City Council - Regular Meeting

in Chicago. Oh my god, I can't believe you guys. Yeah, it's 700 p.m. on Monday, May 4th, 2026, and I call this regular city council meeting to order. Uh, Council Member Turnis, will you lead us in the flag salute, please? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right. For the record, Council Member Whan is absent today. Would anyone like to make a motion to excuse him? Yes. Council member Mounts. I move that we excuse Council Member Whan. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? I I. Any opposed?

Passes 5 to one. Um, next item on the agenda agenda today is citizen participation. All right. The first person we have signed up today is Frank Karruchi. Welcome, sir.

Thank you for letting me speak. My name is Frank Karuchi, resident of Milton. Um, I got received the uh paperwork for the sign off on the uh sidewalk improvement up on 23rd. Thank you for that, Dustin. I'll be getting in touch with you. got a couple of questions about how uh my current landscaping is going to be adjusted and refurbished. So, um you and I can talk about that. Thank you. Um secondly, these guys, is it Ziply Fiber? These guys that are who's doing this digging all around the city? Easy. Easy fiber.

Easy fiber. Okay. These guys are doing a horrible job. They're digging holes. My 5-year-old could do a better job patching these holes. Looks like they're out there with a chisel chisel and a hammer. They're not even cutting the concrete. They're just making these rough holes and then they're slapping a little black top in there. My neighbor up around the corner. Maybe he's been in touch with you guys or not. I know that wasn't a city guy out there smoothing over the concrete. He had to chip away the rest of that portion of the sidewalk. It was all uneven. and it was dangerous. And he laid some more cement down in there. Had a guy do a really nice job. I hope he gets reimbursed for that. Um, but all over the city there's these holes with cones around them or that orange conduit coming out with fish lines and they're just it's like they're just walking away from this thing. So, I don't know who's in charge of going behind these guys and making sure they cut nice even holes and then reement. Not black top because that black top is going to shrink when the winter hits. It's going to get water in there. It's going to shrink and it's going to chip up and fall away and it's going to be even more of a mess and a danger to people. So, hopefully I mean I had last time I was here last time I was here it was dark out when we were here. Uh, but I the the website that they had wouldn't go through, so I couldn't get a hold of anyone. So hopefully someone can take care of that. And lastly, uh, I want to say that I support all law enforcement activity in our city, whether it's local, city or county or state or federal. I agree that if you're doing anything wrong, then you should be afraid. If you're not doing anything wrong, you're doing nothing illegal,

then you shouldn't be afraid. So, I support all activity and thank you. Thank you, sir. The uh the next person on our signup sheet today is Christy Cedar.

Hi, I'm Christy Cedar. I live in Milton and thank you for uh a few minutes of your time. I am part of North Pierce County Community Coalition. We're a group of businesses, uh, social services organizations, public health department. We've been in gathering for close to 20 years and sharing information. And the last few years, we have uh um partnered with the University of Washington Tacoma Nursing School of Nursing to present a health and hope fair along with Columbia Junior High's Culture Con. I am here today to let you know about first of all our group and also about this event. It's this Wednesday at Columbia Junior High from 5 to 8. Uh the health and hope fair will be taking place in the gym and the culture con which is a collection of a celebration of culture and diversity. Uh music, food, it's really fun and it's open to everyone. Of course, it's mostly the junior high and high school kids that are participating. The uh participants that are going to be at the health and hope fair uh is a quick list. 253 therapy, CHC dental screening for youth, free. Conjo counseling, Edgewood Nourish Food Bank, Fif Early Learning Center, Karate Edge, Life Transitions, Mount View Community Center, Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center, New Horizon Christian Center, North Pierce County Community Coalition, Oasis Youth Center, Olive Crest, Orion, Pierce College, Pierce County Library System, Pierce County Office of Climate Action, Pierce Transit, Rebuilding Hope, that's a sexual assault, uh, Right at School, C Potential, St. Vincent to Paul St. Martin of Tours Conference step by step Tacoma Pierce County Health Department and WSU Extension Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.

I've really want to invite all of you to come. I'd also like you to be aware that all of these organizations are present in our community and are available to people for help. If you come to the fair, you'll you'll meet a representative from each of these uh community of these organizations. And also there's free popcorn.

Thank you, Miss Cater. Uh the next uh person on the list is uh Tom Bole and I forgot to mention, please uh state your name and city for the record.

Uh my name is Tom Bole, 1109 9th Avenue, Milton, Washington. Uh thank you all for being here. Thank you all for your service to the community and the opportunity to speak today. I'm going to be unusually brief. We could get this done in two minutes. Uh if the mayor, the staff, or the council says something that you feel you're not in agreement with, by all means join in the discussion, please. or me maybe reach out via email, a conversation over coffee or a phone call. This is the neighborly way. This is the Milton way. Do not take it to the media. The media, social or otherwise, is poison to a small community. comments are taken out of context and placed into a perspective that sells advertising as its only goal. Why are we airing our laundry on the news? Can't we act as adults and have a grown-up conversation? That's about all I could come up with. Uh, I also wanted to on another topic is thank Dustin Madden for meeting my neighbors regarding the easy fiber fiasco and hopefully we can prevent any problems. Uh, so uh, thank you so much for that. Much appreciated. I know you guys are busy and you guys took the time on a drizzly rainy day to come out and meet some people with some really weird questions, but uh thank you. Uh and thank you all. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bole. Uh next person on the list is Ephraim Almarez.

Afternoon. My name is Ephraim Almarez. Just a quick rundown. Um, starting with Easy Fiber. I still haven't got anything fixed. And I think we're at the point now that we realize that it's not going to get fixed. We did have people come to my house, but they kind of just shove some dirt around and call it macaroni. And it wasn't Bajala as this. Again, this is an addendum to the paperwork that you received earlier today. So, that's unfortunate. Easy Fiber is unfortunate. The most unfortunate with that is this council's impetence towards it. You have the tools to not stop Easy Fiber, but to use uh your agreements into mitigating the problems that we find ourselves with right now. We can use a third party investigator. This can only go on if the public works director signs off on these permits, which seems to be happening. It won't cost the city anything. It's already written in your agreement. I understand that you might be afraid of litigation towards this, but it's a pretty solid agreement that you signed and there's many statutes in the Milton RCW and and state of Washington that gives you that kind of power and for reasons beyond me. I don't know why you won't do that for your community. It you can't stop them, but you can you can mitigate the the impacts. That being said, uh, of course we all know what happened the last time, which was unfortunate. It's mostly unfortunate because of the the confusion behind it. We had an ordinance about 10,000 lbs, but we really wanted it for tractor trailers. And like we mentioned, the the mayor and the police chief and I before last week, is that you can only use your stereotype to pull over that kind of person, whoever person you think to be illegal, and that's going to pose its own problems. No way I could have known

that that thing in theory that we discussed that hey this could be bad press would happen in real time. And unfortunately like as the police chief mentioned this is stemming a lot from 28th and Milton Way where someone clipped the crosswalk button. And looking at that damage it's less than a dollar to fix. It's a brass bolt that it's already rusted and they're made to shear in case anything like that happens. and we still have it taped up there just so we could pass ordinances. Running out of time, but when it comes to what happened and and your lack of saying anything in in the last meeting is also kind of upset. I know you don't want to ruin decorum, but if your house is on fire and your family's in danger, you're not going to wait for the fire department to show up, right? This is why we we elected you was to have some sort of strength in in hard times. And it's unfortunate that because of this, you put up a mirror in front of Milton and people don't like what they see for two opposing reasons. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh the next uh person on our list is Jackie Strader.

Jackie Strader Milton. Um two things. Um easy fiber. Uh we learned that it was installed at our rental um in the last week I think. Um tenants really happy. We were surprised that they didn't notify us. They I mean we had a discussion with him too, but um they didn't it doesn't appear that they checked for lines underground and I mean we have sewer we have on our own property and they just tunnneled in and drilled through our sighting and installed it with no notice to us. I've already have a call in to them and I'm waiting for um a call back and a sales team stopped at my house this last week and acted surprised at the trouble going on and was really surprised that there would be issues and that that they will take care of everything. And I said, "Well, I hope so, but no interest in doing business with you until I see how that part works out." Um, and then the second reason I'm here is because I heard a council member talk about a transit a letter that the city was going to send out to Sound Transit that was going to council for review that had to go through the mayor and will it be coming to council cuz [snorts] I think if you guys take a position on something or it needs to be discussed at a meeting or it might violate the open public meeting act. I don't know. I know there's McFarland v. Thompson a court case recently about it. So just a caution. Thanks. Thank you. Uh the next person on our list is Kathy Kennedy.

Welcome.

