City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. The Puyallup City Council meeting for September 1st is called to order. Will everyone please rise for 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. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Present. Moving right along, do we have a motion to approve the agenda?

All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Moving along to presentations and proclamations, we have a proclamation regarding the 9-11 25th Anniversary Memorial Proclamation. And it goes as follows. Whereas September 11th, 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 lives were lost in New York City and the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93. And whereas we honor the firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, military members, and civilians whose courage and selfless actions demonstrated the very best of our nation. And wher

I'd just like to take a quick moment to express our appreciation for this donation. Priming the pump is a great analogy. It's a way to get those other funding going. And in the process of this, I'd like to recognize those two former mayors, Mayor Hopkins and former Mayor Palmer. Former mayors are a great resource. We like to have them around. They continue to yield results in the years after they step down. So again, thank you for this contribution, and we're excited to get that Section 5 going. Okay, and the final proclamation we have tonight is a Washington State Fair proclamation. We've got

Thank you. For the next month, the fair really is the heart of Puyallup. We'll now move on to citizen comments. First, City Clerk, could you read the instructions for public comments?

Thank you. First, we'll hear from Valerie Dent.

Thank you. We'll next hear from Jim Steves.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Matthew Karras.

Thank you. Next speaker will be Craig Dittien. Did I get that right?

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Charles. And I'm struggling, can't quite make out the last name.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Andrew Lynn Squaredo.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Bud Metzger.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be, I believe it's Vicki Burke.

to speak. Is there anybody else in our audience that would like to make public comment this evening? Seeing none, we'll move on to our consent agenda. The consent agenda is the portion of our meeting that is expected to be non-controversial and accepted in total, but if there's any on this consent agenda that one of my colleagues would like to have pulled off for further discussion, they can make the request at this time. If not, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Second. Motion has been moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Motion passes. Next item on our agenda is item 4A, a second reading on ordinance adopting amendment to PMC chapter 21.06, critical areas. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to approve a second reading as listed in 4A under ordinance.

We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion's been moved and seconded. We'll now open for discussion.

Councilmember Kasten. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think it's very important on this particular item on the agenda, and I know it was articulated last time, but I think that sometimes second reading, we need to familiarize the public a little bit more of what was actually done prior to that. And this is, of course, dealing with the critical areas. And one of the great concerns we've had in this community is that we'll be expanding the buffers, which will severely impact certain residents of this community. And this particular proposal here, this ordinance that we have here, does not include any of

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm comfortable moving forward tonight in large part because I understand that this does not close our discussion regarding riparian management zones and stream buffers. I strongly support taking the additional time, as Mr. Kastema has said, to examine the best available science before making those decisions. And I just want that on record. And then I do have a couple of questions, if it's appropriate to ask them. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Hi. Can staff confirm for the record that adoption tonight does not prejudice or predetermine Council's eventual decision regarding stream buffers or riparian management zones?

Thank you. I just wanted that on record. And I do have a follow up question, if I may. If mitigation, this is kind of a flash forward situation, if mitigation fails several years later, who bears the financial responsibility for correcting it?

Thank you Deputy Mayor Johnson Thank You mr. Mayor

Yeah, I support this because it does allow for more discussion and analysis that's specific to this area, the state, and its good intent. well-meaning, oftentimes we'll do what's called a paintbrush approach and just come up with these random numbers to, again, to protect whatever it may be. And while I appreciate that, the opportunity to be more surgical, specifically in this area of our city, is a wise thing to do, and many cities haven't taken it on as we have. And so I think it's a real compliment to our city staff and to our council that says while we appreciate the intent of what the cri

Thank you. Seeing no further Councilmember, comments requested? We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please so indicate. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Our next roll call. Second reading, we need a roll call vote. Please proceed.

OK, moving on. Our next topic for discussion tonight is our regional hazard mitigation plan. And we're going to have a presentation by Emergency Management Manager Kirsten Hoffman.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Are there any cities that do not opt in this? Because you said this helps us in terms of federal grants, but are there any cities that don't opt into this? Are there independent cities that stay out of it?

Yes, it seems so. And this resolution, was this PLOP specific or was it regionally specific and we're adopting PLOP? I know you mentioned a little bit, but I just want to reaffirm, are there specifics to PLOP or is this kind of a general region and we adopt into this resolution language?

Are there any conflicts or parallels that would?

