City Council - Regular Meeting

I think we can start the meeting. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. Full house. That makes us very happy because we know that you care about your city, your voice matters, and we are glad to hear from you. Before even I go to the roll call. I wanted to give you all a heads up. It seems we are near 50, 5-0 people for public hearing comments. Therefore, we are going to have a vote before the public hearing starts. At the moment, we know exactly how many people we have. To reduce the time, we have a lot of content to cover. We want to hear as many as you are here. So we probably reduce the pub

Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Newenhaus, would you please lead us in the flag salute?

Sir, the mayor, please rise if you're able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so much. We do have three proclamations tonight. The first one is going to be read by Council Member Villar. It's the National Hispanic Heritage Month. And before she starts, I will invite Zauri Garcia, and Joy Luna, Matilda Navas, Victor Garcia, Ashley Chaverin, Vanessa Gomez, all, if you want, come to the table. Are you guys in the room? Any of you? Is there anyone who wants to receive this proclamation from us? Great. We'll start going to read it. Council Member Villar, please go ahead.

With pleasure. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month, established in 1968 and expanded to a month-long observance in 1988, honors the culture, history, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities with roots across the Americas, Spain, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and whereas September 15th marks the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, followed by Mexico on September 16th and Chile on September 18th, Bellevue is proud to celebrate the diversity of identities within the Latino community, including to those who identify as Hispanic,

Thank you, Council Member Brouillard. One more time, do we have Zoyuri Garcia to receive this proclamation? We go to our second proclamation. Teen Mental Health Awareness Day is going to read by our Deputy Mayor Hamilton. If Bonnie Wong is here, please sit down after he's done. We would love to hear from you. Please come and sit right now. Go ahead, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you. whereas early identification, intervention, and treatment of mental health and behavioral health conditions can improve and even save lives, and whereas adolescence is an important period for mental health, with many mental health conditions first emerging during the teenage years, making early awareness and access to support especially important, and whereas Teen Mental Health Awareness Day increases understanding of the mental health challenges teenagers may experience and helps reduce stigma around seeking support and preventative mental health care, and whereas teenagers may exp

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Bonnie, welcome. We would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much. Please stay with us and we can take a picture after the next proclamation. Thank you. Our last proclamation is National Diaper Need Awareness Week. It's going to read by Council Member Bargava, Stephanie Walsh, and Kate Forrest are already here on the table. We will hear from you after Council Member Bargava read the proclamation. Thank you.

Go ahead, please. Thanks, Mayor. Whereas diaper need, the condition of not having a sufficient supply of clean diapers to keep babies and toddlers clean, dry and healthy, can adversely affect the health and well-being of children and their families. And whereas nearly one in two U.S. families with young children experience diaper need, forcing many parents and caregivers to make difficult choices about meeting their children's basic needs, and whereas A consistent supply of diapers is often necessary for babies and toddlers to participate in childcare and early learning programs, allowing chil

Thank you so much. If you don't mind, just stay with us. We will take a picture after, hopefully, for the third times. I will call them, and if they are here, they will say something. Zauri Garcia, are you here? The kids that are going to get this proclamation, are you here? Please come to the table. You are all late, but you are here. So please sit and please introduce yourself, and then we would love to hear from you. Welcome. Thank you.

Sorry, do you mind to bring the mic to your mouth a little bit more?

Thank you so much. I appreciate you, and I'm very proud of you. When I was your age, I was not doing what you were doing. So thank you for doing what you are doing. We will take a picture with you first. While we are taking the picture, people are standing. There are many, many seats. Please use this opportunity to come and sit and feel comfortable. Let's go and take a picture. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda?

It's been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Councillor Newenhouse. Any discussion? All those in favour say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Oral Communications, City Clerk, would you please go through the list?

If it is about Human Services Commission, please, if it is about budget, please wait.

Thank you for your teaching tenure. We appreciate you. And thank you for sitting in the... Commission meeting for three hours. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Again, thank you for everyone who shared their comments. People should be assured that we are all listening and we will follow up if and when necessary. On that note, we have great news. City Manager, would you please share that good news with all of us? Thank you, Mayor, council members.

Just to make sure I've heard correctly, not one, not two, three awards?

Thank you so much. We are all very proud of you. Not only three awards out of 1,200, but also multi-category excellence shows that amazing job you are doing. Thank you on behalf of the whole council.

Yeah, we can do a picture, absolutely. Especially if Councillor Robinson can hold the trophy. Do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

It has been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Councillor Newmanhouse. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. We have our public hearing. City Manager, would you please introduce that to us?

