City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Welcome to the July 21st, 2026 City Council regular hybrid meeting. I'm Mayor Dave Rosenbaum. Tonight's hybrid meeting is being brought to you in person by Zoom. We're also broadcasting on the city's YouTube channel and on MITV channel 21. Welcome to all and thank you for joining us today. Councilmember, please have your microphones turn on for the roll call. So the clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilmember Andrall? Here. Councilmember Shea? Here. Councilmember Reynolds? not look like he's joined us is he in there i don't see him in the zoom yet council member wiker here council member weinberg here deputy mayor becker here and mayor rosenbaum here nope and there is council member reynolds councilman can you hear us and can we hear you we cannot hear you

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. Okay, we now move to the approval of today's agenda. If there are no questions, may I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. There's a motion by Councilmember Weinberg and second by Councilmember Andrall. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Rosenbaum? Aye. Councilmember Andrall? Aye. Councilmember Reynolds? I saw an aye, but I still can't hear you, Councilmember Reynolds.

How about now?

Now I can hear you.

Oh, very strange. Okay, I'm here.

Councilmember Shea? Aye. Council Member Weicker. Aye. Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

And Deputy Mayor Becker.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The motion passes. The agenda is approved. Next, we move on to the city manager's report. City Manager Jessie Baum.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Thank you, Ali, for the assist. All right. Next slide, please. Council, just a quick look ahead over the next month plus. I will remind you that at the end of tonight's meeting, we do have a motion plan to cancel the two meetings in August. So as of right now, we are not anticipating holding August meetings. Your next meeting, if that motion passes, will be Tuesday, September 1st. The Planning Commission is meeting August 5th. I have alerted you to the agenda item that is on the meeting that night, and the reason for the August 5th meeting is that we cannot get a Planning Commission quorum in July. No other Board and Commission meetings are being held in August. Next slide, please. A couple of updates. This one is just a heads-up on a work item that's coming. We haven't had a great opportunity to get in front of the council for a study session on this, but just a look ahead. This is an update to our water system plan, which is a document that guides our operations and capital investments in our water system, intended to be long-term, 20 years. This plan is required by the Washington Administrative Code, which requires us to update and obtain Department of Health approval of a water system plan every 10 years. I think some of you were here for the last update. So this is coming. Here's what the schedule looks like. Next slide, please. November, we'll be meeting with the utility board to present the draft system plan. We have actually been working on this this year. We'll be coming to you in November to adopt the water use efficiency goals and reviewing the draft plan. And then by the time we hit March, we'll be looking to adopt the final plan. So again, just a heads up that this work item is on deck coming at the end of the year and we'll roll over into 2027. Next slide, please. Speaking of water, just a quick heads up, I think we sent you an email or it was in the weekly email that we're doing hydrant flow testing around the island. This is where we're flushing hydrants and like in the picture you can see drawing a lot of water out of the hydrant, which can raise concerns from community members. this is standard testing we do on all of our hydrants it's used to calibrate our hydraulic plan and make sure that the hydrants are actually functioning so if you've been in and about the town center you see we've had some signs up where we've been doing hydrant testing we just wanted to make sure you knew that's what's going on and that work will be continuing for a while in case you get any calls but feel free to send folks to our customer service team if they have any concerns next slide please Switching gears entirely, I wanted to make sure, as we head towards the end of July and August, you have a couple events on your radar. First of all, mostly music in the park kicked off last week, despite a thunder and lightning show that morning. It was a lot of fun. July 30th is our Pride Night in the Park event. It's the same time as our Mostly Music in the Park concert, so we invite you to come on out at 6.30. Really excited about the performer that night. And I think we have one more update. Oh, yes, the summer celebration recap. That was a lot of fun. We just had really great attendance. The staff say they think we broke a record. I think we say that every year, so that's consistent. We had a great turnout for the parade, just incredible support from our community, vendors, staff, volunteers. Next slide, please. We had 30 entries in the parade and over 500 participants. Every year we make some changes to the parade. This year we made a big one for safety, which was no more candy being thrown for vehicles, which we heard a few complaints about. But overall, great attendance, good participation, and all the people that came out for the parade went right into the festival, and it was a strong start. WE HAD 20 ARTISTS, 38 NONPROFIT AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. WE HAD A PHONE MACHINE THAT I THINK ALL THE KIDS WERE IN FOR HOURS. IT WAS A LOT OF FUN. THE NIGHT FIREWORKS SHOW AND BAND, IT WAS JUST A REALLY GREAT PERFORMANCE. THAT END OF THE FIREWORKS SHOW, MANY PEOPLE HAVE ASKED, DID YOU GUYS PLAN THAT? The great thing is we have a fireworks vendor that changes the show and adapts it every year. We have very little to do with the design, but we got a lot of praise for that pretty incredible show. And I don't know what to call the finale. It was like a fireworks curtain across the whole sky. It was pretty cool. Anyway, thank you, council. Thank you, community. Thank you to all the partners, sponsors, vendors. It was just a really great weekend. And we have many more events to come this summer. So we look forward to seeing you all out there. And I believe that might be it. Thanks, Ali.

