City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 7 p.m. on Monday, March 16th, 2026, and I call this regular city council meeting to order. Um, Council Member Hall, will you lead us in the flag salute? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all.

Note for the record that all council members are present this evening. Um, and for staff we have planning manager Stalenecker, finance manager Robek, and police chief Hernandez. Uh, next item on the agenda is citizen participation. Do we have the signup sheet?

Thank you. All right, we have uh Bill Myers. Welcome, sir. Like to talk about the easy fiber installation on our street. Back last year, salesperson told us that we would never know that they were there. That'll never be. During the installation of the cable conduit in front of the house, instead of going under the sidewalk tunneling like they were, they decided for some reason, I do not know why, they had to dig a trench in my front yard. After digging the trench, they then installed a uh utility vault 15x 22 approximately, 5 1/2 ft from the driveway, 11 inches from the sidewalk in my front yard. My front yard slopes towards the sidewalk. the utility boxes level sticks out like a sore thumb. Now, according to the paperwork in the franchise agreement, it said um we should have no notice of work 24 hours prior to entering private property or streets. Public easements adjacent to or on such private property. Notice shall be physically posted upon the affected property by franchisee. A door hanger is permissible. The franchisee shall make good faith effort to comply with the property owner's residents preferences if any on location of placement of underground installations of course excluding material lines aerial lines and utilizing existing poles and existing cable paths. That was not done. I was home. They knew I was there. They dug the trench. They backfilled it. When they backfilled it, they just threw the dirt back in. put in 5/8 minus, which is not something you grow grass in, and then put the grass clumps back on. Very sloppily, uneven, and unprofessional.

The placement of the vault was never discussed with me. Not once. That is unsatisfactory. 5/8 minus, if you're not aware, is basically a rock product that is screened through a 5/8 inch screen and it has fines in it. There's no nutrients, there's no soil, there's nothing in it. It's a compactable material that is excellent for driveways, sidewalks, foundations, of walls, so on and so forth. But it's not good for growing grass. You can't grow grass in it. Grow weeds through it in my front yard now. Unsatisfactory. The people that did this with the subcontract horizontal technologies. Easy Fiber is the the contractor doing the work and they had a subcontractor doing it. That's not permissible. the oversight should have been there to keep them from doing that. Also, I contacted public works and somebody to come out to and talk to me yes or uh Thursday and we talked about the entire project and um so he said, "Okay, well, I can have them sprinkle some more soil, top soil down and put grass seed down." The problem is they didn't do the job right in the first place. They're putting a band-aid on an arterial wound. They could have put that box in a number of places. They tore up my sidewalk right where the cable went through it. They could have put the box there. They could have put the box to the north side where the wall was that goes down the street. They didn't do that. Also, when they did dig the hole at the north side by the wall, I know I'm going over. I'll finish up quickly. They uh ended up damaging some perforated pipe as a drain behind the rock wall that goes up the street. They didn't fix that. I know that for a fact. They just covered it up. their work is unsatisfactory and the city needs to have better oversight.

Thank you, sir. If you could get your contact information to me before the uh end of the meeting, I'll follow up with you. Okay. Um afterwards, thank you. Okay. Um is there anyone else who uh didn't get to sign up on the sheet that would like to speak today?

Mr. Bole. Thank you, mayor, council, and staff for the opportunity to speak. Tom Bole, 1109 9th Avenue in Milton. And thank you again for your continued service to the citizens of Milton. Sounds like I'm beating a dead horse here, but I came up to talk about Sleazy Fiber Network, our contractors. Uh uh I got neighbors calling me about blocked roadways and properties without giving notice. um you know, is firet trucks going to be able to get in and through out of there? Uh no notices to people. Um and then another concern is who'll be inspecting their finish work, and this gentleman was speaking of that, such as landscape res restoration, traffic rated junction boxes in the rightway, sidewalk panel replacements, and paving. And then also, who's going to pay for our city resources to inspect these? I mean, was this figured into this contract with these people? Because before everything went overhead and it didn't seem to be that much impactful to the citizens and now with this going underground, um it's going to tap our resources for inspections, uh going to complaints such as this gentleman had, I'm sure there's a hundred other people that are complaining. Um it looks as if they're coming down my road, brand new paved road three years ago. God bless the city of Milton. I'll tell you what, I will be there with before and after pictures and this will return uh to better than when they started when they're done. Um, but like I said, I know from I've been reading the previous minutes and I know this isn't news to any of you. So, I hope this is being uh taken seriously. Uh, my n last thing, I got a minute left. I'm stepping down midterm as a planning commissioner. Uh I said myself I had

always finished my term uh but I have to give up. The house bills coming down from Olympia are unaggreeable to me. They're being forced on the city of Milton which is affecting our decision making for the vision of our city moving forward. Um last page. uh and my vision of maintaining a safe, stable, close-knit community. Uh I've been a distraction to my fellow commissioners during meetings with my rants. And after 15 years or so, my heart just isn't in it anymore. Um I can't continue to fight the good fight any longer. Uh thank you all and God bless America.

