City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah, we can ask. Okay, cool. Way back out. Yeah, I will start. It's uh 6 p.m. on Monday, April the 13th, 2026. And I call this study session to order. I want to thank everyone for uh joining us this evening. Uh would you please join me in the flag salute and council member Cedar will you lead us please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right. And for uh for the record, uh Council Member Whan is absent this evening. And um for staff, we have uh planning manager Stalcker, uh public works director Madden, Finance Director Roec, and Police Chief Fernandez. All right. First item on the agenda uh this evening is a presentation by Sound Transit.

All righty. Thank you, Mayor White and council members. Uh my name is Matthew Mau. I am the government and community relations director for Pierce County for Sound Transit. I met some of you in my previous role uh when I worked for the Port of Tacoma. Um but I've been here for about five months and so I'm taking the opportunity to come and say hello to you. I gave a stack of cards to Angelie and hoping she'll hand those out to you later so you have my direct contact information should you have any questions about uh this project or anything Sound Transit related. So, um with that being said, I'm going to real quick talk about our agenda that we have for you today. I'm going to real quick talk about the enterprise initiative. Some of you may have heard about the uh Sound Transit Board is uh undergoing because we've got some cost constraints that are um currently in the news. Uh then my colleague Kathy Leotaa right here um is going to go over the remainder of the agenda to talk about the Tacoma Dome link extension uh and its impacts to the city of Milton uh along with some station access and spring community engagement stuff as well as uh um any um upcoming information for the project and then we'll have a robust question and answer time as well if you guys have any. So um real quick I'll go straight into the uh enterprise initiative. Some of you may have heard uh we are facing a $34.5 billion um what's the word I'm looking for funding gap uh in between the um dollars that we have coming in and the dollars that we have um expected to pay out for all of the Sound Transit 3 uh projects. Uh the enterprise initiative uh is an effort to deliver the greatest benefits uh to Sound Transit 3 within the available uh financial structure. Um the board has so far found about $4 billion um in some savings and some cost uh reallocation. And we have a little bit of a um oh go next here. Uh this is a really good

visual to kind of understand the uh scope of the of the issue. And just like all of the other municipalities in the region, we've had some issues with uh inflation, cost, uh overruns, um labor, um and so we've got a pretty um major problem ahead of us. So everything that you see in that brown uh is what we don't expect to have the uh capacity to currently uh pay for. Um and so we are exploring lots of different options. Um mainly in in that is uh readjusting our capital program. We've got a lot of other um uh uh issues that we are working through mainly uh internal. So we last year or last time we did this in 2021. Does it just do that or did I do that? Okay. Um in 20 there we go in 2021 when we did the realignment it was mainly capital focused but this one is going to be operations focused in um internally uh as well as our finance um and uh and the capital program as well. Um, next step, the board is currently undergoing um some um internal uh research among themselves to figure out what they um plan to do in the future and and what uh adjustments to the Sound Transit 3 plan will be made. They're hoping to make those by the end of Q2 2026. in particular for Milton. Um none of the approaches that they're uh researching right now would affect um the alignment coming through in its current form in the city of Milton. So there are some that you may have seen in the news where it's going to stop in five as opposed to Tacoma. That was obviously one of the options among many that were um researched, but all of the options um that are on the table as far as um I am concerned and and know would still go through the city of Milton as currently designed. Um okay, so next up we'll go to Kathy with the TDLE update and then we'll be here for questions as well.

Oh, I'm sorry. We do have one other Lauren Lauren Douglas is our planning manager for the Tacoma Dome Link project and she's our phone a friend as uh if Kathy or I don't have a answer to one of your questions. So go ahead. Okay. Wait time. Um hey it's good to be back here. I think I was here last time uh about a year, a little more than a year ago after we uh released our draft EIS and I know some uh new council members here, but I'm really happy to be back to provide you an update at this time.

Okay. Uh yes, thank you. So, uh for here's a a refresher. This is our uh project project overview. Um our this new extension would begin in uh from the downtown Federal Way Station which just opened up a few months ago and it's the green line shown in this map. It would extend all the way down to Tacoma. Uh it's 8 8.5 mile extension, four stations, one in uh South Federal Way, F and uh two in Tacoma from where we are right now. F would be the closest station. uh forecasted service date is 2035 with uh parking at the at the F station and South Federal Way Station uh projected to be in 2038. We're currently in the uh environmental review phase and advancing the design. So when it's all built, the the light rail from the F station to CATC airport would be 27 minutes. And the really nice thing about that is it doesn't matter what's happening on I5 how bad congestion is. It's always going to be 27 minutes. And of course residents of Milton are not going to want to just go to the airport. They're going to want to go to Tacoma to South. They're going to want to go to all the way to Lynwood, Belleview, Redmond. All of that will be uh available to your residents and eventually all the way to Everett, all the way to Ballard, West Seattle, and and Isiqua as well. One note um the shaded brown section on this map represents the boundary of the Puallup uh tribe of Indians. There were this project also includes uh two stations on uh reservation land in uh at Fif and Portland Avenue. Next slide please. Okay, there we go.

It's got to be an internet lag. our overall uh project timeline. Well, you also have your hand out here, so I'll just I'll just continue talking. Uh overall project timeline. We are in the planning phase, the tail end of the planning phase uh up at the top. Next year, we expect to enter into the final design phase and then uh in construction. So I mentioned uh we were last here after release of the draft EIS last year after uh receiving public input on that the board identified the preferred alternative which was that green line that you saw in the map uh I just shared. Now we're in phase three which is final EIS and preliminary preliminary engineering. What we mean by preliminary engineering is our we're advancing the design of the project from a 10% level of design to 30% which certainly gives us more certainty on the project but there's still quite a bit more design work that has to continue during the final design phase. So uh next year we'll publish the final EIS. The board will select the project to be built and then uh the FTA will issue a federal record of decision and that federal record of decision concludes the NEPA seipa process with the FTA. Next slide please. Okay. So just a little bit more on the current phase that we're in. I've talked about advancing the design uh further to get more certainty on it. We're also as part of completing the environmental review process, we're um studying all the things. If you've had a chance to either create or or review a draft EIS or final EIS, you know that there are many many elements in the natural and build environment that that the EIS studies um and then identifies potential

mitigation for. I'm just going to mention a couple of them right now. One is uh wetlands. Uh where we can't avoid impacting wetlands, we try to minimize the impact and then we mitigate the impacts that we do have. This is one of the topics of active conver discussion we're having with the city including with the city's wetland consultant. Um another factor that are we look at in the EIS is noise. Uh we have we look at something called sensitive noise receptors which are schools, libraries, residences and if it's determined that there are noise impacts to these sensitive residences, we mitigate that typically for our light rail project by um building a a about a 4ft tall barrier on the side of the uh guideway of the light rail train. and talk a little bit about planning for construction, which is we we're definitely in the early phases of planning for construction and we certainly don't have things figured out, but this is another topic of conversation that we're just about to launch with the city um and with WASHDOT as well. So, our priorities as we plan for construction are to manage traffic during construction. we may need to look at implementing lane closures. Lane closures, the the the thought behind lane closures would be to um try to get as much of this construction done within the existing ride of way to reduce some of the impacts to the um businesses on the side of the of SR99. In this case, we also need to maintain emergency vehicle access at all times and maintain access to business and businesses and residents. Um, finally, uh, communication with businesses and

residents throughout the construction uh, period and a two-way communication because we need to hear if there are things not going well or concerns. I did um, hand out this. It's a little two-pager that describes in a lot more detail what um businesses and residents can expect during construction. Okay, next slide. Okay, so now I'm going to uh talk a bit more about what's um happening here in Milton as far as what we think is going to be uh the uh likely issues that will come up. So this map shows the preferred alignment in Milton. Just for context, the the entire alignment for Tacoma Dome Link Extension, as I mentioned, is 8 and a half miles. Through Milton, we're looking at about 1 and a half of those 8 and a half miles. So, in this map, north is oriented to the left side of the page. That's where the uh Federal Way, the county border. So at that point, the alignment is transitioning from the west side of SR99, crossing over SR 999 to then travel along the east side of 99. It stays on the east side uh quite close to Pacific Highway until about 400 ft south of Birch Street where it then um veers away from uh Pacific Highway to travel closer to I5. This map also shows um some of the wetlands and streams. It's obviously a challenging area um a very sensitive area for us to uh build our project through and also shows some we're begin looking at uh storm water our our guideway we will uh track some storm water that we need to manage in addition the roadway improvements multi-use path that we build we need to um deal with the storm water that uh are that occur

on these facilities. So in this area, the guideway is pretty consistently about an elevated guideway throughout this area. Uh pretty consistently about 30 feet tall and the guideway itself is about 30 feet wide as well. Next slide, please. Okay, so this is the second half of the corridor in um Milton. So on the north side of it, the guideway again still elevated about 30 feet uh 30 feet over Porterway and then there's a short section where the guideway transitions to be on uh retained fill which is kind of like a the light rail being on top of a retaining wall and then another short section where it's actually at grade. So it's it's at grade that that occurs at about where if you know where the teleare um building is on Pacific Highway that's short section where it's either retained fill or at grade and then as it continues it's elevated again to uh up to a higher level 60 ft to get over the SR 167 interchange. So, so when it's at grade, it's it's still completely separated from uh traffic, sidewalks, anything like that. It's um it's just at grade and there will be if if fencing is required to keep it secure in that area, uh we'll provide whatever is needed to keep it um safe and secure. Okay. Um next slide, please. So this so as far as what we're going to be building, this shows a typical cross-section of the design in Milton. Here you can see our guideway is on the east side of SR99. And then between the guideway and the roadway is a shared use path that we'll be building and a

