City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

of June 1st, 2026 to order at 6 p.m. Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, guys.

Okay. I'd like to call on Greg Newart for the invocation. Nope, you're good. Okay.

Good evening. I am Greg Newart. I'm the worship arts pastor at Faith Covenant Church. Honored to be here. Thank you for inviting me, Andy, to give tonight's invocation. I'd like to start off tonight's invocation with something that God told the Israelites in the book of Jeremiah. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. Let's pray. We thank God for this privilege to gather together to serve this community. Your word calls us, God, to seek the welfare of your city. And today we ask for your wisdom as decisions are made that affect our neighborhoods, our families, our businesses, and future generations. grant this council and all its members discernment, integrity, and the spirit of cooperation. Help them to listen carefully, speak respectfully, and work together for the common good. Give them courage to do what is right, humility to recognize and honor differing perspectives, and the wisdom to steward the resources entrusted to them. We pray for the people of this town, for our schools, our first responders, local businesses, churches, and every household represented here. May this community be marked by justice, compassion, peace, and your love for all. Guide the discussions tonight, and may all that is done contribute to the flourishing of this city and the well-being of its residents. In your holy name we pray, amen.

Thank you. Okay, will the clerk please call the roll? Elfers?

Here.

Elfers? Here. Hockstetter?

Here.

Kenna?

Here.

Malcolm? Here. Reinke?

Here.

Wilsey? Here. All members at present.

Thank you. Will the clerk please read the consent agenda?

Item number one, approval of the 2026 employment agreement with Doug Beagle as development services department director. Item two, approval of the 2026 employment agreement with Michael Cosa as the public works department director. Item three, approval of the 2026 employment agreement with Andrea Marquez as a city attorney. Item 4, approval of the 2026 employment agreement with Jeff Steffens as the deputy city administrator. Item 5, approval of the 2026 employment agreement with Jason Wilson as the city administrator. Item 6, approval of the checks and electronic payments in the amount of $10,462,830.01. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elfers, would you please make a motion to adopt the consent agenda?

Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda for June 1st, 2026.

Now, there you go. Got it?

Yeah, let's do it. I'd like to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda for June 1st, 2026.

Thank you. Is there a second? Council Member Malcolm.

Seconded.

Thank you. Seconded by Council Member Malcolm. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Would any council member wish to remove an item? All right. Thank you. Okay. It passes unanimously. So all in favor?

Aye.

I got to just roll you guys down through here. Okay. Go ahead.

Aye.

Okay. Thank you. Opposed? Okay. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay, next we have the public hearing. There is nothing tonight, so we'll move on to regular business. Unfinished business, there is no unfinished business tonight. So that takes us right into public comment. Michelle, did anyone sign up for public comment?

Yes, Mayor, there are two people who have signed up for public comment. Would you like to read the rules before I call their names?

Yes, I would. Thank you very much. So the purpose of these meetings is to conduct the important business of the city and that often means the City Council is making difficult policy or budgetary decisions. With that said, I want to share a few rules and reminders that I will be enforcing to encourage respectful and orderly public comment. As a reminder, the public comment section of the meeting is a time for the Council and myself to hear from members of the public on topics not on tonight's agenda. And while it may feel awkward, this is not a time for the council or myself to answer questions or engage in back and forth debate. At the conclusion of your comments, I may request that the appropriate staff member contact you for further discussion. Number one, please keep your comments relevant to city business and about matters over which the city council has control. 2. All council members and city staff deserve respect and dignity. Please refrain from disorderly or disruptive speech or conduct, personal attacks, name-calling, rude or offensive statements, obscenities, derogatory comments directed at individuals, and hate speech. If you don't comply with this rule, I will interrupt you with a reminder and then may choose to suspend you from continuing or have you removed from the meeting. Three, we have behavioral expectations. We will all model courtesy and respect. This includes those of us on the dais and members of the public are expected to do the same. Audience members, to ensure every speaker feels comfortable speaking, please do not clap, boo, or speak while another person is addressing the council. Item four, please speak into the microphone. Comments are broadcasted and recorded via the mics. If you leave the microphone, your comment time ends. Now that I've reviewed the rules that will apply, I invite the first speaker to the microphone. Please start your comments by stating your name and the city in which you reside for our records. You will have three minutes to speak. Thank you.

And the first person is Randall Adams of Sumner, Washington.

It's unmuted. I'm sorry.

Randall Adams, Sumner, Washington. I have sent to you today a couple of options regarding the second and third floors for the building in Canal Block Park. On the second floor, I added a sixth office at the end of the concourse and two, not four, as originally represented in open houses, L-shaped workstations in the wide concourse. Also removed from the second floor is the deck wrapping around the large break room. It serves no function except for those working on the second floor to go outside and get some air. Let's remember this building is in a large park and staff can go downstairs and enjoy the air in the park if they're frustrated or need some time and space to collect themselves. On the third floor, the 1,000 to 1,500 square foot deck is to be enclosed, resulting in five new offices directly above the ones on the second floor and the council chambers expanded because it will need to last over 50 years. Just how many citizens you think will want to be in there if we have a best fire out at the Derringer plant or in town. A huge deck outside does not benefit the citizens nor the employees who could be working in those spaces. Remember, we are doing this for the dignity of the employees, including Michelle, who is working in a closet. In sales, we are reminded that pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. This building, as it is currently shown, has become a hog, and you should give it a haircut and bring it back into reality to benefit the citizens, additional staff members, and not just a specific few. Citizens do not know your intentions are to spend $29 million on just the last two phases of this project. Nor do we know how you're going to pay for it through park fees, although park fees are references one way to contribute. How much are these fees going to be? Staff has suggested there is a possibility for up to $5 million from various Kiss and Promise sources, yet too soon to be known at this point in time. They're not married to us yet. Then we get to the remainder of the funds from the golf course sale that are still on hold for the Stewart Road Bridge completion, the White River Reclamation project being finalized, and the utility complex on 29th to be finished. Those funds should not be touched until those projects are behind us. The scary part of the retreat was when the council asked, how are we going to pay for this? And the city administrator said, we can pay cash if we need to. Wow, coming from a city that has to use the council's $350,000 per year discretionary fund to fix roads and or own parks. That is a stunning revelation. Evidently, the poor boy and continued broke representations by staff are merely for theatrics. Now we know reality. Or staff is not accurately telling you where the funds are coming from, like maybe the B word. Yes, another bond. Maybe that B word has to be kept under wraps for as long as possible before bringing it out toward the end because now it's needed to finish what we've already started. I will start the bidding on the naming of the building. I'll give you $5,000 for that. The Remember the Ryan House has a nice ring to me.