Thank you, Mr. oil. I must say I'm sorry to hear uh you leaving the planning commission. Um anyone else that didn't sign up like to speak? All right, seeing none, uh we'll move on to additions and deletions. Are there any requested additions or deletions to the agenda? Seeing none, um, is there anyone else who would like a topic added to the agenda? Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Does anyone want to pull an item off the consent agenda? All right, then I would entertain a motion. Council

member consent agenda. Second. All right. It's been moved by Council Member Whan and seconded by Council Member Hall. Um, all in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay. The first item on the regular agenda today is item six uh on page 27. Uh it is a reappointment to the civil service commission and uh it will be for Kelly Talbot. Kelly Talbot has served on the civil service commission since 2022. Kelly is an informed and contributing member to the civil service and we are lucky to have her uh want to continue in her capacity for another term. I'm recommending Kelly Tablet for reappointment to the Civil Service Commission. Council member Whan

make a motion to approve. Second move to approve Mayor White's reappoint of Kelly Talbert to civil service for a term to expire March 2032. Second. Uh, Council Member Whan, would you like to speak to your

Well, what can I say? I I believe that um what has been done on the um civil service side is quiet and a little bit beyond. We don't hear a whole lot about it, but what we do hear is very positive and she's been a part of that and I think she's worthy of continuing to be a part of that. Thank you. Council member Roberts, would you like to speak to your second?

Sure. Um, so Kelly has served for four prior years and I think it's important that we have people that have experience in these positions. So, I think it's a good move to have uh Kelly for another additional uh what is that? Six years. So, um yeah, I think it's a a good idea. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Is the applicant here? It's here. Okay. All right. It's uh been moved by council member Whan and seconded by council member Roberts to approve my appointment of Kelly Talbett to the civil service for a term to expire March uh 2032. All in favor?

I. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. The next item on the agenda is item 6B on page 31 and it is an appointment to the planning commission. Uh Jackie Strader is a 33-year resident of the city of Milton who has a desire to participate in the land use issues that Milton is facing. Jackie has presented numerous comments relating to various land use issues over the years and now wants to become involved at the planning commission level. Jackie has attended a meeting and as required and I recommend her for appointment to the planning commission to fill uh one of the two vacant positions. I'd entertain a motion. Yes, Council Member Whan. I'd like to go to directly to move to approve the mayor's appointment of Jackie Strader to the planning commission for a term to expire May 31st, 2031.

Council member Whan, would you like to speak to your motion?

I've known Jackie Strader for I don't know 25 years or something. I don't remember when we first met, but I know her dedication to the accuracy of the um councils and the city's position on a lot of issues have been enhanced by her participation in defining what she understands. She's been very dedicated to the city of Melton for quite a long time and I think this is an appropriate um determination to put her on the uh planning commission. Thank you. Council member Mouse, would you like to speak to your second?

I just want to say thank you for your willingness to serve. Any further discussion? Seeing none, it's been moved by council member Whan, seconded by council member Mounts uh to approve my appointment of Jackie Strader to the planning commission for a term to expire May 31st, 2031. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Oh, sorry. Would you like to uh come up and tell us Yeah, tell us about yourself.

All I can say is thank you. Um, and I'm retired now. So, good or bad for y'all, I can dig in even more. So, thank you. And land use is one of my um passions because I moved to Milton in 93 because the when we pulled up to the house, it was like we're going to have a park as our yard. And um we stopped looking and we were lucky to get it. And I have not regretted living here every day. I love Milton. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you so much for stepping up to volunteer.

All right. The next item is item 6C. Um the planning commission work plan. Uh and that is going to be uh Angelie Stalenecker is going to tell us about this item. Thank you. Thank you, mayor and council. Um, so each year, um, we have brought the proposed work plan to the city council. The planning commission's job is to do research and give recommendations on things related to land use, zoning, subdivision, and the wetland critical areas chapters. And so um before you is the um recommended work plan for the 2026 year. Um the items proposed are attached. The council you are allowed to add or remove any of the items and set priorities if it's necessary, if you feel necessary. Um if you wish to add or subtract, it would be done by either consensus or by modifying the motion. Um last year the planning commission completed the following items. We did a an update so to the comprehensive plan and some related zoning amendments. We did um a couple corrections to the zoning code table of uses. We did the critical areas update which was required by the state. We added a unit lot subdivision code and co-living amendments. Um, again, those were new things that were allowed by the state and so we um passed our um amendments to make sure that that reflected the process that we wanted for Milton. For 2026, we were basically just provo pro uh proposing carryover items that we didn't get to or finish from

last year. Um, one of the things last year was the landscaping to to kind of update it, modified it. within that is the protection of the significant tree code. The planning commission after kind of reviewing it, we have pulled that section out and we're doing a standalone significant tree code section which we are currently working on. So that's been just sort of added as its own mine. We would like to again finish off the landscaping. We need to make sure that the parking standards when we did the full update in 2024, some of the parking standards don't match that. So that needs to be updated this year. Um we last year started working on design standards basically sort of using the existing uptown design standards to see if we would like to spread those to just across the city for commercial buildings, multifamily buildings. And then annually the city considers any once a year you get to consider comp plan amendments both if there was any private applications and anything that the city sees. Um, usually we update the six-year um, capital facilities plan to make sure that that's current so that we're eligible for all the grants. And then usually there's some related zoning refinements. Um, this does not prevent either the planning commission or the city council from if something comes up that we feel like needs to be added, um, that can be always added at a later date. But this gives us both staff and the planning commission a clear direction of where um oh I did forget to add the other the last one was short-term rentals. It was on a lower priority last year with the council but it did stay on. Um so again this just gives planning commission and staff a clear direction of what we should be working on and it lets the city council kind of know what we're working on that hopefully they have um know what's coming down later. Thank you.

All right. I'd entertain a motion. Council member Hall move to approve the 2026 planning commission and work plan. Second.

It's been uh moved by Council Member Hall and seconded by Council Member Whan. Uh Council Member Hall, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes. Um, I'd like to thank the planning commission. Um, this is very important to the city. Um, parking standards is high on my priority list. Um, just because of way people are parking, going the wrong way. Um, parking backing in and using the rideway as a parking spot. Car after car after car, especially up on Maine. Um, it's hard for a walker because you have to go around those cars.

