City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. You have made it to Tuesday, June 2nd. Council, you're in the right spot. Meeting is called to order.

We're going to start with roll call. Council Member Brandon Wheaton.

Present.

Council Member Angela Jefferson. Present. Council Member Joan Cathy. We see Joan Cathy. Council member Eileen Swarthout.

Present.

Council member Megan Sullivan. Present. Council member Peter Agabi.

Present.

Council member Kelly Von Holtz. Present. Mayor Leata Dalhoff. And I am still here.

Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, everyone. We have two special items. One is so special, we thought we'd not put it on the agenda and surprise you all tonight. The first item is our proclamation for LGBTQIA2S plus Community Pride Month. And we have Councilmember Sullivan who's going to read that proclamation.

Thank you, Mayor. Whereas the city of Tumwater is strong because of the diversity, dignity, and worth of its people, as a community, we are committed to treating everyone with respect and fairness and to work towards a future where every person feels seen, valued, and included. Discrimination and hate are not welcome in Tumwater. And whereas Tumwater has a long history of protecting civil rights. In 1993, the city took an important step by adding sexual orientation to its law against discrimination in housing. And whereas in 1997, Tumwater became the smallest city in the country to offer domestic partnership benefits to city employees. and has continued to support fairness and inclusion through policies like the Equal Benefits Ordinance. And whereas the city's diversity policy statement recognizes that embracing diversity makes our workforce stronger, improves services, reflects our community, and helps ensure the city meets the needs of all residents. And whereas each June people across the United States celebrate LGBTQIA2S Plus Pride Month, honoring the community's history and contributions and recognizing the Stonewall Riots as a key moment in the fight for equal rights. Now, therefore, Lieta Dahlhoff, Mayor of the City of Tumwater, does hereby proclaim the month of June 2026, LGBTQIA2S Plus Community Pride Month, and calls upon the people of Tumwater to join in celebrating diversity, promoting inclusion, and equal protection under the law, and further encourages people to join us in eliminating discriminatory policies and practices towards any culture, race, or group.

Thank you, Council Member Sullivan. I'm going to look to Administrator Simmons. I know I see some members of our Equity Commission. Do you feel comfortable coming up and saying a few words and introducing yourself?

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. I'm Sarah Ellison. I am on the Equity Commission. It's a profound honor to accept this Pride Month proclamation. I have lived in Tumwater since 2011. And as a member of the LGBTQ plus community, I know how meaningful it is to have our local government publicly recognize and celebrate who we are. Right now, across the United States, we are seeing an unprecedented wave of legislation aimed at rolling back the rights of my community's individuals. With hundreds of bills nationwide targeting our community's access to health care, education, and basic protections, local support has never been more critical. This is why, along with these annual proclamations, Seeing the rainbow flag flying at City Hall means so much. While it might seem like a small gesture, it is immensely important for the visibility of the entire LGBTQ plus community in Tumwater. And I deeply appreciate the support. It sends a vital message to our youth and our neighbors that they are seen, valued, and safe right here in our city. Through my work on the Equity Commission, I see every day the importance of dismantling barriers and actively building inclusion, pride, is a joyful celebration of our history and resilience, but it also grounds us in the shared responsibility we have to continue that work year round. I also want to invite the community to the second annual Tumwater Pride, June 20th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ASHHO Cultural Community Center. It's going to be really fun and just, you know, really good inclusion and to celebrate the community. Thank you for this proclamation. and for your partnership in ensuring that Tumwater remains a place where everyone can authentically belong. I also invite my friend, Amy Canava, who has a few words.

Hi. Thank you to the committee, to the mayor, and to the town for recognizing Pride. I am a new resident in Tumwater. I've been here for, I think, 56 days.

Oh, that's fresh.

Yes, very fresh. I moved to Washington a year ago. ahead of the changes in the administration. And being in a town that recognizes the need for people to be seen authentically and to feel safe in doing so speaks volumes. To me, Pride is about not just a celebration, but a remembrance of past struggles and a recognition of continuing need to struggle and a hope for a better tomorrow so that we can all live in a future and in a world where our young people don't have to fear they can embrace diversity, and they recognize that together is always better than alone. So I thank you.

Well said, Amy. Well said. Sarah, do you two mind? Well, maybe you don't have to stand up there. Do you mind if any council members have any questions or comments? Do you two feel comfortable? Can you come a little bit closer to the microphone? We're going to open up to see if any council members have any comments. Council Member Jefferson.

Thank you for your words. For the past few years, we have been making equity, diversity intentional with our words and with our actions. So even you sitting on that committee, on our new equity committee, that's from our work as a council and the leadership of the mayor, because we know leadership starts at the top. And welcoming starts at the top with the culture of the organization. And we're creating that culture. Thank you for your words.

Thank you, Council Member Jefferson. Council Member Cathy, I see your mic is off and you're ready to say something.

Thank you. I'd just like to say to these two brave people who are here tonight, thank you. This has been a long, long journey. And to continue, we've had to have people who are willing to stand up, speak out, take risks, live their lives. Yeah. to continue and I'm proud of these two women who came tonight and I'm proud of the long journey that has been made and that Tumwater has been part of that and stepped out ahead of many other cities and it brings me great joy and satisfaction that help some of the pain of the loss of people that I've had over the years. And so thank you and stay strong, stay true to yourself.

Thank you for sharing Council Member Cathy. Any other comments before we ask Amy and Sarah to get uncomfortable and take a photo with us? Amy, would you do us the honor of taking a photo with us with the proclamation? Sarah, you're so good. Let's go do a photo. We have another special proclamation aligning with history and years and struggle. We have some special guests here with us tonight. We are going to hear about the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and we have Council Member Swarthout that is going to read the proclamation.

Thank you, Mayor. Whereas on July 4th, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate the semi-quincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and whereas this milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on our nation's history, honor the contributions of all Americans, and reaffirm the democratic ideals that define the United States. And whereas the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, following the Treaty of Paris of 1783, established a framework for territorial governance and the creation of new states, including what would become the state of Washington in 1889. And whereas the city of Tumwater is located on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Stachos and other Coast Salish peoples who have lived on and stewarded these lands and waters since time immemorial. And whereas the city of Tumwater traces its origins to 1845 as Newmarket, when American settlers established the first permanent American settlement on Puget Sound at Deschutes Falls, using the river's water power to support early industry and community development. And whereas the historic Schmidthaus and the brewery park through the Olympia Tumwater Foundation carries forward the legacy of the Olympia Brewing Company established in Tumwater in 1896, with a driving role in the city's industrial, economic, and cultural development, and remains an enduring symbol of Tumwater's heritage. And whereas the National Society's sons and daughters of the American Revolution, founded respectively in 1889 and 1890, are nonpolitical men's and women's service organizations whose members are lineal descendants of patriots of the American Revolution. And whereas the local Sacagawea DAR chapter, organized in 1905, celebrating 120 years in 2025 with over 200 members, and the local George Rogers Clark SAR chapter, organized in 2020, numbering 44 members, both promoting education, historic preservation, and patriotism. And whereas many other heritage groups, community groups, and individuals are partnering in the celebration, And whereas the Sacajawea DAR Chapter, the George Rogers Clark SAR Chapter, the Olympia Tumwater Foundation, and other groups and individuals are partnering with the City of Tumwater to honor those who achieved American independence and all people who have shaped and preserved our community and nation over the past 250 years. And now, therefore, Lieta Dalhoff, Mayor of the City of Tumwater, on behalf of the Tumwater City Council, does hereby proclaim 2026 as America 250 in the City of Tumwater and encourages all residents to commemorate this historic milestone through education, remembrance, and community celebration, including the Tumwater Family Festival and Fireworks, the Independence Day Parade, and historic events at the Schmidt House.

