City Council - Regular Meeting

It is called to order. Will everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Present. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Second. Moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. We've got a number of meeting minutes that we need to get caught up on. So we'll be considering minutes for June 16, June 30, July 14, and July 21. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes of June 16? Motion to approve.

All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Minutes of June 30th?

Minutes of July 14th? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Minutes of July 21st? Motion to approve. Second. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. OK, we'll now move on to citizen comments. Just for those that may be new, we have slips over on this table on the side there if you want to sign up to speak. We'll consider those that have signed up in advance and then open it up for anybody that has not submitted one of the sheets. So first, we'll hear tonight from Mr. Dave Churchman from District 2.

We have a point of order. What is your point of order?

Please don't address individual candidates.

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from John Hopkins, former mayor.

Thank you. Next we'll hear from Jim Detweiler.

Thank you, Jim. I had it in my... Mayor's comments this evening to talk about Puyallup 101. I don't think I could have done it as well as you did. There you go. And registration is limited. So if you want to do it, you better get signed up soon. OK, next we'll hear from Jim Roeder. Jill. Jill, sorry. I'm not .

Thank you. We'll now hear from Matthew Karras.

Thank you. Are there any other citizens who would like to speak at this time?

Thank you. Any further comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to our consent agenda. The consent agenda are items that are considered to be non-controversial and would likely pass with a unanimous vote. Is there anything on this consent agenda that one of my colleagues would like to remove for separate discussion? Seeing none, is there a motion to pass this consent agenda?

Second. The motion has been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please say aye. Motion passes. OK, now we'll move on to our ordinance item 4A on our agenda. This will be a first reading of an amendment to PMC chapter 21.06 regarding critical areas. And we'll have planning manager Chris Beal give a presentation.

Any questions? I'm not seeing anybody jumping on this one. Council Member Smolko.

Thank you, Mary Winning. Just one question, if I can just have one, that would be awesome. Can staff identify for Council whether any provision we are adopting tonight results in less environmental protection than our existing code? And if so, specifically where and why staff believes that change is supported by best available science?

It's not really even a follow-up. It's a separate question, I guess. Can you confirm that our action tonight does not adopt or endorse the previously proposed changes to the riparian management zones or stream buffers? and that council will have a separate opportunity to consider these after the additional best available science work is completed?

Okay. Don't see any other instance, any other council members? Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to support first reading of item 4A as presented tonight. Second.

The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Moving forward, we'll now address resolution Item 5A on our agenda, a resolution confirming appointments to various citizen volunteer boards and commissions. And City Clerk Dan Vessels will introduce the resolution.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to offer a motion to accept the recommendations for these volunteer boards as indicated by our city clerk, Dan. Second.

Motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I'd just like to say that I participated in the interviews for those individuals and I think they're well qualified and will contribute to the well-being and vitality of our city. I'll now call the motion. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? First reading passes. We'll now move on to item 5B, a resolution establishing an investment policy for the management of public funds. Finance Director Barbara Lopez will introduce the resolution.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One of the wonderful things about getting great staff on board and people who are professionals in their expertise areas is trusting their judgment and discernment. To what I've heard tonight, it seems like a very responsible thing to do. So I'd like to make a motion that we trust our finance director, Barbara Lopez, to institute this resolution. And I'd like to make a motion towards that outcome.

We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. The motion has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Council Member Smolko.

Thank you, Mayor Whitting. I also implicitly trust Barbara for sure, at least to this point. But I do have a question about transparency and communication. Will residents be able to readily see our investment reports? And can we make those reports available through the city's regular financial reporting if it isn't already and it may be already done that way, rather than simply having them available upon request? Can we be proactive about that and just publish them?

Thank you. Council Member Smolko took my question, but I just wanted to say thank you for your presentation. And that was the exact question that I was actually looking for myself. So thank you for providing that.

Okay. I have a question just about the liquidity aspect of this. Obviously, the city has dozens of funds probably. Are those invested as a group? So do we have to... to protect the liquidity of every single one of those separately, or can we put it all in one big pot and protect the liquidity of the larger pot?