Hi Kathy Kennedy, Milton resident. Um good evening Mayor White, council members Chief Hernandez and city employees. I'm here as a resident concerned Put my glasses on. I'm here as a resident concerned about a recent statement suggesting that people who don't speak English should not be allowed to drive in or through the city. I want to be clear, this was said by an individual member, not this council as a whole, but it matters because ideas like this shape how people experience our community. Restricting someone's ability to travel based on language that they speak would likely conflict with constitutional protections and federal law. It also creates unequal enforcement, unfairly impacting immigrants and multilingual residents that are a part of the city. According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, the fatal crash rate for heavy trucks in Washington in 2023, which is the latest data we have, were 1.32 per million miles traveled versus the United States rate of 1.48. So, we're slightly lower than average. From 1975 to 2023, heavy truck fatalities have dropped 67.6%. According to the Washington Trucking Association, over 70% of heavy trucks involved in collisions are the fault of the passenger vehicle. I would like to direct you to a letter sent to Governor Ferguson by the president and CEO of the Washington Trucking Association, dated August 27th, 2025, regarding their commitment to working with law enforcement regarding regulations and maintaining high safety standards. I have copies if you would like one at the end. Beyond legality and

stats, the statement sent a message about who belongs here. Many residents and workers who speak languages other than English work, pay taxes, raise families, and contribute every day to this city. Public policies should reflect fairness, safety, and equal treatment under the law. policies that single out people based on language risk crossing from governance into discrimination. I urge this council to reject that thinking and reaffirm a commitment to equal access for everyone in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. And our next speaker is Rebecca Shenfield. I'm not here to speak about easy fiber. Um, good evening, Mayor White, city council members, Chief Hernandez, dedicated city employees. My name is Rebecca Shoenfelt. I'm a Milton resident and founder of Indivisible EMF, a local progressive organization of over 500 members who value diversity and promote inclusion within our local communities. I'm here to speak about comments made by Councilman Whan at the last city council meeting. Specifically, the added suggestion that people who cannot speak English should not be allowed to drive through the city of Milton. The idea that that idea is not simple policy p proposal. It raises serious concerns about fairness, legality, and the values this council represents. Saying that someone should be barred from traveling through our city because of the language they speak at its core is exclusionary. Language is often tied to culture, background, and national origin. When we draw lines based upon language, we risk discriminating against entire groups of people, residents, workers, and visitors alike. It is important to be clear, Washington state law does not support this kind of restriction. As was pointed out at the dur during the meeting, a city does not have the authority to deny people the right to travel based upon language ability, be it in a truck or in a civilian passenger car, suggesting otherwise creates confusion and undermines public trust. The issue has also drawn broader attention. The story was picked up by multiple news outlets, including King Five and the News Tribune, bringing negative attention and embarrassment to our city. At the same time, it appears that council member Whan was had been monitoring public discussion of this issue, as evidenced by his liking of comments online that support his outright position that anyone who can't speak English shouldn't be driving, period. He is clearly aware of the community's concerns and the repeated calls for clarification, yet has chosen to remain silent. That silence leaves residents to interpret

his intent on their own, which only deepens concern and division. But beyond the legal concerns, there's the broader impact. Statements like these send a message about who is welcome in our community and who is not. And that matters. It affects how safe people feel, how they engage with local government, and how much they trust the institutions meant to serve them. Milton is a part of a diverse region. People who speak many languages live here, work here, and pass through here every day. They are part of this community and they be they deserve to be treated with fairness and respect. What's needed now is clarity and accountability. I respectfully ask that council member Whan address these remarks directly and to acknowledge the concerns they have raised. I also ask that this council reaffirm its commitment to equal treatment under the law and to policies that reflect inclusion, not exclusion. We can and should have thoughtful conversations about public safety, but those conversations must be grounded in facts guided by law and rooted in respect for all people. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Um, that's the end of the people that signed up. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? Yes, please come forward.

Susan Johnson Milton, we've been in the news before. Councils have faced many issues before. The one thing I would like each of you to remember that you can do a point of order when somebody is someplace else in their head or whatever. Sometimes you should have a feeling that the conversation should be ceased and that is a legitimate thing that each council member can do because what happens is when you don't take that initiative, we all become part of that story. And so that's the only thing I want to say is you do have the right to stop someone in a conversation that it is seen by the public as out of order. And I'm just putting that out there trying to get you all to look at what your role can be as council members.

You Thank you. Uh anyone else like to address the council this evening? Okay, moving on to additions and deletions. Are there uh any requested additions or deletions this evening? Seeing none, we'll move to the consent agenda. I would accept a motion. Yes, Council Member Cedar. I move to adopt the consent agenda as presented.

Second. [clears throat] been moved by council member Cedar and seconded by council member Hall to pass the uh consent agenda. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Okay. The next item on the agenda is a presentation. It's for [snorts] our employee of the month for May. Jessica McCoy, would you like to come up and be recognized? [applause]

Just have a short uh message to to read for you. Uh it is my great pleasure to announce that you have been selected as uh the city of Milton's employee of the month for May 2026. This recognition is a is awarded to the team member who best exemplifies our city's core values of excellence, integrity, teamwork, and dedicated public service. A fellow co-work coworker shared the following about your outstanding attitude. Jessica comes to work with upbeat energy to serve the community and her co-workers each day. Jessica, your hard work, reliability, and positive spirit have made a real difference in your department and for the residents of Milton. You have set a high standard that inspires your colleagues and reflects the very best of what our city stands for. On behalf of the city council, city leadership, and all Milton residents, I extend my heartfelt congratulations on this well-deserved honor. As part of this recognition, you will receive a framed employee of the month certificate

uh feature on the city's rep website, newsletter, and social media channels, which since since you are in control of those, I [laughter] I expect to see something outstanding.

Gonna be amazing. um a reserved parking space, um lunch with the mayor, which as I mentioned last last time is a $2,000 value. [laughter] And since you've come here today, your choice of three hours of comp time or three hours of overtime. Um uh we are incredibly proud of your contributions and grateful for your continued commitment to serving the city of Milton. Please join me in celebrating Jessica Koy's achievement. I encourage all city employees to follow the outstanding example you have set. Congratulations.

Thank you. [applause] [applause]

Would you would you like to say anything? I just feel beyond blessed and thankful for this position I have, community outreach coordinator. It is such a unique um position when it comes to jobs and I get to interact with community members. I get to um I get all the fun stuff, you know, promote events and things like that. But the city of Milton, the the employees here, we have a really great staff. Um, I know the city council meetings can be hard and and um a lot of times you guys feel beat down maybe with stuff, but you guys are all amazing to work with and um it's just I feel really lucky to have this this job. So, thank you. Thank you. Now, you get to take a picture with me. Okay. [laughter]

Which also has a monetary value that is yet to be determined.

All right, I'm ready. Three, two, one.

Perfect. Thank you. Okay, moving on to section seven, proclamations. Okay. The first is a proclamation for building safety month. Uh whereas our city is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential role our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play both in everyday life and when disasters strike. And whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the de uh devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and firerevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, trades people, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the international code council or the ICC, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials who are experts in uh in the uh built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes and standards to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. And whereas these modern building codes and standards include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as hurricanes, snows, storms, tornadoes, wild wildland fires, floods, and earthquakes. And whereas building safety month is sponsored by ICC to remind the public about the critical role our

communities large uh largely unknown protectors of public safety are code officials who assure us safe, sustainable and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity and built to last. The theme for building safety month 2026 encourages us all to get involved and raise awareness about building safety on a personal, local, and global scale. And whereas each year in observance of building safety month, people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential services provided uh to all of us by local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal building safety and fire prevention departments in protecting lives and property. Now therefore, I, Bruce White, mayor of the city of Milton, Washington, do hereby proclaim the month of uh May 2026 as building safety month. Accordingly, I encourage our citizens to join us as we participate in building safety month activities. All right. And we have another proclamation. Um this one for municipal clerk's week. Whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk, [clears throat] a time-honored and vital part of local government, exists throughout the world. And whereas the office of professional municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk provides the professional link between the citizens and the local governing bodies and agencies of the government at other levels. And whereas professional municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality, rendering equal service to all. Whereas the professional municipal clerk service serves as the information center on functions of local government and community. Whereas professional

municipal clerks continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the professional municipal clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meetings of their state, provincial, county, and uh international professional organizations. Whereas it is the most appropriate that we recognize the accomplish accomplishments of the office of the professional municipal clerk. Now therefore, I, Bruce White, mayor of Milton, do recognize the week of May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as the 57th annual professional municipal clerk's week and further extend appreciation to our professional municipal clerk, Patricia Summers and Nicole Mcnoli, and all professional municipal clerks for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent.

[applause]

Do you want to take a bow? Okay. [laughter] All right. Uh moving on to the regular agenda. Uh the first um the first item here is a public hearing and um Angelie Stalnicker, our planning manager, is going to introduce this item. Thank you, mayor and councel. So, just a reminder that this was originally on the agenda at the last meeting to sort of have an introduction. So, um we are going to do the public hearing at this point. I'll do a brief overview of it, but then under um the full agenda item 9B, we will do a fuller explanation of the proposed code as well as some examples to help better understand it. Um, and it also will be on the study session meeting next week. So, the idea being a couple meetings to process all of the different implications. Um, I also want to acknowledge that I have received a letter from planning commissioner Whan who um has um some comments and suggestions and I haven't had Titan to address of all of those. So, I am not addressing them tonight. Um, but if I will do so at the next, like I said, at the next meeting. Um if there's things that need to be proposed to changed or corrected um I will bring that at the next meeting. That being said um this the planning commission at a vote of 7 to0 has proposed a new subsection. It's called 7 it's 1744 155 urban forest preservation and then there's related definitions. This comes from two things. One, the planning commission work plan was to update the landscaping section. Within the landscaping section is a small section that talks about retaining of trees. Um, as we looked at it, staff looked at it and planning commission looked at it, we

felt that it was not sufficient. And so the goals we look we kind of had for this new subsection was to look at retaining the largest trees, protecting the residential trees, creating a more equitable model of where trees have to be protected and planted and in the long term is to increase Milton's overall urban forest. Um this directly goes back to the comprehensive plan. There's various goals, but it's clearly kind of summarized in vision number six, which is specifically to retain and enhance tree canopy and other environmental um amenities. Um we had reached out at the 2025 Milton days about trees specifically and got great feedback about how valuable trees are to this community as well as public concerns that related to the trees removed from some recent developments. So, we felt that this was very much appropriate. [snorts] Um the again we will kind of flush it out a little bit more under the when we come back to this um under the agenda but the current code is really minimal has minimal standards. It exempts residential properties. It has subjective language like reasonable which makes it really hard to define. Um it uses a replacement ratio while while that is traditional. It sort of overly requires properties that have trees to replace trees that they don't have room for and doesn't have any requirements for lots without trees. There's no current permits required for tree removal and there's no specific penalties. Um the proposal um is trying it does apply to all zones and uses. It creates three category types. We'll go in again a little bit deeper um a little bit, but it's there's exceptional trees which are our highest one. We're going to have those are going to be what we're really trying to focus on significant trees and then if council chose so chooses could create what's called heritage trees which you know has some sort of significance to the city and

then kind of the instead of using that ratio it's a tree credit method. So all lots when they are developed or um added on to would have to say okay this is the amount of tree credits. You either have trees on your property that you have to retain to make those tree credits or you'd have to plant trees to meet those tree credits. Um and again we will have some examples later on to help you kind of visualize what that means. And then again there's a minor permit required which would be removal of hazard or dangerous trees. So, like if you do have a tree, we would have a minor permit process that you would have to come in, make sure that you meet all of the criteria or if you have a lot of trees and you're just wanting to maybe clear out a tree for some sunlight or different things. And then um so that would be new is that minor permit idea. And then that major permit is really we're already kind of doing that when we have a large project come in. This just more formal formalizes that process of having a retention plan, a protection plan, a replacement plan. It's part of that land use building permit preapproval. It also would establish maintenance performance inspection procedures and establish enforcements and penalties. So um again my recommendation is to hold the public hearing um take any public comment and then we will come back to this with a more a little bit full over some examples scenarios and then I would definitely obviously open up for questions, comments and any thoughts that you of more information you want me to bring back next week. Thank you.

