City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 7 p.m. on Monday, March 2nd, 2026, and I call this regular city council meeting to order. I want to thank uh everyone who's joining us this evening and would council member Roberts please leave lead us in the flag salute. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all.

All right. I want to um note for the record that all council is present this evening and staff present uh this evening is finance director Robeck, um public works director Madden, uh police chief Hernandez, and city clerk Summers. All right, now on to citizen participation. Uh the purpose of public comment of of the public comment period at this meeting is for those wishing to address the council on any matter. It is not intended for debate and discussion with the public. Please state your name and city for the record. Lastly, we kindly remind you to limit your comments to three minutes. We have six people signed up to speak this evening. Um uh Frank Karuchi is the is the first. Am I uh am I pronouncing your last name correctly?

Uh Karuchi. Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Frank Kruchi, City Milton. Uh thank you for all of you for taking your time to be here and making our city run smooth and keeping us safe and appreciate your efforts. Um as you know, I like to talk about the uh sidewalk project up on 23rd. I've made a number of uh comments about it and seen a couple of things happen. Um the proposal that I got was shared with looks like they did their estimate their inspection on um 15th of August last year. Then we had a meeting Dustin and Val and my wife and I had a meeting around September, October, something like that. And um and then we had another meeting around towards the end of the year. Is that about right? Or maybe it was just the beginning either or something like that. And um like I said, I've made a number of comments about how I want to see that thing go. One way going north. And I think uh a lot of it will save the city money, but I'm not sure uh what's going on with that because I haven't heard anything. And I'd like to know what's going on with that because I was last I actually heard of something going solid was that they wanted to get it done by the end of summer last year and obviously that didn't happen. So now we're kind of in limbo. There's a couple of other neighbors that are involved that have uh tried to call and and haven't got any response. So uh I'd like someone to tell me what's going which way we're going with this whole thing. One way or another, I'd just like to know because I think it's time to, as they say, cut bait or fish, right? So, spend some time. I think we've had a lot of conversation. I've had a lot of conversation about this. I really haven't heard much else. Val did get back to me over text last time I was here after last two weeks ago and said

it would be soon, but I haven't heard anything else. So, I'd like someone to get back to me sooner than later if at all possible. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh, next, uh, person on the signup sheet is Steve McKeen. Welcome.

Good. Good afternoon, uh, mayor and council. I just would like to bring up uh, a topic. Emerald Street has speed bumps and a speed sign, which are nice. When you drive down Emerald, you notice the speed bumps and it definitely does its job. Jun uh Juniper Street between Milton Way and 11th right here. Uh it's a speed zone. And you know, the police can't be there all the time, but it's a a shortcut from getting from the top of the hill down to the bottom of the hill. They don't follow uh Milton Way and go around. They just come right down the top Juniper Street, cut right through the edge right here, and go down. It's fast. I've lived on Juniper Street almost my whole life. Um there's kids that are there. there's not a lot of place to walk. Uh we had talked before uh years ago about putting a similar thing that you have on Emerald Street down on Juniper Street to control the traffic. So I just like to bring it to your attention that would really be super helpful um to address Juniper Street so we don't have, you know, an unfortunate accident happen on that. So it works great on Emerald. Like to see it on Juniper. The only other thing on Juniper Street, um it's probably going to be for public works or whatever. Um for the road at um 15th and Juniper when you're going up the hill, it's a very steep incline. Um that really, if you look at the traffic um regulations, whatever, that should be a four-way stop there because when you're coming up the hill, if there's a truck parked there, you can't see. Um, and just because the angle of the incline going up there, um, it's it's something that if you could just look at the traffic um, planning and the traffic design, um, that should be a four-way stop there so that we don't have someone going up there or coming down and getting hurt. So, thank you for what you do. Just like you to look into both of those, please. Right.

Thank you, Mr. McKeen.

The next uh, person on the signup sheet is Kaylee Hope. Good evening. Um, I'm a resident of Milton. Um, I'm here to help represent the growing number of local residents uh who have been concerned about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, um, and their actions on a national scale. We feel a sense of urgency and mounting pressure for our local lawmakers uh to make informed, effective policy decisions to protect our community and in the event that this spreads to our small local town. Um on February 9th, uh Chief Hernandez did make a statement regarding ICE at the council uh session. Uh having listened to that meeting, I feel compelled to ask this city uh and the police to make a formal public statement sharing the action plan of the city and the police in the event of ICE sightings in our area. Um I also urge the local police to limit their cooperation with immigration enforcement and assistance in raids in accordance with the uh 2019 keep Washington working act. I share a similar sentiment with the chief that our local police should always be a friendly and uh encouraging face to residents in the area and should not be used to further the fear and division uh that this federal organization is causing. Uh I would also like to ensure that the city is not providing license plate data to federal immigration authorities and that traffic cameras remain in use strictly for legitimate criminal law enforcement purposes only. Washington state has about 325,000 undocumented residents according to data from 2022, making up about 4.2% of our

city's pop or our state's population and 26% of all immigrants in our state. Uh 1 in 10 K through 12 age children in Washington have at least one undocumented parent. And these are important members of our community that deserve to be protected and treated with dignity and respect. Uh we do not want to spread fear. We do not want to push any violent rhetoric, harmful rhetoric against federal agents. Uh we just want to ensure that we protect the atrisisk members of our community and ensure that the city and the police are taking this threat to our neighbors seriously and that we're working together to ensure these agencies are acting within our laws and that they can not create more harm in our city. Thank you so much.

Thank you. [clears throat]

All right, the next person on the sign up signup sheet is Kathy Kennedy. Hi there. [clears throat] Good evening to the mayor and council members. Um again, I'm Kathy Kennedy. Uh I watched the study session from February 9th and so I'm aware of the chief's statement that he made regarding ICE. Um, but these are some additional comments that I had after watching what I thought was a very productive statement that the chief put forward. During the study session on February 9th, Chief Hernandez spoke about a commitment to the concept of community policing that his department stands for. As far as the concept of community policing, it's a model that's always been been built on trust, partnership, and shared responsibility with the community. That commitment matters deeply to our community and to those that work here. But community policing cannot function by itself in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Right now, many residents do not clearly understand how our local police department interacts with US immigration and customs enforcement, if at all. When there is no clear public facing policy, people fill that silence with fear. Whether intended or not, the absence of a statement becomes a statement. So I am asking directly to state the department's current policy regarding cooperation or communication with ICE. Under what circumstances does it occur? Under what circumstances is it anticipating possible future

interactions with ICE? What explicit boundaries exist to ensure that our law enforcement remain focused on city level safety. rather than federal immigration enforcement. Equally important, is this council willing to state that policy publicly and plainly? Transparency should not be controversial. If the city's practices are consistent with community community policing principles, then putting them out there as a forward-facing strategy only strengthens trust in our community. If there are limits, clarify them. If there are boundaries, define them. If there are protections, say so clearly. When residents are afraid to call the police, report crimes, or cooperate as witnesses, public safety suffers for everyone. A community centered approach requires more than internal philosophy. It requires visible commitment. I urge the council not to remain on the fence. A clear public position provides stability, reduces misinformation, and reinforces the trust the city says it values. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. And our last speaker this evening is Rebecca Shonfeld.

