Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order the Pierce County Council. Today is September 8th, 2026. Time is 301. If the clerk could please call the roll.

You have seven members present. With seven members present, we do have a quorum. Thank you all for joining us. In a moment, Council Member Denson will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and read a land acknowledgement. Following the pledge, while standing, we'll ask that you remain standing during a moment of silence in honor of those men and women serving overseas in our military. So if you can stand, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish tribes. Coast Salish people have lived on and steward of these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today. We recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step towards true allyship, and we commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the indigenous people of this land.

Thank you Council Member Denson. We have a packed agenda today. I'm going to look to my colleagues to request that in Section 9 of our agenda that we rearrange the order, basically flipping items number 1 and 3. So kind of... essentially going in reverse. So are there any objections to changing the order of our agenda? So this is the ordinances section. Okay. Seeing none, then we will accept that change. So for the public, the sequence will basically be three, two, one for the last section of the agenda. On today's council agenda, there'll be multiple opportunities to provide public comment on

Well, thank you very much for stepping up. Are there any questions for Ms. Vargas before we open up the consent agenda for public comment? Well, thank you, Miss Vargas for saying yes. We're excited to have maybe almost a full contingent. We may still have a vacancy, but we appreciate people saying yes and bringing their voices really important work. So I'm going to open this up for public comment at this time. If any member of the public has comments on the consent agenda. So that's the minutes and the appointment resolution. You may come to the podium. You have up to three minutes. State your

That's all. Thank you for your comments and for your service. Okay, I'm not seeing any other raised hands. So we'll close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion on the approval of a consent agenda? not seeing any, can the clerk call the roll on the approval of the consent agenda?

Aye. You have seven ayes and zero nays. With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you and congratulations. We appreciate you volunteering for this role. We have no messages from the executive or other county elected officials, so we'll move on to proclamations, recognitions, and awards. Our proclamation today is the council and executive designating September 22, 2026 as fall Fall Prevention Awareness Day in Pierce County. And I would like to invite the following individuals to the podium as Council Member Kruver reads this into the record. We've got Bunny Smith, Director of

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair. A proclamation of the Pierce County Council and Executive designating September 22nd, 2026 as Falls Prevention Awareness Day in Pierce County, Washington. Whereas few threats to the health and independence of older adults are as preventable as unintentional falls, making fall prevention a shared commitment to healthy aging, And whereas the Pierce County Council and Pierce County Executive recognize the importance of supporting a livable, age-friendly community that offers older adults the opportunity to age safely in place with dignity and respect. And wherea

Let me turn your microphone on, otherwise somebody will yell at me. There you go.

Well, thank you all for being here. I'm going to look to my colleagues to see if there are comments. We will start with Councilmember Denson.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you all for your work. Honestly, when I first joined Council, I did not realize what a big deal falls were for seniors. And we do this proclamation every year, and I've heard the stories, some of which you have shared today, about how devastating falls can be and how... quickly someone's independence can be compromised. And that's the last thing we want. We have an amazing aging and disabilities department here in Pierce County with so many services all centered around keeping seniors healthy and happy and able to age in place if that's what they wish. And I certainly h

Thank you, Chair. Just want to formally request one of those emotional support animals. I also, very similar to Councilmember Denson, when I first found out about this, I've just been telling everyone about it, but also wanted to highlight, I had a little personal experience where I went to my physical therapist and they had me do an exercise that predicted my fall risk in older age, which I didn't know was possible. So also wanted to do a little plug for adults to really take care of their foot health and their leg health. because it does contribute as you age to your risk. Just passing a lit

Thank you. We'll go to Councilmember Yambe.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to my colleagues for making some comments that cover some of the ground that I was going to say. But I do want to thank Each of you, for the work that you do, and Bunny especially, coming from the 5th District, for those who are thinking, hey, this is not about me or this does not affect me, as somebody who is a millennial living with relatives who are seniors, you can easily start to understand how navigating each and every day and community is challenging for people who are seniors from whether it be that crack or that uneven pavement on the sidewalk to the

Thank you. And speaking of Council Member Kruber, we're going to go back to the sponsor of this proclamation, Council Member Kruber. Thank you, Madam Chair.

