City Council - Regular Meeting

I call this hybrid regular council meeting of September 8th, 2026 to order at 7 o'clock p.m. Will you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

And will the clerk please call the roll?

Okay. Thank you, Jill. Hey, Council. As you know, Council Rule 9.3 allows a Council Member to add or delete an item to tonight's agenda. Does anyone have an item that they would like to add or delete? Not seeing any. Okay, we will move on. We're going to kick things off tonight with a presentation from Pierce Transit. We have three fine gentlemen here. We have Silas Reed, who's a familiar face to many of you Edgewood people here. Adam Davis and Kurt Olds. Difficult name to, yeah. Anyway, Kurt. So, I don't know who's going to kick it off, but you know the routine. The podium there. Push the but

Thank you, Adam. Silas, good to see you.

Thanks, Adam. I did have One question with a part A. First of all, I want to clarify that I understand this correctly. And secondly, if I understand this correctly, I'd like to understand why it is the way it is. I mean, inflation is high. The economy gets worse. Fewer and fewer dollars are spent in... purchases that aren't absolutely required, thereby sales tax goes down. And you are funded completely by sales tax, correct? About 80%, yes. Which means when the economy's bad and inflation is high and people are losing their jobs, that would be when they need transit the most. I understand that

So is there a political reason or a structural reason for funding transit this way?

Sound Transit has a more stable funding stream that enables sustainability, but your agency does not.

So just want to say thank you for your presentation. So my question is, as someone who used to ride a lot of those routes in the mid-2000s, so does this plan bring back service to those pre-2010 great recession levels? Because are we back there yet? Would this bring us back there?

know that our ridership has generally been recovering and we're pushing in that direction i can't say for certain whether or not we're totally there we're gonna have some tools available to look at some of that information okay thank you just because i remember riding the 501 and it was every half hour back in the early 2000s and then i remember the one two and three were all 15 minutes so that's why i was wondering because it it's very reminiscent of what it used to be because i know we still haven't recovered so that's why i was wondering thank you

Any further questions, Council? I have one. So about 10 years ago, I was on a six-month driving restriction for health reasons. So I had to go out and get my Orca card. So 10 years later, I've still got my Orca card in my wallet. Do I still need that? Or is there an app nowadays? Has it gotten easier? Can I thin out my wallet? Or there's got to be something cool nowadays.

All right, perfect. Thank you. All right, gentlemen, anything else? I don't see any further questions from council. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work. Oh, and audience, if you didn't, where was this? Was there a stack of these for the audience? They were passed out to council. So if you didn't see that, there's a stack on the table there at the back. So maybe grab that on your way out of here tonight. Okay, thank you. All right, next up, we have an executive session. The council will now meet in an executive session to discuss with legal counsel matters pursuant to RCW 42.30.1101IIII.

Are you good? Okay. Okay. We're good. We are back in session. And thank you, audience, for being patient with us. We are now to audience comment point. And this is your opportunity to step up to... the microphone and you have five minutes to share your audience comment for anything on or off the agenda. We have one person signed up. Again, you don't need to have signed up, but this is the Reverend Andrew Conley Holcomb. Okay, and he wants to speak about the Mountain View Community Center support.

Thank you, Reverend Andrew. Is there anybody else that would like to step to the podium? And I don't see any hands raised. Are we looking to see if there's any audience members? We have some participants, but I don't see any hands raised, so I'm assuming no. Okay, so that concludes our audience comment. Takes us to tonight's consent agenda. Are there any items to be amended or pulled from tonight's consent agenda? Seeing none, may I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented?

Okay, it has been moved by Councilmember Edwards and seconded by Councilmember Pasarewski to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor, say aye.

Any opposed, say nay. Okay, motion carries. State Council takes us to our first item tonight, Agenda Bill 26-0798. This is a resolution amending Section 8.1010 of the City Council Rules of Procedure regarding virtual and or telephonic meetings. Councilmember Ramirez and Councilmember Pasarewski, this is your item as sponsor and co-sponsor. So would you like to start us off and brief the council on this item?