Thank you. And the last person who has signed up is Nick Beerman.

Greetings, Mayor and Council Members. As we prepare to welcome a couple of new members to the Planning Commission, and let me just state that I'm also now a member of the Planning Commission, so we have three new members, and I'm looking forward to working with Pearl and Chris on the Planning Commission. It'll be great to see you both step into that role, so I'm looking forward to that. But speaking of service, Speaking of service to the community, I'd like to recognize the prior service of a planning commission member who is no longer on the commission. Amy Wo is an accomplished attorney, Sumner resident, mother of one, wife. She's an active participant in the community. She has a dedication to service that is beyond reproach. She's a voice for the community. She's an advocate for the citizens. She listens to the concerns of local residents and speaks on their behalf. I think all of this was demonstrated during her service as a planning commission member. She even ran for city council and received more than 40% of the vote for council position number three. So I just wanted to point out some very positive attributes of a person who is no longer serving on the Planning Commission, and I want to make sure that her record of service stands for all of us as an example in the community, for the Planning Commission as a whole, and especially for those of us who are new to the Planning Commission. Let's look to the record and the example that Amy set for us to follow. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone on Zoom? Nope? Okay. So that'll bring us to new business. 2026 Sidewalk Repair Program Construction Contract Award. Council Member Reinke, would you like to make a motion?

Yes, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to approve the 2026 Sidewalk Repair Programs Construction Contract Award.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Okay, seconded by Councilmember Evers. But my mic and stuff is not working up here, just so you know. So normally I should be hitting this when these guys, it should sit green until I call on the next person. So just so you guys know this, we might have a little bit of a kerfuffle off and on. Okay, seconded by Councilmember Evers. Thank you. Councilmember Malcolm.

Yes, thank you, Mayor Bowman. I will be recusing myself from tonight's discussion and vote on the 2026 Sidewalk Repair Program's Construction Contract Award. That's a mouthful. Due to the fact that I successfully applied to be part of the Sidewalk Repair Program, and I stand to personally benefit from the contract award. So I will be seeing you later.

Thank you, and we'll come and get you when we're done with this part. Okay, thank you. So let's see. We've got Mr. Cosa here to talk with us. So it's been moved and seconded to approve the 2026 Sidewalk Repair Construction Contract Award. So Public Works Director Michael Cosa. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. I'm here to present this Construction Contract Award and answer any questions you may have. So thank you. Go to the next slide. I can hang on. Great, thank you. So a project summary of this CIP, which is 25-03, is replacement of approximately 4,000 linear feet of sidewalk throughout the city at a number of locations. And we also are either building new or replacing 16 ADA curb ramps throughout the city as well. There's kind of some sub-projects that we attached all together to get this larger project and all bid by one contractor at this time. So we often talk about the Helping Homeowners Program, also the Street Tree Sidewalk Replacement Program, and generally ADA improvements. We have some funds for each one of those, and typically we try to get some of that work done during a biennium because council has directed us to do so. So some of the sidewalks you see above there are sidewalks that are in need of replacement. Either the surface is in rough shape or like the lower photo, which you'll see more of, we have roots from street trees that are adjacent that are lifting those sidewalks and heaving them so that we have trip hazards throughout the city. Next slide, please. So our helping homeowners, these are the sites that we're moving forward with. These sites were locations that were previously identified and were complaints. Sometimes even the property owners themselves brought their issues with their sidewalk to our attention and we determined that they were the homeowner's responsibility to fix so because in Sumner City Code it defines that the city is responsible for street tree damage and property owners are If the sidewalk is just falling apart, that's a homeowner responsibility. So property owners applied for this program, and these are the eight locations where they applied for the program. We didn't deny anyone through the process, but it's a 50-50 split between the city and the homeowner to get these sidewalks fixed. So those are the locations that we'll be doing that are in this contract. Next slide, please. Street tree damage, sidewalk replacement program. So the city also runs a sidewalk replacement program specific to street tree damage. And that also in city code is a city responsibility to get those sidewalks fixed due to the damage from street trees specifically. So the city staff went out, public work staff did a damage assessment of each one of the city's street trees. There's about 2,600 street trees in the city of Sumner that we manage. These were the worst. These were the worst locations. We may have grouped them a little bit so that we took care of a neighborhood altogether, but you'll see by the photos that, and if you drive through there, you'll see exactly why we're focused here. This was the highest priority area for us to look at. This address is damage caused by our city assets, the street trees, and is funded by the general fund. There's no private contribution to these locations. Actually, you can go back real quick. Sorry. Oh, no. Sorry. So just for reference, you can see Mead-McCumber. This is just south of Rainier View Park. There's a neighborhood there. Probably it's just the timing of when those tree trees went in, when that development went in. You'll see the photos. And then we also have a small area in River Grove. in the River Grove neighborhood just south of River Grove Drive. Thank you for going back. So some of our pictures, similar heaving sidewalks. I think we got one more slide of sidewalks that are, yeah, you can see. These are the kind of damages that we're looking at that we need to get resolved. We've marked them. We've done temporary patches on them. They continue to get worse. So they really are critical trip hazards that we'd like to get fixed, and that's the main one of the main basis is for this project. Next slide. I mentioned ADA curb ramps. So we have a few different locations where we are looking at doing adding some ADA curb ramps. Two of them are up on Academy Street in the upper left hand corner. There's two intersections that currently don't have any curb ramps. They just have a straight curb through them. So we're excited to be able to bring curb ramps to that area. One of those intersections had curb bulbs designed as a previous project during the Academy Street bike lanes project, and we didn't have the funding to support that at the time. So with this project, we've added it back in. So I think it's the Academy and Sumner intersection. Additionally, we're looking at the intersection down by Maple Lawn Elementary at Willow and Guptill in the lower left-hand corner. And then the intersections over off of Parker is in that same area where all of the tree damage we were talking about was earlier. We're doing all the other work. It made sense, and there was some tree issues for doing the curb ramps at that location. So those are the curb ramps we plan on doing as part of this project. Next slide. So funding, helping homeowners program, street tree program, ADA improvements. There's a line in the budget for general ADA improvements, a relatively small line. And then another source that we're using is Drainage District 11 improvements. That's in our storm utility. So a number of the sidewalks on the east side of the city qualify for Being turned into pervious pavement instead of impervious pavement. So that will allow water to flow down and infiltrate into the ground. We have a problem in our in drainage district 11, which about a third of the city routes to a large pipe at the end. And it's really at capacity. So we have a program to try to reduce the amount of actual flow, the runoff going to that pipe. So that folds in nicely with our sidewalk work and allows us to use some storm funds because there's a major storm benefit to having those pervious sidewalks installed. That's why there's some storm funds in this project as well. And then the transportation benefit district, which we talked about, uh, earlier in the year, uh, appropriating some funds to that. So those are the funding sources for this last slide, I think. So, um, results of our bid opening, uh, happened on Tuesday, May 19th, we received six bids from contractors. The lowest responsible bidder was sound Pacific construction, LLC. Their price was 1,292,943 dollars. Our engineer's estimate was $1,181,890. While the lowest responsible bidder was slightly higher than our engineer's estimate, we do have programmed funding. So the funding that we have already programmed in our budget is adequate. So we don't have a need for a budget amendment. And I think with that, there might be one slide that says questions.