It just kind of felt right for me to be the one to sponsor this. I think back with Council Member Ayala talking about feet, you know, back when I was in my 20s, it was like, oh, you're going to be sorry, you're wearing those heels. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, well. Feet are kind of important, so I'm dealing with that now. And then I just wanted to point out that for some people, when you talk about health and exercise, that the bone work and the bone structure, I think my mother had a problem with the bone breaking and then she would fall. And so that's not a good thing. But then, you know, thos

Thank you. Well, I just will conclude that this is a great way to learn both for family members who are helping aging family members or just if you want to know because we all keep aging. It just keeps happening. So we all will be seniors. So good thing to learn. We're going to take a photo. We have lots of people. How do you want to organize?

So we have a second proclamation this afternoon, and this is a proclamation of the council and executive designating September 10th through the 19th, 2026 is welcoming week in Pierce County. And I'd like to invite the following guests up. To receive this proclamation, we've got Amy Ku from the Tacoma Community House. Camila, oh, I didn't practice. Matarana, maybe? Sorry, I should have practiced. From the Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs. She is a chair along with... Stephanie, am I introducing you or you're just here to support? Okay. Well, Stephanie Love is here and supports the gr

Thank you so much. I'm going to see if any of my colleagues have comments before we try and organize a photo. Councilmember Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. I just want to say thank you, not just both of you, but so many other organizations and folks that do similar work. The This particular type of work is so complicated and there's so many varying perspectives on it, and sometimes unnecessarily so, considering that we are trying to honor the spirit of some of these documents. I want to share From my family's personal experience, it took nearly two decades to get something through and families are being impacted. There are separations of families just because they want to go through a lawful process to engage in t

thank you and we'll go to councilmember yambe thank you for doing the work that you do um i'm not going to get too much into it i think my my colleague said it well uh said it best so um but as three generations of family have come through first county um at different points in our history And we know a little bit about people who lose due process and have suspended their constitutional rights. And I appreciate the advocacy that you are doing in community, because at different times, and even like in Tacoma's history where we had the chasing out of the Chinese and the Japanese, it all happened

Well, thank you. I will just conclude with my deep gratitude to the members of CREA, the Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs. When you speak in acronyms, it's complicated. And the work that they do to bring voice of what the many different community members that make up our immigrant and refugee population across the county and provide advice to the council, the executive's office, departments, and are just a really strong resource for us. And then to our many community partners. Which director to you are 1 of many, but you are a champion. The Tacoma community house is somebody that we

Okay, so to everybody that was here for proclamations, thank you so much. You're welcome to stay, but you could go outside and enjoy the sunlight while we still have some. So we are now at resolutions. Our first item, I'm gonna go to Councilmember Denson to make a motion on this one right off the bat.

Thank you, Chair. In regards to proposal number R2026-180S, I move to continue this proposal to the September 29th, 2026 regular council meeting for final action.

Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded. Do we need to do anything else from the clerk side or legal side? Nope, just a voice vote. Just a voice vote, okay. So we are going to, the motion before us is to continue proposal R2026-180S to the council meeting of September 29th, 2026. Is there any further discussion or questions from colleagues? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries, thank you. So that brings us to item number two, which is proposal R2026-191. Council Member Krueger for a motion. Thank you, Chair. I would like to move R2026-191 for approv

Thank you. And this afternoon we have our chief council, Ms. Long, to explain what this is doing.

Council Member Cooper to speak to your... Proposal Thank You madam chair there seems to be quite a bit happening in Eatonville at this you know in the past year or so and so it seems fitting to Have the meeting there and they hopefully will get a tour of the pool We have been able to help with that and see the new stadium that I went to the first football game Friday night and pretty awesome they The guys come running out with a chainsaw because you know, they're the loggers and It was pretty awesome. So anyway, the field was beautiful and very welcomed. And the new stadium where you don't fal

thank you so much uh is there any further questions or comments on this one not seeing any so at this time i'd like to invite members to the members of the public to provide public comment on resolution 2026-191 you have up to three minutes we'll start in chambers is anyone here to speak on this item no one's jumping up so we will go online

With no hands raised, we'll close public comment and bring it back before the Council. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I'm going to ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of R2026-191. Council Member Ayala.