Thank you, Council Member Swarthout. So in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, we'd like to welcome the Sacajawea Chapter National, I wanna get this right so I'm reading it, or I can just actually read your sign, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who we believe Mayor Debbie Sullivan is a member, right? We've heard many years and we've partnered with you for many, many years, so we are honored to have you here. And I went off my script, sorry, Administrator Sims. These celebrations allow us to help educate the public while honoring history. So we'd like to invite Shirley Serling, Honorary Chapter Region of the Sacagawea and Statewide Daughters of the American Revolution Proclamation Coordinator to say a few words.

I just want to, I'll be very brief. I just want to point out to you that in one of the whereas, uh... statements we are honoring those who achieved american independence and all people who have shaped and preserved our community and nation over the past two hundred and fifty years and i want to just draw your attention In the second paragraph, to the founders, we're talking about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To the founders, these natural rights extended beyond individuals. Rather, happiness implies a shared obligation of every person to live well, act with integrity, and contribute to the well-being of their community.

Julie, thank you for reading that, because I cannot read that from here. So thank you. Are you open to any comments?

I wanted to introduce our, I thought she would be called up instead of me. I want to introduce our chapter regent, Jenny Swenson. If you could join me or stand up.

Jenny, you sure you don't want to come to the mic? It's a hot mic. You can say whatever you want.

So, you know, I have been mostly involved in the city of Tumwater in some of the past, many long ago, Constitution Weeks. And we have always enjoyed participating with Tumwater, the most active city in Thurston County in terms of working with us. And thank you for that.

Yeah. Thank you. Anything from Council? Would you all be open to doing a group photo with council? Do you mind if we stand behind you? Because there's a few of you. We don't want to take away from your costumes. Could you all come up and then we'll take a group photo? Thank you. Come on up. Thank you all for coming. We'll see you around town at all the events. Always. I don't know how public comment is going to beat people in costume. Tracy, are we ready for public comment?

We are. At this time, we will receive public comments. You may comment on items relating to city business not scheduled for public hearing. When I call your name, please come up to the podium, speak into the microphone and state your name and contact information for the record. Each individual will be limited to one three-minute period to make their remarks, regardless of the number of topics they wish to address. Speakers may not comment, promote, advocate, or oppose or speak against pending initiative, ballot measure, or candidate. All comments shall be directed towards the council as a whole, not individual council members, and not to the members of the audience. Please refrain from disruptive behavior such as booing, hissing, audible comments, cheering, or clapping. So right now, we don't have anybody online that registered for public comment, but we do have a Brian Nixon that wanted to speak. Nixon, my apologies. Do you want to come up to the podium?

My name is Brian Nixon, and pretty much what I want to speak on, I just wanted to know how... how long we got to slay to the system before we, and it's all, when I say this, this is a brutally statement or a comment, however it's perceived, with all love for all the human beings. I just wanted to know how long we have to slay to the system before we ever, we be able to get the proper assistance, like wraparound services, as far as housing, food, gas, because food is going up entirely too high. Gas is going up entirely expensive. housing is going up expensive. The president get wraparound service. I know that's a broad statement to say. And Bob Ferguson, which is the governor of Washington State, and I try to speak with him, I never get I never get no answer, which they say they open from 8 to 5. Nobody answered and I had to go down there to get a dead end, get no response. The police get to ride around with a cat card or whatever it's called. And with the free off our tax monies, either the mayors, the governors get to fly to the White House off of our tax dollars. It's like we get no recognition or nothing. And that's not fair. They say equality because you got State Street, BlackRock, and Vanguard, which is... which is the man that's over at Larry Frink, that's over at Black Rock. And I look into all these things because everybody should be equal because it's no way everybody have, somebody have a 700 score and a 620 score and all of us should be able to get the same housing. Since we all slave into the system, we all doing the work for the higher ups that's really not doing nothing for the people. And that's kind of frustrating and disturbing for the people that's down here doing the work as far as the things that y'all do on a day-to-day basis, the things as far as me working. paying taxes on everything. And we just get taxed. It's like, basically we working for free. It's like America, like they had a flag that had a flag up you arm. You say you're a pledge of allegiance to the flag. Of course, they take it out of the schools. You know, things were set up probably by the Rockefellers and stuff like that. Because it's nobody's nobody. It's like, no, the key is supposed to be the future. But it's it's no future. It's like everybody should stop war and let the gates down. Everybody come together, have cookouts, have a good time and just feed the people. That's all. It shouldn't be no problems with nothing.

Brian, there was a lot in there. Your time is up. Do you have access to, like, email and text?

I do, yes, ma'am.

Can I give you my card and we can follow up to, I can get some more specifications of the services that you're looking for?

Yeah, and I know that was a lot.

Well, I'd like to follow up with you, Brian.

Yeah. Thank you, Brian.

Thank you for coming, Brian. Anyone else, Tracy? Okay, that was everybody. Anyone else in the room want to come? I got a hand up.

Hi there. My name is Betsy Norton. I live in Olympia. just on the other side of the freeway. So I sort of think of myself as quasi-tumwater. I just wanted to mention, I sat in on the tree canopy, tree code discussion last week, and I just wanted to mention that people who live like me, live in multifamily housing, we should be considering tree codes and those sorts of things as environmental assets that need to be spread across income groups. And so, for instance, if you have I think I saw Dana can correct me. I think I saw that the tree code for multifamily housing was at a lower level than it is for single family housing. And I would encourage you to think about tree canopy and the need for green space on a per capita basis, as well as thinking about it in terms of who owns the property and what the current setbacks are and that kind of thing so that everybody has equal access to it.

Great comments, Betsy. Thank you. Anyone else wanna go after Betsy? See, no one looked me in the eye. I think we're done with public comment. Thank you, Tracy. We're gonna move on to the consent calendar. Does council wanna remove any items from the consent calendar? Seeing none, I would be open to a motion. Your mics are hot. So moved.

Second.

Got a motion from Council Member Jefferson, a second from Council Member Sullivan. Any discussion? all those in favor please say aye aye all those opposed same sign motion has passed thank you a little summary of this consent calendar was meeting minutes from may payment of city vouchers to support ongoing city operations and services and drumroll the permit for the annual thunder thank you all for Doing that with me? I'll work on... That wasn't really prepared. Thunder in the Valley, 4th of July fireworks display, helping bring back one of Tumwater's signature community celebrations. And another just little summary for consent items, because sometimes you can see consent calendar items are longer, some are shorter. Really, the highlight is... What's put on a consent calendar is typically routine and administrative. This helps the city services run smoothly, maintain transparency through approved public records, which is why council can pull any item at any time. Ensure vendors and partners are paid for the work performed and support community events that bring residents together. The consent calendar allows council to efficiently conduct business while reserving meeting time for discussion of major policy and strategic issues. I just want to give a little summary about why sometimes they're longer or shorter. You're going to move on. We have two public hearings. We are on 7A for those following online. We are now going to open the public hearing for resolution number R2026-004, Black Lake-Belmore annexation. There is a sign-in sheet available on the table next to the door for those individuals wishing to give testimony. Staff will make a presentation and answer any questions from the council. Following the staff report, we will open, do we open the hearing or do we ask council if they have any questions before we open the hearing?

