City Council - Regular Meeting

0:18 – 0:51•DSDon Schwab

Good evening, residents of Everett, Washington. I would like to call to order the City of Everett Council meeting of October 7th, 2026. For information on council meetings and how to participate, please visit everettwa.gov slash city council. Please note that we do not allow comments of any kind of campaigning, whether for or against ballot measures or candidates running for office. We also do not accept comments focused on personal matters that are unrelated to city business. For the record, Mayor Franklin will be attending this evening's meeting remotely. Clerk, will you please take the role

1:03•DSDon Schwab

Here. At this time, I'd like to ask Council Member Bader to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:26•DSDon Schwab

Thank you, and this time I'd like to ask Vice President Ryan to recite the land acknowledgement.

1:31 – 1:56•PRPaula Rhyne

The City Council wishes to acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Stahops people, and their successors, the Tulalip tribes. Since time immemorial, they have hunted, fished, gathered on, and taken care of these lands and waters. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and waters. We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes to bring about a future that includes their voices, their people, and their stories for a more just and equitable society.

1:57 – 2:09•DSDon Schwab

Thank you, and this time I'd like to welcome our mayor and her comments, and we'll begin with the proclamation. I'd like to invite our Consul General Pashkesh Guptal to the front, please.

2:16 – 4:21•CFCassie Franklin

Good evening. I am so sorry that I can't be with you in person tonight, but I'm really honored to share the following proclamation. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most significant and cherished celebrations for millions of people around the world, including many residents of the Everett community. And in December last year, Deepavali was officially added to the UNESCO's representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognizing it as a significant social and festive tradition of India. And Diwali holds deep cultural, historical, and spiritual

7:53•DSDon Schwab

And at this time, well, council members come up and gather around.

11:38 – 12:48•CFCassie Franklin

Yeah. Thank you, President Schwab. I am again. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there. I'm with you in spirit. And what. Thank you so much for honoring us and letting us be a part of this special festival through this proclamation. Thank you so much. And again, I'm not there this evening because I had the opportunity to join a small cohort of mayors who are also working towards a goal of bringing and keeping professional sports in their communities. And the conference ended this afternoon, but it was really inspiring to hear what's underway around the country. And it made me realize how lucky we are

12:48 – 13:00•DSDon Schwab

Okay. Thank you very much. On to old business. Do I hear approval of the minutes for September 30th, 2026? That's Marbator Simus. Seconded. Motion and second has been made. Clerk, please take the roll.

13:07 – 13:28•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Now it's time for public comment, which includes written comment acknowledgement. Under our rules, written comments shall be considered in the same manner as oral comments. The person submitting the comments must provide their name and place of residence to make the council official record. Good evening, Angie. Thank you for your hard work here this evening. And do we have any written comments or anyone signed up to speak?

31:03•DSDon Schwab

Okay, thank you everybody. We'll go to Council comments, beginning with Council Member Bader.

31:11 – 31:55•SBScott Bader

Yeah, thanks Council President. I was privileged to go along with Council Member Ryan, Council Vice President Ryan today to a tour of our water pollution treatment facility, along with the Director of Public Works, Ryan Sasson. Fascinating tour, seeing behind the scenes there. Just amazing work that our staff do there to treat our water and make sure that what gets sent out into the sound is well treated and meets the highest standards. I know they're award-winning staff and just enjoyed learning a lot in that tour and probably asked too many questions as well. So, and probably kept them too l

31:55 – 33:08•PRPaula Rhyne

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you to everybody who shared your thoughtful comments this evening. Very, very much appreciate you joining tonight and sharing what's on your heart and your mind. And Lila, I see that you're talking with our, no, you're, it's okay. you're not in trouble with our public works uh director so if there's additional intersections and this goes for the general public as well if there's uh intersections in the city that you have concerns about as a pedestrian you can always use our everett at work app to report it but feel free to also reach out to your council members

33:12 – 33:39•LBLuis Burbano

We're still on the week without driving. You still have one more day to give public transportation or a micro mobility device a chance. Today I rode my bicycle from District 4. Well, actually, I rode to the Swift Blue Lane bus stop, and I was dropped right here on Pacific Avenue. And then I rode here, and I was nice and clean. So please give a public transit or a micromobility device a chance tomorrow if you can. Thank you.

