City Council - Regular Meeting

I call the Wednesday, July 1st, 2026 council business meeting to order. I met with the council members at 5 p.m. in the sixth floor council conference room for a briefing to discuss tonight's agenda. At 5.30, we moved here to the first floor chambers to conduct the council business meeting in person. And because we encourage community involvement, we invite the public to join us in person, attend via remote option through Zoom or UMBCAT. Tonight, Councilmember Christy Camerota is absent. The council will accept spoken public comment on items under the consent agenda. We've also set aside time at the end of the meeting for community comment. This provides an opportunity. What are you doing? Sorry. This provides an opportunity for community members to address the council on topics not included on the agenda, but still related to the work of the city council. Each speaker will have 90 seconds during each spoken comment period to address the council from the lectern in the meeting chambers. As of this meeting, we are implementing our new process, which consists of an online registration form to sign up for remote spoken comment and sign-in sheets in the chamber. Requests for comments via Zoom must be completed by noon the day before the meeting. You can access the online request form at the City Council page. And we know that signing up for comment is new, so after the people who have signed up get their chance to speak, then everybody else will be like, it's normal. You come up and give you a chance to talk. As always, written comments or questions are also welcome at any time to city.council at bremertonwa.gov or via mail. To be distributed to council members in advance of the business meeting, written comments must be received by noon on the day before the meeting. The city is committed to providing accessible meetings, requests for accommodations, including sign language interpreters, hearing assistance, or other accessibility services should be made through the city clerk's office by noon the day before the meeting, To arrange accommodations, please contact the city clerk at city.clerk at bremertonwa.gov or 360-473-5323. We will start tonight's meeting with the consent agenda.

Thank you, Council President. For approval on the consent agenda are the following items. A, claims and check register. Approval of the following checks and electronic fund transfers. One, check numbers 415319 through 415468 and EFT numbers V46493 through 415468. and the grand total amount of $3,954,155.74. Two, regular payroll for pay period ending June 15th, 2026 in the amount of $1,250,724.61. B, minutes of council meeting June 17th, 2026. C, minutes of study session June 24th, 2026. D, confirm appointment of Jeff Parsons to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. E, acceptance of East Narrow Stormwater Management Action Plan Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology. And F, amendment number one to the interlocal agreement for water supply with the City of Port Orchard. This concludes the reading of the consent agenda. Thank you.

Are there any members of the public who would wish to comment on any items on the consent agenda?

Jose Camacho, Friends of Smith Cove, Rock the Block. I'm speaking on the Stormwater Management Action Plan grant from Ecology. The city takes, And ecology gives a fortune in grants and funds for stormwater systems. And that stormwater mandate is about the purity of our waters. Washington actually stands out amongst other states, or probably most states, about its seriousness with water and that extends to everything from the boat decision to the shoreline management act so this is a small fortune you guys get so house people get storm water systems tens of thousands of dollars can be spent on one house but still you guys don't actually see the homeless who have nowhere else to go but outside, and when that fecal matter or urine ends up in the sea, y'all act like it never happens, like it doesn't affect anything. So this is actually a waste of money. Since you guys can't hear us, I'm going to go to ecology. The idea of the public trust doctrine is that there are natural resources that a government isn't a government unless it takes care of for all the people, not just a few, not just for private interest. So it's going to be my mission to see to it that you guys understand that.

I am Mike Simpson, District 6. It's been a bit since I've come and talked to you guys. So the thing that I, what I'd like you to do is I'd like to remove Amendment 1 to the interlocal agreement for water supply with the City of Port Orchard. Remove that from the consent agenda and put it on general business so we can talk about it. And that's simply because, much like the person who was before me, the City of Port Orchard subsidizes their golf course with water. And if we're going to give water to, if we're providing water to the city of Port Orchard, then we are, in essence, subsidizing the golf course. It's incumbent upon you as the council president to ensure that we use our resources appropriately. And we should probably be going back and negotiating with the city of Port Orchard because they subsidize their golf course with water. And if we're paying for it, we shouldn't be subsidizing their golf course, especially when we have folks who are in need in our own community, right here in the city of Bremerton, right on our streets. We should be good stewards of our money. And you should make sure and have the responsibility and take that responsibility to ensure that we use the funds that we provide you through taxation. Use it wisely and be fastidious in that use of money. It should not be used to subsidize a golf course. Thank you.