I will clarify that it's parking on the private property, not the street parking, but yes, it it's still Oh, it is. It is. Yeah, it's for develop. It's the private parking side, not the street parking side. So, just to clarify that for you. I thought we had that already as far as how many you could have. So, um, per we have a a parking code. Um, it doesn't match up perfectly with the new table of uses.

Um, it's been a while. So, we want to just sort of update. So, mainly it would be for new development, making sure that it meshes um with any new development that it again that it matches the use table. Um, and is those are those still the standard best numbers? So I thank you for bringing that up so I could clarify that it's private property. Street parking is actually not a planning commission thing. So that's something that's under um police and isn't a part of the code that doesn't need to go through the planning commission. So we should have that already in code then. Yeah. Okay. I appreciate that. Council member Whan, would you like to speak to your second?

No, I do not. Okay. Council member Cedar.

Yeah. Uh, thanks for bringing this forward again and all the work you do. Um, regarding the parking standards, I recall some discussion when we were working on the comp plan about revisiting the um, kind of commercial area parking to essentially allow overlap parking and commercial uses. Well, not really using the correct phrase, I don't think. But would would this be part of that or is this solely for residential uh, parking standards? So the uptown district um already with the so the uptown district has its own design guidelines and standards and in those um it doesn't have a set numeric standard. It has sort of because there's assumption that you've got these malls that are all sort of sharing parking that they just have to demonstrate that there's adequate parking for what's going on. So it already kind of has that. Um, one of the things that we did talk about with the planning commission, um, like I said back in 2024 was, um, maybe coming up with an alternative option where, you know, have basic standards, make sure those are current, but also maybe, um, have an option that says they could do a study because not every business lines up perfectly. And if they can say, "Hey, we think you're, you know, because of what we're building, we think you're asking for too many parking spots." they could maybe demonstrate that they don't need that many. Um, especially when you get into multif family, there's a big difference between apartments that are three-bedroom and things that are studios. You you you know, and we just sort of like here you everything's the same. So, there was some flexibility that we had discussed maybe building into that or giving some alternative options. Um, but specifically for the uptown along Meridian, it already has it doesn't have set number. It has just sort of demonstrating that there's adequate parking. So the the thing that you were just talking about then that demonstrated need uh to potentially get an exception to kind of the the default

number is that what this is that will be part of it. So part of it is if you look at our use table when we updated it and then the parking has like uses and this is how many parking spaces they don't match. So there's a little we just ran out of time. So partially it's just matching that part of it's double-checking that if is there any new state laws? Is there new industry standards? We probably don't need parking for things that are businesses that no long exist. So some of it's clean up. Um some of it's making sure it matches. And then yes, some of it is looking at, you know, maybe allowing some um alternatives if they can demonstrate certain things. So great. Thank you. Any further discussions?

Yes, Council Member Roberts. Thank you, mayor. I just wanted clarification on the significant tree code just for my ignorance. I'm not really uh aware of what that is specifically.

So, under our current code um under our current landscaping, there's a section that talks about um significant trees and we sort of define them by a certain size, their diameter at standard height. Um it's it's we're looking at and then and that's kind of all it says and that you have to sort of replace it. If you take a tree down this side, you have to replace it with this many. Well, um one, obviously with some of the recent development, a lot of the trees that came down made people on the phone a lot with us. Um, two, the way it's written is it's very um it almost makes I mean like you end up, you know, if you have a property that has lots of trees and you're cutting down lots of trees, it may say you have to replant 187 trees. Well, I can't replant 180 trees. And so historically it's sort of like you kind on one hand you kind of lose some of that um because you you just reasonably can't under a good landscaping model do that. The flip side is if you have a property that has zero trees you don't have to do um any replacement. So, one of the things we're looking at is sort of there's different cities have adopted newer versions where there's sort of credits where in you know every new development needs to have so many trees. Um and so we're trying to look at that as a across the board we're looking at part of it will be um and again it's still sort of in the draft but our hope is that let's see it's March April that it would come to council end of April 1st of May is is the goal. Um, another thing we're looking at is still having a how do we prioritize maybe not, you know, the the way that we're doing it is even though we're saying you have to

replace all these trees, there's not a lot of stopping them from taking all the trees. And so part of what we're looking at is having some things that will emphasize if there are some big trees um you have to keep so many and you get sort of rewarded if you're keeping the bigger trees. Um and then also looking at having the next so you know like I said they're significant. There's also some of the cities have what's either a heritage or an exceptional tree, which is something that's like over 30 diameter and and that those would be even harder to to get rid of. They they would have a higher standard. So, trying to figure out how to protect the bigger trees, um require trees on properties that right now we really don't even require them as as much. You know, kind of balance that out. Um and then also part of the what we're looking at is saying also that um at the last Milton days my whole focus with the interaction was talking about tree canopy urban tree forest is putting in the the wording that and again this will all come to council to approve but our recommendation will be to then move forward with like an urban forestry plan. We have one that's sort of was adopted 1015 years ago that just sits I found in a drawer kind of thing is um figuring out a way to not only just sort of require replacement but protects what's here and hopefully expand our tree cuz Milton has a great tree forest but as they get bigger people get nervous and they start cutting them down and there's not a lot that makes them replace those. So looking at all of that picture of how to keep it and make it also equitable among all properties. Um and right now we don't do anything for single families. So maybe there are some things we do like if you add on or you know so yes it's it's the overall

picture is how do we protect what we have in in a reasonable um very manageable way. So very long answer response. I appreciate you. Yep. Yes. Council member Poor. Thank you, mayor. So, I see on here landscaping. I just wanted to clarify does uh roadside refues and litter and stuff like that fall within this or could you speak on kind of clarifying?