Thank you so much. I think before I open the public hearing, I would love to go back to City Clerk and ask how many speakers are signed up for the public hearing.

Thank you. Given that number, I'm going to now ask for a motion to suspend our rules and set the time limit of each speaker at one and a half minutes. Do I have a motion?

I move to suspend Section 8.C.1.D of Resolution Number 10544 and establish a speaking time limit of one and a half minutes per person for the public hearing.

It's been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Council Member Newhouse. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Now we are going to the public hearing. The time is one and a half minutes. I think it's two minutes here. Do I have a motion to open the public hearing? I move to open the public hearing. It's been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Council Member Brouillard. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. City Clerk, we are all you.

Thank you. Thank you. Sharmin, I'm going to surprise you because I know Tim, our next speaker, we are going to take a 10-minute break. I promised my colleagues to not let them sit more than one and a half hour, and I think it's one and a half hour mark. Tim, because I knew you, it was a perfect time to give this break. It's 7.31. We are going to be back by 7.41. Thank you. Our city clerk, are we ready to start the meeting? Great.

Thank you so much, especially for staying two hours to give us this. Thank you.

I think we can close the public hearing. Do I have a motion?

Is there a second? It has been moved by Deputy Mayor and seconded by Councilman Robinson. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye.

Any opposed? The motion passes. Before we go, I just want to thank you, everyone, for being here. 48 people. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Second, thank you for being flexible to shorten your comments due to the number that we have here. And lastly, if you... Still want, please email us the remaining of your comment if you have not been able to deliver everything you want to tell us. We read emails, I promise you. Thank you so much. City Manager.

Thank you so much. Diane, I really enjoy when you sit over there, not there, I don't know why. But thank you, Diane, John, and all of the staff that they are here or they are not here, but they help and support developing these budgets. I can just imagine how much work you have put into a budget like this. I really, really appreciate the balance that this primary budget is trying to manage, protecting the services people rely on, managing the higher cost inflation, looking at the resources that we already have, and being very thoughtful about the use of reserves and one-time money. I think as

Great, thank you. What an incredible evening. to hear so much input from such a diverse set of stakeholders who are so vested in the outcomes that we want through this budget process. I want to start by just saying thank you to City Manager Carlson, to our fearless leader for finance and for the budget process, all of the directors and the teams who have contributed to the process, as well as the community who has provided input in different ways to the process. It's really been a really incredible effort so far, and hopefully we can do take it to a good point over the next five weeks here. I

Okay, no, I do appreciate that. It's a fine balance you have to find. Being overly conservative is just as risky as being not. So, and when you think about this in maybe next week's discussion, I would love to see if structural risks, and I'm specifically thinking about dips potentially in our most significant revenue sources, sales tax, BNO, for example. What happens? What are those scenarios, and how would we cover that with specificity would be very helpful. Next question for me is, what have you chosen not to do? This is a ruthless prioritization exercise. I would love to know what have yo

Yeah, no, I... I appreciate that, and I also appreciate the self-prioritization and ways to allocate funds. I would, however, still ask for specific things left unfunded that you think were the most critical based on the one city approach. It'll be helpful for me and likely my peers to see what's left, but it'll also be very helpful for the community at large to understand that.

Okay. I want to keep moving quickly just in the interest of time. I know there was themes from the community identified here. Beyond the allocation of funds to those themes and the STAs, would love to see specific projects most critical, large, meaningful projects that align themselves with the community input that you've received and how you have sort of addressed all this meaningful feedback you've got from the community and from the city and from the businesses into your process. So themes translated to more specific projects and outcomes that we expect to see happen And then staying with s

Thank you, Mayor. I want to begin by extending my gratitude for the fiscally conservative and really responsible approach you've had in crafting this, considering state legislation and the economic impacts of the Iran war and so on. A friend of mine involved in a city in New York mentioned that their mid-sized city is starting off with a $33 million deficit, and it took great pride in responding with, I hope you figure that out because I have no idea what that's like. So thank you again to all the department leads for their meticulous work as well. While neighboring regions have unfortunately

OK. So I just want that distinction to be crystal clear in how we communicate that publicly as well. I see a really thoughtfully put together program. And there are some key areas that I'm interested in, like transportation and understanding what the right level of investment looks like. But I understand, of course, there's time for that next week. I'd also like to ask, how are your department heads feeling, considering they had to be more mindful of their spending? Do they feel confident and well-equipped? Raise your hand with I. No, I'm just kidding. Do you have an answer to that?