Roy Runyon, Bremerton. Well, I want to also ask that that item be pulled off consent. And maybe folks can understand why we are indeed assisting Port Orchard in their development. McCormick Woods is a market rate development. And for those of you who happen to be or claim to be democratic socialists who care about equitable distribution of resources, It's something you ought to consider. It's been a long process. When I was on the council, we were discussing this. But I think you need to examine this further and get some answers from Public Works as to why we're doing this so you can explain to the citizens and your democratic socialist fan base why we're doing that. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who has any comments on the agenda? I wonder if I could depart a little bit from this and let the Public Works Director just to, well, actually, if you go back and watch the study session last week, we did have a long discussion on that interlocal agreement. So if there are things that were missing there, I mean, were you able to watch that? No, you weren't here, you're right. I was speaking to the two gentlemen who have asked that it be removed from the consent agenda.

ability to watch it right now.

Oh, so you didn't watch it last week? Because there was a thorough discussion on it. Is there anybody else who would like to discuss anything on the consent agenda with us? Okay, well, I'll call for the question then.

I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second. Thank you. With the motion and a second, we'll call for the question. Councilmember Chamberlain? Yes. Frey? Yes. Coughlin? I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Let's see. Good now? Yes. Mockler?

Yes.

Robolowski?

You forgot Tiff, but sorry.

Yes.

Just one second here. Let me just rewrite this. OK, let's start over again. Councilmember Chamberlain. Just kidding, yes. Thank you. Frey. Yes. Goodenow.

Yes.

Mochler. Yes. Tift.

Yes.

Rebelowski. Yes. Thank you. Motion carries unanimously.

So tonight there is no general business items, so we'll welcome Mayor Wheeler next for the Mayor's report.

All right, thank you, Council President, and good evening, Councilors. I've got a few slides to share with you this evening. I bet if I was to ask if anybody had scored yet in the USA match tonight, I would get an answer pretty quickly, since we're playing right now. Still zeros? Okay. All right. Kitsap Lake, exciting times. And Quincy Square, the fan zone is packed right now. A lot of energy. And it is good family fun. And speaking of family-oriented events and just efforts, we had the Kitsap Lakes Park Beach cleanup recently, June 24th. We have city staff. with the local residents there that were working together. And this is an annual effort that we appreciate very much. It's to keep one of our just treasured parks clean along the shoreline. It's just a picture of some of the workers. Next slide, please. And that same park in the upper portion, we had a ribbon cutting last week. I think Council President Rebelowski was there, a few others, Councilman Rick Tift, And so this is just an exciting event. You can see that two of our youngest constituents in the city and users of the park were there to help cut the ribbon. There's our parks director, Tim, who brought in the final funding to get this park completed. Wonderful effort from Tim on down to the line staff to just deliver a beautiful park to the community. And this is a culmination of all the work from so many people. A lot of fun. Next slide. All right, celebrating Pride Month. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this and steal Councilmember Jennifer Chamberlain's thunder. She organized this. It was well attended. Really just a very nice ceremony, wonderful setting. And that's a picture over on the left-hand side. A big effort here. Councilor Goodenow also organized an event later on in the evening. Just a powerful reminder, of course, of our dedication to providing that, working for that community that embraces people of all backgrounds. Everybody should feel included, accepted, and feel like they belong in our city of Bremerton. And I'll turn the rest over to the counselors when their turn comes. Next slide. Now, this was a unique event. It was a quiet ceremony, and I was invited by the Suquamish tribe to witness the historic signing of the memorandum of agreement between the tribe and the United States Navy for the Navy's proposed multi-mission dry dock project at PSNS and IMF. This project is a multi-billion dollar investment to modernize the shipyard and build a dry dock that can serve the Navy's newest aircraft carriers and the Columbia-class Trident submarines. This is going to have a huge impact, not in our national security for the next century, but our local economy. So this is it was an incredible honor. I was proud to be there representing the city to witness this event there'll be more details on the preservation of shellfish and Traditional fishing territories will come at a later date But I can assure you that was part of the agreement that the things that we've come to enjoy and our wonderful city of Bremerton and beautiful Puget Sound were worked on to be maintained and Wonderful agreement again. Next slide. All right, this is the month you've all been waiting for, fun at the playgrounds. So this is the lineup over on the left-hand side. You can see just if you go down to the lower left, you'll see a phone number and the email address. If you want information about where you can show up, take your kids, grandkids, volunteer. They can always use volunteers. This is just a menu of the things that are coming. Again, a lot of fun. City of Bremerton sponsors this. Every year it's part of our great recreation program Next slide Concerts at Evergreen Park and again this wonderful month of July that we've all been waiting for and the 7th 14th 21st and 28th starting starting soon next week we'll have weekly concerts at Evergreen Park and And more information, if you hit the same email address and or phone number, you'll get a lineup, you'll get some more details. A lot of fun for our community. 5.30 to 7 p.m. will be the, on Tuesdays, will be our start times. All right, next slide. And the Bremerton Fire Open House. And this one's, you know, July 18th, 1130 a.m. to 1 p.m. Okay, Fire Station 1, right down here on Park Avenue. This will be, I think this will be unique also because we'll have Marine 20 out there. So just an opportunity to come out once again, visit with the first responders, look at some of the apparatus and equipment. Just enjoy some fun, family-friendly activities also. All right. And Council, happy 4th of July. Happy 250th birthday of our nation. That concludes our report tonight.