Thank you. Yes. So any comments from the public? Michelle? There's a tie back here. Who wants to go first? Mr. Adams? Mr. Adams, come on.

First off, I'd like to thank Michael for that great presentation. There was an awful lot of information in that, and I think that's something that citizens should have at their fingertips. I think it would be wonderful if the Exhibit A that Councilman Kenna helped to get that sent to me today as to what what was actually on the contract, that if you could have that slide added on to your agenda packet so that people could go through and read that and go through the different pages and be able to understand what it all is, I think that would be a wonderful benefit for the citizens.

I'm going to go ahead and answer back to what you just said. So we looked into that today, and we had an IT issue. Normally it would have been attached to the packet, so it was not left off on purpose.

I understand, but I'm asking beyond that. I'm asking what he just did, what he just presented.

Oh, his additional presentation?

Yeah, not just the Exhibit A, the definition of what it is. I was asking for that. Oh, I see. So that you actually can see what it is.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Bierman.

Nick Bierman here in Sumner. So Again, I'd like to propose a question, and if the council would like to ask, that's probably how we should do this, right? So I didn't see a breakdown, like a cost breakdown of replacing trees, and I also didn't see a plan on replacing trees that are being removed. So I'd like to know a little bit more about that process and if that's either underway or if there's already estimates of that kind of thing that's already being done. So that's more of my question is.

Thank you. Would anyone on the council like to ask that exact same question, exact same question of staff, please?

I would.

Okay. So let me get you there. Council Member Hockstetter.

I would.

I think that would be great.

What's the question?

The question is regarding the street trees possible removal. Some will just be, the roots will be cut, others will be removed. Is there any plans to replace some? If so, what's that look like?

Great question. actually did go through each one of these locations with our city arborist and we are going to go through one more time to make sure that any trees that need to be removed are marked correctly. There are a number of trees that do need to be removed and were deemed by the arborist not being able to survive the work that will be needed in order to do the sidewalk replacements. Historically, this sidewalk program has not replaced street trees along the way. Essentially, Parks has typically taken that action as kind of an after action and not necessarily attached to the project. We've been talking about that internally and trying to determine what the best way to do that is because we do see that a number of trees will be removed as part of the project. WHAT WE ARE PLANNING ON DOING IS PUTTING TOGETHER A 2728 BUDGET ASK AS PART OF THE BUDGET PROCESS TO SHOW WHAT THAT COST WOULD BE AND THEN SEE IF COUNCIL IS INTERESTED IN GETTING A PLANTING PROGRAM THAT WE COULD PLANT TREES PROBABLY IN EARLY 27 WHICH IS LIKELY WHEN WE WOULD BE PLANTING THEM ANYWAY BASED ON WHETHER YOU WANT TO BE PLANTING IN THE SPRING OR THE FALL. SO THIS PROJECT WILL BE probably pushing into fall and probably a little bit into winter. And so if that's something the council wishes to move forward with, doing some anecdotal looking, the price for a street tree can be anywhere between $500 to $1,500 to have installed. So we will make some assessments and provide a budgetary number for you to consider.

Thank you. Council Member Evers.

Okay. Hey, thanks, Michael. I guess sidewalks have been this kind of ongoing thing in Sumner for like 25, 30 years. I just want to make sure that I'm up to date. So the sidewalk is the homeowner's responsibility and the trees are the property owner's?

Is that correct? So the sidewalk adjacent to your home is a property owner's responsibility. However, about maybe it was four or five years ago, we came to council to clear up exactly who was responsible for what because there were all these sidewalks that were damaged by street trees. So... At that point, the council decided that the city is going to take responsibility for the street trees because the street tree is considered a city asset. It's part of what the city provides in every day as part of the right of way. So because of that, if the city's tree roots are disturbing a sidewalk and causing it to heave, It is the city's – the council decided that it was the city's responsibility to pay for replacing the sidewalk that's damaged.

Because of the – okay.

Because it's a city's tree that's causing it. A homeowner doesn't have a choice in that tree. That seems fair. Let's see.

You were up here earlier in the year talking about new sidewalks. I mean, I think anything we can fix sidewalks, new sidewalks, that's great. But is there a plan in place for new sidewalks? I remember you up here a couple months ago. Is that currently already in the budget or is that something that we'll be looking for for... this upcoming budget for new sidewalks?

There are locations where we've identified new sidewalks. Typically, you know, things like the Friar Avenue Trail, which is not quite a sidewalk, it's more of a trail. But if we have a couple sidewalk projects that are in our transportation improvement program, the six-year tip that we talked about earlier in the year, that Courtney presented. Yeah, it might be where you're remembering it from. So those are some locations that essentially City Council has adopted as part of the the transportation program, and we can go out and seek funding for those sidewalks, which we are. We looked at specifically Elm Street over by Siebenthaler Park. We ended up putting some sidewalk over there and looking at extending that down to the Zender area. So those types of projects we're attempting to look for grant opportunities to fund those as well as, you know, the city has some contribution there.

How long... I'm just trying to get caught up here. How long has the 50-50 program been available or been offered by the city? I think it's great.

It's a program that's been here at least the nine years I've been here. Oh, wow.

I thought it had been around for a while. I would say probably in the 15-year... And that's instituted by homeowners, property owners coming to us and requesting that, correct?

Yes. It's a project that... Or it was... MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THERE WAS A LOT OF DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW TO HANDLE THESE SIDEWALKS BACK A LONG TIME AGO. AND THIS WAS THE DETERMINATION BY THAT COUNCIL. THIS IS THE EVOLUTION OF THAT. THIS KIND OF 50-50 COST SHARE WHERE THE CITY ENDS UP HIRING THE CONTRACTOR AND DOING A LOT OF THE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ACTUALLY GET THE WORK DONE. AND THEN THERE'S JUST A SHARED COST.

I THINK IT'S GREAT. AND I LOOK FORWARD TO LOOKING budget for new street trees and this summer.

Sounds great.

Thanks, Michael.

No problem. Thank you. Okay. Oh, Council Member Kenna.