Thank you.

Okay, we'll hear from Dana. See if there's any clarifying questions from council. Then we'll open the hearing. And then we'll close the hearing. Does that work for everybody? Okay. Dana, what do you want from us today?

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, council members. Good evening. And tonight we're talking about an annexation. I believe I'm accidentally clicking forward. There we are. This annexation is actually at the resolution stage. So it's resolution number R2026-004, and it's in Black Lake-Belmore Road Southwest. So we want to review the annexation, tell you where it is in the process, and then discuss the next steps after approval. So if you look at the flowchart, we are halfway. We're dead center at the hearings section. So you've already received an initiating petition for 10% and moved it on to the next stage and approved the annexation. I wouldn't say conditionally, but approved it with... With the respect that the county needs to review the signatures to make sure they match the property ownership. So that step was completed in January and that's the legal sufficiency of the petition. So now we're on to hearing. Next step was going to be the review by the Boundary Review Board. And except for that step, this annexation is pretty much this is the final leg of the approvals. So boundary review board is going to review it, and then you have your final review of the ordinance and approval. So we've already looked at how this is going to affect the city, what the financial impacts are. They're accepting the city indebtedness, and they are going to accept our zoning. All right, so the location of this annexation is on the west side of the city boundary between the city and Black Lake in the UGA zone in that area. Zoom in a little bit so you can see a little bit more. There are two parcels. The total is 10.74 acres, and so we have a larger parcel and a smaller one. One of them is owned by an LLC or an organization, and the other is owned by an individual. And this application came together to improve, to have efficient processing. So the General Government Committee reviewed this application on May 26th and afforded for your consideration. And today we're going, we're asking if you would adopt the resolution number R-2026-004 to annex this land into City of Tumwater. The next steps are the Boundary Review Board. Again, we'll review it. They have a pre-submission review, and then they have a 45-day review, which goes to state agencies, local entities for their comments. And then if no comments come, this allows for an appeal or further hearing. So there's a further hearing if there are comments. If there are no comments, then we move forward with the adoption under an ordinance. And then after you adopt the annexation under ordinance, then we notify the agencies and let them know it happened. And that's all. If you have any questions, I'm glad to take them at this time.

Any questions from council before we open the public hearing? We've seen this numerous times. Right. I'm not seeing any hand raised from council member Gabby or council member Kathy. Do we feel comfortable going to opening up for public testimony? Okay. Your mics are still hot by the way.

Yes.

Thank you.

At this time we'll receive public testimony. Do we have any public testimony?

We have Brian Dixon who signed up to speak.

Brian, did you want to do the public comment that you did? Or do you want to speak to this annexation as well? Yeah, you're good. Brian, you're golden. That is good clarification on us.

And I do want to say I appreciate you. You're good.

Also, Brian, no one can hear you online. So Brian is just telling us he went to Olympia first and Tom water second. How dare you, sir?

How dare you, Brian?

You're still not on the mic. So good update for counts staff about the sign in sheets, maybe larger fonts, to know what they're signing in for. So great feedback, Brian, and you and I will connect at another time. Brian does not need to talk about this annexation. Anyone else online or in person that'd like to talk about this annexation? Do we all feel comfortable closing the public testimony? Do I have to ask three times, ask three times, ask three times? Okay. I gaveled it open. You just heard it and I'm gaveling it close. How does the council wish to proceed? If so, I would entertain a motion. Council Member Swarthout.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution number R2026-004, Black Lake, Belmore Road, and Southwest Annexation.

And I would like to second that motion. I've got a motion.

Thank you, Council Member Jefferson. I've got a motion from Council Member Swarthout, second from Council Member Jefferson to adopt Resolution R-2026-2004, Black Lake, Belmore Road, Southwest Annexation. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

Aye.

All opposed, same sign. The motion has passed.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, I'm turning off your mics. That's really more of a reminder for me, not for you. We are going on to our second public hearing. Resolution number R2026-009, Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. Who do we have with us tonight?

Am I hot? Oh, there you go.

I mean, do you want me to? No. Okay. I don't know if you want me to answer that.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. My name is Jeff Cook. I'm the Deputy Director of TED, as we affectionately call it, which is the Transportation and Engineering Department. And I kind of make special note because there will be acronyms in this that I will explain, and there will be a test at the end.

Love it.

Yes. Thank you. And so once you hear my conclusion, you'll be like, I don't know what that guy's talking about. So I'm here to discuss and open for public hearing resolution number 2026-009 for the six-year transportation improvement program for 2027 through 2032.

Oh, I was going to say next slide, but I have power.

So the background of this is RCW requires every municipality in the state to adopt a six-year transportation program that details the needs for the city and transportation improvements. It's required to be adopted by June 30th of every year. Projects that are on here, among other things, are termed as regionally significant, and I'll get back to that, and also are proposed for federal or state funding, have to be included in this program. And this five-year program includes transportation projects that are consistent with our comp plan that we passed last year. I'm hoping, just to say out front, they use this also as kind of an educational opportunity because people that don't deal with this all the time might not necessarily know how this fits into a process and they don't want to feel like this is just a matter of form. But regionally significant has a federal highways definition that means it crosses jurisdictional boundaries, it connects major centers like airports or shopping malls, which is in the same sentence. And then federally funding and state funding, as many of you know, many of our projects come from outside funding sources, not just local funds, because we don't have that sort of thing. So this is a six-year transportation improvement program. So I'm going to call it the TIP. So this is a local funding project list. And how this works in an overall system is once adopted by a city, it then gets passed up and included in a system with the Thurston Region Planning Council, which is our regional planning authority. Just as a side note for those of you who may not know, there are three pieces of government in that. The council itself, which actually our council member Swarthout is the chair of that council. The policy board with council member Agave is the chair. And I am the chair of the technical advisory committee. So we have very good representation in the regional planning council. So our local plan then gets uploaded into the regional plan. I coordinate with TRPC. And then additionally, it gets loaded into a statewide system. or which Washington State DOT.

Jeff, you're losing me.

I am I? I'm card.

I love this. Also, maybe next time put it in the graphic to show.

Okay, can do that. So we send it to the region, send it to the state, so it's all consistent. And the point is that any time funding opportunities come up or a grant program opens up, the first thing they ask is, is it in your TIP? And then we can say yes. And if it's federal, is it in your TIP? Yes. So... The progress we have, as shown on this map here, they're broken into three different categories, as it says, capacity, multimodal, and preservation. And just to show a snapshot of where they are throughout the city of Tumwater, I was going to spend most of the time tonight talking about anything that's changed over the years, because most of these are the same as they've been over the years, and some that have come in new and some that have actually sunset in. Notes not shown on the map is anything programmatic like a safe route to school or what we do with our transportation benefit district, because we would just start painting the whole map. The first section is capacity projects. Two things to note on this one is what's highlighted at the bottom for you can see is a new project to the list Which is a roundabout at 93rd Avenue in case But at the top of the list is the E Street connection project Which is very well known throughout Tumwater and what I want to bring up about this is a reminder if those who haven't heard it before This project is on here because this is an opportunity should funding come up. No work has been done on this since the last time this was presented a year ago because no funding opportunity has come up. So there was a plan done back in 2018. There was routes that were talked about. And actually when our director last year was talking to council, he said once anything comes up, we'll reengage the public on discussing because this is a big topic over there for the residents that could impact. So E Street Connection, it's on here again as a programmatic funding thing, should funding occur, but it's not on there saying that we're going right after it.