planter strip. Um, so one thing I want to note, we don't typically have fencing around our columns or under the guideway. Uh, there might only be occasions when we would have fencing such as the example I mentioned when it's at grade if there's a safety issue. Next slide, please. This uh this is a a visualization just to give you an example of what it may look like from the ground. This particular spot is just north of Milton um across from the G Gethsemane cemetery. But just to give you a flavor of of what we would what we will be will be building. This one's on the west side. Obviously in Milton it will be on the east. Next slide please. Okay. Uh potential property effects. This is very one of the toughest things uh most difficult um things for for everyone, the community certainly. Um but right now we're in the phase of continuing to refine what the property will be needed to construct, operate and maintain the system. And at the same time we are uh working to try to reduce impacts uh wherever possible. when we came here uh to to describe the draft EIS at that time the uh SR9 the 99 west alignment which is now now the preferred alignment was looking at about 11 business um displacements and 14 residential displacements in Milton. the preferred alternative which has refined the alignment to uh shift over to the east side of SR99 a little further no north than was originally uh indicated avoids those most of those residential displacements. So it's the Spring Valley mobile home park and the Cedars RV park

that we are avoiding those displacements. So it's almost all of the uh residential displacements by shifting the alignment over to the east sooner. Um so right now we're looking at about the same number of business displacements uh somewhat diffuses because we're on the east rather than the west and uh many fewer residential displacements. Uh looking at approximately two. Okay. So following the record of decision that I mentioned which would occur next year then we can begin the the formal process of of acquiring uh properties needed uh for the project. So uh in some cases it's it's also may involve a relocation. So that includes a an appraisal of the property, negotiations with the property owner, and relocation assistance to businesses and residents displaced. So the the just a couple of examples, the types of relocation assistance we can provide includes advisory services to help identify alternative locations for these businesses and residents. Um, we can also uh assist provide uh cover moving expenses for the relocation. Uh, for businesses that are relocation uh relocating, we provide assistance with the um the startup cost of getting your business set up in the new location. So, that's typically how it happens. Now, there are rare occasions when we can actually um acquire a a parcel before we have the record of decision. And there's it's it's it's quite rare, but there is an example uh underway right now right here in Milton. There's

a um a vacant parcel on Pacific Highway East that is kind of wedged in that area between Pacific Highway and I-5. vacant commercial property that has um submitted permits to the city to develop that parcel. This is a parcel that any of the alternatives in the FBI we would we would need to acquire this parcel. So this is a case where we h have begun requesting approval from the Federal Transit Administration and from the Sound Transit Board of Directors to acquire this parcel early so as to um reduce the disruptions to everyone involved, you know, should they uh obtain the permits and build it and we would immediately uh acquire the parcel and relocate everyone. So, it it appears that this is going to be um moving forward based on everything we can uh tell. At next week's Sound Transit Board meeting, um the board will have the opportunity to approve that early acquisition, which is pending FTA approval. We understand FTA will approve it. Their their timeline might it it may take a little more time till they actually give us the approval. Okay, next slide, please. Um, just thought I'd mention uh our ongoing collaboration with the city of Milton. So, we have two agreements already with the city of Milton. We have a partnering agreement which which uh basically establishes how we want to work together. And then we also have a project administration agreement which has task orders associated with it that provides uh the ability for the city to uh work with us and uh for example if they need to have a consultant um provide some expertise on wetlands um it

it enables that to happen. Um we have standing bi-weekly coordination meetings uh with city staff. We cover all manner of topics from design revisions to um environmental uh issues. We sometimes include washd in those meetings because obviously wash and city of Milton have some shared interests and responsibilities as as regards to SR99. In those meetings, we also discussed, you know, what comments from the city on the uh draft EIS and how those will be documented in the final EIS. One of the big big um points of collaboration will come up in the next couple of months where we'll be sharing with the city and all the all the cities and partners along uh the corridor our we call it our pre pre-final preliminary engineering design. And so this is a the probably the biggest review uh of this whole phase of the project that we're we'll be asking the city to uh carefully review our design and this this would be the time that the city can flag concerns that the city has with the design. And uh next slide please. So I I know that there's also interest in how are our residents going to get to these two stations? Um, and so I'm going to tell you talk a little bit about that. So, uh, two stations nearest to Milton are, uh, the F and the South Federal Way station. So, from where we are right now, the, uh, future F station will be about 2 miles away and the, uh, future South Federal Way station will be a little over three miles away. From the eastern edge of Milton, uh, both of these stations are about four miles away. Now, I know this might um not be fully satisfying to some residents of

Milton who would like to have a station within the city itself, and I I can appreciate um that disappointment. One thing I'll mention is that um uh other cities, let's say if you look at Tacoma, although they have two stations within the city of Tacoma, there are uh people there are residents in with who live within the city of Tacoma who the closest light rail station to them is seven or eight miles. Same for for Belleview, Belleview, Washington. There are several station light rail stations in Belleview, Washington, but there are people who live in Belleview who the closest station uh to them is 8 miles away. So, um having two stations a little less than that I think is is I think is pretty good. It's not as good as of course as having a station uh even closer. Okay, next slide, please. So, how will people get to the station? Um, some of the ways people will get to the station are included in our project, such as the shared use path along parts of SR99 that I showed you uh with the cross section um and the parking provided at Fif and the South Federal Way Station. There's there are other project improvements that will be uh built by cities along the um along the corridor through what we there's a fund that we have called the non-motorized station access allowance for the whole Tacoma Dome uh link extension project. It's 44 million. So all of the cities uh can submit proposed station access uh projects and then the candidate projects will be screened and evaluated for potential funding. Again, they would be designed and built by the cities, but if they are awarded funding, they we would contribute to pay for um some of the project. Uh and I I will say that there there are definitely are more candidate

projects for this funding than there than there is funding available. So, there will be a a screening and evaluation process. Next slide, please. um these can these station access allowance projects and the stationary design will be the primary focus of our spring engagement effort coming up. Um we have in-person houses in in May. Um the closest one to here is the May 18th uh open house at the F community center and then we have an online engagement opportunity and we hope you'll all come. Next slide please. Okay. So, I know you I know you can't see this little map on uh this slide, but I I hope maybe it'll there'll be enough there to entice you to um come to one of these open houses. What the map is showing, and you'll see it when you go to go to it, is uh all the candidate uh station access projects uh for the five station. The um the pink lines on the east side of the map are two candidate projects that the city of Milton uh would build. 511 and 512. 5 um number number 11 focuses on Pacific Highway completing a gap and a shared use path on the east side and a and a new sidewalk on the west side. And number 12 would be sidewalk improvements on uh Porter Way. Um

you said these are projects the city would fund. No the well the city the city would design and build and there would be we would contribute to uh we would contribute to paying for it. I think there generally there's an expectation that the city would pay for some of it and we would pay for some of it. Um, yeah, but this would not include the half street restoration and pedestrian buildout along the guideway itself. Right. That's that's just included in the project itself.

Thank you. And and one thing to note about um the timing of this uh I'm not sure ex exactly what the agreement so there will there will be agreements that will be uh developed once the candidate projects are selected and they are selected by our board of directors. It's it's it's not staff who selects them selects them but there will also be an expectation typically the expectation is that they will be built by the time the light rail opens which would be 2035. So there's there's still plenty of time. We don't anticipate any board action on identifying these projects anytime soon. Okay. And next slide, please. Almost done here. Okay. So, um what what have we got going on now and and soon? We're we're doing an awful lot of uh field work, geotechnical explorations to help inform the design. that will continue. I mentioned the early property acquisition for that vacant parcel here in Milton. That is next week. Um we expect to have the preliminary engineering design 30% design complete by the end of the year and to uh publish the final EIS early next year. And that is the end of our uh presentation. tried to tried to answer many of the questions that Angelie sent to us in advance, but we are all three of us are are here to uh respond to any of your questions.

Any questions from council? Council member Cedar. Thanks. Uh thanks for being here. I I think I'm a little confused on the impact of the enterprise uh aspect of the presentation because you know maybe I'm just reading too much local news but my understanding is that there's been consideration that this basically this entire second half of the presentation is on the potential chopping block. Is that not accurate?

No, that is not accurate. Um yes. So what you saw probably um uh was a little bit sensationalized in my opinion. Right. We've got um one of the options that was being discussed was truncating the spine right from Tacoma all the way to Everett. We're stopping in Fif and in Everett stopping at Payfield um not completing West Seattle, not completing Ballard, not completing Yukiwa. But the only thing that was actually being considered in that approach in that scenario was just um completing this project all the way to F and not going across the river to Tacoma. never was um not completing the remainder or even completing anything from Federal Way South was not a part of the uh scenario or or even being discussed.

Does does that remain a potential option to stop at F versus Crossing the river?

