City Council - Regular Meeting

uh here off of Porter Way, which when I mention it to the people, uh they don't seem to understand. They got some rumors through Facebook there may have been a gas strike, may not have been, and I find that to be troubling that information isn't let out. I come to find out that on your last city council meetings that Easy Fiber has already been here and already told you how they're going to fix these problems. And after that city council meeting, you had two gas strikes on the same week, one in Alona, one in Milton. and they shut down Highway 161 on Friday, March 20th, during the daytime hours. Now, they have a permit to work on 161, but on and night hours because Highway 161 is an arterial for emergency services, right? We serendipitously have to go through two Koshia Alahi and Millidge to get to that location to Safeway or to the freeway. Those are also emergency services. So when on the week prior the man gentleman comes to you and says that we're going to fix this you know we're going to turn this battleship around. A week after you have two strikes which I don't know if our emergency services were sent out there definitely wasn't a correspondence to any of the interwebs but they kind of erupted our face right like they struck it the the water mains the gas mans don't tell anybody about it and then they shut down 161. It's no longer about like how they're working. It's the lack of empathy towards human life. We don't know all the effects that that happened for shutting out 161, right? Just because it there wasn't a crash right in front. We don't know who was affected or or who wasn't affected or with the gas lines, the lower of pressure on on the gas and what that does to any kind of boiling temperature or any of that matter. I'm running out of time, but there comes a point where complicity comes to capitulation, right? Like it's we can't look at this in a vacuum and be

like, well, I find them easy to work with and forward facing tell that to the public and on the second hand tell people in private, well, you know, it's a junk you and run it over, it'll break, we'll fix it. There there there's something there's a lack of communication, I should say, to the city of Milton. I think Milan deserves better than this. I'm out of time, but I'll take more questions. All right. Thank you, Mr. Alvarez. Um, is there anyone else that uh didn't get a chance to sign on the uh comment sheet that would like to speak? Okay. Yes, Bob.

Well, a question. There's a document that this gentleman had just mentioned that was presented to the city email. Can we have copies, please? They was emailed. It was emailed to everyone this morning. No, no. Here, we should have copies. Okay. Uh, we can get you a copy if you like. Yes, please. All right. Thank you. All right. There needs to be one to every council. I think there does anyone else need a paper copy? We can take one if we have it, but I will make a copy. Make a copy for everyone.

All right. Moving on to additions and deletions. Are there any uh requested additions or deletions to the agenda from council? Seeing none, uh move on to the consent agenda. Does anyone want to pull an item off the consent agenda for discussion? Seeing none, I would accept a motion. Council member Hall. Motion to approve the consent agenda. I second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? All right. All in favor? I I.

Any opposed? Motion passes four to zero. Um okay. Uh the next item on the agenda is a presentation. We um have instituted a employee of the month uh program here at city hall and u the first uh our first winner is here in the audience. Um and it is with my uh great pleasure to announce that um Carlina Veter has been um selected as uh the city of Milton's first employee of the month for April uh 2026. Uh this recognition is awarded to uh the team member who best exemplifies our city's core values of excellence, integrity, teamwork, and dedicated public service. Actually, why don't you come up?

I don't want you all the way in the back there. Um, your department head shared the following about your outstanding performance. Uh, Carlina consistently goes above and beyond, demonstrating exceptional dedication, teamwork, and a positive attitude that inspires everyone around her. Uh Carlina's strong worth work worth work work ethic, reliability, and commitment to excellence makes her a truly deserving employee of the month. Through her professionalism and willingness to help others, Carlina sets a high standard and makes a meaningful impact every day. Um Carlina, your hard work, reliability, and positive spirit have made a real difference in your department and for the residents of Milton. You have set a high standard that inspires your colleagues and reflects the best of what our city stands for. On behalf of the city council, city leadership, and all Milton residents, I extend my heartfelt congratulations on this welldeserved honor. And as part of this recognition, you will receive a framed employee of the month certificate, which I have right here for you, um, feature on the city's website, newsletter, and social media channels, a reserved parking space, and lunch with the mayor, which it says here is a $2,000 value. Um, we are incredibly proud of your contributions and grateful for your continued commitment to serving the city of Milton. Please join me in celebrating Carlina Vetera's achievement. I encourage all city employees to follow the outstanding example you have set. Congratulations again.

