City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Kent City Council meeting for August 18th, 2026. If you could all please rise and join me in the flag salute.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

Thank you. Item number three on our agenda is the approval of the agenda. Are there any changes this evening? Hearing none, a motion would be in order to approve the agenda as published. So moved. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye.

Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. That moves us right into public communications. We have several items this evening. I want to start out, Council, in your packet on the consent calendar, bringing forward two reappointments and two new appointments to our Bicycle Advisory Board. We have a new appointment, Daniel Shermer. Daniel moved to Kent in 2016 and one of the things I found interesting um he's passionate about promoting bike safety and health as a low impact way to get around the community and he started taking bringing his kids to school on a bike so i think that that will be a fun perspectiv

Thank you so much for coming down and taking the time. I'm really excited to see that seven days a week. That's one of the comments that I have seen several times now on social media as we've been sharing about the library closing. So that is fantastic. Looks like we have a couple of questions. Council President.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, David, for the presentation. And thank you for coming down to our council meeting to share that information with us. I'm very excited about this. I think it's definitely needed in our community. My question is about the meeting space. Is that going to remain the size it is right now?

Thank you I'm looking really looking forward to this me too

Council Member Boyce. I have two questions. Madam President here asked one and got an answer. The second one, from a security perspective, right, there's going to be a lot of construction going on, and sometimes we have people hanging out.

And also, I mean, even when you do construction, right, you want to make sure to keep people away and not camp close by, right? So I'm more concerned about that, making sure we have safety and security.

Any other questions? Thank you so much for coming out and taking the time. We are very much looking forward to this refresh of our downtown library. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We are going to move on on the agenda. The next item we have is community events. Council President. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

We always have events happening at our social center. August 30th is Mamamoo, and September 19th is a Bollywood singer, Sonu Nigam, coming here. So it should be a popular one, but the... South Asian community. September 28th, our Seattle Thunderbirds home opener versus Prince George Cougars and tickets go on sale on the 26th at 10 a.m. And the entire season for 2026-2027 goes on sale on September 2nd at 10 a.m. And you can purchase those tickets at assessoshowercenter.com.

Thank you. Any additional community events? All right. I'm not seeing any. We will move on. The next item on our agenda is our public safety report. And joining us tonight is Deputy Chief Matt Stansfield.

And that I will obey the rules and regulations. I will obey the rules and regulations. Of the Kent Police Department.

All right, any questions? Okay, thank you. Alright, we're going to move on to item number five, which is reports. So to our council members not only serves the city here on council meeting nights on the first and third Tuesday of each month, but also representing the city on regional and statewide committees that ensures that Kent's voice is being represented no matter where the conversations are happening. whether it be related to policy or grant opportunities and funding. I'm going to start with a couple of quick updates. I chair the King County Flood Control Advisory Board. We met last week

All right, Council President Kaur. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Earlier tonight, we had a council workshop and Two items on our agenda, recode Kent Phase 3 and drones as first responders. It's a great presentation that our community members can watch on Kent TV 21 or on our Facebook page. I serve on various boards and commissions regionally, and I'll have updates on that at our next council meeting because we did not meet this month. And also a reminder that our council newsletter comes out tomorrow. So if you do not already subscribe, you can subscribe to that so you can get updates on what we are

Thank you, Madam President. I sit on the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority Governance Board. We have our next meeting tomorrow. I am also on the Regional Transit Committee, and we do not meet in August. And then lastly, I would like to say congratulations to my son, Kyler, and his beautiful bride, Channing. They were married yesterday in Friday Harbor, and it was absolutely amazing. Only a few tears, so congratulations to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Boyd. Council Member Boyce.

Thank you, Madam President. I sit on the Sound City Association PIC Committee, which is a public issue committee which consists of 38 cities. And we pretty much get together once a month and we kind of get together and help set policy procedure for within the region. We did not meet the month of August. We took the August off and we'll have our next meeting in September. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Boyce. Council Member Larimer. Thank you, Council President. So I sit on the Growth Management Planning Committee, and we likewise took August off, so our next meeting will be in September. But I did have an opportunity to go to a Mariners game with the kids from Tampa, and it was a lot of fun.

It was a great, great group of kids, yeah. Thank you, Council Member Larimer. Council Member Michaud. Thank you, Madam President. The Human Services Commission is meeting this week on Thursday. They did not meet last month due to a quorum issue. So fingers crossed everything goes well on Thursday and they will have their final funding review and recommendations. On Thursday and this past Saturday I and Council President core were at the Green Kent event on the Upper Mill Creek Canyon. This is our first time working in this area and we were removing Ivy with about 18 volunteers and that is actu

Thank you, Councillor Michaud. And if you want to see all those before and after pictures of ivy removal, they will be in the council newsletter tomorrow. Back to you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Item number six is public hearing. We do not have one this evening. Item number seven is public comment. So the public comment period is your opportunity to speak to the council and the mayor on issues that relate to the business of the city of Kent or agenda items the council will consider. This is not an open public forum and comments that do not relate to the business of the city are not permitted. Additionally, Washington state law prohibits public comment from being used to support or oppose a ballot measure or a candidate for office. So speakers may not give political campaign

All right, if you could come up and state your name and city of residence for the record. There will be a three-minute timer that will go up on the screen.

All right. Thank you, Kim. Item number eight on our agenda is the consent calendar. We have items A through I this evening. The consent calendar is a compilation of agenda items that the council has had the ability to receive presentations, ask questions, and provide input. These things have all passed out of Committee of the Whole without controversy. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? So moved. Second. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed? Motion carries 6-0. Item number nine is other business. We do not have any, nor do we have any bids or an executive session. That brings us to the bottom of the agenda. And with that, we are adjourned.