Now would be a good time to ask the score.

I think, yes, this is a good time to ask the score. The United States just scored. Oh, man. That's a USA, USA. But I'm...

Okay, next up is council member reports. This is an opportunity for council members to provide an update on any issues or events taking place in their district, announce any events they've recently attended or plan to attend or speak on any other city-related topics. Since this is the first council meeting of the month, we'll start with District 1. Council Member Jennifer Chamberlain. That's me.

Okay, there we go. I have a couple slides here. All right, so the problem with Pine Road, we got a little graphic there. The video may or may not work, but essentially what it's showing is this is the west side near Terra Court, I believe, on Pine Road. That's in 2025. You can see it's not in great condition. Here's the current condition. There's just some random blocks covering the easement where people can walk, so making it impossible. You can see a car coming. That's actually a limited sight distance, that hill right there. No signage for that. I don't know what the legal definition for it is, but... So that is the easement that forces people to go in the road that are on any kind of wheeled vehicle or wheeled mechanism, whether it be a stroller, wheelchair, et cetera. And then what's the next slide? I had a chance to walk Pine Road with Representative Simmons. And here we are negotiating how we're going to walk up on the east side of Pine Road. And you can see she chose to walk in the road. I chose to walk in the east on the other side of the ditch. And you can also see from 2025 on the left to 2026, not much has changed. it's still difficult to navigate. So it's a really small stretch of road. This was one of the top priorities when I went door knocking six years ago now. This was one of the top priorities then, and not much has changed since. I'd like to see some attention brought to Pine Road, this small stretch. There's a lot of low-income folks that live on this road and we have an elderly facility up at the top and it's not you know, these folks are it's it's Assisted living but it's also independent living up there. So I think those are the only slides I have. Is that all I got? Oh Yeah, I always have my cafe perfetto The next clean is for isn't for a couple of weeks How much time do I have left any time left?

Oh, yeah, you got another minute I

All right, well that's, okay, so the next one is gonna be July 18th, show up for your free coffee or donut, your t-shirt, go clean up around Warren Avenue Bridge and the outlying neighborhoods around District 1 and District 2. Last week, I rushed through some statistics. I'm done with my slides, right? I wanted to talk a little bit about those. These are statistics from Pendleton Place. So they opened up about four years ago now, I believe. And some of the statistics I was quoting was zero to four years prior, or five years prior, and then in the zero to four years since. So 63 people who GAVE PERMISSION TO HAVE THEIR INFORMATION SHARED. PRIOR TO HAVING HOUSING, THERE WERE 629 VISITS TO THE HOSPITAL AND THE ER. AND POST HOUSING, 325. SO THAT'S EVIDENCE RIGHT THERE THAT HOUSING SAVES folks saves resources. And I talked about the jail time, too. We had 58 folks who gave permission for their data to be collected. Five years prior, there were 1,237 days out of 58 people in jail. And post-housing, once they were in Pendleton Place, there was a total of 33 days spent in jail. And these are pretty stark statistics showing that housing It makes a difference. Housing not only saves resources, but it just helps people on so many different levels. Thank you, Mayor. I didn't really have a slide prepared about the pride flag. I'm grateful to all of my colleagues here on council that helped make it official to have pride flags raised on our city flagpoles. And I'm sure we'll hear more about that from folks that don't agree with it, and I'm all right with it, because there's so many more people that are appreciative. Thank you, and that's it.

