Metropolitan King County Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome you to the August 18th, 2026 meeting of the King County Council. My name is Jorge Baron. I have the privilege of serving as vice chair of the council. I will be acting as chair today. I'm joined by my colleagues, council colleagues here today and online, and this meeting is called to order. Before we begin, please join me in acknowledging that we are on the traditional lands of the Puget Salish people's past and present. We thank these caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial, bringing their cultural ways of life and greatly enriching

Wonderful. Thank you very much. Next, I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you're here in chambers, please stand 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 very much. Next, we'll have approval of the minutes. Vice Chair Dunn, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes of the July 21st, 2026 and July 28th, 2026 council meetings.

Thank you very much. The motion is before us. Are there any comments or questions regarding the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. The minutes are approved. Clerk Foss, I understand that we have some additions to the council agenda.

Thank you very much. We're going to turn next to a special item, which is a proclamation of August 18th, 2026, as Dolores Zabonga Day in King County. Council Member Dembowski and the Chief Operating Officer for Executive Sahela Hayokim will be presenting this item. So I would invite you to come to the podium and get started whenever you're ready.

Thank you very much, Chair and colleagues. It's my pleasure today to present a very special proclamation on behalf of the Council and the Executive. declaring August 18th, 2026, Dolores Sabanga Day in King County. I'm really happy to be joined by our King County Chief Operations Officer, Hale Kim. And together we're going to share a few remarks about a very special person who has lived a tremendous life in King County and made an incredible difference for so many folks. But before we get into the proclamation, those remarks, I thought I would let COO Kim say a few words as well.

Very nice. Dolores turned 95 years old just a few days ago on August 12th. She was the first Filipino-American to graduate from the University of Washington journalism program in 1952. She was the first Filipino-American man or woman attorney in the state of Washington in 1973. She served here at the King County Council as a legislative aide to groundbreaking council member Ruby Chow. After leaving the county council, she worked in the county's Office of Civil Rights. She was the first woman of color to serve on the Seattle City Council starting in 1978, where she led the push for Seattle's fi

And whereas Dolores is a trailblazer in many different fields. As I mentioned, she was the first Filipino American attorney in the state of Washington in 1973. The first female executive of the Washington State Human Rights Commission in 1975. and the first woman of color to serve on the Seattle City Council in 1978, and whereas

Whereas her public service extends beyond elected office, and she served on several public service commissions, including the Washington Horse Racing Commission, the State Human Rights Commission, and our own King County Board of Tax Appeals and Equalization, and whereas.

In the spring of 2017, Dolores Sabanga and Joan Yoshitomi approached the county about creating the Ruth Wu Emerging Leaders Fellowship to honor their late friend Ruth Wu and provide disadvantaged young people with opportunities in government and whereas.

As Dolores texted me and Christina recently, we were going to go try and see her, she said, the mind is willing, but the body isn't. She's been in touch with us today, and she's sorry she can't be here, but one of my favorite constituents in Lake Forest Park, her daughter, Randy's here, and I wondered if you might want to come up and say a few words.

We'll just do a little photo right here.

Colleagues, if you want to join Council Member DeBasque.

Thank you very much, Council Member Dembowski and CEO Kim for that presentation.

We are now going to turn to the reading of items into the record and the hearing of public comments. But before we start that, before the clerk reads the items into the record, we have a handful of procedural matters to take care of, colleagues, so bear with me here. First, Vice Chair Dunn, will you please make a motion to relieve the Local Services and Land Use Committee for items seven and eight? Move to relieve the Local Services and Land Use Committee for items both seven and eight. Thank you very much. That motion is before us. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, ple

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This particular ordinance is unusual in nature, I acknowledge, and it relates to a service change that is occurring largely in my district related to Route 372, a very popular route that basically runs from UW Bothell to the UW main campus, right down what I call the spine of my district, which is State Route 522 Bothell Way, Lake City Way, depending on where you are on it. It's a real workhorse route. It has been for many years. It's the, interestingly, the most popular University of Washington U-pass route. In 2025, they had 919,000 boardings using a U-pass on Route 372

but this this is not uh ready to ready to take action on practically so thanks for letting me share a few words and thanks for metro for being here thank you very much councilman nevowski um we will move forward then with that uh clerk foss will you please read the items into the record

Thank you very much, Clerk Foss. Appreciate it. The Council will now take public comment on those ordinances, motions, proclamations, and recognitions on today's agenda for action. Listening to the public and taking into consideration the public's thoughts is an important part of our process and one that enhances our deliberations. In order to allow everyone equal time to provide comment, I would like to set the following ground rules. Please limit comments to two minutes, remain seated until time for your public comment, and do not make audible noises during the meeting without being recogniz

Mr. Zimmerman, keep the sign up, thank you.

