City Council - Regular Meeting

We gone. I always have to wait for her lovely tones. Uh, good evening and welcome to the April 7th, 2026 city council meeting. Uh, will a clerk please call roll. Mayor Prom Errol Tremolada here. Council member Brendan Elwood virtually present. Council member Mark Joselyn present. Council member Heather Coen here. Council member Rob McFarland present. Council member Christina Rustic here. Council member Susan Toruson here. All are present, your honor.

Thank you very much. Will you please lead us in the flag salute of America stand with all Well, good evening everybody. It's nice to have you here with us. And Brendan, thanks for joining us from Where are you, Brendan? Edmonton. Uh, Michigan.

Oh, not even close. Okay. Well, thanks for joining us. Um, let's see. Mayor Prom Tmolada, would you like to make the motion to approve tonight's agenda? Uh, yeah. Motion to motion to approve the agenda on April 7th, 2026 as written. I have a second. Council member Torusson, do you have two items you want to pull? Yes, I would like to. I'll second. I'd like to pull two items off of it. Well, that's for number four and number five. We're We're at the We're at the main No, that's right. We're at the We're at the agenda tonight's agenda so we can hold on the consent agenda. So,

that's on the point of point of order, your honor. My belief is that the approval of the agenda includes consent agenda and the full agenda. This is the moment in which items should be pulled from consent if there's an interest on the part of a council member. Let's continue. Thank you for that. So, I'd like to have them put onto the main agenda, please. Might you repeat your interest, council member? Counc, will you just repeat which items you want to pull and the main agenda, please? Uh, yeah, I'd like to number uh four, number five on the consent agenda, AB 2629 and AB 26030. Very good. We need a second for that. Second. All

in favor? I. So, the motion is to approve the agenda as amended if I'm correct. Correct. Yeah. Thank you. Correct. Okay. And those two items will be uh items number 11 and number 12 on the main agenda going forward.

Okay. Um let's see. Recognition of citizens academy participants. We're going to start that off. The rocking roll. great team of individuals here tonight. Thank you for being here once again. We had a little bit of a party for you um a little bit earlier today. So anyway, um I'm going to read off our wonderful Academy Citizen graduates for 2026. uh Arlene Kristoff, Gregory Wallace, Shiraz Malik, Rachel Alwin, Katherine Yokum, Doug Sad, Ingga Johnson, Karina Johnson, Katherine Picard, Dutch Sinpuff, TJ Hannah and Granderson, Marty Burwell, Ben Blauis, Tracy Dion, Nella Kim Anderson, Kendra Wells, Kayla Curtis, Janette Neves, Hugo Fraga, Danielle Leon, Judy Anderson, and Paul Romero. Thank you one and all for all your efforts and being interested to learn about your city all the more. We really appreciate you. I'd love to get a shot of all of you and also we've got last year one of our last year academy graduates uh George Anderson in the group too. I'd love to have you come up for it too, George, if you don't mind. Anyway, we we can line up right here and have council right behind and we'll get that shot right now.

Nope. right go right behind him. So we'll stand. Oh, on the other side of that. I thought they

beautiful. I believe the screen's on rollers.

You're okay with that? Okay,

I'll get one sort of you too. There you go. One, two, three. I'm going to do one really far out with Brendon just for fun. Okay, Brendon, you're in this one.

Oh. That is hysterical.

Well, it's hard to follow that, but I will I will do my best. Okay, I think we're on to audience participation. Am I am I right? Yes, you are. Okay. Okay. Audience participation. We're on consent agenda. Oh, madam. Okay. Consent agenda. Uh do I have a motion to I move approval of the consent agenda as amended? Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? I

I thank you. Okay. Now, we'll move on to audience participation. Um boy, we've got a nice crowd in the room. Thank you for coming once again. Uh we'll start with people in chambers right now. Uh if you would like to speak to council, myself and staff, uh please come to the podium. You have um three minutes to speak. For the record, just please state your name and spell your last name for the clerk. Uh and online, we will look to people online after we have helped our people in town. And I think I see Deb out there. Come on. Deb is not shy at all. I love that.

Really? Um Deborah Landers. I'm at 14615438th Avenue Southeast in Northbend and I am here once again on behalf of Northbend Art and Industry because we are pretty amazing. So, so I wanted to share a couple of things. I've got our April happenings which is all of our classes and events um that are happening in April and I'll pass that around. And then a reminder that this Tuesday um next week Tuesday on the 14th is Tuesday Mus. And this is when we celebrate three local artists. We have their artwork displayed on our wall. It's beautiful. Three new artists. And um and I think this is our third time that we've done Tuesday. The first time there was about 25 people. The last Tuesday Muse Day there was about 70 people. So let's aim for hundred. You guys should stop by after your council meeting if it ever gets out early. and join us for beverages and snacks and an opportunity to talk with these really great talented artists. Um we also last week we also had Josh Taninga um give an author discussion um which was fascinating and really really interesting. He's a published author. He's local. He is also the founder of the median. Um so he's a graphic artist by trade but he's just so talented and really really connected with the writers in our writers group. um and in particular really connected with some of the teen writers that were uh getting ready to write their own graphic novel. So it was uh just a really fascinating evening. So um reminder, Art Off the Rails is coming up on June 20th, a celebration primarily in Northbend, although Snowqualami is participating this year, as is of course the train

campus will be part of the celebration. And then just following that, we'll be kicking off art in nature. It's a walk along the Snowquami Valley Trail. Three or three art organizations are collaborating on that. And the goal is is to make um art a spectacular part of your walk or bike or horseback ride through the Snowquami uh Valley Trail. And that's all I have, which is amazing. You didn't cut me off. Thank you so much. I'm gonna pass flyers around. Thank you, Deb. Anybody else wish to speak? Good evening. Welcome.

Hi there. Uh, good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Danielle Wallace, WL Lac, sorry, speaking test. Um, I'm actually a resident of Snowqualami. Um, and I'm speaking on behalf of the pre uh the Snowqualami Valley for Responsible Energy, a newly formed nonprofit working to ensure responsible sighting of energy in our valley. I'm here tonight out of respect to your city, your jurisdiction, and your decisions to discuss the Cascadia Ridge best project proposed by Jupiter Power. Uh if approved, this project will have ripple effects across the entire Snowqualami Valley. The project would be constructed on an unincorporated King County land directly adjacent to Snowqualami city limits in close proximity to homes, schools, businesses, parks, and more. This proposal is a precedent setting one. This is industrialcale energy infrastructure, 45 acres of batteries, over 100 megawatts of power placed in constrained valley terrain close to growing residential communities. Uh we have not been able to find evidence of another operational facility in the United States that meets this facility's industrial scale, the site's complex terrain, and its close proximity to population density anywhere. If a project like this gets approved, it doesn't stay contained. It becomes a signal. a signal to developers about what is viable, a signal to regulators about what is acceptable, and a signal to surrounding communities such as Northbend about what could be next. Because the conditions that are being cited for us are also here. Urban growth area land, proximity to substations, residential expansion, and the same constrained geography that we all live in and love today within the context of the Swami Valley. This is not about any particular single project, but what becomes possible here on the land surrounding your city and eventually potentially within it. Our organization believes that clean energy should not be at the expense of public safety. And this is about making sure as we transition to clean energy solutions, we do it responsibly with appropriate sighting, full understanding of risk, and alignment with the communities that live within it. So tonight, I'm asking for partnership. Specifically, I'm

asking the council of Northbend to coordinate with the city of Snowquami to present a unified valley position regarding industrial scale best facilities in proximity to homes, schools, parks, and more to advocate for a determination of significance from King County permitting and a full environmental impact statement with independent review for atypical conditions and to begin proactively evaluating your own policy. So, if or when a project like this comes to your door, you guys are ready to lead. Snowqualami has an opportunity right now to define what responsible energy looks like and we would welcome your partnership in that. Thank you so much. Good evening.