Okay. Thank you. Next item of business is appearances. Is the opportunity for anyone to speak to City Council on any item except items requiring a public hearing? Any cause of additional matters or campaign related matters? City Clerk, is there anyone who has signed up for appearances that wishes to address the council?

Yes, Mr. Mayor.

The next agenda will include in-person appearances and remote public appearances via Zoom. Individuals wishing to address the council may do so in person or by Zoom, provided they register with the city clerk by 4 p.m. today. When it is your turn to speak, you will be called by name. Remarks must be addressed to the council as a whole and not to individual council or staff members. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous, threatening, or personally abusive while addressing the city council may be requested to leave the meeting. Please note the city council does not provide responses during appearances. Please speak audibly and state your name and city of residence for the record. There will be a timer on the screen. You'll have three minutes to speak. When your time has ended, your microphone and video will be turned off. I will thank you for your comments and move to the next speaker or item of business. Staff, please promote the first speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our first speaker tonight is David Orme.

Good evening Mr. Mayor, Deputy Mayor, council members and city manager. My name is David Orem and I'm a resident of Mercer Island for 29 years now. I'm here to tell you that your plans for affordable housing and in particular potentially placing them near our parks and schools is wrong and misguided. You need to rethink your plans. This may cost money and time and even give you a headache. but you must stand up for what is right. I urge you to vote against AB 6965. I wrote to each of you March 21st this year when I first learned about the TSH issue and I summarized my concerns. Craig Reynolds wrote back stating we're constrained by state law. Daniel Becker also wrote back that basically the council doesn't have the option to consider if subsidized housing is a good idea or not. I was thinking about these comments while attending the baptism of my third grandchild Sunday. I looked lovingly at this 10-year-old infant and thought, this child needs our love and protection to become the best he can be in the fullness of time. How could we as Mercer Island residents allow the adverse impacts of implementing PSH as drafted and possibly put these problems near our parks and schools, potentially endangering our children? You must push back. As a quiet, mostly single-family residential community, we don't fit the mold of larger cities around us. We have a small downtown core with limited retail, restaurants and services, small police, and fire. We are certainly not a large city and can ill afford PSH as envisioned. My 10 years plus of weekly volunteering downtown Seattle at a CCS center has shown me the need of the street poor and unhoused are great. Today we have a published book of services for the street poor and unhoused. Here's a partial list of the services for the street poor. Public showers and restrooms, encampments, day centers, dental vision centers, disability, drug and alcohol, financial food, HIV and AIDS, hygiene services, immigrant, mental health, problem gambling, services for people of color, and shelters. These needed services are not here in the small residential community of Mercer Island. The lives of the street poor and unhoused are difficult enough. If you want to house them, do so near where they get their services, such as cities in Seattle. I respectfully urge you to vote no on AB 6965. You must exercise your moral authority and find an alternate pathway forward with PSH and protect the citizens of the small residential Mercer Island community and their children. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Our next speaker tonight is Mike Zero.

I just want to remind everyone in attendance that we do not have cheering in the audience. Thank you.

Mr. Ciro, you have to accept the promotion to panelists so that you can provide your comments to the city council.

Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, here we go.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor, council members, and city manager.