Good evening, Mayor White, city council members, Chief Hernandez, and dedicated city employees. My name is Rebecca Shoenfeld. I am a Milton resident, a five public schools educator, and the founder of Indivisible EMF. and most importantly, the mother of two teenage daughters. I stand here tonight not only for myself and my family, but for over 260 local indivisible EMF members and countless families who are deeply concerned about the alarming rise in ICE enforcement actions across our state. According to reporting in the February 19th Yakama Herald, citing data from the ICE deportation data project, Washington state has seen 140% increase in immigration arrests during the first 10 months of 2025 as compared to the same time period in 2024 totaling around 2,000 people. Nearly half, 47%, one of the highest averages in the nation. 47% of those detained had no criminal convictions or pending charges. 88 were children. 55 were age under the age of 10, which is the same age group I work with on a daily basis. These numbers tell a painful story. They dispel the myth that enforcement is solely focused on violent offenders. They show that families, children are being swept up, and they send a chilling message to immigrant and marginalized communities. You are not safe. Other cities, Seattle, Everett, Reton, Kent, Covington, and Enmanclaw, they have taken clear public positions affirming their commitment to Washington state law and declining to assist in federal immigration enforcement. Milton's continued silence risks signaling consent to practices that erode trust and endanger residents. I am here to ask you to take a clear and public stand. Prohibit city cooperation with federal immigration enforcement absent judicial warrants. Refuse the use of city property or contracts for ICE operations. Create a moratorium on local

warehouses potentially being used to house people. Prohibit masked or unidentified arrests. Safeguard residents data including data from our new speed our new speed cameras from being sold or shared with private companies. And ensure transparency about any existing agreements or data sharing pro practices. When residents believe that their local government may be coordinating with ICE, they stop calling 911. They stop in they hesitate to report domestic violence. They withdraw from civic and social life. They stop engaging in their faith communities. Our local law enforcement resources are limited and they should be a focused on what they excel at, which is addressing crime in Milton and developing relationships, not enforcing federal immigration law. Public safety depends on trust. Trust depends on clear boundaries. This is not about politics. This is about community stability. It is about whether or not families in Milton can send their children to school, seek emergency help, and participate in public life without fear. We can uphold the law while also upholding human dignity. Milton has the opportunity to leech with courage and clarity, and I urge you to do so. Thank you for your time and your service to our community.

Thank you very much. All right, we're going to move on to item number four on our agenda, additions and deletions. And I am going to add an item uh to the regular agenda as the first item, which would be a uh a discussion with Keith Keith Powell from uh from Easy Fiber. It'll we have a we have a couple of things to do first, but we'll we'll give you a call up in a second. Um, are there uh any other requested additions or deletions from the agenda this evening? All right, seeing none, we will move on to the uh to the consent agenda. Uh, does anyone uh wish to pull an item off the consent agenda for discussion? Seeing none, I would accept a motion. Council member Cedar.

I move to adopt the consent agenda as presented. Second. It's been moved um by council member Cedar and seconded by council member uh council member Hall to pass the consent agenda as presented. Uh all in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Now to the regular agenda and uh Mr. Powell. The microphone is yours.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Uh thank you all. Mayor White, council members, officials, Dustin for having me here. Uh I really I came no sales pitch. Um Easy Fiber is uh we're in the construction process. Clearly, there's been a lot of noise and there's there hasn't been many answers. My goal was to come here and provide representation for the company and uh to make myself uh present and available to everyone here. I know there's been a lot heavier topics discussed, so I don't want to prolong uh the forum, but again, it was just to present uh an opportunity for everyone to to know who's overseeing this market. So, I'm the director of construction for Easy Fiber here in the Pacific Northwest uh from the Washington Market to Oregon. And uh I have left a ton of material. Um again whether sales or just contact uh my my goal is to reduce the amount of uh whether there's complaints whether there's issues in real time if you guys take my contact you can reach out at any time um I'm readily available and it would allow me to to quickly address a lot of the issues and kind of tally up what the primary issues may be. Um we've recently had a meeting with uh Dustin and uh others to discuss uh current practices, anything that we were uh we need to improve on. Um this is a massive project macro build as opposed to the smaller uh civil efforts that you may see from from the groups that are out here. So we understand that and our response to some of the complaints is doubling up in oversight. uh bringing in more inspectors, people that are second in line uh to myself and others in leadership, whether that's our contractors or whatnot, to have the that same presence and the values that we have. Uh as you all know, when you get out there and there's people on the front line that may be performing the work, they're doing the best they can, but they may not be mindful of some of the things that we're all aware of. Uh so we've we've uh promised to bring in

those that are going to stand in line for us to further uh that second layer of coverage. that way we don't have the continuence of misses uh by those who are simply there just trying to perform their day-to-day jobs. Um so again, if there's any questions that anyone has for me in terms of specifics, uh durations, the the standard operating procedures when it comes to construction, u any concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. And I'll say this again, I keep looking back to everyone here, anyone you want to extend it to. Again, my car is there uh readily available for anything that may need be needed. Any uh questions from council? Council member Hall, how far are you into the

the build? The build. Yeah.

Uh we're we're currently so we're primarily on Milton Way right now. We have of I believe 14 to 15 permitted segments. Each of those are on average to give a scale 20,000 ft per approved permit. Uh we're actively working in five in the Milton area I believe uh give or take and within each of those they've all they're all progressing. So in some we're 90% complete others 60 uh they vary and a lot of that has just been based on the uh again we the the efforts that we have to make sure that we're compliant. Uh some of this has been stops which were very justified stops and so at this point again we've recalibrated. reason that I'm here now is to to make sure that I'm in sync with everyone. But yeah, of those permits that have been issued, uh we're actively working in five. So let's say that's 100,000 feet of work that we're looking to complete uh with the implementation of more inspectors and a private locating third party locating service that we can bring in to aid some of the the or expedite the locating resource or locating that we have in the area. We understand that we've maxed out capacity for what you guys are typically used to. So uh upon approval implementation of that will help us speed up the process. So essentially to give you a just a run rate or how things can be done each permit ideally with a proper locating and crews in place we can complete a segment per month. So that would be 20,000 ft of work or a permitted area for whatever residential pocket that could be completed per month.

What's the time frame? Do you have a projection when this would be completed? Yeah. So, so with that uh understanding that we have uh within Milton and we're bordering five Pacific, but in Milton specifically with the 10 to 12 offhand I can't have the exact number but the amount of permits it'd be a year-long potential project. Um and again that comes with the there's a lot of things that we have to consider. Uh our goal is to be as least intrusive and and uh not congest the public way. So, a lot of the work you can come with as many crews as you possibly could if it weren't for the fact that you didn't pack the roadway. So, we want to be considerate of that. And with that in mind, our average is about a permit per month.

Council member Cedar, hey, thanks for being here tonight. Um, I know I've heard from a lot of people kind of some dissatisfaction. Sounds like you may have received some of those as well. I It's kind of part of the process, I I assume, as well. So, um, thinking of those folks who've had issues, my understanding is that they can go to, uh, kind of the immediate project supervisor who's working, you know, a street. Yes.

And seek resolution there. Can you just talk about how someone could escalate past that level or after work is complete uh and they you know go out and look at their yard and see that it's not been repaired or you know there's some right ofway issue or whatever where they would then go um to kind of seek the next level of accountability.