Good evening uh mayor and council members. Uh my name is Amanda Senft. Um I've been a resident of Northbend for four years. I live near the library. Um and I've also taught environmental science for over 10 years. So, I'm certainly an advocate for clean energy solutions. Um, I'm also speaking as a parent to a kindergartener at Northbend Elementary, um, a school that is in with within the five mile contamination radius of the proposed best project. Um, and I want to focus on something we all share with our friends in Snowquali um, regardless of city boundaries and that is our watershed. Um, the Snowquali Valley functions as a connected environmental system. Um water does not recognize jurisdiction jurisdiction. It moves from ridge to creek to river through all our communities. Um the proposed uh Snowquali Valley site in Snowquali Valley sits within that system feeding into our tributaries connecting to the Snowquali River and ultimately impacting downstream ecosystems. And those same systems run through and and around Northbend in the event of a battery failure. Documented risks include uh release of heavy metals into the soil and the water, contaminated runoff, and airborne emissions of toxic gases. In level terrain, those risks behave one way, but in our constrained valley with heavy rainfall and defined water pathways, they behave very differently. They move, they concentrate, and they persist for a long time. So, this is not just a snowquali issue. This is a valleywide environmental system issue. And once contamination enters that system, it doesn't stop at a city line. It becomes the shared consequence for us all. So tonight, we're asking the council um to advocate for train specific environmental modeling as part of a full environmental impact statement. um to request independent environmental review

of watershed and airhed impacts and to partner with Snowquali to ensure that the valley is evaluated as a single ecological system and not as fragmented jurisdictions because our stewardship is shared and so is our risk. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. If you would kindly hold your applause. Thank you very much. Welcome.

Good evening council. My name is Greg McMains. That's m c a i ns. My wife and I have lived in Sy and Northbend for 8 years. Uh we're raising our two small children here, a four-year-old and a one-year-old, and we call this valley our home. I'm here tonight because we care deeply about the safety and well-being of this valley. We chose to raise our family here because of the environment and the community. But that safety is now being threatened by a project that is fundamentally incompatible with a residential area, the Cascadia Ridge battery storage station. Lithium ion batteries at this scale carry a documented risk of thermal runaway, a self-sustaining chemical fire that cannot simply be extinguished. When that happens, they emit hydrogen fluoride gas. In January of last year, a best fire at Moss Landing in Monterey County forced,200 residents to evacuate for 24 hours. The toxic plume released hydrogen fluoride gas and battery debris that settled across the surrounding area for miles. That was California. This would be in the Squam Valley. Thousands of families on the ridge and in the valley live within that radius. And anyone who knows this valley knows that our geography traps air. What industry calls an industry incident would be a public health emergency for our neighborhood. It's important to remember that a toxic gas plume does not respect jurisdictional boundaries. This affects all of us here today. While the site technically sits in unincorporated King County, the air we breathe is shared. If an event occurs, we would be asking our local firefighters and first responders to render mutual aid and risk the lives uh risk their lives for a private facility that provides zero direct benefit to our local homes. We essentially been asked to trade our children's safety for a developer's profit margin. Jupiter Power's recent withdrawal isn't a victory. It's a confession. It tells us that their own plan couldn't withstand scrutiny. But a revised application with a slightly larger buffer isn't the answer. The question isn't how close is close enough. The question is whether this facility belongs to their homes at all. And consider this. King County's own ordinances require just $1 million in

financial shy to cover damages from a fire explosion. The Moss Landing fire caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and cleanup costs. $1 million isn't a safety net. It's an insult to the families who would bear the consequences. While many in this community support new energy development, utility scale industrial infrastructure belongs in industrial zones, not adjacent to neighborhood where children sleep at night. I urge this council to formally join the city of Snowqualami in demanding a full environmental impact statement and a countywide moratorium on battery storage near residential zones. Please help us protect the well-being of the next generation of Valley residents. Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome.

Hi, mayor and council members. Uh Hannah Teal and I'm with the planning commission and also a resident of Northbend. Um the issue of the energy company uh owned by Black Rockck that wants to build a massive lithium ion uh battery facility in Call Me just came to my attention this morning actually and I was asked to come talk about it and honestly I felt a little unprepared. I don't have I haven't researched the ins and outs of this project. You know it's in Snowquami so I'm like okay well why does Northbend care? I mean, of course, we care because we're in the same valley, but these are thoughts that I'm thinking about. Um, traditionally, utility zoning specifications are not really something that the cities have a lot of regulations on because the utilities typically kind of do their own thing. You know, we we want utilities in our cities. So, so there's not a lot of guidelines around them. However, this does feel like a different animal where um we support clean energy, but all energy does have waste and what are we going to do to mitigate those issues? And so, it's bringing up a lot of questions. You know, there's Flint City, Michigan still is recovering from their water issues. And and I think that the whole point that I'm thinking about for this is the point in planning is to plan. And so we want to sustainably plan. And I think that this is an issue that would be worth us researching and getting more information about and what guidelines and regulations we might be able to place on facilities such as these or other utilities that could mitigate any uh negative impacts for our community because we we love the recreation in our community. We love the people in our community and we really do

want what is best for our community and we would like to keep it green but in a sustainable way. Um, so I think our docket is pretty full for this year for all of our code amendments, but I do think that if we can find a spot for this, this would be a beneficial thing to consider. um and possibly even if we wanted to go the route of more annexation that could be helpful so we have more control that is under the northbend umbrella but um that's all for now. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you Hannah. Anybody else? Anybody online tonight? Oh, sorry. My apologies. Don't worry. I was slow.

Um hi, I'm Nicola Overreet. O V E R S T R E T. Um and during your discussion of the contract with Pedigrew Consulting Services tonight, um I would be interested in hearing about why Project 34 and Project Ble are priorities in terms of our lobbying efforts. um as opposed to say lobbying before reapplying for state funding for 230 Maine if that's still an option this summer. Um so yeah, I would appreciate transparency around what we put lobbying dollars behind and why those projects in particular are chosen for that. Um, and then my second item, um, so in our city we know that there are very strong, very differing opinions on immigration enforcement. Um, and yet there are law-abiding citizens here who are still scared because of the violent actions taken by ICE in Minnesota and across the country. Um and so first off, thank you for releasing the joint statement with Snowqualami and the Snowqualami Police Force on that. Um that was that was important. Um and also after that, Snowqualami released a second public statement um basically following up on their policy review that they did as a result of that and the actions that they took. and this governing body didn't and that difference was noticed. Um, so there are still concrete steps that you could take to make sure your constituents know that you care about safety um and that you're not planning to wait and see if ICE increases activity here or if reforms end up happening. Um, but Snowquali ended up clarifying that they gave instructions

to city employees, that staff aren't authorized to assist with immigration enforcement. They're not allowed to provide access to city facilities, records, or resources, and any request made by federal immigration authorities goes through legal review and requires court orders. Um, so if you haven't already, which you may have, um, please review our policies around this, um, and communicate to the community what you're doing, um, so that people know what actions are taken as a result of that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody online? Not tonight, your honor. Thank you very much.

Okay, we're moving on to number six, which is an introduction. Um, council staff and members of our community, I it's my honor to introduce our new chief of police, Ed Hall. Um, he started April 1st. We all may know that, but I want to make very clear that Come on up, Ed, to the podium. Sorry. I'm gonna I'm gonna toot your own horn for a little bit. Oh, okay. No, just stay right there. Right by the phone there. Right by the

Oh, boy. We're gonna have fun. Uh Chief Chief Hall uh he brings I'm going to read a little bit about my eyes if you don't mind. Chief Hall brings with him not only a wealth of experience in law enforcement but also a deep and personal connection to our region.