I'm here to bring the issues involving AB 6965 into historical perspective. My name is Mike zero. I live on the south end of the island by the beach club. Let's start in green. That Mercer Island is a wonderful community to live either because, or in spite of all the changes over the years, Mercer Island remains a wonderful community, but let's look at some of the challenges Mercer Island has endured for this wonderful community. In the 1970s, we were threatened by no less than the federal government and building a seemingly inevitable surface highway across the island. After all, It was the federal government against Little Mercer Island. The Fed's plan was to bulldoze large swaths of the island and divide the community. Audrey Davis rallied the community with the battle cry of, we don't want to see it, we don't want to hear it, we don't want to smell it. Instead of a surface highway across the island, we have the 100 plus acre Audrey Davis Park. If Audrey Davis wouldn't have challenged the federal government, would we today still say that Mercer Island is a wonderful community? Probably, but we know it is a little less so because we would have a six-lane surface highway across Mercer Island instead of a 100-acre park. Thirteen years ago, in 2013, the state wanted to tow I-90 across the bridge. Is there anything more intimidating than to be between the state of Washington and a new tax revenue stream? Unsung Mercer Island heroes Lisa, Belden, Eva, and Plenty connected with surrounding communities, Sammamish, Bellevue, Victoria, Wren, even Seattle, to explain the common interest in keeping I-90 across Mercer Island toll-free. Our council, playing off the momentum, lobbied the legislature and stopped the tolling scheme in what seemed inevitable. If Lisa, Belden, and Eva, and Plenty didn't start a movement against tolling, and if the council wouldn't have used their influence with our legislative team to stop tolling to get on and off the island. We would still say Mercer Island is a wonderful place to live. Well, probably, except it would be a little less so with the added expense of tolls to get off and on the island. The council has one of those reoccurring, seemingly inevitable generational challenges that will impact the long-term quality of life on Mercer Island. If you approve AB 6965, in 10 or 20 years Mercer Island citizens will say the island is a wonderful community. Well, we hope so. Regardless, AB 6965 will make Mercer Island a less wonderful place to live. And that is not the right legacy you want to leave. You want to leave the island better than when you took office. Thank you for your time, thank you for listening, and good luck. Thank you.

Our next speaker tonight is Darren Gold.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor. I just want to quickly reiterate the points that were already stated, and I hope that you use your power to postpone the implementation of what doesn't need to be implemented. I understand that some of the things you're going to be voted for can be postponed, and that we allow the community to both talk about it and discuss what we want, as well as lobby our state legislators to get changes that we need to our legislation. So I'm hoping that you vote no on the things tonight that need to be voted no on. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is John Hamer.

My name is John Hamer. I've lived on Mercer Island for 27 years. My wife and I now live at the Mercer Apartments, and we can see the new light rail station from our balcony. We walk to parks and playgrounds regularly with our grandchildren, including our disabled grandson, Ford Parks, who is in a wheelchair. They both love going to our island's playgrounds, especially Train Park, which is now safe and accessible for Ford and his aging grandpa. As you know, I'm co-founder of the Friends of Dragon Park Coalition. and deeply appreciate this council's six to one vote to approve the new design plan for Dragon Park. These issues, parks and public housing, are definitely related. I am deeply concerned that the current proposal to mandate low barrier permanent supportive housing and homeless shelters on Mercer Island could have serious negative consequences for many island citizens, but especially for kids all over the island to attend our schools and visit our parks. I have signed the petition along with about a thousand other voters who are equally concerned and I urge you to hear our concerns. Being elected city council member is a tough job. I deeply appreciate all of your willingness to run for office, spend countless hours considering many difficult decisions. There are many close calls with good arguments on both sides, but citizen input is essential and you should listen to informed public voices. I'm an active Mercer Island Rotarian and the Rotary's motto is service above self. Rotary doesn't take political positions as an organization, but we do urge citizens to learn the facts and engage in civil discourse. However, many citizens have simply not kept up with this vital issue, and the distractions of summer and vacation make it hard to stay informed. The Facebook posts and Mercer Island reporter stories by Linnae and Matt Augustine, Isabel Perez, and Adam Ragub are must-reads and outline the key concerns. The Council should publicly address all the questions that they ask, especially concerning the lack of future public hearings and the 600-foot buffer. Those both need broader public discussion and debate. Please take time to expand the debate and urge changes in the legislative mandates. This is democracy at work. As we used to say in the 60s, power to the people. Thank you. Thank you.