Uh technically yes. Um so when the board went forward and asked staff to develop these approaches or scenarios, they said, you know, this is our budget gap. give us all the options of what it would take to fill that budget gap and and make it deliverable in some way, shape or form. Um that is what they received at their retreat a couple weeks ago. And so technically that is on the table. Um the board could obviously do things above and beyond what was in those approaches as well. Um it just would, you know, require a two-thirds vote. anything that alters what was a part of the Sound Transit 3 package uh would require a board vote and a two-thirds majority to do that. Um and so technically even I mean there's a lot of anything is on the table. Um but um for right now the ones that they just that they um researched it was stopping at five was as as much as the TDLE team um or TDLE project was truncated. Uh well, I am sure if you have had any interaction with my our colleague um council member Walker in Tacoma, I just want to echo, you know, her

strong opposition to that. Um that will certainly be felt by Milton and I'll just say it on behalf of my constituents and Milton in general. We have contributed a ton of money and I think we've been generally supportive of Sound Transit's approach. It would be an incredible disservice to the South Sound if this didn't complete to Tacoma. And uh to that extent, you know, the vision of this has always been not just for Seattle commuters, but rather for regional connection and not going to to Tacoma would decimate the South Sounds regional connections. So, I know you've heard that before. I just want to echo that.

No, I appreciate that. Yeah, the Pierce County delegation of the Sound Transit Board, which makes Christina Walker a member of is uh very staunchly advocating for their project, which is in this case um Tacoma Dome Light Rail Extension. I will say that, you know, within each of those, um, you know, the Sound Transit District, there are sub areas in each of them, right? So, there's the Pure sub area, Snowomish, and then King County has three. North King County, which is Seattle, then you have East King and South King. Um, and the way that it's been designed uh by the legislature and how it was formed is the tax dollars from those districts for the vast majority of that is paid for or pay for the projects within their district. There are things that are shared um because it's a you know uh for instance like maintenance facilities that generate that benefit the entire district are shared by multiple um uh sub areas but for in this instance the sub area of peers is paying for the vast majority um of this project. And when you look at where the uh issues are in terms of the um overcapacity in the in the the dollars or the the funding issue, the vast majority are those projects unfortunately in King County, not in in Pierce.

I I appreciate that. And just to to clarify, because I hear you talking about different sub areas for the financial aspect of it, but ST3 was approved by the voters at large. Correct. Correct. Correct. I I I was just trying to illustrate that the TDLE project in and of itself is actually one of the most secure if you look at it from the funding aspect uh because uh when you look at the overall gulf of what it's going to cost and what we have coming in TDLE is in a pretty relatively good position compared to the rest. I appreciate that clarification of what what you're Yeah. Sorry I roundabout way to get to that to say that I think we're good. Yes. Council member Mounts,

just a curiosity. When we shifted the project from the west side to the east side, only two residents now are impacted on the east side, but the slide did not indicate how many businesses are impacted. Um, it's about the same as uh 11 businesses, the same as from the uh draft EIS is what we're looking at now. But it but you know I tell you every day there's some little um refinement. So it's it'll it may it may change a little up down. I can't even I can't predict at this point.

Uh council member Turnis. So with the $34.5 billion shortfall which you said you have 4 billion already come coming in as well. How does that affect will it affect actually continuing construction or will it halt construction? Will it move timelines or construction? Where how does that I mean that's a huge number. So

yeah just a huge number and unfortunately I won't be able to answer that question until the board makes their decision. So potentially there would be no impacts to this project in particular. The timeline stays the same, the construction timeline stays the same and we move forward. There is still of course on the table them changing that based off of the what they decide and the negotiations between the board members. And so I would encourage anybody here if you have um opinions about this project in particular to reach out. You have Christina Walker council member from city of Tacoma, Ryan Melo the executive um the mayor Rosco from FE and then Hunter George council member from Furrest are your delegation members from Pierce County. Um because it at the end of the day it's a board decision on on what they decide to do to try to fill this budget gap, but it it could happen, but right now it's not. Yeah.

Right. I think anything that we can do to get less people off of the freeways onto transit system, I'm 100% for. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Hall,

I'm cons I'm concerned that while we're helping fund this, we can only go north if if they do not open that up to Pierce through Pierce County. Also, F will get the brunt of people transitioning out of FIF, which is already at max um in rush hour. So, what do you use obviously? Do you bus them? And how how many miles would that be from five? What's the actual mileage of track? Uh from five to here or five to Tacoma?

Five to Tacoma. I don't I'm not quite sure actually. Um we'll have to get back on the exact mileage. Um but just to understand your your point, I I I hear that and I think a lot of folks in Pierce County hear that that the idea of stopping in F is untenable uh to both the residents in South in in in Pierce County and also the jurisdictions along the way. Um I would encourage you to also share those with your Pierce County board members as well and actually potentially actually all the board members side. you could as a council as well um express your um dedication to this project or your your whatever your uh opinion is that could also come to the Sound Transit Board as well as something that um I would consider doing just to voice those concerns about the idea of even stopping at five.

Thank you. Yeah. Any further questions from council? Yes, Council Member Turtis. So, regarding the wetlands, um has it as it states now, are they actually going to be building on the wetlands or how are the wetlands being addressed? Yeah. So, we will be uh impacting some wetlands and wetland wetland buffers. Uh and we'll have to mitigate all of that. It's it's it's going to be a big effort. We've already started to talk to the city about it. We may need to um reestablish new wetlands. We may may enhance existing wetlands. Um it's it's going to be quite a process. Yeah. Thank you.

Any further questions? Yes. Council member Roberts had a question about the shared path. So is that going to be uh completed during the construction or is that a future project down the road? For example, the Porterway sidewalk portion.

Uh so well there's two two different the shared use path along uh SR99 that we're building that would be built as part of our project. Uh if there is funding awarded to the sidewalk improvements on Porter Way, then that would be the city would lead development of that project with with some funding from uh Sound Transit. And I said I think the timeline would be we would work out an agreement. We would develop an agreement with the city with the goal or intention or commitment maybe to have that completed by the time the light rail opens. So everything would be built as part everything really should be uh built by the time the uh the light rail begins service.

Thank you. Mayor, can I ask a couple questions? Is that all right? Of course. Okay. Uh I heard you say that uh the TDLE that 8.5 miles um you're not seeing a significant overage or increase in costs. And I just I find that interesting because the preferred alternative prior was along I-5 that had zero business and environmental impacts throughout the city of Milton.

Yeah, it was a relative number. So I think that um Lauren, if you wouldn't mind the number I think we're still like the project itself when we're looking at long-term is a billion dollars, but Sound Transit I mean the relative to our massive budget um it's the smallest gulf compared to the other projects. So, it's still significant. Yes. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that we're fine and everything and our project is completely under budget. It's not. But compared to the others, um, it is in the best shape. That's what I meant. Sorry.

Very good. And no alternatives are being considered at this time for routes, SR99 is where we're going. Well, so the the board's identified the preferred alternative as being the route I shared today and the FI the FIS will still um consider the other alternative. So it it's it's possible that when the FBI is complete that the board could select a project to be built that differs from the preferred alternative. the preferred alternative was kind of a strong indication of where they're leaning, but it it's not a firm decision until the board selects the project to be built.

Okay, perfect. And that opportunity for comment from council or the public will be when the final EIS is released. probably um the best time to uh comment on the design. Well, we're going to be sharing the 30% design with you, but if you're looking for uh comment on the uh the the project that the board selects as the project to be built, uh I would say what what would you say, Lauren, would be the best time? Maybe um anytime. Anytime. There's Yes.

Very good. I've already delivered our comments about our desire to go along the I-5 corridor. So, um I noticed on most of your maps that all of that area in Milton that will be impacted is identified within the Pop tribal boundary. When these parcels are acquired or when these businesses are relocated out of Milton, does Sound Transit have an obligation to to um deliver those projects or those properties back to tribal boundaries? Not that I know of. Um Okay. No. Yeah. I just I want council to have a full uh understanding of potential impacts for our community and tax base.

Yeah. Thank you. Council member Mounts, thank you. Just to follow up on that, um, if the count if the board does change the route back to the I5 or once they do a final route selection, does that mean you have to start the EIS program or all over? Are you doing environmental impact statements for each route that's proposed? the FBI will cover the preferred alternative route and the other routes that were studied in the draft EIS. So, um it would be covered. So, it wouldn't cause a delay and

uh potentially there could be some delay. I don't want to speculate too much, but um we're not advancing design of the other alternatives. So, could could be a little catch-up should the board make a radical change. Thank you. And I'd also like to follow up on the disposition of the property that's acquired for the project once the project is complete. Does Sound Transit have the authority to turn around and sell that again? Do they maintain it? Can they use it for other projects like affordable housing? Can they negotiate um staging areas for truck truck long-term truck driver parking or uh oh long haul parking?

Yeah, I I could tell you uh a little bit and then if either of my colleagues want to chime in. So once we're um we've let's let's say we acquired a full parcel uh for you know maybe construction staging. Now the project is built, we don't need the remainder of the parcel anymore. There are a couple of steps that Sound Transit uh might go through along the corridor as a whole depending on the size of the parcel. There could be uh we have a process where we do look to see if a parcel is appropriate for affordable housing if it's big enough. There's there's certain other criteria that might apply and then um otherwise we we will sell sell the parcel for uh what whatever remains that we don't need anymore. And those funds can be used for any eligible purpose or will some of that funding come back to the city or the jurisdiction that the sale of the property goes into?