The second item is preservation, enhancement, and maintenance.

There's two new projects on here. One is the Tyee Drive extension, which supports the Costco development. It connects Prime Drive up through Tumwater. And the second one is we're titling the Missing Link Improvement Program, which is simply little pockets throughout the city that connects different areas should they come up. And it's not a whole corridor. It's just picking up the little pieces that connect to make our transportation program bigger, better, more connected. Multimodal projects is the third one. There is nothing new on here. X Street Roundabout is something that's going into construction. And Dennis Street also service capacity projects, but they're here as multimodal. The job right now, the project that's going to be presented actually soon for going to construction is also the Deschutes Valley Trail. So these projects are moving through from last year and they are being delivered. And the changes from last year's TIP is the Second Avenue Ped and Bike program, or Ped and Bike intersection is being removed because it will be completed soon. It's under construction now. And Percival Creek Fish Passage is about to start construction, but before the sunset window, it will be completed. So it was just removed from the TIP as well because they're both already funded. And then the new projects, as I mentioned, were over there. So, recommended that, or the action, this was, oh, this was held, this resolution was presented at the Public Works Committee on May 21st, and the Public Works Committee recommended for a public hearing and then review and adoption by council, and so we're here tonight to hold a public hearing in consideration of adopting 202.6009 for the six-year TIP and update for 2027-2032.

Well done, Jeff. Any questions from council before we open it up, open the public hearing up for testimony? Your mics are hot. We've seen this multiple times. Well, Jeff, you've got to get back. Don't leave me, Jeff. We've seen this multiple times. Great presentation. Great background. Nicely done. No questions. So we're going to open up the public hearing. Testimony, has anyone signed in? No one signed in. Anyone in the audience like to comment on this public hearing? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Thank you.

Public hearing closed.

Any additional comments? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. Your mics are hot.

I move that we adopt resolution number R2026-009, Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. Second.

Got a motion from Council Member Jeffery and a second from Council Member Whedon to adopt our 2026-009 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. We are now on to item number eight, Council Considerations. As you can see, Michelle is walking across the front. Item eight, a police chief confirmation. Welcome, Michelle.

Thank you. Uh, council mayor this evening and bringing forward a request, um, to confirm the appointment of acting police chief Carlos key lace to the position of police chief and authorize the mayor to sign an employment agreement with him. Um, the employment agreement is the standard agreement that the council adopted in 2025. There have not been any changes to that agreement since the adoption. So a little bit of background. Acting Police Chief Calais has demonstrated exceptional leadership, operational expertise, and a strong commitment to both the Tumwater Police Department and the Tumwater community. He's highly respected by department employees, city staff, law enforcement partners, and community members and has consistently demonstrated the ability to lead effectively through both daily operations and complex organizational challenges. He brings more than 24 and a half years of law enforcement experience with the city of Tom water, 15 years of that being in SWAT service. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 2008 and advanced to deputy chief. On October 1st of 2025, on January 3rd, he assumed the role of acting police chief. Since assuming this leadership position, Acting Chief Quiles has focused on fostering a culture grounded in professionalism, accountability, and selfless service, while strengthening both internal team cohesion and community engagement.

Thank you, Michelle. Could we have Acting Chief Quiles come up and say a few words before we open it up to council?

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, members of the council, City Administrator Simmons, members of the community. It's a great honor to accept this appointment this evening. Pretty humbled. I appreciate the process, the transparency that went into it. it was really important that this come before everyone and that everyone's voice was heard and everyone's thoughts, ideas on my appointment was taken into consideration. So I want to keep my comments brief and maybe I'll speak a little bit more at the swearing in once confirmation is held. But thank you, it's an honor.

Comments, questions from council, your mics are hot. Council member, Mayor Foten Von Holtz.

Thank you, Mayor, Acting Chief Kielas, I think some things that people might not know is when you were made deputy chief, you made the police... department go through the process. You didn't want anything handed to you. You wanted to earn it. And so I think that says volumes about you. And especially in a town, a city where law enforcement has all over. Law enforcement sometimes has a rep of being a good old boys club. And you wanted to go through the process and be up against other people. And I think that just spoke... volumes to me. You have been so open to questions from counsel, the public. It feels so nice to have that really positive relationship with the police department, and it's your leadership. And so I really appreciate that. having gotten to work with you the last several months, and I'm just really excited for the future of Tumwater with you at the helm of the police department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Sullivan.

I will not be here on the 16th, so I will send written remarks, but I am just honored by you and your record of service here and your commitment to the city and your commitment to being forward thinking and evolving what policing looks like so that all members of our community feel safe and welcome and you bring integrity to this role. And I'm honored that you would consider accepting this and we are lucky to have you.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Sullivan. Anyone else? If not, Councilmember Jefferson.

Yes. My concern was for morale. The morale of the officers. Very important. And every opportunity I get, I asked, you know, our police officers, hey, how's your morale? You know, how is Deputy Chief Carlos doing? You know, do you like him? And all I hear is, yes, he's a good man. Morale is high, at least from what they tell me. So I see nothing but positive step. So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Jefferson.

I move we confirm the appointment of Acting Chief Carlos Quiles to the position of Police Chief and authorize the Mayor to sign an employment agreement with Chief Quiles. I second.

Got a motion from Councilmember Sullivan to confirm the appointment of Carlos Quiles to the position of police chief and authorize the mayor to sign an employment agreement with Chief Quiles. And I feel like I heard a second from Councilmember Jefferson and Mayor Potemba at the same time. We're going to give it to Councilmember Jefferson.

You guys want to learn, Russell?

We'll alternate, right? So second by Councilmember Jefferson. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations, Police Chief Kalis.

Thanks.

Let's keep the energy up, and let's hear from Brad about a service provider agreement with ICF Environmental Inc. for the Bush Prairie Habitat Conservation Plan, Phase 4, Brad, Amendment 1. Brad, let's go.

All right. And I apologize. This isn't the longest title that we could have had. Next slide, please. So we're coming before you today. The General Government Committee was briefed on this particular amendment at their May 20th meeting. At the meeting, the General Government Committee requested additional information to be provided before the council regarding the agreement and also information about how the costs would be shared between the Port of Olympia and the city, and also the timing of when those costs would occur. Next slide, please. Pulling back a little bit, the status of our habitat conservation plan. Currently, after about more than a year of working closely with U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff, city and port staff, and our consultant have submitted a revised draft for the HCP at the end of last month. It is now currently under review. We're expecting the service to take about four months total to review. We've got meetings already scheduled in August. Just sort of get those comments going and get that hopefully over the finish line. If the HCP is acceptable, then we're expecting the NEPA SEPA environmental review process to be able to start. That's important because Number one, that is one of the key ways of the community getting involved in the process, the ability to provide comment and review all the documentation that we provided as part of this process. Next slide, please. This amendment to the service provider agreement with the consultant ICF Environmental is to complete the work on the revised draft. What had happened is when we had a change with the service and we basically reworked the entire HCP to be something closer to the process and the way the HCP was structured for the county. That took a significant amount of work. And our original budget had split evenly between funding for the environmental review and funding for completing the HCP. And ultimately we had to tap into all the funding for the environmental review to get the HCP done. So this is to make up for that. So we can actually pay them to do the environmental review. and also to address any comments that may come out of the services review as part of this process. It will also provide additional money for public engagement. In addition to the NEPA SEPA process, we have a stakeholder group and we have a larger community involvement that we want to continue and to have as part of the agreement. So the agreement does three different things. It extends the term of the agreement. It provides additional services that are described in the agreement. And it also increases the compensation paid to the consult.