[snorts] Okay, thank you. Um, well, now right now the time is uh 7:35 and I will open the public hearing. Is there anyone that that wishes to address the council? Yes, please come forward and you give your name and city for the record.

Mr. Cedar Milton, um, I didn't read this prior to the meeting, but I am just glancing through it and I am concerned. I was developing a concern about the types of trees we're talking about, but I see here on page 26 and 27 that the exceptional tree table lists uh trees that would qualify as exceptional. And I do believe they are all native trees to this area. I think it's really important that the city be very aware of the trees that are native and the trees that are considered invasive such as hawthorne locust. I'm sorry, but I think bitter cherry is not a desirable. Oh, here it is. Not exceptional. Um it's really important that when this becomes uh law and is um implemented that we make a a a big effort to educate the public about the value of native trees because the native trees are the trees that support the insect population that feeds the birds that pollinate our the bees I guess that pollinate the birds that you know keep the ecology healthy. the um ex the um h what do you call that like trees from far away in tree trees that are not the trees that I have taken down for instance a mimosa tree that's from Hawaii that is not a tree that really should be in this uh forested areas um of course they're fine for ornamentals but it's important to differentiate between the native trees and the decorative trees. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else like to address the council on this issue? Seeing none, I close the public hearing at 7:37 p.m. All right. Moving on to item 9A, which is on 40 uh page 43 of your packet, the uh animal code update. and uh Chief Hernandez will be presenting this item for us.

Good evening, council and guests. Uh bring before you the proposed ordinance of 2141-26 with a proposed change to chapter 6.04 4 of the municipal code and the issue and discussion is in 2009 the city of Milton entered into an interlocal agreement with the cities of Pelop Alona Pacific Bonnie Lake Edgewood and Sumar establishing Metro Animal Services as a regional provider of animal control services since that time the cost structure associated with Metro Animal Services has increased significantly these increases are no longer proportionate to the city of Milton's service demand or fiscal capacity as a result of continued participation in the interlocal agreement, it doesn't seem to be financially sustainable. Additionally, the city currently relies on the adoption by reference of the Sumner Municipal Code. We rely on their code uh for all animal control regulations in the city of Milton. The structure limits Milton's ability to independently establish enforcement standards. We the fee schedules and policy priorities tailored to the local needs. Transitioning to a locally administered animal control framework will allow the city to align service delivery, enforcement practices, and costs and community expectations while maintaining appropriate public safety and animal welfare standards. The recommendation tonight is to repeal and replace the SR code with the city of Milton by adopting it by ref or adopting the city of Milton code. The city of Milton should adopt its own animal control regulations to promote the health and safety and general welfare of animals in the city of Milton residents. So, uh, with that, I have a a few other thoughts on this before we open up for discussion. Um, one of the things that we've been focusing and with the new administration is certainly looking at uh a lean government approach and continuous improvement in fiscal stewardship. As you know, across this

country, across our region in Washington state, uh you're seeing um a lot of cities that are unprepared for the escalation in costs of doing business. So, one of the things that we are trying to do in the new administration is to make sure that we're evaluating and applying the lean principles towards looking at any of the current services that we provide and the service levels and the cost. We've been working in our leadership team and with the financial or the the director of finance Michelle Robuck and um so ongoing evaluation of service delivery elimination elimination of inefficiencies alignment of cost to value um this proposal is directed at that application um fixed cost the current state is a fixed cost regardless of utilization and what I mean by that is we're charged per capita and currently the 26 rate uh is $10.70 per resident. And then um when we pencil that out, it comes out to plus or minus $94,16.50. That's provided that we don't have true-up costs at the end of the year if unanticipated operational costs exceed the budget. And um each city is build per their capita. Um so looking at bringing it in-house we the feeling is that we're right sizing the service delivery based on actual demand elimination of redundant response layers and shift from fixing uh subsidy and variable usage based on cost. And this is exactly the type of program we should be evaluating under a lean framework. low utilization, externally controlled, subsidizing. The proposed model removes waste, improves responsiveness, aligns costs with actual service demand. And an idea to give you the call volume is that uh they had 120

calls last year for the entire year. That pencils out to about two calls per u week. And the matter of the fact is is that they do an the animal services operates during normal business hours and anytime there is anything after hours the police are caught to deal with it anyways. If there is an in progress animal attack in progress animal at large the police department responds by default anyways. or if it is a traffic hazard, we respond by default anyways because any kind of delay of course can have a bad ending or bad results for the animal or for individuals that might be uh or wild or not uh individuals or animals that might be uh under attack. So again, we always by default go ahead and respond anyway. So you're in essence getting a double response. So when you pencil it out again, it just doesn't make sense. So, what we're proposing is a new partner facility, which is the Humane Society of Pierce County and Tacoma. I personally toured the facility. If you haven't got an opportunity to go, go and look at the facility. I don't know if you've been there in the last couple years, but it is extravagant. I was so impressed with the facility, the cleanliness, the lack of odor, uh the on staff, veterary staff and uh veterary technicians that they have there. very large operation. They've been quite successful at soliciting uh donations and working with the public uh for this valuable service. So that is about 8 miles from the city limits. It's located at 2608 Center Street. Our previous facility is Metro Animal Services. Similar distance but much heavier and more congested traffic corridors as it goes over to um North Hill in essence above Pial up there. So in practicality there is no meaningful

increase in the transport time should we have to transport an animal to uh the facility um which we will because what has been normally done if we take an animal in custody we uh will hold on to that animal in our holding um kennel here and then animal services sometimes is if it's after hours they usually don't show up till the next day or the next afternoon to retrieve that animal. So from an operation standpoint, this is uh simply improving our our ability to transport animals and and get them quickly into the hands of the humane society where they have the on staff veterary uh staff right there on site. Um and of course we see no degragation in emergency response or we don't feel that there would be any kind of degragation. And um of course we would use common sense when transporting animals and it would be during times when we have adequate staffing. Um again let's see going over any other things I missed. So animal services is a clear example of currently um subsidizing a regional system despite having a very low utilization based on the calls per year and no consistent after hours coverage. When those gaps occur, our officers already respond anyways. uh by bringing the the field response in house and partnering with a fee supported shelter meaning that the people that are uh don't have adequate measures from ensuring that their pet or animal doesn't uh leave their property uh they are the ones that are going to bear those costs rather than the rest of the population bearing those costs for this service. Um the operation the reality is this is a minimal impact change. Animal calls represent less than one quarter of 1% of our workload. Uh transport

transportation distances remain essentially the same. We will schedule those transports to ensure full coverage for priority calls at all times. This approach improves accountability aligns with our lean management philosophy and positions in the city to sustain high service levels into the future without unar unnecessary subsidy. So with that, if I haven't exhausted all your questions that you might have been thinking, I certainly would be willing to answer any of your questions. Is there any questions from council? Yes, council member Roberts.

Thank you, mayor. So out of the uh transports or excuse me, the calls you actually get, how many are actual transports that uh occur because I believe you said it was roughly 120 calls last year. So out of those 120 more or less, how would uh how many would actually be a transport? they uh looking at their reports, they had 25 in custody animals. So that would equal 25 uh transports.

Provided that as you've seen as of late, you did see a Facebook post book where we or post that we were trying to get the uh owners of the animals to come to our facility before we actually uh facilitated a transport. um that particular animal had actually been here uh since the day before in that afternoon before it was finally transported. So one of the things as you know we've been trying to ramp up our game with social media posts on mult multiple platforms. So if we start taking on this extra service of course we're going to try to facilitate better connectiveness rather than just pushing it on to animal services. And so I'm hoping that that 25 could be cut down in half. Okay. So again, that was just 25 for the whole year.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And Milton residents, when they want to surrender an animal, if you find it at large, you'd be able to go down there and surrender it. Any additional questions? Yes, Council Member Cedar.

I have a couple. Um, thanks [clears throat] for bringing this forward for discussion. I look forward to taking action on it. I think it's a good move. Um, and I I particularly think, well, I want to say why I like it, then I'll say a concern I have. So, I like the idea that our police are responding to our citizens. I think that the Sumar system has never really served us that well. I've never heard good feedback from those who have utilized or tried to utilize it. Um, so I'm excited for that. The concern I have, you know, let's say we have 120 calls from our citizens and as you triage calls at at the department, you're not going to be able to respond, right? someone might call because they see a raccoon or a coyote and that's probably not going to be a priority call. Um, so I I'm worried that it may impact our citizens view of our police negatively even though it's not a deserved negative view. Uh, do you have any thoughts on that about responding to calls that are kind of low acuity?