Uh born and raised in Snowquali Valley. Yes, you are a Mount Sai High School graduate. I won't say the year doesn't matter. Okay, that's okay. Uh but in fact, he understands our values, our character, and our expectations in our community. I believe uh that local perspective is something that you can't teach. It is something that you live. So uh throughout his career, Chief Hall has demonstrated a strong commitment to public safety, professionalism, and community partnership. He believes in building trust, fostering transparency, and ensuring that policing is rooted in respect and service. I thank you for that. uh as well. As we welcome him into his new role, we are confident that his leadership will help strengthen relationships between police department and the community we serve. Uh while continuing to uphold the highest standards of integrity and accountability. Uh please join me in welcoming Ed Hall. Chief Ed Hall.

You're welcome. Can we get a shot with uh chief? Would would council like to be in the shot? You helped make this happen.

Oh, you like that little play on words. Sorry. Oh, goodness. friendly.

You want to come forwards here and get one right here? Oh, fine. Come on. Brendon, turn the camera on. Smile. Beautiful. Mayor, are you gonna have Chief say a few words if he would like and introduce his family maybe? Oh, we'd love that. Chief, do you want to say a few words? Absolutely.

Oh, great. Start the clock. Yes, but you have three minutes. Susie's putting your clock on. It's hysterical.

Like the mayor was alluding to, I'm a local Yoko. I was born and raised here and I love this valley. I love this community and this is a dream come true for me. So, uh, I was actually looking at retirement, uh, when this opportunity came up and I stayed because this, like my wife keeps showing me, this was meant for me. And I truly believe that and I hope that I live up to that standard for you. And, uh, real quick, I will introduce my wife Elena, my daughter Bailey, uh, the major from precinct 2, Stan is here.

Uh, Sarah Fisher here with the county. She's kind of the magic maker. She's the one that made this whole thing happen, this contract. Uh she's been my foundation to get this whole thing off the ground and I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Chief Mayor. If I could just real quick, I just want to acknowledge Martin. Martin's not here this evening. He he's remoting in from home, but he's not available on video. But Martin did tremendous amount of work with Sierra to get this off the ground. I just want to give him public acknowledgement for how much work he poured in over a year with Sierra to make sure that this contract come to fruition. So I just wanted to acknowledge him on that.

Thank you, Amber, for noting that. Absolutely incredible. Um, moving on to a proclamation. Okay. Whereas sexual assault is pervasive, every 68 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. And whereas sexual violence impacts everyone, anyone can be a victim of sexual violence and people who commit sexual abuse, assault, and harassment exist in all of our communities. This underscores why it's important for all of us to care about sexual violence and take steps to promote the safety and well-being of others. And whereas black, indigenous, and other people of color, people living in poverty, LGBTQ people, elders, people with disabilities, and others who have been historically oppressed are disproportionately affected by sexual violence in significant and complex ways. And whereas sexual assault is among the most under reportported crimes for many reasons, but survivors who are already most marginalized face additional barriers to reporting such as language, immigration status, and disability. And whereas ending sexual violence requires us to address racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression that contribute to the per perpetration of sexual assault. And whereas sexual violence exists on a continuum of behavior that includes racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, ali, and other hate speech. This ranges from rape jokes to verbal harassment to physical assaults. And whereas uh survivors of sexual assault may never forget their victimization, but they can heal with support from family, friends, and their communities, uh sexual assault programs across King County and Washington State offer free and confidential support, advocacy, information, and resources to survivors. And whereas by working together as a community, we can alleviate the trauma of sexual violence by ensuring supportive resources are available to all survivors while standing up to actively disrupting harmful attitudes

and behaviors that contribute to sexual assault. Therefore, now I, Mary Miller, mayor, join advocates and communities throughout King County in taking action to prevent sexual violence by standing with survivors and proclaiming April 2026 as sexual assault awareness month in the city of North Ben and encourage all to commit to a safer future for all children, young people, adults, and families in our community. And I believe we have Do we have Kayla? No. Hi, Kayla. Come on up. Thank you for being here again. You were here last year. Yes. Is it okay if I say a few words? Absolutely. We'd love it.

Well, thank you so much. Good evening everyone. My name is Kayla Shavlowski and I live here in Northbend. I am a um I'm the resource line manager at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, a nonprofit that serves the city and all communities throughout King County. I'm here to accept the Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month proclamation on behalf of our organization. Thank you for being the solution to sexual violence. First, to the survivors in our community, I want to say you are not alone. Sexual assault is common. Half of women and one-third of men have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. People from marginalized communities due to disability, race, or ethnicity, or their gender or sexual identities, to name a few, are at even greater risk. Chances are that you know someone who has been sexually abused. The trauma of sexual assault is something that can affect survivors mental, physical, and behavioral health, their ability to form healthy relationships, remain in school or in the workplace, and so much more. But recovery from the trauma of sexual assault is possible with support. Kesark assisted 4,300 individual survivors and their family members in the last year alone. Almost half of KEART clients are teens and children. We know young people are the most vulnerable to sexual assault and the least likely to speak up about it and be believed when they do. I want to end with another message to survivors. Free and confidential help is available to survivors or anyone who needs information about sexual assault. Our 24-hour resource line is a good starting point at 88899 voice. We always say we can't change what we can't talk about. Thank you for your leadership and willingness to be loud about sexual assault.

Thank you, Kayla. If you hold on for just a moment, I'll bring this up to you and we'll get a quick pick.

Okay. Okay. Uh, we have a presentation tonight. Uh, the Trail Youth Coffee Home. We have Executive Director Theresa Nan with us tonight. Welcome, Teresa. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for having me. Mayor Miller and council members and community members of Northbend in the Valley. I represent the Trail Youth Coffee Home which we reside in the North Bend, but we serve all of the valley all the way to Dval. Um, and we what Kayla was talking about. Um, I'll hit on that a little bit as I talk about what our services provide to the community. The Trail Youth Coffee Home provides a safe and welcoming space when youth are not for youth. A lot of them are marginalized. We have a large community that don't have community and so we create that for them. We also give them one free drink when they come in. They have to sign up with us from 13 to 19 years old. We welcome anybody from 12 to 24 and then we have older um people in older ages too and we'll talk a little bit about what they do for us. We have resources for them to serve their mental health, their well-being, their sense of belonging, and keep them off the streets, finding other things to do that are not healthy for them. Our cafe creates a unique environment when young people can relax, connect, and with each other and enjoy drinks. And we also teach them how to be a barista. I mean we are in coffee central so it's a really useful uh job skill to help them transition into a paid position. Can I have the second slide? Whoever's doing Thank you very much. So we also have we work in conjunction with the um food bank. They keep a food wall for us. We have a volunteer that pivots between the food bank and our coffee home. And we have free snacks for the kids. A lot of the kids are food insecure. And so we have everything from apples to chips. Um and we also have a monthly clothing swap. A lot of times they don't

bring clothing in, but they take clothing out and they get very excited. We have fashion shows. They show us their new wares. They're very happy about that. We run a young person aa I don't know if everybody here saw that there were two youth that had run away and they were gone for about 36 hours. We helped find them and so they showed up at our next AA meeting which was very exciting. We're going to hope to work to keep them off the street and going the right direction. And so it's been really cool to be talking with their family and engaging with them more. We have a team barista program like I was talking about where we train them with job skills. It gives them a sense of pride, gives them a sense of contribution. It is um volunteer but they get scheduled as if they're employed. They have responsibility to show up for their shift. And um our cafe manager manages all that. And they love Stone who's our cafe manager. And he's a great part of the community. If you've ever met him, he's just this spark plug. Um, we also have two domestic violence and sexual assault advocates that work with the Snowqualami Health Center that we work with the forensic nurse. We're also in the middle school and the high school. We work with Belleview College and we have interns through their program for um nursing and it's funded by the DOJ and the Snowqualami tribe. And so we're able to be branded. That logo in the center is from the Snowqualami tribe. They created that for the Brave Spirits and we put that on all of our information that we distribute. And they hold Friday openhouse at the cafe and they help anybody who needs to report and get help to for recovery. We have a full-time counselor on staff. She takes