Aye. Council Member Hitchen. Aye. We have seven ayes, zero nays. The seven ayes, zero nays. The motion is adopted. so um we are now ordinances and i'll just remind everybody that i said we would reverse the order so i'm going to the last page of our agenda where we had a proposal number three which is ordinance 2020 2026-556 councilmember denson for a motion thank you chair go to my regular agenda the script

complicated, there's too many colors. All right, I move proposal number O2026-556. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Thank you. And this afternoon we have Mr. Mike Krueger, our principal policy analyst, to tell us what this is doing.

Thank you. So I'll just pause and see if there's any questions on the underlying bill before we pick up with the first amendment. Not seeing any, then we will start with amendment number one. Councilmember Denson, I'm going to you for the motion on this one.

Thank you, Chair. I move council amendment number one.

It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger, can you tell us what it does?

Thank you. Are there any questions on this one? We're filling in some blanks. It's important we do this. Okay. Seeing no questions, all those in favor of approving Council Amendment Number 1, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Council Member Krueger, we're going to you for Council Amendment Number 2. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to move Amendment Number 2 for approval. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger, can you tell us what it does?

Thank you. Council Member Krueger to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that public safety is a required and documented part of the county's analysis before permanent regulations are adopted that would restrict or prohibit detention, correctional, or secure treatment facilities. And the ordinance recognizes that facilities under review serve different purposes and can have substantially different effects on the surrounding communities. So therefore, it directs PPW to consider different definitions, classifications, citing requirements, development standards, and mitigation measures. And the amendme

Thank you. Are there questions or comments on Amendment No. 2? Council Member Murrell.

you madam chair in reviewing this and i will say this is highly unusual that we take these amendments like this but as i understand the intent of this one to me is just common sense i would think that the department would make sure all those involved are taken into consideration when making these kind of decisions and then they also would understand the impacts of community since they have to deal with it all the time so on on this one i i'm okay with thank you thank you councilmember yambe

I agree with my esteemed colleague about that this is very unusual. There are many amendments that we're considering and I have not had time to adequately study each of these and give it the attention and care that I think they deserve. So I'm going to be voting no on any of amendments because I just haven't had enough time. I apologize.

Yes, thank you. Yeah, it's definitely been difficult. I think we received these maybe an hour, hour and a half before we did get some briefing on them earlier. So I appreciate the efforts of staff to do that. I am a no on this amendment as well. I do think that the department is going to naturally common sense. consult with a lot of these groups and take a lot of these considerations into account. I think the language here seems with the short amount of time that I've had to look at it today to be really onerous and definitely at the level of micromanaging our Department of Planning and Public

Seeing none, all those in favor of approving council amendment number two, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Nay. By my ears, it failed. We'll move on to council amendment number three. Council Member Cooper, we're going to you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to move amendment three for approval. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger, can you tell us what this one does?

Thank you. Council Member Krueger to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That... In putting this together, the rationale I had was that the staff itself has essentially identified the problem, developed definitions for 13 types of facilities involving involuntary holds because the existing classifications were inadequate. And that strongly argues against regulating all 13 as though they were equivalent. So a 1,500-bed detention facility is not a 16-bed juvenile facility. A secure facility for sexually violent predators is not a behavioral health facility, and a jail is not necessarily comparable to an immigration detention center. So differe

Thank you. Are there questions regarding this amendment?

not seeing any oh councilmember deadson i'm sorry i just wanted to to express that i'm also i'm voting no on this one i'm not voting on no on all of them i just want to let you know i have reviewed them there are several that that i think make sense and and work and that i'm not concerned about this one um is again complicated i i believe the department does plan on coming up with different regulations and zoning classifications and mitigation measures for different types of institutions because they do have different impacts on the community. And that is what we are concerned about, the impac

Thank you. Any further comments? All those in favor of approving Council Amendment Number 3 say aye. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Motion does not pass. Council Amendment Number 4, Council Member Krueger. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to move Amendment Number 4 for approval.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger, can you tell us what it does?

Thank you. Council Member Krueger to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a policy that does not prevent the county from regulating an ICE facility. It requires the county to regulate it for the same reason it regulates other facilities for actual local impacts. And that protects the council authority because the legislative record then demonstrates that the council acted on matters within the county's legitimate regulatory interests. rather than attempting to indirectly to nullify or obstruct a policy entrusted to another level of government. Just, again, transparency. Just kind of fine-tuning.