Next slide, please.

So the cost of the, the amendment is 445,000 dollars, 107 and 91 cents. Uh, this again is to get us over the finish line, finish the environmental review, finish the HCP and get it to the point where the council can review and approve it. Next slide, please. The costs are split between the city and the port. Uh, currently, uh, the port of Olympia is, uh, has on their agenda for their June 10th commission meeting, uh, the ILA, uh, which is the agreement that we have with them about splitting the costs for the HCP that's being updated at the same time we're going through this particular process. So for budgetary reasons, the total amount of the compensation in 26 is limited to $200,000 because to be honest, our budget was set up for that and we're okay with that, but we can't go beyond that for this year. So those costs again would be split evenly between the city and the port. Each would pay $100,000. And then in 2027, the remainder of the funding, which is $245,000, would be again split evenly between the city and the port.

Next slide, please.

That's it. So are there any questions or any additional information needed?

Your mics are hot to ask Brad a question. Council Member Swarthout.

Thank you, Brad, for diving into that. We did have some questions during GGC, so thank you for making that clear. So now when we're looking at the proposed schedule for completion for the Bush Prairie HCP, so we're still in the... We're still in the first task one. Are we still in task one?

We're up to phase four now. But is task four phase four? Phase four is the grant funding and the order in which we're doing. So essentially, the order we're in right now is the final review of the HCP document. And then the next task will be taking that document and including it as part of the environmental review. Now, if that will be either an environmental assessment, which is equivalent to our DNS process at the city, or the full EIS process is still to be determined by the service, they're wanting to review the ACP and then make that determination. Once that is started, those have two very different timelines. We'll have a much better idea of the total project timeline at that time.

Thank you. I know you've been living this for a long time, but it's nice to be brought up to speed again and let us know where we are in this whole process. So I appreciate you filling us in and the public in. So thank you.

Council Member Agave.

So Brad, looking at the last page, actually not the last page, this is page two of eight, PDF, two of eight. Describe the remuneration. And it says service provider by... Compensation paid by an additional amount to exceed $445,000. And then in the same sentence, it described in SBB 1, the total amount payable to the service provider pursuant to the original agreement. And this first amendment shall be an amount not to exceed $954,107. So is that adding up the first 445 for the total amount? 594 and 107.91?

No. What it is, is there's a total payable, which is that second sentence, which is the $945,000. That includes both the original amount of the contract as well as the proposed amendment. So those two figures together give us the $945,000. Okay. All right.

That's what I thought. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Murgabe. Great clarifying question. Anyone else? If not, entertain a motion. Mic's are hot.

Go ahead. I like to make a motion.

I was like, I'm not going to make the motion. Council Member Swartham.

Make eye contact. Council Member Swartham. Okay, there we go. I make a motion to authorize the mayor to sign the service provider agreement with ICF Environmental Inc. for the Bush Prairie Habitat Conservation Plan Phase 4 Amendment 1 for the Bush Prairie Habitat Conservation Plan.

Is that a move? Before we vote, Brad, is there a way we can start tracking the number of awards in our titles? If we just do a running start, because you're amazing at this. We have a motion from Council Member Swarthout and a second from Council Member Jefferson to authorize the mayor to sign the service provider agreement with ICF Jones and Stokes LLC for the Bush Prairie Habitat Conservation Plan Phase 4, Amendment 1 for the Bush Prairie Habitat Conservation Plan. Any further discussions? All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much and thank you, Brad. When we were going over this agenda yesterday with staff, when we got to this one, I just immediately pictured council members Kathy's face smiling.

Yes.

We are now gonna talk about Canopy Equity Program. Who do we have with us tonight? See, look at it. Council Member Kelly is smiling.

I called it.

I called it.

Good evening, everybody. I don't know if you can hear me okay. My name is Brian Coughlin. I'm the urban forester for the city of Tumwater. And I'm here to talk about the Tree Canopy Equity Program. So starting off... A lot of people might not know really what guides my position, kind of what tools I use to make decisions. So a lot of what I do comes out of the Urban Forest Management Plan. If you've not had time to read it, I would encourage you to, but it's a large document, several hundred pages. So in that document, there are hundreds and hundreds of actions. And these are the things that I try to enact, bring to people's attention, find funding for, etc., Action 1.1a, the very first action listed in the urban forest management plan is to increase canopy cover in the city to expand the community and the urban forest. So right off the bat, this is our biggest goal we have in the city of Tumwater is to increase our canopy coverage. You can see we had a canopy assessment done in 2025. And compared to the canopy assessment we had in 2019, we've lost 11% of our canopy. We've Annex quite a bit of the UGA. We've had a lot of development. We've planted a lot of trees. That number is probably going to continue to go down before it starts to go back up. That's okay. The magic number we want to stay above to sustain or get great benefits from our trees is 30%. We're still well above that threshold, and it's my job to try and keep us above that threshold as much as we possibly can. And last but not least, you can see, aside from the port, the largest property owners we have in Tumwater are single-family residences. So these are the people we want to reach out to, we want to talk to, we want to get trees in all these places. And so the whole goal of this program is to reach out to these communities that are maybe historically underserved, lower income, and offer to provide a tree for them. So we're going to go through all these steps. I have lots of slides, lots of maps, lots of information to go over in regards to all this. This program is entirely grant funded. Milestone three is the plan to launch the canopy equity program. Milestone one was to hang ambient air temperatures all over the city, which we've done. And I have slides to talk about that in a minute. Milestone two was to create my position, which we've done. It's been about a year. And so milestone three is to launch this program. And we want to... find these communities that are hotter and need more resources, and we want to help them. We have a lot of data to help support what this means for us in Tumwater. So like I mentioned, we have ambient air temperatures all over the city. I have seven of them. And on the hottest day at the hottest time last year, we had an 18 degree difference across town. So Bush Middle School is consistently the hottest place we have. There's not a whole lot of trees there. It's near I-5. You know, it's consistently the warmest place we have. One of the coolest places we have is Countryside Neighborhood. They have wonderful canopy coverage in that neighborhood, and that really protects and lowers the temperature around. Tombwater Hill is also consistently one of the coolest places, but it's also the highest place we have in town. They get more wind up there.

Brian, can I ask you a question?

Yeah, absolutely.

I, I didn't see this presentation in a packet. And there's a lot of information on these slides that I'm not able to read and listen to you.

Yeah.

Were these shared with council? I just whispered to Mayor Pro Tem Von Holtz and it was shown in public works, but I don't have these slides.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

So can we send it to all of council? Yeah, of course. Thank you. Keep going.

