Metropolitan King County Council - Regular Meeting

8th, 2026 meeting of the King County Council. I'm Sarah Perry, chair of the council this year, joined by vice chairs Jorge Barone and Reagan Dunn and our council colleagues today. And this meeting is called to order. Before we begin, please join me in acknowledging that we are on the traditional lands of the Puget Salish peoples past and present. We thank these caretakers of this land who've lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching our lives. With that, Clerk Hayley, please call the roll.

Here. You have a quorum. Thank you. Next, would you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice Chair Dunn.

Please stand and join me in pledging allegiance to our nation's flag.

That's one notice, Mr. Zimmerman. That's not permitted, and you know that. Thank you. Vice Chair Barone, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the September 1st, 2026 council meeting?

I move approvals of the minutes of September 1st.

Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Minutes are approved. Clerk K, are there any other additions to the council agenda? There are no additions. Thank you. Turning now to our special items, the first of which is a recognition of Johnny Oda as the 2026 King County Recovery Champion, led by Council Members Dunn and myself. I am pleased we're all here today to recognize September as recovery month in King County. This month celebrates the amazing and difficult progress of recovery that people in our communities are working through every single day. Recognizes the

There we are. Forgive me. Today, I am honored to present the King County Council Recovery Champion Award to Johnny Ota. Johnny, please come on up to the podium my friend, be recognized. Bring it in, bring it in baby, bring it in. You're doing good, you're doing good man. Johnny is not just a youth substance use disorder professional, he is a lifeline. He embodies a rare kind of relational case management, one built on profound earned trust that refuses to give up on anyone, no matter how many times they stumble. His approach often extends beyond early recovery and into a lasting committed ment

Whereas the King County Recovery Champion Award is given by the King County Council during National Recovery Month and presented in partnership with the King County Recovery Coalition and.

Whereas the King County Council recognizes that recovery is made possible by extraordinary individuals and organizations that put in the hard work and perseverance that it takes to support people in achieving and maintaining recovery and.

Whereas recovery from substance use disorder is possible and a large number of those with substance use disorder who seek recovery rely on many people and organizations for help along their journey and.

Whereas Johnny Ota has dedicated himself to the field of substance use recovery and mental health wellness. Demonstrating a profound commitment to supporting teens and young people in recovery across King County and

Whereas through Johnny's tireless advocacy and leadership, he's consistently worked to shift public perceptions of behavioral health conditions and champion pro-recovery policies and.

Whereas under Johnny's guidance, Ryther and other community organizations have been empowered to create meaningful, lasting change in behavioral health policy and support systems and.

Through his over 30 years of dedicated service, countless individuals navigating substance use disorder have found a pathway to recovery, and his ongoing contributions continue to foster care, healing, and community resilience.

Now, therefore, we, the Metropolitan King County Council, recognize Johnny Ota as the 2026 King County Recovery Champion and commend him sincerely for his dedication to helping people in King County recover from substance use disorders dated this eighth day of September 2026 and signed by all members of the King County Council. Let's give him a round of applause. And then, this is This is the actual award. I don't want to drop it. This is pretty cool. And we're going to hand this over to Johnny for his great work. And come on up. Give us your thoughts, my friend. You've got a couple minutes. G

Do your thing. I'm going to do my thing.

All right brother, congratulations. Let's do a picture.

Yeah. Will the council members please join us? I do want to thank Council Member Jorge Baron for bringing Johnny's name forward in the first place for this. And all of those who are here with Johnny, would you please join us and show us support by joining us in this photo as well? That's Eladio. Yeah, let's do it. You know what? We're going to go right back up on to the dais because there's so many and we're just going to line it and Johnny's going to have the gavel for the moment.

okay thank you very much uh everybody for that wonderful opportunity next we have a recognition of the ruth wu emerging leaders 2025-2026 fellows led by council member dembowski please begin whenever you're ready it's hard to hear you let's see

I think this mic there, the other reason it's hard here is we have a distraction here. Maybe we could bring order to chambers chair.