Uh, first animals that you named off would not be an animal services call. Those would be the Department of Wildlife. So, if you have nuisance animals or animals that fit in the wildlife category, the Department of Wildlife is actually has officers that are out on patrol throughout the the region that are assigned to these areas that 911 would actually redirect that call. If it's a coyote or if it's uh some kind of a deer, whatever, an injured um uh eagle or owl or whatever, those are Department of Wildlife calls.

That's great. I'm glad to hear that. I wasn't aware of that. Um, so then one other concern, so most of the the penalties are civil and there's certainly, you know, some some escalated penalties for like dangerous animals, harboring dangerous dogs, that sort of thing. Um, but as far as civil penalties go for, let's say, maintenance of livestock or, you know, leashing the dog improperly, do you have any concern that it's converting the police department into something of a code enforcement? And do you expect that there's going to be a need for an additional officer at sometime in the future to meet the needs here?

Well, one, I do not think there would be a need for additional officers. And two, as part of history, maybe prior to your serving on this council, there were a lot of times where council actually directed us that they wanted to us to aggressively enforce no leash uh ordinance. uh they wanted us to go after people that were uh allowing their dogs to do their business without picking it up. There was even a proposal probably prior to your time of us collecting DNA. I mean, that's how far it's gone. In some jurisdictions, believe it or not, actually, you do have to provide a DNA sample of your animal and if they find uh doodoo dookie, they can actually track that animal. I mean, I've I have seen it all when it comes to animal control, but uh so I hope I've kind of answered your answer in the long and the short. It's not going to be we are already responding by default because again, if it's an emergency situation and a stray animal is a danger to everybody because you don't know if it's going to end up in some kind of attack, if it's going to get hit by a car, if it's going to cause a car to swerve. Um, and statistically there are more vehicle accidents or fatalities caused by wildlife uh with people trying to avoid the animal strike. So you put that into a domestic situation, high density such as the city, uh, we're already responding to those animals at large or animal problems. Uh and then animal services acts kind of as a secondary responder and then when they do write their reports they get forwarded to us for charging because they don't have that level of commission to be able to forward for uh prosecution. And the other thing too is is that with this we have escalated and have two animal control trained investigators within the police department that have the ability to investigate the u criminal aspects of animal neglect, abuse, negligence, etc.

Fantastic. Uh thanks chief. I look forward to hearing you know maybe your hindsight assuming we adopt this uh about what we're responding to and how you're utilizing the resources on that. Appreciate it.

Yes, Council Member Turnis. [clears throat] Hi, Chief. Um, I this so if a stray dog is on the street and animal control comes and picks them up versus the police officer coming and picking them up and they take them to the either humane society, is there a fine that they have to pay when the owner comes and gets the animal? And then when they pay the fine, does that fine go to the Humane Society or does it come to the city of Milton? Again, we're doing a a fee for service. So, if your animal gets picked up and ends up in the hands of the Humane Society, you will have to pay for that fee for that service rather than the current model, which is we just pay for per residence, which they on the OFM they did 8,795 I think is what the estimate was for that. So,

so the fee is paid to the city of Milton. No, it's paid to the Humane Society because the only fee that we're paying to the Humane Society, we're not subsidizing their shelter costs. They recover their shelter costs by charging their own fees. And then um if we the city go and surrender then we pay for that im ind individual surrender which is $450 which based on the amount of animals I estimated that to be $11,250,000 or $11,250 per year versus uh last year's bill was $104,00043.54. Okay.

Thank you. Any additional questions? Yes, M. Uh, Council Member Poor.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Chief, I know you spoke on this uh before as well, but uh you spoke about having experience in the realm of animal control and that you guys already do some of this stuff. Could you speak on um the training that you guys already have in interacting with the animals, getting them? I feel like it could be a concern of citizens uh how proficient we are in uh getting those animals or interacting with them um or or the training that they would receive. Well, we sent two officers to the actual Washington State Animal Control Academy, which is the business standard for Washington State, and that is a two-eek academy, and they were trained on everything you can imagine. Uh the officers came back to the department one day and were telling me about how they got to handle boa constrictors and how fun that was. Uh and the the type of equipment uh that you utilized for animal control such as catch poles and nets and so forth. Um cat gloves, bike gloves, all those kinds of things. They learned about feral animals and the different type of diseases that the animals might have um that could be a danger to other uh animals. So, uh, they are well trained. And then I can tell you my personal experience. I, uh, when I was in the sheriff's office as a male manager back clear back in 2005, I was responsible for animal control for 2,000 square miles, uh, and a very large animal control facility with crematorium and a 5 acre uh, facility that had kenneling and all those types of things. Had over a 100 volunteers that helped at the kennel facility. So, I'm intimately uh familiar with animal control services, how it works, and all of the information and the tools that you need to have for your animal control officers and how to provide that service to the community.

Thank you. And then could you just expand a little bit on um how we won't whether we will have to um take any resources or officers time away from enforcing other laws um and how we'll kind of shore up that concern. Well, we do that now. So, the the most that I foresee and the one that has been the one I've looked at is the transport time. Um, and I did Google Maps and I looked at it during um the afternoon to see how busy it was and the estimated from the city limits was 17 minutes because it's an 8 mile drive. Um, and of course, we do have emergency vehicles. So if we are out of the city, just like if we're out of the city doing a transport to the Pierce County Jail, we have the ability to respond to priority calls and so we can have a much faster return if necessary. And again, we also look at our staffing and we use common sense and we're not going to leave the city short and we're also going to priority call or prioritize our calls. And so, uh, again, the impact is minimal. But, of course, without saying, there is going to be times just like when they transport people out of the city because we don't have our own jail. We're going to have a little bit of time where we're transporting that animal for eight miles.

Thank you very much. Any any additional questions? Yes, Council Member Hall. Who's going to do the license? Dog license. We already do the dog. We already do the dog licenses, but you can do it at two places currently. You can do it here, okay? Or you can do it at Metro Animal Services.

Um, we also have online and then we So, talking with the Humane Society, they will also provide that service. So, if a Milton resident goes there to adopt an animal, they say, "What city do you live in?" They say, "Milton." They go, "Here's the animal license annually that you're required to get." And they do. Um, and then they hold that money for a credit and that would actually be credited from the total dollar amount when we do our intakes. So, do we get any money? And then what we collect here, we also get that money. Okay. Okay. Is there an amount that we're getting?

In 2020, it was $1,500. In 2021 it was $976. In 22 it was $1,171. In 23 it was $1,329. In 24 it was $1,136. In 25 it was $967. So the amount of I don't know why we didn't do this sooner. This is crazy. Um that amount of money is a huge savings. I appreciate the mayor and everybody that's involved looking into this. Thank you, Council Member Turnis.

Um, did you actually have the amount of the savings? I just uh didn't do the math real quick, but it was 11,250 versus 10 and something thousand. How much was the savings? 104. Well, again, I'm I'm going to underpromise and hopefully overd deliver because I don't want anybody to think that this is going to be a landslide of money, but from an a lean perspective, it appears on its face like $80,000 plus or minus. Great. Thank you. Any additional questions? Yes, Council Member Mouse.

You hit the button, so you turned off the mic. [laughter] Thank you. Any any additional uh discussion? All right, we'll just uh move on to the next item on our agenda, which is uh item 9B on page 79 um of your packet. It's another discussion item and um planning manager Stalenecker will be presenting this item.

All right. So this first part part really kind of me rec uh mirrors the um staff report. Um so again we're talking about the urban forest preservation new subsection what our goals are what the comprehensive plan says. Um we we already discussed the deficiencies in the current code. Um I did attach that. It's the very last page. It's 109. If you want to see what our current code is um it is there. So um and then again key fe features is it applies to all zones and uses and it creates those three categories. So the exceptional trees um that table that um was brought up which is great is on page 92 and 93. Um and so it sort of has these are you know so some of those trees only need to have maybe 24 in 12 in depending on their value. certain trees are they're they're saying there really is no exceptional value no what no matter what size they are due to the type that they are and then if you're not on that list um the the mark would be a 30-in diameter at standard height which is 4 and 1/2 ft. Um so if you fall into some sort of exceptional tree criteria, it's going to be a really high criteria for you to remove that tree. Um and then again significant trees are anything that is at least 6 in in DSH up to whatever that exceptional size is. And then again so um we we base this on Burian and they have what's called a heritage tree. So this would be if the city decides um at a later date to maybe come up with a designation of what might be. I don't know if there's trees that have sort of cultural significance, local significance to the community. Um, but it would be something that the city council could at a later date say, "Hey, this is what we think a heritage tree is." And if a owner could come in and say, "Hey, I believe this is a heritage tree for these reasons," council could

approve that. So, there's language for that. If at a future date, um, council decides they want to kind of expand that out. So, those are sort of our three. And then anything less than 6 in, we're not regulating. Um again talking about how it is a more equitable method than our current in that it's dealing with both all zones there is a level of um tree retention required and tree improvement required all properties whether you have trees without trees and so then dig a little bit deeper into this idea of tree credit so what it's doing is it's saying if you're in one of our residential zones so and our one and I do have um maps that you if you want to become more familiar I know I had promised to bring some paper maps, you can take them. It's also available on our website. But NR1 and NR2 are our basic single family and duplex zones. [clears throat and cough] URM is our multif family zone. So for those, for every um,000 square ft, you're going to have one credit. So if you're an 8,000 foot lot, you would have to have eight tree credits if you build something or if you do a major expansion or something to that effect. If you're in any of our mixed use, our neighborhood commercial, um our um community facilities, it's a half a credit per that thousand square feet. And if you're in our business and our M1, which is much more industrial and business, again, we're going to hopefully in the next couple years dig into that a little bit better. That so that may change. It's just a 1.5 credit per,000 square ft. And then we take the tree side and we look at the size and the type and we're going to say, okay, this tree like an exceptional tree is worth nine credits. So if you, you know, or if you're just um planting a little tiny tree, um, you know, it's only going to be worth one or two. And that's again on page 95 if you're if you're want to kind of balance that with the packet. It talks about that. And again, so when we're looking at it, we're not going to