I think we've talked about this quite some time. I just wanted to highlight that this does not take away a hybrid option, still provides a hybrid option. It does not target anybody. I think some of us do believe that a presiding officer, no matter who that presiding officer is, should try their best to be in person. It has nothing to do with taking role or excused absences or unexcused absences. Section 14.1 already deals with that. And section one of our council rules and procedures, authority enforcement construction, 1.2 second sentence states, nothing in these rules shall be construed as c

Okay. Before I entertain a motion, anything further Council Member Pasarewski to add as far as briefing the Council on this resolution?

Okay. Thank you, Council Member Ramirez and Pazurowski for giving us the insight as to the derivation of this resolution coming before us. So with all that said, I will entertain a motion.

Would one of you like to make a motion to adopt AB 26-0798? Second, Pazurowski.

Okay. It's been moved by Council Member Ramirez and seconded by Council Member Pasarewski to approve Resolution 26-0798. Council Member Ramirez, you have the floor.

No comment. I've made enough of those. Yeah. Just request a roll call vote. Okay.

Council Member Pasarewski, you now have the floor.

Okay. Any, while I see Mark's hand, or excuse me, Deputy Mayor Creeley's hand raised there, so we'll go to Deputy Mayor Creeley first on this motion before us.

Great. Thank you so much. First of all, I'd like to say that wording, the way we word things is important. The wording of council prefers in-person attendance could also be stated, council prefers that council members not attend meetings virtually often. The wording that could have unintended consequences of excluding individuals. We're working on including people, getting them involved in government. Our last election, we had one person for each of the openings and no competition for those positions. We want to get more people involved and include them in this process. And the phrase communit

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Creeley. What's Council Member McKeith elbowing? And then Council Member Sutter. She was kind of...

Sorry. So I'm going to vote no. I think this language is unnecessary and has no real enforcement mechanism. So it's mostly... judgment and social pressure dressed up as policy. It's subjective, unsupported, and solves no real demonstrated problem. I think it's exclusionary and causes people to not participate or to run for council like they would. And it matters because the mayor has stated on the record that this language affects how easily council members can be removed from their lawfully elected positions. A vague, undefined definition such as good faith standards should never be tied to r

um remote participation should be judged by performance can you hear can you be heard can you participate can you vote if yes you're doing your job so i'll vote no thank you councilmember keith uh councilmember edwards and then southard okay so i looked this up so i would like to make a secondary motion which is a motion to amend in section three to strike council prefers and values in-person attendance

Okay, we have a motion to amend. Is there a second? Okay, we have a motion to amend. Did you catch that all, Jill? We have a motion to amend to strike that phrase. And we have a second. So I believe it goes to Councilmember Edwards to argue for the motion. You have the floor.

So the reason I'd like to strike it is because these are going to be in our council rules, and I feel like it's kind of subjective. And since it is like our council rules, I feel like it should be more objective instead of subjective. So because that's really the only thing I have an issue with. So that's why I've made the motion to amend.

Okay. Council Member Southard, you now have the floor on this motion to amend by striking that phrase.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was thinking about voting no on this, but Councilmember Edwards thought better and thought maybe compromise by striking a language would be a better tone, and I agree.

Okay. Any other comments on this motion to amend? That is... before us. And Bailey, feel free to interrupt me at any time if you need to coach me. But I think Deputy Mayor Creeley has a comment about the motion to amend.

Well, it doesn't address all the other issues we have with it. So, I mean, if that's the only thing that you guys wanted to correct, I'm still not going to vote for it.

Okay. Any other comments on this motion? So we will vote on this motion to amend. And you want to rephrase so we're clear on what the phrase was.

So the specific phrase from what I got was the council prefers and values in-person attendance in Section 3.

You'd just like to strike that phrase. Strike that phrase. All right. And I think we've concluded council comments. So I think we can do a voice vote on this one. So all those in favor of that amendment say aye.