Oh, do you want to No. Yeah. Um, no. So, we we will have purchased the property using sound transit money. So, if we get funds back, uh, no, we we would not we would not provide it to the city. Any further questions? All right, seeing none. Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right. Now, moving on to our regular uh agenda. The first item on our regular agenda, item 4 A, uh, the budget position report through December 31st, 2025. And, uh, finance director Robeck is going to be presenting this. Thank you, Mayor and Council. We'll be presenting the fourth quarter 2025 report fun, but

Oh, sorry. Um, we will be presenting the fourth quarter 2025 report fund by fund as usual, but please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information as we go along. So, starting with the general fund on page five, the general fund revenues look good at a little over a million above budget budgeted amounts. This is primarily due to taxes which are about 782,000 above budgeted amounts with sales taxes about 461,000 higher than expected and property taxes about 214,000 higher than expected. Licenses and permits are about 112,000 above budgeted amounts as well due to higher than anticipated building permit revenues as a result of a few large development projects. Fines and forfeitures and miscellaneous revenues are also above budgeted amounts. Fines and forfeitures are about $55,000 higher due to higher thanex expected traffic infraction penalties and mis miscellaneous revenues are about $74,000 higher as a result of higher thanex expected investment interest. General fund expenditures look good as well at about 447,000 below budgeted amounts and nearly all categories under budget. Planning is about 172,000 below budgeted amounts primarily due to lower thanex expected wages, benefits, and professional services. Mayor and executive offices is about 63,000 below budgeted amounts as a result of lower thanex expected wages and benefits. Park facilities is about 49,000 below budgeted amounts as a result of lower thanex expected wages and benefits as well. Legal services and recreational facilities are the only categories above

budgeted amounts, both with relatively small variances. The general fund did show a loss in 2025, but still ended the year with a fund balance of about 5.3 million, which is higher than anticipated in the 2026 budget. Before I move on to the next fund, does anyone have any questions um or need any additional information regarding the general fund? Okay, moving on on page six, the asset replacement and capital reserve fund. Um this fund looks good with revenues at about 22,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher thanex expected investment interests and sales of capital assets. Capital expenditures are for the purchase of two police vehicles. Moving on to page seven, the street fund. The street fund looks good with revenues above budgeted amounts by about 28,000 primarily due to increased licenses and permits as a result of increased street permit revenues. Expenditures are slightly below budgeted amounts. Moving on to page eight, the rainy day fund. This fund looks good with revenues about 7,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher than expected investment interest. Expenditures in this fund must be approved by the city council. On page nine, the drug seizure fund. In this fund, expenditures are under budget and include the purchase of ebikes for the police department. On the next page, page 10, the criminal justice fund. Um in the criminal justice fund revenues are about 123,000 below budgeted amounts primarily due to reduced interfund transfers. Expenditures however are below budgeted amounts as well. Total expenditures are

about 383,000 below budgeted amounts with law enforcement expenditures about 48,000 below budgeted amounts primarily due to lower thanex expected wages and benefits. Capital expenditures are the for the purchase of a radio and evidence room lockers. No one has any questions. I'll move on to page 11. The community events fund. In the community events fund, revenues are below budgeted amounts. However, expenditures are below budgeted amounts as well. Expenditures are for the annual Milton Days, Craft Bazaar, and Santa Parade events. On the next page, page 12, the automatic traffic safety camera fund. In this fund, revenues are significantly below budgeted amounts as the fund's first revenues were received in December, but the 2025 budget anticipated six months of revenues. Due to this revenue shortfall, a transfer from the general fund was required to eliminate the fund's cash deficit. Revenues in 2026 are strong with about 552,000 received through March. Expenditures in the fund reflect increases in contracts of the with the Milton Municipal Court Judge and the city of Pialup for processing cases related to the new program as well as payments to the contracted vendor. On the next page, page 13, um, actually page 13 and 14, the real estate excise tax funds. These funds look good with revenues surpassing budgeted amounts by over 60,000 in each fund. Transfers are made from these funds to the capital improvement fund for eligible projects. Moving on to page 15. The traffic impact fee fund looks good with revenues

surpassing budgeted amounts by about 479,000 due to a few large development payments. Transfers are made from this fund as well to the capital improvement fund for eligible projects. On page 16, the parks impact fee fund. This fund looks good with re revenues exceeding budgeted amounts by about 19,000. Transfers are made from this fund to the capital improvement fund for eligible projects as well. Next up is the capital improvement fund on page 17. The capital improvement fund looks good with over 2.5 million in tib grant revenues received for the SR99 and Porterway project. Larger expenditures in the fund include expenditures for the SR99 and Porterway intersection improvements, community park outdoor meeting venue, citywide parks improvements, and city hall retrofit retrofit projects. On page 18, the electric utility fund. The electric utility fund looks good with revenues over budget and expenditures under budget. Revenues are above budgeted amounts by about 259,000 primarily due to increased charges for services. Expenditures are below budgeted amounts by about 680,000 primarily due to decreased operation costs as a result of lower thanex expected wages, benefits, and electricity purchased from BPA. Administration costs are higher than budget amounts primarily due to increased professional services related to the electric rate study. On page 19, the electric capital fund. This fund looks good with revenues about 66,000 above budgeted amounts as a

result of higher thanex expected interest in inter fund transfers. Larger expenditures in the fund include expend expenditures for the substation and distribution improvements and tree trimming projects. The water utility fund on page 20. This fund looks good as well with revenues over budget and expenditures under budget. Revenues are above budgeted amounts by about 542,000 primarily due to increased charges for services. Expenditures are below budgeted amounts by about 329,000 primarily due to decreased operations costs as a result of lower than expected wages and benefits. Water quality costs are higher than budgeted amounts primarily due to higher than expected public utilities. On the next page, page 21, the water capital improvement fund looks good with revenues about 72,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher thanex expected capital contributions or system development charges and interfund transfers. Larger expenditures in the fund include expenditures for the new deep well, portway water main improvements, and miscellaneous well rehabilitation projects. On page 22, the water asset replacement fund looks good with revenues about 23,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher than expected interfund transfers and interest. No expenditures were incurred during the year for this in this fund. The storm water utility fund on page 2 on page 23. This fund looks good as well with revenues over budget and expenditures under budget. Revenues are above budgeted amounts by about 194,000

primarily due to increased charges for services. Expenditures are below budgeted amounts by about 267,000 primarily due to decreased administration and operation cost as a result of lower than expected wages and benefits. On page 24, the storm water capital improvement fund. In this fund, revenues are about 151,000 below budgeted amounts, primarily due to lower than expected intergovernmental revenues or grant funds. Expenditures, however, are below budgeted amounts as well. Larger expenditures in the fund include expenditures for the citywide ditch and covert and invasive plant species removal projects. On the next page, page 25, the storm water asset replacement fund looks good with revenues about 7,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher than expected interfund transfers and interest. No expenditures were incurred during the year in this fund as well. The electric asset replacement fund on page 26. This fund looks good with revenues about 18,000 above budgeted amounts as a result of higher than expected interfund transfers and interest. Capital expenditures are for the purchase of transformers in the vehicle repair and maintenance fund on page 27. This fund looks good with total expenditures below budgeted amounts. Capital expenditures are for the purchase of a vehicle lift and a fleet diagnostic system. Revenues in this fund are based on internal work orders with other funds charged for services provided. And lastly, the information technology

fund on page 28. This fund looks good with to total expenditures below budgeted amounts. Capital expenditures are for cable installation. Revenues in this fund are based on cost allocations and posted to the fund in equal amounts each month. That's all I had for prepared comments if anyone has any questions. Any questions? Yes, Council Member Mounds.

So, I'm just curious why the wages and benefits were so much lower than expected. That's a great question. It seemed kind of like a recurring theme. the the the primary reason for that is that we do budget um wages and benefits at the top step. Um so that wages are at the the top scale step per the wage scale and benefits are budgeted assuming that everyone has a is covering their entire their full family. Um and in reality we have vacant positions sometimes for the whole year sometimes for a portion of the year. Um, and many employees don't have a full family that's covered or choose the opt out provision um, which is half the cost of what it would have been to cover.

Thank you. Any additional questions? See none. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. The uh, the next item on the agenda is item 4B on page 29 bullet. And this is an easy fiber update and uh public works director Madden is gonna enlighten us.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Council. Uh tonight joining me I have Edward Abrao and Troy Brosman. Uh Edward is the Pacific Northwest regional SVP and general manager. And Troy is the construction manager and lead inspector. Maybe that's a second duty, but for the city of Milton. So these two gentlemen are very well apprised of everything that is happening in the city and uh they are who um I have found progress in working with um with easy fiber. So I asked um Edward to join us today and just give us a kind of an recap where they are as far as um percentage complete. Um we can talk about uh how we are mitigating certain issues uh moving forward and prioritizing public safety and uh he can go into next steps. They can also answer any question that you may have regarding fiber or this installation process.

Uh Mayor White, city council, thank you uh for having us here today. Uh in terms of an update for the project, we've completed two segments. Uh so far, uh this coming week, we're going to be completing uh two more. We're in the final stages of splicing and testing to complete construction and actually schedule installations. Um by next week we will have our fifth segment completed at which point we'll be about 55% completed uh of our full project in the city of Milton. Uh after that we will only have

I didn't hear the percentage I'm sorry 55%. Um that's just a rough estimate. Um we after that we'll have about four more segments to complete. Uh based on the timeline I estimate that we'll be done with those additional four segments and 100% completed by by the summer. Um right now on the network we have a little bit over a hundred active customers uh that have uh subscribed to our service, signed up and we also have another 21 pending installations and that's just on the two segments in the city that we've completed construction. Uh we've completed construction meaning that those homes are serviceable. Uh so if any one of those residents were to um order service, they can get act activated. Those two segments represent about 500 homes and out of those 500, we already have over a hundred of them that are active customers of ours. um in terms of construction um adjustments that we're making, I'll pass it on to Troy uh in terms of what we're doing um with uh signing of of work and things like that. So,

very glad to meet you. Uh we know that we've had some shortfalls in the city. Uh we have hit some utilities. Uh that is definitely not our intention. We're trying to be as safe as we possibly can out there. And what we've done to mitigate that is to kind of slow things down a little bit. Sorry. Can't hear. Sorry. I'll get a little closer. Uh what we're going to do is we're going to slow things down a little bit in the city. We're going to pull back on the construction crews. We're going to limit them to smaller areas so that we're not Yeah.

