City Council - Regular Meeting

meeting of the King County Council. I'm Sarah Perry, Chair of the Council this year, joined by Vice Chairs Jorge Barron and Reagan Dunn and our Council colleagues today. This meeting is called to order. Before we begin, please join me in acknowledging that we are on the traditional lands of the Puget Salish peoples past and present. We thank these caretakers of this land who've lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our communities. I also want to take a moment to observe a moment of silence for the members of our community who lost their lives in the tragic and senseless violence gun violence this past weekend at the bite of Seattle. Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. Clerk Hay, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci?

Here.

Council Member Barone?

Here.

Council Member Demboski? Here. Council Member Dunn?

Here.

Council Member Vane? Here. Council Member Lewis? Here. Council Member Mosqueda? Here. Council Member Ron-Mike Bauer? Here. Chair Perry?

Here. We have a full quorum. Thank you very much. Next, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic by which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Turning next to a special item, which is the recognition of the Freedom Plane, documents that forged a nation exhibit at MOHAI. This will be presented by both me and Council Member Barone.

One moment.

Council Member Barone, are you ready to join me?

I'm ready, Chair. Great.

I don't have my colors here, so I'm going to go ahead and just start and we'll just share. I'm pleased to co-sponsor this proclamation with Council Member Dunn and supported in the reading of it by Council Member Barone recognizing the National Archives exhibit to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The exhibit is called Freedom Plane, Documents that Forged a Nation, and you can visit it from Let me see. You can visit it from July 30th to August 16th at our very own Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. King County is one of few counties nationwide to host this historically significant exhibit, which gives all of us a rare opportunity to view some of the foundational documents that helped shape our nation, including an original engraving of the Declaration of Independence, Secret printing of the Constitution in draft form and the Treaty of Paris and Bill of Rights. It's really something to see. Historical knowledge and deep understanding of our civic origins of our country are essential to maintaining the strength of our Constitution, the resilience of our democracy, and the values of freedom and justice for all that were and continue to be the vision for this great nation. I hope that through this proclamation and through spreading the word about this exhibit, you'll join me in taking time to reflect on the history and ideals of our nation, including one moment. and hope you'll also join us in participating in civic life because we are all in the government, by and for the government, and our communities thrive when we all lean in and are engaged in our neighborhoods, communities, and local governments. Councilmember Barone and I will now read the proclamation, and afterward, I'll invite Anthony Long from the Museum of History and Industry, LOHI, to share a few words. Whereas the Museum of History and Industry has long served as the Pacific Northwest's preeminent institution for preserving and interpreting the history of our region, fostering public understanding of the people, ideas, industries, and events that have shaped our communities and nation and

Whereas in 2026, the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, marking a historic milestone in the nation's ongoing pursuit of liberty, self-governance and democratic ideals and

Whereas the Freedom Plane documents that forged a nation national tour organized in partnership with the National Archives will provide members of the public with a rare opportunity to view foundational historical documents that helped shape the United States and define the principles upon which the nation was established and

Whereas King County has been selected as 1 of only a limited number of host regions nationwide for this extraordinary exhibition, reflecting both the national significance of the tour and the leadership of the Museum of history and industry as a trusted steward of historical education and civic engagement and.

Whereas the Freedom Plane Exhibition will offer residents, students, families, and visitors throughout King County an opportunity to engage directly with the nation's history, deepen their understanding of the American democratic experiment, and reflect on the enduring importance of civic participation, constitutional governance, and the preservation of historical memory and

Whereas at a time when civic understanding and historical literacy remain essential to the strength of democratic institutions, exhibitions that connect communities with the nation's founding history serve an important public purpose and help inspire future generations to participate in civic life. And, oh, no, that's it.

Now, therefore, we, the Metropolitan King County Council, recognize the Freedom Plane, documents that forged a nation, national tour, and celebrate the Museum of History and Industry for bringing this nationally significant exhibition to Seattle and King County during the 250th anniversary of the United States, dated this 28th day of July, 2026, and signed by all members of the King County Council. Thank you very much for joining me in that, Council Member Barone. I'd like to now invite Anthony Long from the Museum of History and Industry to share a few words.

Thank you, Chair Perry. Good afternoon, Chair Perry.

Good afternoon, yes.

Council Member Barone, Council Member Dunn, the entire County Council, and friends from across King County. My name is Anthony Long, and I'm the Executive Associate and Board Relations Manager at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. We are extremely honored to receive this proclamation and to be recognized by the County Council. MOHA is proud to offer this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our community to experience our nation's founding documents before they return to the nation's National Archives vaults. We are especially proud to have been recognized by the Council for connecting to our nation's founding history for America 250 and to showcase the ideals of democracy and freedom in their original form. We hope you all get the chance to visit us during the Freedom Plains exhibit run from July 30th to August 16th. Thank you to the entire King County Council and most importantly, our community. We are grateful for your support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Long, for joining us and for hosting this. And we're proud to be a part of this. Thank you very much. We'll now turn to reading of the items into the record into the hearing of public comments before the clerk reads the items into the record by server own. May I please have a motion to relieve the employment and administration committee of item? 12.

Smooth share.

Thank you. The motion is before us all those in favor say, aye aye aye. All those opposed say, nay. Nation motion is approved with that clerk Haley please read the items into the record.

Thank you, Chair Perry. Item four is the recognition of Freedom Plane documents that Forge Donation exhibit at Mojai. Item six is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0126 related to the King County Employee Code of Ethics. Item seven is proposed ordinance number 2026-0189, approving and adopting the memorandum of agreement negotiated by and between King County and ProTech 17, representing engineering services manager employees in the Department of Natural Resources and Parks and establishing the effective date of set agreements. Item eight is proposed for December 2026-0196, approving and adopting the coalition labor agreement and negotiated by and between King County and the King County Coalition of Unions representing employees in the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the Department of Local Services and the Department of Executive Services and establishing the effective date of the agreements. Item 11 is proposed motion number 2026-0115, confirming the executive's appointment of Juan Cato, resides in Council District 2 to the Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium Public Facilities District Board of Directors. Item 12 is proposed motion number 2026-0197, a motion approving the job description for the position of Inspector General. And item 25 is proclamation celebrating August 15, 2026 as India's 80th Independence Day.

Thank you very much. Do we have, we're going to turn now to public comment. Do we have folks in the room or online with us to provide public comment today? We have both. We have both. Okay. We'll now take public comment on those ordinances, motions, proclamations, and recognitions on today's agenda for action and any topics directly related to county business as this is the fourth Tuesday of the month. Listening to public and taking into consideration the public's thoughts is an important part of our process and 1 that greatly enhances our deliberations in order to allow everyone equal time to provide comment. Please recognize the following chamber ground rules. Please limit your comments to 2 minutes remain seated until time for comment and do not make audible noise during the meeting without being recognized. It's also a reminder that public comment may not be used for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. Speakers should address their comments directly to the chair per council rules. Disruptive behavior can or may lead to an audience member being asked to leave the meeting or be muted. In addition to behavior already mentioned, disruptive behavior would include holding signs at the podium and the use of bullhorns or noisemakers not allowed. For online comment, press star 9 on the phone or click the raised hand icon on the Zoom toolbar located at the bottom of the screen to notify the clerk. The clerk will call the names or the last three digits of the phone numbers in order and will then unmute each line, lowering the hands then after the comment is completed. With that, Clerk Foss, please begin calling the names in person followed by those hands raised online for public comment.

Thank you, chair. The first name on the list is Tamara.

Hello, my name is Tamara. I'm on the board of the directors of the Newport Hills townhomes located at 5800 123rd Avenue. Southeast Bellevue Reagan done. This is your district. We share a significant property border with the new quarter. It's apartments owned by King County. on 119th Avenue Southeast. On the new quarter side of the border is a densely populated row of well-established coniferous trees that in my 13 years of living in this immediate area has never been pruned, nor have the overgrown English ivy been cut back. These trees were planted about six feet apart, giving absolutely no consideration to the adult size of the trees and their root systems. This neglect has unfortunately caused thousands of dollars in undue costs to the homeowners of the privately owned townhomes, which affects about 250 units, which were built in 1967. So you can imagine we have a lot of costs going on right now with plumbing. Um, we've repaired sidewalks and parking lots over the years for problems. We have not created by root damage from your trees. We sent this letter to King County housing authority on July 1st, alerting them to the situation and asking them to basically do the right thing and be responsible neighbors. Well, if you've ever heard the sound of crickets. You can insert that right here as if the tree damage isn't bad enough. Now we realize there is a rat infestation coming directly from the new quarter onto our property. We've seen them traveling, and there are highways underneath that border property fence. We've paid thousands to control the rat problem. We simply cannot continue to absorb your costs. There's also several restaurant businesses and a strip mall nearby that appear to possibly be contributing to the problem as well by not limiting access to their dumpsters. On behalf of the homeowners of the Newport Hill townhomes, please do the right thing. Communities thrive when we all lean in and do the right thing. Please, please.