Oh, look.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we get Milton in the background. All right. Now we are moving on to our regular agenda. Um 7A is on page 23 of your packet. Uh there there are two uh there are currently two positions open on the city's planning commission. The applicants uh being appointed tonight are long-term residents and have shown interest in being a contributing part of the city. The two applicants have also both attended a planning commission meeting as required. It is my recommendation uh to appoint Olaf Girtz to position one for a term to expire May 31st, 2029 and Bruce Turnis to position uh to position five for a term to expire May 31st uh 2027. I would uh entertain any motion from the floor.

Yes, Council Member Whan. I move to approve the mayor's recommendations to appoint Olive and I I need a little help in pronouncing the name. So Artsy GS pardon its Oh, that's it. Okay. To position number one and Bruce Turners to position number five of the planning commission.

I second the motion. All right, it's been uh moved and seconded. Are there is there any discussion? See Oh, seeing none are uh we have the we have the two um candidates here. Would either one of you like to uh come up and tell us a little about bit about yourselves? Bruce.

Hi, I'm Bruce. uh live in Milton and u just honored to be able to to serve in my community and um just uh want to thank you all for uh having an open door and allowing people to to you know serve in this capacity and just look forward to working with each and every one of you and all the other people that I'm joining. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor, for the opportunity. I look forward to working with all the planning commissioners and uh make good keep things going.

All right. Thank you both for uh stepping forward to serve. Um, it's been uh moved by uh Council Member Whan and seconded by Council Member Turnis to approve my recommendation to appoint Olaf Girtz and uh to position one and Bruce Turnis to position five of the planning commission. All in favor? I. Any oppose?

Motion passes. All right. The next item on the agenda tonight is on page uh 29 of your packet. Um it's also this is a reappointment to the events committee of Tiffany Harris. Tiffany Harris has been part of the events committee since 2014 and is a valued member. Tiffany brings knowledge and experience to the events committee that is necessary and welcome. Tiffany would like to remain part of the group once her current term expires for another four years. It is my recommendation to appoint Tiffany for another term. I would uh entertain a motion from the floor. Council member Ford.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the mayor's reappoint of Tiffany Harris to the events committee as of May 31st, 2026 for another term to expire May 31st, 2030. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any uh any discussion? Yes, Council Member Hall. I've seen Tiffany work tirelessly with the events committee. Um, and she's a vital part of past and the present and the future. So, I like to thank you very much, Tiffany.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, um it's been moved by council member for and seconded by council member Hall to approve my appointment of Tiffany Harris to the events committee as uh as of May 31st, 2026 for another term to expire May 31st uh 2030. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. All right, the next item on the agenda is item 7C on page 33 of your packet. Um, and this is Oh, an update to the U. Milton Municipal Code and Chief Hernandez will tell us all about it.

Good evening, council mayor and guests in the audience. Uh this is been a long-standing problem in the city and some of the longer ten serving tenur uh council members can attest to this and the issue with trucks using uh the city of Milton as a cutthrough for truck route traffic. And um the um chapter 1042 and what I want to do is repeal the old one and replace it with this new one. And so what I'm presenting tonight is um related to the truck routes. It's primary primarily a clarification and modernization effort to improve the enforcability and protect the infrastructure and reduce unintended truck traffic on our local streets. The Milton Police Department was notified by the administrator of the courts and our city attorney that with our current code in the current form that it is in, it is uh difficult to enforce and it the code needed to have a revision. And then after I took a closer look at it and talking with the attorney, we decided to go ahead and repeal the old code and replace it with this new modern code. And so some of the highlights I'll speak to a little bit. Under the current code, we designated specific trout truck routes, primary SR uh 161 and SR 999, but the language does not clearly prohibit trucks from using other city streets. This creates ambig ambigu ambiguity for both drivers and enforcement. The proposed update shifts to a much clearer framework. It establishes that trucks over 10,000 lbs are prohibited on on all city streets except for those designated state routes. This creates a default prohibition which is easier to understand, easier to apply signage, and easier to enforce. We also added clear operational rules for local deliveries. Trucks are still allowed when they have