Let's make sure everyone's seated in the chambers. Thank you. Let's wait one moment. The door is opening. There we go, go right ahead whenever you're ready.

Thank you so much. Well, today we are really honored to be joined by a number, I think four of our 2025-2026 Ruth Wu Fellows. As folks know, our Ruth Wu Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program was started in 2017. The idea was brought forward to council by two tremendous community leaders, Joan Yoshitomi and former Seattle City Council member Dolores Sabanga to honor a true community legend, Ruth Wu. Ruth never was in elected office, but she knew many elected leaders. She helped get folks elected. And then perhaps more importantly, she helped connect young people, particularly young people who may

All right, colleagues, this year we have something very special and new to the program. Dolores Sabanga, who I mentioned, has just completed her autobiography. And every one of our graduates is going to get a copy of her autobiography, The Best Adobo in Town. Yes. And she has some very straightforward but powerful lessons, and there aren't that many of them, but I think they're very representative of the program. Number one, you need a seat at the table. If you or someone who shares your values isn't there, your message is blowing in the wind. Learn who makes decisions, then persuade them. The

Okay, our next graduate is Abby Bronson. Abby, come on up. Abby has played a key role in the program, in part in refining the youth works experience, enhancing communication workflows, and helping young interns navigate the complexity of entering the workforce. Your steady presence and sincere encouragement created a safe and welcoming environment for participants. Your contributions are embedded in the first KCYW cohort that you supported, leaving a legacy of trust, guidance, and connection. You also supported the executive office budget team, providing a key role in process managing the quar

Our next graduate is Nada Ramadan. As a fellow in the program, you were placed with the Department of Executive Services at the airport, like we saw in the video. What a fun assignment. I'm kind of jealous, actually. You focused on extending the outreach programs to underserved communities around the airport, and you developed relationships with many neighbors living in the area. This is one of our biggest challenges here at King County. Council Member Mosqueda and Council Member Lewis recently held a proclamation just last week here with airport communities, so we know the importance of the w

Thank you. There you go. OK, our fourth and final recipient today is Analei Andrea Hofschneider-Santos. Analei?

As a fellow in the program, Ana Ley was placed with the Director's Office within the Department of Human Services, where you supported enterprise-wide initiatives through cross-departmental coordination and project management. You helped to keep complex countywide work moving and also contributed to facilitation and leadership development, bringing care, cultural humanity, and a steady collaborative presence to every group. You brought your Chamorro heritage, is that right? Chamorro, okay, heritage, and your upbringing in the Northern Mariana Islands into your service, reminding colleagues tha

Thank you, everyone. Council Member Dembowski, would it be okay when you're done to have the Ruth Wu scholars come and stand behind us?

Sure, that would be great. I think Andrew is, what do you prefer, Andrew, down here or up on the... I think we might be able to squeeze it in down there.

Okay, okay. We'll go down. Is it time now or would you like to?

I won't read the whole recognition, but as you know, we are presenting a formal recognition signed by all members of the county council and naming all of the participants in the program. I also want to just take a moment. I know with a number of our fellows, your colleagues here from the department who helped partner with you and oversee the program have joined us. Would you all stand up if you were involved in the program today? We want to just thank you for helping it be successful. It just doesn't work without the mentors taking the time to invest in these folks. So thank you all for joinin

One, two, three, one more. One, two, three. Great, and then look at these people.

Well, I want to thank Councilmember Domboski for leading us in that special recognition, and congratulations and thank you, the 2526 Ruth Boo cohort, for your outstanding achievement in public service. We are served well. We'll now turn to the reading of items into the record and the hearing of public comments. First, Vice Chair Barone, would you please make a motion to suspend the rules to hold a public hearing less than seven days after first reading and to take action without referral to committee on item 11, proposed emergency ordinance 2026-0249? So moved. Thank you. The motion is before

All those opposed say nay. The motion carries. Next, Vice Chair Bowen, will you please make a motion to suspend the rules to hold a public hearing less than seven days after first reading and to take action without referral to committee on item 12, proposed emergency ordinance 2026-0256. So moved. Thank you. The motion is before us. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. With that, Clerk Hay, will you please read the items into the record?