Yeah, so landscaping. So, again, the planning commission is looking at their their responsibility is three chapters. So, one is the environment. So, anything that is shorelines, critical areas, along creeks, along the lake, there are certain rules. Most of those are basically pretty tightly dictated by state and federal law to protect those things. So those are all there. And then it's also the subdivision which is dividing a property. The other one is the zoning land use. And so that covers anything that is private development. So anything from private houses being built to um you know the Sherwin Williams went in those are what that zoning covers. So within that is the landscaping, the parking, the design standards. All of those are when a a developer or a resident comes in and says, "Hey, I want to build this." These are the rules that they have to follow. So it's it's the parking lot landscaping. So like if you look at Sherwin Williams, you know, they had to put in certain trees around the perimeter. If they put in parking lots, you know, there's so many trees and landscaping that they're required. Um, and so again, ours is is it's a good landscaping, but again, it's nice to every so so often go through and sort of look at it. Um, again, there's a lot of stuff that um like landscaping basically says if you're a single family house, you're exempt from this. So, when people put in single family houses, there's really no requirements for landscaping. What I what I've done is say, "Hey, provide me one." So, I figure at least if they provide me one, there's no like standards necessarily, but at least if they're thinking about it and they provide me, oh yeah, and they we're going to put in bushes here and stuff, then I can then it's made them think about it and we don't get to the end and there's just dirt and I have to say, well, you have to do something. So there's things like that we would like

to again not we don't want to burden per se but we do want people to make sure that you know some of it is screening some of it is making sure that they have the vegetation so the um storm water has places to go. Um, so yeah, so it's just it's all dealing with private development, whether that's residential, commercial, industrial, but when somebody builds something new or expands, it's what are we requiring them to put in, whether that's trees, bushes, that kind of thing. And then the design is similar. That can be um how are we screening garbage cans, how are we screening drive-thrus, um are we is there a certain requirement for entrances or where the buildings are placed? And that's a fine line, too. Again, it's like you want some, but you don't want to be, you know, I don't think we're dictating what everybody's house looks like. But there might be some things to make, you know, if you have a certain trend that's just being thrown up, then maybe you you alter that a little bit. though our focus for design is more multifamily commercial industrial just to make sure that there's quality stuff because the residents of Milton are going to have to have that for hopefully decades where developer some are really good and some are not. So

thank you. You're welcome. Council member Whan did I see you had another question?

Yes and thank you. I just, you know, just a curious question and I know this stuff has come up rather recently, but I think we've always had a bit of a standard for um trees and so forth on residential properties or what was desired by the city to incorporate. I've got a lot next to me or a lot and a half. It depends upon how you judge that. that had um nine trees I think it was. They're all all gone. Nothing has been put in place to replace some degree of that type of vegetation in a residential uh environment. Why does that happen? Why why is it not required to return some trees to the property? They may not be in the same place because the house may be where a tree stood or four trees stood, but they've all been removed and nothing has been put in place to replace that canopy that you generally would desire to be on a residential piece of property. How does that happen? Why did that happen? You know the part the parcel I'm speaking about. Why has that been stripped of everything and nothing's been encouraged to be reinccorporated in that residential neighborhood? The way the current code reads, it says single family properties are exempt from the landscaping and significant tree code. So there is no rules for single family. Um, and so that's one of the, like I said, there's a couple reasons that this became a topic that we really wanted

both staff and planning commission want to address is um it it feels like single just because you're putting a single family, you shouldn't be able to do that. And so that's why we're looking at an um changing the code and beefing up the code to say it applies across the city. So, if you're building a single family home or you're building a duplex or you're putting in an ADU, we're going to look at it and say what do you we would we're going to make it the recommendation is going to be that it applies to those. It does not right now have any code that applies to it the way it is written. So, we're going to change that.

Is there anything in the code that requires some sort of tree vegetation on a on a single family lot? Is there anything on a lot that now has three single family homes on it, not individual parcels, but no trees? No, no replacement trees. Is that within our code?

The landscaping code exempts basically says this this section does not apply to single family properties. So anything that is zoned single family unless they're building like a church which is not single family is exempt. It does it specifically says single family this section does not apply to it and that's one of the reasons that's one of the recommendations is we're going to change that and ask council to pass rules that would apply for that. So this will come to the planning commission although what's done today you can't fix that because that was not in code and so forth but something will come to the planning commission and they'd be requested to strongly consider that some vegetation trees are on single family home

you know the single family lot because I'm not even sure about my neighbor who built three houses. It used to be a single lot. I don't know if it'd been divided into four lots. I don't know. I didn't think it had. So, if you put take all the trees out on a large property where one family one family house stood and now put three houses.

Yeah. And like I said that that is something that we we will start with the significant tree protection and um the recommendation I believe based on conversation at the planning commission is that the recommendation will be that every lot will have a requirement for um what they're saying the what we're looking at is like so many credits like um potentially it would be like one credit per uh 1,000 square ft. So, if you had an 8,000 foot lot, and I know I'm getting a little further out from just um the work plan, because this will come to a study session, like I said, either the end of April or the first or early May. Um but what we're they're looking at is it would be something like um you have to have one tree credit whether you have trees on your property or not, you have to have one tree credit for every,000 square ft. So, if it's an 8,000 square ft lot, you would need eight credits. Eight credit could be maybe you have a very large tree and our thing says if you retain this very large tree, that's five credits and then you only have to plant three smaller trees to get your eight credits. Or if it's a lot that has nothing, then you maybe you're planting eight small trees or four medium-sized trees to get those credits. That's what the planning commission. So we are um we are they've identified this as an issue and they are working really hard and they want to make sure on one hand they want to get something in place because they feel like there's a gap but they also want to make sure it's as you know a decent enough that that we're happy with it. So that's like I said I'm hoping in the um by May council will have it before them at the latest. So between now and then, if somebody comes in and builds and so forth, nothing that

the planning commission may incorporate in the future would be used by the a builder today until that has actually come from the planning commission saying what they want. Correct.