Gotcha. No problem. So initially again just to give you a a base uh rundown on how we even start the construction process. Upon approval of the permit, we conduct the precons as needed. And a part of that process before you even get started is you call in locates. So we make sure that our utilities are marked. We also door tag. So if there's any misses there, again to the public, please let us know. But the goal is to door tag a week prior to the start. Essentially, depending on, like I said, these projects per permit could last a month. So, with that said, we'd also like to follow up in areas where we may have started construction in an area and within that week uh completed it and there's an area that although door tagged at the start of the project, they may have long gone and toss the door tag or toss the brochure. So, the goal is to kind of uh progressively continue to remind the residents ahead and and I believe at this point I don't think it's been as consistent as it needs to be. So again, with the enforcement, with the uh additional resources, those are the things we push. But to answer your question, the goal is like you said, you can bring it to the the supervisor on site, both the the contractor's representative or easy, um, which we've again increased numbers in. I think that's been a big part of the problem is not knowing who can be the representative on site and seeing that delineation from someone who's in a hard hat and working versus someone who's standing there and can give you the answers you're looking for. So, more of that in in the within the city will help us out. But it's also the fact that and we can like I guess I plan on being here as much as possible. Uh but for those that receive that door tag, which everyone should at the end of any or if during the build, prior to the build or after, there's a QR code which is on there and on every brochure that I have in scan you. It'll lead you directly to any uh if you need just general information or the contact information that would allow you to reach out to our uh emergency hotline or just the general customer uh uh service which is 24 hours

and then they'll connect you and funnel that back to uh my market. So within 24 hours uh if that's if that process adhered to um you get a response. Anyone else? Oh, sorry. [laughter] Yes, Council Member Poor.

Thank you, Mayor. So, I wanted to express some concerns. Um, I think there's been some people that have been coming to our council meetings and they've been sharing some concerns about the quality of the craftsmanship, uh, things breaking, um, safety concerns, egress concerns about people getting to, uh, use public transportation, and then also, um, I've heard of, uh, some possible sinkholes. Um, and then myself, I've witnessed, so I don't know exactly what you call it, but the place where the the fiber goes down to our houses, it's got like a street cap, right, that people It's to hope hopefully protect the wires, right?

Flower pot. Yeah. So, that's already broken. Mhm. On mine. So like uh we need we need you guys to show a good good faith effort that you're going to invest for the long term for our city by using quality products and if it's breaking it's not even installed yet it kind of will make our community probably feel that you know if if that's not taken care of what else isn't taken care of what would the service be like essentially like you said yeah it makes you ask the question what's the quality of the service

you know if there's sink holes people could be you breaking their ankles, walking on the streets and different stuff like that. So, I think we could use the city could use a show of good faith um by using the highest quality products you guys have available so that that stuff doesn't happen. So, it'll help us all kind of feel better that you you know,

we're investing good quality product. We're we're investing the time and that my first show of good faith was being here so I can hear it. Um, a lot of this we're aware of and and uh when it comes to bills this massive, uh, we're operating out of Houston. A lot of our procurement, our materials come from that area. So, it's taking time to get people to understand, uh, exactly what is needed or what's applicable in a particular area. And those vaults are essentially meant for uh, areas where you have behind walk right away. To your point, in this particular area, there's a lot of shoulders that are accessible. So the change is just simply putting a traffic rated handhole in that same area which we've tallied up those locations because I actually went out and QC a particular area where I saw a few of those plastic lids. They're green. They look like irrigation vaults. You could barely tell the difference. Uh they're not applicable per the area. So again, that comes from uh no excuse, but in a build this massive and engineered remotely uh which is typically what goes on. you kind of get your standard products and you they they've been applied in a way where immediately upon receiving the feedback or the placement because they assume that they'd have proper placement just a bit back and sometimes it takes for us to be able to to actually utilize those examples unfortunately to get back and we replenish everything because these things were ordered uh far ahead of of schedule where we're at now. So again, my first showing was being here to let you know that every one of those locations uh per the fact that they're within the shoulder. We understand that cars park every on a regular basis. I was telling Dustin I actually lived in Milton from 2014 1314 to 2017 before going to California uh to continue my efforts in this particular field of telecommunications. So I enjoyed my time here. A very relaxed atmosphere. I used to work out at Surprise Lake Middle School all the time. And so when I when I come down here, I tell people, you know, this is a very tight-knit community, very small, but very easy to work with if our quality is there and

our communication is there. So again, my first showing of good faith was being here so I can hear what you're saying, let you know that these things are everything that I've seen and we're making great efforts to get a lot of this that was done resolved. Fortunately for us, we have not completed a permit yet. Nothing's closed out. We we haven't like I said we're we're maybe in five areas and uh only one is near completion and that's actually in front of the middle school um on Milton Way next to the church. So the the great thing is I'm getting this feedback. It would have been better earlier than now. But the fact of the matter is there's a lot that we can restore and repair in terms of the physical and what we see out on the road and in terms of relationship. So hopefully from here you guys kind of see that for me as I like I said I'll be here as many times that I need to.

Thank you. And is I don't know if you already answered this with what you're talking about with Miss uh sorry Councilman Cedar, but [clears throat] is there any way for us to kind of follow up on the progress of things? Um, I know that you're you guys are trying to, you know, do a giant build and and fix things as fast as you can, but uh, knowing that you guys are going to follow through with fixing these issues in a very timely manner, especially if there's safety involved or if there's multiple reports would be really helpful.

Yeah, I know. Uh, one of the things that Dustin actually brought this up on our sync today. So, we've have a we have a weekly sync where we can go over uh progress and some of the items that we talk about here, which is great for me to be here, not only hear his feedback, but get it in real time. And during our meetings, uh the weekly sync until we see fit to maybe space those out to bi-weekly or monthly. That was the purpose for us to go over kind of a punch list so that we're not just talking about it and walking away. We can come back and routinely check the progression and see if there's actually movement um on the on the items that are brought up. So essentially what the goal for that I have in terms of let's say the vaults tally up each location that is uh not applicable per the area that it's in if I get that total which I will and on our next meeting I relay that to Dustin from that point on we check in and I can relate we can actually have a figure so we have tangible things to look at and go okay you were here maybe it's 80 locations and within a week two weeks we're down to that 30. So again that you'll have measurables and that's what I want to come here with. Uh but again, today was just to let you guys know that uh I see everything that you see. Uh I'm aware of it and uh if I have to get in the mud and and and come out here on a regular basis, which as of the last few weeks I have, I will. Um but to also let you know in s sustainably that would be hard for me. So we've also made sure that we improved our resource counts and uh we're the same message that I have for you to make sure that the people that are in place have the same integrity and push the same agenda. And again, the weekly meetings and what we talk about will hopefully echo that.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Turnis. It sounds like you have a great quality control problem solving um department in place. But I personally, we've had an experience with Easy that uh about six weeks ago, they've left a bunch of divots in the roadway. and my [clears throat] husband has called multiple times and people are always like, "Oh yeah, we'll get back to you." Well, nobody's gotten back to us. And so this has been about six weeks. So I like what you're saying that there is a department in place to actually deal with those pro the problems, but our personal experience is we have not had a resolution to it.

And I'll and I'll take uh please take my contact. Yeah. Let me know the number that you call in the meantime. Please take my card. everyone here take my card as a direct representative cuz I'll solve what I can dig into. Um the number should lead you to the service line and if there's a hiccup there trust me uh we understand between the the work stops the what we've invested here and the amount of current customers that are presubscribed uh everything has to be fixed if there's any error in the process. Uh again a lot of it is just I don't know I haven't received a call I haven't received a complaint from our service line. A lot of what I get is from Dustin or and and and that's it. So, uh please help me

by reaching out to me. If there's anything that you have going on, uh I'd be your contact. And again, I can only spread it so far here. Whoever you can hand it to within the community, please do so. I left the stack over there. Um but yeah, we're here. That's that's what I'm here for. If there's any misses in the gaps that I'm explaining as standard, I'll make sure that I dig into it. Great. Thank you. Of course, Council Member Whan, thank you and thank you for your presentation. Just a couple odd little questions. Who's WTC? Uh, traffic control company. They're a subcontractor for you. Yes. Third party. They did very well. Thank you. Milton. That That's a complex closing of one lane and so forth. Milton Way. Pardon? Is it Milton Way?