Our final speaker tonight is Andrew Lane.

Hi, guys. Good evening, council members, deputy mayor, mayor, staff. I can't seem to get into the Mercer Island neighbors Facebook group. So if anyone knows how to fix that for me, would certainly appreciate it. I always want more pickleball courts. And I think we're kind of a historically disadvantaged group, seeing as so much more square footage is assigned to tennis. So I appreciate consideration there as well. And of course, like so many of my neighbors, I'm deeply concerned about the housing issue. And I know that your job, your service is not easy. I'm really grateful for it. Most of you I've been fortunate enough to speak with individually. I know you've got to balance compliance, governance, advocacy, and a whole host of other concerns. I wanted to beseech you strongly to urge you, to beg of you, to remind you that we've chosen you, we count on you not to work for the staff, not to work for external counsel, not to work for the Democratic Party or our state representatives, not to be Boy Scouts, but to be Bulldogs, to defend our community. And it may be that we need to comply at this time with these court orders. Perhaps that is true. It may be that we need to hold our tongue, but I hope that these are choices that you're making individually, not at the behest of staff reports, not at the behest of external counsel who are paid to advise you to be as cautious as possible. But I hope that these are choices at each and every turn that you're making individually with your own personal strong conviction. So thank you for your time. Thank you.

I think the tennis players would disagree with you. Okay. Do we have any other speakers? There are no further speakers. I just want to offer clarification. So we will be having a public hearing later on AB 6965, which has to do with stormwater detention. If you have come to speak at that public hearing thinking you're speaking on something else, I would ask the council's grace to offer you the opportunity to speak now. If not, we'll hear from you on stormwater detention. Okay. Next, I'm going to the Consent Agenda. Staff, please put the Consent Agenda on the screen. Okay, thank you. The Consent Agenda contains 10 items that are available on the screen in the agenda packet for review. Is there a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented? So moved. Second. There's a motion made by Council Member Weinberg and seconded by Deputy Mayor Becker to approve the consent agenda. So if you're heard, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Weicker? Aye. Council Member Reynolds?

Aye.

Mayor Rosenbaum?

Aye.

Council Member Weinberg?

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Becker?

Aye.

Council Member Shea. Aye. And Council Member Andrall. Aye. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Motion passes 7-0. And the City Council will now go into executive session for approximately 45 minutes to discuss with legal counsel pending or potential litigation pursuant to RCW 423110-1I. The City Council will be in recess. The City Council will be in recess from 525 until 530. The City Council will convene an executive session at 5.30 until 6.15 p.m.

you.

Okay, the City Council has an executive session from 5.30 until 6.10 p.m. Our first item of regular business is AB 6965, GMA compliance, Title 15 and MICC amendments, first reading ordinance number 26C-11. The public hearing is now open as of 6.17 p.m. Individuals who register with the city clerk's office before 4 p.m. today may make a public comment on this agenda item. You'll be called by name when it is your turn to speak. Please speak audibly, state your name and city residence with record, and limit your comments to three minutes. City clerk, is there anyone who has signed up for public comment that wishes to address the council?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No one signed up to speak during the public hearing this evening.

Okay. The time is now 6.18 p.m., and this portion of the hearing is closed. Welcome City Chief of Operations Jason Kittner and Public Works Deputy Director Kelly Hilde.

Good evening, City Council. Kelly Hildy, Deputy Director of Public Works. Earlier this evening, Council adopted ordinance number 26-09 through AB 6968. That action amended the comprehensive plan and adopted utility elements 4.7 and 4.8. This agenda item addresses the corresponding stormwater code amendment. The comprehensive plan establishes the policy direction and the city code must be consistent with that direction. This this amendment implements policy four point seven into the city code. This policy establishes the immediate onsite stormwater requirements addressed by this amendment. The analysis and future infrastructure planning required by policy 4.8 will occur during the 2728 biennium as part of the phase two of the city's GMA compliance effort. The current code allows the city engineer to authorize payment of a fee instead of requiring on-site detention. The amendment removes this option in the town center and other identified constrained drainage basins where on-site detention is necessary. This implements Policy 4.7 and helps protect the stormwater system and downstream receiving waters. With the public hearing now closed, council will consider adoption of ordinance number 26C-11. As mentioned earlier, policy 4.9, conveyance analysis, is planned for 27-28 as part of the phase two of the GMA compliance effort. City staff recommends adoption of ordinance 26C-11 to implement policy 4.7 and maintain consistency with the comprehensive plan. And with that, I will hand it over for any questions.