in office meetings and she's also on the floor and she does art therapy on the floor through journaling and fabric and other activities. And then she runs a D&D night too where the kids get to play and a lot of conversation comes out and it's amazing what people talk about when they're playing side by side. It's pretty beautiful. Then we have mentoring programs from professionals. We have an executive from Microsoft, one from T-Mobile, and one that's a vice president of marketing that come in and mentor the youth. We have a music night, one night a month. It's a huge hit. It's pretty much open mic. We had a piano donated and so the kids are playing on that all day, but then that night they just get to do whatever they want. And a lot of them bring their families, which is really nice to see. And then we have a coffee roasting program. They have to be 18 or older because we roast all of our own beans and that we only serve our roasted beans in house. And so we will train the teens and we have also some special education teen young adults that we train them and they have such a sense of ownership. It's really pretty delightful to see them. We have a coffee trailer and we'll be taking that out this summer. We're going to start parking it at Ace Hardware on Saturdays to be their drive-thru coffee shop. And then we'll be in the community at other activities. And Sarah Perry was able to give us a budget carveout and we're going to be buying a new coffee truck this summer. She'll be funding that. And so we're going to be able to be at the farmers markets and hopefully the ball fields all the way down to Carnation. and we'll um be able to have teens that are 18 or older in the truck with us serving with as baristas which will be really cool to have them in the community. And we just recently partnered with Mount Sai High and Mr. Docker's class, his senior class that's in art and they do the laser

cutting and all the jigging on wood. I was inspired by a nonprofit in Redmond. She has a beautiful wall of wood cutouts for all of the sponsors for her nonprofit. And so we're going to take that and the seniors are going to create that for us. Ace Hardware is um donating all the paint, brushes, everything. And then another company is donating all the wood pieces and they're going to be building a whole wall for us after they paint a mural on. They'll be putting placing all the pieces on to create a montage of what the this valley looks like on our wall, which we're pretty excited about. we can honor all of our contributors. Thank you. Wonderful. Um, council, do you have any questions or comments you'd like to make?

Okay, Heather. Yes, Heather.

Um, I have been, um, getting clothes from the Snowqualaming Valley League basketball players to give to people at Harbor, Harborview specifically. Then I also gave some to reclaim and they have enough. So I'm wondering if you might be interested in some donations. I have shoes, pants, sweatshirts, hoodies. They're all in pretty good shape. I'd love to give you my business card and I will connect you with our um lead counselor on site. Her name is Bridget and she runs the clothing swap. She'll be able to let you know what inventory we have and what inventory we need if that's okay with you. Sounds great.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you. Any um Susan, oh, excuse me. Oh, sorry. Pardon me. Oh, I just want to say uh I'm really thankful that you guys are in our community and you're providing all these services. Um I'm excited because I know you had some financial challenges last year and how you guys were just able to really rally and get a lot of people to get behind you. So, that's exciting. from almost like being non-existent to having all of these programs. It's super exciting and um I'm just really proud of you guys. So, I just want to thank you for being in our community.

Thank you. I would like to say that I took this over reluctantly in September, September 22nd actually, because we had $300 in the bank and I didn't know how I was going to make payroll. And that was foremost because what I needed to do was shield the employees and retain them. And so what I was able to do is make a personal loan to the enterprise and then ha re bring out from retirement one of our founders and ask her to start grant writing feverishly for us. And thank you to the North Bend for awarding us a grant for this year and one for last year. And we've been able to get a BSK and several other grants. And it's really great to have the sense that people are believing in what we're doing and repairing our relationships with the communities and the schools and all of the things. And we are absolutely DEI. We are absolutely nondiscriminatory to any class to any need. And so I'm very very proud of our staff for turning that around and just owning it and loving on everybody. And we're seeing it. We're up 40% in attendance from even last year when we were vibrant and we are looking at expanding our hours and right now we're closed Sunday and Monday and we're looking at being open Monday now because the our population is growing which means the need is great and I'm really grateful that we're able to serve them.

Anybody else wish to Oh, it's okay. I'll go very quickly. Um, yes, thank you for what you've done. Um, it's been noticed. A question was, what else can is there anything else the council could do to help you?

So, we need we do really need financial resources. I have a very long list of repairs because in the we just recently had a incident where we had damaged property and the community has overwhelmed me. I just told Tanya, our founder, that I pulled out of um of retirement this morning and I said, I cannot cry one more day on this job. I really need to not have a day where I'm getting phone calls from family members crying and being grateful and the community rallying around us, which is beautiful. Don't get me wrong, it's um what I really need is the resources. If I could get handy people, I need to renovate our trailer. It's in uh ill repair greater than I thought it was. I need to put a break new brake system in it. I need to put a brake connect system into my own personal SUV. Um I need to paint it because one wheel cap is silver and one's black. Just things like that, right? We don't want to be we don't want to represent ourselves looking like that. So resources, we are getting a lot of resources. we're still quite threadbear and so the more we can get the better and the more community members that would be willing to come out because many hands make light work sure appreciate it. Thank you for asking that question.

Thank you. Straight forward. Oh, thank you for being here, Miss Non. Uh along those lines, uh two-part question. Yes. Easy one. How many locations? Little more complicated. Could you give me a rough estimate of your funding between public, private, and um actual revenue?

So, our revenue, the beautiful thing is we're having more and more adults come into the coffee shop because they're saying, "Hey, there's a coffee shop. You guys actually serve good coffee." And they're buying retail our beans, too, which is really beautiful. So right now when I took it over we were about 70 giving away 70% free goods and making about 30% of our overall daily um register POS. We are now at 60% income and 40% giving away free which is a huge flip and I'm hoping to continue to see that. Um we're working very hard on selling our beans. were working very hard on getting the contract back from the Snowquali Valley Health which unfortunately we lost which was huge and could be a really big gamecher for us and we have capacity to roast those beans. Um we see about 250 youth a month. We're actually now at about 265. And um even with our youth growing, which is a free drink every visit, we're getting more and more adults in. And we used to be dead really on Thursdays and Saturdays. And my cafe manager, Stone, works on Saturdays. He sent me the receipts for Saturdays. It's the biggest Saturday we've ever had. And we had 80% revenue for that day, which meant we had a lot of adults coming in buying drinks, which is beautiful. Does that answer your question?

Yeah, it's great information, but in the big picture, I'm wondering how your overall budget breaks down between what you're able to earn in revenue versus uh public support from whatever means.

So, currently we're our um I need a a revenue of $1.2 2 million a year to run payroll to buy the beans, roast the beans, serve the youth, pay all my pay for all my resources. Um, right now we're at about 700,000 for the the year. And so that's a 500,000 shortfall. And I'm hoping to make up about 200,000 of that in revenue. And the rest is going to have to come from funding. whe whether it's public funding or if it's government funding for this year. Thank you. You're welcome.

Uh anybody else? Brandon, do you have any comments you'd like to make? Just checking in. No, ma'am. Thank you for checking. Welcome. Well, thank you very much, Teresa. Thank you, mayor and council members. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to our main agenda. Um item number nine, AB26-031. Thank you for the lights. Uh, Mr. Henderson, I'm going to look to you to take it away. Um, it's motion approving fee waiver for So, Valley Food Bank. And then we also have Terry Potmire in the audience, I believe, tonight with the food bank. Appreciate Terry Potmire, the chair of the board, is joining us as well. So, she's happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you so much.