Yeah. Yeah, it is. Um, no, I appreciate that. But I'll also u do you have a number for them? WTC? Yeah. Yeah, I can provide so um if I can take contact or doesn't if you can provide a list. Yeah. Oh, okay. Because they've left a few cones around in the town that it's not in, you know, intention and so forth, but and I've got a couple to give back to them if they want them. So, Gotcha. All right. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Anything further? I have. Yes, council member Hall. So, what I'm noticing is they put the main orange

in and then they leave it and then they go do something else and then they come back and they work on it some more. Block off traffic and then they leave it and then they come back and they block off traffic. what's the order of construction so we can understand what the timeline is. I'm trying to grasp how long this is going to be because what we're seeing is um our streets are narrow. If you block off traffic and you can't turn around

you're my daughter was stuck um for 25 minutes at lunch had to come back late from her job um because she couldn't get around the traffic. If the traffic company had put it back to the next block where the c where they could reroute the traffic around, they're not holding traffic up. So, there's a lot of kind of common sense when you're blocking off traffic. Is can you reroute that traffic before you stop them dead? And that keeps you guys working. It also keeps the traffic from going around. also traffic being um blocked into businesses. Our businesses are small.

They cannot support that timeline. So that is really really important. I mean that hurts my heart when I see that happen. So that is very very important. Also that sinkhole I walk many miles a day. I almost hit that this morning and that sinkhole on 12th Court would have busted my ankle. Easily busted my ankle. Um, so and then I know the neighbor reported it because I spoke to her, but nobody came back and marked marked it and said, "Hey, don't fall in this. Don't you know it wasn't big. It's just enough to put your foot through

two feet through. There's two two different ones." So, I think safety is always I'm I'm a stickler on safety is that should not if and it's going to happen. I understand it's going to happen, but react as soon as you possibly can on that because there's a lot of elderly people in Melton, a lot of walkers. Um and that could be very dangerous.

Yeah. And and again, uh so those things shouldn't happen and I I don't say that as just a a cliche response. It shouldn't happen. That's a matter of compaction. So upon completion of a those are core holes where you locate a utility um they're meant to be backfilled co- patched which is a temporary restoration method but they have to be sustained.

Uh Dustin and I talked about this this morning or afternoon as well. um those are non-excusable uh is a huge liability and regardless of what that means in terms of liability just the the safety concerns there's kids elderly like I said this is a very family oriented I was 23 24 I loved it here it's extremely quiet extremely safe you rarely saw anything of the magnitude that I have come here with easy to do so uh again that's why I say I fully acknowledge everything that you're saying in regards to the traffic control uh a big part of what we're trying to do now which is in expediting locates by upon review bringing in the extra resource. Some of what's held up where you say the stop and start is the fact that an effort to try to complete uh a particular street. There may be a portion of it that's cleared. So locates have to clear in order for you to legally dig. uh sometimes they don't just 100 ft up and then Milton Way that is a terrible position to be in because that's a very busy road and as you said uh if I'm a resident I'm wondering when it's done if you were here then you leave for a week and then you come back what's the issue what's the hold up so um I think with what we're we're we're going to implement it'll streamline that the fortunate thing is we should be off of these main drags very soon we're projected or forecasted to complete both uh from Milton and Juniper down to Meridian uh by end of month

so we can get out of the the way in terms of where the main drag is and I think that'll clear at least a lot of the the main arterial issues. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you. Of course. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Paul. Thank you, Powell. Thank you.

All right. So, let's continue with the regular agenda. Uh the first item is the appointment to the events committee on page 15 of your packet. Um okay, the the first uh the first uh person that is uh been proposed is uh Rachel Shin. Uh she's lived in Milton and has been part of the school system for many years. Rachel has recently shown interest in being a member of the events committee to support and continue building our community. Um I recommend Rachel uh to fill the current vacancy um on the committee. Uh I did get a um text message from Rachel earlier today and she apologizes for not being able to be here um uh today, but uh she would uh she would appreciate uh your support. Um yes, Council Member Cedar. Uh, I move to approve the appointment of Rachel Shin to the events committee for a term to expire May 31, 2026.

Second. All right. It's been moved by council member Cedar and uh seconded by council member uh Roberts. Um are the is there uh any disc uh any discussion? The only question I had so this is for a vacancy which is why this is only for two months and then we'll have an opportunity to renew that for an additional term. Is that correct? Does that seat end? Okay. Okay. Yes. Um, yeah. Then beyond that, I I have no problem with the the short time. I'm actually very happy to see Miss Shin appear here after we had a chance to talk to her um for council vacancy, and it's great to see someone involved. So, let's do it. Council member Roberts, would you like to speak to your second?

Yeah, I want to express the same thing that uh Council Member Cedar said. I had the opportunity to speak to Rachel personally for a duration, and I liked what she had to say. She was very involved with the community. Um had that very community ccentric mentality. So um so it's a good choice. So happy to have her on. Any further comments? Ditto. Thank you. I appreciate her coming back. Like we said, hey, join some communities. And her um outlook on community is fantastic.

Yes, I concur. All right. Okay. So, it's uh been moved by Council Member Cedar and seconded by uh Council Member Roberts um uh to uh approve the appointment of Rachel Shin to the events committee for a term to expire May 31st, 2026. All in favor? Oh, uh sorry, Mayor White. Uh as an action item, it may be appropriate to ask for any public comment or not for appointments. Okay, thank you. Okay. I'd be happy to. No. No. I just wanted to make sure make an exception if somebody wants to speak on her behalf. Okay. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? All right.

Motion passes unanim unanimously. Okay. The next uh item on the agenda is uh is on page 19. Um, also an appointment to uh to Oh, this is to the Parsport. Uh, and this is for Susan Johnson. Susan Johnson is an active and contributing volunteer for the city of Milton. Susan has served as a council member, is currently a planning commissioner, and would like to join the park board. Uh, the city values the time and commitment Susan continues to give and I would like to recommend her to serve on the park board.

Yes, Council Member Whan. Well, thank you, Bruce. And this is just kind of I've known Susan a long time. She's been very dedicated to this city in several different positions within support of the city and I completely support her. Would you like to make a motion? Pardon? Would you like to make a motion? I would like to make a motion. Okay. Move to approve the appointment of Susan Johnson to the park board for a term to expire December 31st, 2028. Second. Second. You're in for a long time.

All right. Well, you sort of made your comment before you made the motion, but would you like to speak to your motion again? Well, it's just uh in knowing somebody for as long as I have and watched her dedication to the city in several different positions, uh it's always great to have her supporting and involved with the city programs.

All right, Council Member Hall, would you like to speak to your second? I've also known Susan for a long time and um if you need to know something, if you need something looked up, she can find it. She is amazing on any kind of information. She has a wide variety of history with the city of Melton and I appreciate that. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, uh it's been moved by council member Whan and seconded by council member Hall to approve the appointment of Susan Johnson to the parks board for a term to expire December 31st, 2028. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion uh passes unanimously. Susan, would you like to uh to speak to the council? Do you have any comments? [laughter] I've never known you to be shy. [laughter]

Well, I do have to say until I moved to Washington State, I never had a state where I came from originally from Washington DC. Fell in love with a man from here and drove cross country by myself with two dogs in 2003. And I've never felt more at home than anywhere I've lived Milton because this is truly a special city and we cross bridges to work together for the best of the city and that's what's important and um and welcomed and I've enjoyed and it's interesting because I'm going full circle. My first appointment was the parks board then planning then council planning and parks board. I hope I'm here in 2028. [laughter] Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