Thank you. Next up is Council Vice President and District 2 Council Member Denise Fry.

Thank you. Let's go ahead and get into that. This is my only slide. Sometimes planets come into alignment and we've been talking about quick build, traffic calming measures since I've been on Council and since I've been on the Public Works Committee. uh this is certainly an a concept that is well known throughout the country and we have this big project coming up called safe routes to school at the new view ridge elementary school and it was important to integrate this measure which is a what we call a quick build temporary traffic calming it was It was important to incorporate this at a certain time so that we can collect data. So we did a speed study before this was in. We'll do a speed study with this. And that'll better inform what the plan is actually on that stretch. Huge shout out to the road crew. We were able to do this all in-house. It took a day. Our engineering staff came through with the design. We didn't have to subcontract anything out. And they all feel really good about it because it has an impact. I came down at about 5 o'clock down on the left there and happened to catch just the right time. It works. People were putting on their brake lights as they came through there. They would not have been putting on their brake lights. This is the problem that the community was telling us about. We listened, we incorporated a solution, and a permanent solution is coming. But I also have to state that this took years for anybody that thinks they, oh, I want that for my neighborhood, right? Because we do. We want more traffic calming. This was just a glimmer in the eye of a gentleman by the name of Paul Dutke, who has long been an advocate for multimodal transportation around Bremerton, safe access. His wife is a double amputee and gets around on bikes and in a wheelchair and on crutches. So this was a passion. That was over 10 years ago that they all started talking about this. So it came to a culmination. I actually got giddy when I saw this. I almost felt like there had been a movement in the force somehow. because something had actually come to fruition so congratulations to all involved that's our advocates our community advocates especially director berthium i'm looking at you this never would have happened without you so thank you very much for this thanks to public works staff really proud thank you thank you

Next up is District 5, Councilmember Michael Goodnow.

OK, I think I've got some slides. Yes. So first off, I just want to kind of bring people's attention to what is legal fireworks wise in the city of Bremerton. We have a couple two years ago, I think we sort of set some boundaries on our limits on what's available, what's allowed. And honestly, Nothing that flies into the air or self-propels is allowed. And the best place to find information on this is Bremertonwa.gov slash 240 slash fireworks with a capital F for lowercase work. should work anyways so just please be safe and respect your neighbors and you get a chance review this or reach out to the council office and we can send your copy this flyer so next slide please I also want to remind folks that July 18th is Kitsap Pride festivals up at the fairgrounds and should be a good good weekend of events there

Next slide.

Oh, I guess we'll go. Okay. Um, you can go back to the slide if you want to extend me. So, um, I also did want to thank council member, uh, Chamberlain. Uh, we also did a, uh, flag raising sort of mini ceremony at the boardwalk, which is, it's nice. And, uh, so we have a pride flag on the, uh, boardwalk flagpole that sort of greets people as they enter the city. So, um, really proud that we got that all done. And then I wanted to share Friday is the Art Walk. And there is a new shuttle that's been running. An organization called Mobility for All is running it. And it basically is going from sort of the Fairfield end of Quincy Square over to Minette by the Maker House, which I believe is just north of the Roundabout. uh down to callow avenue uh between 640 and 635 callow and then um down to marina square by the boardwalk and it runs about every 20 minutes and so if you get a chance take advantage of that oh typewriter fever is where the those addresses are thank you council member montclair so that's all i have uh thank you have a great fourth of july weekend everybody stay safe

Thank you. Next, let's hear from District 6 Councilmember Anna Makler.