Okay. Okay, motion carries. So right now we have Councilmember Ramirez motion on the floor with an amendment to strike that phrase. And now it's back to Councilmember Southard and then Councilmember Rasmus has his hand raised next. So

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to strike the word in Section 2 that says the city may, to change it to, will include a remote meeting component.

Section two, first sentence there. Okay. During non-emergency situations, the city will include a remote meeting component.

Okay. We have a motion and we have a second to change the word may to will in paragraph two. Council Member Southerd, you have the floor on this amendment. Okay.

Thank you. I feel like we're a pretty cordial bunch for the most part, and we get along now, but when we all are voted out or termed out, I kind of want this to continue in some form, and future councils can amend it as needed, but I think it should be Will instead of May.

Okay. Now Councilmember Keith has the floor.

I agree. It just removes the option to remove Zoom capriciously and arbitrarily if we just firm it up here with will.

Okay. Any other council comment on this motion before the floor? Council Member Ramirez?

Just one comment. Number two was not changed. That was from the old council rules and procedures adopted by previous councils. The word may was always there.

Right. Okay. So duly noted, but you can still make the motion. So we're still good there. Any other comments on changing the word from may to will. Okay. Again, we'll go with the voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Okay, that motion carries. So we've made two adjustments here. And then we're now back to Councilmember Rasmus on the main motion before us. Councilmember Rasmus.

So if I read between the lines, I think we're now realizing maybe why the original draft did have May instead of Will. That wasn't just a Councilmember Ramirez and Pazarooski change. That was probably well scrubbed by a lawyer back in the day when... the rules of procedures were gone through several years ago. So what's your advice now, Maile, if someone wants to take what you just said to heart, did they just make another motion to say, nevermind or change that back?

Yeah. Well, I think council has gotten an answer from council member Rasmus' question. So if anyone wants to make a motion, I'll entertain a motion. But if nobody wants to, then we'll move on. But you've heard what Maile said. And so now it's on us to decide if we want to make a motion to change it back.

Okay, so we have a motion on the floor to move it back to May. And we have a first and a second. And so, Council Member Rasmus, you have the floor.

I feel like I started this all. I'm sorry. Legal risk. That's fine.

Okay, any other comments on this motion to go back to May? Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Okay. We're going two steps forward, two steps back. So were you, did you have the floor? Okay. Deputy Mayor Creeley, you now have the floor on this main motion. And coming off mute. There we go.

All right. So we're just to make sure there's nothing on the floor and I can offer a new amendment?

Okay. I'm losing track of where we are. Okay. So I'd like to amend number four. I'd make a motion to amend number four to read the presiding officer must be able to effectively conduct the meeting in accordance with this section.

To only strike everything prior to and only keep the wording. The presiding officer must be able to effectively conduct the meeting in accordance with this section.

Got it. Okay. And is there a second on Mark's, on Deputy Mayor Creeley's motion to amend? Okay, we have a second. So Deputy Mayor Creeley, you now have the floor on your motion to amend that section.

Thank you. I see where we're going on the amendments now. Sorry about my... comment earlier um so again this takes out the the deputy mayor being singled out and it also would include the mayor so whoever's presiding I think the the intent is to make sure that whoever's presiding remotely um can do it effectively and I think this amendment does that okay um Councilmember Keith

I agree with that. It resolves the targeting question. If there's ever a look back on this, then it's not targeted. It applies to whomever is chairing the meeting. Although I'm not sure it's terribly effective language, but I like this better than the original.

Okay. Any other council comment on this motion to amend to strike that sentence? Yes, Council Member Edwards.

Can we just read the language back one more time or have it written?

Do you see it on your screen? Just striking the blue line says it is preferred Deputy Mayor presides in person. Okay. So just striking that.

Sorry, nope. Everything before if the presiding officer participates. Strike everything before that. Only keep if the presiding officer participates remotely.

Okay. All right. So can we, someone over there strike the blue when the mayor is unavailable to preside? There we go. Does that look, look correct? Okay. So that's, that's the motion to strike all of the blue. And is there any other council comment on this motion?