All right. Uh the next item on the agenda is item 6C on page 23 and uh our public works director Madden will be presenting this item. Thank you, Mayor Councel. Uh the item before you tonight is an action item and this is the second reading of the franchise agreement with Forge Fiber 37 LLC for fiber optic internet service. They Forge Fiber is a subsidiary of AT&T. They acquired Lumen Technology fiber internet cables and facilities in the rightway. Forge Fiber 37 intends to build additional fiber uh cable facilities for large-scale expansion and integration of infrastructure. Forge Fiber has submitted for this franchise application. Um and uh everything related to this franchise application is covered under municipal code 12.05.070 of the Milton Municipal Code. Uh, pursuant to RCW35A47.040, the city council has the authority to grant franchise agreements for the use of public streets and other rightaways. This agreement does not grant Forge Fiverr the authority to commence work within the rideway without first obtaining appropriate permits. Uh, this first reading was established on February 17th at our last meeting. And before I I seek uh an endorsement to move this forward, um I just wanted to address some of the the comments and concerns that we heard during our last meeting. Um one of them was is there room uh corridor awareness and I would say that our awareness of our corridor limitations and opportunities has never higher uh working with easy over the last four months. Uh we have been able to work through multiple um issues with

easy fiber and uh we've got a lot of hills throughout the city. You've got a lot of streets where traditionally on you know a flat city the rightway is more accessible. So we've worked through that. We've rerouted and uh we feel that the city does have room for another franchise uh for this fiber optics. Uh the next one was wireless facilities. Uh the cell towers, the dishes, you know, potentially on top of our water towers. Those are not covered under this franchise agreement. So I just wanted to point council to um municipal code 17.58. That's 17.58. And that covers all of our uh wireless communication facilities. And then the last one is quality control. How do we ensure that our residents are that we are minimizing the impact for our residents? I'm hesitant to say that they won't be impacted because we know there are construction impacts and I would say the lessons that we have learned um and we are more forward facing in our communication with easy u Mr. Pal what he said was correct. We've never seen a buildout or rightway impact like this uh at this scale with this time of build time in the city of Milton. So, we learned quite a few lessons and the stop starts that he was referring to um are stop work orders that we have placed uh and those were to correct safety and access concerns for our residents. I will acknowledge that Easy Fiber brought their senior vice presidents and their uh leadership team to the table the last two weeks in a row and um the result in the field is their work sites have never been tighter. So, I just want to acknowledge the work that they're doing, the additional communication. Um, and also uh while there may still be some impacts or uh

the miscellaneous pipe um that is damaged, we have done everything in our power to mitigate that with both depth of excavation and uh location and communication. So, uh at this time, I will open it up to council for potential endorsement. All right. Would someone like to make a motion? Council member Whan. Uh, thank you. Move to approve ordinance 2133-26 adopting forged fiber 37 LLC franchise agreement. I second.

All right. It's been uh it's been uh moved by Council Member Whan, seconded by Council Member Mounts. Council member Whan, would you like to speak to your motion?

Well, yes, and thank you. And um this go this backst steps a little bit. Um work's been done on my street. There's fiber optic cable. Uh since then, AT&T in dealing with them because I've got problems, fairly substantial problems. There's another person on the street at the end with significant problems also both heavy users. Um I'm just looking to get this done simply and hopefully without any any other concerns. Now these are still going to be overhead wires to a house from a pole. Correct. How do they get inside my house? I mean how's that done? So, uh, they are able to lash AT&T leases, uh, several poles throughout the city, uh, for existing overhead communication. Uh, this agreement would allow them, uh, to replace those or upgrade them on existing poles, but no new poles would be set within the city. Uh, anything new would be underground through the boring technology that EZ is currently uh, facilitating throughout the city. And then that connection um between the I think the terminology is uh handhold the green box lid that we discussed earlier. Um those are trench direct directly to the house and you know I would I would encourage you to reach out with AT&T. Is it currently overhead?

Yes I am. Okay. Yeah. And if you encourage any issues, you know, the city can help, uh, if you're not getting answers through with a franchisee, please let my team know. We'll help facilitate that. Just to let you know, there's, you know, there's a little we every time you build something new, every time you change things and so forth, there's little spots that are problematic and so forth. Mhm. With this though, when would this be completed? What would be the time frame for this?

It's [clears throat] a great question. So this is the franchise agreement. At this time, no construction schedule has been submitted or projected uh with Forge Fiber uh 37. And so the process that this goes through is we'll get an applicant for a franchise agreement. We will vet that through our our legal department uh who specializes in these franchise agreements. Um, and we go through about a month of communication back and forth where they're asking for things, we are asking for things uh, essentially to ensure that the city has the ability um, to do what we've done over the last couple weeks, which is stop work when it's not benefiting our city and and re and coming back to the table with their team and starting fresh. just one little addition and so forth with the problems I'm having and there's another heavy online user at the end at the U West End of R Street 13 and so forth. It's um AT&T at this particular time doesn't seem to put put a whole lot of effort into going out and fixing things from my perspective and I think this the same as my neighbor. So, um, what can I do to put a light a firecracker under their buttocks to get something done?

Yeah. Is there any other substantial AT&T issues that are going on with this conversion or laying in the fiber optics cable? Have you heard uh much? I have not heard any concern about AT&T or the service that they're providing to the residents, but now that I'm made aware of it, um I will uh we'll light a fire under them tomorrow. Yeah. Just just, you know, because we don't, you know, I don't want a a dead time or problematic time. Sure. But we just need to get our residents to the correct contact. But I'm I'm looking forward for this to proceed forward with the with the fiber optics. So, and thank you for the patience here.

All right, Council Member Mouse, would you like to speak to your second? Yeah. First, I want to say thank you to Director Madden for answering my questions. And my understanding is that now this will be the third fiber optic cable in the right of way, but the city does still have some room for other utilities for future growth or future things. And so, that was my concern. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any uh any further discussion? Council member Poor.

So, I'm aware Oh, sorry. Thank you, Mayor. Uh I'm aware that there's already existing infrastructure they're going to tap into. Any idea what kind of percentage of new build they have to do with this because I think the city is getting kind of a little fatigued right now with all the issues that we're having with Easy. Um you know, I I know that Easy's trying to do the best they can. Uh, but I'm sure there's lots of concerns by people about us approving another one when we're already having issues with the one that we're already building.

And that that uh wonderful point and I share in those same concerns and yes, the fatigue is real. Uh, I will say that we're making progress and we're going the right direction. um the quality control aspect of it and the the rate of fatigue that we're allowing, you know, in the city with how quickly we're we're allowing them to move. The city has complete control over that and it's through a street work permit process. And so we have we've been working on that process to streamline it. Um we've had more uh street work permits in the last three months than in my previous four years. And so we are we're learning a lot of lessons. Um, and we're being more proactive. Thank you. Yeah.

Thank you, Mayor. Any further discussion? Seeing none, it's been moved by Council Member Whan and seconded by Council Member Mounts to approve ordinance 2133-26, adopting Forged Fiber 37 LLC franchise agreement. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Oh, darn it. [laughter] Okay. Uh, not that it would make a difference, but was there anyone in the audience that wanted to speak to that that item? Okay.