I like that there's a theme. Questions or comments on this one? Council Member Denson?

Yes, thank you. I do appreciate all the thought that has gone into this. I am a no on this one as well for a couple different reasons. Primarily, or I guess the first reason, is that I'm sure our Planning and Public Works Department will use legitimate considerations in all of its deliberations, and I have no doubt that that is true. in regards to a final report i'm not a huge fan of plans and reports i know they're necessary i don't know that we need to obligate another one i know that the department will be able to defend all of its all of its recommendations to us and we will ask questions

Thank you. Any further comments. Seeing none, all those in favor of council amendment number four, say aye. All those opposed, say nay. Motion does not pass. That brings us to council amendment number five. Council member, I should just leave your mic on. Council member Krueger, to you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move amendment five for approval. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Mr Kruger. Can you tell us what this one does?

Thank you. Council Member Krueger to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A categorical land use prohibition can have consequences far beyond the parcel being regulated. And the county should know where a person goes. And that's important because even Exhibit A argues that inadequate state capacity for civil conversion patients endangered communities. The counties allege that DSHS actions denied necessary treatment and negatively affected public safety. So a land use policy should never assume that just because there's no facility doesn't mean there's not a problem. So sometimes it means that a person is placed somewhere less secure or return

Thank you. Any questions on council amendment number five, council member Denson?

No questions, just I wanted to express that I will be voting no on this council amendment as well. Ultimately what we're gonna get from the department is their work study results, their recommendations, their sample ordinances that they're recommending to council and I want to make sure that this council or whatever council is here when that comes forward has the authority to make the decisions that they feel is best at the time. I don't want to, in passing an amendment like this, hamstring not only the department, but a future council potentially from making the decision that they feel is bes

Thank you. Any further discussion on amendment number five? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving council amendment number five say aye. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Motion does not pass. That brings us to council amendment number six. Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to move amendment number six for approval.

Thank you. Councilmember Krueger, to you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just say these two, I would say, are recommendations for the work programs, for what we get in the final report, to have a thorough investigation of the different things I'm presenting. This particular one, I'd say the ordinance itself acknowledges that these facilities serve a different purpose. purposes and may have substantially different impacts. And the code should follow that finding. And it also prevents the political controversy surrounding one category from determining the rules for juvenile justice, criminal corrections, SVP confinement, or secure treatme

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Any comments or questions on this one? Well, while I appreciate the thought and the level of detail, I want the work plan to have the flexibility to really think about this holistically, so I'll be voting no on this. I know the department has seen the list of areas that are articulated in this, and I know that they are thinking about all those different, potentially some others that maybe didn't make this list, and I want them to have the ability to kind of Really focus on the wider breadth of how we cite facilities like this. The needs I think back to how we

Thank you. Council Member Krueger to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to confirm. So this is the, I guess my numbers are mixed up on my paperwork. This is the fair share one? Okay. My rationale on this was that DSHS itself reports Pierce County is the only county exceeding its SVP fair share at 45 residents compared with 25 originating commitments. And that creates a principled argument, and that principle works regardless of political ideology. Fair share has always been an issue in this county, and I'd kind of like to make sure it doesn't fade away. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes, I'm going to be voting yes on this amendment. I agree that Pierce County seems to have and continues to be hit with a disproportionate amount of institutions and housing like this. And while we understand that we all need to do our part, we do need to look at the cumulative effect, especially in different areas of the county, and make sure that we're being fair to our residents and that we We have an idea of where things are being placed in a way that is fair to our community and is distributed throughout the state as well. So I will be voting yes on Amendment No. 7.

Okay. Thank you. We're going to go to Council Member Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. And thank you for those comments. Though I agree with the spirit of what this amendment is doing, I think it is also conflating two different scopes of work. And so I know that there were some state regulations that passed not too long ago that is allowing the county to assess this kind of work across different agencies. And in the spirit of a cleaner package, I would love to follow up on this amendment as it relates to our relationship with all of our other agency agreements and just keep the work program related to zoning.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. We're going to Council Member Morrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate the discussion of my colleagues. I think this goes back probably almost 30 years where Pierce County ended up being the dumping grounds, mainly in District 6, that the state would always allow to happen, especially with folks that have been returned to Western State, even though they weren't from this area, but yet allowed them to be released into our area. And I know fair share has been a topic on many community agendas and I think there again if we continue to show that we are sensitive to geographic equity I think that'll go a long ways and there again it'

Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Any additional comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Council Amendment No. 7 say aye.