Thank you very much. Okay. The council will now take public comment on those ordinances, motions, proclamations and recognitions on today's agenda for action. Comments will not be taken on those items on the agenda for referral. However, comments on any item related to King County can be taken on the fourth Tuesday of every month. So I invite those back for the fourth Tuesday if you would like to speak to things not on today's agenda. Listening to the public and taking into consideration the public's thoughts is an important part of our process and one that greatly enhances our deliberations.

Yes, it's important to have- Sorry, Mr. Altamira, that one is first reading and referral of ordinances and motions. It's not on the agenda, it's on the agenda for referral, and as I mentioned at the start, Oh, the items that are on the agenda for comment today include... Just one moment. I just want to make sure that I am... Are you sure? They are... Council takes comments on ordinances, motions, and proclamations and recognitions on today's agenda, not comment on those... This is for referral. So those that are for referral are not, we don't take comment on those items for referral. But please do comment on the fourth Tuesday unless you have something else.

I'm sorry. Did you want to speak to the proclamation itself?

You're speaking to the proclamation itself, are you?

Just want to be sure you stay with the agenda.

Yes, I do understand that, but I want to make sure that you're staying with the proclamation.

Thank you for your comment, Mr. Alzheimer. Thank you.

We have gone far off of the agenda item. Please, can you mute him? Thank you. We have gone far beyond proclamation in your topic.

You have gone far off of the record. Thank you, Mr. Altimer. You can step down now.

There's an important point for folks to remember, and that is for anyone here who has endured any kind of substance use disorder, in my case, alcohol use disorder, nine years without a drink, 90% of the public who have an alcohol use disorder won't seek treatment because they're afraid of the stigma associated with the disease. And that's one of the great problems we have. It's really important to give people grace, dignity, and space so that they can recover. And it's one of the great challenges we have in our society, and we all need to work towards that. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Dunn. Thank you very much. Mr. Zimmerman, go ahead.

Next on the list is Yvette Dynish. Thank you very much, Mr. Zimmerman. Welcome.

Thank you. All right, is there anyone else in chambers that would like to speak that hasn't had a chance to sign up to speak? Anyone else who would like to speak today? Okay, let's move online.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else online that did not have a chance to speak who would like to raise their hand now to speak? Anyone else who'd like the opportunity to provide testimony? okay seeing none we are closing testimony i want to thank everyone who took the time to be with us today and to provide your comments it's a very important part of our deliberations turning to the actions items on today's agenda we will now close public hearing turning to the action item items on today's agenda beginning with item 7 proposed ordinance 2026-0160 which concerns the county's solid waste f

Thank you, Chair Perry. In budget committee, I spoke to why I sponsored this legislation at a time when many people in King County are concerned about affordability. I want to do so again at this point when the council is considering potential final passage of this rate. Our constituents are right. Affordability is an issue affecting their family budgets. And this rate change is an increase at a time when costs seem to be going up everywhere. Why can't government keep costs the same this year as last year is a reasonable question. Solid Waste Division made it clear that it heard public concern

Thank you, Council Member Lewis. Do any other colleagues have questions or comments for discussion? Council Member Dembowski.

Thank you. I think this is for division staff.

Jake, Tracy, would you like to come to the...

There's an adjust... A year or two ago, the county solid waste division negotiated with the Teamsters to change some scheduling issues. The Teamsters warned us that it wasn't going to go well. It didn't go well through work slowdowns and things like that. That triggered a lot of problems for the haulers. And we came forward at the time I was involved with providing some relief. If there's something basically that we do that causes the haulers to maybe not be able to go to a station or whatever drives the cost, we would give some kind of a financial accommodation. This legislation on page 26 of

We have Director Singer and David Pierce here to speak to that.