Thanks, Michael. In terms of, I think I understand the sidewalk repair piece of this. In terms of those ADA ramps, it sounds like maybe, correct me if I'm wrong, those are identified by the city to say these locations need to be upgraded. We're doing work here anyway and We need to, it's the ADA transition plan. We need to upgrade these to be in compliance. But that's not a property owner saying, hey, I don't have a ramp here or the ramp is damaged. We need to repair that. That's more of a city-initiated...

That is correct, yeah. This is not precipitated by somebody reaching out to us about those specific ADA ramps. Schools obviously have a lot of foot traffic and missing curb ramps are another factor for making a choice of where we should put those funds.

Okay, thank you.

Council Member Hochstetter.

Thank you, Michael. First, walkability is what everybody loves about Sumner. So the sidewalks need to be repaired. The liability comes with that. You know, I got an opportunity to walk that neighborhood this week and, you know, based on the pictures, I mean, I saw that with my own eyes, like some of the kids, you know, have to, some of them might have to go on the street because the sidewalk is so, you know, and so we got to do that. And I know, you know, I've had discussions and the city administrator, I do, I was surprised by the amount of street trees that could possibly be removed. 72, I think it was. And then the map that I got, which the staff so kindly shared, didn't differentiate which ones were being removed, but which ones were the trees were just being cut back or the roots were being cut back on. But when we looked at that map and I see the neighborhood next to Rainier View Park, there was about 50 dots there, you know. So if I'm thinking, okay, I love this town. Oh, I want to move in. My wife and I find this house. Look at the street tree lined neighborhood. Iconic, right? And then we buy a home there. And then obviously the sidewalks need repaired, but now possibly up to 50 trees. I mean, that's a massive change to the streetscape that we moved into. You know, that's a big change. So my concern with that is... When we went out with this project, it was sidewalk, sidewalk, sidewalks, and we didn't really encompass the trees in the project. But I'm wondering how many people, when they're, in favor of the sidewalks are aware of the fact that they could be losing the street trees in their own neighborhood. And based on the numbers you gave us, quite expensive. The trees are quite expensive for us to circle back around. So it's really good to hear that there's internal Discussions, when we do this next time, how can it be done? Is there a way to save some more trees? We know, we've learned now that the root barriers are really important. These trees went in probably before the root barriers were mandated and all that. But I'm just hoping that we're mindful of how we're impacting neighborhoods as far as the street trees are involved when we're fixing these sidewalks. And I know the staff does, too, based on the newsletter we got during the spring. There was a write-up on it. It can increase your property value up to 15%, 25%. It can lower temperatures by 10 degrees, reduce your stormwater runoff. So we know all those facts now. So I guess my ask, Michael, is if we can somehow find a way to make sure that when we move forward that the street trees are incorporated in the whole project. Is that a possibility?

I really think that is, you know, Like I mentioned, we'll be bringing a budget ask for those street tree replacements. And then moving forward, I think it would be good to get council's recognition that this project needs to include street trees in it, if that is the council's desire. You know, it was always kind of discussed as a sidewalk project. And maybe it always should have been more than that. But that's how it was, you know, how it was discussed. And I wanted to make sure to honor that, because really the ADA sidewalk trip hazard portion of it was really the driving factor originally. But yeah, if that is another goal that we would like to incorporate, we'd be happy to do so. It's a good time. You're already there with, you know, a torn up street. It seems like a pretty good idea to add those street trees at that time or with the same contractor. So it just simplifies the amount of times we're out there.

Thank you, Michael.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elfers.

Yeah, I just want to say thank you for just going over this project with us. I also want to just thank... council member hockstetter and the folks on the committee i do feel like i got some communication about this and and i think it you know sumner's known for a couple things i think one of them is that we're really walkable and the sidewalks are great here and and i think the trees and just the iconic feel of sumner is a big part of it so i do just want to kind of agree with uh councilman councilman hockstetter that it'd be nice to those should be connected i think trees generally aren't friends with sidewalks and we want both of them here so MAKES SENSE TO MAKE THAT A CONNECT THOSE TWO IN FUTURE BIDS. SO I'M THANKFUL THAT YOU'RE DOING THAT FOR THIS ONE IN THE FUTURE. AND THEN I'D LOVE TO BE NICE, I DON'T KNOW IF WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING OFFICIALLY TO GET THAT, BUT I'D LOVE TO SEE THAT. BUT ANYWAYS, I JUST WANT TO APPRECIATE THE COMMUNICATION. I THINK THAT IT WAS, YOU KNOW, I THINK WE TALK A LOT AS A COUNCIL OFFLINE, AND I THINK IT'S HELPFUL THAT WE'RE KIND OF TRACKING STUFF LIKE THIS, AND WE DO, THIS IS A GOOD THING FOR OUR COMMUNITY. WE WANT TO KEEP IT LOOKING THE WAY IT DOES. THANKS.

THANK YOU. All right. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Evers? Yes. Woolsey? Yes. Alphers?

Yes.

Kenna?

Yes.

Hochstetter?

Yes.

Reinke?

Yes.

Pass 6-0. Thank you. Would Ms. Palmer or Mr. Steffens, will you please ask Councilmember Malcolm, to rejoin us, please. Thank you. Ready? Okay, thanks. All right. Next up, Ordinance Number 2968, Amending Sumner Municipal Code 13.20.040 monthly sewer rates. Council Member Malcolm, would you like to make a motion?

I'll be right back to work. Yes, I move to approve Ordinance No. 2968, amending Sumner Municipal Code 13.20.040 municipal sewer rates.

Thank you. Can we get a second? Council Member Kenna.

I'll second that.

Thank you. So by Councilmember Malcolm and Councilmember Kenna made the second. So it has been moved and seconded to approve ordinance number 2968, amending monthly sewer rates. So I now call on Kelly Harter, Finance and Utility Specialist.

Good evening, Mayor Bowman and Council. I'm Kelly Harder, Finance Analyst and Utility Billing Specialist. Tonight I'm here to present Ordinance Number 2968, which amends Sumner Municipal Code 13.20.040 regarding monthly sewer rates. Currently our code identifies an outside city limits sewer rate for residential customers, but it does not specifically identify a rate for non-residential customers who are located outside city limits and connected to our sewer system. While the city does not currently have any non-residential sewer customers outside city limits, we anticipate having some in the near future. This ordinance addresses that gap by establishing a rate structure before services begin. The proposed rate includes a 25% premium for customers outside city limits, which is consistent with previous rate studies and with the city's existing practice of charging premium utility rates to customers outside the city limits. This ordinance does not change rates for existing customers. It simply clarifies the rate structure for non-residential customers outside city limits. This item was presented to the Finance and Personnel Committee on May 12th and received a due pass recommendation. Staff recommends approval of Ordinance Number 2968. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from the public? I see none. Anyone on Zoom? Okay, I see none there. So, any comments from Council? I don't see anything there either. All right. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Malcolm?