All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. That brings us to item number, amendment number eight, Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move amendment eight for approval.

I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger, can you tell us what it does?

Thank you. Council Member Cooper to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just believe this is part of a good part to be in a study program. And this amendment transforms the work plan from a potentially political exercise into an evidence-driven land use analysis. And it also strengthens the county's position when it does impose tough restrictions because the council can point to the measurable impacts rather than just a political disagreement. And who can argue against evidence-based I urge approval. Thank you. Madam chair.

Thank you. Um, I think I have a question of department staff on this particular 1, because I'm, I'm not sure that department staff can do this level of work before before we say, yes, let's do this. I, I hear you. And as council member morale said, I have both McNeil island in western states. So fair share is near and dear to my heart. Um, but. i also don't want to put something in in here that potentially jeopardizes the ability to to do this and and again i hear you i want to make sure so is there someone from the department staff mr kruger i think that's probably the right i don't know that

okay thank you so to to summarize that this particular one because initially i really appreciated like looking at this at the level of detail and and the idea of using the evidence behind why we might regulate something a specific way and i know that the several of us had similar ideas and i just wanted to make sure it wasn't

Now that you've seen this amendment, by the time you bring it back to us in a ordinance version, we can check off some of these to make sure you've done your work on these issues?

Okay, and now that you have these amendments before you, speaking to this one specifically, you can now just make sure that you're doing this on evidence-based?

Thank you. We're going to go to Councilmember Denson.

Thank you. I may be repeating some of these questions, but this is complicated. And as we know, we're just kind of thinking through this within the last hour or so. A prohibition of a use is a big deal, right? And I don't want to presuppose any conclusions. There's some of us that may be hoping to see that, some of us that may not be hoping to see that. But if the department were to put forward a recommendation of a prohibition of any of these kinds of institutions, as you said, there would have to be a lot of justification behind it, not just we don't like these, right? And I'm wondering if t

Okay. All right. So this might not even come to pass because that would be extremely difficult and maybe impossible legally to do. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Kruber. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the way you approached just having discussion because that's a lot of what this is about. And the list of questions that were on here, I assumed would probably be in the report anyway, but this is just kind of pointing out because I think, you know, the tax revenue versus county services cost is pretty important, but demands for fire, EMS, et cetera. And I can't help but think they might be there, but this is just to kind of make sure that these are touched on. And so, actually, the amendment doesn't really require more

And it would also, perhaps, stir the thought process of constituents who may read and go, That is important. I hadn't thought of that kind of thing. So this just kind of keeps it up front and also helps constituents understand that we are doing more than what they might think we're doing. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. Justin, thank you so much for those comments. I do want to share, I fully believe that the department will do their due diligence around this work. I'm having somewhat of a conflict because we received these in written form at 2.10 p.m. today. We had two minutes uh to review 16 different amendments and i don't feel that i would be doing my due diligence or would be a responsible legislator if i did not go back to the department try to understand the ins and outs of what this means and also work with staff and staff is already um uh i would say there's Seven mem

Sure Thank you any further discussion on this one? Councilman Riley you just turned your mic off, right? Okay. I want to make sure you didn't have a second thought Okay, I'm not seeing any other comments. So I'm going to ask, thank you for jumping in and answering questions. So at this time, I'm going to ask all those in favor of adopting council amendment number eight, say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. That brings us to item number nine, council amendment number nine. Council Member Hoover. Thank you, Madam Chair.