a legitimate destination within the city, but they must use the most direct route and stay on the arterials whenever possible. This helps reduce the cut through traffic through the residential neighborhoods. Significant addition to this update is a 28 ft trailer length restriction which you'll see in the uh second page of the ordinance. It has a little depiction of a diagram uh to give an example of what that might look like uh so that it can provide clarity. Um this is a safety and infrastructure protection measure. Longer truck configurations create challenges with turning radius, visibility, and roadway roadway wear, particularly on smaller local streets. The ordinance also expands the authority of the public works director to establish load limits based on real world conditions such as weather, pavement condition, and traffic volumes. This gives us a more proactive and tool to approach to our roads. Additionally, we've added a clear exemption for utility vehicles, which was a gap in the current code. provided explicit authority for police officers to stop trucks and verify their destination and weight values when needed. And penalty structure remains unchanged at a $250 civil infraction. In summary, this new code clarifies where trucks can and cannot operate, improves enforcability, enhances neighborhood safety, and helps preserve city infrastructure. So, with that being said, I'll take any other questions that you might have. Any discussion on this item? Council member four. So, I have a a question about um just because I know the intent of this is uh going to be righteous, but I had a a time where I was um building building up my um driveway and my truck is 5,500 lb and I accidentally overloaded it way too

much and ended up over the 10,000 limit. Um could you speak to maybe people who are um not normally traveling this way? Kind of the intent of the law because I'm I'm sure you guys are trying to uh stop people from abusing basically what you know our roads rather than people who might make a mistake. Well, an example is is if you go up uh Milton Way right now at 900 Meridian, you'll see uh that there's uh one of our cross signals is taped together with duct or not duct tape, but electrical tape. And that was from a semi that went through there. And so from the diagram that you see on the second page of the ordinance, that's the illustration of the vehicles that we're trying to prohibit from using uh the city of Milton as a thoroughfare. And what happens is the the truck drivers with their CDL, they should know uh where the truck routes are, but some of them are just following what Google tells them to do. And so they're coming down uh through our side streets. And uh Porter, for example, will have trucks that will stall out. We've had to call tow trucks in. We've had telephones poles ripped out of the ground, the the pedestrian uh buttons ripped off. Um, so this is who we are trying to prevent from doing things that are damaging to the city, not the average citizen who is doing some work at home.

Thank you very much. Council member Turnis,

um, I was wondering how is will there be signage to post this um, for people the trucks that are coming and then also how will that be enforced? We have signage now, but in this ordinance, it's actually more comprehensive signage. And so I've had some discussions with public works director Madden about where that signage would be and look like. And um basically if you are if you aren't or are aware, truck routes are supposed to be if it's a no truck route, they're supposed to be um signs at the gateways into the jurisdiction where there is no trucks permitted. And so you'll notice if you you'll now you'll notice when you come in like at the bottom of Milton Way that there are signs, but it simply has a truck with a a slash through it. We're going to do a little bit more and that's actually written into the code if you look in here and it actually says what we're going to put on the signs and actually regulates how the size of the sign is so that we're able to in my opinion better communicate that clear this is a closed route.

Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion? Yes, Council Member Whan. Well, ju just a question because we have a lot of old signs up in the town that limit 10,000 pounds. Is that going to remain 10,000 pounds? Is that going to be also placed on other other cities within the city of Melbourne? Because that has grown significantly, right? And enforcement, I don't I don't know how easy it is to do. You got to be there to see them. You got to be there to estimate what they're doing. But are are they changing any?

Yes. And uh you want to speak to the signage at all? Uh you've got a fine Yeah. detailed out right here. Yeah. So anyways, I will say that this administration is much more open to allowing more signage uh throughout the city. And so our intent in having our discussion and talking with our mayor is that there will be more signage so that clearly it's easily seen and communicated. Uh but I will say if you are a CDL holder, you know where the truck routes are. So but we still will be adding more signage with different language and we will keep the old signs

and that's going to put a little more burden upon your department. it will in the sense of that we have been aware that we've had this gap and needed to do the code change. And so the the challenge for us is always if we're going to stop a semi on Milton Way, where are we going to stop them because there's no shoulder on Milton Way? That's where the event that's where the event is taking place. Right. Right. So we have to follow them basically out of the jurisdiction until we can get to a safe place that we can actually pull them over. So you know all of those safe places where their their route may be taking them and you can anticipate yes that necessity to stop them there. Yes. The biggest

outside of our district outside of our our district. We're allowed to stop outside our jurisdiction if the violation occurred in our city. Mhm. Um, and again, it's always challenging, but this gives us better teeth to be able to write the infraction because again, we were challenged on this and the attorney and the court said, "Nope, you need to rewrite your code. It's better than we're doing now. I hope it's more successful than we're doing now." Yeah.