Okay, any questions? Okay. Council First, is there a motion to suspend the city rules of procedure section requiring a second reading of ordinances? So moved. Second. That was moved by Council Member Weinberg and seconded by Deputy Mayor Becker. Any discussion? City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Andrall.

Aye.

Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

Council Member Reynolds.

Aye.

Council Member Shea. Aye. Council Member Weicker. Aye. Deputy Mayor Becker. Aye. And Mayor Rosenblum.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

The motion passes. Next is their motion to adopt ordinance number 26C11 to amend MICC 1511020B to prevent utilities element policy 4x7 by requiring onsite stormwater attention for development within town center and other constrained drainage patients identified by the city.

So moved.

Second. It's moved by Deputy Mayor Becker and seconded by Councillor Weinberg. Is there any discussion? Councillor Reynolds.

I have a motion or comments to make about the earlier consent agenda item. Is that the appropriate time? Go for it. Okay. I think there's some confusion in the community that this 6965 has anything to do with permanent supportive housing. I just want to clarify that this is only about drainage. It has nothing to do with the others. But the other topic is important, so I wanted to make a few comments. First, I'd like to thank everyone that spoke at the meeting tonight and many more that wrote in. We got quite a number of comments on the permanent supportive housing and House Bill 2266. I've often said democracy is not a spectator sport, and we live that today. I heard and appreciate everybody's feedback, and I'm sure the rest of the council members did as well. The council, by approving the consent agenda item tonight, approved the actions related to the performance of supportive housing. And this was one of those challenging nights where my vote was contrary to a significant share of the community comment, and I felt the need to explain why. First, we have to recognize that in every material way, the code changes that we voted on are required by state law. We thought we'd complied with the law when we approved the comprehensive plan at the end of 2024, but the Growth Management Hearings Board, in response to the future-wide suit, disagreed. And we don't really have a choice here. We're bound to follow the law, even if we do not like it. Some have suggested that we pursue legal action to stop enforcement of House Bill 2266. I've not heard a reasonable legal argument to justify a suit. The attempts for justification seem to come down to, we don't like it. I'm not a lawyer, but that's not an argument that will win in court. I'm not going to support wasting taxpayer dollars on filing legal appeals that are almost certain to fail. This is a path we've been down before, and I don't want to repeat it. Homelessness is a huge failure of our society and a tough problem to solve, especially when we consider the significant portion of the homeless population struggling with addiction or with mental health issues. But as a society, we really only have two choices. Leave people living on the streets or provide housing for them. We've discussed in the past the challenges of the former solution, particularly in our debate over MI Oregon's 21 CO2 related to camping on city property. No one, myself included, liked the solution of people living on the streets or camping in our parks. So that leaves us with the need to work to provide or enable the construction of housing that addresses the crisis in our community. Ordinary affordable housing in the non-PSH form is an easy sale for me. I think our community is stronger when it is diverse in every sense of the word, including diversity of economic status. We all benefit when people like school district and city employees have housing options here on the island. And I do not think it is healthy for our children to grow up in a community of only wealthy people. I understand that PSH is a harder sell, but I think we need to allow for it and create a structure conducive to its creation for three reasons. First, we have to do our part. Expecting other communities to bear the cost and burdens while we sit on the sidelines is not fair, and it leads to the sort of anti-mercerial and resentment that keeps us from being an effective partner in addressing this regional problem and in getting the legislative changes that we want. NIMBYism is not an effective strategy politically. In discussing this issue with our state legislators, it's become clear to me that our perceived resistance to do our part to address affordable housing needs has won us no allies and has hurt our effectiveness as a voice for change and solutions we can live with that address the underlying problems. Second, We have to remember that we're not necessarily dealing only with the mysterious other. Our children and grandchildren are not immune to mental health challenges, to addiction, or to debilitating physical or mental ailments that necessitate PSH. If I had a child that needed permanent supportive housing, I would want him or her to have a place in this community. Even if none of the people needing PSH are our kids, and I doubt that's true, every one of them is someone's kid. We have to do what we can to facilitate the creation of housing that is safe and gets them the support services they need. Third and finally, it's the law. We're part of a larger society. This has benefits and creates obligations, and one of my obligations as a council member is to vote on things that are compatible with the law. So I just wanted everybody to know that that's what I'm thinking about, and that's why I voted yes. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Council Member Shea.

