City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the City Council meeting of August 11th, 2026. Clerk, please call the roll.

Here. Please join me in listening to the land acknowledgment and flag salute led by Councilmember Scott, followed by a moment of silence.

We gratefully honor and acknowledge that we rest on the traditional lands of the Puyallup people, where they make their home and speak the Lushootseed language. Please stand for the flag salute and remain standing for a moment of silence.

Are there any modifications to the agenda this evening? Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda.

Are there any questions, comments, or corrections? I'd like to call on Council Member Palmer.

Thank you, Mayor. Per Rule 4.B of the Council Rules of Procedure, I request to remove resolution numbers 41980 and 41981 from the consent agenda to be considered separately under the resolution section of the regular agenda.

Resolutions number 41980 and 41981 will now be considered under the regular agenda after item number 8. All those in favor of adopting the consent agenda, including resolution number 41982, please signify by saying aye. Aye. I was supposed to say no. Consent Addend is declared adopted. Moving on to proclamations, recognitions, presentations, and announcements. We have two ceremonials tonight. For Emergency Management Awareness Month, I would like to invite Tika Adyugan, Chief Emergency Management Officer from Tacoma Fire, to the podium as I read the proclamation. Whereas the city of Tacoma is

Thank you. And it looks like we have some comments from the City Council, starting with Councilmember Rumbaugh.

Oh, hi. I just want to thank you so much as the chair of Southside 911. And both myself and Deputy Mayor Bushnell serve on Southside 911. We really appreciate your commitment to our city, all of the work that you do. It's so great that you're there in times of need, but also just there as steady person and organization to help support our community. I see that the fire chief is here as well. And I just want to recognize the great work that you do. Thank you so much. Five years, that's amazing.

Thank you. And thank you so much for all that you, our frontline staff, all of our emergency preparedness professionals do to respond to emergencies and ideally help us prep so they don't happen or so that there's enhancements and that there's things that we may ourselves not see as the general public, but you as the people keeping guard are continuing to do. And with that, we're so grateful for all that you do. Please come forward to accept the proclamation. And one more round of applause, please. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. Moving on to our second ceremonial, we're going to move on to the presentation of the Puget Sound Regional Council Vision 2050 Awards. For the presentation of the Puget Sound Regional Council Vision 2050 Awards, I would like to invite Josh Brown, Executive Director of PSRC, Ryan Mello, executive of Pierce County, Dick Marzano, commissioner from the Port of Tacoma, and attendees from the Port of Tacoma to the podium to begin the presentations.

Thank you. And Mayor Roscoe from Fife is also online for this award. Is there anyone else who would like to present from this group?

Thank you, Executive Melo. Commissioner Marzano.

Thank you, Commissioner. Mayor Roscoe, would you like to say anything? Well, what I can say is also the former council member who worked on this alongside Executive Nell and many others is that this is just further evidence that when Tacoma shows up as a region, Wonderful transformative things happen for the entire region and sometimes even the state I mean right now if you walk down the rust in my waterfront and point rust in and you just marvel At the progress that we've that we've had as a community advancing sustainability and accessibility that was the result of Thousands of hours and jus

Moving on to public comment. Clerk, please read.

Thank you. If you want to speak under public comment, if you're not here showing up in person, then you're welcome to press the raise hand button or star 9. And this is limited to only items on tonight's printed agenda. In person, we have Mr. Kit Burns.

Thank you, Mr. Burns. Our one virtual speaker tonight is LYT. And before you speak, can you identify the item on tonight's agenda you're speaking to, please?

You're welcome to write the council if you have anything else that you'd like to say on this. With that, it looks like there are no additional speakers logged in. We're going to close public comments and move on to the regular agenda for appointments, starting with item number seven. Clerk, please read.

I'd like to call on Council Member Diaz.

All right, thank you. Thank you, Chair Diaz. Are there any additional council questions or comments? Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting Resolution No. 41983, please signify by saying aye. Aye. As you know, resolution is declared adopted, and we've invited those individuals being appointed and re-appointed tonight to attend the City Council meeting. I'd like to thank you for volunteering and continuing your service on the Equity and Contracting Advisory Committee. We appreciate your willingness to serve, and please join me in a round of applause. Moving on to purchase resolutions, item

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41984, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. Resolution is declared adopted. Moving on to regular resolutions, item number one. Clerk, please read.