Thank you, Council Member Hall. I have noticed before this that um the semi-truckss would come up way come up 10th go up Emerald since those bumps have been put in. I don't see them doing that. Is that a good deterrent or is that just maybe I'm just not noticing them since the what were put in? Since the speed bumps were put in. Oh. through there or I don't maybe I don't hear them. I don't see them.

Well, speed bumps are always going to be what we call environmental design deterrence to slow drivers down. So, that's been part of our traffic calming program that Director Madden has been working on. As citizens come and they complain and they identify areas that clearly are problematic, we try to address those. we um do a speed study to see if it's appropriate because we also have to comply with the traffic manual uh to make sure that we're just not arbitrarily throwing these things out in different places. So, they are working. They are definitely working. Absolutely. Yes, Council Member Wher.

Anybody else? I didn't want to interrupt anybody else's. Maybe everybody's had a turn. Okay. Yeah. Are we going to use cameras any place to identify this to assist police department in executing this? No. So, right. We currently don't that's not something that is permissible under the current RCW regulating uh traffic cameras. It's not no not for truck traffic on a truck on a non-truck route. That's not something that's written in there. Is it forbidden to do? It may not be written in. Is it forbidden to do?

Well, I haven't been asked that question, but I can certainly check into it with uh our vendor to see whether what they're doing in other jurisdictions, but to my knowledge, it's if it's not in the law, it's not permissible because the Washington state has been very um proactive about framing exactly how u camera to cameras will be deployed throughout the jurisdictions. So maybe next public safety meeting we can we can certainly uh round table and discuss that. Thank you.

All right. Any further discussion? All right. This is a uh just a discussion item. This will be coming back as an action item um on the council meeting of April 20th. All right. The last item on our agenda today is the purchase of replacement public works vehicles and uh public works director Madden will be presenting this item. Thank you, mayor, council. Uh the item before you tonight is both an action item and an expenditure. The uh 2026 asset replacement fund has budgeted $240,000 for vehicle replacement. Uh the city is seeking the council authority to replace the three budgeted vehicles and in addition uh public works is requesting council authority to replace van number 57. That van is a 2017 Nissan 22 200 and uh I think of it as a transit connect. So that is our water quality van and right now they're working out of a minivan. What we would like to do is have council's authority uh to have a full-size van that we can have uh adequate space for both staging of materials to reduce trip um and also uh create a lab space inside where we can do field laboratory um in a more sterile environment. So the quest tonight um the additional vehicles, so the three budgeted vehicles under the 240 and then the additional van um all of those vehicles together are uh would not ex would not exceed $260,000. Um and then the additional 20,000 delta between what was budgeted and what we're requesting. um there's adequate funding uh within the water asset replacement

budget to replace that van vehicle that we had discussed earlier. The other three vehicles, um, two of them are Ram 2500 crew cabs, one for storm, one for, uh, water and street. And then the third vehicle is for our water department. And that is a, um, just an extended cab, um, Ram 1500. And uh all of those vehicles are in excess of 60 to 100,000 miles um outside of the Nissan van, which we intend to repurpose for our storm water compliance department. Um other vehicles were considered for the selection process. Uh EV vehicles, we've talked about those in the past. Um but due to Milton's terrain power outputs and emergency equipment um tag the above mentioned considerations were the vehicles that we are putting forth for council approval tonight. Um so my uh my end uh recommended action is move to approve the purchase of four public works vehicles not to exceed 260,000 and authorize the mayor to sign all documents necessary to execute these purchases.

All right. All right, I'd entertain a motion. Council member Whan, I'm not sure if anybody has a question before action was recommended because I'm about to recommend the action. Yeah. and then we can we can have a discussion after move to approve the purchase of four public works vehicles not to exceed $260,000 and authorize the mayor to sign documents necessary to execute the purchase. Second.