Deputy mayor's roles and responsibilities and state law. Okay, any further council comment on this motion to amend before us? Okay, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Okay, motion carries. Okay, we've made three or four amendments, depending upon how you want to look at it. I think we're doing pretty good. Are there any further amendments? or any further conversation on the main motion on the floor, which is what technically we are back to. Okay, so as Councilmember Ramirez requested, we will do a roll call vote. This is on the main motion to approve or to amend Section 8.

Okay, motion carries. Takes us to Agenda Bill 26-0801. This is a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute the First Amendment to the Mountain View Community Center Heating and Cooling Site Agreement. Councilmember Keith, this is your motion. And Councilmember Southard is the co-sponsor. But Councilmember Keith, would you like to brief the council? Would you like to take it from here?

I'll do a quick brief, and then I want to offer a motion. The council and the city attorney and Mountain View are working on this contract to refine it. Unfortunately, the executive director of Mountain View is... wherever, Canada, on vacation somewhere very fun where we're not. And we haven't been able to loop back around with her to finalize the language of the contract. I am personally committed to getting this signed in a form that makes everyone happy as soon as possible. And you can count on me to lend my voice loudly to urgency and quick and satisfactory resolution. On that note, I move

So moved. Rasmus. Okay. We have a motion to postpone to discuss this item at the September 15th study session and put it on the agenda at the September 22nd regular council meeting. The motion and a second. Council Member McKeith, you have the floor.

Council Member Rasmus, you now have the floor.

Okay, any other council comment on this motion to postpone? Okay, seeing no further council comment, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Okay, so motion carries. We will postpone discussion of resolution 26.0801 or dash 0801 to next week's study session and next week's regular council meeting. And I'll also point out that there's going to be two different items to be discussed at next week's study session and at the following regular council meetings. So if you're here for the Mountain View Community Center Heating and Cooling Center contract, there'll be lots of discussion o

Thank you. I would like to make a motion to include the URA resolution on the next session and a vote for the following regular council meeting.

Um, may I point out you can just request so we don't need to make a motion or council rules. Make it clear if you just want to if someone would like to be Jeff's 2nd person I 2nd. Yeah. Okay. So can I be dramatic? Um, it's, it's not currently spelled out in our council rules of procedure. So that's why I'm just saying that's, that's not one of the routes to put it on the agenda, but simply asking and council member Keith being your second. So yes, we will add a review of the unified regional approach to homeless housing. resolution of intent yep yeah resolution of intent to the study session a

I just wanted to let the public know that on February 27, 2026, Puget Sound Energy filed a three-year rate plan with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. The UTC has the authority to approve rates. And the 2027, 2028, 2029 proposed rate increases are 17.5% on average for electricity, 3.5% on average In 2028 for electricity, 8.07% on electricity on average. 2029 natural gas, 2027 average 12.93% increase. 2028 increase of about 3.18% on average. 2029 average increase of 3.71%. I bring that up because it's just a reminder that they're holding one and only one public hearing for

And I'll just add, I just today sent PSE a request to have someone come present to our council. I mean, I don't know that it's going to do any good, and I don't know that they'll come here before September 29th, but I reached out to them because I know another neighboring city did the same thing. I thought, oh, that's a great idea. Why don't we invite them to come speak to our council meeting? So I've made that request, and I'll keep council posted. Council Member Keith.

I have a quick request of someone. Rachel would be perfect. During the fireworks conversations, I noticed that someone in the audience was concealed carrying, which I'm fine with. I have a concealed carry permit. That's not my concern. My current concern is, is allowed in this building per state law If it is or isn't, are we following whatever state law is on signage? If you don't come back to the council, I'll assume the answer is yes, everything's fine. But if not, we should consider changing our signage. Yep, I'll work with Chief on that. Okay, thanks.

Boy, I have questions. I'm curious. No, I'm just curious, what did you see? Yeah. No, great question. We'll look into it. Any other council comment? Are we good? Not seeing any further council comment. We are adjourned at 8.50.