Thanks, Council President. Hold on. We're trying to really work on this whole time thing. OK, OK, OK, OK. My goodness. So just one thing that I wanted to remind everybody of as we're entering this season of fireworks is Bremerton One is a really useful app or email bremertonone at bremertonone.gov or download the app for either Android or iPhone. The second thing I wanted to say is that I have met with Joe Crane of St. Vincent de Paul. I'm sure you all know that the 13th in Wyckoff, 13th in Callow, almost all the way down to the 711 on 11th is being transformed into workforce housing and transitional housing and shelter and courtyard and garden and market that people can stroll around in. Each iteration of this gets a little more impressive, and they're collaborating with Olympic College to do apprenticeships that can then, while people are completing these apprenticeships and in their first term of work, that they'll have affordable housing at Star of Hope. It looks like a great project, and we are tentatively set for a District 6 town hall on September 12th. Heavily penciled in, updates later, but you might want to save the date. It will be at the St. Vincent de Paul, and right now, fingers crossed, St. Vincent de Paul is looking at, they're hoping to break ground in November for And I wish them all the luck in the world. Here's how committed I am to this project. There's going to be a year of construction less than one block from my house. And I'm still telling you, get out there and be enthusiastic about it. I am still looking for a town hall venue. I have looked at the subway, you know, one that is in District 6. I have looked at the subway on Kitsap Way. Very much welcome any comments that you have, any suggestions that you have. And for the remaining 45 seconds, I just want to say that we are part of a legislative branch. That's a whole new thing 250 years ago. Kings used to have counselors who would advise them. And if they did not like the advice, they could ignore it or chop off their heads. There really wasn't much of a check on kings. So being part of this legislative, querulous, endless, inefficient legislative body is a real source of pride to me, and I think to my colleagues as well. So thank you all. Have a happy 4th of July. Stay safe.

Thank you. Next, District 7 Councilmember Rick Tiff. Do you have a report for tonight?

I do not have a report tonight. With the exception of the event in District 7 was the opening of Kitsap Lake Park and Playgrounds. Oh, sorry. I do not have a formal report tonight. I just want to echo what the mayor said with regard to Kitsap Lake Park and clean up. And that's the big event in District 7. So for the last couple of weeks, thank you.

Thank you. Max, I think I have a couple slides. So we had a really interesting conversation the other day with the Department of Revenue. And as we get into our budget discussions, I think it's really important for folks to learn about tax shifts and how that happens, because there's a lot of them happening in Bremerton. Whenever we give somebody a tax exemption, That means the other folks pay more.

Can I have my next slide, please?

So this is an example looking for that same $100, how different things would affect people's tax bill. Somebody's house burns down, well, their tax is less. Obviously, they're just being taxed on the land. If somebody is new construction, well, it's not done being built, so they pay less. So that means everybody, or at least some people, pay more. So it's just something to start thinking about as we go through the budget. Next slide, please. And council is doing a community budget survey. So I hope everybody takes it. And if you need the flyer to give the QR code out to somebody else, I've got extras. And I think we have some at the front of the room, too. It takes about 10 minutes. But get them done, please, by July 10. Next slide, please. So the upcoming meetings are public safety and parks committee on the 7th, next Tuesday, council study session next Wednesday on the 8th, and regular council meeting on the 15th. So that's it for council reports. Next up is community comment. And before we begin community comment, I wanna remind everybody that city council meetings are business meetings of the city of Bremerton and are also a workplace for city employees. Community comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on matters that are both listed and not listed on tonight's agenda, but are still related to the work of the city council. Your spoken community comment must remain focused on matters related to city business. The city has an obligation to maintain a workplace free from harassment. Harassing language including but not limited to ethnic, racial or sex based slurs are not germane to city business and will not be permitted. If a speaker uses harassing language or otherwise violates these standards, I will provide one warning. If the conduct continues, the speaker will be directed to stop speaking and return to their seat. We will begin with those who signed up to provide community comment. And again, everybody else will be welcomed after the few people who did sign in. And then if we can just start getting used to doing that. You don't have to sign in to speak here. So our city clerk is going to start by reading off the first people who signed up to comment.

Our first speaker is Sally Haas.

I don't think the speaker's working. No.

Good evening, Council. I'm Sally Haas. I'm here tonight to formally acknowledge and express my sincere gratitude for the City Council leadership for the letter released by Council President Jane and Vice President Denise for the letter to Jill Stanton, Director, BHA, on June 26, 2026. Thank you for taking the time and effort to carefully document the step-by-step history of the proposed shelter. To be frank, the way the public has been treated throughout this process has been neither transparent nor fair. We have been met with misleading narratives from community partners who should have been open with us from the very beginning. That is why your letter is so vital. It brings much needed clarity to a muddy situation. Most importantly, thank you for setting the record straight by explicitly distinguishing the Council's general historical support for a hybrid shelter model from the partner's subsequent independent decision to pursue the Sheridan site. Your insistent on accurate public record and absolute transparency is exactly the kind of leadership our community needs right now. Thank you, Jane. Thank you, Denise, for your thoroughness and for standing up for the truth. Thank you. Thank you, Sally.

Next, we have Chance Corey. Roy Runyon.