It's been moved by uh it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Oh, I have no other I have no nothing else to add. Yes, Council Member Turnis. Hi. Um, thank you, Mayor. I was just wondering, um, again, it's stated that they're being purchased through North Sound Dwayne Lane, and is there a reason why we purchased specifically from this dealership? Uh, that dealership was quoted on the state contract um with the best available price. Okay. And was that um a bid that was submitted out for other dealerships or just this one?

So when we go to state contract, those are locked in pricing that the state has already procured through a bid process. Um and so that is where the the city just as the PD does um we go through that state contract to procure those vehicles through state contract. All right. Thank you. Any additional discussion? Um, Council Member Hall, would you like to speak to your second? That's okay. We're good. Uh, yes, I do, but um, fine on it. So, the you've got two vehicles you're going to be able to repurpose and then two will be sent to auction or uh, three will be sent to auction, one will be repurposed. Okay.

And of the three, we may drag our feet on one of those. Uh, two of them have significant transmission issues and a city on a hill, not a great thing. So, we uh those will go to auction and I'll be bringing back a surplus request for those vehicles. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional discussion? This is an action item. Is there any uh comments from the from the public? Yes. Oh,

Milton, Washington. Just a quick question. Will there be additional costs to outfit these vehicles? And is that part of what's included in the motion? Thank you. Yes, all outfitting costs are included in the motion. And we included all of the options available uh in your packets. So you can see how um economical our team is being with our our purchase options. These are pretty slim uh barebone vehicles um outside of the required tooling um and service boxes that we need. Any additional comments from the public?

All right. Seeing none, it has been moved by council member Whan and seconded by council member Hall to approve the purchase of four public works vehicles not to exceed $260,000 and authorize the mayor to sign all documents necessary to execute these purchases. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Just a a closing comment. Yes, this information is very helpful. all everything that needs to be added and so forth. Look at the depth of what the equipment needs. We we did not get the lariat package. Yes, we no leather at this time. Well, I was looking for the leather seats, but no.

Yes. Thank you. No, no. This is very helpful. It's more than we generally see and it gives us an idea of everything that gets the cost and so forth. So, it's much easier to accept. Thank you. Thank you. Um, now moving on to council reports. We'll start with uh Council Member Poor today.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I spoke with uh uh Council Member Mounts and she also had some uh complaints about Easy Fiber. So, uh, I felt that it could be appropriate to at a minimum, um, kind of use next week's, um, meeting to get a check-in about Easy Fiber and kind of what's been going on and maybe some of the, uh, issues that are expressed by Mr. Al, sorry, is it Almarez? Thank you. um as well as any others that we're aware of that uh maybe be addressed and uh what kind of actions or options that the city has to hold Easy Fiber accountable.

Council, thank you, mayor. Um I too have had concerns with Easy Fiber and thank you for bringing this forward. I hadn't heard about the gas line issues. So, I mean, that is a huge and I had expressed um last meeting that I just felt like it was an accident waiting to happen. And so, I I'm a walker and so I go down 15th and they have fixed some things, but there's still some things that definitely need to be addressed and that's on one street. So, um I definitely think easy fibers definitely is an issue that we need to deal with. Thank you,

Council Member Whan. Well, thank you. And I I just want to make a comment for evenness and fairness across the council and I appreciate the conversation that I walked into here that was already in the middle of the conversation. I missed half. Now, I don't know how best to advise you to be sure that when a citizen talks and is talking to council, even it's before our start time and some of the council's not here that we make an exception maybe that give the individual a little more time to talk precisely or it's got to be when we're all here so we all hear what's being said not half of it just just an advisory that's and it's generally how the council has always worked you, somebody may want to have a private discussion with one of the council members and so forth, but if we don't all hear what's being said, we're left in the middle trying to figure out where the where they started, where this led and so forth. And I think I've gained enough information, but to to fit the policies that we're supposed to live by, it's if one council member is here and they hear this and so and another one comes and hears a little more and so forth and somebody comes in a m minute or two late, it's disproportional. So consider what I'm

and and we did we did start the meeting late because we needed at least four council members here uh to have a quorum today. So that's why we didn't start on time. No, you started before time. No, it was it was 7:02 when we started. I walked in and the conversation was taking place and I was here 15 minutes before it started and we had a council member come in a minute or two later.