go out to tree to to properties right now that aren't doing anything. But if you decide to build something on a vacant lot, we're going to deal with the tree credits and what's required. If you add on, I believe it's 500 square ft to an existing development, we're going to do that. And if you look to remove a tree, we're going to look at your tree credits under the proposed um criteria. And I'm going to give you some real specific examples here in a second, which hopefully will help you visualize this. And again, we're creating two permits. A minor permit is staff level. Um you're coming in, you have maybe a house, you're trying to remove a tree, you're saying it's hazardous, it's dangerous, you can prove it to us. We're going to let you take it down with a minor permit. But if you we are going to look at, okay, do you have enough tree credits? Are you going to have to do some replacement because you're removing that tree? We have an example of that. And that will be probably the greatest change in this that you'll have to consider. And then um there's also some language that like if you happen to have a lot that has a lot of trees and you're like, "Hey, I really want to take down a couple trees to have more light or different things." We sort of have this minimum threshold um that says, "Okay, you you can take down a couple trees over a 5-year period. We're trying to get away from clear cutting, but we also want to keep that um tree credit kind of idea." So um the idea is to sort of create trees in areas that don't have trees and limit how much of the big trees are cut. And then major permit would be required if it's associated with the development. And this is pretty much what we're already doing. If you're doing a big project, we're looking at trees. This just sort of flushes it out a little better. It's more specific on what we're looking for, a retention plan, a protection plan, a replacement plan, and it's going to go through. So, the major permit, it just gives us a lot more to work with when we're working with a a major development. And then um just to kind of finish off the key features before we get into the examples is that it does have a maintenance performance inspections. We're looking at a 5-year time frame. We're going to

want to see those trees um you know obviously we want the trees to last, but we definitely want them to focus on how are you going to make sure they survive and really get grounded in that 5 years because in five years they really should be substantial. They should be able to live on their own kind of thing. and then the enforcement. Um, and I know when you start looking at the fees, um, I know the planning commission had some trepidation on some of the amounts. Um, so from talking with what Bernine has done um, this again, this has come from them. They feel that that is their their tree arborist um, said that that it's sort of the value of those what you're losing by getting rid of a large tree to go to a smallest tree. Um, and when it talks about trunk removal, it's talking about, it's not like, hey, I have a trunk and I remove it. It's like, hey, I cut this tree and I'm grinding the stump because I don't want anyone to know that I took down this tree that I'm not supposed to. So, um, as far as I know, my understanding is Bern's never actually had to do that, but it's there kind of as a preventative measure. And then they also have language that talks about understanding that, you know, if it's a um individual, they take down a tree, they honestly we're not trying to do it to, you know, secretly or whatever, that maybe there's some other options like they just help promote that there's tree um that we now have a tree code to at a maybe at Milton Days or in their neighborhood or something. There's some options there if we feel like it's not. Um and before we go into the examples, I do want to emphasize that plan both the planning commission and the staff realize that um with this if we adopt this um in full, there's going to have to be a lot of communication both to the residents um and um we've talked about that we would want to reach out to um tree specialists. We want them to know they can't, you know, if you're going to cut a tree in Milton, we need you to come talk to us first. So, as much of that preventative, get the word

out. Um I will say 10 years ago I hardly ever got a call of someone saying do I need a permit to call a tree tree. We get regularly almost monthly someone will call us. So there is this sort of a lot of people do think they need a permit. So I think that that assumption is there but that will be um the biggest change if this is adopted as its whole. So I'm going to go through a couple examples and then I will open it up to whatever um questions comments. We can go back and forth in the slides and then again this is coming back next week as well for discussion. So, if there are certain things like I want to know more about this, let me know. Or if you think of it this week, let me know and we can bring some of that back. So, I have three scenarios. We're looking at um how it affects the property, this new proposed code. If it has trees versus a property that doesn't have trees, and what the current code does versus what the proposed code does. We're doing a residential new development, a commercial new development, and development with a that already has like a house with a damaged dying tree. So, and then just a key for this is our dark hopefully slightly bigger is the exceptional. So, again, these are on that table or they're at least 30 inches. So, when you see the dark green, these are trees that are going to be probably at least um a foot in width, if not 33 feet in width. So, these are major trees that are on these properties. The significance, so those kind of in between, they could be six, they could be 12, they could be 20. And then the light green is these things that we're requiring them to plant because they either need two credits or they've taken down trees. And I remember because again you're looking at a little graphic and oh there's we're replacing a tree with a tree. Um if we're if we're planting those light trees we're talking a 6 foot high evergreen which is two credits or the deciduous they only have to do 2 in. So you know even if you're saying okay we got to replace a 30-inch tree you got to plant three trees. You're really only getting like six inches of trees for 30inch tree. So remember the the the even though you're planting more trees, they are going to be a lot smaller and they may be big if

they're taken care of, but there's that risk. All right, let's get into the scenarios real quick. Um so scenario one, residential. So this is just a lot um in in one of our neighborhoods. They want to build an 8,000 foot um house under our current code. So lot A, there is no existing trees. On lot B, we have two significant trees and a few um or sorry, two exceptional trees and a few significant trees. Under the current code, you can build a house. There's no requirement to plant trees. Under lot B, you're you're allowed to build a house and then you can remove all your trees. So there's no under our current code, if you are a single house or duplex, we do you are exempt from the entire tree code. So, under the proposal again, um, if you're building a house, we would say you have to have a major permit. You're going to be done by the credits. So, one credit,000. So, if it's an 8,000 foot lot, you need eight credits. So, again, lot A, you're going to build your house. And then we're going to say, okay, you need to build, you need to plant enough to get your eight credits. Um, again, the sixoot conifers are worth two credits. Your deciduous are 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8. we have our eight credits and now we have added um five trees to that neighborhood that previously in that lot did not have trees. Um conversely on lot B we do have two trees or we have several trees. So again you're going to build your house under the proposed code you can they would have to keep those largest exceptional trees. So they're going to retain those trees and then um because those are worth 18 credits nine of pace they're well over their eight credits they can cut the rest. But we have now retained those two largest trees that before they could cut down. So when you sort of compare those, like you said, we're trying to kind of even it out. Um that when we started on lot

A, we had zero trees. Under the current code, we would still have zero trees. Under the proposed code, to get the A credits, you're going to have those four to eight trees depending on what they plant. With lot B, we start with two exceptional trees, six significant. Under the current code, we may end up with zero. And some people don't, but we have had some properties recently that took out all the trees. Um, under the proposed code, um, we would keep those two exceptional trees. So, in the end, we would, so we kind of, if you kind of like, if again, if you're kind of thinking we're trying to balance the two, we would have had under the existing, we started with eight of that. Of that eight, two are exceptional. Under the current code, potentially we could end up with zero. Under the proposed code, you're going to end up with six to 10 trees. of that two of those we saved are those exceptional and then the rest will be small trees that hopefully will grow up. So this is new because right now we don't require anything but this is what would happen on our residential lot. All right, we're going to zip through commercial. This is again um we currently require some but right now we're doing sort of this ratio and I'm going to show you um again I think this is a better balance and a better equity of how we do it. So 4,000 ft² retail building with a parking lot, 25,800t vacant lot. Think something like a Sherwin Williams, maybe a slightly bigger building. That's sort of what I'm going with here. So in the current code, they can build their building. They can build their parking lot. We might require them to put in two um small trees for their parking lot, but there's nothing there's landscaping required, but it doesn't specifically say unless there's maybe some street trees that they have to put trees in. It just talks about that they have to have landscaping around the edge. And if they do trees, this is what you do. The flip side is um if so like law B does have trees. Now it talks about things like you reasonably have to keep and you should keep trees. But there's those soft words that make

it really hard when they start saying, "Well, but our storm water has to go here and our parking lot goes here." And so in essence, they could theoretically, and has happened, take out all the trees, build the building they want with the parking lot. we're going to require those two little landscaping trees. Now, the ratio says, well, you took out 15 trees and depending on the size and the width and what type, maybe you have to replace 52, but you cannot realistically put 52 trees on this lot. And so, you might get 15 to 20 depending on what kind around the outside. And then historically, in essence, they sort of request an, you know, say, well, we can't do it and this is the best landscaping practices. And so, we wave those rest of those trees because you just can't do it. So again, um that's under the current code. Under the proposed code, same idea, four square 4,000 foot parking lot. Um under A, there's no trees. So the code set the proposed code is a 0.5 credit for 1,000 square ft. So in essence, with when you do the math and you round up, you end up with needing 13 credits. So yes, they're going to build their building. They're going to add their two trees and they're going to plant 18 to 13 trees to get that credit. So again, these are worth 2. 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. We have 13 credits and we have just added a bunch of trees to a property. Flip side on B we have a lot that has a bunch of trees. We have one, we have five exceptional trees and however many of the um significant trees. So um they can remove the significant trees if it you know but they because again we're looking at that tree credit they have to have 13 the end but they have to keep the exceptional trees. The only exception would be like in this case this one's right in the middle. So if they can demonstrate that, hey, we can't build what we need, then we're like,

okay, you can remove that tree, but then you have to have an extra three replacement beyond your credits. So in this case, we're going to say, okay, you can take away that one. So they're going to have to alter their building because we have said you don't need to take down these exceptional trees and by our code, you have to keep them. So maybe we take down the one, but they have to, you know, they can still build. Maybe they're making the building shorter and wider. Maybe they go a second story. They've kept these trees down here. Maybe they make a landscaping area to keep this tree, which actually is great shade for this. And then they have to put in their two little parking lot trees. And then they have to add three more trees. And again, these trees are starting at maybe 2 in where we have kept the trees that are 24 to 30. And so they're still able to build, but we have now kept more valuable trees. So again, real quick, um, lot A, we start with zero trees. we end up with maybe two under the current code. Again, might depending on the parking lot, they might end up with three, but in in essence, you know, if it's not very many, I looked at some of those, if you look at Sher Williams, they didn't put in, I don't think, very many. Um, and then the proposed code to make those 13 credits, you're planting 18 to 13 trees. Under lot B, we start with 10 significant, five exceptional. Um, under our current code, they can take down everything as long as they plant so many. Um, but again, you can only reasonably put so many trees on a lot when you've already developed it. Under the proposed code, um, they would we would save those four exceptional trees, plus they'd have to plant five trees. So, in the end, we end up with seven to 22 trees, which is actually pretty close to what we got, but it's spread out on two lots. So now we've taken a lot that had very little trees and we've put quite a few trees on it and we've saved four of our largest trees in the city. So this is sort of and again we already require commercial to do this. I think this is a much more

