City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the North Bend City Council meeting for September 15th, 2026. Will the clerk please call roll?

Thank you. We'll take note of that. And would you like to lead us in the flag salute?

Okay, good night. Good night. Good evening, everybody. That was a short meeting. Just kidding. Okay, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, would you like to take it away and approve tonight's agenda?

Motion to approve City Council meeting agenda for September 15th, 2026 as written.

Okay, second by Mr. Johnson. Thank you all in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. And I get a motion for the consent agenda to approve that.

Yeah. I meant to ask this earlier, but my day's been crazy. On the checks that are on this particular consent agenda is the one for art and industry on that one. I know we pay them a certain dollar amount. Every quarter. Is that this or is that going to be in October?

For art and industry. I'll double check it. They have a special name in the front of it. We always forget what that is.

I move approval of the consent agenda as amended polling item three.

Can I get a second? Second. That was seconded by Mr. Tremolata. Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Let's move on to audience participation.

So should we do that a little bit later when she gets her chance to?

So that'd be before number seven then? Before number seven. Okay, yeah, we can do that in between. Okay, now we'll move on to audience participation. If we have anyone online or in the chambers tonight, I don't think CID Don't see anybody tonight, but anyway, we, this is a time to come up to the podium and state your name and spell your name for the clerk. And, uh, you have three minutes to speak for the record, either online or in person. I don't see anybody online tonight. Quiet night so far. All right. We'll move on to commissioning committee reports then, uh, let's start with FNA finance a

Thank you. Finance and Administration Committee met on September 1st at 2.30. A couple items on the agenda. We talked about the ordinance amending the North Bend Municipal Code to allow for discounted residential utility rates for low-income senior citizens and disabled customers residing outside the city limits, and that is on tonight's agenda agenda. The consent agenda. We also talked about an ordinance amending the city's tax rates and fee schedule to include discounted residential utility rates for outside city customers, which was also on tonight's consent agenda. Discussion about motion

And that's all I have. Thank you. Well, that's great. Thank you so much. Let's see, CED, Community and Economic Development. Ms. Torkeson, would you like to provide that report, please? Sure.

Today we met September 15th at 4 p.m. We went over a little bit until about 5.10. We first started talking about the CED activity report because we always have that as last and we never get a chance to really get to it. So we chose to go over that and that was very interesting. And then we talked about parking regulations, which included some biking parking requirements, you know, parking your bike. in in residential and commercial areas and we decided on that one to kind of maybe we like the regular parking with parking that is basically state mandated but the biking I think we wanted it was

Fantastic. Thank you very much. Public Health and Safety, Mr. Elwood.

Thank you, Your Honor. We met September 1st at 4 p.m. in the City Hall Adjournment Room. We had a light agenda. We got a fire update from Deputy Chief Walker, police update from Chief Hall. Our big ticket discussion item was the update on the ordinance regarding e-motorcycle storage and impound. And we talked about driving some more marketing and awareness around that. And we had some walk-ons, but I don't remember right now exactly what they were. So check us out next time if you want to know. Cliffhanger.

All right. Moving on. Transportation Public Works, Ms. Colan.

Yes, Transportation and Public Works last met on August 25th at 3 o'clock in our adjournment room. It was a very light meeting, which is unusual. All items went on the September 1st City Council meeting. We talked about a bill of sale for Tanner Electric substation. We talked about a bill of sale for Otis Milan, which is sewer. We talked about a resolution awarding a construction contract with Fury Site Works Incorporated for the Ribery Creek Sediment Pond Maintenance Project. And we talked about a motion approving Schedule 74 lighting agreement with PSE for the North Bendway Northwest 8th Sta

Yes, we met on August 25th with a few major discussion topics. One was the human and community services grant funding policy. I believe we're bringing that forward in the coming months or two. We also discussed a destination marketing and placemaking manager position to be potentially added to staff, and that'll be coming forward with more details in the next couple of months as well. We discussed the battery energy storage system moratorium that this council passed, as well as a study update, which we expect to have a follow-up work study in the coming months as well.

Is it? Wonderful. Okay, we'll look to our fantastic city staff. Let's see, Parks Planning and Economic Development Director, Mr. Henderson, take it away.

Thank you very much. We've been busy. Regional reports. Anybody on council have anything to provide? Ms. Torgeson.