Thank you. Reagan will sign that if you want an autographed copy of it.

All right, seeing no further requests for public comment, we will close public comment for today. Turning to the first action items on today's agenda, items seven and eight, which concern appointments to the Fire District number 24 Board of Commissioners. Council Member Fain, will you please move proposed motion 20260168. So moved. Thank you very much. Proposed motion 20260168 is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that since the Local Services and Land Use Committee has been relieved of items seven and eight, we'll begin with a briefing from Sherry Hsu from council staff. After the brie

Thank you very much, Sherry. I appreciate that report. Do my colleagues have any questions for Sherry or comments for discussion before we proceed? Council Member Fain?

Thank you, no questions, just would like to speak to it. Thank you.

Thank you all for allowing these appointments to bypass the committee. For context, they were referred to committee, but because of timing and somewhat urgent need to move this along, we asked the chair to bring them directly to us at council for consideration today. So motion 0168 relating to Mr. Zagregan's appointment is before us, but I'm gonna speak to, well, what I speak to will apply to both, so we'll save some time here. This is an unusual situation that has been unresolved for a long time, as you heard. Fire District 24 sits in unincorporated District 5. We had put the map up earlier j

Wonderful. Thank you very much, Council Member Fein. I appreciate your work on this to try to resolve this issue. As colleagues, as we heard, our first candidate, Mr. is not available to join us. But the materials were distributed to council members in the first green folder sent at 10.09 AM today. Do my colleagues have any further discussion or questions regarding the candidate and his qualifications before we proceed with the vote? Anything further from Council Member Fain? All right. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll on this motion?

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20260168. Congratulations to Anton and thank you very much for your willingness to serve. We're now going to turn to item eight, which is the second appointment to the fire district number 24 board. We will be interviewing the candidate today. Council Member Fain, will you please move proposed motion 20260169. So moved. Thank you very much. That motion is before us. Sherry already gave us a briefing, so I would like now to invite James Hough to join us. He's at the table there. Thank you very much for your willingness to serve.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hopp. Council Member Fain, do you want to ask further questions?

Sure, thank you so much. I would say that you are qualified as an engaged resident and you own a business and employ folks here in Kent in our district. And thank you for being willing to serve and for hosting us several times both at your home and your business in meetings so that we could meet with you and other community members. It's been very helpful to have you there so you are qualified. If appointed, what do you believe is the best long term path for Fire District 24 and the residents it serves?

Thank you, and Chair, for context, Fire District 37 sits to the west-east. It's right next door, so it would not have to provide its own services. And Fire District, the other option really is Fire District 24 would contract with Fire District 37 for services. make sense for a merger to be the most efficient way and then the fire district 24 wouldn't have to maintain a board of commissioners and maintain all of its structure going forward just for context thank you

Thank you very much, Council Member Fain. Are there any further questions, comments from colleagues? Just a quick comment. Yeah. Council Member Nabeski.

I just wanted to thank you for your willingness to serve. I think you're eminently qualified, and you do great in politics, except you're too modest.

Thank you, Council Member Dabowsky, I agree. Colleagues, we normally ask the candidate to step aside for a moment, but I don't know that that's necessary now.

So do we have any further comments or questions before we move to vote? Thank you very much, Mr. Hoffer, for being willing to serve. Seeing no further discussion, Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20-26-0169. Congratulations, Commissioner or Board Member Hoff. Thank you very much for your willingness to serve and look forward to getting the issues resolved with the fire district. Real quick on the swearing. Yes, Council Member. Do we have plans to get them sworn in?

I'll be doing both separately. Great. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for checking on that. All right, colleagues, now we're turning now to the consent agenda, items 10 through 12. As a reminder, item 9 was removed from the consent agenda. We'll take it up after items 10 through 12. Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda items 10 through 12? Move consent agenda items 10 through 12. Thank you very much. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted Proposed Ordinance 2026-0117, 0161, and 0165. Turning back to Item 9, Proposed Ordinance 2026-0097, concerning the sale of surplus property in Federal Way. Council member Van Rijkbouwer, will you please move proposed ordinance 20260097. So moved. Thank you very much. The proposed ordinance is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that we have Nick Bowman from council staff available to answer questions or to provide a briefing if needed. There is an amendment to this legislation, which is, I think, where we pulled it out of consent. Do my c

I would just say this is before the council on a do pass recommendation on the budget fiscal management committee. There was a technical error with regard to the attachment, so we're merely bringing it off to get the correct attachment on there.