Yes.

Hockstetter?

Yes.

Kenna?

Yes.

Wilsey?

Yes.

Reinke?

Yes.

Alpers? Yes. Evers? Yes. Pass 7-0.

Thank you. Okay, moving on to Item C, Mayoral Appointment to Planning Commission for Mr. Pierce. Council Member Hockstetter, would you like to make a motion? Yes, I'd like to. I don't know where you went. There we go. Go ahead.

And I'm back. I would like to make a motion for the mayoral appointment to Planning Commission of Mr. Chris Pierce.

Thank you. Can we get a second? Deputy Mayor Elfers.

I'll second that.

Thank you. So seconded by Deputy Mayor Elfers. It has been moved and seconded to approve the appointment of Chris Pierce to the Planning Commission. So we now call on Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Windisch.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, City Council. Mayor Bowman is seeking to confirm Chris Pierce to the Sumner Planning Commission. As I think you all are aware, the Planning Commission serves in an advisory capacity to the City Council. Commission's main purpose is to assist in the implementation of the vision and policies in the Sumner Comprehensive Plan, including reviewing and making recommendations on various city plans, goals and policies, and the Sumner Zoning Code and development regulations. Mr. Pierce has applied and he is interested. He wants to use the skills he has attained over 30 years in public works construction to help keep Sumner a thriving community. He will be appointed for a full four-year term that expires April 2030. And Mr. Chris Pierce is here in the room.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from the public? Okay. So any comments from the council? I see none on the screen. So will the clerk please call the roll? Elfers?

Yes. Reinke?

Yes.

Malcolm? Yes. Evers? Yes. Hochstetter?

Yes.

Woolsey? Yes. Kenna?

Yes.

Pass 7-0.

Thank you. And I see Mr. Pierce is here tonight. Would you like to say a few words? Sure. Thank you.

Yes, I lived in Sumner for... Coming up on eight years. Been in the area since the early 2000s. I've raised my family here. Still have two at home, four kids. As was mentioned, I have 30 years in construction with the majority of that in public works, roadways and schools and things like that. I love Sumner. I feel like we have something really unique here. It's a bubble that... I'd hate to see ever pop. So I want to volunteer my time and my experience and knowledge in whatever way I can to help keep things on track. And I've met with the mayor and chatted with her a little bit before she was elected. And I really appreciate her vision and feel it lines well with my own of what I'd love to see this summer. So any questions?

Okay, it looks like you're good to go. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, next, Mayoral Appointment Planning Commission, Mr. Eddy. Council Member Evers, would you like to make a motion?

I would love to make a motion. I'd like to make a motion to appoint Burl Eddy, who is, I believe, sitting right in front of me here. I'm not 100%, but now I'm sure, to appoint Burl Eddy to the Planning Commission.

Thank you. Do we have a second? Deputy Mayor Elfers.

I'll second that.

So seconded by Deputy Mayor Elfers. So it has been moved and seconded to approve the appointment of Burl Eddy to the Planning Commission. Once again, we call on Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Windisch.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. I don't know if I have a whole lot to add. Obviously, it's an appointment to the Planning Commission. And Mr. Eddy would like to help shape and guide Sumner's growth as more people move into Sumner and retain the values that attracted him to Sumner, such as the small town charm and character, while keeping the community safe and making investments in downtown vitality. He wants to apply his background in business and project management and local government to assist with planning in Sumner. This, too, is a full-term appointment with an expiration April 2030.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from the public? Mr. Bierman.

I would just like to say briefly that I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Eddy at the interview stage when we were preparing to present to you our case for making us city council members. And I can tell, and I could tell at that time that Burl Eddy had a great passion for the community of Sumner, great passion to be involved and be a part of decisions that are being made here that affect all of us. And I'm happy that he was able to apply and be approved for the Planning Commission pending your vote today. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Any comments from the council? Okay. Will the clerk please call the roll? Renke?

Yes.

Kenna?

Yes.

Elfers?

Yes.

Malcolm?

Yes.

Woolsey? Yes. Evers? Yes. Hockstetter?

Yes.

Pass 7-0.

Thank you. Mr. Eddy, would you like to say something? Okay.

Thank you, Mayor, council members. I do appreciate this opportunity. I know that you guys don't take this lightly. I do enjoy the idea of being able to support the community at large. I've worked with Sound Transit the past 17 years and did military experience for six years, so I do take working with a greater sense of who I am seriously. So I do appreciate being able to take part in my local community and basically seeing what I can do there. And thank you, Mr. Bierman, for your comments. I appreciate that. So thank you. Anything else for me?

I think you're good. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Windisch. So that takes us to reports. So we'll start with the council. So Council Member Malcolm.

Thank you, Mayor. So first being a late addition to the council, I am now just getting the chance to to our facilities and properties and getting kind of a firsthand look at our portfolio. Last week, police support services manager Lauren Wallen walked me through the Metro Animal Services building. which is provided to us by the city of Puyallup. And it is more than evidently fair to say that if we want to play or stay in the service to the community, a larger and better equipped facility is definitely, absolutely called for. We also walked through the current and soon to be retired operations facility, which is a really promising candidate for a lot of potential. So it's kind of neat to see. I also will be getting a real tour from Ryan Johnstone, our public operations director, at the end of this week and look forward to learning how we are currently using that space and how the city of Sumner's needs are going to be better met in the new operations facility. So looking forward to that tour and some other tours coming up. Secondly, I'd like to welcome our new commission members. This is a great group. I'm really impressed with what I've heard and what I've read. And it really does some really important work for the city. I look forward to your deliberations. I look forward to your guidance and recommendations as they come before council in the coming four years for you. I'd also like to take a moment to thank outgoing planning commissioner Amy Hu for her service over the last year. I spent time working with her on some hairy issues, including a controversial rezoning request, a safeguarding our mobile home parks consideration, as well as finalizing our comprehensive plan this last year, amongst the many things that we deliberated. And I found her to be a great and thoughtful partner, and I wish her the best as she moves forward. So thank you, Amy. And lastly, just on a bit more of a somber note, I would like to acknowledge the town of Longview, Washington, as it goes through what I could only imagine in just an absolutely horrible last few weeks, let alone last few months. I'm from Longview. I was raised around those people and know some of the impacted families and people working there. And I can only imagine what they must be going through. But like Sumner, Longview is a tough and resilient town, and I wish them the best as they work through this.