With all due respect, Director, the legislation says exactly the opposite. It says a closure resulting from causes beyond the control of the division, dot, dot, dot, strike, SHALL NOT TRIGGER A CREDIT.

THAT'S WHY I WORKED ON THE POLICY BECAUSE A HALLER BIDS A CITY CONTRACT BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT FACTORIAL WILL BE OPEN AND THAT THE KIRKLAND ONE WILL BE OPEN. SO THEY, YOU KNOW. RIGHT. YEAH. I get the general notion of, hey, if something like an act of God is beyond our control, but it seems like... Yeah, the intent was if it's within our control, that those haulers would be compensated for that.

This just feels like a tightening of the policy that we adopted here in the last year or two.

Does this put us in a position of an amendment, a friendly amendment, a correction? What would you like to...

I wouldn't want to try and legislate this. This seems like this is quite an unusual event, and I would suggest, colleagues, it's probably not worth holding up this... legislation I think there's some timeliness to it if I sense that this could be worked on and refined later because it's it doesn't happen very often so if it needs some further that would just be my suggestion but I just my observation is this feels like quite a narrowing we were trying to be a responsible partner with our haulers that to say if there's some change in the assumption upon which they bid their city contract that w

Yeah Councilmember Lewis as the sponsor. Would you like to work on this then in the interim time? And we'll continue with the vote as is

And just while I have the floor, if I might, I'm probably a reluctant no on this today for the reasons I've stated in committee. It's really around an asset management issue in Harbor Island. This entire replenishing of the reserves and increasing costs for the entire year, this whole rate increase, wouldn't have been necessary if we had surplused that parcel and sold it and received the revenues I'm appreciative that the department I think now is headed in that direction as I understand it and when we get there and get that revenue in I'll look forward to being more supportive so hopefully th

Council Member Mosqueda? Thanks. I think this might be a question for our legal team or perhaps central staff. But does the conversation that just occurred between the council member and the director suffice for a colloquy on this issue if the intent is to make sure that in the event of an act of God or closure beyond the control of the solid waste division, such as severe weather, acts of God, natural disasters, strikes, or solid waste collection entity service disruptions, shall trigger a credit. Is that the intent? Yes. Okay. And I'm just hoping that this can serve as a colloquy on that iss

Well, we have, and we also have Kendall here to speak to something around this. If I may.

Then we have Jeff mom here to speak to the delay consequence.

Well, it may need some more work because strike says standalone, and then it says or solid waste collection entity service disruptions, which might be inclusive of strike on their side. Anyway, I think there's some maybe work to do. I've heard the opposite answer now given a couple of times, and so I would just respectfully suggest that folks that have an interest in that piece of the puzzle work on it but again i don't think it needs to be solved today and i think it would benefit from some non-spur of the moment engaged legislating thank you

Thank you. OK, well, I want to thank the team from solid waste for all your work on the proposal. During last year we had robust conversations about a different set of fee increases weighing the needed capital investments with the impacts the fee increases have on households across our region. Like so many of our residents, we are all feeling the effects of inflation. The cost of delivering projects continues to rise, making long-term planning more challenging and more expensive for everybody. I really appreciate the work the Executive and the Solid Waste Division has done since this conversat

Sorry, just a few more comments. Thank you to the sponsor. I want to just thank Council Member Domboski for raising that issue. I do hope that today's deliberations at least allow for the legislative intent to be clear should some of these issues come up prior to that clarifying effort that... uh director mum noted and appreciate the collaboration with the haulers teamsters 174 and so many other partners so i do hope that the legislative intent is clear as we pass this colleagues i want to first thank the sponsor thank you very much to councilmember lewis this is a big undertaking and you and

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda. We're going to go to Council Member Fain, then Council Member Dembowski, and then close it with Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Chair. Apologies that I can't be there in chambers or on camera, but I'm feeling under the weather today. I understand that we need to fund a safe and reliable solid waste system, and I do appreciate the work the solid waste division has done to bring this increase down from earlier projections, but Almost every month, this body is considering another cost increase for residents. And as my colleagues have noted, while a 73 cent a month increase for solid waste fees may sound small on its own, our working families and seniors aren't paying these increases one at a time. for a