No, it just u and and you get around the city and so forth. You can see that the D tree the D the elimination of some large trees in the city and so forth has taken up considerable. It's happening on the corner of Porter and Milway. It's happening on my block and it's happening elsewhere. So I don't think you can do it rapidly enough to incorporate in the very near future development. But you're looking at beyond that. You're looking at a time and date where something like this may be u authorized by the or I should say discussed by the planning commission and we would come to the council and we would justify that this would be a right thing to do but that might be months months or a year away. We're hoping to um the hope is to have the planning commission is planning on there the hope is to have them recommend their draft their proposal at the April meeting. They're actually have several of them have agreed to um do sort of a subcommittee to work on that before that. If they make that recommendation at the April meeting, um I believe then it would be on the study session in April for council. Council could adopt it by May. This significant tree portion.

Well, it is significant and I'm pleased to understand now the time frame is a lot closer than what I normally understand can occur at the planning commission. It could be a year out before, but if it's if we're talking about four months, 3 months, that's fairly significantly in rapid. So, thank you for understanding that. Any additional discussion, questions, council member Turnis.

I was just curious about the property that has been on Porter and Milton Way, the removal of all the trees there. I believe it is apartment complex that is going in there. And so are they exempt from having to put any trees back into that property? No, they will be replanting trees. And then also you said the exemption for churches. So does that apply to the church that is on Milton Way that they're building the school church combination?

So um the only the only thing that So single family properties that are building single families or duplexes don't um the landscaping and the snake trees don't apply. The church Yes. the church will be having they have a significant landscaping plan replanting of trees that they will be doing. They're not going to do that till the end because obviously they don't they don't want to damage all that but they will have a um a pretty significant landscaping buffer all the way around the property and they are repl and they're I believe they just started work this week on they have to improve the critical wetland area. So, no, they they have to and yes, the apartments have to. So, there is some it's just there's some things we obviously would like to do better and there's also things we'd also like it to apply to residential. So,

thank you. You're welcome. Any further discussion? All right. This is an action item. Um, are there any comments from the public? Seeing none, um it's been moved by Council Member Hall and seconded by Council Member Whan to approve the 2026 Planning Commission work plan. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. The next item on the agenda is on page 39, the fireworks enforcement officer update, and it's going to be presented by Chief Hernandez. Good evening, council and distinguished guests. Um, I brought this before you at our last council meeting just to give you uh a brief summary for those of you that were not in attendance at the last meeting. The city passed an ordinance 213125 on December 1st, 2025 that gave the enforcement authority of the to the fire chief in regards to um enforcing a ban on fireworks in the city of Milton. in discussions with the fire chief, he would rather designate the authority to the police chief. The ordinance is a housekeeping item that corrects the enforcement authority to the correct person. Uh because currently we don't have the correct person designated as the enforcement authority. There is nothing else that is changing in the fireworks ordinance except this item. The item was previously presented to council in the March 9th study session. And again, a brief overview under Milton Municipal Code Chapter 8.04, 4. The city of Milton used to allow the sale and purchase and the use of consumer fireworks within city limits. An advisory vote was placed before the voters during November 4th, 2025 in the uh general elections. A yes vote meant the voter was in favor of prohibiting the sale and purchase of use of consumer fireworks within the city of Milton. The results from the advisory vote indicated that the majority of voters supported prohibiting the sale and possession and discharge of consumer fireworks within the city of Milton. the total combined vote between Pierce and King County uh equaled approximately 55.9% were in favor of banning fireworks in the city of Milton. So uh tonight I bring this back to you to uh amend the ordinance that was passed December 1st and provide the correct enforcing

authority i.e. the police chief. So I'm looking for an action. All right. Would anyone like to make a motion? I move to approve ordinance. Oh, sorry. 2135-26 as presented. Council member Poor, I will recognize you to make a motion. We had recognized you as Thank you. I move to approve ordinance 2135-26 as presented. Thank you, mayor.

All right. It's been u moved by council member poor and uh seconded by council member mounts. All right. Um council member poor, would you like to speak to your motion? Thank you, mayor. Uh and thank you, Chief Fernandez. appreciate your presentation at the uh study session and absence absent of a better option and also having the benefit of hopefully freeing the fire department up a little bit more for any issues that might come uh come up from the fireworks. I strongly support this.

Council member Miles, would you like to speak to your second? No. Okay. Any discussion? Council member

Whan, thank you. Thank you for the motions and so forth, but my understanding, why don't they help us? Why? It doesn't mean you're going to have somebody out there all the time. It means they could be a adjacent benefit to us if they participated to a degree if we can't get there. And the thing with fireworks is if you don't get there right away, you don't get any results from anybody going there. So, it's the faster can they find the time to participate with us to do this because you're overworked in some cases and that's been part of why the issue has always been a difficult one to the cops are on the street a lot more arresting people than the fire departments out there putting a fire out. It's just that's just the standards and so forth. So is there a way we can incorporate co enforcement between the fire department and the police department so that our coverage is now expanded as opposed to collapsed.