Thank you. Was that the timer that I heard? I'm sorry? That is the timer for two minutes. Okay. Thank you very much for your comments. Thank you.

Appreciate that.

The next thing on the list is Mike Rosenberg.

Good afternoon, King County Council members. My name is Mark Rosenberger. I reside in unincorporated King County. Today I'm here again representing the Remington Homeowners Association and the surrounding communities that have expressed their opposition to the redevelopment of the Drew's Glen Golf Course and primarily for the ecosystem impact that it will have for all of King County residents. Today I wish to provide you a brief update and a thank you. When I speak of protecting the ecosystem within Jewish Plains, I'm referring to the local geographical area where the forest, ponds, streams, plants, animals, landscape, all that works together to shape this region for King County. Recently, we held a community meeting focused on protection of the environment. It was well attended. Currently, we're in collaboration with the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council for their experience in land development within unincorporated King County. If the preliminary land development application to eliminate the golf course and develop a gated community of elite homes were to advance to a development permit application, we call upon King County to declare a termination of significance, which will require a full environmental impact statement, along with following all of the Washington State environmental policies. Also note that in 1998, the King County Assessment Office declared this property as open space land for all of King County and granted it special taxation rates. Therefore, we also call upon King County to address all the open land space penalties if there's parcel of land were to be redeveloped into a housing community. I'd like to extend a special thank you to Council Members Reagan Dunn, Pete Von Rickfire, and Stephanie Fain for their support. In closing, again, I'd like to extend all of the Council Members an opportunity to visit group, the Drew's Clinton Golf Course and take into all the environmental impacts that I'm speaking about. If the same picture is worth a thousand words, a personal experience is worth a million words. Thank you for allowing me time today to bring this to your attention.

Thank you.

The next name on the list is Margaret Sekijima.

Hello, everyone. My name is Margaret Sekijima. I'm a Sansei that is a third generation immigrants from Japan. When I am able, I go to King County Airport, so this is about deportations at the airport, which happen three to four times a week. Today, right now as we speak, there is a second airplane bringing in prisoners from other detention centers to ours near Tacoma. taking 71 men and six women out, and we're awaiting the second arrival. I do this because I believe that if something big is not witnessed, it does not happen. It's as if the people who are being deported, thank you for your faces, are faceless and don't count as human beings. In 1942, two sides of my immediate and extended family were taken. by bus and then by train to an unknown place, which happened to be Minidoka on Indian land in Idaho, where they were incarcerated for three years without due process, accused and suspected of collaborating with the Imperial Army of Japan against the United States. Half of those people who were taken away were, as my parents were, citizens of the United States. They had lost all their civil rights. And that is happening today. And what is I'm here most concerned is that people in Seattle in the United States and the county don't know people are being disappeared like they are in third world countries. But here in our beloved country, people are being disappeared by the scores daily out of King County Airport. We were promised that we could see it, witness it, and we do not have clear access to those people.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Yes, thank you for your time. Please make this right. It breaks my heart and makes me furious. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Agenda number four, I hear the word freedom. I don't understand, where is freedom in King County? King County, number one fascist county in America. There's only one fascist county, what is it, Trump list. What is freedom you talk? Ten years ago you changed rules, so right now we can speak only one time per month for two minutes. Is this a freedom of speech? You are more dangerous than Hitler, Nazi, Gestapo. I explained to you why. Because Hitler, Nazi, Gestapo don't have constitution for 250 years in freedom of speech. What is you talking about? Freedom? Freedom for who? For fascists who live here, but as I call them, Nazi, Gestapo, fascist, junta, that's exactly who you are. You understand this or not? Because I come to this place and speak in the consulate chamber from Tacoma, Seattle, in Everett, more than 45 years. You are real fascists. You are real Nazis. You are more dangerous, I repeat, than Hitler, Nazi, Gestapo. Hitler don't have constitution. We have constitution for 250 years. Freedom of speech for 200 years. You not care. You cut everything. One day per month for two minutes, you give us freedom of speech. You did this 10 years ago. Remember? I remember. Before people can come, American citizens can come and speak about everything. But you don't want this because you're Nazi big. We were Trump. We were new American revolution. Stimped up slap and happy cow. How many seconds I have?

120.

Okay, good. Guys, and I'm talking about these rules for many years, from the beginning, when you started doing it ten years ago. Can you explain to me why people like Consul Balducci and Consul Regan Bauer for five, six years never have in-person speech? Can you explain to me? Is this a freedom? Huh? Nazi pig.

Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.

Yes, welcome, my friend. Next on the list is Glenn Stockwell.

Hello, Chair Whelan and council members. My name is Glenn Stockwell. I've come before you today, and I have a handout here. And what it represents, I've given it to the clerk and also a cup for project cup for you. Patty Murray has the opportunity to bring our country's largest economic development and job project to Washington State in our history. And The project is already pre funded. It was a. 1.2 trillion dollars signed by Joe Biden. Uh, and, uh, the project that we want to fund is the completion of the Columbia Basin project. In eastern Washington, and also the expansion. Of the port districts in western Washington. And, uh. This is an opportunity we've only had once before during Governor Gregoire's administration. And it gives the governor an opportunity to change his mind and go into a special session and target his efforts into acquiring the monies for this project. And hopefully during the special session, he will rescind what has taken place on the taxation and et cetera, and on the income tax. And since he's a chess master, I think he's looking for other alternatives, hopefully. He thinks he's going to be reelected, but I don't understand how he expects to be reelected. But with your help, I'm asking you to send a letter to Senator Patty Murray asking her to go out and try to acquire the funds for this project. It'll help Eastern and Western Washington for the next 100 years, and it'll help save Social Security. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony.

I'm going to stumble, so I apologize in advance. I am an observer of ice flights at King County Airport. I'm here today to talk about safety at King County Airport. I'm here to talk about ending the use of chains on ice flights at King County Airport. And your name, please? Justina Guyot.

Thank you.

It's happening right now. I'm here to inform each of you that the King County Council has the ability to end the use of chains on ICE flights at King County Airport. You have the authority. We gave you the authority to work on behalf of the people when we voted you into office. Washington State RCW gives you their authority to regulate the airport. FAA regulations exist that prohibit transporting people in chains shackled at the ankles, wrists, and waist. King county code title 15 gives you the authority to take action. You have the tools. The primary management compliance document, and the supplemental rules and regulations for King county airport. Call out the King county council's authority to supplement amend adopt rules. Or adopt rules, regulations or directives. The calls out the primary purpose of the regulations as airport user safety. That includes passengers, all passengers who fly in and out of King county. You have the responsibility no part of the regulations with no part of the federal use agreement with key county airport allows. The illegal and unsafe practice of transporting people in shackles. The FAA recognizes the fact that people flown in chains cannot take the required action to save their own lives. The Council needs to hold the Department of Homeland Security, airport operations, and pilots accountable for existing regulations. I'm asking you to find the courage to stand up and stop the largest transport of people in chains since the end of slavery. It's what Dr. King would expect of you. It's what the people of King County are calling for. And it's serious violations of safety rules affecting hundreds of passengers.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. You each have a packet. Thank you for your testimony. Please take the time to read the packets that I gave to the clerk. Thank you for your testimony.

The next name on the list is Angela Beck.

Good afternoon. My name is Angela deputy. I am a resident of the Columbia city neighborhood in Seattle. I'm here to speak about my concerns related to deep rotation flight observations. At King county international airport as a weekly flight observer volunteer, I can confirm firsthand that geo ISIS contractor. Purposely parks their vehicles on the tarmac at angles that obstruct our limited camera coverage. This is a very, very serious concern because this impedes our ability to observe and track who is being detained and how they are being treated. Observations are critical to make sure that all detainees are treated respectfully and humane. We ask that you take steps to keep GEO from hiding their activities by making sure buses are parked in a way that does not obstruct flight observers' view. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

Hello, everyone, my name is. And I've been observing the ice deportation flights. Since 2023, I came here today to talk about the online log, which the county has, which tracks these flights. The King County airport website states that by order of King County executive in 2023. Reaffirmed in 2026. King County maintains a log of federal immigration and customs enforcement flights operating to and from our airport. However, since the first executive order in 2003 passed, we have never had the numbers of people being brought in or out shared with community members. This is mentioned within the 2023 executive decree, and it has yet to happen. I find this a little ridiculous when much more conservative counties like Yakima have been able to achieve the same using their own resources. And early this year, in March of this year, the executive office promised us that a new position would start and that this promised data would be shared. That has yet to happen. I think that for the sake of transparency, the county needs to start sharing this information and use their resources so that the community can know what's happening at this airport. especially when we're seeing more than 4,000 people being moved in and out every year and hundreds of flights are occurring and all increasing. Thank you.