Yes. On August 27th, King County Regional Law, Safety and Justice Committee met at 730 in the morning. The meeting focused on how King County and community organizations can better respond to people experiencing behavioral health issues. Crises, Homelessness, Substance Abuse, and Repeated Involvement with Emergency Services, and the Criminal Justice System. And actually, just so you all know, I'm the one that brought this one up, so I was excited it got on the agenda. The Sawyer Culbertson Project described a community-based approached center on housing, healing, and income. The program uses p

Tremendous. Thank you very much. Any other regional...

Yes, Your Honor. The Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee met September 9th. I was unable to attend, but I did review the minutes, and we'll touch on a couple things that were discussed. One is the King County Executive has submitted legislation to move the King County Transportation District inside of local services at King County. The other alternative the county has is to somehow turn it into like a flood control district. They have faced a couple of choices, but the executive is moving in that they're advocating. They get moved to local services. It is the time of year that the

Thank you very much. That's it for our regional reports. One more. Oh, pardon me.

The Snow Valley chamber. Um, the chamber has, uh, several updates. Um, They have a seven-week veteran entrepreneurship program through Snow Valley Innovation Center offering scholarships to help veterans launch a business or develop new ideas starting on September 30th. And most of their facilitators are business professionals from North Bend. If anybody wants to apply that's a veteran, they just need to go to the website, snowvalleyinnovationcenter.com. And then the Best of Valley is in conjunction with Snoqualmie Valley Record has voting now open with winners announced at their Best of Valle

Very good. Thank you so much. Okay, moving on. We're going to go back to item number three on consent. Elaine, would you like to provide your answers to Ms. Torgerson's questions, I guess?

Do you, sorry, that follow-up question is, I know the contract was for $30,000. Is that the third payment? I think that's the third payment. It's the third payment. So that's... So we're still in... We're still good. Yeah. So... Our procurement laws are that it's up to $25,000 that we give contracts. For $30,000, council needs to approve it. So I'm suggesting that we do something to approve that because we want to approve that. But I think we slipped on that.

I have no objections to going ahead and approving that as it's written. Okay. Do I have a second on that?

No, that wasn't. So motion to approve item number three from the consent agenda.

Can I get a second on that? Second. Okay, very good. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you again. Let's move on to our introductions. Item number 7, AB 26-081, public hearing. Ordinance amending taxes, rates, and fees. Schedule RE, school impact fees. Jamie Burrell, lead the way. Please, and thank you for the time.

Fantastic. Welcome, Ryan. Glad to see you.

Yes. I'm just trying to understand on the slide before that, is there any reason why the... fees are calculated by number of dwellings and not like an AAV?

Thank you, Ryan. Council, do you have any qualifying questions for Mr. Stokes or Jamie? Brendan.

Thank you. I'm kind of glad it's moving to twice every two years instead of having to do this every year. And I'm sure it's out there, so I apologize. I haven't Googled lately. When we're talking about putting in a new infrastructure in the city of North Bend, I know we've talked about this in the past, and I think you've said, and rightly so, that remodeling the existing school is just cost prohibitive and you can't get what you need to get as far as the student ratio. So building net new would be the plan. And I think this was a conversation we had a couple of years ago. Have you picked or d

Okay, so that would become the new playground area.

I believe Ms. Rustick has a question, and I think Mr. Tremolata.

Yeah, thank you. I had emailed some questions to Jamie Burrell, and she shared them with you. And so thank you very much. It was very helpful to help me better understand. Just was trying to wrap my head around exactly what was changing. And I asked if any of the other cities that were in the Snoqualmie Valley had had a chance yet to review this. And your response was that they haven't yet, but that the King County that King County has done a review of this. But so my question is, you made a comment about the city of Sammamish and how they are maybe choosing to. to address this. They've chosen

In our packet, we don't have page numbers. We have our packet's page numbers. So can you describe which page you're wanting us to go to?

Understood. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So the, just as a follow-up, the proposed with the 50% is the, By my math, it was about 24% increase for a three plus bedroom home, single family home. So in your example, Sammamish, it would be an even greater burden to the developers that are building three plus family homes, correct?

I appreciate the clarification. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other clarifying question? Okay.

So the facilities plan and these impact fees are based on future development. And how is the school district able to stay nimble with this plan if development slows, right? Is the solution, the lever, like a school bond down the road, if there's a gap in that or how does it fill the gap, right? Correct. If growth isn't meeting at the impact fee rate so that that schedule can continue to

Okay. Jocelyn, I think you had your hand raised. Okay.