Okay. Okay. Hello. Please give your uh name and uh city for for the record. Okay. I'm Barbara Buck. I live up on 15th 1806 be spec specific. So easy fiber has been a very very difficult um I think challenge for the entire city. I felt the fatigue and I think council member um John sorry [laughter]

he he hit the nail on the head. the level of fatigue that it's causing across the city has been, you know, pretty um monumental. And I do think because Milton is a smaller city to actually say, "Hey, let's add more to that fatigue by approving this franchise model right now and adding more to the eavesmans where we don't even have clarity on how the eaves work in this city. None of our streets are the same width. We don't have sidewalks everywhere. We don't have straight lines everywhere when it comes to our streets. So, when you talk eaves, there's a lot of uncertainty. So, I would just say that I I encourage you guys to maybe pause, take this back, and reconsider adding more to the eaves and the fatigue of the city at this moment. And I do appreciate the gentleman from Easy Fiber. I think I've actually talked to him a few times and one of your guys in the field this week because I do have multiple properties across the city and it affected two of my properties this week. I had a hole 5t deep in my yard because eaves aren't clear. So I really really would encourage you to maybe take a pause and you know take into consideration what you know John just said. Think about that before you move forward with more franchise, you know, discussion and adding more fatigue to the city that has to do with easements and cables and big sinkholes and roughening up people's yards. I think it would be well worth it to pause for a minute. So, that would be my recommendation. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. All right. The next item on the agenda this evening is uh item 6D on page 77. And this item is uh for for chief to introduce.

Good evening council and guests. U this is an agenda item 6D. It's asking for approval to go ahead and con uh replace uh three police vehicles which we u put into the budget last year for consideration to be purchased this year. And so I'll lead read a little bit about the background u because I was on vacation last time when this was presented. So hopefully I'll provide a little clarity. So, uh, I'm requesting replacement of designated police department fleet vehicles as identified in a 2026 budget. A little bit about the background. Approximately 10 years ago, the city conducted a comprehensive analysis of the police department fleet. As a result of that study, uh, we implemented a structured vehicle replacement and amaratization schedule. Some of the tenure council members such as Mr. Whan were here when we had those discussions. Um, since then, a lot of the other council members have moved on. So, it's prudent for me to give you this background information so that you guys can uh understand what you're approving. And um since that time, funds have been set aside annually for the purpose of vehicle replacement. Every year uh we also do a reevaluation of our vehicle selection uh in which I'll talk a little bit about later. These funds are identified each year during the budget process. The purchase of these vehicle was authorized by council, as I said earlier, in 2025 as part of the 2026 budget cycle. I'm bringing this request forward tonight as a final approval step to ensure transparency and address any questions. So, a little bit about fleet replacement and life cycle management. Our fleet replacement program is based on the life cycle and management principles. Vehicle replacement is determined by age, mileage, utilization, maintenance history, safety, and reliability. Our current replacement schedule is based on a 5-year life cycle. Timeline was established after evaluating repair

costs versus replacement costs, which we've had in previous councils over the last 12 years. Many discussions uh about that and where we've arrived at today and why we've created this amortization schedule that we currently have. Historically, after about approximately 5 years of service, a vehicle typically has between 70 to 100,000 miles of wear and tear. Maintenance and repair costs increase significantly. Vehicle reliability declines. Safety concern uh begin to arise. Police vehicles are emergency response vehicles that operate under high performance conditions and endure significantly greater wear than a personally owned vehicle. So timely replacement protects the officer safety, public safety, and is fiscally responsible. So review of the proposed purchases. In response to some of the questions that I was made aware of while I was on vacation, I u identified those and I've met with some of you and I've walked you through and and hopefully answered most of your questions or concerns. But for the record, I wanted to to answer some of those questions tonight. So, uh, fuel economy, environmental impact, and overall purchasing procedures. Uh, I've taken the following steps. Reviewed all proposed purchases with the fleet sergeant. Met individually with council members to discuss concerns. prepared a detailed breakdown of the upfitting costs which includes the specialized equipment required for police operations. Provided a tour of a patrolled vehicle and demonstrated the unique public safety requirements to one of our council members. Consulted with the electric department, the fire department, information technology, public works, and our upfitter vendor to ensure the selected vehicles meet operational and technical need. I reviewed the city's purchasing policies with the finance director to ensure full compliance with our internal procedures. Additionally, during the finance committee, the finance director spoke with several council members to review and clarify the specific purchasing policies that govern these acquisitions. That discussion confirmed that the proposed purchase is consistent with both our adopted municipal purchasing policy and

the applicable state procurement requirements. Police vehicles require extensive specialized equipment including emergency lighting, communication systems, incar technology, safety partition partitions, other mission specific components. These upfitting requirements specifically limit vehicle selection and must be considered when evaluating fuel economy and environmental factors. Um, I also took the time to meet with one of our council members and our fleet manager and to go over the concerns and answer any questions that they might have on why we selected the vehicles that we did versus maybe uh a hybrid vehicle. Um, and so I hope that I've satisfied and answered all of those questions uh that you desire or that any other council members desire. After this comprehensive review, I'm confident the proposed vehicles represent the most appropriate and cost-effective option for our operational needs. Lastly, purchasing process and legal authority. The se city's purchasing process complies with Washington state law. Under RCW3934030, public agencies are authorized to enter into cooperative agreements for joint purchasing. Additionally, RCW39260 authorizes cooperative purchasing through the competitively awarded contracts administered by the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. All cooperative purchasing contracts are awarded through a competitive solicitation process, ensuring transparency, compliance, best value, pricing through statewide buying power, and economies of scale. So [snorts] in closing and in summary, the freight replacement plan was developed through formal analysis and has been consistently funded. The requested purchases were authorized in the adopted 2026 budget. Replacement timing is driven by life cycle cost analysis, safety, and operational liability. The purchasing method complies with state law, utilizes competitive bid and cooperative contracts. This is done through the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, which is considered the best business practice for government agencies in Washington state. The city internal purchasing policies have been reviewed and

confirmed and a thorough internal and interdep departmental review has been completed. For these reasons, I respectfully request council to approve and proceed with the replacement of the eventified police department vehicles. So, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have if I haven't answered everybody's question. So, with that, I'll open it up to questions. All right. But before we do that, yes. Would someone like to make a motion? Council member Cedar. Thanks. I move to approve the purchase of three police vehicles not to exceed $240,000 and authorize the mayor to sign all documents necessary to execute these purchases. Second.

All right. It's been uh moved and seconded. Uh Council Member Cedar, would you like to speak to your motion?

I would. Thank you, Mayor. Chief, [clears throat] I really appreciate all the work you've done. Um Chief alluded to a council member. That was me. I sat down with the chief for a lengthy conversation and met with the fleet manager as well. We had a very in-depth conversation about car preferences, his experiences driving specific platforms, etc. Um, I am confident that the cars selected and the platforms which are non-hybrid do reflect what they need for these vehicles. These are patrol vehicles. They are not detective vehicles. Uh in that conversation I learned that you know when we come up with detective vehicles in a few years it may be appropriate to start phasing in some hybrids at that time and I agree with that that plan. Uh I also just want to take this opportunity to thank the chief for making himself and um Sergeant Zimmer available for that in-depth discussion. And this is a a situation where I really view it as these officers desire these vehicles for very specific reasons and that preference is one we should respect. Um this is a it's a preference and it goes to their safety. This is not a situation where council should dictate what they do. Now there are situations where we should dictate that they make choices and this just isn't one of them. So for that reason I strongly support that. Um, and I hope that everyone will join me. Council member Hall, would you like to speak to your second?

I completely agree with uh Council Member Cedar. I have driven vehicles that have been used by the police department to take down to have them

serviced, whether it was from an accident or needing an oil change. And you would think a $70,000 vehicle or 100,000 would be okay, but when it caks and it doesn't steer um and you feel it in the car that it's not safe to drive and you get it back and it's not much better, those cars need to be taken out of service. And I have to give the police department credit. Um they've had to do that several times. So safety again. Appreciate chief you doing all the work coming back from vacation. Thank you.