Of course. And how are the police departments feeling as well? Do they feel well-supported and properly resourced? Great. We are getting a thumbs up for those who are watching online. OK. How have we managed to convert part-time positions to full-time in the midst of these tough economic conditions? I know that you had touched upon it lightly, but I just want to sort of reiterate that point.

Excellent. Thank you. And so for this matrix that you put together, I'm very, very grateful, especially with the various scenarios that are laid out. And I don't want to get too granular into this, but it seems like the third. Actually, Mayor, please cut me off if I'm getting too granular. Is my understanding correct that the third scenario provides the most investment in neighborhoods?

OK. Thank you. And lastly, can you tell me about sustainability? What are we doing there?

Okay, excellent. So this actually opens up the path for more policy and allocation discussions. And then what I will end with is that I'm excited to talk about transportation, but of course I do know that tonight will be rather more high level, so I will hand it off now to you, Mayor. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Well, my colleagues have said thank you first, Diane, John, the head of all the departments up here. Thank you. Thank you, Charmaine. So I want to mention that as well as the incredible turnout by the public this evening, as well as all the emails and the calls, et cetera, and the personal conversations that I've been having throughout the community as well. As been said before, our budget is our values document, right? And it should really reflect our residents' concerns, interests, desires, et cetera. And I really appreciate the tone of the Transmittal Letter as

Thank you so much. Council Member Robinson.

Thank you, Chancellor Robinson. Deputy Mayor Hamilton.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, just a fantastic hearing tonight. Initially, I thought 48 people coming up to the desk. I was a little nervous about it, a little anxious, but I thought it was interesting and helpful, and I just appreciated all the comments that I heard, appreciate all the input we've received tonight and that we've received to date, and all of the comments and interactions that I know we'll have with community members as we work towards final adoption. In November, I think the presentation tonight was great. Also, thank you for presenting us with such a solid and comprehensive

Thank you so much, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. I have only four quick comments. One is a request. We already had one public hearing. Tonight is our second, and we have a third. My memory is so bad that I cannot memorize my name these days. Is there a way that we can have a summary of what we have heard? Like how many people spoke, speaks, how many people gave us the written comments, what was the main budget topics people raised, and roughly how many comments supported or oppose? each major request, and I completely understand this is not a scientific survey, but I think it would be helpful for c

So you couldn't give me the credit of the genius idea. You need to say you already have done that.

The other thing I would love to see in the memory bank is... When I was reading all of the package, I see that we are using one-time dollars and reserves to continue some programs, and then others are being moved to core services. Do we have a simple list of the programs being supported with one-time funding or reserves, and identify which of those could require a new funding decision after 2028? Have you already been thinking that and that's already linked to the memory bank that is going to be released?

Thank you. The third one is, At some point, maybe this council ask for increasing have a tax for transportation or anything else. I think we should make sure we have already look hard to see where we can reduce cost or are we spending maybe too much. Is there any way we can have a lease of where already we have actually reduced costs somewhere, or change how we do something, or stop doing something because we realize there is no longer value to do that, or where do we think we can still do more cost cutting? Is that something that we can also have in memory bank? Approximately, not all of thos

And if any big item came not in the continuous improvement, it would be great for our public to know that we are already thinking about reducing costs, and we are doing all of the stuff that we can do. So if there are some items that we can add to the memory bank, that would be awesome. And I think the last one is something that Council Member Bargaba and both Council Member Nieuwenhuis brought or talk about, is before we make any final decision, I also would like to see the total impact of everything that our constituents are going to experience through the taxes. The holistic, what is happen

Completely understand. I'm just talking about total impact on our resident that includes utility rates includes all of the like They don't they is the money that they are going to spend in any capacity so if you can have a full picture of that would be Great to see the holistic view Great. Thank you so much. I just wanted to look at anyone else has any comment. I see already one hand anyone else customer new house

If we're going through that exercise, could we also add on to that the cumulative impact of, for example, King County? King County has just passed the TBD. King County also just passed, I believe there's safety tech, so that's another one. So those are all going to hit Bellevue residents as well. I don't know if we can add that to that overall cumulative effect or not, or maybe create a separate line item for that, but that would also be interesting to see if possible. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Of course. Great. Thank you so much. We have written reports, intergovernmental affairs, monthly update of August 31st, 2026. I hope that everyone goes and read that before the bed tonight. Thanks for joining us this evening. And there is no further business on the agenda, Charmaine, so we can adjourn. Thank you.