34:31 – 35:19•BZBen Zarlingo

Thank you. Council Member Zarzlingo. Well, I would also like to thank our public commenters, also our representatives from India explaining us a holiday and a culture that I was not very aware of in detail. And also I'd like to thank Council Member Barbano for explaining to me what a pump track is for bicycles. I had not understood that as distinct from things like BMX tracks, had not understood how the pump tracks can serve a wider range of age of writers and the skill of writers. And so I'm intrigued in that and I'm looking forward to hearing more about those kinds of possibilities, especial

35:20 – 35:33•DSDon Schwab

Thank you. Yeah, there is a pump track in Stanwood, my understanding, and then we have a BMX track at McCollum Park, both sides of the city. Okay, moving on to administrative report.

36:18•DSDon Schwab

Okay. How about our city attorney? Good evening.

36:36 – 36:49•DSDon Schwab

Thank you very much. All right, we'll go to consent items. We have four on the agenda one through four. Do I hear a motion in a second? So moved. Second, the motion. Motion and seconds have been made. Clerk, please take the roll.

36:56 – 37:10•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Okay, moving on to proposed action item. Item number five, Council Bill 2609, batch 5-1, has been read into the record. Are there any questions or comments from Council? Council Member Ryan?

37:11•PRPaula Rhyne

Great, thank you. Probably for Jennifer, can you give a little bit more clarification on how and when council will be involved in the spending plan?

38:38 – 39:50•CFCassie Franklin

And I'll just jump in on that too. The budget process is kind of this lengthy process that staff work on with me for several months. And so we're just almost ready to present the 2027 budget on the 21st to you. But because they've already kind of finalized it to get it ready for that presentation, We haven't incorporated any B&O reform into that. So that will have to come through with a budget amendment. So I will have a few weeks time to digest kind of what staff have recommended to me, incorporate your feedback like I often do when I work on the budget. Sometimes, especially super tight budg

39:51 – 40:16•PRPaula Rhyne

Thank you. So when we do our budget amendments, it's typically a series of different changes to our budget that we're approving all together. So I guess my concern is that the B&O spending plan is then embedded into a larger vote that involves a lot of different changes to our budget. So I'm curious if the spending plan itself could be a separate vote by council for approval. Sure.

40:17 – 40:34•CFCassie Franklin

I can work with the finance director to bring it forward. as a separate item on a separate amendment so that it's like all encompassed into one thing and very clear. It's not with a bunch of grant approvals or anything like that. So we can separate it out.

40:37 – 40:53•SBScott Bader

Thank you very much. Any other questions? Council Member Rader. Thanks, Council President. I'll be absent next week, but just wanted to say thank you to administration, all those who developed this and indicate my support for it, even though I will not be able to join you next week to vote on this. I just wanted to say that in advance. Thank you. Okay.

40:53•DSDon Schwab

All right. No other questions? Okay. The third and final reading is October 14th.

41:05 – 41:41•DSDon Schwab

Moving on to item number six, council bill 2609-50, third and final reading, adopt an ordinance creating a special improvement project entitled Walter E. Hall Playground Renovation Fund 354, program 111 and fund 148, program 29. to accumulate costs, project costs in the accumulation to the amount of $1.25 million or $1,250,000. Do I hear a motion? So move the motion. What about no seconds? Okay. Is there any questions or comments from council? Council member Bono.

41:42 – 42:00•LBLuis Burbano

I already mentioned this last time, but I'm going to just repeat that again. Thank you so much, Major Franklin. Thank you so much to the city staff, to the parks folks for making this possible. We in District 4, we are super excited and super happy to have our new park. So thank you so much.

42:02•DSDon Schwab

Any other questions or comments, Council? Okay. A motion and second has been made on item number six. Clerk, please take the roll.

42:16•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Item number seven. Authorize the mayor to sign the BNSF pipeline license number 24W-22081. Do I have a motion?

42:28•DSDon Schwab

Is there questions or comments from council? Okay, seeing none. Clark, please take the floor.

42:40 – 42:56•DSDon Schwab

Yes. Okay, we will now go into executive session. The current time is 7-12. The session will last five minutes with potential action to follow, and we will return at 7-19. Gives us travel.

49:02•DSDon Schwab

Thank you. We're back from executive session and I will refer to our city attorney Ramsey Ramerman.

49:31•DSDon Schwab

Motion and second's been made. Clerk, please take the vote.