Thanks so much. Well, we have a little civics lesson here today. It doesn't take a simple majority of this council to adopt an ordinance because our charter requires a minimum of five affirmative votes. And we have some attendance issues and some no issues. So my commitment to the executive is going to put me in the end. tenable unfortunate position of keeping my word to him even though it isn't really how i would like to vote uh... but there's an issue i care about i want to get a little bit more uh... understanding of it from you director singer and that's the harbor island facility I unders

Mr. Mumb, where's the executive office on that question?

I wouldn't shorten. I put a year on there, but let's.

I'll just say again, when I came here 13 years ago, it was listed for sale, listed with Kidder Matthews. We've sat on it now for 13 and a half years. I know we have some revenue from it, but we put millions of general fund dollars into it. It is at this point a mismanagement of solid waste division assets, and it's going to affect every rate payer outside of the city of Seattle with today's vote. Okay, I'm sorry to be a broken record on this, but this is poor management of county assets directly impacting our rate payers. On August 19th, I received this email from constituent Dale L. from Lake

Thank you, Chair. To my colleagues, I hear you. We're all concerned about increased costs. What we're talking about here is a required service and we have to do, it's not optional, something that we have to do. I feel confident in working with the Solid Waste Division that they've pulled out the green eye shades, those of you who know what that means, pulled out the green eye shades and have sharpened their pencils and done what they can to create a lower rate increase. I think that's all I need to say right now. I urge your support.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis. Thank you for providing the information today to our team also. If there's no further discussion, then let's proceed with the vote. Clerk K, will you please call the roll?

By our vote, we've adopted proposed substitute ordinance 2026-0160. Thank you all. Turning next to item 8 proposed ordinance 2026-0243, which concerns a memorandum of agreement with the Joint Crafts Council North Coast States Carpenters Union. Vice Chairman, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0243?

I move that we adopt proposed ordinance 2026-0243.

Thank you. Proposed ordinance 2026-0243 is before us. Before we proceed, I'll note that we have Erica Newman from Council Central staff with us to provide a briefing. In addition, James Crowe, King County Senior Labor Relations Negotiator, and Ryan Heike from the Joint Crafts Council, North Coast States Carpenters Union, are available to answer any questions. With that, I'd like to ask Erica to provide a briefing on the item. Please begin when you're ready, Erica. You can just move that right on up close to you, and I know it's finicky. Just wait just a minute. There you go. You can bring it c

Thank you very much. Do any of my colleagues have questions or comments for discussion? Wow. Okay. Apparently, there's no further discussion from my colleagues. Then let's proceed with the vote. Clerk K, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted Proposed Ordinance 2026-0243. Thank you very much. Turning to item 9, proposed ordinance 2026-0244, which concerns collective bargaining agreement between King County and the Washington State Nurses Association, representing nurse supervisors and managers. Vice Chair Barone, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0244?

I move that we adopt proposed ordinance 2026-0244.

Thank you. A proposed ordinance 2026-0244 is before us. Again, we have Erica Newman from Council Central staff with us to provide a briefing for this item. In addition, James Crow, King County Senior Labor Relations Negotiator, and Linda Burbank, Nurse Representative with Washington State Nurses Association. We're available to answer any questions. With that, Erica, please begin your briefing when you're ready.

OK, if there's no further discussion, let's proceed to a vote. Claire Kay, will you please call the roll?

uh thank you by our vote we've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0244 i did not see council member mosqueda's hand would you like to make a comment before we move on thank you chair i'm glad to have seen that pass with such support but i would like to make some comments on uh 2026-0244 regarding the contract the collective bargaining agreement with the king county nurses excuse me with the washington state nurses association and our friends at public health seattle king county these two contracts in front of us represent nursing supervisors and managers at public health and i just want to take a

Thank you very much, Council Member Mosqueda. Turning to item 10, proposed ordinance 2026-0245, which concerns a collective bargaining agreement between King County and the Washington State Nurses Association representing nurse staff. Vice Chairman, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0245?