So, we're going to spread them or pull them into smaller areas so that they're not spread out so much. Uh, by doing this, we we can keep a closer eye on them. we can make sure that our progress is steady, but we can complete things in a shorter period of time and not cause as much disruption to the homeowners, the residents, the property, the traffic. Um, you know, that that's our our goal is to make your lives easier, not harder. So,

in addition in addition to that, we've also stood up a a weekly cadence uh with Dustin and his team to be able to identify any um areas of concern week over week, any immediate concerns that uh a specific resident may want to have uh addressed. um whether is on restoration or any concern at all, we work very closely with Dustin on a week- overweek basis. Um we are also going to be providing Dustin's team a restoration schedule. We've heard obviously the voices of the community with restoration just so that everybody knows sometimes restoration cannot be final restoration until we actually com all the work is completed. uh conduit is uh is placed. Uh we we proof our conduit, make sure that structurally uh it's not compromised so that we're able to pull the fiber through uh and finish the whole process. Uh once we finish that and start activating customers, we're able to complete final restoration. So being that we have two segments that are going to be releasing this week um and a third following next week uh which will make five areas of the city that will be completed. We're going to be providing this week a restoration schedule. Uh Rainineer Asphalt is a company that uh most folks uh know in the in in the region. They do incredible work in terms of uh concrete panels and asphalt uh restoration. Uh so they will be performing the work for for our contractor. Um that schedule will be provided to Dustin uh in those areas. Uh we actually did a walk through today of the first segment that we completed uh in the city of Milton uh with Val. It was completely uh satisfactory and it met the city standards and we were able

to close out that first permit uh today and we look forward to continuing to close those other permits as the work is completed.

And I will say that the the section that was closed out today is a small section uh on Taylor. Most of the concerns that we've had um are around uh inadequate um boxes that people are driving over, lids are breaking or boxes that are filled with soil. That kind of falls outside of public works. That's that's the utilities infrastructure. And so, but we do have uh public works has a vested interest in making sure that the quality of installation of the fiber um is meets industry standard and we've looked at a couple of those boxes. I went out with Troy after last Monday and they are pulling that box. They're upsizing it. They're improving the connections, making sure it has a gravel base. So, those are the kind of things that Milton right now is going, you know, I wouldn't say above and beyond, but we're a little um outside of our normal scope of work, which is pavement restoration, softscape restoration, and then um being uh well, the most significant um effort of work for our team is locates, which gets to uh the strikes that we've had in the city. Uh significant strike happened last Friday. Uh Milton Way was closed for approximately four hours and um I feel our team and PD and fire all worked very well together and easy fiber to keep the scene isolated um uh evacuate where it was needed and then detour cars around what is a difficult area to detour around. um we don't have a lot of uh outside routes that are easily are easy for people to detour between 23rd and um 27th. So, uh, but we did our best and those that locate, uh, on the gas line, um,

what I have heard from the full investigation is that that was outside of, uh, what it was not P, it was not Easy Fiber's uh, fault that it was hit. Um, could additional safety precautions been taken, perhaps, additional potholeing. Um but when uh the mark was off, it was off over 3 ft. And so that is uh it's very difficult to pin on, you know, who's at fault. And I know we all want someone to be at fault, but I really want to give council the full picture of, you know, what is happening right now. And that's 20 miles of boring tunneling under our streets. And it is a significant impact. And it's an impact that the city's never seen before. Um, and so we we are working with easy on this restoration schedule. Our goal is to close the gap, not have things temporary temporarily restored for a significant amount of time. Let's get the fiber in and let's work right behind them and restore. And that way customers aren't left waiting or residents aren't left waiting wondering are they ever going to come back and finish. So, that's that's what we're doing to date, but we're happy to entertain or or answer any questions, council, mayor, uh, that you may have.

Anyway, yes, Council Member Hall,

I'm interested in what it's costing the city for this. Um, you know, I saw our guys up there Friday night. I saw them down on Juniper when the stop sign was knocked down. Um, I see a lot of Dustin and his crew out working. Um, and that's taking them away from what they normally do. Um, and these guys should be able to have a weekend. I mean, they really should should be able to go home on Friday and not have to worry about something like that happening. Um, so I'm appre I appreciate that you say you are going to slow down. Um, I'd like to see the traffic from you guys slow down a little bit. be a little bit more careful. Be aware of kids getting off school buses. Um, be aware of stop signs because I see stop when your name's on the truck. We know who you are. Um, and then we also know the contractor's trucks too. So, and I walk a lot. Um, just be very super safe because it's just not worth it. It really isn't.

Yeah, I can appreciate that. And um one of the things we're doing is uh so we had two general contractors working in the city um and we feel that one over uh has underperformed uh we're removing that contractor uh out of the city. Um Dustin is aware of who that contractor is and we're giving transitioning the work allowing this contractor to finish what they've kind of started but buttoning that up. Um so making sure that it meets city standards but transitioning the remainder of the work to the contractor who is meeting our standards uh and is proactive and communitative uh communicates well so that also we don't have work across the city across two uh separate areas. We're going to you know in in our agreement with Dustin is to allow the work to happen in one area at a time. Uh so that way you guys know exactly where we are. uh and you know we're able to minimize the risk uh and not t tax the resources of the city as much. Uh I will say that if there ever comes a need where uh the city needs additional resources uh easy fiber is willing to pick up the tab on that and and be able to help out uh the public works team with uh contract work or anything that you guys need.

I appreciate that. One more thing. Um, our streets are old streets and when you're cutting through, slicing through, are you going to fill in those cuts? Not just the hole, but the cuts to make sure that water doesn't go deep in into the street and Yes, ma'am. You are. Okay. Okay.

So, Troy, you can talk a little bit more about the restoration uh process with street cuts. Yeah, the restoration process, uh, we will follow the the procedures and the standards that the city has has set. So, anytime that we we do a cut on a street, um, we we expand that cut to cover any trench that we've placed in the ground. That way, it stretches a little bit further across the open hole. Uh, it gives more stability and a better seal. One more question I've had from a residents. Um, you filled it looks like you've temporarily filled in sidewalks with asphalt. Yes, temporary asphalt. They're just temporary. Yes.

One up on I believe it's 23rd is not very friendly for if somebody's got a wheelchair or a walker. Um, it needs to be a little smoother. Um, just suggestion. Is that on 23rd in Milton Way? I believe it's 23rd. It's either 23rd or 19th. Okay. I think it's 23rd. Yeah. So, so Troy and I were chatting and the areas that we're going to prioritize obviously uh with restoration starting u Meridian uh Milton Way areas that are um heavily populated with pedestrian traffic uh first and then obviously working out towards the rest of the areas that uh work has been completed.

Thank you. You're welcome. Any further? Yes, Council Member Mounts, thank you for being here. Thank you for having us.

I have a couple of questions. Um, this is a very frustrating process, right? So, I would like to know for the record who is ultimately responsible for protecting the residents of the city of Milton during the construction and the installation. I know that some things fall outside of the purview of public works. Mentioned utilities. It wasn't apparently easy fibers fault that the gas line was cut. That was an incredible experience just from a residential residents citizen point of view. Of course, I live on 23rd. Okay, I know how to get home. But um who who protects the residents of Milton? Mayor,

I guess that would depend on what happens.

I mean, overall the city, part of the city's responsibility is to look out for the constituents in the city, right? And I I feel a lack of of um where do we go when things aren't going right? Because things aren't going right and they continue to not go right. I'm very very pleased to hear that you're not going to have multiple locations at the same time because when I drive around I'm if I see the men working sign I go the other way and then I go the other way and there's another men working sign and it's extremely frustrating that we can't get around the construction. So, thank you for limiting your construction. And I think I also heard you say that you're going to have weekly meetings. Was that something that you just mentioned?

Yeah. Really want to know about those and how maybe some of these things can be addressed in those weekly meetings because there's a lot of things that need to come up and and I don't want to use all of our time here tonight for that. Yeah. Yeah, in those weekly meetings, we discuss uh construction progress, uh safety concerns, issues with any crews that may have uh come up uh and um me and my team immediately address those. So, they're not public meetings. They're No, no, no.

Okay. Can we have some public meetings? Is that a possibility where you'd be willing to in this forum or in other I don't know. I maybe this is sufficient. that that meeting is meant more of a weekly check-in with the public works team uh to provide just provide feedback. Um if you'd like us to come back on a monthly basis like this and answer questions, I'm open to it. Yeah.

Thank you. And then my last question I think um you mentioned that you have a hundred customers. So are we all going through all of this for the sake of a hundred customers? what was the preliminary costbenefit analysis before easy fiber decided to even come to Milton?