That's correct. Thank you very much. Nick, anything else that we should know?

Great, thank you. Seeing no further discussion, let's proceed with the amendment. Council Member Dabowsky, will you please move Amendment 1? So moved. Thank you very much. Amendment 1 is before us. Would you like to speak any further to it? No? All right. Any discussion from colleagues? No. If there's no further discussion, we'll proceed with the vote. All those in favor of Amendment 1, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Amendment 1 is adopted. Turning to the underlying ordinance as amended. Before we proceed with the vote, any further comments on this legislation? Seeing none, C

Thank you. By our vote, we have adopted proposed substitute ordinance 20260097 as amended. As a reminder, colleagues, item 13 has been referred to tree, so we will not be taking action on it today. We'll be proceeding to the next item in the agenda, turning to hearing examiner consent agenda items 14 and 17. Clerk Foss, will you please read the items into the record?

Thank you very much, Clerk Foss. Council Member Fain, will you please move consent agenda items 14 through 17?

I move consent agenda items 14 through 17.

Thank you very much. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Balducci, we had a hard time hearing you. Council Member Balducci, we did not record your vote. Do you want to try again? Aye. Aye, I take that as an aye.

By our vote, we have adopted proposed ordinances 2026-0065, 0148, 0149, and 0151. Turning next to the motion consent agenda, Vice Chair Dunn, will you please move consent agenda items 18 and 19? Move consent agenda items 18 and 19 for approval. Thank you. Those items are before us. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Valducci, we still can't hear you, but you can give me a thumbs up if you'd like. Or down. Thumbs up, thank you.

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed substantive motions number 20260119 and proposed motion 20260146. Turning to item 20, proposed motion 20260145, which acknowledges receipt of the Harborview Medical Center Long Range Planning Committee plan. Council Member Mosqueda, will you please move proposed substantive motion 20260145.2. So moved. Thank you very much. The proposed motion is before us. Before we proceed, I will note that we have, do we have Sam Porter? Oh, she's online. Okay, thank you. Sam, thank you very much. From council staff is available to answer questions o

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank Sam Porter as well as Olivia Bray for their work on this, in addition to Chris Lampkin from my team. Colleagues, thanks for your support in the 2026-2027 budget, which included a proviso asking for the creation of the Harborview Long Range Planning Committee. This is a long-awaited committee that many people are very interested in, in terms of merging together conversations around financing, planning, and strategy for our county's hospital. Harborview Long Range Planning Committee will serve as a forum for Harborview, the University of Washington

Thank you very much, Council Member Mosqueda. I'm going to call next on Council Member Fain.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Muscata, for putting this in the budget proviso. It is, speaking as a long time Harborview Board of Trustee member and Board President, I very strongly support this and I'm very excited to see this move forward. This gives University of Washington Medicine, Harborview leadership, the executive and council an opportunity to have conversations on all sorts of issues that we can't get to every month in our own public meetings here at council. So it allows them to discuss financial and long-term clinical strategies and hopefully the Harborview Bond Proje

Thank you very much, Council Member Fain. I join in those comments. I think this is gonna be an important venue to have some important conversations about Harborview, and so appreciate that, and I wanna recognize Ian Goethe, who's here from Udo Medicine.

Look forward to this important venue to get started soon. Colleagues, any further discussion or anything else to close Council Member Mosqueda? All right, seeing no further discussion, we're gonna turn to final adoption. Clerk Foss, will you please call the roll?

vote is six eyes and council members balducci lewis and perry excused thank you very much by our vote we have adopted proposed substitute motion 2026-0145 turning to the last action item on today's agenda a reappointment consent agenda item 21 vice chair dunn will you please move consent agenda item 21. so moved thank you very much the item is before us clerk foss will you please call the role thank you council member balducci

Thank you very much. By our vote, we have adopted proposed motion 20260213. If there is no objection, the published marked agenda together with any changes made in today's meeting will stand approved as the first reading referral and re-referral of ordinances and motions, items 22 through 25 as listed. Item 26, proposed ordinance 20260217 is listed as being referred to the Local Services and Land Use Committee. It will instead be referred to the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. Item 28, proposed motion 20260207 is being referred to the Committee of the Whole. And as I noted earlier, ite