Thank you. The next name on the list is Michael C. It's very hard to hear the names when they're being called.

Oh, yes. Oh, sorry. I apologize. It's my writing. I apologize. Good evening. Good afternoon, Council Members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of battery energy storage systems for BESS. My name is Michael Lee, and I've lived and practiced medicine in King County for 40 years. I support BESS because it will decrease burning of fossil fuels. Climate change is harming our health via extreme weather, heat events, and wildfires. If we fail to expand clean sources of energy, these impacts will continue to worsen. including right here in King County. Battery storage allows us to store excess clean energy for when sun or wind is not available. As a surgeon, I had to carefully weigh risks and benefits of surgery compared to alternative treatments. We should carefully weigh the risks and benefits of BESS, which the 2024 council framework did quite well. We should also consider risks and benefits without BESS. A major risk is that we could easily need to build more gas-fueled power plants that would definitely harm our health for 20 or more years. There have to be places in King County where BESS would be reasonable. I actually installed battery storage in my garage because my grid power has gone out 35 times in two years. Right in Bellevue. I researched and used the safest type of batteries, the same type used in all new best facilities. Remember how we used to worry about charging EVs in our garages? Now with improved technology, we have over 100,000 EVs and other large batteries charging all over King County. I strongly support Twenty four council framework, it is absolutely needed to protect our health. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony.

Next time on the list is Paul lead.

Everyone, my name is Paul Lee, and I strongly support more battery energy storage in King county. I'm a professional engineer with over eight years of experience in clean energy. Personally, I've worked on over a dozen battery energy projects for the U.S. Department of Energy, city of Los Angeles, Texas, Massachusetts, name a few. Batteries are a critical part of our clean energy transition. They're proven to help lower electricity costs, improve grid reliability during outages, and advance our climate goals. Uh, safety was paramount in my work and of course, there's always risks. But the industry has overcome many of these with improvements in battery chemistries and standards, such as 95, 40 and 55. As well as a long proven track record of many successful battery manufacturers. I support more best installations in King county across the board and accelerating more energy storage adoption for the region. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next name on the list is Nathan hatch.

Hello, council members. My name is Nathan Hatch. I live in Seattle in the Fremont neighborhood. And like Mike and Paul, I'm here to talk about battery energy storage systems. Last time I was here, we heard a lot of concern from residents of San Palmy about thermal runaway for the proposed facility over there. I do share their worry about what that might do to the surrounding air and water systems. So I've spent many hours over the past two months learning about these issues. And today I'm happy to report that the risk seems lower than I feared. BEST facilities are designed and tested so that a fire in one container cannot spread to another container. So even if the fire does occur, which is unlikely, only a small portion of the site will burn. The air pollution would be comparable to any structural fires, such as the warehouse at Ballard that burned down last month. And of course, as Mike said, If we don't build best, we're going to get 20 years of air pollution from new gas powered energy plants instead. So, I hope this information sets the hearts of council members and the call me residents at ease. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

The next name on the list is Billy.

Is there like a timer somewhere? Go ahead and just guess. Talk as fast as possible. Hello, Council Members. Thank you for the opportunity to present and speak. I understand you guys have a very difficult job and we appreciate all the work that you do. My name is William Hairston. I have the opportunity to be one of the Senior Directors at Center for Children and Youth Justice. In lieu of recent events, I think it was pertinent to elevate some of the work that CCYJ does in the community violence intervention and prevention space. predominantly our youth link program youth link program is ccyj's regional adaptation of the national gang center's comprehensive gang model where ccyj coordinates and convenes partners to provide collaborative wraparound case management and supports for young people at the highest risk of violence or system involvement Link brings together partners from a multitude of disciplines such as law enforcement, education, DCYF or juvenile rehabilitation, community-based organizations, behavioral health, housing, employment, and other service providers. Since 2020 to date, Link has served over 400 young people across King County. 2025 to date, those young people that Link has served have accomplished over 300 individualized goals based off their individualized plans that they create themselves. These goals include things such as meeting court order probation requirements, reengaging in education, securing housing and meeting basic needs, Gang assistance and violence intervention and employment and other things that are stabilizing goals. And these goals are in part thanks to our great collaborations and partnerships with organizations such as choose 180 urban family and freedom project Washington. CCYJ would welcome the opportunity to share more about the link model in our program and our partnerships as well as the impact of these collaborative efforts throughout King County. Um, to the council or any of the subcommittees that you guys see fit. Thank you guys very much for your time and all the work that you do.

Thank you for your testimony.

Next name on the list is classy. Hello everyone, thank you for letting me speak today. Um.

My name is Lassie Webster, and I want to, I'm here to speak about the observation flights at King County International Airport. I've been observing for about a year, a little bit more, and I've learned a lot. What I wanted to address specifically today is I spoke with, oh, my microphone's on. I spoke with Executive Zalaheit, last year, and I asked him this question. Are you willing to introduce and support legislation when you are our King County Executive to increase the safety of people in detention and designate that the county sees and requires them to be treated as passengers as opposed to their current treatment by ICE as cargo? I want to acknowledge that since that time, there has been a pledge added by the King County Executive Office that the Office of the Executive will continue to collaborate with key leaders from immigrant and refugee communities to establish a countywide strategy that enhances the health, safety, and well-being of immigrants when traveling within or arriving at King County Airport. From the standpoint of an observer who is familiar with the treatment of the immigrants at King County Airport, I'd like you to know that while the intention of this part of the statement is well-meaning, little has actually changed. I think there have been attempts, like we have four new large monitors in our very tiny observation room, which by the way, one of our volunteers was not able to continue volunteering to observe because it caused such trouble to her neck. I don't see any change really in the way that the immigrants are treated. I think there needs to be more than good intentions. I think there needs to be a deep felt heart, full hearted commitment to restore the dignity, safety and health to the people being transported in shackles. Can I ask a question?

This is a statement, not a question and answer opportunity, but you can certainly send emails. Thank you very much for your testimony.

Next on the list is Zach Pinard.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Members. My name is Zach Pinard. I'm a King County resident and I'm speaking on behalf of Clean and Prosperous in strong support of King County's current battery energy storage system or BESS ordinance. We at Clean and Prosperous are concerned that our state is ranked dead last in the nation for renewable energy growth. However, after reviewing existing best ordinances at the city and county level, clean and prosperous has determined that King County currently has the single most effective ordinance for enabling well cited best in Washington state. So once again, thank you. That's awesome. As you've heard, When real-time solar and wind generation cannot meet demand, BESS allows us to use stored clean energy instead of fossil fuel-powered peaker plants to meet those demand spikes. We at Clean and Prosperous have identified 100 energy storage projects currently stuck in Washington's pipeline that could provide the grid with 10.72 gigawatts of clean energy capacity. These storage projects represent tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of highly skilled and long-term jobs. Ten of these projects are located in King County. So just wanna thank you again for passing this ordinance. It should remain in place so as to avoid delaying the grid reliability and the clean energy economy that we cannot afford to wait for.

Thank you for your testimony.

The next name on the list is Aaron McCarger.

Hi, my name is Aaron McCarger. I am one of the security leads for the Solidarity Day That happens down in Tacoma at the detention center. As a part of that, I try to create an environment that is safe by default because that is what is required for safety. If safety requires action on the part of the people involved, they cannot be reliably considered safe. The ICE flights are doing what are called hot fueling. which is fueling while people are on board. They are shackled and they are unable to move at any kind of speed to keep themselves safe. It's against FAA regulations and it is risking the lives and safety of thousands of people that move through King County Airport every month. These are people that could not get themselves out. Fire safety, requires clear exits, requires people be reasonably be able to escape the space they are in. There are so many people that would die trampled and burning in the event of a fire during this. I ask you to make the choice to create the safe environment, to design the safe environment so that we can treat people as people and not just things to be discarded.

Thank you for your testimony.

The next name on the list is Rick Bogut.

My name is Rich Bogut. I am here to talk about the supporting the King County battery energy storage system. I'm not going to repeat what other folks have said. My comments are more just in general with climate change. To fight climate change, we have to reduce fossil fuels, and that means electrifying everything.

To do that, we need more electricity.

And as was pointed out, we're dead last in the country in making new energy And that is because of geography. Renewable energy works best in the eastern side of the state. And getting transmission lines up over the Cascades is expensive. So the way out of that is with batteries. So don't back down. use your political will and don't cave in to any of the folks who say no to that. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Chair Berry, there are currently no further names listed on the in-person sign-up, though we do have online.