It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Krueger to explain what this one does.

thank you councilman recruiter to speak to your amendment thank you madam chair um the current moratorium is extraordinary extraordinarily broad geographically and sections one and two i forgot the right um it's just you know temporarily prohibit the filing acceptance etc so this temporary moratorium does allow the county the time to study this issue which is what i'm grateful for that we're taking the time to bring things out but if the study ultimately produces a recommendation for permanent countywide prohibition, which we were just told we're not. But there is a substantially different pol

yes thank you we are getting way too ahead of ourselves in my opinion with this amendment we are nowhere nowhere ready to start talking about permitting and all the different considerations that need to be taken into into consideration and when i read this there is considerations far beyond the scope of the purpose of of the current moratorium that we are considering extending today. I'll remind folks that the primary question here, the primary charge we've given to the department is to think about the impact to the community of these different types of institutions that are included within de

Thank you, Council Member Denson. Any other comments? I too agree. I appreciate the level of detail here, but I want to give flexibility to the department staff, the groups they're going to be working with to really think about how this looks, what it looks like so that when they actually craft the policy that will come before this council in a future time in 2027, which. Just around the corner, um, and, uh, we'll take it under consideration at that time and see what thoughts we have and what questions we continue to have and feel like that's the appropriate time to have the level of detail of

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to move approval of Amendment Number 10. Second.

I'm just checking it out so I know what the lay of the land is.

Mr. Krueger to read or to tell us what this amendment does.

Thank you. Councilmember Cooper to speak to your amendment.

Thank you. Madam chair. It's really more of a technical. I don't think we've ever included public comments generally. Do we. As as a finding of facts, and so it's just removing that.

Thank you, Mr. Kerr. There was a question in there. Do we typically include. In our, I think in finding of facts, the actual public comment.

Okay, thank you. I, too. Not sure how I missed it the first time, maybe because I'm not on CDC, but it caught me when you brought it up as an amendment, and I was like, oh, yeah, usually it's just in the packet, which I appreciate. I know we had a lot of public comment, and it was one of the reasons that we moved this forward as an emergency. So maybe—nope, this isn't the one as emergency. That was the other one with similar— too many moratoriums everybody but we did run it and we did receive a lot of public comments so I get it but agree that pulling it out so I would to keep us doing what we

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just appreciate the indulgence on my amendments because a lot of it is to bring it out for discussion. Perhaps a lot of it will be in the final product anyway now that it is kind of brought out. I'm just having, I'm struggling with this whole package and how huge it is and discerning the... The weight of it, the merits at this time, and I'm kind of ambivalent on the whole package as it sits right now. I have some concerns. I would love to have it bumped for another week, but I don't know if that would make a difference. There's so many details that trying to find more

So I want to thank my colleagues for this very thoughtful discussion. And I have on principle staying out because I think that as Councilmember Ayala said that we were given very very very very narrow window and if anything I'm consistent so I want to commend Councilmember Kruber because it's clear that being able to articulate her concerns is very valid and I appreciate them and the thought that you know The work put in to that while last minute, I can at least appreciate. And it's clear that staff is doing a lot of this work that the that you know a lot of this to me was already being done a

Thank you. Well, we are going to open this up for public comment at this time. I'd like to invite members of the public to provide comments on proposal O2026-556 as amended. We'll start in chambers. Is there anyone here in chambers that would like to provide public comment on this item? The teacher, I mean, makes you leave uncomfortable thinking time while I look at people around the room, but I'm not seeing anyone stand up. So we'll go online, Mr. Domenech.

Thank you for your comments. No other hands raised. I'll close public comment, bring it back to the full council. We'll start with Council Member Murrell. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I do appreciate my colleagues' passion for these amendments, but I think as we request everybody, all these departments to do work plans, that we ourselves do our work plan. And nothing that we have moves forward at very high rates as far as policy goes, unless you're doing an emergency. It moves pretty fast. But with this, we are allowing more time. We're extending it another six months. And to any colleague of mine, this is not a good way to amend things on the fly. One or two amendments I could see happening, but not 10. And this doesn't put the council in good light, it doesn't put staff i

Thank you. We're going to go to Councilmember Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate it. And thank you, Councilmember Morrell, for mentioning that. I also want to thank Councilmember Krueger for taking the time to go through the rationale behind each of the amendments. We received pages of explanations behind this. And I also want to remind ourselves that back when this first got passed in March, so this is Ordinance 2026-505, there were three pages of recitals that came with this. And a lot of what we heard today related in one way, shape or form to some of these recitals. And so I say that because for me, these recitals are the part of the direct

Thank you for those comments. We are going to go to Councilmember Denson.

