really great for our residents to have options now. So accessibility that now we have what if we're going to have Ziply this and then seven I mean I I'm not going to name them all but I love that there's options for our community. So adding this I think is a positive move. Thank you.

We're all looking forward to having options here when it comes to our internet. I know I am. Uh anything else Mr. Vargas? Thank you very much. These will be on the agenda next week. All right. Thank you. So, uh you see there we have uh items for the scheduled for the Monday, March 16th, 2026 regular city council meeting and study session. We have a business showcase with Lakewood Auto Body. Um we do authorize the execution of an agreement for the Camp Murray boat launch master plan. So, we've been waiting that's been under discussion now for Council Member Brandsteader could probably help me out out of that, but we've been talking about that for a while. Um, that might be a precoid. The two franchise agreements, uh, review of the 2026 community development block grant, CDBG annual action plan, HBR update, and that's an important update. And by then we'll know whether or not we got some money from the state to help us with that. Um and and and Partners for Parks is still out out raising money. Um and I just I was at an event here recently where they spoke about that. And then uh the review of a resolution updating the city's purchasing policies. So and we'll have a discussion surrounding that in the study session. So that's the third week of the of the month. So that begins at 6 pm. And I'm saying that really to remind myself that it's 6 pm. Um Mr. Russell, do you have any city manager comments?

Yes. Uh mayor, deputy mayor and council, uh just quickly highlight some of the uh neighborhood association meetings coming up. On Tuesday the 10th, we have uh the Telecom neighborhood. on Wednesday the 11th, the downtown association and on Thursday the 12th, Lake City. Um, next Tuesday we have Kuster Neighborhood Association. Um, not neighborhood association, but on the 28th we have spring cleanup and you had mentioned earlier the mayor's coffee. That one will be April 1st. Uh, I think that program will be the legacy plan update. Did want to highlight that uh, um, legislative session is coming to an end. That's already been talked about a little bit. uh mayor talked about the millionaires tax and kind of how that shifted over time to where that actually may end up being a reduction uh in revenues for municipalities. Will they identify that they want to keep that to address it later on? How that's done, we don't know. Um also want to mention we are very cognizant of the IT issue and there will be a proposal to upgrade that. That is not a give or take. We will be cautious of it and honestly as we go forward with revenues so that might be a larger discussion in terms of how some other discussions end up but uh incorporating really it audiovisisual and potential website upgrade is all part of some needed improvements through here. Um that's all I have unless there's any questions. Thank you very much, uh, city manager Russell. So, council member comments and then I will notice also that before we start our comments that we do have an executive session this evening. Um, and right now it's posted as approximately 15 minutes. That means

probably closer to 30, but you know, you never know. So, just keep that in mind. Council member Laura Cella, would you please start us off?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I am excited to be here as long as it takes tonight. Uh, really enjoyed the, uh, Lakewood Lakewood Multicultural Coalition Gayla uh, on Saturday night uh, along with a couple uh, fellow council members. Great event as it is every year. Uh, lots of people having a good time. Um, took home an interesting cake. Uh but yeah, that was it was fun. Good good people. Um I was unable to attend the Clover Park School District board meeting tonight. I had a conflict. Uh so hopefully uh things went smoothly, but we'll get a a connection with them uh shortly to find out if we missed anything critical. Um last week uh I brought up to the city manager uh that our transportation projects in the city, our website has a three-week look ahead and it was great. We got an update that was added one extra week to the Nyanza project, but now that's out of date again. Um the 112th Street uh Gravity Lake to Bridgeport project is good. They've got a schedule that goes through the 20th, but the Nyanza project expired as of last Friday. So, if we could get a full 3-week look ahead when we say we're doing three weeks, that would be helpful to our residents. Um, as we talked about the the sales tax considerations, I think it would be really beneficial to get a list of unfortunate options uh for either increased revenue or decreased expense alternatives to a sales tax increase. Uh if that means looking at other public safety costs that we have, whether it's bodywn cameras or our flock system or a number of officers, it's not an easy conversation to have, but we need to be best representing the people of the city for uh the positions that we're in to make sure we're making the right decisions for them. Um,

a while back, uh, we tasked city staff to, uh, help with a a revenue analysis for potential cannabis sales. Um, I haven't seen that come back yet, and I don't see it on the look ahead in our schedule. So, uh, it would be good to know when we're going to see that. Yeah, we're uh, incorporating new buffer sheets because the ones that had last time it came around was 1,500, but buffer actually goes down to 100. So they're working on making those maps right now and getting the analysis of what you can expect because naturally those will have limitations on the amount of revenue. So it is in the works.

Okay. Thank you. Uh and then the last piece is I will not be able to attend next week's meeting. So I will uh I will listen to it afterwards and uh provide some feedback ahead of time to the city manager for any critical issues. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Lorisella. Council member Lynholm. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh really enjoyed Lakewood Rotary last Friday. Uh Council Member Bransetter and I attended Shape. There's some interesting and important things I think we'll be having some discussions about here soon. Um attended with Council Member Talbo and Deputy Mayor Bell the Normal Heart at the Playhouse. It was the final performance. It was incredible. Their next show is going to be Pipeline, which I recommend you you check out. Um, I look forward to trying to attend the Lake City meeting this Thursday as well as our own city manager state of the city, uh, which I believe is on Thursday at the chamber. That's all, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member Brandstead.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I um enjoyed last week spending four days in a location with no internet. Uh it it was it was uh invigorating um that um the Lakewood Multicultural Coalition held their Claudia Thomas Gayla Awards uh Sarah ceremony and and thank you for all those in the room who who did attend uh and would going on the the event was was successful and former deputy Moss wanted me to make sure express thankful for the fact that the the city was again a sponsor of the event as they have been ever since it was was inaugurated. Um and uh at at that event uh a group of students from the youth council um were there. But the um and to to do that, the uh the the Lakewood First Lions Club u is board voted today that they're going to send a $1,000 grant to the youth council to uh um go towards their their costs for the for the youth summit that that will be there. And so we'll be going off to do that. And then finally with uh respect to youth um that um um Mayor Boi has sent a letter nominating Isaiah Isaiah from the the president of the youth council for the uh quality community scholarship at AWC and uh and and and if there is anyone that still wants to make a contribution to the Lakewood version of that scholarship that would go to him irregard regardless of whether he wins