So since I joined City Council in December, a significant amount of time, effort and public resources has been devoted to addressing the future wise appeal of our 2024 comprehensive plan and complying with the Washington State Growth Management Hearings Board order by July 31st, 2026. I also want to acknowledge that many members of our community have shared thoughtful concerns and questions. We have heard those concerns and I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to engage respectfully. These are important issues and I understand that many residents care deeply about preserving what makes Mercer Island a special place to live. while also ensuring we meet our legal obligations, even if sometimes difficult or unpopular. To reiterate, this process is driven by state law. House Bill 1220 that was passed in 2021 requires cities to plan for housing at all income levels in their comprehensive plans and development regulations, including housing for households earning 0 to 30% of area medium income and permanent supportive housing. In addition, the legislature recently passed House Bill 2266 in March of 2026, which took effect on June 11th. The law requires cities to incorporate its provisions into their local codes by their next comprehensive plan update or mid-June 2028, whichever comes first. Adopting House Bill 2026 provisions now is necessary to comply with the Growth Management Hearings Board order. requiring the city to make adequate provisions for all income levels. Because Mercer Island is currently updating our comprehensive plan in response to the Growth Management Hearings Board order, this triggers the implementation of House Bill 2266, incorporating its applicable provisions into our code by July 31st. The definitions in House Bill 2266 support us taking this action when we adopt these amendments to the comprehensive plan. When there is an application for permanent supportive housing, it's a Type 3 land use review, which requires public notice, signage on site, notifying neighbors within 300 feet, and publishing on our city's permit bulletin. The consequences of failing to comply with the Growth Management Hearings Board order are significant. State sanctions may include withholding certain funding, such as state grants, property tax distributions, sales tax, and real estate excise tax revenues. These are funding that help keep our city running. When we took our oath of office as city council members, we pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington. That oath carries with it a responsibility to follow state law. getting the city into compliance with the growth management hearings board order is one of our highest priorities doing so allows us to move past beyond this appeal to avoid the serious legal and financial consequences of continued non-compliance and return our focus to many other important issues facing our community While I recognize that not everyone agrees with every aspect of these state mandates, my responsibility as a council member is to ensure Mercer Island complies with the law while continuing to advocate for the interests of our residents.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Okay, I'll wrap this up here. When the city staff approached former Mayor Neese and myself in the GMHP ruling last year, They laid out an ambitious schedule and outlined a proposal to comply with the ruling. At the time, there was significant concern that due to the body of work, the complexities and limited time, it would be difficult to thoughtfully complete the compliance process prior to the July 31, 2026 deadline. Despite this concern, and based on detailed analysis and legal advice, we were all mutually determined that the best result for Mercer Island residents and taxpayers was to attempt to comply within that timeline. Over the course of the last year, innumerable hours and extensive effort have been put into this compliance strategy across many city teams, the City Council, and the Planning Commission. As this was in response to a lawsuit and included a discussion of legal strategy, there were many private meetings across these groups. There was also an extensive public work on these topics, including eight city council meetings where we explored the various topics. The Planning Commission held seven of their own meetings to discuss and shape this package, including a two-part public hearing. 3,200 visits have been logged into the Let's Talk page across the 24 news posts covering the different aspects of this work. The MI Weekly has covered it six times, and our social media channels have included it eight times. We hosted a well-attended live community information webinar in March, which was then posted online. I want to thank the staff teams for their efforts. Our team began to solve a uniquely challenging first-of-its-kind puzzle and are now being asked to lend their expertise to the state agencies responsible for compliance. I also want to thank the Planning Commission, including the Chair, Dan Thompson, for their leadership and thoughtful crafting of these ordinances. As before tonight and throughout this process, I recognize that some members of our community have concerns about aspects of this package. I want to thank you for your advocacy and taking the time to share your thoughts. Once again, I encourage you to contact the state legislature to respectfully share your perspective on these issues. We received some comments asking us not to adopt, tonight, development regulations that comply with DHB 2266. Even before these comments were received, the issue was reviewed and analyzed by the city. It was addressed at the council's July 7th meeting by city staff. The GMHB order requires the city to make, quote, adequate provisions, end quote, for all income levels, including PSH. The GMA process to do this includes identifying and addressing barriers to housing production. The city is then required to address those barriers as part of the GMHB compliance effort. HB 2266 is now going to be the benchmark for adequate provisions for PSH and step housing by all cities. To address the GMHB's order for adequate provisions, we are adopting the terms of state legislatures included in HB 2266. HB 2266 also says that cities have to comply the sooner of June 2028 for the city's next comprehensive plan update. Because of the Board's order, Mercer Island is still in the process of its next comp plan update. We believe the GMHB would find that the Mercer Island's amendments to the cop plan in July 2026 trigger compliance with HB 2266. The package we've been working on ensures that we're complying with the order from the Growth Management Hearing Board based on the bills the legislators supported and were signed into law. We've been voicing our perspective on these issues with our legislators, other local government leaders, state associations, media, etc. for years with mixed results. Over the course of the last five years, I've been intimately involved in our advocacy efforts. Our detailed and thoughtful recommendations have been used to improve flawed bills. Other times, our voice, combined with those of others, led legislatures to shelve or table bills that would have negatively impacted our community. I'm also proud that there have been times when we're on the leading edge for legislation, including in the past session, where efforts to start developing common sense regulations to prevent children from riding electric motorcycles became law. But we have to recognize that the voice of Mercer Island is small. We only represent about 16% of the 41st legislative district and 0.3% of the state. In the fall, the City Council will develop our legislative priorities for the 2027 legislative session, which we have every year. These guide our advocacy efforts and strategy, and I hope the community will return then to share your thoughts with us on that package. Every seat in the State House of Representatives is up for election this fall. Now is the time for Washingtonians to talk with candidates about what they want and don't want to see happen at Olympia over the next two years. And post-election, as the agendas are developed for the 2027 legislative session, I encourage you to continue sharing your perspectives with our representatives in Olympia and encourage others around the state to do the same. Thank you very much. Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Shea? Aye. Deputy Mayor Becker?