All right. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to speak that didn't have a chance to sign up? Anyone else in the room who would like to make comments that did not have a chance? Anyone seeing anyone?

No, thanks very much.

Okay. Let's go ahead and move on to online testimony.

Thank you chair. Perry. The 1st name online is Sean con.

Hi, yeah, my name is Shalon Khan. I'm 16 years old. Cricket has been one of the biggest parts of my life for as long as I can remember. It has shaped who I am, not just as an athlete, but as a person. Through cricket, I've learned discipline, resilience, leadership, and the importance of working together as a team. Every match teaches me something new, whether it's celebrating a victory or learning from a tough loss. These lessons have helped me become more confident in school, in my community, and everyday life. As a girl who plays cricket, I've also seen how powerful the sport can be. It gives young women a place where they can challenge themselves, build lifelong friendships, and discover what they're capable of. But one of the biggest challenges we face is not having a dedicated place to play. We often have to adjust to fields that weren't designed for the sport, making it harder to grow the sport and welcome new players. A cricket field at Marymoor would change that. It would create opportunities for youth programs, school teams, community events, and tournaments, while giving girls like me a place where we can train, compete, and inspire the next generation. It wouldn't just be a field. It would be a home for a growing community. I hope you support the Cricket Community Park at Marymoor because investing in cricket means investing in young people. It means creating opportunities, building stronger communities, and giving future generations a place where they can grow both on and off the field. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. The next person online is Swami.

Hi. My name is Swami, and I'm speaking not as a coach or administrator. I'm talking more like a father whose daughter has actually picked up cricket, right? When she picked up, it was not just about playing any sport, right? So, cricket has given her a lot of resilience, discipline, confidence, and the teamwork. But we have Face some challenges here. So, 1st, we have to actually try very long distances searching for fields similar to what she landed mentioned. Right practices are often squeezed in limited time slots. Right? And the young athlete finds it difficult to actually compete at the national tournaments with the lack of facilities available. a dedicated cricket community park at the Marymount would actually change that. It would give the daughters a safe, liable place to train, compete, and dream. It would create an opportunity, not just for today's players, but also hundreds of girls who are actually waiting to discover this beautiful sport. This isn't just about building cricket fields. It's about investing in youth, promoting healthy lifestyle and fostering inclusion and showing young girls that their dreams matter just as anyone else's. As a father, my greatest hope is not that my daughter becomes a famous cricketer. It's more about how she goes into young women who believes we can achieve anything she works hard for. I respectfully ask the King County and City of Bilivi to work together with our community to make sure that Cricket Community Park at Marymoor becomes a reality. And it will inspire the generations of girls to dream bigger, work harder, and proudly call this community their home. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Swami. Next name is Swati Singh.

Hello, council members. My name is Swati Singh. I've been King County resident for 10 plus years now. As previous Swami and Shilan, I've also been supporting Talking in support of Seattle Orcas commitment to women's cricket and developing cricket facilities throughout the King County. Actually, I'm speaking today for my own dream and for girls who will pick up cricket bat after me. I want them to have more opportunities, better facilities and easier path into the game than we had at our time. The Seattle Orcas Women's Upcoming T20 tournament gives us hope because it puts women's cricket in spotlight throughout the national tournament coming up, which is a great spotlight on women's cricket in Seattle. I trust Seattle Orcas to help deliver cricket community power that turns hope into a permanent opportunity. So, yeah, please, King County and City of Bellevue, please work together with Seattle Orcas and the cricket community we have to move forward with this project. Thank you so much, and you guys are doing great. Thanks again. Thank you for your testimony, Swati.

Next on line is iPhone.

Hi, my name is Sahasra Ramanujam, and I'm 14 years old. Cricket has given me role models, players who stay calm under pressure, support their teammates, and compete with courage. The Women's T20 tournament being conducted by the Seattle Orcas can bring more of those role models into view for girls like me. Role models inspire us, but mentors and facilities help us take the next step. At a cricket community park, experienced players could coach younger girls, teams could practice regularly, and women's matches could become part of our community life. By organizing a tournament for women, the Seattle Orcas are showing leadership. I trust them to help deliver a park that keeps girls' and women's cricket at the center of its plants. I asked King County and Bellevue to support the Marymore project and work with the Seattle orcas and our community. Please create a place where inspiration can become instruction and where instruction can become achievement. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Sestra. Next on line is Veer Narain.

Hello. My name is Veer Narain and I'm 12 years old and I'm a budding cricket player. Bowling has taught me that real progress comes from patience, discipline, and the ability to refine a skill through consistent practice. Repeating the same motion again and again has shown me that improvement depends on balance, accuracy, and having the right environment to grow. Young cricketers need that same environment. To develop fully as bowlers, batters, and fielders, We need proper run-ups, poly practice nets, and pitches maintained to recognize cricket standards. These are essential for learning the complete game, not just fragments of it. When given the right facilities, we are ready to show the dedication our community already has. This is why I request King County Council to move forward with the Cricket Community Park proposed at Marymoor. Building it as an international standard ground would place the Seattle region alongside other established cricket clubs across the country and allow us to host the same level of competition. It is a rare opportunity to create a world-class venue for a sport that is already thriving here. I am fully committed to cricket. I practice several hours every week, and I play matches that often last seven hours or more. My cricket friends train just as hard, week after week, season after season. Together, we are fully invested in this sport, and we are asking you to invest in our future. We are ready to practice, learn and compete. All we need are the facilities that allow our effort to become an achievement. Supporting this park means investing in the future of cricket and in the potential of every young athlete in our community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony, Veer.

Next up is Bhavanesh.

Hi all, hope you can hear me. My name is Bhavanesh Rangarajan and I have proudly called King County home for more than 11 years now. I'm also a proud parent whose daughter has chosen cricket as a sporting pathway. And I've also had the privilege of coaching many young cricketers and budding talent across the community. I want King County to be recognized as a place where girls and women's cricket can truly thrive. The Seattle Orcas Women's Tournament is an important milestone. It provides women with a high-quality competitive platform while giving young girls the confidence to dream bigger and believe that they have a place in the sport. But a tournament alone is not enough. It is about creating a permanent home for cricket. A cricket community park at Marymoor would provide year-round opportunities for girls and women to train, compete, and grow. It would strengthen youth development pathways, expand access to the sport, and create an opportunity for women not only as players, but also as coaches, mentors, officials, and community leaders. The Seattle Orcas have demonstrated a genuine commitment to growing women's cricket by partnering with King County, the City of Bellevue, and our vibrant cricket community. You have the opportunity to create a lasting public-private partnership that will benefit generations of residents while establishing King County as a leader in the growth of cricket in the Pacific Northwest. I respectfully urge King County and City of Bellevue to come together and move this project forward. Please don't let this opportunity pass us by. Invest in a place where talent is nurtured, girls are empowered, women are celebrated, and future champions begin their journey. Thank you for your time and consideration, everyone.

Thank you for your testimony, Bhavanesh. Next up is Ben Jenkins.

Hello, good afternoon chair Perry and council members. My name is Ben Jenkins. I'm a resident of unincorporated. So call me. I've been here for the past 5 years. I've previously lived in Seattle for 6. I'm here to talk about the total land sale. There's a 4800 acres, roughly a forest above a false city. That's going on a sealed bid auction on August 5th. I know you're aware of this. Yeah, inside this land sale, there are 3 of the 4 parcels are have not bike trails on them that have been there for over 20 years and they've been able to be able to used by the public via permit system from the current landowner, which is a timber company. There's also other recreational opportunities in that zone for a gravel riding and hiking and things like that. This region is has switched from a logging economy, obviously, to a recreation and tourism economy and these, these trails and all these recreation areas in the in the vicinity are really important for this. Community for the economy and for the residents and all that kind of stuff. So. The area of token particular is important because it has South facing slopes and it's a lower elevation and it drains. Well, so it becomes a really big hub for mountain biking and recreation in the winter months when the other areas are covered in snow or have condition problems. So, uh, what I'd like the council to be aware of, and I know that's been on the agenda a little bit here, but that this area is not protected. And if it, you know. As soon as it gets sold to a new property owner, the right to have access, that's probably going to go away. So I'm asking that the county is hopefully actively working on looking at securing parcel C and D at a minimum, which is 603 acres. Also, there's another parcel B, which would be great, but I know it's at a higher price point. I'd also like to say that because the way the auction is. Priced and structured the likely buyer is not going to be someone who's going to be looking for a financial return. So, this, if this land ends up in tribal ownership, I'm really hoping that King County will do everything in its power to work with that future owner to purchase a recreation easement on these trail corridors. Hopefully for parcels. Just to wrap up here. This area is critical to the community for recreation hub. It's right off this call me Valley trail and it's a great resource for the community. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Ben. Next up is Joe Kunzler.