Uh we would have to approach them again, but uh the conversation that I had with the fire chief of uh East Pierce was that they were not interested in doing any kind of enforcement action. Uh he also talked about limited resources and staffing and that this is not a role that they want to be in. So we're happy with just saying oh okay we we again we'll do it all ourselves but we've not been very successful with it in the past. You can say things that I can't councilman. Pardon? You can say things that I can't.

Well and I'm not shy about doing that. But I you know I the participation I think should be covered by more than just the police department who's not a fire department and the fire department who is with fireworks and so forth probably responded to more things that we respond to as far as fires or or protecting the general public or neighborhoods and so forth. So um it's just a little I'm not happy with them walking away from a responsibility that we in the past had identified as them being a participant in doing it. They're just abandoning that. So that's my feeling. Um as it's stated here and so forth, I won't support this. I think they need to be a participant.

Any further discussion? See seeing none. This is a um this is an action item. Are there any comments from the public? Seeing none, it's been moved by um Council Member Poor and seconded by Council Member Mounts to approve ordinance 2135-26 as presented. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Opposed?

Okay. Motion passes uh six to one. All right, the last item on the agenda today is the uh misuse of the 911 service. Again, that's going to be presented by police chief Hernandez.

Good evening, council again and guests. Uh I'm bringing before you a new proposed ordinance Milton Municipal Code. Over the years, I have we have from time to time had individuals that don't seem to respect the 911 um dispatching services and at times will engage in harassing or menacing or rude behavior uh not really having an emergency. And so, uh it has come up again more frequently and I think it might just be symptomatic of the lack of respect that's going on through our throughout our country. And it's uh we have the need to go ahead and strengthen our code so that we have the ability to handle individuals that don't respect the appropriate uses of 911. And so what I put before you tonight is the a new code and a new ordinance. Uh and of course there is an exemption for people who in good faith really intend to request emergency services. So, this is in no way, shape, or form intended to discourage people who have a legitimate emergency, but it does give us a tool to be able to deal with individuals that have been warned uh to quit engaging in repetitive harassing or menacing behavior, tying up valuable um emergency resources. So, I'm asking for this tool for the police department so that we have the ability to deal with individuals that uh tie up our 911 services. Thank you, Chief.

Yes, I would accept a motion. Council member uh Turnis, I move to approve ordinance 2136-26 as presented. Second. All right. Uh it's been moved by Council Member Turnis and seconded by Council Member Council Member Hall. Uh Council Member Turnis, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes. Um, I think anything that helps have stronger consequences for something that can potentially be a life or death situation that they're interrupting. I think I strongly support.

Council member Hall, would you like to speak to your second? I actually talked to one of your officers when this right after this happened or when it was happening and understand the full scope of it and it totally makes sense um that you can't call other precincts, other cities looking for a better answer. So, thank you. Any further discussion? Council member Cedar. Uh full fully support this thing. It's great. Thanks for bringing it forth. Um, I'm really curious about the mechanics of how it would work.

Uh, well, someone would call and what we're talking about typically when if I'm going to describe the behaviors that we're trying to deter is individuals calling 911, screaming at the dispatcher, telling them to blankly blank themselves. Uh, and then when the dispatcher is trying to get their information, hang up on them, call them again, scream and yell at them. Uh, you know, say, "What are you reporting? Are you reporting an emergency?" and they're just um engaging in harassing behavior with no real purpose. There's no emergency, but the fact that someone has to answer the phone every time they call encourages that behavior. And so the process would be is that we dispatch would tell us, hey, this person has called again. We would either then go to where they're at or we would call them and tell them that they need to quit engaging in this type of behavior unless they have a legitimate emergency. Um, which usually is met with the same type of behavior back to us.

Uh, I guess well it just strikes me if it's a misdemeanor who there's no officer that observes the misconduct, right? Isn't that great? Well, it would be reported or not reported but forwarded to the prosecutor for review. Yeah. And again, it's one of those given the tool to Yeah, I hear you. to bring charges and tell and we would warn them and say, "Hey, we're going to forward charges the prosecutor of this behavior and if you don't stop, you could be charged with a misdemeanor." Well, and I appreciate the inclusion of the the civil penalty as well. I think that's a good, you know, hey, here's your ticket, right? You got that in the mail anyway. So, yeah, good stuff. Thanks for bringing this forward, chief.

Any further discussion, Council Member Roberts? So, I know a few uh 911 operators personally, and this is an extremely stressful job as I understand. So, any inconvenience of people calling, you know, just making crazy comments is added stress to them as well. So, just from the uh dispatcher's perspective, this should hopefully alleviate some of those stresses. So, thank you. Any further discussion? Council member Poor,

I want to say thank you for bringing this forward to everybody's attention and um I definitely support it. As somebody who has accidentally called 911 before, um I know that they have some better like mechanics with not letting that happen accidentally as much. But anyway, I appreciate that you put in um this kind of exception. looks like it's makes repeated calls. So if somebody accidentally calls and or like you said doesn't intend to call um the officer kind of has some discretion or you know a dispatcher on whether they're actually trying to abuse it or not. Um can you speak a little bit to that kind of intent that you talked about just for the public's kind of a benefit on what what uh fail safe you're talking about? Well, again, we do have 911 calls that are people that don't have legitimate emergencies, and a lot of times it can be what we refer to as a technical term, a butt dial. Uh, or we have children who like to play with the phone and don't realize that they're calling 911. Or we sometimes have individuals that have uh 911 on their watches or cell phones and they accidentally hit the wrong code too many times and it thinks they're having a medical emergency and it makes that false 911 call. That's not the type of individuals we're talking about. We're talking about abusive behavior, profane behavior, threatening behavior where they're threatening the dispatchers. um part of the time where they're threatening us, which is we're used to that. But uh calling uh the 911 service is not the appropriate venue for uh venting your frustration or just making comments because you know that they will have to pick up the phone and then they take it out on them for whatever reason that they're having a bad day.