Absolutely. So this is data that I currently collect once a month. And at the hottest day we had in May, it was May 3rd at the hottest time. We also had a similar, in May, we had a similar temperature discrepancy. Bush Mill School is 100 degrees. At Countryside, I believe it was 85. These are startling numbers. And one of the largest differences in these communities is trees versus no trees. So year one of this program, we have several years. We want to target Ferland states. There's 97 homes. They have some of the lowest canopy cover. I have maps to support these coming up. There's some of the hottest temperatures. They've been mapped as a disadvantaged community. They're one of the older neighborhoods we have in town, and they've been historically underserved. So this is a map from the River Network, the people that gave us the grant in order to enact this program. And for Atlanta State's in the top left corner, they're in the orange, which is where they want us to target. So these neighborhoods we chose, they checked a lot of boxes and we put a lot of time and consideration to make sure we were going to do the greatest number for the greatest good. So, Berlin Estates, you can also see, this is a, sorry the picture is a little grainy, but, you know, zooming in on urban heat island index maps, you know, they're not really made for that. So, you can see this neighborhood has severe, very severe and extreme heat. So, one of the ways we can reprieve that that's much more economical is provide trees for these people. This is another map from the same place that does the urban heat island index map. And they update their information regularly. And you can see that this is one of our lower income neighborhoods. So again, we're putting a lot of thought and consideration into who we're reaching out to. And we want to really try to help as many as we possibly can. This map isn't the best, but in 2024, you'll have to apologize, in 2024, we had a tree inventory maintenance plan done, and it highlighted priority areas for us to plant trees, and for Illinois Estates, it is a high priority. So steps in this program, it's... Rather simple. I want to go door to door and I want to talk to these people. And we've selected four trees, a large conifer, small conifer, large deciduous, small deciduous. And we want to find the right tree for the right place. And we want to encourage them to plant one in the front yard, in their backyard, in a place that's going to give them the greatest benefits. There is a little bit of science that goes into it. So hopefully we can encourage them to take us up on our offer and we can provide them with one of these four species. And then we want to invite them to a workshop. Now, the goal of the workshop is we really want to get buy-in. We want them to want these trees. We don't want to just plant a bunch of trees and then walk away and hope they live. So we want to host a workshop. We're going to do it down at Pioneer Park on August 15th. And we actually, funny enough, we have some trees missing in Pioneer Park. So I'm going to plant some trees in the parking lot, do demonstrations for all of these trees. Planting techniques and additional resources we want to provide. We want to give them mulch. We want to give them mycorrhizae. We want to give them a watering bag. These people might not be familiar with these things and how to utilize them. So we'll do planting demonstrations, talk to them about the benefits, sign them up, and hopefully encourage that, incentivize that buy-in so we can plant trees. Because trees are a generational decision, right? We plant them. Hopefully they last for a very long time. And those benefits move on to our children, our grandchildren, and everybody they're after. So once they come to the workshop, we can register them or we can talk to the landlords. We will then order all the trees and we'll start delivering them in the winter. That's the best time to plant a tree. We can coordinate with homeowners. We can coordinate with renters. If they can come pick them up, that's great. If not, if they need delivery, I'll go deliver them to them. If people want trees, we'll get them to them and we'll get them in the ground and we'll help make sure that they understand the responsibilities to maintain them to get these benefits.

Council Member Drifton, hold on a second. I'm going to unmute your mic. Go ahead. What is the word after mulch?

That's mycorrhizae. That's a fungus that works kind of in synergy with a root system and it absorbs lots of nutrients and water and acts almost like a fertilizer underground and it really increases the survivability of trees. It's cheap. It's easy. You just throw a little bit in the hole once it's there and it's a great resource to have. We should be using it for all of our major plantings.

We learned something today, thank you.

Ron, I have a question, because I haven't seen these slides. Is this gonna be proposed in your department's budget for council to review for this coming biennium?

This is entirely grant funded. So my supervisor, yes, she gave me a thumbs up. So, yeah. So tree species. I know I listed them over there, but these are the ones. And I've worked with local nurseries to find trees that are easy to source, that are native, native adjacent. We have, you know, small, large, small, large. And we really want the right tree in the right place. So these are trees that, again, working with local sources, were going to be easiest for us to get and ensure that we could get trees. and gives people some variety. So Alaskan cedar is a smaller conifer. Blue spruce is a large conifer. The ginkgo tree is, I don't know if anybody knows much about it. I could talk about trees all night, sorry. It's the smallest cedars. That tree will grow in a crack in a sidewalk.

Right. I love that. But you have five more minutes. OK, thank you.

And if people have tons of space and they want the biggest tree, the biggest bang for the buck, the London plane trees, one of the greatest trees that can lower ambient air temperature, store carbon, it has a wonderful long attribute list. So, again, we really want to encourage the right tree in the right place and we want to give people variety. So I didn't want everybody just to think that this is the only thing we're doing to enhance canopy. We have a lot of programs. This is an important thing. Like I said, it's Action 1.1a. So I'm just going to talk about some of these other things that we're doing to enhance the canopy in Tumwater. So this year, again, my first year on the job, I just celebrated my one-year anniversary. We planted 480 seedlings.

Brian, one second. You celebrated what?

One year.

Let's clap. That does not go towards your four minutes left.

Keep going. I appreciate it. So this year I planted 480 seedlings in three different locations. I got a wonderful reception from everybody. Everybody really enjoyed it. Everybody wants to help. I plan to increase that into the thousands. um there are other avenues we're seeking there are non-profit groups that provide seedlings and we have volunteer groups i want and so we've identified properties all over town and we want to get thousands and thousands of trees in the ground um another thing we're doing is sidewalk and sidewalk repair and tree retention projects so many people believe that when a tree is damaging sidewalk the only thing you can do is cut it down and repair the sidewalk there's lots of options available so We emphasize protecting what we already have versus ripping out and starting all over. I've been working with a lot of HOAs. I've been working with our own city staff and exploring innovative ways to maintain the trees that already are there. We have something else I want to launch is a unique tree program. There are a lot of trees that used to be here that just really aren't around anymore. These trees are still available, but they're expensive. And we have it upon ourselves here in the city of Tumwater. We have property. We have parks. We have all these things available to us to create something of a living arboretum. We can find these trees, and we can plant them in our parks and our other properties. And these are trees that were once native here that just there are no more groves of. so um also somewhat expensive so it's it's kind of a line item um and last on this list is the food forest this is another action in our urban forest management plan we've identified several sites we're still very preliminary we found several areas around that would work really well for this but um we have a lot of progress to make before it becomes anything actual so Other things we're working on, anytime somebody submits a tree removal permit, I give them a call, whether it's a land clearing exemption or somebody's trying to remove a tree in their yard. And I just want to know, you know, is there something we can do to save the tree? What are your concerns? And we just have a conversation. I'll go to their home. I'll do whatever we need to do. Oftentimes it's just education. People just don't know what resources are available to them or they have been made afraid of their own trees and they don't know the necessary steps to maybe calm those fears. Last but not least, we are currently working on a tree inventory. I have an intern right now who has walked all of our city streets and mapped every single one of our trees written down in species, its size, its characteristics, how far away it's planted from the sidewalk, collecting incredible data for us to use and help us make decisions moving forward. So we have lots and lots of things that we're doing. And I didn't want everybody to think this is just the one program we have to boost canopy. We're approaching it from every single angle we can. So, questions?

There is 30 seconds left for any questions. So I'm going to give it to Councilmember Cathy. And you are on mute, though I feel like I can read your lips better these days. Still on mute. And we do like your frames. Councilmember Cathy, you are on mute.

I said, I am absolutely over the moon. This is wonderful. God, I've been here all these years hoping for something like this. And it's come true. I'm so glad that you're here. That's very kind.

I appreciate it.

I'm going to come and meet you personally and talk to you about some of these things and my notes over the years and so on and so forth. This is a wonderful thing for Tumwater to do. There's a lot of people here that have been waiting for this kind of care and so forth from the city. So thank you. Thank you for the report and I'm glad you're here.