Hi, Joe Kunzler here. It's good to see all of you. It's always a privilege and honor to address the King County Council, though today is a tragic anniversary, as it is the 20th anniversary since the assassination of Pamela Wechter Zell and the injury of five Jewish Federation of Seattle employees. This is also tomorrow will be the 16th anniversary of when I was home invaded by an anti-Semitic felon and his nephew. So I take anti-Semitism very seriously. And these statements, we're not supposed to address previous commenters, but I will say the statements by a previous commenter I find is always anti-Semitic, deeply offensive and deeply inappropriate. And I wish they would stop. I ask that this council and others continue to stand up against anti-Semitism for a more inclusive community, as well as stand up against Islamophobia. I think it's important that we all come together and address this kind of hatred that we see exhibited in public comment periods, we see exhibited in the community. I take to heart, you know, the, Statements have been issued by Jewish leaders remembering the tragedy of July 28, 2006. And I'm deeply grateful that one of the survivors decided to join gun responsibility and work to close gun violence loopholes like making sure there's a background check on every single firearms transfer and assault weapons ban and other stuff that keeps the public safe. And I just wanted to bring that to your attention and that could get hopefully explains why I find this one individual who comes before you so offensive.

Thank you.

Next up is Patrick fry.

Hey, good afternoon, Council. I am here to follow up what Ben Jenkins said about the TOCO land sale. So I won't repeat the things that he touched on because he stated them all perfectly. TOCO is really important to the community and the Falls City community and just surrounding mountain bike, equestrian, and trail running community. What I will state, though, is that Those 4,800 acres of recreational use are incredibly valuable, and they actually already have access that King County already has. There's parking lots already constructed at the trailheads. that are around and so there would be little infrastructure needed to continue using these parks and so i'm hoping that when sealed bids for these total either king county can be a purchaser or if not that they will work with the purchaser to secure access to those trails so that we can continue recreating and using those trails thank you thank you for your testimony patrick

Next on the list is Eddie Espinosa.

Good afternoon, Chair Perry, council members and members of the community. I'm Eddie Espinosa. I'm the executive director of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. I live in Bothell. Our office is in North Bend and here to talk about TOCL. I'll just add a little bit more to what folks have already said, and a little bit more about us. We're the statewide nonprofit that advocates for mountain biking through education, community building and partnerships. We have a membership of close to 10,000 and we also speak on behalf of the almost 1M bike riders in the state of Washington. Um. Mountain biking is an important part of the recreation economy in Washington, which is just as big in size as tech and aerospace. And TOCL, some of you may know, is a pretty important part of a region full of mountain bike trails and areas that have national, if not world recognition for the quality and access for these trails. Also, thank you chair Perry for your work here a little bit over a little bit over a year ago. Thanks for that. And we're a little bit late in the hour. The auction is next month. We spent a bunch of months this summer with outreach to organizational partners to other land managers and also to other offices within King County. But to echo what everyone else has already said, we would love to make sure that access is maintained for whoever owns the property next. And ideally, if it could be an acquisition, if the county can prioritize the acquisition itself in order for us to maintain that access and continue building on the economy and opportunity for mountain biking in this region. That would be amazing. And we'd be hugely, hugely appreciative.

Thank you for your testimony. Next on the list is Shubhpuneet Kaur.

Uh, good afternoon council members. My name is and my age is 25. I'm from India and for me, cricket is like a food. If I need food to live, I need cricket to survive as well. And, uh, here in the United States, I start playing cricket because as a fun sport, but again, it become part of my life and I want to continue, uh, for them, uh, represent my nation. The most important part of my life is my teammates who encourage me when I make mistakes and celebrate with me when I improve. Cricket has helped me make friends and feel connected to my community. We practice everywhere, wherever space is available. But cricket needs, as my companion said, more than open pitches for grass. We need a ball to bounce at certain point, but due to the grass, it is not able to bounce that much. We really appreciate if King County will help us to build certain pitches that improve our game and we don't need to travel so far for leather ball matches like London and North Bend. It would be a great initiative and we really appreciate the moment that Marymoor Park bring it to reality. A dedicated home for cricket would give our team stability and give many more girls the chance to discover the sport. Thank you for listening to my voice. Thank you so much. Thank you for your testimony, Shubhaneet.

Next on the list is Sushravya Chandrakant.

Good good evening members of council. My name is and I'm 27 years old. I'm here representing a passionate community of athletes teammates who train beside me and the girls who look up to us all of all of whom share a singular dream. To see our sport drive here at home. Cricket has been defining the passion of my life, a pursuit that has pushed me to test my limits. We are fully committed to this game, training for over 20 hours every single week to reach our goal. However, even the greatest dedication is hampered when you lack the infrastructure to support it. The reality of my team is incredibly challenging right now. To make do, we are constantly forced to improvise, attempting to convert various multipurpose sports grounds just to make them even remotely suitable for cricket. This is not sustainable. Without a dedicated, dependable cricket ground, it is nearly impossible to properly simulate match conditions, develop a professional great pitch, or even gain the competitive experience necessary to grow. Far too often we have had to travel great distances just to find adequate training, losing valuable time and energy that should have been spent honing our craft right here in our own community. The proposed cricket community park at Marymoor represents more than just a field. It is the infrastructure needed to create a legitimate, sustainable pathway for all of us. Within this facility, we could establish consistent practice routines, access quality coaching, and finally host the tournaments that turn our collective potential into...

Okay, thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you.

Next stop is Mitch Corey.

Good afternoon council. My name is Mitch Corey. I've lived in Washington all 36 years of my life and in King in Seattle for. 32 of those. Um, and probably every weekend I travel on and I need to go mountain biking. And probably 1, half of those times I go mountain biking at total. And so I'm speaking on the, uh, the total and going up for auction. Um. I, I feel like I'm almost a resident of, like, total. And it's been really important to me, but it's also really important to the mountain biking community in the King County area. I think what's said before is that it's often used for bike riding when the conditions further along I-90 are too cold or too snowy. So it's really important just for people that mountain bike in King County. I think that the entire county and the city would benefit from um the conservation of that land especially for recreation um for not only for mountain biking but i know that there's equestrian and trail running in that area too like was said before there's also there's already infrastructure in place that would support the people that would use that and that would continue to travel um to uh fall city and some of the other kind of areas uh almost like metropolitan areas to support the businesses that are there. And I'm thinking of coffee and restaurants and baked goods after I'm done mountain biking. Um, I do think that the total area is very important for the mountain by community in Washington. And, like, others have said, I hope that the council. I mean, whether it could be purchased by the city, or whoever does purchase it, the, there would be cooperation to allow continued mountain biking on the top. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Next up is Ritul Dwivedi.

Hello everyone. My name is Ritul Dwivedi and I'm 17 years old. Cricket has genuinely been one of the greatest gifts in my life. It's taught me resilience, discipline, teamwork, and confidence. Some of my closest friendships have been built on the cricket field and every match teaches me something new about myself. Today, cricket is known as one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It has more than 2.5 billion fans globally, if I remember correctly, and it makes it the world's second most popular sport. And its return to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is helping fuel even more growth, especially here in the United States. A cricket community park at Marymoor would allow our region to grow alongside that momentum. It wouldn't just be another sports field, it would become a home for a rapidly growing community. It would create opportunities for youth programs, school teams, leagues, tournaments, and community events, while bringing families from all backgrounds together through a shared love of the game. As a girl who plays cricket, this park means even more to me. Cricket has traditionally been a male-dominated sport, but that is also changing. More girls are stepping onto the field than ever before, and women's cricket is experiencing incredible growth around the world. I also believe that this park would become an incredible asset for King County. Just as we proudly rally behind the Seahawks, the Mariners, the Sounders and the Storm, we have the opportunity to build an equally passionate cricket community right here in the Pacific Northwest. We already have thousands of players and families who love this game. We have a dedicated, I mean a dedicated cricket park would help bring them together, attract new players, and host regional and national tournaments, which would help establish King County as a leader in one of the world's fastest growing sports. For players like me, this park represents opportunity. It's a place where lifelong friendships are formed, confidence is built, and young people learn leadership. Cricket has shaped me to the person I am today, and I know it can do the same for countless others. I hope your support the cricket community park at Marymore and help create a space that will inspire generations of players and girls for years to come.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimonial tool.

Next up is Radha Shiran.