So in in the industry um 35% penetration it's you can call it market dominance right um and normally a company does not get to that over three or four years span they can get to 35%. What we found in the city of Milton is that your residents have an overwhelming uh demand for the product at pre-sales. Uh meaning that even before the network became available, we had most of the segments that we have engineered already at that 30 to 35% uh pre-sold. These are folks that already paid a deposit because they wanted the service. These 100 customers that I'm mentioning are only in the first two segments that we released. Uh once we finish the work in the other segments, those installations will be scheduled. So we have 100 uh a little bit over 100 actually. We have another 21 that are pending installation. Uh so those are customers that will be installed over the next week or so. And then as we complete work in the subsequent segments, uh those installations will be scheduled. So, it's a lot more than 100. It's quite a lot.

30% is what your target is.

Uh, and then just to address your question, who protects the residents? It's the city. That's what uh I and my team have been tasked with and chief, we protect it through permits. We protect it through inspections. We protect this residents through weekly meetings that uh I have with Eddie and Troy. And those weekly meetings um were were uh developed after we had that water main break and that significant impact to to the residents. Um we meet we meet on a weekly basis now. Um we've created stop work orders multiple times when we've found an issue and this is not a get out of jail free card for easy but those issues were with general contractors that are subcontractors of easy. Ultimately, it's still easy's responsibility to take ownership for that and correct it, which uh I think they're doing moving forward because that contractor will no longer have segments assigned to them within the city. Um and then uh we have done a Eddie agreed on after last Friday um even though it wasn't you know their their fault that the gas line was hit we put a moratorum on drilling for uh until Wednesday and the reason is is because we have our public safety committee meeting coming up tomorrow and that's an opportunity where we can do a full debrief with fire and police and um which I feel overall it went very well but there's always areas for improvement

and in addition to that um also agreed not to do any drilling every other Friday uh Dustin uh advised me that the city's off as city employees so understanding uh that uh that that we won't have any of your staff available we agreed every other Friday when the city is off for us not to do any drilling um we will only do you know, uh, splicing, testing, things like that that require no no digging, no no boring. Um, and it and when the water strike happened, I know that it affected some businesses over uh on Milton Way, uh, Uptown Coffee comes to to mind. Uh, I'm a coffee lover, so uh, it came to mind. They they uh they were very understanding. Uh but they did uh say hey can you reimburse us for the loss of business uh that we have for those few hours that we didn't have water available and I approved uh the reimbursement. So we work with the business community to make them whole those customers that brought out those concerns to us. We understand as a as a business ourselves how important small businesses are and we made them uh we reimbured them and made them whole. uh the fiber when we are done uh building our network uh the fiber optic service will be available not only to all of your residents but to the the business community as well. So uh all of those businesses on Meridian and on Milton Way, the schools uh uh your city buildings will be um within the network and you'll be able to order service if anyone wants it. So,

can I follow up just real quick? I and I want to thank you. I know the city is there for us. I I see you there and I don't understand the oversight that Easy Fiber has of the contractors and the subcontractors. I know that the city has our back ultimately, but it's a it's creating a strain, I'm sure, on the city resources. And can you just tell us a little bit about the oversight that Easy Fiber has for the protection of the residents of Milton over your contractors and subcontractors? Sure. And I'm going to move that away.

Yeah. We uh Easy Fiber has, you know, not only myself as a construction manager, but we also have uh seven inspectors uh throughout all of the cities where we're doing work. So, I have one inspector uh here in Milton. Uh he visits and and talks to Val inspector every day. Um he's talked to to Dustin off and on. U he is my eyes and ears in the field. Uh he has my full authority. If he sees something that isn't right, he can make those corrections immediately. He doesn't need my permission to do so. So, in saying that, you know, he has the cities and the residents best interest at heart. Um, being a homeowner himself and and as well as myself, anytime I I do work in a city, I tell my contractors and my employees to treat every resident's home as if it were yours. If you're going to tear up their yard, you know, knock on their door, talk to them, explain to them how things are going to happen, and then when you're done, clean it up, put it back the way it was. And that's that's the way I prefer to do business. If I had the opportunity to be in the field all the time, you know, I I could spend a little bit more time with the contractors, but unfortunately, I have several projects to work on, but I train my inspectors to do the exact same thing that I do.

Yes. Uh, Council Member Turtis,

just as a citizen, I personally have been very concerned with what I've seen and heard with the gas line, the water lines breaking, and even though you say it wasn't your fault, the fact is it still happened. And I personally, in my own experience, just walking the streets of Milton, have come across two manhole covers that have been blatantly left open with no trucks being around at all, which is a potential hazard for somebody getting killed or hurt or something. One of them was in front of a school as well. I just feel like Easy Fiber hasn't taken our personal safety into consideration. I know I walk on streets there's um big squares that are cut in the street now and it's an actual divot in there and when I'm walking it creates um where it used to be a flat surface now it's it's a rough surface so you really have to be attent paying attention and if somebody's not paying attention it's very easy that they can trip and fall because of the cuts in the road. Um so I just as a concerned citizen and I've heard other people express the same thing. I just feel like Easy Fiber has come in to make money, of course, and as a business owner, I respect that fact. But when you're sacrificing people's health and safety in doing it, I think you've crossed a line. And I just want to know that you guys are taking our safety into consideration in the future.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And I appreciate uh that concern. I can assure you that um we're not here just to make money. Uh uh my expectation from my team is that we keep uh the the residents safe uh that we meet the city standards. Now have we had um challenges with some of the work that the contractors have done? Yes. Uh we fully own it. It's not the contractor that's on the franchise agreement is easy fiber. Right. Okay. So, at the end of the day, I I as the senior leader of the market take full responsibility and the actions that we're taking to mitigate that is removing the contractor uh that has had the underperformance. Um putting together an aggressive restoration um schedule this week that will be given to Dustin to make sure that we restore those surfaces that you're referring to. We do a walk out with Val and Dustin to identify what those restor restoration limits are so that both Dustin Val and us are on the same page as to what needs to be restored and to what limits. Once that is completed, then Troy and the city's team will walk it out again after it's completed just to make sure that it does meet your standards. uh and those uh sites that are left unsafe, I will immediately remove a subcontractor, a contractor from a job if that happens again. And I told that to Dustin and I keep my word. We will remove those people ASAP.

Thank you. And they have we've had a situation where they had to remove an individual. They caused a blatant safety hazard. And if I need to fire an internal employee for the same reason, I will as well. I have zero tolerance for that stuff. Council member Roberts, thank you. So, you were uh mentioning that you have a restoration schedule to be provided. Is this restoration schedule to be provided forward facing to the public by any chance?

Uh no, we basically work with the public works team to provide that schedule based on the amount of work that's been completed in the field. Uh so we say hey uh we have uh let's say two segments that are upcoming for release. Uh we will provide that schedule this week. Uh Troy will be provided to Dustin.

Okay. Uh the reason why I ask is to kind of add to what council member Hall was mentioning on 23rd Street. The fact that they covered the sidewalk with a black top. So residents there under the impression that's complete and finalized. So, I was wondering if there's a way to inform the general public like, hey, we're we're not complete yet with the final restoration because those are a lot of uh concerned people out there thinking that we will we'll develop uh some type of outreach uh to let residents know when restoration is anticipated in their area. Okay.

Yep. Good idea. And by the way, after we do the restoration, we do the walk out with Dustin and Val and agree that yes, this meets our standards, if one of the residents sees something that doesn't look right, uh, please point it out and we'll go out and fix it. Thank you. Yeah, counore. Thank you, mayor. Um, Dustin, do you say that these people are the people that have helped the most on like resolving issues? Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Well, thank you for doing that. But, um, it feels like every single week we're having citizens come in and talk about how terrible Easy Fiber has been. I appreciate you guys have been helping and I'm going to try and be as respectful as I can because of that. But um I have a lot of issues with the way you guys have been conducting business. Um there's been trash left all over the place. I've heard of personal safety concerns. There's a pothole that was created because the contractors or subcontractors that you guys hired put a garden lid on the the thing. And so it immediately broke like a day or two after it was installed because it's supposed to be a roadra lid cuz it's right next to the road. So I have a pothole in my yard right next to the road where people walk and anyone could step in it. And I submitted um documentation of this and even the process seemed awful. I was given we had uh one of your colleagues come and and talk about how you guys are trying to do better. Um I think around a month ago he gave his phone number and had something people can scan and try and submit issues. Right. So I did the scan and I emailed in with the the instructions. I even included a photograph. And when I emailed, they told me to call or or send it in text. And to me, email is a much better form of documentation

and communication than texting or or calling. And so I emailed back like, "This is ridiculous. What is going on? I just gave you a picture and you're just giving me the runaround." So, it's not just me that this is happening to. It's like all of our concerned citizens. I mean, my I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook, but my wife is on Facebook a lot, and she sees people constantly complaining about Easy Fiber, and I know a lot of this is going to be frustrating for you guys to hear, but um it doesn't feel like you guys are doing anything to fix the stuff that you've messed up, unless it's a gas man, and that's got to be fixed, right? But are you guys even fixing it? It's isn't that PSSE that has to come out and fix the mistake? We just had uh somebody come uh last week and talk about how there's strikes happening in other cities and basically prophesied this was going to happen. And so like if I was if I was an employee that performed as poorly as Easy Fiber has, I would expect to get fired. um you know all this the safety things are are should be focused on first before drilling more. Why aren't we fixing any of the issues that that are already in place? Um if you guys are slowing down, you say you're slowing down some stuff, maybe you guys could spend a bunch of money on actually fixing some of the issues that people have problems with already. reroute some of those funds for that were going to go towards uh future drilling if you're kind of slowing down, you know what I mean? Um I don't know of anybody in the city that's happy with easy fiber right now and I understand that's that you guys hire contractors

but at the end of the day it's a pattern of behavior. It's not acceptable. And uh I feel like the city is kind of held hostage by this franchise agreement. And I don't understand why there's no accountability. Um, from your guys' side, I know Dustin's trying to do whatever he can do with these stop work orders and stuff, but um, can you guys uh, speak to the strike and if people were evacuated from homes, businesses, stuff like that for those four hours? I don't know if they'll be able to speak to the evacuation because that was outside of their purview. I was, but I'll let them speak to it.