So it's disproportional what we all gain by listening to and appropriately listening to a citizen. Just keep that in mind. You can you can go back to the minutes and and listen to them. That's the setup. That conversation was taking place before I got here and I believe it was only two council members that were here who gained the full context of that discussion.

Okay. And and and I I hear you, but we will start on time when we're able and any any conversation you're having before the meeting can continue after the meeting. But we're not we're not going to uh delay starting the meeting just because you're having a conversation with someone in the audience. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for every council member to hear what all other council members may have heard prior to the meeting started. Well, I don't I don't know how you're going to be able to enforce that because we can't because you ask somebody just not to wait and talk at the appropriate time. Well,

because we don't hear it. You could have done that today. You could have you could have not spoken with him and told him to wait until his time. I wanted to hear at least as much as you still willing to talk about even though I was here about 8 minutes before the meeting started. Okay. But it was it was in process. Okay. We can we can take this conversation offline. Um no, I think it's appropriate to do in front of the general public and Okay. Well, then I will put my foot down and say that we will be starting the meetings on time. Yes. When we have a when we have a quorum regardless of what conversations are going on in the audience.

Well, the conversations that going out in the office was directed at council and part of the council wasn't here to hearings and it would it went on. I missed a lot of things. Now, I'm going to ask the gentleman to to participate with me and give me a little bit more information that I may not have had the advantage of listened to it. I'm sorry. I apologize. I didn't know the procedure correctly. That was an informal formal conversation. I don't know when I can get the council. So, just fine. You didn't you didn't do anything wrong, sir. I'm sorry. I'm listening to I just want to apologize for the confusion.

What you missing all the way and again okay it's okay let's let's uh let's finish our meeting and then you can have this conversation offline with this is part of the meeting. This is this is this is this part of the process of this meeting the way it's conducted itself it's it's out of order to have a back and forth conversation with someone in the audience. It's not out of order for me to express my concern is that it it's not and you may continue. Point of order. Yes. Point of order. Correct. What is your point of order? Oh, just calling point of order. Okay.

Council member Whan, are you you may continue with with your comments. I I'm sorry. I can't understand you sometimes because of the way you distance the microphone. Tell me again what you were just saying. I just called point of order because this is a discussion that needs to happen after like we're still in council and this isn't on the agenda. So it's a separate item. So I'm calling point of order for this meeting to continue in the manner this meeting should continue in as the council meeting for tonight on the agenda. And council member Whan, you may continue to make your comment. I'm

I'm I'm sorry. I still have a hard time with the hearing and everybody else is probably doing great, but I don't. Please say that again. You have the floor. You may continue your council report. Oh, thank you. Nothing to say. No council report. Okay. All right. Moving on to council member Hall.

Um Thank you for our wonderful staff on the storm water issues as far as the flooding and they did a wonderful job of addressing it when it happened. Um there are some concerns maybe we need to be really looking at at budget what is needed and where we need to um address those issues so that it's not breaching the road you know I would really appreciate that I walk I see it um it's not good for our roads it's certainly not good for our yards Um, so I would really like to have a good discussion on the storm water. Um, thank you Carlina. Good job. Um, I think this is something very special. Um, congratulating and um, a thank you goes a long way to an employee. Um, and when it comes from the top, it's very much appreciated. Uh the only other thing I have I have some comments on the sandwich boards in these I know these signs. Sorry. Uh you know the sandwich boards are not being taken down before and you know after the event. Um one was being used as a skateboard. One was in Meridian. Um you know they're out in the road. Uh we had a junk one that's went up found them on the road with the nail still in it up in the road. Um so if we could just get those things and and probably the businesses don't know that it's