You mentioned that there were some surveys. Forgive me if I missed it, but I don't think I did. But you said that you put on some online data. What were some of the things that people were concerned about? I didn't know if I caught that or not. You mentioned there was concerns of danger.

Again, just asking the questions, because I feel like without asking questions, it's kind of rubber stamp. Here's a before you. We adopted this. We're partnering with these. We're collaborating. So just here we go, counsel. We'll at least be educational in terms of understanding it. Is there anything in terms of, if we adopt this, is there anything that would strengthen what we already have at this point? In other words, before we adopt this, I assume we have some kind of plan. Is that sufficient? Does this add any strength other than opportunities for more funding, perhaps?

Okay, hypothetical situation, I guess my last question. This is important for me. I think that our identity as a city should be maintained and not grouped into control by a regional or statewide response. I don't mind collaborating. I think it's wonderful. Sharing resources, ideas, wonderful. But hypothetical, if a tragedy hit, and we're getting direction from county or state, this is the way we need to respond to this, and if the city of Pilp says, wait a minute, that's a one-size-fits-all, we're not going to respond that way. We're going to respond this way under our own emergency management

So we're not bound by this. That makes me feel great. Again, I think autonomy, how we want to run our city and protect our city based off of the data that's specific to us in a specific situation. We should not be bound by a regional state or county. We want to, again, work together. But as long as we have the say as a city to respond as we see fit, then I would support this. Thank you.

Thank you. I have three questions. You said there's now a more consolidated list of 14 hazards. Of the hazards identified for Puyallup, you said citizens are most concerned about earthquakes, wildfires, and lahars. Are those actually, scientifically and historically, our most pressing three risks? That's my first question.

Thank you. That answers that first question beautifully. Sorry, that was kind of scary. That was awesome. Nailed it. Second question, or it's more of a comment. And then I guess I really only have two questions. So this one's more of a comment. I'm concerned about the neighborhoods and populations which are least able to recover from these disasters. For example, evacuation instructions aren't equally useful to someone who doesn't own a car, has limited mobility, doesn't speak English, is unhoused, lacks internet access, is elderly, and lives alone. That leads me to my second and final questio

OK. I lied to you. Not intentionally. I do have a third question. This is a promise for this bit. What is the highest impact mitigation project in this plan that we currently don't have the money to do?

Thank you. Well, I don't know about y'all, but I feel like we should all knock on some wood talking about all these things. I'll knock on my noggin. I'm sorry. So I just got to say, I wish that I had a counter with me so I could count how many times you have said partnerships or partner. Because I got to tell you, if something happens in our city, we cannot go alone. We have got to come together with our partners. And partnerships is what's going to help protect us, what will help save us. And there's no doubt in my mind that the work that you're doing, and I can assume the many, many, many me

But this work that you're doing is likely very thankless because it doesn't materialize unless something happens, God forbid. So thank you. It's very serious work. And I just, again, want to give appreciation for the commitment to partnerships. Finally, we're a day late, but August was Emergency Management Awareness Month. And so we missed out on formally acknowledging that, but a day late isn't so bad. So thank you, again, for the work that you do.

Thank you. GREG MCKENZIE- Council Member King.

Thank you, and thank you for all of your information that you've given us this evening regarding all of the potentials that could come down the pipe. Just as a clarity, once this gets adopted, what is the timeline for implementing everything?

Perfect. Will there be a summary available to the public? And how soon would that be available?

And a follow-up to that, will it be available online, do you know? And those that don't have internet access, how soon or how would they be able to access that?

And with each update that you do, because you mentioned that there were numerous that will come down as they get implemented, how will that be communicated?

Thank you very much. again you are a very important team member to the city of puyallup and i just want to acknowledge you for that and all the professional tidbits that you have along the way because every every instance that you have updated us regarding anything regarding our emergency preparedness plan i think i can probably I won't speak on behalf of the council, but I'm going to. I think you amaze us all with your intelligence and professionalism regarding this. And I just want to say thank you for being part of our team and doing such a great job.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to go on record in stating that I'm a huge fan of you, Kirsten. I've toured your office even when you weren't there. And your part-time staff showed me maps and layouts of things and contingency plans and above and beyond. And so I... I hope all of the residents have at some point checked in with the CERT team booth at any event that we have in the city because there are handouts that you can get for quick escape and what you need to have for your pets. I never thought about caring for my pets. Just get in the car and let's go, right? But amount of water you n