reasonable equitable way to do it and I think overall um it's a great it's a great method. Final scenario. This one though I think is the one that is the greatest change for the residents of Milton. So I want to make sure you guys understand what we're doing here. Um, so right now if you are a house or a duplex, we do not regulate trees. You can take down any tree you want at any time unless it is specifically in like a wet land or a critical area. So what the proposal is is again we're looking at credit. So let's say this yellow highlighted tree has been determined by a specialist um and has turned in a report to us that's it's exceptional tree, but it is dying and it is hazardous. And so they're going to turn in a minor permit to us. We're going to review that report, say, "Yep, it's legit." We're going to let them take that tree down, and then we're going to look at their credits. And so let's say these are two to three credit trees cuz they're 14 to 16. Maybe they're 20 in diameter. Um they have over their eight credits. They're all good to go. Um and again, we have to decide what those permits cost. So that will come in the fee schedule from council to help determine that. Um so there right now there's they can take it down without any expense. There will be a small and again it won't be much but there will be a small permit fee. Um my definition of small permit fee and in this case they don't have to do anything else in this case they take down again same tree. Yes it's dying. It's hazard. We're going to make them oh no replacement needed. We're going to make them do a minor permit. They can take the tree down but then we're going to say wait a minute you now have no trees. And so, um, under this proposal, they would have to plant trees to kind of replace that tree that they got. So, again, we're talking 2, four, five, six, seven, eight trees. They could do four of the evergreens, they could do eight of the smaller ones, or they could do some combination. So, that will be the

biggest thing that would as written affect residents. Um, so at that point, I'm going to stop. We like I said um questions, comments, um direction that you want me to bring back more information on next week. Happy to take all of that. Any discussion? Yes, Council Member Hall.

What you were just talking about, um I would be wary that if somebody has a tree that needs to come down, but they don't want to put up more trees, they won't take it down. I mean, that's that situation could be dangerous. Um, also Milton used to give I went to school here in grade school and they would give kids trees every year. Um, sometimes two or three. You had three kids, you get nine trees a year. So, [laughter] Milton, all over Milton, there's trees planted from us kids. And those trees have disintegrated. I know we had to take all of ours down because they were all in horrible shape. Um, and we didn't know it. We knew some of them were were bad, but when they cut brought in the boom and then cut them, we found out that the roots were bad almost. So, I that that's what I'd be hesitant of.

Council member Cedar.

Thanks. Um, I got a few things. Uh, first, just to kind of piggyback on what Council Member Hall was saying, I I would like to see the city Wait, actually, let me start even earlier than that. Thank you for bringing this forward. We talked about this years ago, and it's great to finally see it coming to fruition. It's really, this is something that's needed. Um, we used to call ourselves a tree city. I don't think we can do that anymore, but this is a step in the right direction. So, that said, um I would like to see us have some kind of support program for citizens who are in that specific scenario that you laid out, whether it's uh I mean, even just resources connecting them to nonprofits that provide trees like these these are out there. And so, just making sure we have a plan for that because I I do think that's a risk and we don't want people to feel like we're just imposing a cost without giving them some options. Um, so what I don't know what that looks like, but I think that's something to keep in mind. Okay, now to my more um specific points. So, first is a question. Um, the redevelopment is what would trigger the calculation of the credits. Would that apply to an existing commercial lot? Let's say Sherman Williams moved out and they didn't currently meet this credit and some other paint store moved in. they would come in, there'd be the credit calculation, and then they would have to go through the variance or um I can't remember what it's called for this, but the the process to get an exception. Correct.

So, the only time if you're the redevelop or the development or redevelopment would be if you're adding square footage. So, if one business comes in, one business goes out, one business goes in, the building footprint doesn't change, nothing changes. if a building if they come in and they tear it down or they come in and they add on um I think it's I believe it's 500 square feet or larger then this would kick in or if you build on your property if you decide to build an ADU that's over 500 square feet or you add onto your house over 500 square feet that would add on.

Okay. So maybe it's something like um you know like the lot where spoonful of sugar is for instance where it's kind of currently just a fairly small unit. If if a commercial developer came in, developed that property, added 500 square foot building to it in addition to what's there, uh that would trigger yes that. Okay. And then they would go through exactly what's written here in terms of I'm going to call it a variance because I can't remember the term, but basically they just need a treat permit treat. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Great. Thank you. Okay. Now, let me get to my things that I [clears throat]

identified as I think as potential problems. Um, first I didn't see definitions for two terms which were tree protection zone and critical root zone. Those are both used in sections G and H, but I didn't see a definition, okay, in the 17.08 definitions.

Um, maybe that's a term of art and doesn't need a definition, but just want to flag it. Um second there there's an 85% number for when a developer comes in um and is it's in section it's in C 2C3 and I just I just want to talk about the 85% and want to know how we got to that. We don't need to do it now. We can do it next week. Um, but I just want to understand because it seems to me like a developer who's maximizing a lot is probably going to hit that frequently.

So, yeah, making sure that that makes sense to us and any future planner is important. Um, it came from Burian because I said we we sort of um took the most of this from it. The idea is supposed to be sort of that trying to figure out like when we went through and there was that middle tree that we said yes, you can take that exceptional tree. So it's this idea that if um so under our code we're like um you so our maximum total structure coverage I believe right now is you know might be 80% of the lot under our code and then you're going to look at you're going to and again I and this was something that was brought up I need to make sure this makes sense and then you're you're looking at that and then you're like okay but if we stick a tree in the middle and we say you can't tear it down and there's a buffer around it we have now taken that number. So maybe that 80% that we normally would let you build on might be um 4 thou or 4,000 square feet, but then we put that tree right in the middle and say you can't take it down. We have now created maybe they can only build on a,000 square ft. And so the idea is that you're saying, okay, we got to look at what percentage you can build and then if we add this also on top this and if it drops you down to less than 85% of that number um then you can take that exceptional treat down and it is a little bit cumbersome. So we can work on that.

Yeah. And that Thank you. That's exactly I it's conf when I tried to talk myself through it. I was kind of confused. So if you could just maybe bring forward some examples of that. The presentation is great. It's so helpful to see it visualized and have it explained like that. So if we could just look at that number maybe next week.

Um and I think you kind of answered this in E1A. Minor tree removals don't require replacements. And I'm sorry I made these notes before the last meeting. Um, but I think you answered about how that how overall because to me that strikes it as like we're getting a negative outcome. We're slowly going to degrade theoretically if we if we keep removing minor trees. But I see what you're saying. I think I understand now. So I talked myself out of that. Okay. Um, the last thing is in section P. Um, it I use the term defer. It kind of defers the forest management plan for five years, but in that time it doesn't really set any targets or assessments. And I what I would like to see is either like a 12 to 18month baseline created so we know if this is successful because I think that it looks good and it feels good, but I would love to see a measurable impact. Like are we actually increasing Milton's canopy cover here or are we just creating a pretty hefty piece of code and permit um obstacle course? So the hope was with this is that not only we're going to do this code but and I fingers crossed I'm working on some grant money for this um is that we would actually develop that forest management plan as well to not just say this but yes to figure out do we want to start giving away trees or do we want to do certain things to kind of expand that and and start with what is our tree canopy coverage um so we know what we have and are we increasing or decreasing. So, you're wanting to sort of um add something in here that that has

once we get that plan, have a re-evaluation after that to make sure that it's working. Yes. And what you said is helpful because, you know, right now it just reads like let's kick this this part of the plan like let's kick our assessment down the road 5 years for the forest plan. I hear what you're saying which is that you're pursuing that kind of simultaneously right now. So this is in at least some stage of

yeah in five years again it was a number that I was trying to be I mean if if if the council as a whole or as a consensus is like no we want that sooner we want to make it two years we want to know what our tree canopy is then that could be there I was just trying to find what's that number that gives us enough time to do those things and find the money for it 100% and and I don't think even a robust plan is not even what's needed what what I am saying I think would be wise and we can discuss this in more depth what this could look like next week but is some way for us to measure this you know year-over-year even in the short term. So if we look at this a year from now

you know we're going to see a tree gone on Taylor and one up on 19th and like oh okay maybe it's working but um I'd like to just have some measurable deliverable in there. Uh okay thank you. Any Yes. Council member Mounts,

the goal of the forest preservation is a good goal. Does it require revising Milton's municipal code or is there another way to accomplish the same thing? Um I think there there's definitely things that need to be revised in the code. Um whether um is that the only way you know is that the only piece? No. I think again um educ and that's where maybe you know kind of trying to throw in this idea of an urban force management is trying to get education out there trying to understand the different things. Um, I do think there are some parts of, like I said, our current code for protecting trees is really small, really loose and it it just is very hard to get effective tree protection under my experience. So, there's definitely parts that I um I really like about the proposal. Um, again, I think all of the part we're already doing stuff with the development. I think this is a better method to do that and I think we're going to get better results with development under the new things. Yes, that like I said the biggest um you know the that when it comes to the residential properties that's the thing that's the biggest change and so that's the thing that um you know to balance that is is we've had there have been residential properties and some of it is because um we can we have a little bit more flexibility with what type of houses that go in and if we're doing ADUs and you know if someone just buys a house and puts up an ADU they're not going to take down trees. some of our bigger lots, people are going in and saying, "Hey, I'm going to subdivide this and I can take down all