against code maybe just a simple call would would take care of most of those. So it seems to be a sore spot for walkers. I'm not sure why, but that's I hear a lot of that. Thank you. Thank you. And I don't have uh much this evening. Oh, wait. It's uh it's director report time. Sorry. Uh planning manager stalenecker. Um I just wanted to share um I guess you'd say some good news. Um, we had applied for a grant from the Department of Commerce back in I think January and at the time they had run out of money before they got to our application. I got an email last week that they um I don't remember if it if they ended up not handing out as much money or exactly what it was, but anyway, they ended up um accepting our application. And so, um, and and this will come back, the actual contract will come back to council with a little bit more details, but I just want to share that, um, this is a grant for $480,000. It will help us. There's a couple sub elements part of the comp plan that we will be required to do by the next update. Um, and so these will actually they were optional for this update and they're they need to be done. And so that's what this money is for. So we will be able to do um what's called a resiliency sub element which kind of ties in with hazardous mitigation. Um it will also be an element for green uh greenhouse gas emission reductions. And then there's also money left for what they call implementation. And so what we had proposed is do some updating. We have an urban forestry plan that's really really old. Um currently as we know that we the planning commission is working on some tree preservation code.

This would be um an extensuation of that, a study of what is our existing tree canopy, where are areas of need and um our we put in there. Our hope is to be able to maybe even at the end have plenty of money left to maybe purchase trees, allow giving trees away to residents and are looking at areas that we can make things more walkable. So, um it's quite a bit of money. Um we will be working with framework our consultant and um like I said it'll come back later but I just wanted to share that that was a nice surprise and um their money is um there's no matching grant. It's just as long as we do the things we have committed to do they reward us with that money. So appreciate that.

Public works director Madden.

I just want to thank council and the mayor for acknowledging our team members. Uh Carlina since joining the team in January of 24 um has been an amazing member uh both with her internal communication, customer service, and followthrough. What most people probably don't know is she's the first point of contact when most of you or any resident would call the city. So, she's taking that information in. She's writing the work orders for our team. She's uh defining whether the customer calling wants uh follow-up information or not. And so she does so much for our team. Uh she's involved in every aspect of our different departments down there. So I thank you for acknowledging her. That's all I have.

All right. Finance uh director Robeck. I don't have any additional comments other than um to echo what um public works director Madden just said about Carlina. We were work the finance department works very closely with her and her work is just always amazing and her attitude is terrific as well. It's great to hear. Police Chief Hernandez,

uh I just wanted to tee up for the council, let them know that I'll be bringing uh a code adoption for animal services. Uh currently, if you go to our animal services or our animal code, uh it says C Sumner. And so what we're going to be doing basically is taking Sumner's code, which we've been using for since I've been here 12 years, uh, and changing it from Sumar to the city of Milton. And so we will have our own code. So you no longer will go to our code and click a link and go to Sumar. We will have our own code. It'll it'll have throughout it the city of Milton, City of Milton. And with that, we are going to be discontinuing our agreement with Metro Services. Um, we conducted an audit and working with the mayor and the rest of the leadership team and we feel that we can save the city about $80,000 by taking the services inhouse and we're just going to increase that workload into the police department which the workload is actually quite minimal. So the return that we've been getting on the amount of money that we've been spending on animal services uh just is no longer sustainable. And so, um, we're going to be, we already have two officers that have been to animal control school and have been trained, and those are specifically for animal cruelty investigations. Um, they're not for the day-to-day operations of handling the animals. And then we went and we had a meeting with the Pierce County Humane Society. Uh, and they are the ones that will be taking our inounds, our lost and founds, uh, self-surrender by city residents. And through that partnership, that's where we get the real savings of about $80,000 more or less. And so I'll be bringing that uh later on this month for you guys uh to adopt. And I think it's going to be a great thing for the city as far as the potential savings. And uh surprisingly enough, our officers are

very excited about taking on this new role. Um the matter of the fact is that usually uh animal services that we've currently been working with, they only work normal business hours Monday through Friday. And so if something happens after 5:00, the department's been handling it anyways. If it happens um on a weekend, the department has been handling it as well. Uh and we have a kennel already in the back. We've already worked out the drop offs with Pierce County that we can drop off 24 hours a day. And the uh humane society is just located down in the valley in Tacoma there. So it's it's 10 minutes and the officer can have the animal to where it needs to go. Um and they will adopt any of our rules. So Pierce County Humane Society works with uh different jurisdictions throughout Pierce County and they apply. So when a person comes there, they look at whatever jurisdiction they're from. They say, "Where are you from?" Say from the city of Milton. they go through our code and make sure that they're complying. Um, and one of the things that we'll also be doing is working out the fee schedule, which we in the past have had Sumner's fee schedule because we adopted wholesale their animal code. We will be creating our own fee schedule, which we're keeping the same for now, but we're going to build it into the city's fee schedule. So, anyways, stand by and uh wait for it. And just in case you had any doubts about my background, when I was a director in the sheriff's department, I h I had was given animal services from the health department and I took over administration of that department and uh I served 2,000 square miles of animal services and that was just one of my collateral duties. So I'm very familiar with uh how to run an animal control uh department. So we won't have any issues.