Simply to state the obvious, but here you are. This number of 129,000 and an anticipated completion date of 2031 are all contingent upon the residents of the school district coming together and passing at a 60% level a capital bond.

Okay. Susan, please talk. And I'd like to follow up on that. Because in your notes, you did say you're going to. you'd have a bond that you would go out to the public and get, do you know what percentage that would be? Like, you know, levy, live, lift, we toss around 0.1, 0.2, 0.3. Do you know?

Do you have any bonds that are expiring soon? Because right now I think it's like in North Bend, it's like 33% of our property tax is going to the school district.

Okay. And out of curiosity, does the school district? I don't know what the rules are for the school district. Do you guys get grants anywhere like from any entity?

Okay, Ms. Coleman, thinking of North Bend Elementary being rebuilt, which is very needed. My children went there and they're old now. Sorry, girls. Anyways, is it been thought of, I'm sure it has, next to Twin Falls Middle School, there's land to put the elementary school there. that potentially would not need to be raised from a flood zone.

Thank you, Mr. Stokes. Thank you, Ms. Burrell. This went through CED. Ms. Torgerson, would you like to read the motion?

I've been listening all along. This is a public hearing. I'm going to open it up for just that. And I don't think we have anyone here tonight. Once again, keep it open. All right. How long should I leave it for? 20 seconds? 20 seconds.

I'd like to close the public hearing at this time. Thank you so much. Okay, now, Ms. Torgerson from CED, if you'd like to read that motion for us tonight, please. Sure, once I find it.

I'm on page 20. Is that it? No, that's 81. Yep, that's it. Okay. Motion to approve AB 2681, an ordinance related to school impact fees, adopting a table of school impact fees, amending the taxes, rates, and fee schedule, and repealing ordinance numbers 1636 and 1838 as a first and final reading. Can I get a second?

Okay. Ms. Torgers, would you like to speak to your motion?

I'm debating on this one cause I just, um, I guess I'm concerned about the potential bond that it's going to happen to occur. I know that doesn't affect this. That's something that school district would be do separately. Um, so that's where I'm just, I'm worried because everybody has, you know, being taxed to death and, um, Yeah, I'm just I'm just I have some concerns, so I don't not really I'm actually not even sure how I'm going to vote yet. So.

I as well don't want to tax people more and everything, everywhere, all the time, money is going up, up, up, up, up for fire, for police, for schools, for jails. It's never ending. So it is exhausting. I agree with Ms. Torgerson. However, I think Snoqualmie Valley School District is a wonderful school district. I believe people value it and move here because of it. And I do not want to raise more money, but I do like the product of our schools. I can vouch for my two children, and I hate to say yes, but I'm going to say yes.

Okay. Anybody else on council wish to say anything? Ms. Rustick?

Yeah, I appreciate your comments, and that was where my head was as well when I sent off the questions. If I understand correctly, though, this is taxing new development, not existing residents.

And the way this is now going to be structured, single-family homes that are less than three bedrooms will actually pay less. Our developers for those kind of homes will actually pay less than what they do in 2026. Is that correct?

So it's somewhat maybe going to help us with those entry-level homes in with the structure potentially making it less expensive for those entry-level homes and taxing those new homes that are greater than three bedrooms, which is probably where the kids are going to be going to school and be utilizing. So anyway, so I just wanted to clarify. Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else from council wish to speak? Mr. Johnson.

Yeah, thank you, Your Honor. Yeah, to reinforce Council Member Rustick's point, this is an impact fee that's a mechanism through which the city has offered an opportunity to recoup some small amount of the cost of the school district, to recoup the cost of building capital facilities to support the folks who are moving in. You know, development pays for development, right? That's exactly what this is. It's interesting to learn about the constraints and conditions that the school district faces and everybody getting a piece of the same pie, as it were, that makes it more challenging. So I'm cer

Thank you, sir. Anybody else? Mr. Elwood.

Thank you. Yeah, I concur. It's an impact fee. Growth pays for growth. This is my third term. We've had a lot of heated discussions in the past. Portables have driven me crazy. And now it's about time we're going to have North Bend Elementary School. We're going to get up to speed with to date. We're going to have some modernization here. It'll be built better for flooding and all the environmental conditions that we have to deal with. And actually being downtown. I do support the committee's decision on that. And I understand the rationale. But I also like the fact that we're going to have a

Thank you for your enthusiasm as always. Ms. Tremlata.