Thank you. Council Member Reinke.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll just report on my committee meetings from the last two weeks. Wednesday, the 20th, we had public safety. Chief Parkinson and Chief McCurry gave their reports, standard call volumes, nothing really out of the ordinary. We did have a report from Melissa from East Pierce Fire and Rescue. She's a behavioral health specialist there. And they have a program there that's called an MIH, which is a mobile integrated health. And she basically goes out into the public and helps people with their medications, mental health, things like that, addiction, those kind of things. And what it kind of does is help the... Crews from going on a lot of these calls. They're really not 911 calls. So kindly read some of the call volume and She gave a presentation to have a nice little handout if anybody's ever interested kind of what they do and how they do it If you have anybody that could do that, it's on a referral so you can call and get a referral from somebody to the station or the crews to make referrals also on people so And the only other item we had on that agenda for public safety was the sidewalk program construction contract award, and we had to do pass recommendation, which we went through tonight already. Thursday the 21st had Pierce County Regional Council. We had two updates items there. One was on affordable housing and shape program or shape. Housing gave a little update on some of the things going on in the county. And right now they're working on a 4.4-acre site in Fredrickson. It's about a $13 million project. 28 units will be affordable housing. Those are being built currently. The other one that's pending is in Fife, it's North Levee Road. It's about 25 acres and it's gonna be about 280 units of multifamily and single family units, different things. So those are all being worked on. The next thing was the Unified Regional Approach to Homelessness, which we're working on that program through the county with all the cities. Just gave an update basically and gave some stats though from 25 to well May of 25 to May of 26. 8700 homeless in Pierce County and about 2300 eviction prevention services that they help with for people that are going through an eviction process. So those are those. Next is obviously the Chief Meraki Party we had last week on Wednesday. It's very well attended by a lot of people. He did his 25 years here in the city. Known Brad for a long time and it was a great turnout. The next day went to Puget Sound Regional Council up in Seattle. with Mayor Bowman and Deputy Manager Steffens. I'll just give some highlights, because I know she wants to report on some stuff too. No, you go ahead. I'll just hit the highlights. Well, I'm going to do it all.

You're doing good.

Anyway, it was a general assembly. They only do it like once a year or so. It was quite a few people there up at the Convention Center in Seattle. We approved the biennium budget. They do a two-year budget. Approved a regional transportation plan for the region. I also did a presentation from the former governor, Christine Gregoire, gave a presentation on Challenge Seattle. She's put together a conglomerate of people. They've hired a consultant who is studying Seattle basically for attracting businesses and keeping businesses there. So we're having some issues up there. And they brought along a panel of CEOs, one from Microsoft, one from JPMorgan Chase, and one from Nordstrom's. And it was pretty interesting. I listen to these guys. I won't go into everything, but I'll just tell them some of the difficult times they're having, keeping a business running in Washington State and the Puget Sound area, and then trying to attract new businesses also. It's pretty interesting. I guess they're having a lot of trouble, problems with it, not just Seattle, but all over. So this consortium is trying to put together some ways to keep them in business and attract more. They're supposed to have something by the end of the year, this consultant firm, and give some recommendations. Other than that, I will call it good, and that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Evers.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I am not a committee chair, so I am taking over the role in council of updating everybody with Sumner High School sports, if that's okay. I'll just tell you that Saturday afternoon was the best sports day in the history of Sumner High School. It was. Let me tell you why. The Spartan baseball team beat Gonzaga Prep 7-0 for their first ever state title. How good was this team in state? They outscored their opponents 29-3 in four state games. So it wasn't even close. And I appreciated Councilmember Hawks that were sitting next to me up at Everett. And he took a photo for the Summit News Index. So thank you very much. It takes a village. Wyatt Plyler, who's probably the best baseball player to state, pitched in the semifinal, and a sophomore, Brody Santman, pitched in the final. They pitched 12 innings total, gave up this many runs. And Bryce Carl, who missed the semifinal game because he had been ejected in the quarterfinal game and had to sit out a game, I think was a little maybe peeved, and came back and went three for three and drove in four runs in the championship game on Saturday. Soccer, I know Councilmember Kenna was at, I'm not trying to steal your thunder. Anyway, they lost, and they made it to the finals well, first time ever, and they lost to Eastmont 3-1. in the championship game at Sparks Stadium on Saturday. I guess some kid had a hat trick, and he had a hat trick in the semis too, so send that Eastmont kid up. Anyway, that being said, it was the second best, first, best finish ever for summer soccer, second place. I'm still a little bit, and then we go to track. Isaiah Ferguson, who played on the football team, he won the 100 and the 200 sprints. And Braylon Pope, who's the receiver on the football team, is coming back next year. He's going to UW. I still have a year to convince him to go to Wazoo. But anyway, he finished third in the 100 and 200. And not to forget the girls. The girls mile relay won state for the second year in a row. And I still have some double-checking to do. I think that Isaiah, that might have been the first time a Sumner kid's ever won two state titles in one meet. And the boys' team finished third, and the girls' team finished third in 4A state. I think those are records, but like I said, I need to dig deep into that. So baseball was the seventh state title ever for Sumner High School, four in football, including the last two, and two in girls' soccer. So that's seven state titles total. So it was the best day, I think, in the history of Sumner sports and the best year overall for Sumner sports. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Hochstetter.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, that was a great game. I got to sit next to Mark. We were trying to think if we could text Council Member Kenna to get the update on the soccer match and all. But yeah, no, that was a great day. As far as my reports, I serve on the Community Development Committee. We didn't have a meeting last month. But we will this coming month. And instead, we went to Chief Marecki's send-off. And I gotta say, when he did his last call in, I got choked up, you know? Because you just think of people who have served that long and got to know a community In such an intimate way and and and lived in life of service towards one community, you know I'm thinking a teacher may be putting in her last grades or something as she's on her last day or something so to see Chief Marecki make his last call in that was that was An emotional moment and so I wish him all the best I just want to thank the staff for the hanging baskets and all that that have gone up downtown You know, I know keeping them watered and all that Takes effort, but you know, like I know I hit on the street trees earlier. I think that's what separates Sumner from other areas is we pay attention to the details and When it comes to our town Often it's not the growth per se, but it's the feel. And the feel matters to someone because we're emotional beings and we love our community. So when you're walking down the street, the feel matters. So the street trees matter, the hanging baskets matter, all that. And it might seem kind of mundane to water them and all that, but it really does elevate the experience of living here. And the mayor and I had an opportunity to chat today and we thought, What if we can continue that charm down Main Street towards the east side as we know those those intersections will see some improvements we know those Multifamily units are coming in and we're hoping that they'll be something positive in the old QFC at some point and we see the street the the the food trucks and and all that side time. Anyways, I just want to throw that out there. There's no plan, but I love the conversation to start, how to elevate the east side. And it might just start with the small touches like the street trees.

Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Welsey.

I'm going to pull this closer. I always lean forward. Thank you. So I actually just want to remind everybody and just kind of put on blast. Rhubarb Days is coming. It is almost here. We got some really cool stuff coming down. It's our... kind of signature event for Sumner. So we've got, you know, the YMCA is going to be doing the Kids Zone. We've got Knutson Farms as our title sponsor, and they always do a fantastic job. But it's really a community event. So if you get a chance, come down. We're trying to... get everybody we can local and even bring in some new people to come and discover Sumner. We've got a larger audience this year and so we're really doing everything we can to build it up and make it fantastic, better than we can. And then the other thing I wanted to mention is don't forget downtown. Don't forget these small businesses. We've got some around WinCo. We've got some around Fred Meyer. We've got all over town there are small businesses. And so I want to encourage everybody to get out and remember your small businesses first if you get a chance. We've also got food truck Wednesdays going downtown as well. So if you're out for lunch in the middle of Wednesday, come on down to downtown. We're doing food truck Wednesdays. It's not big, but it gets people out walking around, get some fresh air and a snack or a nice lunch that's different than your pack and go. So that's everything. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elfers.

just a quick thank you to uh mr eddie thank you very much for being on the planning commission uh and then mr pierce as well so i'm uh just happy to have a couple of folks it sounds like both both well qualified and uh happy to to have your time and appreciate it and then also thank you to miss ho who uh who was on the commission before so thank you for your time Appreciate that. Secondly, I went to the retirement for Chief Moore. I don't know. Maybe I got the highlights wrong. I did really love talking to everybody. But I did when I first got there, I was talking and I found out that some of the folks in the police department, I think I mentioned, I think I heard Lauren and Bree made some food and got the whole thing going. And it was a really nice spread. Good food. I was very impressed with the event. It was really neat to see a lot of people from Puyallup, people from different parts of the community, and just realize that Chief Moeric, he was very much regionally connected. And so I really appreciate that. And I feel like he got some big shoes to fill, Chief Moeric. Andy. But anyway, so it was really nice to go to that. Finally, a third thing I see. I just want to acknowledge, I think we've gotten maybe, I haven't counted, but I'd say between 5 and 15 emails this last week or so in regards to traffic impact fees for preschools and small businesses and just how much they are a burden to small businesses. So I just want to acknowledge we've received those. There is a lot of talk going on. Staff is communicating with this. The council isn't aware of it. There's not a lot of we can't really respond a lot and give you guys a solution really easy. We've talked about this in the past and we're looking at trying to figure out how to solve it. So we are looking at all options and it is coming up this summer. So we will be, uh, talking about it at a study session, uh, in the next, in the coming months. And so, uh, thank you for your emails and I appreciate they were professional and, and, and helpful. So, um, and then finally, I did want to say good job, summer high school sports. So that was, that's pretty exciting. We've had a pretty phenomenal, uh, sports year all around in this region. So anyways, thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Kenna.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, a lot to follow up there. First, yeah, welcome to the new Planning Commission members. Burl and Chris, I think, has left now, but it's a great responsibility, Planning Commission. I myself am a Parks Commission former member, so I have a certain bent towards that body of work, but I really value the work on the Planning Commission. I'm a planner myself. and find it really interesting. And there's Councilmember Malcolm mentioned a lot of work that he was a part of as well when he was on the Planning Commission. It's big stuff, it's really important stuff and shapes our community. So yeah, welcome and thanks for applying. i'm glad we have folks that are engaged and you know want to be a part of it and i would again encourage anybody else i've got a few folks that have been on commissions and are currently on commissions please when those openings do come up apply have a conversation with the mayor and see you know what's out there so also in that same tone wanted to thank outgoing commissioner amy huo as well I've gotten to know her this last year. She ran a campaign for council as well and I can just speak as well to some of the comments that Nick and the audience made Councilmember Malcolm as well that she's just tireless and dedicated and I'm a parent of young kids and and she is as well and so I I know that she just put so much time and effort into wanting to be on council, wanting to be a planning commissioner and asking me questions, what I knew about this, what she thought about that and we would have conversations and so just really dedicated. I think she put in a lot of good hours to the planning commission and I hope that we don't see the last of her as far as her involvement with the city. Sumner Boys Soccer, I did attend that. I cannot pretend to be a journalist like Councilmember Evers, so you're not going to get that rundown. But I really had meant to get out to more games this year and just, you know, life catches up and stuff like that. But as I saw them advance in the tournament, I was like, I've got to get out there to a game. I went out there Saturday, and first I will say, I don't know what they're feeding these kids. We've got some big kids on this team. Compared to Eastmont, our kids are two, three, four inches taller, and they are physical, and they love to play that way. My wife made a comment, like, do these kids just run nonstop? And I watch a lot of soccer, so by proxy, she watches a lot of soccer. My kids do, too. And she's like, you know, we watch the professional game, and they don't do this much running. Of course... We have some more subs. They don't play quite as long of a game. But these kids put in such an effort, and they were almost there. The first half, they played fantastic. There weren't any goals at that point, but it was just neck and neck, and I thought we were going to turn the screws in the second half. Eastmont's a very good team. No shame there because they put in a great performance. As Councilmember Evers mentioned, a hat-trick. by one of their players as well so uh kudos to the boys soccer team you had an outstanding year and all the other teams boys and girls alike as as he was uh complimenting them and saying just what a year um i i talked to some of my friends about high school sports quite a bit and just like you know what we have going on here because i'm just overcome by that we we had a good um boys and girls basketball team when I grew up in Spokane. And all of our other sports were pretty far behind. We never really competed at the state level. And it always seemed like that was like you'd have your one or two good sports, and that was about it. So I don't know what's going on here in Sumner, but keep it up. You guys are doing a great job. And I loved being a small part of it just in the audience there. And then just lastly, just to thank Chief Brad Marecki as well. I really wanted to attend last week. I was sick, so I didn't want to come and kind of ruin the festivities in terms of that. But I can tell you that being on the council for about a year overlapping when he was still with us, I learned a ton from him. I still remember doing a tour with Brad through the department and just learning how much the department and everything has evolved in his time. I mean, Council Member Reinke mentioned that he's been here 25 years, is that right? And I can imagine what it was like 25 years ago and the changes that have happened in that time. What stuck out to me was just the amount the department spends on data and the new technology and softwares and how to stay on top of that when you're, you know, involved in a case. So he shepherded Sumner through that and has left us in a better place because of it. So thank you to him and his service and I'll pass it over to the city administrator.