Seeing none, all those in favor of adopting resolution number 41980, please signify by saying aye. Aye. I was supposed to say no. Resolution is declared passed. Moving on to item two. Clerk, please read.

It looks like council member Sadal gives this end up. I

THANK YOU, CONSUMER SIDALGE. I, TOO, WILL BE SUPPORTING THIS FOR THE SAME REASON AS THE LAST ONE. IT'S VERY RARE THAT YOU CAN BUY NEW CONSTRUCTION AS AN OWNER-OCCUPANT FOR ANYTHING UNDER, LIKE, HALF A MILLION, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THESE NEIGHBORHOODS. AND FOR A FORMER STAFF PRESENTATION ON THIS, One of the requirements whenever we have a multifamily housing exemption for affordable housing is it has to be an owner-occupant. So it can't just be an investor or an LLC buying up these things to turn into rentals or a flipper or what have you. These are primarily going to be first-time homeowners buildi

Thank you, Lydia. George Tomlin followed by Joe Colombo.

Thank you, George. Joe Colombo, followed by Kit Burns.

Thank you. Kit Burns followed by Murray Varquez.

Thank you, Kit. Murray Vazquez, followed by Sue, followed by Barb.

Thank you, Mr. Esquez. And we actually have staff from our Neighborhoods and Community Services Department if you want to share your ideas in greater detail. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Sue, followed by Barb.

Well, ma'am, just a point of clarification, if you can pause the clock here, clerk. So, ma'am, if you're speaking to that item, that was actually in tonight's agenda. So the purpose of community forums is things that the city has direct jurisdiction over, but were not on the published public agenda. So we did have that contract vote on the It appears that you're talking about the public defender contract. The time to talk about that would have been public comment. Is there anything else that we have jurisdiction over that you'd like to speak to? And if not, you're welcome to email the rest of

Amanda, is this something over which the city has jurisdiction that you're speaking to?

Thank you ma'am. I appreciate your comments And if there's anything remaining you're welcome to email the rest of the council appreciate your comments Our next speaker is Barb Followed by Janice Clark

Great senior guard. Thank you. All right, Janice Clark.

Thank you, Nina. All right, we have two virtual speakers. We have Tyler Daniels followed by Alma Villegas. And which item over which the city has jurisdiction are you speaking to, Tyler?

Our next speaker is Alma Villegas. And which item are you speaking to? Alma? Alma Villegas, go on once. Okay, looks like we're not able to hear from Alma. So with that being, with no further person being logged in, we are going to close community forum, and you're welcome to email or call the council if you have any further comments. Moving on to our next item on the agenda. Are there any reports by the city manager?

Okay. Moving on to comments and community reports of the city council. I'd like to call on Chair Hines from the Government Performance and Finance Committee.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. The Government Performance and Finance Committee has convened three times since the last update. On July 7, the meeting began with a summative finding of the community engagement report, barriers policy considerations for accelerating housing production in Tacoma. So looking at ways that we can address some of the concerns we've heard from folks trying to provide more housing in our city and the way the city can be more supportive of that. An informal handout of the Baker Tilly Moss 2025 audit exit was also provided at the committee, but no presentation was given.

THE NEXT MJPFC MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR AUGUST 18th AT 10 A.M. IN ROOM 243 OF THE TACOMA MISSILE BUILDING. THE PUBLIC IS ALSO INVITED TO ATTEND VIRTUALLY. THE GENERAL FOR THIS MEETING INCLUDES TWO ITEMS AND THESE ARE ITEMS I WOULD ENCOURAGE THE PUBLIC IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN YOUR SEWER WATER, STORM WATER POWER RATES TO TUNE IN. THE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES 2027 TO 2028 RATE PROJECTIONS AND AN OVERVIEW OF THE TACOMA POWER, WATER AND RAIL 2027 TO 2028 PROPOSED BUDGETS AND RATES. Mayor, this concludes my report.

Thank you, Chair Hines. Any other council comments?

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to remind the community about the Caribbean Queens Festival in downtown Tacoma. It's this Sunday, August 16th from 11 to 6 p.m. It's taking place at Theater on the Square. At 915 Broadway, it's free to the public. There'll be steel pan drums, cultural dance sets, and local DJs, as well as authentic Caribbean food and small business vendor stalls. And I hope that people will come enjoy the interactive carnival in the streets with a costume showcase. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Brumbaugh. Any other council comments? All right, seeing none, is there a motion to adjourn? Move to adjourn. Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Supposed to say no. We are adjourned.