All right. All right. The item before council this evening is motion AB26-031 to approve a fee waiver for the Snomi Valley Food Bank. In 2024, over 2,800 people received resources and services from the food bank and the food bank distributed over 513,000 pounds of food. Due to the increasing need for food bank resources in the community and the need to find a new location, the food bank is renovating and relocating to a new facility at 43530 Southeast Northbend Way. To support its relocation, the food bank is requesting a permit fee waiver of up to $10,000. City Council has authority pursuant to ordinance 1836 that was adopted on July 25th, 2025 to wave permit fees up to $10,000 per incident or occasion when quote the reduction or waiver is necessary to provide support for the poor and infirm. The food bank supports the poor and infirm and is therefore requesting the permit fee waiver to support its relocation to a new facility. The permit fees for the new food bank location are estimated at $17,000. A permit fee waiver would reduce that balance down to $7,000. The motion to to wave the fee was briefed at the community economic development committee on March 17th with a recommendation for placement on the April 7th city council main agenda. And happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mr. Henderson. Any uh clarifying questions for Mr. Henderson? Chris, thank you. Um just out of curiosity, the total cost for their renovations is approximately and do they have those funds already to make this project go? I'll defer to Terry Potmire, although she did provide a nice briefing to the Snowcom Valley Rotary last Thursday and has some great news to share.

Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks for considering this on tonight's agenda. Uh the campaign to build our new home is $5 million that we're raising. We have raised 92% of that since June of this year. It's included the participation of the state, the county, uh foundations, businesses, individuals, donors. Any other clarifying questions? Mr. Henderson? Heather?

Uh how soon do you think it will be open? Well, there are so many factors that are involved in opening up a new building. Um, our goal is to be open in January of 2027. There's a very urgent need for us to be in a new space. I know everybody on the council's probably seen our current space, which we have long outgrown. Uh, we do have an opportunity to move while the food bank is closed between Christmas and New Year's. So, we're very hopeful that we'll be able to take that time to move to the new location and open in January. Anybody else have any clarifying questions? Brendan. Brendan, I do not. Thank you. It takes me a second to get my mute button. Sorry, your honor.

It's okay. That's okay. You're fine. Okay. Well, oh, Rob, I I'm just going to call you back out just for the the notion of you're here. You've got a chance to take the plug. I heard you've raised 92%. That says you're 8% short. You need more money. 8% to go. Yeah, we we need to raise about 400,000 additional dollars to meet and in addition to what's on the agenda tonight, what more can the city be doing to support you?

Well, we really appreciate the city's partnership in the permit process which is involved and I know there's a lot of other things going on it for the city and the permitting process. Any additional attention or um speedily responding to the requests and the um would be much appreciated. really the city has been a great partner and has been very um very much working with us so that we can get the permits completed quickly but it's a hard process. Anybody else? Okay, thank you chair. Yeah, thank you very much. All right, I believe this came through CED. Um Chair Toruson, would you like to make the motion?

I sure would. Love it. A motion to approve AB26-031, a motion approving a fee waiver for the Snowquali Valley Food Bank up of up to $10,000. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. Motion by Miss Tusson, second by Miss uh Chris Rustik. Um excuse me. I No. Uh would you like to speak to your motion, Miss Toruson?

Absolutely. Um well, obviously this is important. um the food bank services the people in our community that that really need it. Uh all of us are struggling with the current economic environment and so people that are really struggling are struggling even more so. So um I personally donate to the food bank so um I'm passionate about making sure we help them out. So this is a no-brainer for me to be able to help him out in this situation.

Thank you very much. Mr. Rustic, do you have any comments you'd like to make? I just uh wanted to add I agree with Council Member Toruson. Um you know, we struggled with our funding uh grants for different uh entities like yours and so I was happy to see there was yet another way to be creative and benefit the food bank. So I support this. Thank you. Thank you. Any other council members wish to make a comment? Um Miss Coen's question. Mayor, is that okay? I I'll allow that.

Okay. I guess it's from Potter Meyer. Um I in the recent past have had to go to the laundromat which is quite expensive. So do you guys accept items like laundry detergent, bounce or even quarters to pay for these things?

We always find a way to say yes. Um I would say that probably our most important partner with those kinds of needs is St. Clair's essential needs program. So they are on site of food bank at least once a month uh providing those kinds of ancillary supports for households so they can meet those kinds of needs.

Any other council members have a comment or Yes. uh council took action to uh provide us the opportunity to wave permitting fees for social service agencies. And if this doesn't fit the bill, I don't know what does. Um so I am very pleased that we have an opportunity to act in a way that is uh supportive of this very important uh contributor to our valley and the people who live here who are working very hard simply to get by on a day-to-day basis in these very challenging times. I appreciate all of staff's effort in this regard and uh Terry and the board uh thank you. It's very exciting that the uh food bank is so close to uh both funding and being able to move into a a better and more suitable uh home for themselves and service to uh those most in need in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else I might have missed?

Following up on Mr. Joson's comments, Greg, thanks to the previous council of which you are all members that I did note that there was underlying uh legislation that made this possible. Enthusiastic supporter of this I agree couldn't be any more uh fitting than this. Uh so I do approve that and but then I'll give the reminder since sit on the finance committee that this is deferred revenue and we will need to be mindful of that sort of a thing as the budget season approaches but slam dunk for this support. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And Brennan if you have any comments you'd like to make. Okay. My colleagues have said it all. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. Let's go to the vote. All in favor? Wait, let me read it first. Let me re I'm so excited. I I went ahead way ahead. Okay, pardon me, everybody. Um, okay. Motion to approve AB26-031. A motion approving a fee waiver for the Snookcom Valley Food Bank of up to $10,000. Now, we'll go ask for the vote. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you one and all. Much appreciated. Okay, moving on to item number 10, AB26-032. Mr. Henderson, we're calling back to you.

And thank you.

Good evening again, mayor and council members. Um, Eric Pedigrew of Pedigrew Consulting is online, so he can help answer any questions you may have. Also, Martin Shaw, finance director, is also online uh in case there's any sort of finance related questions associated with this contract. Okay. So the I before city council is a mo is motion AB 26032 for a contract amendment with Pedigrew Consulting to extend the contract to December 31st, 2026 for a contract amount not to exceed $75,000. In economic development, we have the but for argument but for an incentive, a code change or impact fee reduction, we would not have won a project. Eric Pedigrew is our but for project 34. The city entered into an agreement with Eric Pedigrew and his team in November of 2025 to assist the city in navigating the legislative process and understand the mechanism to bring uh the project 34 site into the UG within King County. Over the course of roughly 10 weeks and with Eric Pedigrew's support, we were able to build a coalition of legislative and state agencies that supported funding for a feasibility study for project 34. Through this process, we were able to demonstrate the need for expanded truck parking to address public safety issues at exit 34 and to help Northbend's fiscal sustainability as well as the broader regional and state economy. As we move into the next phase of project 34, we will need Eric Pedigrew and his team's assistance as we navigate King County's legislative and administrative process to expand the urban growth area to include the project 34 site. and we will rely on his legislative expertise to help us keep the feasibility study on track to meet the state legislative deadline of June 30th, 2027. This item was briefed and discussed at the March 24th, 2026 work study with a recommendation for placement on the April 7, 2026 agenda. Funding for the Pedro contract as well as the match for the feasibility study will be part of a budget amendment number five that will

be presented to council on April 21st. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Mr. Anderson, any clarifying questions for council? Anybody? Okay, Mr. Rustic. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, so as you said, uh, in November of 2025, there was a contract established um with Pendergrew Consulting for the amount of $22,500. Um, was the council, CED, or finance committee involved in the this decision? and if not, why?