the trees and put up, you know, maximize it." And so the question is, I think we're going to start losing and we already are losing some of those trees in our residential neighborhoods. And and I didn't necessarily bring attention to it here, but and I think most people realize that the value of trees keeps a community cooler. It keeps our storm water better. there's so many benefits to those trees that if we start losing them at a mass rate, I think the city will suffer from that. Now, you know, again, this is when it comes to the residential, this is the way that seemed that like I said, there are a lot of cities that are going this way. I know when you start talking about punitives, it gets nervous when people are talking residents. It's easier to think, well, we can penalize corporations. Do we want to penarize residents? Um, and I know that um, again the if you take down a tree and you don't have any trees, you know, I don't and again I I this is the this is the recommendation that planning commission gave um, I also want to say as a representative to helpfully in inform council as best if certain things make you feel like yeah maybe we are okay with them replanting three you know three trees but maybe we don't want them to have to do a full aid. You know, if there's things that you're like, I'm I it feels like it's too much because we haven't done anything. If there's you can always um offer like, hey, what does council feel about this if we did this instead of that? And then if there's consensus from council that says, you know, yeah, you know, in agreement, we like this idea, but we think this number should be less or we think this number should be more. um you have that right to take the planning commission document and adapt it um a little bit if you're like that seems too far because we've

gone from zero to this let's do something in the middle or I know that um you know and the planning commission struggled with like the fees now again there's language in there that says we don't we're not actively trying to penalize people if we do penalize people we would put that money in a fund that probably would go back to planting trees somewhere else and that would be something that created And [clears throat] a lot of times and there is the option of um like you said maybe um we just get those them to you know and when we say community it says community service it's not like you're going to go pick up garbage along the street. It's the idea that you get if it isn't just a resident like get them to help us get that word out. Maybe there's a way because we know you know we're getting a feel like it's not a developer who was trying to hide this. It was a resident who thought they could take a tree down because it was dying or something. So there's some flexibility there, but and and my understanding is the fees again, we're just grabbing what Berian is. Um that is based on their understanding of the value of that tree, the maintenance, what it would take to replace. Um again, but every city has that right to decide how they want to. You can change it if you want to. You can ask me to come back with what other cities do. You can also say we don't want it in code. we wanted in the fee schedule and we address it and push it down a little bit to do with that. Um, and then I do want to clarify again I think I said already because there was a question there's questions raised about the idea of stumps. It's not that you removed a stump. It's that you it's that it's sort of like if there are a is there is a developer who thinks he got away with taking down some trees and he's trying to dig out the Trump stump. So there's no evidence. It's just that extra penalty that could be. Now Bernian says they've never used it. So So those are those things there. So again, I I think definitely the code needs to be changed. I think we need a much better thing. I think I personally think um requiring the trees I I I for any development if we're building

something, if we're building even if we're building a house, the idea of planting trees and landscaping should be part of that. Um, but yes, that that one piece is if there's already a house and we're taking down trees, where is that line of what has to be that will be I I I that will be the biggest effect on residents. So, can I can I repeat what I think I heard you say? Sure. [laughter] you highly recommend revising the Milton Municipal Code to make it more robust, more enforcable perhaps, um, more clearly defined.

But as an alternative, we could look at doing something under the fee schedule that might accomplish similar goals but not be as robust as revising the code. if you're talking I that particular part dealing with like the penalties. So dealing with the penalties I know again I can bring back more information of why Burian set the penalties the way they did and how they've handled it. Um right now this has the penalties in the code. We have gone back and forth as staff trying to sometimes pull those things out of code because it's a little easier to change a fee schedule than it is. So we could pull it out of the code, put it in the fee schedule, and then that gives a little more flexibility of, you know, if we decide, well, we're doing it, but it, wow, that really is super high, then that could be adjusted easier. Or if it's like, no, this is great, we leave it. Or if it's not high enough, you know, that kind of stuff. So that's just sort of like form, you know, you could take those out if you want a little more flexibility of when you can. It's just easier. But other than that, that part is I think is what I meant the fee schedules that just where do you put that? There's a little flexibility there.

Thank you. And I appreciate that very much because those fees are just really high and putting them in the fee schedule may make more sense. So, I'll appreciate hearing more about that at the study session. Okay.

And then you also um mentioned somebody adding an ADU to their property and this kicking in. Now, if the state emphasis on promoting affordable housing and promoting residents adding ADUs to their property, which what obstacles would would you come into then if there's no room to add trees or credits? Could they buy credits? Could they plant trees somewhere else? or would would it just prohibit building affordable housing because there's no room for trees? I mean, which one is it takes precedent?

So, if you're specifically talking about ADUs, um we currently um so our we only so within the ADUs, it has to fit within the same rules that you do for your first house. So there are setbacks required for whether it's if you're doing one big house or a small house and two ADUs. So you really have 20 ft in the front, a minimum of 25 ft in the back and 7 and 1/2 ft on the sides that you could plant either keep your trees or plant your trees. Um unless easy fiber comes in. [laughter]

No, because easy fiber is technically in the rightway. So they're 20 feets behind that. But um yeah, so I mean actually in residential you you have sort of built-in places that you can put some of those trees. And again, if you go with the six foot evergreen, they're two credits each. You're only talking maybe four trees where if you're like, "No, I want the fruit trees, then you're going to plant a few more." So you don't you don't foresee a conflict there? I don't think so. No, not in a you can't I don't think trees would be the reason you couldn't build it. Okay. your house may be too big and there's no room left. But thank you. Any additional discussion? Yes, Council Member Roberts.

So, I had a question about the uh the ratio, right? So, for example, residential, you have one tree per excuse me, one credit per thousand square feet and then with the NC, which is the neighborhood, commercial, etc., it's.5. Um you explained that very well but based on this it seems like the burden is put on residents right so for example um the business district is.15 per 1,000 square ft of credit so I understand the the issue with businesses you don't have quite as much area to put a tree because of concrete etc but to kind of touch a little more on what council member mounts was saying is there some kind of banking system we could use for example um have it all be one credit per thousand just across the board and any they can add credit to somebody else, right? So, hey, we're going to donate trees here. We're going to donate trees to the park, but they still have to meet that same ratio, right? And just have it be 1,000 per uh or excuse me, one credit per thousand square feet. Uh to me, that makes perfect sense. Again, it's putting more of the burden on the resident and companies, you know, they're half the time they have extra money and that would benefit our community in general, just having the businesses take up some of that uh that burden.

So, I think that the challenge from a staff enforcement perspective is how do you determine what they have to plant and what you're banking? Because that's, you know, it's like if we're saying you're, you know, well, you're supposed to plant 12 trees and they say, "Well, I want to bank all 12 trees." Then you get no trees. So, it would be having to figure out at what point do you how do you make them plant trees? So, we're and I think part of the idea is that um with the residential, the idea is that you do have setbacks and it is more um you sort of have more land to work with in a lot of cases. Um and and it does fluctuate depending on now we have a lot of you know larger lots so that would be a little higher where in our um commercial districts we are I mean if you look at what they're allowed to build on they're allowed to build on more of the so I think that's why that number is lower. Again, numbers are sort of you sort of pick and choose, you know, and there's no magic like this always why, but that's kind of what, you know, if you want to emphasize that trees in the residential, you're going to have that number be higher. Um, if there's some desire to fluctuate that, like we do want to require um the business districts, the mixeduse districts to have more trees, um then you could raise that percentage. If you're like, we don't we're comfortable not making the residentials have quite as many, you could lower that percentage. Again, it would take um this is what was recommended. I will say, you know, we're trying to get something to you. So, um but um the planning comm again, it would take if if the planning commission as a majority feels like they want to adjust things, that would be those things that could be adjusted and directed. Um so again it's kind of again

it's like what are you looking for in those areas? Um had another question too. So if a specialist needs to come out such as the arborist who picks up that bill? Does the the city pick that bill up or does the resident business?

It would be whoever is wanting to um so it's the developer, the resident, whoever's wanting to cut that tree. They would need to have that um that report done. Um and there's certain guidelines or certain standards. Um, and obviously if we're doing a minor permit, it's not going to be nearly, and Dustin actually might be able to answer that a little better of what's required, but there's a, you know, that's going to be a pretty basic the health of this tree versus if you're doing a full development, we're asking for all kinds of things. That's a much bigger thing. So, all right. Thank you. Yes, council member Hall.

Just one more question. Um, you know, we're at this the council retreat. We kind of identified that our staff is running many many many projects at one time. Um is do you anticipate this may overload staff on trying to figure out trees for everybody because this is going to come from businesses. It's going to come from residents building new. It's going to come from residents that currently have trees that need to come down. I watched a huge tree uh go down on Oak Street yesterday. He's probably 80 feet tall. He was up the tree. Um, so what do you think?

So for development, we're already So for big projects, we're already doing it. Yeah.

This just sort of fine-tunes it and I think gives us I like this system better when I'm dealing I I feel like I can um negotiate this one a little bit better when I'm dealing with big projects. Um I I think it's okay with again if you're building a house. Um, and I will be honest, most of the time who's building the houses are developers. Um, they're not always big corporations, but it's, you know, a lot of what we have is one guy who's bought a lot and he thinks he's going to be a developer and he builds a couple houses. So, you know, a and we do right now there's not even really landscaping requirements and I sort of say, you need to tell me what you're going to do so they at least do something. So I think saying hey you have to do trees is really much more burden than we because we just add that to say you have to turn it into us and then we review it kind of thing. So I don't see much burden there. Um I don't know right now how many trees get taken down. So I don't know what that um what that workload would be for just taking down a a tree that's damaged or dangerous. Um you know it would come into the permit text. You would put it in the system. Um it I don't anticipate it would be a huge amount in the fact that we would just need to review it and say okay do you have the report in most cases you know I I I don't have a re you know if it's a replicable um you know and he meets our he or she meets the criteria I don't have any reason to second guess that that tree is dead or dying or sick or whatever. Um and then yeah it would be a followup to make if if trees are required to be planted. Um and I I do think that is the bigger kind of thing. Um it would just be a follow-up. So again not totally sure how many trees are coming down but um and again that also would be I think seasonal. I think certain times a year you'd have a bunch of people taking down trees for various reasons whether that's spring or after a storm something gets damaged and then

other parts of the year you probably wouldn't have any. So I I don't feel like it's a overly burden at this point. I just realize now that when we make a code and I mean I have realized this that like signs then we have to follow through or else one person does it another person does it. Well they didn't do it so I don't need to do it. So if we do this in a code, we just have to make sure we have the bandwidth to follow up on it. Correct. Yeah. Any additional discussion? All right. So this item will come back next week. Is that right?