Yes, thank you. So we'll call on Deputy City Administrator Jeff Steffens. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This is the Deputy City Administrator's report tonight. Upcoming policy issues. Next week at the June 8th study session, staff will be presenting the results of the Development Services Fee Study, and Council will also be discussing the AWC Conference of Voting Delegates, including who gets to carry the city flag through the Parade of Flags. Council Member Reinke. Commission updates. The planning commission will be meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. to discuss a code amendment related to food truck pods and food truck guidelines. And the city is looking for volunteers to serve on the design commission. The design commissioners make recommendations to the city council on projects that shape the look, feel, and character of our community. The commission reviews design elements for buildings, streetscapes, public spaces, and other developments to help ensure Sumner remains welcoming, attractive, and thoughtfully designed. More information on how to apply can be found on our website. Lastly, two miscellaneous items. On June 6th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Compassion Washington will be hosting a free healthcare event at Faith Covenant Church. Services include medical, dental, vision, and more. More information can be found on our website. And then lastly, the Senior Center will be closed through June 19th while new wall partitions are installed.

Thank you. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Yes, Council Member Evers.

I think by my math, the Planning Commission is full now. And I think Parks and Arts Commission. Is it Design Commission that we need a two-four? Otherwise, we're looking good. Correct. All right, thank you.

Are you out recruiting for us? I can. Thank you. There you go. That'd be wonderful. I'll get on it. Okay. All right, I think it's on to the mayor's report. Now, it is not easy with this council because I come in here with this list, and I'm crossing things off as I'm going down. No, it's good. You're the mayor. You can always go first. It's all good. So I do have a few other things, though, that are just equally as important. So, obviously, congratulations to our new commissioners, and, yes, thank you, Amy Ho, for her contribution this last year. Sports. It's evident we love our community and we love our sports. And that's when people say, I don't know what's going on because it's such a collective group in the community and the coaches and the kids. And when we've talked with the kids, they feel the support from the community. And that is a big deal. So that is a great feeling that the kids have. And in the youth forum, they say that they don't know what it would be like to live and go to school and play in a community that doesn't care about the kids. So they feel the support. So I think that helps spur them forward. Then, which leads me to, you know, I've been in here, I don't know how many days it is. I've lost count. They've been busy days. But you're supposed to keep track. But it's very evident that the city staff is a family and the community is a family. And that's what I keep hearing every time people talk about it. We all care about each other. So again, that makes this a great place to live and work, right? So this Friday, the 5th, South Sound Housing Affordability Partners are going to meet right here. So, you know, I sit on the executive board and Ryan's on the working... He actually works. I just listen. And so they're meeting here this Friday, which is pretty exciting. So we'll be meeting here in the chambers. And then after... We're going to go on a walk. We're going to go to Hops Alley. We're going to go to Heritage Park. And then we're going to go over to Friar Flats. We're looking at the weather to determine if we walk to Friar Flats or if we drive. But that's pretty cool that they're here because we talk with them a lot. And at some point, we want some of that money for affordable senior housing in this community. because we care about our community. So that's a big deal. With that, Pierce County Councilman Paul Herrera has been invited to go on the walk with us. So that's great. We get some great visibility with Pierce County Council. Let's talk about food trucks. So I know it was brought up, but they're going to continue every Wednesday through the summer over here from I think it's 11 to 1. Is it 11 to 2? It's 11 to 2. Okay, thank you. And I forgot to say where. That's all right, because it's at Heritage Park, but it's on the corner, you know, across the street from the woodworker is where it's set up at. And so I had the opportunity to see all the people going there last week. City staff did a great job getting there as well. But my husband wanted to go because he volunteers at the food bank on Wednesdays. He said, I couldn't wait there. Everybody from the city was there. So he went home and showered and then he came back. He said it was great. But a lot of people, you know, are going there. So the whole goal to the food trucks, Sumner Main Street Association brought them in because we need to support our small businesses. And that's really what we want to do. We want to see how this is working out. We want to support the small businesses. So I would ask people, you know, to do that. Just think about that. You know, one person at $500 or 500 people at $1, it's still 500 bucks. So just go spend $10 in the community, I would ask. Then I did go to Puget Sound Regional Council and Deputy City Administrator Steffens went and Council Member Ranke. Great meeting, as he stated. He pretty much covered it all. But I will say there is a huge concern about And it was a really key statement that Eric Nordstrom made. Because the downtown Seattle Nordstrom store is the flagship store, but it is no longer the most profitable store anymore for Nordstrom. Bellevue is the most profitable store. And this is what we have to remember. He said it's very easy for people to drive seven miles across the bridge to go spend their money. And they do. And the key thing I think for us is as a city, the money they pay to have that Seattle store, the return on that investment is very minimal now. And when they make a call to the police, it's a 40% time that they actually get a police officer there. So we need to think about this in our community. We love our police. We like the fact they respond. Our businesses are our customers as well as all the people that live here. So we need to remember that as we revitalize and support our Main Street. All right, so that was a key message. Thanking the folks, Mr. Eddy and Mr. Pierce that applied for the Planning Commission. I do just want to say, so yes, last year the big thing was the rezoning of 30th Street. Ryan will remember this. When I was on the Planning Commission with Deputy Mayor Elfers, what was our big deal? The Growth Management Act, that was something, right? So there's always something big on these commissions that come in here and will impact us and the citizens here. And then again, congratulating our sports teams. You know, we love them, and we can tell there's a lot of passion. So I do have something. I got a letter in the mail today, and I opened it just before, and I thought, oh, I hope there's no white powder substance in here. Well, you know, that's what happens. So it's really cute, so I want to read it. And this is from Girl Scout Troop. Four five one six two daisies. So it says dear mayor Bowman. We Daisy troop four five one six two Want you to know that we like you That's good We are worried about litter We have picked up trash 1,000 times a Thousand you guys we want people to stop littering. Please tell us how we can help. Thank you, and this was a from Sterling Maddie Arianna Zoe Ellie and Quinn. So these daisies, these are like the youngest on the chain. And they care about litter, so we should too. So what I would ask is, I'll respond back to them. I have a return address, so I'll write them a letter. And I'll tell them how they can help, but I think we need to help as well. So if we could just be cognizant when we see litter, we talked about it today. You know, it's one thing that was said last week at the PSRC meeting. People like to come to clean towns. And so we all need to take it upon ourselves to make sure our town's clean. And that's litter, that's yards, abandoned cars. So let's all kind of take notice of that and do our part if we can. So with that, let's see where we're at in the agenda. There is no executive session tonight, so I will adjourn with no further business before the council this meeting at 7.19 p.m.