Great question. Uh, so no, uh, we did not bring this item to CD or FNA or any council committee. Uh, this was in the mayor's signing authorization of $25,000 and also because of the short time frame we had to really start engaging the legislators during that time. Uh, we decided to move forward with this initial contract. We have more questions, but I will take Thank you for that. Any other clarifying questions for council at the moment?

Thank you. Um, yeah, and I also have multiple questions, but I'll start with do you have an estimate whole budget for this type of activity related to the project 34 specifically?

Yes, we're actually uh in the process of of putting together a meeting with King County. They recently hired a land use planner there to help us sort of understand the mechanism of bringing the project 34 site into the UG. Uh that meeting is currently being scheduled likely to be held at the end of uh this month or maybe early May. I think once we understand what that process is and what that timeline is, that will give us a better understanding of what the whole project cost for project 34 is uh likely there'll be some consultant costs associated things like that. So I think once we have that meeting, once we understand the timeline, we can put it put together a budget and brief council on the estimated amount for the whole contract.

Thank you. Anybody else? Susie, first of all, um I'm really impressed by the Pedigree Consulting Services Group. Um very professional and um great pick. Um my concern is really more about the city's processes. Um like council members are saying um because there was a contract that was put in place last year and payment made. It was under $25,000 which is under the mayor's purview.

But also in that same purchasing policy, there's also a reporting aspect of that in which council is supposed to be receiving reports of all contracts that are made like that. It's um 1.5.3.1 and we didn't receive any information about that. So, it was a huge surprise to council to know that this was happening. Um I think that reporting piece was put in there so that we were just engaged in knowing. I I think all of council will be supportive in it, but it's uncomfortable for council when we are surprised that something's occurred. So, um, and I I my guess is the rest of council is also very supportive of this consultant, but I'd like to see the city actually follow the the our our procedures that we have in in our purchasing. And so, um, obviously that must have been a oops and someone missed that, but going forward, I'd like to see that happening.

Councilman Torus, can I add something before we move on from that? I just want to it wasn't an oops as it was the timing of it as James alluded to. So we didn't have any meetings in December. We hit the ground running as far as meeting with the legislation and the King County office and then we did our first briefing I believe in January. When was the first time we talked about that. So that was the first report we made to council and then February and then now we're into March. So I just wanted to say I don't it wasn't an oversight. It's just the timing of it was we hit the ground running. It's within that authority. the fact that we need more budget authority and the contract is included. We didn't know at the time that we would need the services longer. So, here we are and I mean that's truly like what we look at from a a project perspective when we hit the ground running with that project to get it through the legislature is what we needed it to happen. Now we're through the legislature and we understand now the King County component is going to be a lot more complex with the legislative piece of that. So, I just want you to have that information. I

I I I totally understand that. But my but it's just a simple report. Just create it and email it to all of us. Just a notification. A notification. Go. Oh, okay. We understand. It's not like we have to have a meeting about it. Yeah. Happy to just keeping us Yeah. informed basically. And that's what I have. I know you had a second part. I didn't want to cut you off, but I think No, that was that was my part. Okay. Um, Miss Jos.

Yeah, James. Thank you. Um, just clarifying question. Given the uh transition in the King County Executive Office, I believe it was held for 16 years uh by Dao Constantine, uh is it clear at this point in time yet who to reach out to and interact with at the county level to help move this forward?

Uh it's becoming more clear. I'll say I'll say that. Uh one of the things that Mr. Peru really brought to the uh table was uh his personal uh he personally knows the King County Executive. So, he's been able to works with his office as well as Council Member Perry's office to really kind of bring project 34 to the forefront and have them appreciate that we really want to get this moving forward as quickly as possible. So, I think a lot of the reason why we're having this meeting with King County in the next several weeks is largely due to Eric's support. Thank you. Thank you. Um anybody else? Another question. Round two. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, just

Oops. Thank you. Um, why is the contract the sole responsibility of Northbend um when there are so many other agencies that will benefit from this project 34?

Great. Thank you. I I'll I'll I'll read from the response I provided to you, Council Member K, if that's okay. I said other state agencies will benefit from project 34. However, developing a solution for truck parking in Northbend was not a high priority for the state agencies until the city began um engaging agencies last year both directly and through our legislative representatives. Working with Pedigrew Consulting, we were able to elevate the concern of Northbend residents, businesses, and truckers about the state of truck parking and the amenities and services at exit 34. Now that we have secured state funding for a feasibility study, we need to keep the issue top of mind among state agencies and complete the feasibility study by June 30th, 2027 as mandated by the legislature. The study will also help support UG expansion. Um, I think one of the things we really kind of appreciate is that, you know, there's a lot going on at the state level. There's lots of different things. I think council member Torres said this well at the work study, we need to be a squeaky wheel. So we were definitely a squeaky wheel to bring this up. Uh we talked with our representatives from both district 5 and district 12 very often coordinated with them both on the house and the senate side and then really with their efforts as well as council member Perry's office efforts really pushed this through. So I think because of that we were able to really raise this concern among the state agencies which frankly I think we would not have unless we'd have Mr. Paragu's support.

I correct. Yeah, stress. I believe there is a piece too, Jane, but part I'm trying to be responsive here to the question, which is an important one. I believe state agencies have stepped up with an offer of $200,000 for a feasibility study. Maybe that's through the Washington State Patrol, which we will be further asked to uh pay a portion of. But I I do think the squeaky wheelness is uh resulting in some responsiveness including additional financial support from uh various other levels of government towards uh the moving this project forward. Is that correct?

Yes. Actually, you know, repres Representative Hall and Senator Hunt champion the proviso language for $200,000 in funding for the feasibility study. Uh that funding will go to wash. They'll be the ones essentially coordinating that, but they'll be coordinating with city of Northbend, Department of Natural Resources, and Washington State Patrol among others to carry out the study. McFarland, oh, sorry.

All right. Um, okay. So, I generally could not be more supportive of this. I will say I don't have a lot of I have a lot of experience with contracts, not so much lobbying contracts. So the question I have is what are our performance indicators? Like what are the KPIs here, right? Because the way the contract reads and the way the scope of the projects in my opinion are going to be longlasting and that we'll likely need help beyond December of 26. So, should the contract be, you know, geared toward an actual event, whether it's like Project Ble being fully entitled, Project 34 being fully entitled and funded and going or how are we going to navigate that? I mean, or is the expectation, which I'll be honest could be fair, is we don't know yet and we have to seed this through maybe a certain amount of time, but how did we come up with this structure of this contract?

Yeah. Yeah. So largely this uh this amended contract uh basically mimics the original contract which was for services. I think once now that we've kind of gone through the process and we've been able to receive the uh funding for the feasibility study, we have a much clearer road map ahead of us. So we have two things that are going concurrently. One is essentially uh understanding what the UG expansion process is uh what the timeline is the process and then how we can basically enact that. The second part uh will be the feasibility study. We're hoping to do those two things in tandem. Likely the UG expansion process will take, you know, quite a bit longer than the feasibility study, but the feasibility study will be sort of the anchor to provide uh essentially the rationale for the UG expansion. And so I think it's important that we, you know, keep Mr. Pedigrew and his team on board to kind of keep you know pursuing that providing that sort of subtle pressure on the agencies and the state to kind of keep this moving forward as well as potentially look at other funding that could be unlocked for this opportunity. One of the things that we have talked about is since uh it's a very unique site uh there may be an opportunity to get funding either at state or federal level you know for overpasses to serve the site directly. So as we begin to kind of understand the project, the feasibility study, we could be looking at new avenues for funding to support the project.