Yeah. I mean, it is what it is. I surely support the school district. I think my gripe is more with the state than anybody. I think the idea that they can... force growth through the Growth Management Act and then do some math on paper and say, well, look, it's all going to add up and we're going to get all this funding. You know, for the folks that are concerned about a school bond, I would say buckle up because the growth is going to slow down and the capital facilities plan is going to be short. And then those of us who live here that want to see North Bend Elementary and all these others,

All right. Well, thank you for all the input tonight, counsel, and conversation. I think we're going to make a motion now. Motion to approve AB, what is it, 26, excuse me, 081, an ordinance related to school impact fees, adopting a table of school impact fees, amending the taxes, rates, and fees schedule, and repealing ordinance numbers 1636 and 1838 as a first and final reading. All in favor?

Opposed? Motion passes 6-0. Thank you so much, and thanks again, Mr. Stokes. Thank you very much. That was a lot of information tonight. We value that. Okay, so we're going to move on to item number 8, AB 26-082, motion authorizing amendment to score jail services in a local agreement. Amber Emery, Ms. Emery, you're up.

Thank you. Just so I understand the Issaquah jail, what you described, those were guaranteed beds. Right. And there's also non-guaranteed beds. So will we still utilize Issaquah just with non-guaranteed beds?

Any other questions? Thank you. Any clarifying questions for Ms. Emery? About how many people would we estimate would be going to score? I get Issaquah is not working for us. Yeah. But on a regular month, how many?

I like using my stage voice. Just a procedural one. So I'm assuming I'll be making this motion, which is fine. But do we need to amend the motion that provided the summary statement will be updated? Or is that irrelevant?

And any other clarifying questions from Ms. Emery? Nope. Okay. Let's take this to Public Health and Safety.

Yeah, that'd be you, Mr. Elwood. Okay. Make the motion.

Motion to approve AB 26-082, authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to the interlocal agreement with SCORE for jail services in a form and content acceptable to the city attorney.

Thank you, sir. And we have a second. Second. Thank you, Ms. Torgerson.

Brendan, would you like to speak to your motion? I think Amber and the chief explained it perfectly well as to why we need to move on this. So thank you. Wonderful.

Ms. Torgerson, would you like to speak to your motion? I concur. Well, fabulous. Any other council member wish to speak to this motion?

Well, there we have it. Okay. Is that, we're good? We're clear? Okay. Okay. Motion to approve AB, thank you for that, by the way, AB 26-082, authorizing the mayor to execute an amendment to the interlocal agreement with score for jail services in a form and content acceptable to the city attorney. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you, Ms. Emmerich. Okay, moving on to item number 9, AB 26-083, Resolution Accepting FHWARTCC Grant Funds for North Bend Way, Mount Sai Road Roundabout Project. I'm excited about this one, Mr. Moore, if you'd like to take it away and let us all know what's going on.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Any clarifying questions for Mr. Moore? Oh, Mr. Jocelyn, excuse me.

simply in the spirit of helping us all, you know, ground ourselves in how some of these things work. This funding did come through and is administered by the South Cities Association. Is that correct?

Great. Thank you for that clarification. Anybody else from Council? Mr. Elwood?

I have a comment. I love the ratio, the matching ratio. I think you could do better, Tom. I mean, come on. This is amazing. Well done.

Hey, did I get everybody? All right. Motion to approve the AB 26-084 resolution accepting federal highway administration. Mayor. Oh.

Heather, boy, I. My apologies. I'm so excited. This roundabout, oh, it makes me, okay. All right. I'm turning it over to you.

Motion to approve AB 26-083, a resolution accepting Federal Highway Administration, Rural Town Centers and Corridors funds for construction of North Bendway, Mount Cyrode roundabout project.

Can I get a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Rustick. And Heather, please, I apologize again. I would never want to take away your chance to make a motion. I just did, though, for a second. Anyway, would you like to speak to your motion?

This is a very needed project. It's been a long time in the making. Getting the money, well done, Mr. Moore. And this is great for our city. Wonderful.

Would you like to speak to your motion, Ms. Rustick?

I'll just add that crossing North Bend Way can be a challenge if you're on foot. So this is going to be, I think, not only a benefit to slowing cars down on North Bend Way, but allowing pedestrians to get to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. So I will be supporting. Thank you.

Wonderful. Anybody else from council wish to comment? Okay. Now, here I go. Motion to approve AB 26-084 resolution accepting Federal Highway Administration Transportation. 8-3, ma'am. 8-3. Sorry.