Yeah, I I tried making it up here, but you know, as you know, all the roads were blocked. Um, but from my understanding, my inspector said that there the surrounding homes around the the intersection of 23rd and Milton Way. Uh, those businesses and residents were evacuated. Um once they deemed uh the fire department and the uh PSSE deemed that it was safe, they allowed them to come back into their homes. U from my understanding, it took about two and a half hours to uh cap the gas line and fix that. So it it was a major inconvenience and I I do understand that.

Yeah. Thank you. Um, so I know for myself, I live on 23rd and thankfully my family didn't have to be evacuated, but I'm sure there were a lot of people that were negatively affected by that and that had to have caused fear in their entire family. Is my home going to be here when I come back? I personally told my wife because I have lost complete faith in Easy Fiber and their ability to rectify things. Let's get out of our house and go somewhere to eat until this is fixed. So, I can't be the only one when mine wasn't even forcefully evacuated. So, um I think that, you know, I appreciate that you guys are willing to come back. Maybe you guys should come back every week to hear what our citizens are talking about because we shouldn't have to be the only ones hearing it when we can't go out there and fix it. It's your guys' company that has to hire those people to actually do this stuff. Um, if the processes aren't even good for us to relay the information to for things to be fixed, that's an internal easy fiber thing specifically that needs to get fixed. Um, I had to basically complain back to the person to even have them run it up the chain to have it. And mine is a smaller issue. I've heard other people in here talking about how buses are getting blocked, how people who are disabled don't have access to things. Um, and it's just like I don't understand why uh you guys can't step up the level of contractors that you hire when it's already been such a bad problem for so long. So, I apologize. I don't mean to be like

personally attacking you guys, but the company is who the city has lost complete faith in. And so if you guys want to keep those customers that you hired or that uh that you know wanted your guys business, you've got to fix this stuff real fast. And you've got to show that you actually care because if somebody comes and is getting hurt from this stuff, you know, just the fear that like am I going to get sued? somebody steps in your guy's pothole up there cuz nobody gives a crap to come fix it, you know?

It's like we need some asurances.

Yeah. So, thank you for sharing um those concerns. I I really do appreciate that. Um, so as I mentioned previously, I am willing to come back every single month and and uh hear not only your voices, but your constituent your constituents voices as well and their concerns. So, um, we're I'm not hiding from any of that. I will be here every single month until the issues are addressed. That's number one. Number two, we are dialing back the uh volume of construction uh and we are accelerating restoration to address those issues that you mentioned before with uh you know sidewalk panels and and c certain areas that uh if left not complete it could continue to be a safety issue with someone tripping or anything like that. So we are shifting uh not necessarily the dollars because the dollars are always there to do restoration just the timeline right doing restoration faster and dialing back the the construction activities. Um I have to look at your specific case to see what happened there and how the process broke to ensure that it doesn't happen to anyone else. Uh I do want to take a look at was your situation fixed or is it still pending?

It's still pending. Okay. So, haven't I heard anything back? I would like to notified them back in March.

Okay. So, I I'll personally take a look and make sure that that gets addressed. Um I'll also take a look at the support mailbox. It's supposed to be support.wa easyfiber.com. Uh there's also supposed to be a support number uh that you can call in and place a uh escalation ticket. Uh but you are right, email. Most folks prefer email and we we have a dashboard of open tickets uh where each contractor uh that is working in a specific city has their tickets and we have standard um level service agreements that a ticket has a certain amount of time that it needs to be closed within normally 48 to 72 hours. So, I got to take a look at that process, right? To make just to see where it broke, make sure that it that that it gets fixed moving forward.

So, I'll take a look at it. You have my word and I'll I'll make sure that this uh gets addressed with your your situation. I appreciate it. I mean, I'm just kind of using it as example. I want like the whole city's issues to be fixed, not you know, I want to address the entire city, not just yours. I'm just addressing this because you brought it up, but yeah, I want to address every single uh resident is as important. Thank you. Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you guys for coming. We need to move along because we got one uh one item left on the agenda and only 20 minutes to get it done in. So, thank you. Thank you so much,

Mayor White. Thank you for having us. Uh city council members, we appreciate you guys having us. Looking forward to uh coming back and answering some more questions. Hopefully better ones next time. Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. All right. The next item on the agenda is item 4C on page 31 of your packet and uh it's going to be uh public works director Madden is going to present it to us.

Yes. Uh thank you, Mayor Councel. Uh the item before us tonight uh will be coming back next week um for uh for decision, but it is an ordinance to approve a franchise agreement with both Ziply Fiber and NFC Northwest. NFC Northwest is a subsidiary of Easy Fiber or not Easy Fiber, that's going to take a minute. Ziply fiber and uh similar to the way AT&T and Forge Fiber um differentiate between underground and above ground telecommunication. This is the this is their same split of specialty. Um in early 2025, Ziply Fiber uh approached the city to engage in discussions regarding a non-exclusive franchise agreement for the transmission of fiber optic internet services. In June of 2025, the city approved a franchise agreement with Ziply Fiber, but due to a change in personnel at Ziply Fiber, there was miscommunication regarding the final version of the agreement. According accordingly, the agreement was void and the city entered into a new discussion with Ziply Fiber uh that resulted in the attached franchise agreement. Additionally, in late 2025, Ziply Fiber underwent some corporate changes and because of those changes is also asking for a franchise agreement for NFC Northwest. Below is some additional information for Ziply Fiber and the two companies are proposing to deploy in Milton. Um, Ziply Fiber, we do have a a representative from Ziply in the audience, too. And uh, so he would be happy to answer any questions that council may have. Um but we'll own and transport fiber line that connects the central point of presence the pop in the Milton back to the broader internet. The connection is what brings highspeed internet to the

city. This transport line will be the in the city's rightway. At the pop, Ziply will hand off ownership to NFC which will own all of the facilities in the city through the public rightway. This will connect the internet directly to residents home, business, and community. Uh, Zipley will then maintain and operate the NFC Northwest network. Um, so the primary difference that I have seen with Zipley's approach is they proposed a pull attachment agreement uh which indicates that they are looking to string their fiber um uh on our existing pole infrastructure. And so that is a a significant um I guess cost savings one and also a significant potential for less impacts to our residents uh with strikes of water lines, gas lines, sewer, storm, all of the above. Um, so that's a way to mitigate those strikes. Um, for all day-to-day interactions, whether it's construction, coordination, permanent, inspection, traffic control, restoration, that will be Ziply Fiber. NFC won't have a separate uh field presence in Milton. Instead, Ziply Fiber will be the main point of contact for everything related in the network and the infrastructure. So pursuant to RCW35A47.040, the city council has the authority to grant franchise agreements for the use of its public streets and other rightaways. The agreement does not grant Zipley or uh NFC the authority to commence work within the rideway without first obtaining the appropriate permits. Uh this, as I said, this item will be coming back next Monday. Uh, so at this time I'd like to open it up for discussion, questions, uh, anything that

you may have. Um, and if I don't have the answer, perhaps Zipley's representative can be able to speak to it. Council member Mounts, thank you. Thank you, mayor, and thank you for clarifying that they're planning on using the existing pole infrastructure. So we don't have to worry about our front yards being dug up again in the right of way. That is that is what that indicates. Um as far as how much they'll be leveraging above ground fiber versus below ground. Uh I would need Ziply to speak to that. Yeah. Come on. Welcome. Coming up. Yeah. Hot seat.

Yeah. We'll get comfortable. Thank you so much. Thanks for uh having me this uh this evening. My name is Jared Newan. doesn't like anybody new. My name's Jared Newwen House. I'm a senior manager for uh local government relations at Ziply Fiber. And Dustin, thanks for the introduction. A perfect setup. Um absolutely correct. Our preference is always to go aerily. So on poles, it's quicker, it's faster, it's less disruption. Yes, of course. Sometimes we do need to trench or or drill um in some areas where they don't have poles um or it's just not feasible to do it. Um, but that is always our our first preference is is is to do that. Doesn't the city of Milton have a preference to be underground?

With all new infrastructure throughout the city, we have a preference to go underground. Although we can make an exception in this case, and that preference really is to prohibit new poles and new infrastructure from from uh being installed. um it's not necessarily speaking to attaching to existing poles. So, I know that we have franchise fiber fatigue here in Milton and we we've already authorized the Forge Fiber franchise to be approved. And it was my understanding that at that time the right of way was saturated and we would not have to um permit or allow any other franchise agreements. Is the right of way saturated, close to saturated?