So is the scope effectively covering that feasibility study period. That's where that's where the backs stop to the end of the year. Yeah. Well, this this amended contract goes through just the end of this year. Yeah. And then we'll but that's the expectation of the feasibility will be completed in that period.

We're it may not be completed, but we expect to be well underway at that point. I'll add something to that, Mayor Promim, is I think the UG expansion process with Eric's help is is a grander piece of that because as council member Joselyn indicated, the prior executive that was not a priority in the in the 16 years to expand the UG. So, there really wasn't a clear processy available for um that to and especially with the public interest facility, which is the overlay that we're looking at for this particular project that is by RCW something that needs to be cited. So we're looking at that entity. Well, how do we do that? We may be building that from the ground up with the county. So that is the really important piece more so I think than us three agencies doing the feasibility study is that UG expansion process and that that pressure and partnership with the executive office and also the c the King County Council as well as the growth management board.

Yeah. Okay. I have a comment but that's for the

Thank you. not a priority. It's a very kind way to say it. Um two two questions at least. Um it's been mentioned already that this contract is proposed just through the end of 26 versus say covering through the coming legislative session which I expect there to be more work associated with that. I think I somewhat understanding from what you're saying in regard to this next meeting with the county you're having. But but could you just again comment on why would we end this contract in 26 which to me means it's a given you'll be coming back for another amendment.

Yeah. I think part of the reason is we can begin to build this into the next uh budget cycle as as part of that. I think one of the things we've really kind of learned through this process, we've learned many things, but I think one of the bigger things we've learned is bre if we have priority projects for Northbend, we really need to engage effective lobbying services for them. Uh we've been hearing kind of time and time again both from you know talking with state agencies but also talking with colleagues across the region that because of um the tightness of the budgets up in Olympia that in many ways for uh local communities to get funding for priority projects they really need to lobby their state legislators and work directly with agencies. So I think you know this and we've kind of talked about this internally. This also kind ne necessitates maybe a reason or an idea to really put together sort of a legislative calendar and put together legislative priorities for the city of North Bend where we can kind of go through that and see what is a priority for council, what's a priority for the mayor and for the city. So I think this has really kind of opened up, you know, kind of a new way of doing business for the city and one that will likely continue into next year.

Okay. And um Heather question uh kind of a followup to comment council member Tremolatto made um I'm familiar with this type of a lobbying contract. This is based on on basically a fixed fee per month. Um but it's not breaking down budget between what is I'm seeing as two projects. And I'm I'm sort of going to prelude a potential uh amendment here. Um do you have that breakdown? I would be more comfortable that we're keeping um project 34 as a entity unto itself that we can track our investment in it. Um which doesn't mean I don't support project ballet, but I'm not comfortable necessarily with it being a part of this contract. Yes, I mean we're open to, you know, if you want to separate out BLE and project 34 from the contract, that would be fine. We just thought this as maybe an opportunity to bring Eric into uh project BLE, help him understand what the project is about and then see if there could be potential state funding for that. But again, that's more more likely a conversation is for the 27 legisl legislative session as opposed to this current one. Chris, thank you.

James knows I had a lot of questions. Um, but this one I think is for Martin and the question was about the funding. It's a $75,000 I'll call it surprise uh that we didn't know was going to come in 2026. Um, and my question had earlier was, do we have to um either add funding to the budget or not do something else to in order to afford this? Great. Thank you. I'll turn this over to Martin. He's got a a short slide that he can show you. Great.

Council member Rustic. Um, I do have a quick uh slide slide summary for you on this. Let me pull that up. Um, let me know if Okay. Can everyone see my slide slide deck here? Yes.

All right. Great. So, the funding source for this project, as James mentioned, includes two things. Uh, one is the $75,000 professional services contract with Mr. Pedigrew. And then the other is the $75,000 match for the project uh study. Uh this will be coming out of um fund 108 which is our economic development fund. Um after accounting for these two items uh our fund balance at the end of 2026 is estimated at um just under $151,000. Uh this next slide provides council just a summary proforma of this fund. Again this is for the 2026 budget. Uh we started the year with about 329,000. Uh as part of the adopted 26 budget uh we have um operating revenues of 375, operating expenses of 404,000. Um and then accounting for again these two projects uh we have an ending fund balance of 150,000. So the funding source uh Councilwoman Rustic is uh will be from this fund and from the funds fund balance.

Thank you Martin. Thank you Martin. Any other any other questions? Okay. Um Rob. Okay. Sorry. I do think I have one final question then. Um I'm not familiar with the original uh scope contract the way that that read. I assume it was also a per month. Yeah. Same same amount.

Thank you. Okay. I think I've gone around. Susan, sorry. I just have a quick question. Um, did we pay them last year or did we just start paying them this year? 26. Yeah, we started paying them 2025. Okay. Sorry. Yes, we started paying them in 2025. Okay. All right. Okay. Good. All right. The contract was started in 2025. 2026 was our first payments. Okay. Thank you. And I think Elaine provided those to you, C. Yes, she did. That's why I was like, wait a minute. Okay. That's I just wanted to clear that up. I thought that's how it was, but I want to make sure. Thanks.

Okay, great. Okay, I guess um can I ask Mayor Prom read this motion? I think it's falls into Sorry. I think it's under me, isn't it? It is Cork under work study. Oh, okay. Cool. Work study. Thanks. Thanks, Mayor Pro. Motion to approve AB26-032 authorizing the mayor to execute and administer a contract amendment between the city of Northbend and Pedigrew Consulting Services in a form and content approved by the city attorney in the amount not to exceed $75,000. Second.

Okay. U motion from Mayor Prom and second by um Susan Rust or Susan Susan Torus Susan Rustic. That was it. I did say that. Sorry. Okay. Um would you like to speak to your motion?

Yeah, my comment was um I'm fully supportive of uh Pedigree Consulting. I think they uh are going to make a huge difference and already have. I will say my comment would be uh I I am I would prefer to have the project separated. I think that makes sense. um as we go into kind of the next phase of this as well as I do think it's fair to look at the projects themselves so that we don't have necessarily an ongoing renewal. I'd rather just say, "Hey, we we think we're going to need Pedigrew through this legislation legislative session or we want them all the way through entitlement and groundbreaking and so we can holistically a plan and budget for that um from the financial perspective." But um but b also just know that like we're picking our horse and he's the right guy and we love the we love the performance and um I I think we should see that through. Um, I don't think it it'll make sense if we're having success to bring back to council and have to kind of relitigate should we extend the contract or not. I mean, I think it we either believe in the project or we don't. And that's from my perspective. I just want council to be a to have a consensus on that. If we're if we believe in project 34, we're making the progress, then I want everyone here to invest in that both from time and effort um as well as the consultants involved. So, um but I'll support this motion. I think um these are two uh pretty incredible projects um that are going to be complicated uh that are going to need um a lot of work well beyond this contract and I want to continue the ball moving forward as fast as we can.

Thank you. Uh Miss Torus.

Oh yeah. I I totally am backing this project. Um exit 34 needs a lot of help. Um, it's always been called truck town and we don't have enough parking. Um, it'd be great to have the National Guard up and away off to the side and they they would appreciate that as well. So, I just think this is a huge win for the city of North Ben, but I also think it's a huge win for the state of Washington and actually entire United States because this is really a spot where truckers are coming from the across the country and going to the port of Seattle. And right now, they're having to park on the side of the freeway, which is against the law, by the way. And everybody knows that it's against the law, but no one's citing them a ticket because they have no place to go. So, I think that North Ben is doing a great service to the city of North Ben, but not only that, the state of Washington and the rest of the United States to get this project going and up and um getting all the right players involved and we are just a small little town and you know, Snowqualami calls us Mayberry. So, we need pedigree, right, to help us out. So, so this is awesome and that's why I fully support it.

Thank you. Anybody on council have anything they'd like to say? uh from both Mark and then Rob.