yes thank you chair um i am obviously supportive of this moratorium extension i want to thank the department for all their hard work they have not been sitting around the last six months and they have a strong solid very detailed benchmarked plan moving forward for anyone in the audience that's interested in learning more sometimes it's strange by the time things come to council we don't get into the details That we discuss at the committee level. So if you're really interested in the work plan for this moratorium, and all that the department is doing in regards to outreach, for example, Mr. P

the tough decisions that that will be implemented in the community and i know we all take that responsibility very seriously so i urge support today thank you thank you for the comments we're going to go to councilmember yambe um i appreciate councilmember ayala's thoughts and councilman jensen's i share them all but i want staff to know and i want staff to know that for the first time i've been up here i agree with everything that councilmember morrell said so that's only one time i appreciate it

I think it just happened because this is recorded. So we're going to Councilmember Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to express my support that I did get on these amendments. And I can assure you it wasn't my intention to have them all at once like this. Sometimes life gets messy and I do what I can when I can. And I thought it was important that these come forth even though they are at one time. I tried to do as much work ahead of time to save the staff from having to start from scratch on things. And I... Just say this was an anomaly, not the norm. So I've been here six years. This is, what, one time I've had this many, except maybe in the first year when there was a gree

Thank you for the comments. So to make sure that we can have the vote. Well, council member Cooper is still here on this 1. I do want to extend my gratitude to the staff for getting this together. The clerk staff that managed all the different various amendments to make sure that we had them both in writing and copies and they were in the packet and. And all the running around that made it possible and truly, truly do appreciate that. So I am going to. Ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of Proposal O2026-556 as amended. Council Member Krueger?

Aye. You have seven ayes and zero nays. With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. We have been at this for two hours, so I'm going to suggest that we take a five-minute recess so that people can have a human moment. So we are going to be back at 5.05. We are in recess. Okay, we're gonna go ahead and get started, so if you wanna. Good evening. We are back. The time is 506 and we were going in reverse order of our ordinances. So we're at ordinance 02026-552. Potentially, there's been a proposal to continue this to the next week's meeting, which is September 15th. This isn't a formal

Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, I'd like to make a motion that we continue resolution or ordinance 02026-552 to the September 15th meeting, council meeting.

It's been moved and seconded that we continue proposal. Oh, 2026, 552 to the September 15th, 2026 meeting. I'm going to pause and I have 2 questions. So just verifying with I know we have 1 member of the staff who's been managing this. We have staff that can support this happening next week. Just want to check with staff. I'm getting head nods. They're not verbalizing it, but for the record, for those of you that are listening and can't see their heads going up and down. And then the second question is just, this one is not time sensitive as far as any other policy work that we're doing. There

I wouldn't mind extending it to 2027. I won't do that. No, I think there again, one of my colleagues has multiple amendments on this, and I think our time would be better spent continuing this to another meeting where some of these things can be addressed.

Thank you. Okay. I will also add that that colleague... Is not here, so would not be here to move her amendments. Um, in addition, the staff from the executive's office that was supporting this work is in the same exact meeting that council member is in. Therefore, we don't have the executive side and we don't have the person who's proposing amendments. So it seems silly to take this up though. I do appreciate. that's kind of troubleshooting and thinking about how we could do this if it was time sensitive, but I'm not hearing any objections. So I will just formally ask all those in favor of co

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move for approval ordinance number 2026-534S,

It's been moved and seconded. Will the clerk please read it into the record?

Thank you. And we are going to have Miss Kelly brief us online. So we changed the order and she has little people that are just starting school, so she will be talking to us from online. Miss Kelly, you ready to brief us?

Thank you, Miss Kelly. I'm going to pause and see if there are any questions on this particular proposal. not seeing any and councilman recruiter i believe that you are online we continued uh the other item to next week's meeting so you'll be able to present your amendments then so if you can hear us i saw an amy pop up in the So I'm not seeing any questions. So I'm going to go ahead and open this up for public comment. There are no members of the public in chambers. So Mr. Dominique, I know you're doing multiple things at once, but if you're willing to do open up public comment for 02026-534S

So you sound okay for us. If you want to just keep talking, we're hearing you clearly. Okay, okay.