Yes, Council Member Whan,

a a a question for you if you don't mind and so forth. The expenditures that we presently have now, if I'm hearing it correctly, and what we can do ourselves is about an $80,000 difference. But that doesn't mean our expenses are going to be less 80,000 less because we're going to have to expenses to other organizations to receive to support to provide equipment and so forth. Maybe a place we have a dog kennel out here that well a a poodle would have a good time in that one. A Rottweiler would not have a good time in there. So, I'm just saying that there there will probably be some additional expenses that will apply for the city and right now it's not known, but I think what you're doing is appropriate in town and so forth, but it will cost us a little bit more. Maybe less than the 80,000 we're spending somewhere else, but it doesn't mean we're going to reduce that cost by 80,000. Currently, we're spending about 120,000. And so, I actually have done an audit and an analysis of what I think our operating costs are going to be to provide that service. And I've also worked with the finance department anticipating. So, that's why I say 80,000 cuz I'm still anticipating $40,000 of expenses. But, we have partnered on that cost part that you're talking about with the the animals being sheltered and so forth. The difference is is that the rather than the city fronting the expense, the owner will have to front the expense to get their animal out of the humane society. So, we're changing it a little bit instead of incurring the cost. We were subsidizing the uh animal or the uh

humane society over in Metro Services. And with this, the Humane Society is a nonprofit as is the Sumar one, but it's more um driven on the people that incur the costs are the ones that pay for that cost rather than the city having to pay for that. So if if I'm registering this correctly and so forth, the expense of citizens may go up to support the city of Milton,

not to the city. It will be if your animal is the one that was impounded because of your negligence, then you're going to be the one that has to pay the fee to get your animal out of hawk. Uh they do have programs though for people that uh have social economic issues or mental health issues and they can apply for those programs through the Pierce County Humane Society. So there is a level of equity to it, but the idea is trying to, and I know that you've been a big proponent about the city not subsidizing uh things that should be paid for by the people that are causing the expense. And so this is just shifting that burden to the people that actually cause or make the call for service.

It's healthy. Yes,

I like the idea. I like the concept and so forth. It's also going to take an officer's time in in many cases and so forth. And I know they time is a constraint on the efficiency of a police department. You know, they're cycled off to this, but I I I appreciate knowing this. That's why we uh worked out a 24-hour drop off policy with the Pierce County Humane Society, and we do have a holding kennel to be able to place animals in. So the animal might sit in the kennel until there is a slack time or we have adequate staffing for that animal to be delivered to the humane society. So it might be a 2:00 in the morning drop off. So basically the humane society has a holding area that if you are uh a partner with them, you have a code, you're allowed to get into the building and put them into these holding facilities.

Yeah. in our small holding facility as it might be out there and so forth may not be up to standards as the world looks at care of animals. So that may be an investment, but that's a one-time investment. I like the idea and the concept. So thank you. Well, and you'd be surprised. Our department does the best to return animals that are at large back to the owners. And there's been many times where you've probably seen on social media uh a happy dog in the police department wandering around being spoiled and tripetted and given treats. And so that's just the way we roll in the city of Milton. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Thank you, Chief. All right. Now, we're on to the mayor's report. And like I was saying earlier, I don't have uh much other than uh to um remind the the public that we have two open positions on the park committee. And um the park committee actually at this point is the only committee that has has openings. So, if uh if you know anyone or if you would uh would like to step up and volunteer on on our parks committee, please do uh apply on our website or contact me directly and I'll uh I'll make sure that you uh you get an application. And uh with that, is there anything else for this evening? Uh seeing that all agenda items have been concluded, I adjourn this meeting at 8:01.