I hope they're at assisted living facilities in our our city hope there and maybe even in our schools we can Check in on that but I am grateful for how well you lead our city and putting us literally on the map For the collaborative work and helping people be aware and how to do it needs to be done in a crisis so you are So far, you elevate Puyallup beyond other cities and, dare I say, even above Pierce County. The only reason why I say that is because Puyallup does host the CERT community emergency response team Kirsten and her team lead that literally for all of Pierce County. So if you want

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think what's important, what can, I think, bring everybody around understanding this issue very easy is that the fundamental philosophy of emergency management, Kirsten, you know this, is collaboration and relationships, period. That's it. When you ever get at a conference of emergency management professionals, The philosophy that they all talk about is relationships and collaboration, because nothing ever goes as planned. And when it happens, you have to know who your colleagues are. You have to trust them. You've got to know what their strengths are and their weakness

I'd just like to weigh in a little bit and second comments by a couple of my colleagues. Councilmember Adler talked about partnerships and the need for those partnerships. And we've just had an example of of partnerships. We've got our Australian firefighters coming to help us fight our local fires. So this isn't some novel thing that we go out for partnerships. When a disaster strikes, it may strike really locally or it may strike really broadly. Aloha coming through Puyallup, we're going to need help from everybody around. And there may be whole communities, a lot of the areas around us aren

Yes, so anyway, that's... Looking at the material coming down off that mountain, it looks like slurry and concrete and that's what I've been led to believe the lahar is going to look like. So we have the potential to have that happen in the Puyallup Valley and we will need help. And partnerships are what will bring us through. Now, the other concern is some of these disasters could be much broader. If we have a Concordia Fault 9.0 earthquake, it's not just going to hurt Puyallup. It's going to hurt Vancouver, Washington, Vancouver, Canada, California, the disaster is going to be really broadly

Okay, so let's just take the Nisqually quake at 7.1. For those of you that were around here at that time, that was a pretty good quake. It shook down up pretty good. Okay, so we're talking a Richter scale here. So each factor up, so a 9.0 quake, is, am I right, 190 times as strong as the 7.1? I would have to check the math, but it is, yes, it increases exponentially as it goes up the Richter scale. So I'm pretty sure I'm right that it would be 190 times as strong. So imagine what that would be like. And so overpasses are going to come down. just getting relief supplies into the area is gonna b

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll be brief. We know that it is possible for some lahar issue here in Puyallup. I was talking many years ago to a guy that does dirt work and does a lot of digging of foundations and things and putting in infrastructure. And he said that he went down 30 feet and found a whole preserved cedar log. So we know that when that comes down, that's why the Puyallup Valley is such a fertile place. It's all topsoil. I can go anywhere on my property in the valley, put my foot on the shovel without any resistance, and bury it with not hitting one rock. complete topsoil. That didn't

Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Kirsten. We appreciate all you do. We really do have a gem working in the city of Puyallup. Next item on our agenda is key to the city policy discussion. We had a proposal to award a city key recently. And there was some discussion about a need for a criteria to guide our selection process or guide our vote. So the question tonight is, do we want to have such a criteria? I have put forward a potential document for our consideration. Hopefully, you've had a chance to look at it. And so I am welcoming discussion of the need for a key or need for criteria.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have not received any such proposal. I'm ready to comment on this, but I just haven't received any kind of proposal.

Okay. Council Member Kacima, did you have?

Well, I would only ask or make a request. What is the current policy? I think the public needs to know what the current policy is.

Mr. Mayor, if I could comment, I think that this process, as it currently is in code, provides tremendous discretion for the council to make this decision. And it gives the opportunity for a council member, if they think someone is worthy, is to state why they think that individual or maybe individuals are or were worthy of receiving the key to the city. But I think that one thing that everyone understands is that this is a very rare honor that we give. Since I have been on the council, we have given this honor to Sister Pat. when she retired from the position of being the head of St. Francis

So I'm going to respond to that. I put a name forward here recently. I heard from several of my colleagues that they wanted to have some criteria by which to judge whether this individual measured up to the standard. And we can have our gut feels or we can have criteria. So I don't feel strongly one way or the other, but we need, as a As a council, we need to come together on whether we're going to have it or not have it. Can I respond to that? I don't think it needs a response.

Well, the only thing I say is that all I got in an email was a name. I had no rationale, no reason.