Yeah, I understand the process. I was just concerned that we were having to manage liquidity on every single one of those funds. And it sounds like that it's not necessary. We just...

But as a whole, as a combined total, as opposed to each individual fund. Okay, that makes me feel better. The other question I have is, my attention lagged for just a second. Did you say that corporate bonds were allowed under the investment policy?

Yes, indeed. OK, any other questions? OK. We've had a motion and a second. All those, I see no further need for discussion. So all those in favor, please say aye.

And I'd like to just correct myself from Resolution 5A. I think I mentioned that as being a first reading, and that is not a first reading. It's a resolution which doesn't require a second reading. So I correct myself on that one. So we now move on to item 6A. The city clerk is going to give us a presentation on the clerk's office strategic plan.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Good work. I think one of your slides with your SWOT analysis called out how your team is mighty but nimble. And I think that's an accurate description. Thank you. Two questions. The first one is, I'm wondering if we can go back to the initiatives slide and the ADA call out. Dan, could you just quickly highlight what that means? I know what it means. I don't think other... It's not often common knowledge. And I am hoping that you'll get some assistance on this from perhaps... are PR professional. I know in other organizations, local governments that I

OK. And then that would still be within the federal deadline? Because I know that they extended it, right? Because the initial deadline was like, what, April?

Thank you. And I know that this has been shared before, but we, well, I can only talk for myself, but I know that other colleagues really enjoy Ask Ezra on the homepage. And I know it's throughout the website on all the pages, but that's very, very good work. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that. Dan, what stood out to me was that picture of all those boxes with files of paper. Is that an active picture or is that one from years ago? Is that currently what we're looking at in terms of storage?

Okay, good. With that in mind, Moving forward, let's say this point forward, there should be less boxes of paper accumulating versus this that goes back probably a few years, right?

Yeah, great. When can those boxes begin to diminish with legal Discarding of those do we know some time frames?

Good. Well, I like the idea of kind of cleaning house per se, especially if there's no requirements beyond what the state allowances are to keep those getting as efficiently. I do like the idea of moving forward, seeing less of those boxes and everything more digitized so there's more efficient I do want to go back into a comment you made about AI. And you seem to have a, since you came on board here, you seem to be very personally and professionally focused. I won't say that we're passionate, but certainly looking for ways to streamline and make things more efficient. So since you first came

Fantastic. I support it. I do support it. There are some folks that are against the AI, which of course are tied to data centers in terms of its ability to function. And if we're looking for government efficiency, then certainly city government certainly should be implementing these modern procedures. to provide transparency, documentation, and be more efficient with city staff time to be able to accomplish more with the same amount of staff. And so I'm glad that you're doing that. I support it. And I believe that all of our departments in our city probably will find that in the near future, w

Thank you. City Clerk, your office has earned a lot of respect from the fact that you just said they watch our council meetings four times through in the past. I wasn't aware of that myself. And so the fact that you were able to streamline that, I think, brings a lot of joy to your department for sure. So hopefully that's working out well for you. A couple of questions. And you may have touched on it, and I may have missed it. So I'm just asking, how long would it take, do you think, to digitize the entire vault? What's your estimated timeline?

With everything that you mentioned here tonight, what improvements do you think residents will be able to see first through your efforts?

That's great. Last question. Will the city clerk's office gather any input from the public and the progress that you do make going forward, how will you be communicating that back to the public and the council itself?

Wow. Well, I thank you for your talk and speech here tonight and presentation. It's all great, and we appreciate the update. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had a follow-up question that triggered from Council Member King that I would like to build on. So Dan, you mentioned Council Member King answered the question on how long would it take to digitize the whole thing and then the vault, and you gave a couple of answers for the whole city at four or five years or whatever, then the vault at three months or whatever it was. Would there be any advantage of efficiency if there was a concerted effort, let's say by council to provide funding or find monies for you to get this thing all digitized, put it behind you and then

Great. Well, then I'd like to suggest, Dan, in consultation with Talika, that maybe a post-conversation after this meeting and this teeing this up, at least myself, that maybe there's a brief discussion on, you know, if we were able to get those digitized and completely put a concentrated effort on that, what that data of efficiency would bring across all departments. And if we equate that as highly efficient, freeing up more time versus the cost of doing it, it might be something to invest in and take a look at finding some fundings. And if so, if you felt that it would bring across All cityw

Thank you all for those comments. And thank you, Dan, for the work you're doing. It's impressive, the initiatives you've undertaken and the progress you've made. And we look forward to having another great report in two years' time. We'll now move on to our city manager's report.