Thank you very much. Any further discussion, Council Member Whan? And thank you and thank you for bringing this up. It's u it's a severe waste of time for people just to complain. It's a severe waste of time with our police department to respond to people who just complain and there's no benefit. So in putting in publication like this and so forth, what can happen if somebody does do that is very justified and it's a strength that you need and or the fire department needs if it's you know a fire somehow to u be assured that the general public or anybody in the general public abuses this and it needs to be very strict and this is a start if not complete but a start to do that. So thank you.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, this is an action item. Um are there any comments from the public? Seeing none, it's been moved by council member Turnis and seconded by council member Hall to approve ordinance 2136-26 as presented. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right, moving on to council reports. Council member Hall, did I start with you last time? I think so. I think so.

I'm going to move on to um Council Member Poor. Thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you for your patience earlier, too. Um just was uh think it'd be helpful because I know we've had a lot of crazy weather again, you know, when we had the um the floods before. Uh just getting a little bit of a check-in with um our planner at the next available opportunity would be helpful for us. Just seeing uh if if this is causing any additional issues or you know kind of what progress is on all that stuff. I'm I know he's already working on Council member Cedar, no report. Thank you. Council member Mounts,

no report today. Council member Turnis, um I just wanted to um just state that I too have been um noticing the easy fiber optic issues around the city of Milton. And I think it's definitely something that needs to be um specifically addressed with their company head on because I feel like it is a um an accident waiting to happen. Thank you, Council Member Roberts.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, so yesterday I was going for a nice brisk walk and I ran into uh council member Hall here and we were going down the inner urban trail and I'm sure the that Dustin and his team is aware of this, but there are many trees that are down and there's many trees that will be coming down that will be falling on the pathway. Um, probably three or four large trees that are on the brink of falling down. So, uh, definitely a safety issue. So, unfortunately Dustin's not here today, but uh we get that information relayed to him. Thank you, Council Member Whan.

And and thank you and thanks for everybody taking a moment to think about this. We've been they've done a lot of fiber optic installations within the city that goes on every place. I don't know if you've seen it all or not. One of the problems that I believe I'm seeing is they're they're putting covers on it just like you have on your water meter or on sewer lines. Just the but they're all at different heights down the street. It's not a consistent you you might say. Um I've got one on the corner of the street I'm at that is probably 6 in higher than a water meter connection. So you've got this pathway a a rightway. It's not street but it's a rightway. and they're undulating. And it this is something that I think the city should and I wish Dustin was here to discuss this is just to take a look at to see because they all should be at the same elevation just like the water meters are all at the same elevation down the street. So just something to look for look for in the future. Um the fiber optic I don't know if anybody was on Meridian and Milton Way today where they were putting the fiber optic in around the mobile gas station that was not very well managed well managed on the street side of it. they were good, doing good and so forth, but is there anybody there anybody that we have somebody who goes out and looks at these things in process because sometimes they're only there for a day

or two and then they disappear. It just in some cases it's is um difficult for the public to adjust to these things. When you cut one lane off on Meridian where you can't generally make a right-hand turn from the lane you're supposed to to get on Milton Way. It's not well managed. There should be somebody else out there that is in authority and can direct the traffic. Um they they've you might say made some street transiting in different areas a little bit difficult. WTC does a good job that they can do better. It's just an observation going around the city on 15th Avenue across the street from the community park. The building that was there is gone. took about three days to get the building out, clear the ground and so forth. And they're now putting in materials. Uh it's a a crush rock material that they're putting in and it's made it quite a different change in that area. So I think shortly we need to be mindful of what are we going to do once they've took the building out, put the gravel down, and where do we go from there? We're not going to hopefully leave that open without doing something within a few months. I don't know what the process is. I don't know what what you hear from the park board or the planning commission or anything what's going on there, but um it's a good change. It's going to be very productive, but I'm just curious of a time frame of what's going to happen next.

I'll find out for you. Um, uh, Dustin Madden is on vacation until next week. Thursday. Oh, good for him. Is it next week? Yeah. Uh, no, this week. Thursday. This week? Yeah, he'll be back Thursday. So, um, I'll I'll find out from him and get back to you.

And just a little followup discussion and so forth. Has everybody been aware of the changes that were took place in the 911 memorial in the community park? Have you stopped by and walked around it? I don't know. Take take your time to do it. It's a nice change and some of the hazards and I knew all the hazards with the metallic signs and so forth. What was a concern for the city has all been oblitimated and I think they've done a very good job. So if you do have the if you have it and if you do have the time just stop. It takes 10 minutes just to walk around that a positive change.

All right, Council Member Hall. Thank you.