Again, if an individual feels that someone deserves... Jim, I did not recognize you. I had the floor. Okay, I thought this was a discussion.

I'll take my name off the board, but I thought it was just a discussion.

There was... I did put forward a... I don't know why you're not getting these distributions, but can I... the city manager. We've got the proposed criteria on the screen, which was distributed previously. proposal to hand out a key was distributed just in the same form as the proclamations were with plenty of whereases. I drafted it up and it was distributed. So I'm not sure why you're not getting these things, but we'll need to look into that. So I'd be interested in hearing from my council colleagues whether or not we feel we need criteria. And if we feel we do, then I would put forward thes

i think deputy mayor johnson's next on the list thank you yeah thank you mr mayor um yeah i'm looking over your your uh you know draft which i think is good um When I too look at this, it is, I mean, I've been on the council 10 years. And again, it's the same thing. I've only seen two handed out. So it is kind of an exception. So there's already a built-in screening that is taking place kind of organically without necessarily having criteria that qualifies. I'm not against some criteria. I'm just wondering if it's necessary. When I look back at looking at this criteria, I guess some of the que

If you look under eligibility, there's a recipient should meet one or more of the following criteria.

Yeah, so... Yeah, I think, you know, I don't have any problem looking at it. I guess my thinking is... If it's not broken, why tie it up more? I don't feel that we've loosely given them out like candy. So I feel like there's been a lot of discretion going on. It does take a supermajority. So it's not like even a majority of four can do it. It has to be five or more. So I think that in itself, and most of us up here, you know, pretty much know people in this area. So our ability to discern that kind of organically with a super majority of five or more, I think, is there. But I'm open to looking

Thank you. I agree with Council Members Kastema and Johnson about the supermajority being strong. And I also think Mayor Whitting's proposed criteria is strong without being a hyper-specific checklist of things. I think it's broad enough, but still gives clarity and definition to what it might mean to earn a key to the city. I would add a third point. Mayor Whitting, you said that there's kind of two options, a supermajority vote or criteria. I think it can be a both and piece. And also, I would propose some sort of stronger community involvement. provide the nominations and written justificat

Thank you. I agree with the comments from Councilmember Kastema and Councilmember Smolko. Appreciate those. I also appreciate the criteria here. I do have a clarifying question, and it gets to Councilmember Smolko's point. Is the intent of what was put forward here with the criteria this in lieu of a supermajority requirement as well?

Absolutely not. There's no change to our rules and procedures here which require at least a 5-2 vote. So the supermajority will remain in place with or without the criteria.

Thank you for that. I support having a guide. I guess I would maybe recommend that it be considered that it's a proposed guide. And we use that as the North Star, if you will, and just a gut check. I appreciate the deputy mayor's comments related to our discernment, which I agree with. But I think that it's important to have something in writing, on paper, that we can always reference back to as a guide. And so I appreciate you, Mr. Mayor, putting this forward. And again, I think it's good to have a North Star roadmap, a gut check. And I would also be supportive of keeping the supermajority. S

MR. Yeah, this is a discussion, so that's why I'll have some short spurts to kind of help respond and understand, whittle it down. Again, I'm OK with this guy. I certainly would want to maintain the supermajority. What I don't want to do, and I would absolutely caution, say don't go there. Get into a debate on an individual publicly out in the open like this on some kind of vote, that's just not right. It puts people on the spot. It debates their character. It should be much like a proclamation. It's all done transparently under public record, but there should be a process that gets the five s

Councilmember Kastema. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I have no problem with a guide if a person needs that. I think that would be fine. However, I would, first of all, I think we should have the opportunity to look through this in close detail to make sure there's Something in here that we don't find is limiting. But I will say what they do on a state level is they'll state criteria for naming a building, for example, or whatever the case may be. But one of the points that they use in code and statute, you can check this out, is that they say that none of this is intended to remove the dis

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just realized that the reason why we're even having this discussion at the dais is because there was a name put forward that I was absolutely and am absolutely in support of. However, there was no real explanation. It was just assumed that you would know this person and their impact in the community. And so I think it's really helpful, again, to consider. I appreciate this outline. Maybe in the future, if a council member wants to recommend somebody for a key to the city, that they would actually back, hey, I've seen this person do such and such and such. And maybe ther

the key proposal just the way I would put forward a proclamation. Was that not distributed according to our policies?

So my question is, I proposed the person. I put together the official document. Was that distributed or was it not?