Thank you for your comments. If you want to mute your mic, that'd be great. Um, we had 2 sets of questions miss. Kelly, are you able to kind of add a little context around this? I know we've, we've heard this now 3 times. So that may be part of why it's. Oh, I'm going to close the public hearing because there are no other hands raised. Thank you very much. Hand signals. I love it. Um, so at this time, I'm asking this Kelly to maybe provide a little more clarity for Mr heard and. Oh, crap. And it's back. Okay, so I'm going to check with staff. Ms. Kelly, can you still hear us? Or Council Member

Thank you, Miss Kelly. I appreciate the context to kind of catch us up and and help the public follow along. Because again, we've, we've had this in committee and then to council and then back to committee. We just lost zoom again on my screen. Is it just because I have unstable energy? Okay. Good try. I'm getting messages that I have unstable internet because we're not hardwired in here. So I don't know if your system is hardwired. I will assume it is. Ah, technology. Okay, so to my colleagues, are there any questions or comments before we ask the clerk to call the roll? Council Member Herrer

I just want to thank staff for putting this together. I know just like the chair just mentioned that this has been seen twice in the public safety committee with a lot of questions. This is a bold move. I mean, we're talking mandatory minimums. for offenses and that is pretty rare. But here we're taking a kind of a stance of holding offenders accountable while prioritizing the safety of children with this ordinance. And then at the same time recognizing that the importance of compassion to support those who are struggling with addiction by promoting access to deferred courts, drug treatment, a

Thank you, Vice Chair. Any other comments? So I just want to thank my colleagues for the learning, Ms. Kelly for supporting us as we work through this with the amendments that have been passed and the changes, especially the data reporting, really asking that we dig deep into who is impacted by this and is this actually solving what we think it's going to solve? I think are really important questions. The war on drugs did not work. It did not solve the things that it was proposed to do and locking people up for the rest of their lives. I know that's not what this does, but that's literally wha

Aye. You have seven ayes, zero nays. With seven ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you all. We now, so again, for those not playing along with this, we did a lot of things out of order. So we aren't at the beginning of our agenda. We are now at community forum. Community forum is the opportunity for members of the public to address the council on any topic that is of significance to or affecting Pierce County that was not up for final action this afternoon. There is a three minute limit. And again, we cannot allow testimony on anything related to ballot issues. measures or initia

Thank you for your comments. no more hands this time i'm sure no other hands raised i'm going to close community forum and bring it back before the council is there any other business and i'll remind council member herrera might have a reminder and i know that council member denson probably has a reminder and council member also told me they had a reminder so i will start in chambers council member herrera so you have time to prep uh council member denson

Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to let everyone know that it is the official 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline Day today. I know we here talk a lot about 988, and I know we're all working hard to make sure our communities know that they can call or text 988, either with suicide concerns or mental health concerns. Anytime you just need to talk to someone, professionals, 24-7. And this does happen to be an example of one of the giveaways that

that people at the suicide prevention summit will be receiving thanks to 988 they're huge supporters and good partners so thank you chair thank you and council member ayala thank you chair appreciate it um i wanted to share um the federal budget bill hb1 made some changes and so we have the first wave of those changes impacting our community with october 1st um being one wave of changes that are being implemented. January 1st is the next wave. And so there are efforts to help the public know if you are registered or have Apple Health to please make sure that your information is up to date. Com

thank you for the update vice chair Herrera for i assume a reminder about what's happening tomorrow yes thank you chair uh tomorrow uh we are be we'll be having a district two in district uh meeting at fika that is at 3303 8th avenue southeast in Puyallup Washington We're going to be highlighting some of Puyallup's great social enterprises step by step. We'll be presenting what they do and the executive director from St. Francis House will also be highlighting some of the great things that they do. We're also going to be doing a proclamation highlighting September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Mo

Thank you. And thank you for picking a date that we are not competing with the PLL. Sorry, the Washington State Fair. Don't want to get in trouble.

So looking forward to the meeting and the learning together and the agenda you've put together. I will also add just a gentle reminder that tomorrow we have a committee of the whole. The topic really is about how we've been investing our behavioral health and therapeutic tax dollars kind of. programmatically so looking both internal and external as we have some potential decisions to make as a council on that particular funding stream for Pierce County that are very consequential so knowing what we're talking about is important and that is at 9 30 a.m in these very chambers not seeing any othe