Uh so yes, I did go down to the trail after work on Friday and um it was flooding. Um a tree had slid off the hillside. Uh at that point I stopped and called 911, said, you know, non-emergency. Uh let them know. Uh they were going to send the fire truck out, but this called the back and they go, "Oh, don't wait. Um they're doing something else." And in the meanwhile, I walked farther up and another tree had completely completely covered the trail, went through the fence, turned around, went back down between um Kent and uh Porterway, and another one had slid off the hillside. Um so I yes, you know, I went Saturday, not much had changed. I understand, you know, city's busy and it's expensive to call city employees in. Um, but yesterday, one tree disappeared and then today I went down and not only were the trees gone, but they blew off the whole trail. So, the city is amazing. I mean, to get that whole trail cleaned up in that amount of time in one day is amazing. So, I really appreciate that. Um but yes, there are quite a few trees that are looking very very unstable um on those hillsides. And that one that did come down the hillside, there's one that's right on top of it. And I would bet that thing's going to come down and it's right in front of the uh main portaotti there on the trail. It's just look up the hillside, you'll see it. Um another one is I've got comments about um temporary signs going up along Milton Way. Um, Easy is one of the ones. Um, and their signs are even out of code. They're too they're too big.

Um, so there was four in the street yesterday on 23rd. I picked them up um because people were driving over them with the the the metal post in it. Um, put them in the garbage can by the skate park. There's a couple more coming down Milton going west um between the um coffee and the church there. Um so it they just turn into trash. There's one up by um Spuds. There's two up by Spuds, too. Um they just, you know, people take them down, they get thrown in the streets. I put them on the side thinking maybe they come pick them up and realize they shouldn't be there, but then you find them in the street again. So, that's concerning. Uh, another one problem is easy again. Um, their rideways, they've tore up the rideway with their big trucks and so I'm moving out of the way of traffic. I'm going, they're coming at me or a car is coming at me and I'm stepping in three inches of mud. Um, so I think they've got to come back and clean up those rideaways, too. And I know they're working on it and it's something they'll probably have to do at a later date. But that's Thank you for city for taking care of the city over the weekend. Appreciate it.

Great. Now moving on to director reports. Uh, PL planning manager staller.

Um, yes. So, um I can give a couple of responses. Um as the mayor said, um Dustin, public works director Dustin Madden's on vacation this week. Um I can tell you that they have both Dustin and Val Boozenov and Ken and they have met with Easy Fiber on multip they stopped work ordered on most of all the projects at one point. Um, I think there's still a stop work order on a few. They finally got it enough that they did talk to the higherups, not just the subcontractors. Obviously, they're still having issues. I do know that we have find them. I do know that we are continuing to work with them. So, just letting you know that we are again it that's the public works department, but they are learning and they are talking to other cities to try to fine-tune how we handle this and they are continuing to work with them to hopefully resolve as many as them we can. Um, but yes, it is unfortunate. um which I know um council member um Hall knows this, but if you do see things like trees down, branches, things that might be dangerous in the streets, um if it's during the you know, obviously you can always call 911 non-emergency. Um you can also call public works the ops number and um Carina will be happy to um work on work orders so that the crew knows that those things are out there. Um uh just to add to you were um council member Whan had asked about the community billing. I do I think Madden had said that the parks committee was going to have a recommendation I think coming

I would imagine so I just don't know the time frame.

Yeah. So I think they're going to have a recommendation for what to do with that property. Um and then um my one planning thing um so just uh our Jaden Ripley has been our permit technician for the last two plus years. Um she has recently taken another job. So we do have a opening um that we will I think it closes at the end of the month. It's a great starting entry level job looking for people who have office skills. Um, government or contractor experience is a plus, but not guaranteed. So, if there is anyone that you know in the area or in the community that might want that, it's a great, like I said, it's a great opportunity for someone. So, and they get to work for me.

Thank you. Uh, finance director Rob. No comment.

Okay. And chief Good evening, council. Just wanted to give you an update. Uh you will be seeing a new truck ordinance coming in the next couple of weeks. Um and because again, we found out that our code needed to be strengthened and define what a truck was by gross axle weight. And so I've been working on that with our attorney uh to get that accomplished. And so you'll be seeing that in the next couple of weeks. And then I just wanted to pass along um a good for you. We had a uh drug bust uh last year on a traffic stop and the end result of this conclusion of the case which was just uh finished about uh two weeks ago. Uh, the case included a Glock 22, 100 or $1,280 in cash, 602 fentanyl pills, 411 Xanax pills, 5 ounces of fentanyl powder, uh, which was 174 grams, 28 grams of methamphetamine, 332 grams of marijuana, cracked cocaine, and miscellaneous unknown pills. And um in the end, this individual, and I want to make it clear that this was a person that was not um struggling with addiction. This was a person who was a dealer in death and addiction to vulnerable people. And so, rightly so, this individual finally it caught up with him. He was also a suspect in a murder in another jurisdiction. And our case combined with another case from another jurisdiction, he ended up getting 31 years. On our case alone, he got a 100 months added to his 23-year sentence. Um, so I've got the photos. I'll pass him around. You can see what we deal with on a regular basis. Uh, the other thing I'll say is he was not a Milton resident. And so this is one of the things that we talk about that we deal with all the time is

that we're trying to preserve a way of life here. and our police officers are out there doing a great job. So, if you see them, thank them for their tireless efforts and all the things that they're dealing uh with uh because this is not an easy job, believe it or not. And Washington state still ranks as one of the lowest police officers per capita in the entire country. So, we want to do everything we can to encourage our young fine women and men to continue to stay here in the city of Milton and make it the the best place to live. So with that, if you say something, see something.

Thank you, Chief. Um, I don't have much. I just wanted to I've talked to a couple of you already. Um, but as of 6:30 today, all of the council's email has been changed from cityofmilton.net to miltonwah.gov. So, uh, it's possible that the system will log you out and force you to log back in again. Use the new email address, uh, at uh, miltonwa.gov. When you sign back in, your uh, password will remain the same. All right. And, uh, I see Olaf here. If you, if you want to try it before you leave and there's problems, he can help. So all right.