Aye.

Council Member Weinberg?

Aye.

Council Member Weicker? Aye. Council Member Andrall? Aye. Mayor Rosenbaum?

Aye.

And Council Member Reynolds? Aye.

All right.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Motion passes. Thank you. We now move to other business and the planning schedule.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't have any updates, but I believe we need a motion this evening, Andrea. That's next on his script. Oh, never mind. All right. Nothing for me, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Thank you. Council, is there a motion to cancel the August 4 and 18 City Council Radio Highway meetings?

So moved.

Seconded. That's fast. Moved by Councillor Weinberg, seconded by Councillor Weicker. Any discussion? I just want to say this is not a vacation. There's going to be a lot of ongoing meetings, especially as we look into the fall, as we develop our budget, which, as I'm sure folks know, is going to be a challenge for us coming into the fall, and how do we ensure that we're continuing to provide the excellent services that the city provides to our residents. We're going to have different meetings, leadership meetings, as well as helping to welcome some of our federal delegation here as well. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Weicker. Aye. Mayor Rosenbaum. Aye. Council Member Andrall. Aye. Council Member Weinberg.

Aye.

Deputy Mayor Becker.

Aye.

Council Member Reynolds.

Aye.

And Council Member Shea. Aye. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Council, are there any upcoming council member absences to report? Great. Council Member reports. Deputy Mayor Becker. Nothing to report. Council Member Weicker. Aye.