Hi, my name is Radha and I'm 16 years old. One of my favorite moments in cricket is walking out to bat, knowing that my team believes in me. Batting takes focus, confidence, and courage. And even when I feel nervous, I've learned to trust my preparation, stay calm, and make good decisions one ball at a time. But for girls to become strong, confident batters, we need regular opportunities to practice against different bowlers and play on proper cricket fields. Right now, limited access to Quality facilities means fewer chances to develop our skills, playful matches, and learn from both our successes and our mistakes. A dedicated cricket community park at Marymoor would give girls like me the opportunity to practice consistently, compete regularly, and grow as players. It could also host youth matches and tournaments that help us prepare for the next level of cricket while bringing our community together. I respectfully ask King County and the City of Bellevue to work together to make this park a reality. We're not asking for our dreams to be handed to us. We're simply asking for a fair opportunity to work hard, improve, and pursue those dreams. Thank you for your time, your support, and for investing in the future of girls' cricket.

Thank you, Radha, for your testimony.

Next on the list is Kevin Altheimer.

Mr. Altimer, are you there? We're not hearing you. Are you muted?

Can you hear me now?

We can, sir. Go right ahead.

Okay. Yes. Thanks, Chair Perry and Council. I'm here in opposition to motion 260197. I don't approve of it, but I Don't have a problem if you decide to get an individual in this position. Here's where my dissatisfaction with this ordinance or potential ordinance under this motion is you still have a legal issue. And your legal issue is that you have a constitutional issue, perhaps, under Washington State versus, actually, State versus Miles. Now, in that, there is a portion of the Constitution of Washington State, Article 1, Section 7. that actually says that the state Supreme Court had already ruled a citizen cannot be compelled to be subpoenaed by an agency. And it seems like their legislation is still trying to push that. At the same time, Rob Dembowski was involved. I have his email. Way back in October, I found his email that came in today where he was pushing for an inspector general's position, and that's why he wanted this to go to the ombuds office. And the ombuds office had no constitutional right to even be an investigator at potential crime when they don't even have it under the constitution, actually under their ordinance. under the county. What they have is the ability to investigate the agencies and investigate workers, but they can't investigate contractors. So you guys already went outside of that scope. I couldn't believe of all you people who were involved in this whole investigation with Clark Newberg and getting him funded after he was already working from the executive office and Rob Dombowski sends an email out to Shannon Braddock asking her to turn this over to Jeremy Bale with the office office. There is so much evidence against this whole operation that it's about to come out. And I think that you guys know this, but you have a real big problem.

Thank you, Mr. Alzheimer.

Are there more online? Yes. Yes, there are, Chair Perry. Sorry. How many more are there, Angel? Three. Okay. Next up is Tom Reeves. Thank you.

Hello council members. Thank you for having me today. My name is Tom Reeves. I've lived in the central district of Seattle for 11 years. I'm an avid mountain biker and I'm here to. Give my support for the total for conserving the total riding area and fall city today. Ever since I moved to Seattle, I've spent a lot of time in total riding there on a consistent basis is great recreation for. For my wife and I, I look forward to bringing my son there when he's old enough. It's also helped helped us to bring. Build great community and get to know the people here while also supporting the local total community, the local community in fall city. You know, as we go forward, I ask that you do everything in your power to conserve that area. Um, it means a lot to us a lot to our community and thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for your testimony time.

Next up is Kelly. Hi, thank you for letting me speak here today. My name is Kelly Amesbury. I am a mountain biker, mountain bike advocate, former youth coach, and sometimes trail builder at TOCL. Over COVID, I spent countless hundreds of hours building a trail and maintaining it specifically for youth and youth sports training. there for youth cycling training. And I would just like to encourage the council to do everything in their power to help maintain this wonderful asset for recreation, not only for mountain biking, but for equestrians. Trail runners and other outdoor enthusiasts. I would also encourage you to look at the model that the city of Bellingham has followed with the Galbraith mountain preservation, where the city has put together a consortium of private land. Timberland protected, I think. forest pieces and also city park together into a recreational easement that really protects that land in perpetuity for all sorts of recreational activities and also for wildlife and the environment. Thank you for my time. Really appreciate it and hope you can move forward in helping us protect this land. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Kelly. And the last hand raised on the list is Rachel Demian.

Hi, there, thank you council members for your time today. My name is Rachel Demian. I'm a 34 year old. I live in Bellevue since 2019 and I board my horses in fall city. I spent nearly half of my week for the past 6 years at the barn and total is not just where I ride. It's part of my community and it is my home. TOCO is essential because many riders don't own a truck and trailer. With local access, they don't have another convenient place to ride. They lose the opportunity altogether. And horses are pivotal to our lives, so taking away that access takes away many's livelihoods. TOCO is also unique to horseback riders because of the soil. Even after heavy rain, the infamous TOCO soil drains quickly and it allows year-round riding. Previously in my life, I was limited to only six months of outdoor riding, and moving to Seattle means that my season is every day, and that's incredible. I'd also like to speak to the friendliness that I've experienced with the mountain bikers there. I do firmly believe that horseback riders and bikers can coexist on trails and TOCL is a testament to that. So I know it's a very challenging situation, balancing the needs of urban and rural and bikers and equestrians, but I do ask you to try and use with all of your resources and your skills to try and keep our public access there. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Rachel.

That was the last hand raised chair Perry that I see online.

All right. Is there anybody else online that has not had a chance to speak who would like to? If so, please raise your hand. Again, raise your hand. If you haven't had a chance to speak and you would like to, are we seeing anybody raising their hands?

I am not.

Okay. Thank you so much. Seeing no further requests, I want to thank each and every person who showed up to testify in person and online today. We take your comments and your time very seriously, and it matters a lot to our deliberative process. So thank you very much for being with us today. And with that, we will close the public hearing. Turning next to those ordinances on the agenda for discussion and action, beginning with item 6, which is an ordinance concerning King County Employee Code of Ethics. Council Member von Reitbauer, would you please move ordinance 2026-0126? So moved. Thank you. A proposed ordinance 2026 dash 0126 is before us before we proceed. I'll note that we have Randy Parabello and council staff available to brief the item or answer questions with that. I'd like to ask if council member duns as sponsor would like to offer any opening remarks, or if you'd like the item briefed.

Yeah, I don't think we need the item brief. We pass this unanimously up here from committee. But just to remind my colleagues, as we continue to improve the functions of King County government, as we continue to reform what we do delivering local services, this is another piece of that. As you all know, we've done some audits and really worked hard to make our grant making process greater accountability moving forward with the tax dollars that we are bestowed by the taxpayers. We've done things recently, like streamline the homeless governance organization, working to make that more efficient, bringing employees back to work following the pandemic. And there are other things we've been working on as well. This one is in the form of reforming our King County Ethics Code. It is always a work in progress as new situations are uncovered, new technologies are uncovered. The Ethics Code is a living document. This piece of legislation seeks to continue to reform. It really came, I think, quite effectively from Seattle Times investigation that many of you will remember that involved an employee who, according to the Seattle Times, had distributed grants to five family members. in the nature of about $800,000. And so this gives us the option, and we have the legal authority to actually amend the King County Ethics Code. We can do that by ordinance, which we are attempting to do here in this resolution. This ethics reform package does a couple things. First, it expands and clarifies the conflict of interest rules to very clearly prohibit close relationships in other words significant relationships is defined in the legislation it also requires that conflicts of interest be resolved before a distribution not just disclosed and right now in this case disclosure but no resolution we need to have resolution so a conflict of interest uh doesn't occur finally this clarifies uh the ethics code in a variety of ways to ensure consistency throughout reading of the document. There are a couple of amendments. Brandy might want to speak to those, Chair Perry, which I'm happy to move at the right time. And that's the introduction and look forward to a discussion on this issue.

Thank you very much. Colleagues, are there any questions for staff or comments for the discussion at this moment? Please say, please speak out if you do. Okay, I also understand there's a technical amendment council member done. Would you please move amendment 1?

Sure. Council member Lewis is her hand up.

Oh, thank you. Council member Lewis. Thank you. Vice chair.

Thank you. I just have a couple of pretty basic questions. 1, being how will employees. be notified of these changes and given the opportunity to comply with them. And the other has to do with whether or not we should have a regular cadence to update the ethics code like we do with the charter and other regulations. Those may be questions for the executive. I'm not sure.

Brandy, you want to take a cut at that? And then I'm happy to add in what I know.

Sure. Thank you, Council Members, for the record. Brandi Parabello with Council Central staff. I can try to answer the first one, and I am not equipped to answer the second. The first one, there is no language in the ordinance that directs how any county employees should be made aware of these changes. That would be at the discretion of the executive side on how they would prefer to do that. Mm-hmm.