I move that we adopt proposed ordinance 2026-0245.

Thank you. Proposed Ordinance 2026-0245 is before us. Again, we have Erica Newman, Council Central staff with us to provide a briefing for this item. And again, we have James Crow, King County Senior Labor Relations Negotiator. And now we have Tara Barnes, Nurse Representative with the Washington State Nurses Association, all available to answer any questions. With that, Erica, please begin when you're ready.

Thank you very much, Erica. Do my colleagues have any questions? Council Member Barron.

Thank you very much, Chair. First of all, I want to echo the comments from customer Muscada earlier about the work that we are helping to continue here through this collective bargaining agreement. So thank you to our staff at the public health. I appreciate and be supportive of this. I did want to ask James, since you're here, I know we're just approving three contracts today that are in this period, right? And I appreciate that there's a lot of work to do most of these before the beginning of the year. Now we're into this period. Can you give us an update of how many are still remaining that

That's fine. Thank you. We'd love an update on that. Thank you very much. A handful, but I'll get you the exact number. Thank you very much.

Council Member Lewis. Thanks, Chair. I just have a curiosity question. I'm noticing a 21 step wage scale in these agreements. Is that the new norm or I'm just not accustomed to seeing that?

I see Tara Barnes also has her hand up. Would you like to respond to that as well?

Thanks. I had a question. Can you help me understand how 12 million more does not have an impact on the omnibus? Just, do you, does anybody have a response to that?

I'm looking at the budget, Chair. I mean, usually they put below the line numbers.

It's one of the great mysteries of council service. How we balance a budget and nine months later there's tens of millions more. Just wondering. I'm just asking the question. Adjustments change, there's underspend. It's a big denominator.

Yeah, and I think usually when it comes to collective bargaining agreements, there's an allotment that they put as a hold. The total amount for that specific allotment as it relates to bargaining is usually not disclosed so that it's not something that becomes a high watermark per se. But my understanding would be that the executive does not transmit a proposed contract if it surpassed that hold amount. And so this is something that's budgeted for in the appropriate budget. And so it is fair to assume that we're below the line of what was held in the specific account for the negotiations. That

Okay. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I've learned something here today. Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions? Okay. Seeing none, let's move forward with a vote.

Thank you very much. Thanks to our panel. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Turning next to item 11, proposed ordinance 2020. Oh, by our vote, we have adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0245. Turning next to item 11, proposed ordinance 2026-0249, which relates to council rules and order of business. Vice Chairman, will you please move proposed ordinance 2026-0249?

I move that we adopt proposed ordinance 2026-0249.

Thank you. Proposed Ordinance 2026-0249 is before us. Colleagues, as you may recall, this ordinance would effectuate changes to the regular meeting time for the Employment and Administration Committee, EAC, moving the meeting to the fourth Wednesday of each month at 1.30 p.m. This change is intended to address scheduling concerns that have arisen with the current calendar where EAC meets directly after Council. After consulting with other members, the fourth Wednesday of the month was the option that had consensus from majority committee members Approving this change will provide certainty to

Okay, seeing no further... Council Member Mosqueda. Thank you so much. I think as the council considers items for the Employment Advisory Committee, it'd be helpful to have clarification on which items are being sent to the EAC versus this newly convened council work session, which is a quasi-public meeting that is posted via email. An agenda is sent around on the Friday before, and there is a recording, but there's no opportunity for public discussion engagement in those discussions. So since there are items that had previously gone to EAC that appear to be going to the work session going for

How many votes does this take as an emergency?

Six votes to pass, sir. It takes six aye votes to pass. Okay.

And what this does is change the EAC meeting time to the fourth Wednesday?

That's all it does. So that it's not directly after the council meeting, which was the recommendation of the majority of the council members. Okay. No more questions or comments? Did you have more comments, Council Member Domboski?