Thank you. We'll now move on to council member reports. Council Member Gilliam.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm laughing because I was just We've been away for a month, and I have a record of things I've done as a council member, meetings, and I'm like, wow, it's a long list. I need to do a shout out for Dana, our city staff, who helps facilitate with those of us on the LOFF board, L-E-O-F-F board. We got to meet and make sure our retired police officers are taken care of and got what they need. I had the honor of stepping in for the mayor at the senior activity center for dessert with the mayor. And I loved every minute of it. There was a huge shout out for Doug and Shelby bec

Thank you for that. Council Member King.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Last week the city celebrated our 136th year as an incorporated city on August 19th and so for those of you that weren't aware of that, 136 years in the bank and I think we're doing quite well. The Washington State Fair is just right around the corner, and they'll be celebrating 101 years. So make sure you go and visit the Washington State Fair this year. It's going to be a hoot. And let's see, what else do I have? Seeing the city clerk's presentation tonight, business applications are up 68% in the city. Is that correct?

That's amazing. That's amazing. People want to do business in Puyallup and Puyallup is open for business. So thank you for that. Puyallup One, as mentioned, tomorrow night and concerts in the park featuring a band called Heart by Heart that has a couple members of the original heart band playing. a little correlation with that. They first became big at this place that had wheels on their feet in Puyallup back in the 70s. Some people might know it. That's not there anymore, unfortunately. But that's where they got their first big gig, and they made it. And so it'll be good to see those folks ou

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll be brief and just say ditto to our colleagues that just went before me. I am looking forward to later in September, I believe our council will receive a couple of presentations from some of our partner organizations or organizations, local governments in which we, as independent council members, represent our city on. And I think that those will be very enlightening and educational, not only for those of us up here on the dais, but also our community as a whole. have been working with those organizations to ensure that they have the opportunity to come before us. Tha

Well, I will echo everything that has already been said. Thank you for being so thorough. It's great to be back in session. And I want to thank those who showed up tonight in person or online. And I ask that you keep showing up. Before we wrap tonight and before other council members get to speak, I want to acknowledge the passing today of Dolly Parton. Like so many people, I knew her first for her music and her moxie, but what I've always admired most was what she chose to do with her success. Dolly grew up in poverty, and because her father could not read or write, she created the Imaginatio

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to share a story that I think it would be helpful for perhaps others. And it's a story about finding freedom from harboring emotions that I have sometimes on things that are political. There's two things that move people pretty passionately. Typically, it's politics and religion. And people hold those very passion and some that disagree on a take and get very emotional. And emotion is not a problem. But I recently had an opportunity to encounter an elected official recently that I politically disagree with on most every policy. But I had a chance to hear them speak a

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, for all you do. He hosts the concerts in the park. He does a lot better job of that than I would ever dream of. I was very happy when he agreed to continue his legacy in that department. I appreciate his comments about interacting with people. He talked a little bit about Braver Angels. I had that on my list of things to talk about tonight. We have an event scheduled for October 8th at 6.30 at the Public Safety Building here in Puyallup. Braver Angels is an organization that that doesn't try to change anybody's values. Values are what make us who we are. Those are foun

So am I. So look at that. And the people in this room, probably 40% of us have been through Puyallup 101. So that gives you an idea of the community commitment program engenders. And the more people we can run through it, the better city we're going to have. So thank you to those of us that have been through it. And come on down for the people that have it. And finally, the one Puyallup Wonderful event. Come on down. The police aren't the opposition. I will just say that our police department, I believe it's really well run. And a lot of the time, people are afraid of the police because they h