Any further? Yes, council member Mounts. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to explain everything to us, both the contracting side and the necessity for the vehicles. the time that you're pouring into us into me as a new council member. I hope that it will serve you well in future years and and I especially appreciate it in the packet that you had the breakdown of the costs for each of the vehicles. That was really helpful and it shows due diligence and a lot of thorough research. So, thank you. Any further discussion

and I'm not going to forget this time. This is an action item. Are there any members of the audience that would like to speak on this issue before the vote? All right. Seeing none, it's been moved by uh Council Member Cedar and seconded by Council Member Hall to approve the purchase of three police vehicles not to exceed $240,000 and authorize the mayor to sign all documents necessary to execute these purchases. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? [clears throat]

passes unanimously. All right. Now, moving on to item 6E. Um Oh, this one's for me. Okay. This is um the council rules being presented tonight are an update uh uh to update the time change uh of the study session uh from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Uh there have also been updates to the section discussing how to preserve order and motions receiving a tie vote. This resolution was reviewed and updated by the city attorney. Uh, I'd entertain a motion.

Council member Poor. Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve resolution 26194 as presented. I second. It's been moved and seconded. Council member Poor, would you like to speak uh to your motion? Yes. Thank you, Mayor. uh during the discussion just felt like the right thing to do to try and get as much involvement as we can to help represent the community as best as we can. Um and part of doing that is have as many people able to participate as possible. So, uh like the changes. All right. Council member Turnis, would you like to speak to your second?

Yes. Just taking into consideration everybody that um spoke out their preference for time changes. I personally am very thankful for the 6 PM time change because a lot of people are commuting and coming from other jobs and situations. So, thank you for doing that. All right. Any additional? Yes. Uh, Council Member Whan.

Well, thank you very much. And it's just kind of a general question. [clears throat] When we moved it earlier, that was a bit of a benefit, you might say, to keep a normal life schedule. Now, we're moving it back. not quite as deep as we used to 7:00 to 6:00. But so the same things that may be occurred prior are going to burden some of the some of the folks. I've gotten very used to the early hours on on the study session. I thought that was very good and I don't know if there was anybody else that had objection with it. But is is it okay to move that? I mean, what's what's the impact on the staff?

I'm here all the time. So, [laughter] you you never leave. I know that and so forth. But it it adds to the day that day a couple hours later that year at the city or away from home or away from getting home and I thought that it was what we had done was beneficial the life circumstances for everybody. Is this okay? Yes, absolutely. I I think I don't want to speak for all of leadership, but we are here to serve the community and if council feels that the service to the community is 6 p.m., we're happy to to support that. It it makes a [clears throat] longer day for you and I just want to be sure that everybody is okay with that.

Yeah. And I've had discussions with all of the leadership team and I think it's it's a good compromise. Obviously, we want um all the council to be able to attend and u we've just revisited this because there are a couple of uh council members that have been unable to attend at that hour. So, oh there there are some council members that have a desire to move it later because it because it makes it difficult for them to attend at the earlier hour. That's fine. That's a great answer, but that's what I was going to get to in the question. So, I appreciate you stepping in and informing us. Okay. So, I support this.

Any uh further discussion? All right. Seeing none, um it's been moved by a council. Oh, this is an action item. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to this item before we vote? All right. Um, it's been moved by Council Member Poor and uh seconded by Council Member Turnis uh to approve resolution 26-1994 as presented. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. The last item on the agenda this evening is uh on page 125 of your packet, item 6F. And um this goes along with the last item. The council approved the updated council procedures by resolution with the previous agenda item. Uh council meeting and uh and study session day and times are also in the municipal uh code. Uh therefore need to be adopted by ordinance as well. The ordinance I am bringing to you tonight is to make the change in code from 400 pm to 6 pm. I'd uh entertain a motion. Council member Roberts.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve ordinance 2134-26 as presented. I second. It's uh uh been moved and seconded. Council member Roberts, would you like to speak to your uh motion? Yeah, I think this change is good for the folks that can attend. So, I mean, this is uh this will benefit everybody because I'm one of the individuals as well that have a difficulty attending early. Um, this will help out.

Council member MS, would you like to speak to your second? Oh, okay. Any uh any discussion on this item? This also is an action item. Anyone in the audience like to uh speak to the council about this issue? Seeing none, it's been moved by Council Member Roberts and seconded by Council Member Mounts to approve ordinance 2134-26 as presented. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. All right. Now, moving on to uh council reports. Who who went first last time? We'll start with council member Hall. Why not? Me. [laughter] Um I don't have a I don't really have anything. I think I've voiced my concerns that I had this last couple weeks other than I'll talk to you individually. Okay. Council member four.

Thank you, Mayor. Um I just wanted to say I appreciate that Easy Fiber came to try and address some of the issues. Um, and I'm glad that he left the cards that he did, but uh, it really seems like there's a lot of kind of outcry and frustration within the community, um, towards them. And I think that, uh, in all future um, actions we have regarding them, we should all try and keep in mind that while they're trying to do the best they can, uh, we need to hold them as much accountable as possible. Um anyway, thank you, Council Member Cedar.

Thanks, Mayor. Uh just want to acknowledge we had a great finance committee meeting. I think that's going really well. Um one of the great updates we've been getting there is on the traffic safety camera fund, which is exciting to see and it's exciting to look forward. And as we talk about easements and sidewalks and things like that, um just know that we will have a lot at our disposal to to build that out for the community. So, it is ultimately going to pay back. Uh, in that same vein, um, I would love to hear kind of an update on 23rd and where we at perhaps at a future council meeting or study session um to kind of understand where that project is. I, as director Matt knows, I always support creative solutions to traffic issues. Um, I think Juniper is a good candidate for that or something along this cut through. Uh so happy to to have those more in-depth discussions or at least get some kind of report so we so we just understand. And then last um I would also just join the community call for a clearer statement of what our law enforcement is doing, where our lines are. I think that's really important. Um you know, we can talk all day about which which lines we want to draw and where, but we should know what our current status is. Um, and you know, I I respect the chief a lot and I I look forward to to that discussion.

Council member,

I want to say thank you again for all the effort that went into meeting with us, both the finance committee and and Chief Hernandez and and the responsiveness of our directors. You guys are great. A few of us attended a um Puget Sound Regional Council meeting on Friday discussing the hot topics in the region. And it was it was really interesting. Affordable housing of course was one of the topics and public transit. So and we had a chance to network with other small cities and discuss some of the issues um that really affect all of us. And I think in our in our group discussion which was carried over from everyone at the in the event there was the top down approach from Olympia and how that impacts what we can and cannot do in our own city and how we can and cannot spend our own money. And I think um it'll be worth having some more discussions on that type of thing and seeing if there's any way that we can mitigate uh the the folks in Olympia to keep our city small and to keep our character the way that we want it. So yeah, thank you.

Council member Turnis. Yes, I attended the Puget Sound Regional Council meeting as well uh for newly elected officials. It was a great opportunity as somebody that's new to council just to have a a kind of a slideshow presentation on uh where we've come from in the city of Seattle. It felt like just a great history lesson. um just showing the the the positives and the negatives of what happens in a region of when you get this vast economic growth and how the many branches is affected. So it was great to come together with different cities and different um elected officials to kind of just talk about all the issues that are happening not only in our little Milton but you know we sat at a table with Mercer Island and obviously they're different but but there were similarities though too. So, it was really informative and I really appreciate that there's uh meetings like this that we can attend to get information from.