I appreciate it. And that's the whole goal is doing good by Tumwater and putting Tumwater in the best position we can moving forward to combat a lot of the issues we have.

And I've been one who's called often to ask if someone has gotten a permit to remove trees. And I don't know exactly how that goes or if you're now going to be in charge of that. But some people say they have and they haven't or some people have and they say they can remove up to so many trees and so forth. And I'm still waiting for us. I don't know if you have something to do with updating our tree ordinance.

Brian, can you add that to your list of what you talked to Council Member Cathy about? Just block out two to three hours.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm very involved in all of the above.

Okay, okay. Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, add it to your list, Brian, because that's been an ongoing discussion with Council Member Cathy and all of us, and we support Council Member Cathy in these concerns and her love of trees.

Yeah, and I'm here and I'm available, please. We can arrange a time. We can sit down and speak. Yeah.

She wants to shut me up.

I do not want to shut you up. I just want to make sure we circle back with you.

I'm just kidding.

More to come. Brian, we look forward for another update. This was a discussion only, but an update from your discussion with council member Kathy. Thank you so much, Brian.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you all.

Moving on to item 8D as we see city administrator Simmons walking to the mic. We are on 310 Israel Road purchase and sale option agreement. Administrator Simmons, what do you need from council tonight?

Thank you very much, Mayor Dalhoff. Good evening, council members. For the record, Paul Simmons, city administrator. Before you tonight is the 310 Israel Road purchase and sale option agreement. 310 Israel Road is a 95,000 square foot building, just about a half mile down Israel Road from where we're standing right now. This is a picture from the street looking at the property. The proposal would be to consider this building for a new city hall. last week we had a work session where we focused on a variety of options, and as we talked about this option, which was option D, we talked about the growing campus of public facilities along Israel Road. We have the new sheriff's office, which is Just received its has just opened and it's starting to function We also have to water high school, which is not in a box there, but it happens to be right there We have the library the police station and current City Hall We have the fire station the post office and then if we were to move forward with full purchase of this You would see you see this growing slew of city services along Israel Road Last week at the work session, we won't go into all the detail that we talked about, but there was unanimous direction from the city council to pursue option D, which is highlighted there on the right, which is to bring back this purchase and sale option agreement, which is how we arrived here tonight. The other options, just real quickly, were one were to continue to build on to this facility. Another one was to look at a new city hall. Another one would be to look at a new police station and Council expressed support to look at refurbishing Currently vacant building which was also the by far the most economical option for us to consider and also allows us to move at the fastest pace and As part of the work with Artisans Group, and I know this is small, we asked them to take a look at the building to say if we were going to put City Hall in this location, could it work? And if so, what's an option for what it would look like? There's a lot more work that needs to go into this, but we just wanted to show these slides to demonstrate that a City Hall not only would fit into this space, but it also provides leased space that could potentially allow us to generate some additional revenue to help cover the cost of the facility. So based on their estimates, we would need about two-thirds of the space and about one-third of the space would still be available. And that's a preliminary estimate that is subject to change as we go more. Artisan's group also looked at some different design elements to give some ideas of how the facility could be renovated to maybe have some more modern features. And and some of those the color palettes that were just some again some preliminary suggestions thinking about some waters culture our our style and What we can look for in terms of a new potentially new City Hall facility You know whenever you're in public facilities, and you're talking about new facilities one of the big questions that comes up from a lot of folks well if you move out of one building what happens to the one that you're currently in and And right now, the plan for this facility would be to convert existing City Hall into a public health and safety complex. So it would house our police station and police administration, potentially the fire administration, as well as provide a space for public health and safety training center for our first responders. The purchase and sale option agreement the terms of that we would put a hundred thousand dollars down at the time That we sign on to this agreement. That's non-refundable However, should we move forward with the purchase the hundred thousand dollars would be applied towards the cost of the acquisition It also secures a purchase price, which is equivalent to the appraised value from a 2023 appraisal of $15,580,000. So if we were to move forward, we have a predictable price, which allows us, which is important for planning, doing our financial analysis. This term gives us six months to do our due diligence and really do that full financial analysis. We would be looking at the cost of debt, which we're already starting to look at. We would look at ongoing design and cost analysis of retrofitting the new building, which again was an initial start of the artisans group, but it'll require a deeper dive. And then also estimate the ongoing operational costs. If you take on a building of that size, you're looking at utilities, custodial, other facility costs, and And then also, what is the feasibility of some revenue potentially if we were to lease out space? What is the cost of that? What are the options for doing that? What does that look like? So this six months would give us the time to work through those items and come back to Council with more information, but also secure the opportunity to move forward. So should Council want to move forward, what we're looking for is the recommended action is to move to approve and authorize the mayor to sign the 310 Israel Road purchase and sale option agreement, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Council, any questions? I can unmute your mic. If not, I would entertain a motion, so I'm going to make your mics hot. Mayor Pro Tem Von Holtz.

I'll move to approve and authorize the mayor to sign the 310 Israel Road purchase and sale option agreement.

Second. Got a motion from Mayor Pro Tem Von Holtz. Got a second from Council Member Sullivan to approve and authorize the mayor to sign the 310 Israel Road purchase and sale option agreement. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to move on to the Mayor's Seated Administrator's Report. The only thing I would like to share that I'd like to open up this opportunity for council is yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Black Lake Elementary and read for Mrs. Locken's class, first grade. And first I was scared. It's like, what if the kids don't like me? Right. I'm going to go in there and they're like, who's this lady? And it filled my bucket and like comforted my soul. Um, I have been asked back. I know that might surprise some of you, but I have been asked back and I would like that to be an opportunity for all of council to to go read to a classroom, to remember who we serve, and that we are pretty lucky for the youth that are coming up in Tumwater, right? Of all the things that we're working on, and sometimes we get so sucked into all the negativity and the frustrations, to go read, I read We're a Wonder, and then the Caterpillar book, and then I answered a ton of questions. It was lovely, and one little girl gave me a painted rock, and then kids were hugging me. And I was wearing all black, and they still wanted to talk to me. So I just would like to put that out to any council member that wants to read. We could set that up because it actually set my June off to a really great month. Like nothing will bug me after that. I mean, it will, but not as bad as reading the kids. That is my report. Administrator Simmons, what's good?

Did we get the, with our relationship with the school district be notified, hopefully you can work with them and be notified of some of their events that are coming up?

Okay.

Because they do read across America in March, so I'm just saying that there's things that we can do.

Can we? Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Can you make a note and send an email? Because I will not remember as soon as I walk off this dais. So, yes. Great idea, Council Member Swarthav. Let's go back to Administrator Simmons.

There we go. Thank you very much, Mayor Dollhoff. Just two quick items. One, I wanted to make you all aware that we are in full review of the 27-28 biennial budget. Myself, the finance director, and the budget review team have been meeting with each of the departments, and we are compiling all of the information, all of the enhancement requests, and we'll be providing a summary to the mayor, which we'll inevitably roll out to you At the end of the summer, as we start the formal process, but I just wanted to make you all aware that those discussions are underway and happening. If you have questions along the way or want more information, don't hesitate to reach out. The other item to give you an update yesterday, myself, Mayor Dalhoff and Mayor Pro Tem Von Holtz had the opportunity to meet with the superintendent and the school board president and one of the other school board members and to talk about a joint meeting. We tentatively scheduled for October 8th as a joint meeting where we will go and meet with the school district. It was a positive and productive conversation and we're excited to continue our ongoing partnership with the school district. That's all I have. Thank you.