This will come back next week. I will try to have, you know, I've got some of what was brought up here. Um, if you in the next preferably day or two think of something else that you would like um more information on, just give me an email and I will add that to the list and um hopefully we will address that next week. All right. Thank you. Um, moving on to council reports. Uh, Council Member Roberts.

Uh, thank you, Mayor. I would like to uh recognize and embarrass Michelle for a great job uh during the audit. we pass the audit with no findings which was great. No major findings I should say. Um so thank you for that and the team for doing that as well. Um I also want to uh comment on some words that were said last week. So um I want to address the remarks that were made to our our last city council meeting during the discussion of the truck route ordinance where controversial comments were made regarding non-English-speaking drivers. So, we have an extremely diverse community from many backgrounds, and I find it very concerning when elected leaders in our town express ideas and or rhetoric that discourage diversity in Milton. We are an inclusive community and we all as council members and as citizens alike should strive to uphold and accept the values of our community. I am personally committed to be a voice for all of Milton, not just some. And I will make my best effort to ensure all the community is heard. So in parting, let all let's all work together towards the common goal of making Milton the best small town for everyone.

And that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Turnis. uh on our finance committee meeting. I just want to thank Michelle for taking the time to spend with me to answer questions. Being new to council, there's a lot that I'm still learning. So, I really appreciated you having the the time to spend with me. And then also addressing last council session as well. Being a new council member, I know that there's certain rules and criterias that we have to follow that that's part of what is the joy of being on the council is that there's order. And I'm thankful to be on a council that has order. But when you see something, of course, all these thoughts go through your head, but you don't know what you can say, what you can't say, so you don't say. And I know in not saying anything, you say something. But I um just want to stand in agreement with um you know, I live in Milton on the street that I live in. We have a very diverse there's probably five different cultures and ethnicities represented on just my one block. So, I'm thankful to live in a community that values ethnicity and I want to do everything I can to be able to have this be a welcoming committee to community to everybody. So, um I just want to say that this has been a learning curve for us all what we um can do, can't do, shouldn't do, should do. So, I mean it's always easy to come looking back at it with 2020 vision and being able to look at the clips on the TV and um but you know in real time real things happen. So, thank you for the grace for us,

Council Member Mouse.

I also enjoy living [clears throat] in Milton and serving on the council and I appreciate the dedication of the staff and the elected officials and the other council members and the mayor. Thank you very much. The only thing I would like to say is related to public safety and that in order to obtain a commercial driver's license, the driver must demonstrate proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing English. That doesn't mean that people are not welcome in Milton. Everyone is welcome in Milton. But we also want safe streets. And so [snorts] I would hope that everyone who has a commercial driver's license can read the street signs and and my children, my grandchildren live here, play here. Um, so I just want to bring that point out because I feel like so much of the conversation shifted away from the safety aspect and intent. But please, by no means would anyone not feel welcome in Milton. We are a very diverse community and we thrive because of it and I embrace it. my my street alone is wonderful for in that area. So, thank you for letting me say that.

Thank you, Council Member Cedar.

Thank you. Uh, so I've prepared remarks, so I'll just read this. Like many, I heard from numerous citizens about the comments made during the last regular council meeting that suggested non-English speakers should be prohibited from driving in Milton. I reviewed those comments many times. I tried to give the benefit of the doubt to my colleague. I could not. those comments cannot be discrimin cannot be interpreted in a non-discriminatory manner. I was troubled by the comments themselves and by the suggestion that I as a member of council some are somehow complicit in the ideas they carried. So regardless of why they were made, I'm going to make my position clear now. All people are welcome in Milton. I was elected to represent all citizens in Milton regardless of age, gender, religion, orientation, country of origin, or any other individual trait. I will never support a law or policy that presumes a non-English speaker is lesser or that permits our police to target anyone based on prejudices or non-constitutional principles. I believe that Milton is a safe space for everyone. I do not believe that this council chambers is a safe space for bigotry and I will not tolerate it, but I will also not react in a reactionary manner. I will measure my comments and I will react appropriately. I believe the right choice is to not excuse Council Member Wayan's comments and I will not excuse his absence as I voted here tonight. My vision for Milton and the vision I believe in and that I believe I was elected to represent supports diversity, rejects bigotry, and welcomes everyone, including holding everyone accountable. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Poor. Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to say thank you guys for the excellent um presentations you guys both brought. Um really like that we're trying to emphasize uh trying to increase the tree canopy like in the comprehensive plan. And uh thank you uh as well chief for trying to make our community safe. Thank you council member Hall.

I think you've all said what I feel in my heart. I've lived here most of my life and this community means more to me than anything. Um, and I want everybody to feel the same as what I do. I don't care. We We have to [clears throat] support everybody that's in our community. everybody that's going through our community, you can't pick and choose, and I have to bring this up, but in other meetings within this city, you cannot not choose somebody because they are not a specific race for a volunteer job. I know we wouldn't do it as an employee. We have to pick people who are the most qualified. There should be no I'm black, I'm white. I'm not going to pick you because you are black or you're white. It should be who's best for the job and and that's what we need to value. Also, I would like to see administration and us do a better job at taking over when something like this happens because this is not the first time this has happened. Um, it's a fine line between saying something and escalating and saying something to calm it down. And I think we all need to kind of look how we can do that. um if this again escalates.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh moving on to director reports. Uh planning manager Stalicker. Just a reminder that if you want a paper zoning map, I have them available. They're also available um on the website and I do owe council I've been gone and now I'm training. We have a new employee. I do want council some links to some of those items we talked about at the retreat and that fingers crossed will come this week. Uh public works director Madden.

Uh thank you mayor council. I just wanted to respond a little bit to Easy Fiber and this is no way me uh defending them or justifying. Just want to provide some clarity. We've currently closed out two permits within the city with Easy Fiber. And when I say close out that means all restoration has been complete. If council or residents would like to an example of that, it's on Milton Way between Porter and Yuma going down the hill. You can see all the professional patching that occurred. You can also take a look at uh Vine Court and that's off that same section. It's from a section that we closed out, but you'll see all the sidewalk panels have been professionally replaced. And the asphalt patching is is more than it's uh additional to the minimum requirements to ensure the safety of our streets. And so the uh the problems that we've been experiencing are slow to get resolved. Uh but they are being resolved. And the slowness that we're moving through this uh process now is very intentional. It's so we can have better um governance and the ability to monitor what's happening in the community. That's all I have. Thank you.

What was that second uh Vine Court and that's it's the Yeah, the steep culdeac off of Milton Way right between Yuma and Porter. So going down the hill. Yes. Fif Way has also been complete. That was part of that section. and you'll see all the the large patching um half street overlays that are occurring. Thank you. Finance director Robbit.

Thank you. As council member Roberts um stated, we had our audit expert conference today and had a clean um financial statement and accountability audit. Um those audit reports will be available will be published by the auditor's office they said within about a week. So, you can get those either from the state auditor's website or you can contact me and I can forward you those formal uh audit reports once they've been officially published. Um, you should also receive uh copies of the documents that were presented at today's meeting um from the auditor's office if you haven't already and those two I have copies of. So, please contact me if you want a copy and didn't receive one. And lastly, I just wanted to recognize the many staff members whose um efforts contributed to these um these good audits.

Police Chief Hernandez,

ebikes, ebikes, ebikes, ebikes were everywhere. We are currently we are working uh continue to work. We're doing some emphasis. Um, we have had a couple of collisions with scooter, ebikes, into cars and so forth. So, again, we continue to uh crack down on the ebikes. Uh, in a little bit of good news, the mama goose and its babies allegedly were spotted at Surprise Lake uh moving around and enjoying our lake. And then lastly, remember it takes a village and remember together we are stronger. That's it.

Thank you, Chief. Um, how to put this? Um, I've been trying to learn Spanish for many years and it's not easy. So I I appreciate um all the people who uh whose native language is not English because learn learning English is probably one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn for non-English speakers and um and chief how many how many languages do we speak on the police force?

Well, we speak most Middle Eastern dialects. uh we speak sign language, we speak uh various regional versions of Spanish as well. So um I think we're pretty well represented and supportive in the city for for people that uh don't speak English as their primary language. And we also have technology that if we don't have somebody that uh speaks English that that uh we are still able to communicate. Correct.

That's correct. We uh do utilize our service phones with uh translate ability and then we also have the ability to use language line which is a service that the city also takes advantage of where we can make a phone call and we can speak any language in the world to my knowledge. And um and then we also have uh the ability should a foreign uh speaker speak or even um they need language service, they can call 911 and 911 dispatch operator will actually put a translator onto the 911 phone call to be able to communicate with both police and whoever the caller is.

Okay. So, we have many many different uh ways to be able to bridge that gap should it become necessary. Great. I just wanted to to put that out there. And also, we still have two openings on our uh parks committee. So, uh please anybody out there if you would like to volunteer um we would we would love to speak to you. So, with that, um, is there anything else this evening? Seeing none, um, I adjourn this meeting at 9:01 p.m.