Uh, so Ziply because they had a previous franchise agreement. Um, we were they were considered in that saturation as far as how many people had a franchise agreement within the city. Um, but as you spoke to our our code section 12.05.080, it's the determination by the city. Do we want to allow another franchise agreement to enter? Um, so within the time period established by state and federal law after receiving a complete application, which we have, the city council shall grant or deny a franchise application. If the city council denies a franchise, such denial must be based on one of the following. The financial and technical ability of the applicant. The legal ability of the applicant to provide the telecommunication service. The capacity of the rightaway to accommodate the applicant's facility. The capacity of the rightway to accommodate additional facilities in the if the application is granted. Um the damage or disruption if any of the public or private facility improvement service travel or landscaping. uh giving consideration to the applicant's willingness and ability to mitigate a repair. So basically if they're not going to restore or if they don't restore uh public interest in minimizing the cost and disruption of construction with the rightway. Uh the service that the applicant will provide to the region the effect if any on the general public health safety welfare of the city's sole opinion u if the application is granted. So that is from our code and that is something that council will need to you know weigh and consider. Um and as far as capacity are we at the limit? Um as stated ziply uh having the ability to to work within the rightway was considered

in that full saturation statement. Um but if council would like to pause, I think that is up to them to do a study on that. Um, what I've seen is there's always more room in the rightway and they can make a case against that. Now, whether it's an easy path of least resistance, probably not. It could be a hillside, but there there is, you know, potentially room in the rightway, they could argue. And so we would need to speak with council if the if we would need to speak with legal if council felt strongly about uh saturation of redway. Yep.

Council member poor.

Thank you. Mayor, can you compare your company's competency, prices, and performance in relation to other companies like Easy Fiber or Forge Fiber? I can really only speak to uh to Ziply Fiber. Every company's a little bit different. We're what I can tell you is that we're a local homegrown company. Our headquarters up in Kirkland and Everett area. Uh we have um uh you know very fast growing company, but we're really uh focused on Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana. That's our that's our footprint. So we're we're your neighbors. is we want to provide not only the best and the fastest fiber internet service, but we want to do it at the best possible price as well. Um, there's no contracts. The fees are some of the lowest in the industry. Um, and we want to keep it that way because we believe that a a community that is connected online, uh, for school, for health, for work, however, uh, they need that internet access for, the better we are as a community. and we want to be that very strong community partner as well, not just in Milton, but any city that we're operating in. So, that is always one of our highest uh priorities at all time.

What are your uh prices? Uh as low as $20 a month. Okay. And do you have a lot of history of having construction issues?

I think construction issues do pop up from time to time. It's it's always different uh different reasons. I think anyone who's in this business is going to have you know construction can be messy sometimes as I'm sure Desa could tell you. So, but we take every possible um um you know to to to the nth degree in terms of ensuring that we're always safe. We always do what we say. Um and and that's really important too is the communication piece. Uh we reach out to ahead of time well before we even get there. we put out door hangers or um and or knock on their door and tell them exactly what we're doing, how we're doing it, and how they may or may not be impacted. And then also also communicate very strongly with everybody about the restoration process because the last thing we want is anyone guessing of, you know, is this done? Is it fully done? Is it fully restored? When are you coming back? We never want them to have that have that conversation either, you know, amongst themselves or their greater community. Um, and we always want to ensure that restoration is done at or better than the way we found it. That's a core uh company value.

And uh are your internet speeds just as fast as the other ones? Just as fast. Although I I would I would have to compare because I I you know I don't spend a lot of time looking at all my Whoops. all all the different competitors, but we we we pride ourselves on having having some of the fastest uh internet speeds. Thank you. You're you're welcome. Thank you for the questions. Yes, Council Member Turnis. Hello. Um I was just wondering, you said you're a new company. How old is your company? Oh, uh Ziply Fiber has been around for about uh seven, seven, eight years now.

Okay. And how many cities um in Washington are they in already? Oh my gosh. Uh pretty much everywhere. Um uh spo Spokane, Spokane Valley, uh as small as um like Liberty Lake and Granger. Uh Tacoma, Kirkland, um all throughout uh King County, uh Pierce, uh and Snomish County. So we're we're we're we're growing very quickly. And then it's not just Washington State, it's Idaho and Montana and yeah, those Oregon. And then just for educational purposes, what is the difference between having the lines up and having the lines underground?

The Well, the biggest difference is that you can move quickly. Um, it doesn't take as long, right? Because if you're if you're drilling underground that, you know, that that really slows you down. It takes a while as well. Um, so it's it's faster and then it's it's just it's just quick and easy to get out of there. Um, and you can, you know, lay a lot of uh fiber really really quickly when you're when when you're attaching it to poles. That's really the the the biggest difference. And it's less impact really to the community as well. Yeah. Yeah. There's no speed difference. No, there's no speed quality of the of the internet. No, there's no there's no difference there. Thank you. You're welcome, Council Member Hall.

I personally work from home and so does my daughter. Um we were out of out of internet. I know Council Member Cedar was too for two days. Um what is your repair rate? How faster you going to be here when we have a storm. Um, yeah, that's where underground I know underground's a pain to do, but what what's your response time?

Well, I' I'd have to come back and give you our overall response times because every situation's a little bit different. Like if we had another bomb cyclone, for example, that we had what was that last winter or two winters ago? Uh, I mean that's almost like a catastrophic event, right? So that takes a while to repair everything. But um but uh we are out there very very quickly with crews regardless if it's aerial or underground. We're out there fixing it as quickly as possible because if you're not connected, you know, you're not connected to your job, to your, you know, to your doctor, uh to your family community. So, uh goal number one is to get you reconnected as quickly as possible. And most of the time that can be quite quick once we get there like it's safe to be there and and then like respplice the the fiber and then get you reconnected as quickly as possible.

Thank you. Yeah, you bet. Council member Roberts, I had a question about the uh construction process. So, you're going to be hanging the majority from polls and whatnot, and you said there'd be the possibility of underground. So, can you use uh existing infrastructure for the underground portion, for example, the easy fiber? Um, it is possible in some cases. Um, but I'd have to look at the engineering plans and exactly what the the build looks like for the city of Milt and see exactly what percentage, you know, is committed to aerial versus underground and if there is any possibility or we're even looking at a leasing opportunity,

right? Um, and I guess you don't know without actually looking because the the reason why I asked that question is the encroachment on people's properties and things like that which have been a major concern in the community. So, heard that. Yeah. Yeah, I just one of uh many concerns. So I I wanted to understand potential for that encroachment on people's property and it sounds like with the pole portion that's not a huge issue, but if you had to go underground there is that possibility. So I just wanted to understand that better.

Yeah. No, there there is that possibility of course, but we always follow the city's protocols and and what the permit allows for us to do or the rightway allows us to do. Uh and then again just taking every possible precaution by starting with great communication, maintaining that communication and then um restoring what whatever we may have uh you know disrupted during that construction process and ensuring it's back to as good or better all the time because you know that that's a that's a lost customer for us, right? If they're not happy with the work that we did and we never want that to happen. And certainly um we want to have a great reputation and a great partnership with with with the city. So that's always goal number one. Thank you. Thank you.

And I I will speak just to the lease opportunity. I've asked that question of easy because we knew that additional fiber companies were going to be coming in and the answer was no. They don't currently allow people to share conduit as infrastructure. Now that said, our approach would be uh we would show all of the hubs, all of the handholds, all of the places where the fiber comes up out of the ground. We would try to locate those with either Forge or NFC Ziply in a similar location so people don't have boxes spread out all over their rightway. We want to we want to try to group them. So, any additional questions? Council member Cedar.

I guess just to make sure I comment on this as well. Um I appreciate you being here so I'm not directing this at you. I think our community is quite fed up with the fiber situation. However, I would just note from a from an internet user standpoint, this is really actually very exciting. Um, be a lot of communities don't have the opportunity to get fiber, let alone consistent good internet. And we're about to have at least one, potentially two, potentially three options. And for a community that I have heard nothing but complaints um about our lack of internet access options over the years, I've had complaints for it. So, I'm excited for as an end user. Uh, I would just give a word of caution that you're obviously coming into a community that's that's not excited to see another install. So, um, you know that I think there's a short short patience for it and I think that we would be doing ourselves a disservice by not allowing it and just make sure we're communicating with the residents about what we're doing. Uh, I also would note we would give easy easy fiber a monopoly were we to not allow other franchises which I don't think anyone would support at this point. So I'll I'll support this but you know very much keeping our eyes on it.

I can I speak to that? Sure.

Oh uh no I appreciate your comment and um um you know I think competition's better. Competition leads to a better product, better service and uh better pricing. um uh you know and I appreciate that uh we might not be coming into the market the best possible time but we also believe that um you know we've got a great company of great values and um again being a part of that community is really important to us and uh we always want to make sure that we're doing everything by the book as dictated by by the city and uh we we we we believe that uh the city would love that and the residents would love that that that other option as you mentioned just because for too often there's only been one player in the market um and that hasn't always been a great um you know a great experience for them. So uh to to to offer that um you know we we really appreciate the opportunity to do that. So thank you for your comments.

All right, great. We're uh going to make it just under the wire. Um thank you seeing that all agenda items have been concluded. Oh, wait. Sorry. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I just Do you mind if I just say a quick thank you to uh Chief Hernandez?

Um just wanted to say thank you guys. Thank you to the police department for responding when that strike happened. Um you guys were out there on the streets keeping people from going down those roads and if something had exploded then you guys could have gotten hurt. So, and I know that my son uh you know was comforted by you guys. So, thank you for that. Anyway, thank you, mayor. Sorry. Thanks. Okay. Uh, seeing as all agenda items have been concluded, I adjourn this meeting at 7:59