I just want to thank all the Parks and Rec staff for all the fun summer events. Summer celebration was awesome and all the endless summer camps and events and picnics and concerts. We have an awesome team and thank you to the Public Works team for keeping the water flowing and working with PSE to keep the lights on.

So my next monthly open lunch will be at 12 PM on Saturday, August 15 at the Roanoke. Address is 1825 72nd Avenue, Southeast. As always, all are welcome. It's an open agenda, news, sports, weather, humor, even about housing policy. I'm sure that will come up. And all I ask is that everyone please show your respects to the chef by ordering some food and or beverage. And let me know if you're coming so I can make sure to reserve enough tables.

CHRIS RODGERS, COUNCILMEMBER REYNOLDS, NOTHING TO REPORT. Councilor Anderall.

Yeah, I attended the Open Space Conservancy Trust meeting earlier this month, and I'm pleased to report that the additional parks levy money is being wisely used to increase eradication of non-native species, and it sounds like they're doing a good job, and the park, the open space remains beloved and very well used. Councilor Shea.

Yes. So as a council liaison to the Mercer Island Arts Council, I attended their meeting, and I would like to congratulate Chair Jonathan Harrington and Vice Chair Katie Kratzer, who were voted into their positions by the Arts Council. And I would also like to congratulate new Arts Councilors Kay Huang and Smriti Agrawal on attending their first meeting. The Arts Councilors are working on their proposed priorities for 2027-28. There's much interest in discussion. focusing on Greta Hackett Sculpture Gallery and visionary work there, as well as strengthening Arts Council engagement within the community. And as the council liaison to the Raya 8 Salmon Recovery Council, elected officials and partners, we met in Maple Valley last week and went on a site visit to the Rutledge Johnson Floodplain Restoration Project It was valuable to hear updates and discuss collaborative work underway to restore salmon habitat, improve Lake Washington's cedar and Sammamish watershed health, and strengthen our region's resilience. And thanks to everyone who attended my regular community coffee chat at ASA last Friday, and special thanks to Deputy Mayor Becker and Council Member Weinberg for stopping by and joining the conversation. It was a good turnout, and I believe the community members present appreciated the opportunity to meet with us in person. And my next one, you know, there's a request to have it in the evening or on the weekend. So this will be on August 24th, Monday at 7.30 at ASA. And I'd like to also share a new event feed for Mercer Island. So the idea came from a monthly all-island arts meeting gathering together arts enthusiasts and hearing from each other amazing events happening right here on our island. And thanks to Katie Kratzer for putting in the time and effort. to create Townese for Mercer Island. So just go to townese.org, T-O-W-N-E-S-E.org to check out what's happening on Mercer Island. Our next All-Island Arts Meeting will be on Monday, August 10th from 4 to 5 at the My Vault Studio. And this is focusing on preparation for the Arts on the Island Friday on August 28th. You can reach out to me through my council member Facebook or my email for more info. Thanks, everybody.

Okay, Councillor Anderall, round two.

Oh, yeah, round two. No, I just realized we're not going to have any meetings before Art Uncorked, so I was just going to do a shout-out. I believe it's the 29th of August, but there's plenty of sandwich boards around town. It's always a fun event, so I encourage everybody to turn out for that.

Yeah, that's always a great event. And tickets do sell out, so get them soon. I want to thank all the staff that was involved in the summer celebration and also the weekly Music in the Park Seafair, believe it or not. It's a couple weeks away. If you're on the team and you didn't know that, let's talk. But I know it's a ton of work that goes into it, a lot of behind the scenes, just given our central location here, both on the water with police, public works, fire department, everyone. So thanks in advance for all those efforts. OK. The City Council will now go to executive session for approximately 15 minutes to review the performance of a public employee pursuant to RCW 423110-1G. The City Council will be in recess from 641 until 645. The City Council will convene the executive session at 645 until 7 p.m. City Council will have an executive session from 6.45 until 7 p.m. The next regularly scheduled hybrid city council meeting will be on Tuesday, September 1st, beginning at 5 p.m. Time is now 7 p.m. As a reminder to the council, please stay seated until the city staff has terminated the broadcast. Good evening and thank you for joining us. Have a wonderful rest of your summer.