Great. Yeah, I think this legislation changes the code. Then once the code is changed, we will encourage both the Board of Ethics as well as the executive to use their appropriate outreach channels to get the information to our employees. Things like our regular trainings will be one method. Newsletters, emails from managers will be another. We'll certainly use the news media to Enhance that, but it's 1 thing to have a rule, but if it's not broadly known, it has no effect. So we look forward to the next steps of this being. That outreach process will, which will since the overwhelming majority of employees are within the executive branch. We got to make sure that that that will happen moving forward with respect to the regular cadence. 1st, let me say that council member has, I think. taken on laboring or on some additional ethics reform that needs to happen, including pulling together a stakeholder group, which I think is wise. It may be as part of that review that we look at a regular cadence of review to make sure that this code is updated from time to time. The Board of Ethics did weigh in recently, maybe a little bit too late, but very helpful still nonetheless. And then we want to continue to review because we do have a board that's supposed to be making these recommendations. Of course, nothing stops us from doing that as well.

Thank you, Vice Chair Dunn. Great question, Council Member Lewis. Council Member Dembowski has something.

Thank you chair. Just adding to the discussion and maybe April Sanders could supply some precision here, but in the last supplemental budget, we did increase the FTE authority for the executive ethics function and added some additional dollars, presumably to help educate and ensure compliance with this legislation that we knew was coming. I think it was a couple FTEs or just shy of that.

Okay, thank you. Council Member Dembowski, any other questions from my colleagues or staff or comment? Okay, not seeing any. Let's see. So technical amendment has been moved. No, it hasn't yet. I'll move on. Okay, would you please? I think there's amendment two.

I think there's two amendments. So I'm happy to move amendment one.

Amendment 1. Okay. Thank you. Amendment 1 is before us. Would you like to speak to Amendment 1, Vice Chair Dunn?

Just very generally, it's a technical striker, and what it does is it changes the language. Since last meeting or meeting before last, we put language in regarding the Inspector General. This adds and acknowledges the existence of that office, and so it's a technical striker, and I'd urge your support.

Thank you. Any discussions from my colleague on that amendment? If I may?

There is actually only one amendment and the technical amendment is related to a couple of suggestions by the Board of Ethics that really just cleans up the language a little bit to make it clearer to read. I'm not sure if Councilmember Dunn As another amendment that I'm not aware of, but the, the 1 that I have worked on is amendment 1. will you brief amendment 1 for us. I just did an amendment. That's all you have. Okay.

That's all you. My understanding was what brandy just spoke to was amendment 2 sounds like. Amendment 1 is the technical striker that provides clarity is recommended by the board of ethics and I certainly support that as well. So. It doesn't change my motion for amendment. 1. I just want to make sure that what I'm putting forward is properly labeled within the council council meeting materials.

It is properly labeled, so the additional materials packet that went out. This morning from the clerk's office, it is labeled as amendment 1, and it is the only amendment in that packet.

Very well, then that will be all we'll amend with unless council members have an additional amendment as well.

Okay, all those in favor of amendment 1, say, aye, aye, all those opposing a. Amendment 1 is adopted moving on to the underlying ordinances amended. Do my colleagues have any closing comments before we proceed?

Sure.

Yeah. Council member, I think, followed by council member.

He's shaking his head. No.

Okay. Go right ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to speak in favor of the ordinance. I will be voting in favor of the ordinance. I think this is a very important change in clarification. It is a key feature of ethics code ordinances in many, many places that individual government employees should not and cannot work on contracts or other projects that financially benefit their relatives or business partners. And so this, in my view, closes an important hole that should have been closed in our code probably long ago, and I'm glad we're doing it now. Just wanted to quickly echo an update from what Councilmember Dunn said. It has been brought to our attention as a council that the ethics code on the whole is really in need of some updating and clarifying. And I have indeed raised my hand to say that I will work on a larger project to try to clean up the code. You'll be hearing from our office about this. We've had a kickoff meeting with stakeholders. We have assigned staff and both central policy staff and from the ombuds office to help carry the water and putting this together. It's gonna be a longer road and a more detailed progress project And to Councilmember Lewis's questions, have spoken to the executive's office. They will be included in the work because they have some interests, obviously, in this as well. And a really important need to have a clear enough code to put together employee training so that they can train the staff and inform the staff of what they need to do. And they are observing that the code in some places is not clear enough to do a good job of that. So they have a keen interest in implementation and in what the code should be. So they will be part of it. The Board of Ethics will also be invited to participate and have already expressed an interest in participating. So much more to come, but this is a really important step and I'm very happy to vote in favor today. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you Council Member Balducci. Seeing no further discussion, Claire Kaye, will you please- Wait, wait, wait, to close, to close. Oh, sorry about that. Sponsor to close, Vice Chair Dunn.

Thanks very much. And thank you, Chair Perry, for having this in an expedited form today. And I want to thank my colleagues, Council Member Balducci, Lewis, Dabowski, and others for their comments and smithing this and making this better. We have a word of ethics. We should use them, continue to use them and listen to what they they have to say. We may not always agree with them, but they're certainly have very positive input. That's important. We should have a regular update process. I want to thank investigative journalists like Lulu Ramadan and. And David Gutman and others for getting some information that helped make this legislation better and continue to believe the 4th estate is an important part of our democratic process. And this is an example of that. This is a good significant piece of legislation. Obviously, you shouldn't be doling out public dollars to members of your family. It just isn't. It just doesn't pass the laugh test and it isn't appropriate and might be illegal. And there's a lot of other things there. And so we have to make sure that we make it clear up front through our own ethics codes. uh that that isn't something we're going to stand for or tolerate county has run into some challenging issues of perception and i think for good reason and we've got a lot of work in reform area to continue forward on i'll be driving that forward other members of the council uh as well that i've mentioned in these comments and i want to thank chair varden reichbauer for holding uh this important legislation in his committee and properly addressing it i'd urge my colleagues support and let's take another step in making king county A great county running well and fully reformed and paying great attention to the tax dollars that we are given control over. I urge your support.

Thank you, Vice Chair Dunn. Seeing no further discussion, Claire Kaye, will you please call the roll?

Thank you, Chair Perry. Council Member Balducci. Aye. Council Member Barone.

Aye.

Council Member Dembowski.

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Council Member Fain. Aye. Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer. Aye. What was that, Council Member Mosqueda?

Apologies. Mosqueda votes aye.

Thank you. And I've got Council Member Von Reichbauer, Chair Perry.

Aye.

The vote is nine ayes and zero noes.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0126 as amended. Turning next to items 7 and 8, which concern labor agreements. Vice Chair Barone, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0189? So moved. Thank you. Proposed ordinance 2026-0189 is before us. Before we proceed with discussion, I'll note that we have Angela Marshall, Labor Relations Interim Director, and John Woodcock, Labor Relations Negotiator from the Executive's Office, available to answer questions. We also have Yusuf El-Hammawi, Union Representative for ProTech17, available as well. But first, I'd like to ask Erica Newman from Council Staff to brief the item. Erica, please go ahead when you're ready.

Erica, you're on mute.

There we go. Sorry about that. Erica Newman, Council Central staff, the item for proposed ordinance 20260189 begin on page 46 of your packet. The proposed ordinance would adopt the memorandum of agreement that was negotiated between King County and Post Office 17, which represents engineering services manager employees and the Department of Natural Resources in part. This is from a broader alignment within the solid waste division and the county and protect 17 they engaged in to discuss operational concerns of the operational structure of the engineering and environmental compliance work. Historically, these functions were consolidated under a single engineering services manager. Under the proposed structure, the engineering service manager classification would be able to serve as the manager of an engineering unit or the section manager responsible for environmental science and compliance. The terms and bargaining include increasing the pay rate for the engineering services manager, which is currently at a range 77 to a range 78 on the King County Square table. If adopted, this agreement would be considered effective the first day of the first full pay period following the effective date. According to the fiscal note, the cumulative total for the duration of the agreement is a little over $15,000 that would be expended for the solid waste operating fund. Executive staff note that there will be no supplemental budget authority needed to implement the agreement. Madam Chair, that concludes my remarks.

Thank you very much, Erica. With that, I'd like to ask if there's any discussion from my colleagues. Opening this up so I can see any hands or questions. Okay. Not seeing any questions from my colleagues. Let's proceed with a vote. Claire Kay, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci. Aye. Council Member Barone.

Aye.

Council Member Domboski.

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Councilmember Fain. Aye. Councilmember Lewis.

Aye.

Councilmember Mosqueda. Aye. Councilmember Von Reichbauer. Aye. Chair Perry.

Aye.

The vote is nine ayes, zero noes.