Great update. We are going to start from the right and go to the left, and we'll end with virtual council members. So, Council Member Whedon, what's good?

I participated in the General Government Committee on May 20th, and I also filled in for Public Works Committee meeting on May 21st. I'm On May 27th, I attended the Tim Warner Youth Program Appreciation Dinner alongside Mayor Dalhoff and City Administrator Simmons. It was a great opportunity to recognize many of the volunteers and community members who make our youth program successful and continue to invest in the next generation of Tim Warner residents. I, too, was over at Black Lake Elementary, and I barbecued for their family barbecue day. There was about 700 hot dogs that I cooked, so that was fun. And then I also had a meeting with a local real estate broker to discuss the proposed home energy score program. During our conversation, they shared several concerns that I believe are important for council to consider as we continue evaluating this program. Among the concerns raised were the potential impacts on short sales and foreclosures, both of which have become more common in the Louisville area. in the local housing market. She also brought up our strong connection between Tumwater and our local military and the possible impacts that it could have on VA loan and VA benefits. They provided me with three different What are they? Inspection reports, and she gave those to us. I dropped them off with City Administrator Simmons earlier today, and basically we're asking for the differences between what those are and what our home energy score is. So I think it would be good for the staff to continue the process and show exactly the differences between the two. And that's it. That's all I have.

Thank you, Council Member Wooden. Council Member Jefferson.

Yes, on the 28th of May, the EMS Committee had a very short meeting. I think it could have been like 15 minutes where we discussed ALS response data and transportation data was presented along with surplus unit delivery and scheduling. For our Public Works Committee meeting, we discussed resolution uh the six-year transportation plan which we had today and a 2026 drought briefing now this was for our information only but the information should be more widely available for the public because we discussed climate change and summers are getting hotter and washington has a drought heard 52 statewide drought declaration so this is just to me the public needs to know more so um they're going to come to council and discuss that more with us

for this week councilmember jefferson can i ask a question about that yes we that came up at our meeting yesterday afternoon and looking at our city attorney karen kirkpatrick is that the item that is on the agenda but it's also going to be on the agenda again so we have a work session and then so i'm wondering why it's coming twice no it should just be one one or it shouldn't be twice right city administrator we just wanted the public to know

Right, I think what Councilmember Jefferson, what we talked about yesterday was it came to the Public Works Committee, and then one of the discussions at the Public Works Committee was to bring it back for a full work session overview. One of the things we talked about was possibly finding other strategic ways to get the word out and help inform people, making sure that the presentation... is shared with the full council and then working with our communications team to really promote, you know, promote the need to conserve water essentially.

Okay. And this week, Thursday is our public's works committee meeting and we have a full agenda.

Yeah, you do good report. Council members represent mayor pretend fun holds.

Thank you, mayor. Um, I missed out on meetings. Thank you, Council Member Whedon, for covering for me at a family emergency. But next week is full of meetings I have bought in public health and safety. And like Council Member Jefferson said, on Thursday we have public works. And also a really good, productive meeting yesterday with members of the school board and the superintendent. Before I was ever on council, I wanted the council and the school board to meet because I feel like when you know what's going on with our kids, then you know what's going on with our community. And so I'm very excited that we have a date tentatively set.

Perfect. Great update, Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Sullivan.

Thank you, Mayor. On the 27th, last Wednesday, I attended EDC, Economic Development Council, where we received a presentation on placemaking from staff and electeds who went to an international placemaking conference. If you've never heard about placemaking, it's really cool. I heard about it 10 or 15 years ago from the town we lovingly refer to as North Tumwater, also known as Olympia. You may have heard of it. And we also heard updates about some economic development happening in Yelm. And I also on the same day attended RHC Regional Housing where we heard a legislative overview from a staff named Christina Lenson from City of Olympia. We heard from the lived experience Housing Steering Committee, LESC, which was an informational presentation about how their body was formed and how they advised the work of regional housing. We heard from Thurston Affordable Housing Advisory Board, which vetted a request from Housing Authority of Thurston County to ask the body, Regional Housing Commission, to recommend that the county commission allocate $300,000 from RHC Opportunity Fund So the Housing Authority of Thurston County could acquire four units of affordable housing. They already own units in that same area. It's in City of Olympia on Creekside Court. And so while RHC doesn't make decisions, we did pass that forward to Thurston County. And I was a part of an education ad hoc work group to figure out some processes and do process improvement. and we had our second meeting on the 28th and the june rhc meeting has been rescheduled to june 10 so i will be reaching out to my alternate joan kathy to see if she might be able to attend or we will problem solve about that i will be gone for that meeting and also i will sadly miss the 616 meeting and swearing in but i will promise to send my remarks and how do i sign up for reading to students mere dollhoff because i'm all in for that and my very last update is tomorrow i will be joining city and county staff for a driving tour of some of the rhc funded project sites to learn a little bit more so thank you i dig that great update make uh council member solomon

City Council Chambers with that busy schedule so on may 20 I chaired the general government meeting and also attended the inner city transit meeting. And highlights from the inner city transit is that they too are working on their transportation improvement program so we held a public hearing to just like we did tonight for the inner city transit so that was. top one and the second big thing that really happened is that they awarded four surplus van pools vehicles to boys and girls club at thurston county we love learning early learning center innovations and human trafficking collaborative and city gates ministry so it's really nice way to be able to recycle and reuse the the vans and we have lots of public comments still people are still getting used to the new routes and so we're still fielding lots of comments about that so that was one of the big highlights of the meeting so and then let's see on the 21st public works and on the 22nd budget and finance so it was a city week but no meetings this week enjoy until next week council members thank you council members worth it we're gonna go virtual and we're gonna go to council member agabi and then council member kathy's gonna bring it home council member agabi what's good

So, Mayor, welcome to the club. Some of us have been volunteering with the school district since way, way back when. So, I'm not doing my own, I'm just saying. What's up? Now you know. So tomorrow, our Opioid Abatement Council have been on IHRs for the past two months to give staff the opportunity to work on a poor funding RFP, and that work has concluded. So tomorrow we are going to meet to talk about that. And hopefully we arrive at the conclusion because we need to give those finished product to the county commissioner for approval. So that's what I will be doing tomorrow. And all of next week, I begin my committee assignment, I believe, on Tuesday and to Thursday. So that is my report.

Thank you, Council Member Agabi. We're going to end tonight with Council Member Cathy. What's good, Council Member Cathy? And you are there. There we go. There we go.

You have to wait for a moment till I come down out of the trees and then I'll be able to speak. And I want to say before I forget to Council Member Sullivan that I think she thought I disappeared from the earth because I... we had some issues about, I had some issues about getting back to her and communicating. So I'm glad that you're telling me way ahead of time, something you want me to do. Um, and I will give you a call so we can chat and I can apologize. And, um, you can tell me, I don't need to apologize.

Yeah.

Yeah. Um, it won't be the first time. Um, So anyway, I've reported on all of my meetings that I have had because I have them coming up in the next few days. So I don't have any to report on. I'm using this as raw, raw trees and I'm sorry, council member Sullivan time. My meetings start this week for the month. Perfect timing, Council Member Cathy. Thank you.

Are there any other business items? We heard one from Council Member Swarthout about the schools and something, so Administrator Simmons has written down. Anything else that we need to share at 8.32 on a Tuesday? If not, adios. Meeting adjourned.