Council member Roberts. Thank you, Mayor. So, staying along the same lines, I also attended a PCRC meeting as well and actually it's a request for council. So, March is uh where small city days occurs and they're asking for suggestions regarding small cities as far as any issues, any challenges, etc. that occur within small cities. So, if you guys have any ideas specific to any challenges that you have encountered uh here in Milton, please go ahead and email me and I'll forward those uh answers to the uh PCRC. Council member Whan,

I don't think I can add anything to that right now except uh if you use Milton Way quite a bit and of course when the schools in and out, it's always backed up, but it's getting very congested and I don't know if anything around in Edgewood has changed. I don't think so, you know, as far as backing traffic up, but it it keeps getting more congested as as we move along. So, it's just something to be mindful of. We may have to I don't know what we can do. Encourage traffic to go down Taylor. No, I don't think that's a good idea being as is residential as it is. Uh it's it's just a change. And if anybody's interested, go out at 3:00 this in the morning and look at the moon. And the last time I did that with the moon site, I actually parked in front of the tire shop up there. Now there's a a building there, a storage building is over, but it's it's going to be out over Edgewood, but it may be further down. But if anybody wants to get up at 3 to four o'clock in the morning, it's going to be quite an adventure to see. That's all.

All right. Thank you. Now, moving on to director reports. Uh public works director Matt. Yes. Can I add one more thing? Sure.

He he brought something up. Traffic. I was walking toward the the uh 11th Avenue Juniper. I was with two employees here at Milton. and they just happened to be walking with me because they're into exercise. Um there was a bus that was just before Juniper where the other um street is right here. His stop sign was out. A car decided behind the car on Juniper to make go around that car, make a left into the kids that were in the street. The police trained me well as a police volunteer because I ran out in the middle of the road screaming at the guy because I know there's two little boys that cross that road at the right at that time. I'm I'm yelling. I'm screaming. He goes, "What is your problem?" I go, "There's a bus here." He goes, "I didn't see it." I said, "That's because you don't go around cars at a stop sign. You don't make a left." um scared the daylights out of me. I scared our poor employees because I'm yelling, but I would rather do that than have kids hit in the middle of this intersection. And there was probably six kids standing there in the street when this car did that. Is it possible that we could have the police kind of follow those buses? They're out anyway. If the police are out, is it possible they could watch this stuff happen? Because that guy went around a car, went through a stop sign, almost went through the bus with with the the bar out and the kids in the street. I mean, I don't want to see kids killed, and I certainly don't want to

put my life in danger, but darn it, I will. This has got to stop. This is a young man in a hurry just trying to get through Milton there. I said my All right. Thank you, Council Member. Um, moving on to director reports, public works, director Madden.

Uh, I just want to take this opportunity to thank council for the input and the discussion tonight with Easy Fiber. uh it has helped know that uh council supports the decisions that public works needs to make on a day-to-day basis to keep our community safe. So, thank you. And then I last thing uh the acquisition of rightaway on 23rd related to the sidewalks that's coming back to council for approval uh for those properties that we've been able to come to an agreement with on April 6th. So, that will be coming back. That's all I have. Okay. Finance Director Robek. No comments.

I was hoping that there'd be something since you're no longer the interim [laughter] finance director. Uh Chief, uh well, first of all, I wanted to address uh some of the comments that were made tonight from the community, and I appreciate them showing up and expressing uh their concern. I I apologize. I thought I was forward- facing on the statements that I had made, but uh we are working on our website, but not making any excuses. I'll get something out this week that clearly states our position because the um statement that I had made, I want everybody in our community and anybody even outside of our community should know how our police department stands. And uh also, I don't know if you were here for when I made that statement. and it was and it it very deliberately bulleted out what we will do and what we won't do. Also talked to uh keep Washington work act which was uh passed in 2019 which very clearly in that act uh says what police will and won't do and we of course follow that to the letter of the law. The other thing is is that I uh passed out and I will make sure we get a link to it on our website uh to the Washington immigrant uh solidarity network that has resources and flyers and numbers available uh so that if people uh have questions or looking for some kind of legal advice, they have access to those resources. Um but anyways, we'll make sure that we get that. I'll work with the mayor also to craft uh some other additional uh statements, but uh I've been very clear from the statement that I made before and apparently I thought it was widespread because I got a lot of feedback from that. Uh so apparently it wasn't as widespread as I thought it was and I know that even in the police department we provided a link to that video to our police officers so they know exactly what we have expressed to

the community as far as our position and what we will and won't do. Um, so just wanted to acknowledge those comments that were made tonight and that we'll get that up and I apologize for not getting it up sooner. We're also working on some of our other social media outreach so that when we post just on our website, it goes out to whatever your preferred social media platform is so that we're getting information out to as many people as possible. Uh, and then regarding the buses, they do have bus cameras and we do there is an RCW that says once we're notified by the school district of a violation that we have so many days to write that infraction and do the investigation. And the other thing secondly regarding traffic, yes, there is a lot of traffic. We know this and this is part of the challenge of being a small community is that we're trying to circle the wagons around Milton. And I proudly think it's quite obvious when you leave the city of Milton, when you've entered into another jurisdiction because behavior is more aberant than it is in the city of Milton. And in fact, good or bad, we had some of our officers speaking to a criminal justice group down in F, which was the school. And the school remarked to the officers that were down there speaking that everybody knows you don't speed in Milton and you don't do crime in Milton because the Milton police will arrest you. And so this is very prevalent to uh the surrounding communities that Milton is not a place uh that you can come and and not be accountable for your behavior. But just a little no noted thing here as II continue to monitor our traffic cameras. Oh, and I forgot to speak. Our data is a closed loop system. So our information will never be shared with the feds. So that was the first thing I verified when we when flock cameras started uh having issues. I looked at our camera system to make sure that it was a closed loop and that information is proprietary to the city of Milton. So, I want to ease any of those concerns that somehow the feds

would have access to our data, which they will not. Uh the other but going back to the camera program, um in two months, we've had half a million and a half people pass through our camera system. It's amazing.

A million and a half. So wrap your mind around that. Uh we've out of those million and a half, we've most people are following the rules. And so out of that million and a half, we've only had 5,319 infractions issued. Um so I will continue to update council uh about the camera program and how much revenue we're generating. But again, one of the other things we're monitoring as we talked about is who's coming through our city and uh between January and February, uh Auburn uh was the number one, F was number two, uh Palop and Edgewood were number three, Federal Way was number four, and Bonnie Lake was number five. So again, it's interesting how Google Maps or whatever programs they're using redirect people through the city of Milton as a bypass to try to get around heavy traffic congestion.

And uh so just wanted to give you these little uh tribute pursuit so to speak to for inquisitive minds about the traffic and what you're seeing. And as when the mayor had ran for his office, one of the things that he had ran on is that he was going to have a traffic officer. And we do have that dedicated traffic officer who is out there uh doing traffic stops. I was looking at the data today and last year looking at the the tally, we done over 6,000 traffic stops. So they are out there hitting the traffic. And uh anybody that lives in the city, drives around, probably is noted that the police officers are they're everywhere and they're out there working. Um and then that was one of the other things I was running the data proactively. Our police officers are are batting average about between 75 and 80% proactivity, meaning they're out there doing traffic stops and doing other checks for looking for bad actors. With that, you see something, say something. Together, we're stronger. So, keep up the good communication and we are the people. So, keep it up.

Thank you, Chief.

All right. Um, I only have one thing uh to bring up uh this evening, and it's that is that um I'm working on putting together our council retreat for uh for this year. Um, we're going to have a uh facilitator uh for the first time in a while, I believe. Uh, and and uh I'm trying to work around that facilitator's availability. And so, um, I'm hoping to get some input, and it doesn't have to be tonight. You can u take away a couple of dates and and get back to me and let me know which uh which one or both uh if they would work for you. But we're uh we're looking at uh Saturday, April 11th or Saturday, April 18th. If you could uh take those dates away with you and see if uh if we could all make one of those dates work, I'd appreciate it. Um and with that, um I don't have anything else. And uh I What time is it? It's 8:34 and this