a scholarship at the state level, which I I think he'll be very competitive for. Uh I'm still collecting those funds so that I can write him a check this summer with and the Lions Club is um already uh budgeted their their portion of the dollars for for half of that scholarship. Thank you, Council Member Brandsteader, for ponchoing that again uh like you have every year. And we've actually had several statewide winners. So, that's been a lot of fun. So,

we Lakewood has actually had statewide scholarship recipients since the program began than any other city in state. Nine. Nine. Nine. Oh, I thought it was like four or five. I didn't think it was that many. It out. That's cool. Council member Talbo,

thank you. I also, yeah, had a great time at the multicultural coalition celebration and um and even in the pre the previous weekend, I also did attend the uh AsianPacific Cultural Center Lunar New Year celebration. And I I just think that our support for those two organizations uh really do go far for them and the members in our community. So, uh, happy to be part of that. Um, this week, uh, is, uh, or I guess it's next week, Pierce County PCRC. Uh, I am not assigned to any of the neighborhood association meetings this week, but I would like to try to get to the downtown neighborhood association. And um I think regarding uh the comments tonight about and the discussion tonight about just our construction projects, I really just do want to stress that if we can get our, you know, if we can ask our communications group to um start to put our construction projects and noticing on the front page and make it very clear and visible and accessible. that really does go a long way for our businesses um and our residents that are just trying to get information. So, just like to plug that again and uh thank you.

Thank you very much and thank you for going to the Asia-Pacific event, Council Member Pearson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, last night I attended the coaches meeting for the Lakewood Baseball Club. Um, I'm coaching 8U and, uh, 6U and along with my along with my wife. So, um, but something I learned at that that Lakewood Baseball Club is doing very well, um, keeping baseball affordable for youth, really getting it out there, and in fact, so much so that they have grown the club over the past few years where around the country, youth baseball clubs are dying off. And so, they're doing excellent work there. Um it's a really great program and uh excited to be a part of it this year and coach some youngsters and um yeah spend some time out on the field.

It's great. Thank you for doing that. I I never did coach baseball. I'm glad I didn't because we might have had an incident. Um anyway, council deputy mayor Bell.

Thank you, Mayor. um well kind of ties in the coaching. So one of the people that was honored at the Lakewood Multicultural um event was a coach, Coach Darwin. So he happens to track my daughter's track team. So he is wonderful. So the event was fabulous. So please I did let um Mary know that it was great. It was a great event for a great cause. I think it's really great to see the community come out. So, I really appreciated that a lot and it was nice seeing the youth council like you mentioned, council member member Brandansteader, anything we can do to incorporate them and help support them, they really enjoy it and I do hear that firsthand, so it's appreciated. Uh, tomorrow I will be at the TICOM neighborhood meeting. I think that starts at 6:30 at the community center and I did attend the Lakewood Playhouse. it's great to support um community events and different things or small businesses and our arts around Lakewood and that it's great that I can go see theater in Lakewood. I don't have to travel for it and it was really great theater. So, thank you again for the invite on that. I really enjoyed it. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Bell. Um a lot of great comments and and I I do want to comment on that. um, Lakewood Theater, which I I need to make sure I go. The arts have not the at least like local art stuff has never recovered from COVID. Um, I just saw an article here where the Broadway even the Broadway theater, the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle sells about half the season tickets that they used to. Um, Tacoma Arts Live is in in in real real tough shape. Um, and there there's other things going on there, but that just the fact that they're they're just, you know, people just have not come back to the live local stuff that they have prior to uh, co. So, you know, thank you very much. I went to the Clover Park Rotary fundraiser on Friday night and it was a lot of fun. Um, and they hit on all our, you know, they hit on a number of things that we talk about almost daily, right? The they part they give money to Partners for Parks for the um the uh the barn, the H barn. Um they also give money um they're heavily involved because of course Alan Billingsley has made it really his life project to to work on the game farm and really make that a nice um community asset. So they they support that and there are a few other things that they're involved in. So just like the Lions Club and their generous gift, I mean they really do play a really important role. um did go to a meeting um at the Oakbrook School uh attended by a few folks um and Chris was there from from the city to

talk to them about starting a um a community group in the Oakbrook neighborhood. So that's going to move forward. It was a productive discussion and um they have enough people I think to move forward, but um you know they there's there's some things they got to work through. So they they agreed to keep moving forward on that. So hopefully we'll see something and they've got that school that they can use and I think that's a good location. With that, like to announce that the city council will recess into executive session for approximately 15 minutes pursuant to RCW4230.110 paragraph 1 sub paragraph I to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body or a member acting in an official capacity is or is likely to become a party when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency. The city council is not expected to take action following the executive discuss session other than to adjourn the meeting and we will need 15 minutes. So we'll adjourn until let's just say 10. We'll adjourn and from here until 10:05. Is that will that give us enough time? 10:05.

Bye.