Oh, 0-8-3. Oh. Yes. Page 79, Your Honor. Thank you very much for catching me on that. A resolution except, do I have to go back and redo the whole thing? For a motion to approve AB 26-083, a resolution accepting Federal Highway Administration Rural Town Centers and Corridors funds for construction of the North Bend Way slash Mount Cy Road roundabout project. That's a mouthful, but let's see where we go with that. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much and appreciate the help along the way. Okay, we're going to go to Mr. Moore again. That's our second to la

Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Moore. Any clarifying questions for Tom? Nope. Hey, Heather, looking at you. Here we go. Smooth sailing.

I got it. Okay. Motion to approve AB 26-08 for a resolution accepting Federal Highway Administration Transportation Alternatives Program funds for construction of the Tanner Trail Extension Project.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Ms. Colon. Would you like to speak to your motion, Heather? Okay.

I love our transportation projects when they work out, and they help us money-wise. It makes our city better. It's nice for the citizens. It's just, as Tom Moore said, it's a big win.

Fantastic. And Mr. Chawson, thank you for that.

Yes, exactly. That's spectacular. This one's really exciting, actually, to connect downtown via a paved path to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. going east and west. I mean, you got to go a lot farther. You can just go a little ways north and you hit it in a gravel trail, but you know, that paved part, that's going to, there'll be a few people are going to wander into downtown. It wouldn't otherwise, or maybe more than a few. Anyway, I think it's great. And right. The Tom Moore said staff did a good job. Well, they did more than a good job. They did a great job. Just like on a previous project to

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Anyone else from council wish to speak? Mr. Elwood?

Yeah, just continuing the praise and send it on to your staff and team. This is fantastic. These are the nights that we look forward to coming to. So thank you for having it on here, but also being able to celebrate it. So well done.

Anybody else? Okay. I'll just say the same thing. Good job, staff. It was excellent. Okay. All right. Well, I feel the same. So let that be known for the record. You guys are just rock stars doing great work. Okay. Motion to approve AB 26-084, a resolution accepting Federal Highway Administration Transportation Alternatives Program, TAP, funds for construction of the Tanner Trail Extension Project. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much, everybody. Okay. Number 11. Let me flip over here. AB 26-085, motion authorizing collective bargaining agreement for office clerical and technical employees. Ms. Escobar, this is your time to fill us in. Thank you.

Any clarifying questions for Ms. Escobar, counsel? No? Okay. Can I ask Mayor Pro Tem to make this motion?

Thank you. Motion to approve AB 26-085, authorizing the mayor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 763 relating to public, professional, and office clerical employees.

Second. Thank you for your second, Ms. Rustick. Mr. Tremolata, would you like to speak to your motion?

No, just happy to get this done and appreciate Lisa and Aaron updating council along the way. It was great. Sounded fairly smooth for all things considered. So appreciate it.

Yeah, I'll just add to that and thank both the city's negotiating team and the union's negotiating team for their time. I know these kind of conversations can be challenging at times, but appreciate you all coming together to find a resolution. So thank you.

Great. Any other council members wish to comment at this time? All right. Well, thank you, Ms. Escobar. All right. Motion to approve AB 26-085, authorizing the mayor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 763 relating to public, professional, and office clerical employees. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, we're past 6-0 once again. Thank you so much. And now we're going to go on to Council. Anything you want to say tonight? I'm going to start with Mr. Elwood right at the corner.

Your Honor, you start with Mr. Elwood quite often.

I do. My head turns your direction and that's natural for me.

Well, I'm looking at the clock and I'll say nothing me tonight.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, I like it. Ms. Torgerson. I'm going to say the same thing. Nothing from you tonight. Okay. Are we establishing a pattern tonight? I don't know. Pattern. No. Establish. Nothing from me tonight. I'm going to be the loud mouth then.

Okay. That's funny. I wasn't looking at the clock, but I truly had nothing to share tonight.

Keep it clean. Nothing from me, believe it or not.

Let me begin. The city is hosting a free shred event on Saturday, September 19th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at City Hall. Are you doing some home organizing? Because I am. Need to get rid of some old papers? Well, that's me too. And documents? Then just bring them on by and we will shred the dickens out of them. Please don't bring DVDs or stiff metal plastic bags and things like that. That'll jam the shredder. Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16th, Police Chief Ed Hall invites residents to join him in a community conversation about local public safety and the city's new police department. Please sto

Thank you. And let it be noted, it's 826 p.m. Have a wonderful week, everybody. Take care of yourself and each other. Take care.