So my council colleagues, you all saw the criteria that was presented for that particular individual. Apparently, Council Member Castema has not seen it I'm looking for input now. I don't remember specifically getting those.

So sorry. We don't have microphones in our schools. I don't remember getting something. That does not mean it didn't happen, but I do remember immediately having to do my own research to find out who that person was because I did not know.

I don't remember seeing your description. So let me just ask, have council members seen that document? Yes. So it was apparently distributed.

OK, so I'm not going crazy. OK, so again, I can, I'm not going to, so I guess the question before us is do we want to have some, let me summarize a little bit. I agree 100% with Deputy Mayor Johnson that we do not want to have a public debate over whether or not we want to make an award to somebody. I think we could, on further reflection, we can all probably agree with that. I also want to acknowledge Council Member Kastema's thoughts about making it always having the council have discretion If somebody doesn't meet these criteria, this is a guideline, not an absolute. And if we have an extra

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, I like the discussion that we've had here. It's a collaborative effort regarding this situation and this topic, and it seems like a lot of the members have come together in regards to the specific process that we have currently. It seems to be deemed okay, and I appreciate Councilmember Kastema's comments regarding the state that the state has ultimate discretion, I think that should roll over to the city as well. I also think that what you proposed here with the criteria can also help kind of be a pathway of understanding for those that want to nominate someone

Yeah, I think I'd like to Make a recommendation if not even a motion to adopt this guide that's been presented to us with the contingency that we add some autonomy, as Council Member Castema, we add some verbiage that would include autonomy for discretion, as well as a process similar to our proclamations that they would not turn into a debate of how someone measures up or doesn't measure up through a legal process. Either you have the supermajority votes that are supporting it, without debate through the email communication. And then that would be brought forward as we'd have proclamations wi

OK, so this is a discussion. I don't feel a consensus at this point, or I don't want to assume a consensus at this point that we can determine whether or not we want to have this guiding document here. Again, it doesn't change the code with the requirements for how the keys are awarded the supermajority vote. And the process would be follow the process that we've established for proclamations. Do we need the criteria? Deputy Mayor Johnson, let's go ahead and have a motion on this.

I mean, I can make that motion as stated, but if we wanted the staff to work on a resolution to make it to crystallize what our understanding I think is, so it's in writing, then we could formally do it then. But I'm okay with making a motion if we're comfortable with understanding what the criteria is here and they'll just bring back a resolution. I'm open to it, Mayor. I'm just... trying to figure out how we get there. Or, just kind of pausing, if in fact the nature of this document doesn't need to be formalized, if all of us agree that this is our guideline, we don't have to adopt it in our

I'm going to suggest that we direct staff to bring a board resolution back to us at a future date and we can discuss the merits of it and decide on it at a future date. Council Member King, do you have?

Yeah, I was just going to reiterate again. I don't think any modification needs to be made to the current procedures or any resolutions need to be written. But you are the mayor, and you have that discretion.

OK, I direct staff to prepare a resolution to codify these criteria.

So I think this is the clearest way of bringing this to a resolution, if you will. So do we have four? I'll direct the city manager to discuss this in our weekly meetings to see if we have a majority to put forward the resolution. With that being said, let's move on to the next topic. The Puyallup Road Safety Action Plan, City Engineer Hans Unger will introduce the presentation.

Thank you. Appreciate that update. Any questions from colleagues? I think we've digested it. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

You're going to look at some crash data, is that correct? Find out where hot spots and issues are? Correct. Will you also look at... opportunities that would kind of highlight if we need more lighting, like stoplights and things like this where potential safety could be happening. I mean, that's kind of kind of an important one right i mean uh but lights are expensive but would this provide data that might highlight hey there's some areas in the city that probably could use some lights here and would that criteria only be because there's crash data or could it just be you know this is just a d

Yeah, I guess I'd like to look at it from this perspective. One is, you can come in and assess scenario safety improvements based off of a reaction of data, but could you come in from a perspective that's proactive? Listen, we don't have the data in this section or area, but this all indicates that this could be a problem. So getting in front of it, versus reacting to it. And I'd like to see that in the study it's holistic, not just the obvious that we know. Our city staff can look at crash data and say, hey, we've got to do some improvements. So I appreciate that. But I'd sure love to see a h