Thank you, Claire Kaye. By our vote, we've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0189. Turning next to Item 8, Proposed Ordinance 2026-0196, Vice Chair Barone, will you please move Proposed Ordinance 2026-0196? So moved. Thank you. The proposed ordinance is before us before we proceed with the discussion. I'll note that we have Maria Williams, president of the director of Teamsters Local 117 and co-chair of the King County Coalition of Unions along with Michael Gonzalez, senior business agent for Teamsters Local 174 and co-chair of the King County Coalition of Unions available to answer any questions. First, I'd like to ask Erica Newman from council staff to brief the item. Erica, please go ahead when you're ready.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Erica Newman, council, central staff, the items to propose ordinance two zero two six zero one six seven to get on page 50 of your packet. The proposed ordinance would adopt the four successful agreement to the twenty one twenty five. Well, the coalition labor agreement and between King County and the Coalition of Unions, which represents employees from the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Department of Local Services, and the Department of Executive Services. The changes are consistent with King County labor policies. Bargaining began in June of 25, and agreements were reached by the end of May of 2026. the the agreement would be if adopted the agreement will cover the period of january 1st 26 they december 31 of 28 um this would be referred to as appendix 160 which represents um Employees, like I said, of Department of Natural Resources, in part local services and Department of Executive Services. These employees usually hold the title of truck drivers, sign a marketing specialist, fleet divisions and road signing services. There are some notable changes to the CLA, which includes a 2.5% solid waste piling of equipment premiums, hazardous material endorsement premium increased from $70 a month to $100 a month. An added ferry delay pay employees report to Gashon will be compensated their normal pay for delay time when a scheduled ferry is canceled and there are no remaining alternative ferry boats available within one hour or less after that canceled boat. There will be changes to weather related, such as snow and ice alert work. Overtime will be paid when weather events require alteration of shifts without required advance notifications. There's going to be an added bargaining re-opener to establish sorry to establish a discipline matrix uh to cover instances of motor vehicle and or equipment accidents property images and safety violations um and then the other one is they were they're going to pilot establishing a regular 5 a.m start time for solid waste division truck drivers um And yeah, they're gonna also do some of the 710 work schedules from Monday, from a Monday through Sunday work week, two days through Monday work week. The cumulative total to implement, the cumulative total for the duration of their agreement is a little, it's almost $9.1 million, which would be extended from the Solid Waste Operating Fund, the County Road Fund, and the Parks Levy Operating Fund. According to the executive staff, there will be no supplemental budget authority needed to implement this approach. Madam Chair, that concludes my remarks.

Thank you very much, Erica. Do my colleagues have any questions, comments, discussion at this point?

Okay.

Mr. Chair Perry? Yes. Council Member Lewis, thank you.

Thank you. Um, I would just like to say that I was really pleased to see the, um, the bilingual pay, um, provision in, uh, in. The agreement, and I appreciate the teamsters and, um, the county. Negotiating that. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Lewis. Okay, seeing no further discussion, let's proceed to the vote. Claire. Okay. Will you please call the roll? Thank you.

Council member about that. She. Hi. Council Member Varun.

Aye.

Council Member Demboski.

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Council Member Fain. Aye. Council Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Von Rijkbauer. Aye. Chair Perry. Aye. The vote is nine ayes, zero noes.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0196. Thank you. Turning now to hearing examiner consent agenda items 9 and 10. Clerk Hay, will you please read the items into the record?

Thank you, Chair Perry. Item 9 is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0091, concurring with a recommendation of the hearing examiner to approve, subject to conditions, the application of proposed benefit rating system assessed valuation for open space, submitted by Deborah Mallory and John Van Wiering for property located in Enumqua. And item 10 is proposed substitute ordinance number 2026-0120, authorizing the vacation of a portion of County Road 393SJ Twist Road in Enumclaw, file number B2776 for petitioners Alexis and Devin Jones and Garth Cook.

Thank you very much. Council Member Fain, will you please move consent agenda items 9 and 10? So moved. Thank you. Consent agenda items 9 and 10 are before us. Clerk Hay, will you please call the roll? Thank you. Council Member Balducci.

Aye. Council Member Barone.

Aye.

Council Member Demboski.

Aye.

Council Member Dunn.

Aye.

Council Member Fain. Aye. Council Member Lewis. Aye. Council Member Mosqueda. Aye. Council Member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Sarah Perry. Aye. The vote is nine ayes, zero noes.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed substitute ordinances 2026-0091 and 0120. Turning next to the motion consent agenda, Vice Chair Barone, will you please move consent agenda item 11?

I move item 11.

Consent agenda item is before us. Clerk Haley, will you please call the roll? Thank you.

Council Member Balducci? Aye. Council Member Barone?

Aye.

Council Member Dabowski?

Enthusiastically aye.

Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. That's Member Lewis. Aye. That's Member Mosqueda. Aye. That's Member Von Reichbauer.

Aye.

Chair Perry.

Aye.

The vote is nine ayes, zero noes.

Thank you. By a vote we've adopted, proposed motion 2026-0115. Turning the final action item on today's agenda, item 12, which is motion approving the job description for the position of Inspector General. Vice Chair Barone, will you please move proposed motion 2026-0197.

So moved.

Thank you. Proposed motion 2026-0197 is before us. Before we proceed, I will briefly share that the reason we relieved the committee of this item to take action today was to ensure that we could begin the Inspector General recruitment process in earnest. With council recess beginning next week, the Employment and Administration Committee, EAC, will not be meeting again until September. This is where this conversation is usually held. It's important that we begin this process expeditiously so that the Inspector General can begin the crucial work of standing up the infrastructure of the office as soon as possible. With that, I will note that we have Stephanie Cerkovich, Chief of Staff on the Council, available to answer any questions. Before I open it up to my colleagues, I'd like to ask Council Member Dembowski if he'd like to provide any other opening remarks.

Thank you very much, Chair. And this is the follow-on step following approval of the Office of Inspector General that we did a week or two ago. I wanted to just express deep gratitude to our Council Chief of Staff, Stephanie Sirkovich, for accelerating the process here. We were looking at a couple of months through an EAC process, and she really jumped on it and did a great bit of research looking around the country at inspectors' general positions and scopes of work. And then the draft was shared out and a number of our colleagues provided some suggestions, I think all of which were included or will be. And just really pleased to see the forward momentum on this to get the recruit. going and I suspect we're going to have a lot of great candidates. It's a really nicely done job description and I'm looking forward to seeing our applicants. So thanks for your leadership, Chair Perry, and as chair of the Employment Administration Committee and the council in expediting this through and making sure we got it before everybody today. Appreciate you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Dembowski, for your sponsorship and leadership on this. Are there any other comments from my colleagues?

Okay, I just want to say, thank you to the member. Thank you. I just want to say, thank you to the sponsor and your office for seeking and incorporating feedback. We provided a couple of thoughts and they show up very beautifully in this current draft and that really makes it easy to move forward quickly. So really appreciate that effort. And I support the, I support the, the, both the proposal and the expeditious nature of the process.

Thank you. Uh, council member, uh, seeing no further, we have, uh, an amendment, which attaches the job description to the motion council member. Please move amendment 1.

So moved.

Thank you. Amendment 1 is before us any discussion from colleagues. Seeing no discussion on an amendment, let's proceed with the vote all those in favor of amendment 1 say aye aye all those opposed say, nay. Amendment 1 is adopted any final closing remarks before we proceed with the final adoption of the underlying motion. Okay, seeing no further discussion, Claire Kaye, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. Council Member Balducci?

Aye.

Council Member Varon?

Aye.

Council Member Dembowski?

Aye.

Council Member Dunn?

Aye.

Council Member Fain? Aye. Council Member Lewis? Aye. Council Member Mosqueda? Aye. Council Member von Reichbauer? Aye. Chair Perry? Aye.

I'm in a meeting.

The vote is 9 ayes, 0 noes.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed motion 2026-0197 as amended. If there's no objection, the published marked agenda together with any changes made in today's meeting will stand approved as the first reading and referral of ordinances and motions items 13 through 23 as listed. And before we adjourn, I'll note we have a proclamation celebrating India's Independence Day being presented in community by Councilmember von Reichbauer. Additionally, I want to take a brief moment to announce the names of the nominees to fill council-nominated at-large vacancy on the Conservation Futures Advisory Committee. Ellen Schaefer, Jamie Strobel, Masra Klamongu, Jane Boyce. Before we move on, I want to briefly recognize Vice Chair Barone to say a few final words after the recent tragedy at the Bight of Seattle. Council Member Barone.

Thank you chair Perry and I appreciate you're taking a beginning the meeting with with a moment of silence. I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the horrific incident that took place this weekend industry for at the bio Seattle event in Seattle center. I believe I speak for everybody here when I say that our hearts are with the victims of this tragedy, their families and loved ones, and everyone who has been impacted, and that we're grateful for the prompt actions of first responders, including Seattle Police and Fire Departments and the staff of our own county hospital, Harvey Medical Center. So thank you on everybody's and our thoughts.

Thank you very much, Vice Chair Barone. With that, I want to share a quick reminder to the public that the Council will be observing our annual August recess from August 3rd through August 14th. The Council will not be meeting during this time, and our next regularly scheduled Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 18th. With that, do my colleagues have any other business for the good of the Order? Seeing no further business before us, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.