Well, I want to speak to the budget situation. I just want to read something here. I've actually used AI. If any of you have used artificial intelligence to summarize data and research data, it can be very effective. 911, CENTCOM is using AI to take complaints about fireworks. And I think the city needs to look at using AI. The county needs to look at using AI in data intensive functions and reduce our staffing. An 11 year review. reveals a structural mismatch between the city of Bremerton's operational growth and the financial reality of its citizens. Between 2015, actually I left office in 2015, and the current budget year, resident median household income grew by 64%. Concurrently, total municipal personnel dollar obligations surged by 70%. Not as bad as the state government, but That's your responsibility. Not all of you were on the council then. I understand that. Going forward, you need to do better. Couple recommendations here, and I'm also watching my time. First of all, modernize emergency response models. You know, 80% to 90% of our fire calls are medical. We're sending a fire truck out. We're sending out which causes wear and tear, that type of thing. And so we need to be smarter about that. Jurisdictions actually do that. So anyway, thank you very much. Is that it? 90 seconds? Okay, thanks.

That's it. Thank you.

There are no further speakers on the list.

OK. Now it's open to other people who didn't have the opportunity to sign up.

jose camacho friends of smith cove rock the block i receive new emails from the city clerk pursuant to our public record act request and they show and these are just related to the shelter issue what they show is what i've said since 2023 that the city seems addicted to deceit and misrepresenting law actual law to the public and the most remarkable one is a email from the director of dcd andrew spencer to denise fry in which she basically says what i heard harrison heights residents say that spot zoning is an issue given that the director has spent from 2019 to the present basically perpetrating illegal spot zoning against an actual law, the Shoreline Management Act. It was remarkable. So she is trying to convince us that spot zoning is an issue. She has even bullet points, and I know the law. because I spent the last two and a half years explaining the law to you and you stonewalled us. So she's completely wrong. And it's utterly cynical and misleading. But what it shows is the bad faith and malice of city leadership itself.

Thank you. Next, please.

Hi, I'm Jocelyn. I'm with the Bremerton Prayer Walk, Rock the Block. I come in here and I let you guys know about some of the people that could benefit from these shelters, these different types of shelters. As we know, there's not going to be one that fits everyone. And the way that the Pallet Shelter is set up is a lot of people that are in here in this room today are ones that could definitely benefit. They would definitely benefit from this shelter. They're not drug addicts. All of them are just trying to survive. We've got vets out in there. We've got moms on fixed incomes that can't go to the shelters because their sons are too big. So they don't have that option available to them. We have individuals who have served our country. We have had individuals who have worked with our youth. for many, many years that they just can't make how we've set it up for shelters. And we need more. We just need a lot more. And I tell you what, these people that this shelter can help, my life is so much richer knowing every single person out there. I can tell you 100% that they deserve a place to stay, that they deserve dignity, that their lives matter so much. So thank you. Please think of them.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to speak?

Hi, my name is Josh. I'm here because homelessness is a reality for myself. Your tiny home villages, they offer safety, stability, and a chance for people to rebuild their lives. When someone has four walls, a door that locks, and a place to sleep, it's easier to find work, stay healthy, reconnect with your family, and move towards permanent housing. So that's something that a lot of us have really recognized that four walls really do matter just in your everyday life to keep some semblance of sanity. So I ask that you do move forward maybe some of the tiny home village programs in Bremerton. Thanks.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to speak? Okay.

Well, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Hi, I'm Mike Simpson. I live in District 6. I was on the council before. When I was on the council, we had an invocation that should be restored. It should be part of business. The only way that we maintain our republic is with a moral and just people. And if we do not give reverence to some higher power, whatever that may be, we lose that moral compass that we all need. Those that don't believe in a higher power, well, they have problems with being rudderless in life. And that's sad. Also, as a veteran, we should honor that flag. Now, I come to you with a restoration of the Pledge of Allegiance. Why? Because it recognizes, as elected officials, you have a duty to that flag, that symbol of our country, and you should restore that. It takes 30 seconds of your time, and it should be part of this business meeting. It should be part of the opening. Almost every other institution in this area gives reverence to that flag because of the people who have died and shed their blood for it. And it is shameful that in this military community that we do not honor that flag. Some of our members will not even salute the flag or put their hand over their heart while the national anthem is played, even at a 9-11 ceremony.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to comment tonight? Okay, seeing no one, this concludes tonight's regular council business and meeting is adjourned. Thank you.