All right. Okay. All right. Okay. Let's proceed with the vote. Clerk, hey, will you please call the roll?

Madam Chair, may I please change my vote to an aye? Why, yes.

Thank you very much, Clerk. Okay, moving.

I haven't voted on the surveilling side.

By our vote, we've adopted Proposed Ordinance 2026-0249. Thank you. Turning to Item 12, Proposed Ordinance 2026-0256, which concerns Drainage District 5. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move Proposed Ordinance 2026-0256?

Move Proposed Ordinance 2026-0256 and speak to it.

Proposed ordinance 2026-0256 is before us. Before we proceed with the briefing and discussion, I'd like to invite the sponsor of the ordinance, Vice Chair Dunn, to offer any opening remarks.

Are we going to have a briefing on this? You ready to brief? All right, well, we're going to get a briefing on this. This thing is a unmitigated disaster.

We have Doug Hodson, Director of Road Services Division on hand if there are any questions for Executives Dash.

The utter failure of other local governments not to get the job done. We're going to get a briefing on this. Hold on, not yet, Jenny. Okay. These are my introductory remarks.

Parliamentary procedure. I'm going to tee this up. So Jenny, whatever she says will be far more responsible than what I'm about to say. Look, state law creates these drainage districts. They're all across the state. They're big and important things in eastern Washington where we have these drainage and irrigation districts. They fall under special purpose district authority and administrative and legislative codes form. Over here in some places, they're not as necessarily important. We continue to have problems with some of these drainage districts, even finding the commissioners to do their j

Go ahead when you're ready, Jenny. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Dunn.

Would you just say what a fish window is for those?

Thank you council member. Would you like to comment on it? And then council member of our own has a question as well. Her vice chair.

Let me have any comments and it might have the questions might make more sense. Okay. So drainage just number five isn't located in claw prior to 26, 40% of that territory was located in unincorporated King County and 60 inside the city, the board members. ones that we worked hard to recruit, train, and I swore in some years ago now, determined that it was not in the best interest to continue having a mixed drainage district and in May of this year, I question the wisdom of this decision, but I'm not the one that was put on that board successfully completed the redrawing of the district bounda

Okay. Thank you, Vice Chair Dunn. Vice Chair Brown, you had a comment.

Just a quick question on this. I appreciate the culvert work, and so I realize that's something that the county will do. I just want to understand the language in section 2 that I think you referenced, Vice Chair Dunn. During the pendency of the suspension of drainage district 5 and 5A operations, the county accepts responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the district improvements. I just want to understand, do we know what that is, and is there any cost associated with that? beyond the work on the culvert. So make sure we're not committing to spending or we might be committing to

Doug Hodson is here. Jenny, if you think he should speak to that. Kendall, would you like to have that question answered or would you like to speak before then?

Doug, did you have anything more to add?

Here we go. Okay, thank you, Council Vice Chair Barone. Anyone, any other colleagues have questions or comments? Okay, next we have a title amendment. Council Member Dunn, would you please move title amendment T1? It's before us. Would you like to speak to it? Okay, thank you to my colleagues. Have any discussion? No further discussion. Let's proceed with the vote. All those in favor of Title Amendment T1 say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Amendment T1 is adopted. Moving now to underlying ordinance as amended. Are there any closing comments? Council Member, Vice Chair Dunn.

OK, first of all, I'd urge my colleagues support on this. We're going to temporarily take this over. We're going to make the repair. Hopefully we can make ourselves reimbursed from the 100K that's in the district's budget. I'd urge you to do on this one. We just want to avoid a nasty flooding scene. But moving forward. This continues to be a problem and it needs to be fixed at a different level. County Council Reagan Dunn's job to run these districts. It is the state of Washington's job and the state representatives and senators in the governor's office who need to fix this problem. What I rec

Thank you very much, Vice Chair Dunn. If there's no further discussion from my colleagues, let's proceed with the vote. Clerk Hay, will you please call the roll?