Delving a little deeper on the proactive. I mean, car accidents are awful, right? But sometimes there's some protection around that. Again, I'm thinking about proactive, even around school zones, these kinds of things, right? So we don't want to wait for some data on that, right? And maybe we're fine. I don't know. But again, I would want some objective eyes looking at some of the safety issues around our schools, both elementary middle and high schools. And again, looking at, hey, maybe it doesn't have the data that shows accidents, but as schools grow and as traffic grows, we want to get ahe

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Just real briefly, going back to your commitment to public outreach and ensuring that you're connecting and hearing resident feedback, if I can, for whatever it's worth, just also encourage you to consider maybe running the tape, if you will, maybe the last six months, a sampling of our council meetings, particularly during public comment. Traffic safety, road safety, pedestrian safety has been a common theme, not only from constituents, but also myself and my colleagues. I think there's a lot to be found in those public comments. And for as much as I

Appreciate that. Not my recommendation. Taking the feedback from our residents very seriously. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't see any more people. I appreciate your presentation and look forward to the results.

We'll now move to our city manager's report.

Okay. Councilmember reports. Councilmember Kastema.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just only two items. One of them is that I know the community has had several requests. Sounds like a very small point, but I just want people to know about it. When I would speak at the senior center on a monthly basis, people always ask for dance classes in Puyallup. And I just want people to know they're finally here. This Thursday the 3rd, they're starting dance classes at the senior center at 730 at night. I've already signed up. My wife and I have. I just want to make that announcement to the community. I know people don't think it's that significant, but I wanted p

CHRISTOPHER KING JR.: Council Member King.

Thank you. I do echo everything that Councilmember Kastema has said about Councilmember Ferris and her service on Council for the eight years that she was here, and I was honored to be able to serve with her for two of those years. I believe it was two? Yes, it was two. But You know, like Councilmember Kastema said, you know, she was either with you or against you. And you never really knew. But at the same time, you know, she was very witty. She was very fun, if you will. She had jokes on the dais that I will say and admittedly so that most of us didn't get. But she knew that. And she had alw

Good evening, everyone. As we close tonight, before that happens, I wanted to briefly reflect on where our community is headed right now, because we're in the middle of a very important transition.

Tomorrow is supposed to be Puyallup's first day of school. I teach in the Bethel School District, and today was day two. So that moment matters. It doesn't just mean students returning to classrooms. It means our neighborhoods are waking up with new routines, families planning their days, and our community getting ready for the school year ahead. And with that return comes a shared responsibility to make sure our schools and the areas around them are safe, welcoming, and prepared for growth. Safety has to be more than a promise. It has to be a practice we support. We've talked a lot about that

The other teacher. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I wholeheartedly agree with Council Member Smolko. Tomorrow is the first day of school. And, of course, September is a very busy month for us as a city with all the activity going on with the fair. I'm wearing... A pin that was given to me, I got it today. It is, I honestly don't know how old this is, but it is Washington State. And then it says the Washington State Fair, do the Puyallup. And it has a little heart where Puyallup is on Washington. My friend Christine Haas' mom had this, and she sent it to me today. So Christine, I'm wearing the pin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, too, want to send my condolences to Councilmember Ferris' family. I want to thank Councilmember Ferris for her unwavering pride and love for Puyallup. I had known Robin for a very long time, since I was quite younger. And we always had very good conversations, albeit they were sometimes short, because we were in passing. But one thing that I learned I appreciate about her and always will is just the way that the love for Puyallup just flowed out of her. I mean, we, I, found out that she was very close with her cousins. And one of her cousins graduated with my parents.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Three things. Two fairly brief and one just a little over brief. Concert in the Parks Series concluded. A tremendous smashing success. I want to thank the Parks Department for putting on another great series of concerts. Virtually every band that came out was fantastic. The crowd engagement was over the top. I don't know if there's any data, but I suspect that If we have some data, it'd be nice to look at that. I heard with the Journey concert, there was probably numbers of over 4,000 people, they thought, coming out and attending. I even got comments that there was great

OK, I'll wrap up. We had a great one Puyallup this past week. Lots of kids having a lot of fun. It's a great event, a chance for our young people to get to know our police officers. And I appreciate the PPD for putting that on. With regard to police, we also had a retirement event for Dan Drasher. Our school resource officer, I can never get the SRO straight in my mind, but he did a phenomenal job. He's been with the police department for 13 years, and we'll miss him. The schools will miss him. Robin Ferris, I'll just say one thing about her. She had a good heart. She was a good person. And we