By our vote, we've adopted proposed ordinance 2026-0256 as amended. Thank you all. Thank you, Jenny. Turning next, the motion consent agenda. Vice Chair Barone, will you please move consent agenda item 13.

Agenda item 13 is before us. Claire Kay, will you please call the roll?

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed motion 2026-0185. Turning to item 14, proposed motion 2026-0233, which requests that the executive transmit two reports relating to solid waste division financial planning and rate increase implementation. Council Member Domboski, will you please move proposed motion 2026-0233.

I move adoption. This is before the council on a do pass recommendation from the budget and fiscal management committee. The legislation was put together and sponsored by council member Fain as companion legislation to the solid waste division rate increase ordinance that we just adopted. I will defer to council member Fain to highlight her excellent work on this ordinance or motion.

Thank you. Council member Fain, would you like to speak to it? Thank you so much.

Appreciate the kind words. I just want to reiterate, I spoke about it earlier this afternoon and at our Budget and Fiscal Management Committee meeting. This motion requires two reports that will give us a clearer picture of how the additional 2027 revenue is being used, the division's debt and capital needs, whether the six-year rate forecast remains viable and how actual spending and reserves compare with the projections. And I think that, more importantly, it'll give us something that I don't think we had today, which is a clearer accounting of the cost control measures that the division has

okay thank you very much we do have an amendment but before that i'll note that jake tracy and council central staff along with director rebecca singer and david pierce from solid waste division are available if members have questions with that do any of my colleagues have questions or comments for discussion Okay. Council Member Mosqueda, will you please move Amendment 1? Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Amendment 1 is before us. Would you like to speak to it?

Absolutely. Thank you so much. I want to thank Council Member Fain for her work on this legislation and for her openness and interest in sharing a desire to see additional information about how we can get more people into the utility discount programs. We have been working on this amendment in partnership. I think this is a friendly amendment. with the sponsor. What this amendment is, is an effort to make sure that we are helping to get more people, more households enrolled into the discount program and doing everything that we can within our power to do so. I had originally requested the soli

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda. I appreciate the idea because, of course, sometimes homeowners would not be eligible, but their renters would be, and then the homeowners would pass that cost, full cost, on to the renters, and there has to be a better program because we do need a healthy balance of ownership and rental, and it has to be affordable across the way so we can get out of this housing crisis for everybody. So thank you for your efforts there and to Council Member Fain. Do any of my colleagues have any discussion or any other questions? Any other questions before the vote? OK, see

All those opposed say nay. Amendment 1 is adopted. Moving now to the underlying motion as amended. Any closing comments from my colleagues? From the sponsor, Council Member Fain.

Thank you so much. I didn't get to raise my hand fast enough, but I just wanted to thank Council Member Mosqueda for her work on the amendment. I'm very pleased to hear about the forthcoming curbside pickup discount program and appreciate the work with the district on reporting the program's reach and performance. I just wanted to also thank central staff, central policy staff, April Sanders, my chief of staff, Lily Hayward in the solid waste division for their collaboration on this motion, as well as my colleagues on the budget and fiscal management committee for advancing it unanimously and

Thank you very much. Seeing no further discussion, let's go ahead and proceed with the vote. Claire Kay, please call the roll. Thank you. Council Member Balducci.

Thank you. By our vote, we've adopted proposed motion 2026-0233 as amended. Thank you for your work on that. Turning to our last action item today, which is the reappointment consent agenda. Vice Chair Barone, will you please move consent agenda item 15.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we've adopted Proposed Motion 2026-0209. If there's no objection, the published marked agenda, together with any changes made in today's meeting, will stand approved as the first reading referral and referral ordinances and motions. Item 16. through 22 as listed. Under other business, I'll note we have a proclamation of September 2026 as National Recovery Month in King County being presented in the community by Council Member Dunn. Additionally, a quick reminder to my colleagues that there's a flood board meeting following the conclusion of this council meetin