Um yeah, I'm very supportive. I never thought when I came on council that what we'd be talking about is an expansion of truck town. Yet we live where we do in the foothill of the Cascade Mountains, which anybody who's had their power go out or tree come down or a flood come through their yard comes to appreciate upon moving here. There are forces beyond our control. And in a certain regard, trucking is one of them. uh living where we do it is critical to our region and to the state. I believe it's an issue of statewide significance as Mr. Henderson pointed out uh to get traction amongst all the different players who are engaged for something like this to move forward takes the engagement of someone like Mr. Pedigrew whose uh his attributes have been spoken to favorably and I'm nothing but similarly supportive and impressed. Um there was a question raised by a constituent uh during the comment period about why lobby for this as opposed to making other choices. I wanted to speak briefly to that. Uh as a public entity, we're very limited in how we can generate revenue. And while sales tax is incredibly regressive, it's one of the few sources we have available to us that also has the benefit of bringing in money from external sources, not local property tax, uh, but rather people coming through town, uh, whether in trucks or vehicles and economic expansion is within the city limits is on the, uh, agenda or wish list, if you will, of this council in an effort to better uh maintain our quality of life while not costing us all more than we're already paying. So, it is a priority uh for us and that's part

of uh why and why we're investing in this and and also because it is part of governing which at times is hard. It requires one to look forward. Things like this don't happen uh overnight. It takes a forwardthinking vision which I want to acknowledge our staff for. Um there's so many different pieces and overlapping circles that come into play favorably uh in terms of this actually to me making sense. There's a gravel mine there. It's adjacent to the city. It's disturbed land. We all have, if you live here, you experience the truckers and the trucking and that you don't feel safe and the air isn't of great quality and so on and so forth. And again, we as a city and the region more broadly benefit from I mean those trucks moving over that pass is a big deal for the region and other people. This is why I think Mr. pedigree. You in some ways you're being gifted a pretty nice respon. You know, it should be an easy sell. If you can get people to sit down and listen to you and clearly you're good at it. Uh because you it happened to me, right? I sat down and I learned and I listened and oh my goodness, it's really hard to push back and and come up with a piece of this that doesn't fundamentally make sense on many many different levels. Um so I am nothing but supportive. Thank you.

Thank you. And Rob,

thank you. Um, I'll make the easy summary that I believe the benefits to this community for this particular project so far outweigh uh uh the downsides that it it it's it will remain a pretty much a slam dunk in my head. I also um support this um uh consulting firm. Not only impressed with the our primary consultant, but perhaps even more so with his boss and to put that out there. Um and and so yes, I I'm going to support it. But with that in mind, I do and and I heard Mr. Tremolada mentioning it as well. I I really do want to be sure that I can understand the differences between uh what we spend between the two projects. But so with that, I'm going to offer uh a motion to amend uh the uh current motion on the table to direct staff to allocate contract expenses between exit 34 and project ble. I'll second.

Okay. Like to speak to your motion. Well, as just spoken to in in that regard is that I I think with that simple amendment, if legal counsel concurs, that works. Uh that will give us that clarity that I think we would like. Anything else you'd like to add? Um Mark Joson? Uh no. Thank you. Okay. So, uh, can we get a verbal on that motion again just to be clear? Yeah. Oh, sorry, Susan.

So, clarification. Um, I totally agree. Are you thinking like like two different fund account or, you know, extensions to a fund account to indicate one project over the other as we do expenses? Is that what you're thinking or? Yeah, I'm I'm more than confident that our financial staff can um create the line item as you would to allocate between the the the that monthly cost staff to figure out an appropriate allocation between those two projects. stress.

Yeah, thank you. So, um I completely agree with uh my fellow council members about the value of project 34 and do support that and I also fully agree with the value of the consultant that we are being asked to approve hiring here. Um my objection is uh this was authorized and the train was put in motion without any consultation from the council or approval from the council albeit it was allowed. Um but I I have really heartburn with that because the train started and now we are being asked to keep the train moving um with additional funds and I know we are going to be asked again for additional funds and so um my objection is in the way this was uh brought forward and not the actual project.

That's all. Ju just a point of clarification. The motion before us at the moment is the amendment that's been proposed before we get back to the main motion as amended. Yes, you are right. Okay. I am for this project because I am for the point of order. I I support the council member to speak, but I think we should take a vote on the amendment. And and to be clear, I'm so sorry to jump in, but I don't think we have a second on the amendment. The motion to amend. Oh, Josh. Thank you. I didn't track it. We kind of veered off. Thank you. My apologies. No, it's okay. Um, so motion's on the floor. Um,

excuse me. Amendment. Excuse me. Motion's on the floor. Um, I have a question about the amendment before we move forward. Thank you, Brandon. Go ahead. Thank you. Um will will staff uh just chime in on making the differentiation? Will that how that will impact each other project one way or the other? Will it slow ble? Uh is there benefits to having them as it was before? I just need to understand a little pros and cons with um with the amended with the amendment.

Thank you, council member Elwood. No, I don't think there'll be any impact to either of the projects. We can just simply track the expenses to each one based on Eric's time. Thank you. Okay, great. Okay, so we have the amendment on the floor. Okay, ready to take the vote. All in favor? I I I uh any opposed? Okay, so we're we're going forward the amended amended. Okay, so that passes. Now we'll go back to the M motion. Motion to the floor. Uh should I read that original motion? Motion.

Do we have any further comments too?

Any anybody want to comment? No. No further comments. I am for this project as I live off of very near exit 34 and I feel for the trucks when the pass close which is not infrequently that's where they close at X34 and there is nowhere for them to go and the current truck stop has nowhere for them to plug in. So, a new and bigger truck stop would have the amenities where they wouldn't have to idle their trucks to stay warm. They'd have more space to stop and rest. As everybody knows, there's laws that they can't drive like more than, I believe, 8 hours. They have to stop and it is a very needed project. As of for the project ble, it is my understanding that it would not just be recreational, but we would be using it as a training ground for our search and rescue teams that rescue people, volunteers rescue people off of our mountain hikes every single day and this will help them with training with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else? No. Okay. Right. So, we all clear on the motion, the amended motion. We voted on it. Good. And does it does anyone to want to read that out for total clarity? Do we need to do that at all? Okay. Just to be clear. Nope. Okay. To go to the vote. Motion on the floor. Amended. All in favor? I I opposed. Nay.

Okay. One nay. And what is that? Five, six, support does pass. Thank you very much. Appreciate all the effort and all the hard work. Okay, we're going to go on to two other four and five coming down. Thanks for the lights. Um, so we're moving on to what was number four on consent to number 11, AB26-029. Uh, Mr. Moore is not with us tonight. He's home, unfortunately. Um, Yes, I'll take any questions that Council Member Toransson had had these pulled for for these items and I'll do my best.

Okay. Thank you so much and I'll leave it with you, Miss Torson, if you have any questions. I I just really wanted to um I don't have any questions. I just wanted to make transparency to the public of what we're doing to bring it forward and share um the expenses that we're doing. So, that was what I thought was important because it's it it it appears that um there is a $35,000 increase that the federal government is going to take care of. And then the city of North Ben, it's about $26,000 that um that we will be taking care of and those were overages that we had no choice but to do.

Yes. And just to clarify, and this came through TPW on both of these items that were on consent, but this one was construction began in May 2025 as the agenda bill states, and then was physically completed on December 8th of 2025. So, this action does complete that project and um and delivers that service and then releases the retainage of that. So, that's this is what this um item is listed on here for. Perfect. Any other questions, clarifications? We can take that one and then we'll move to the second one so we can approve that one or we can approve them all together which after we get done with the next. What do you prefer? Can we approve them all together? As a point of order, you must take them individually.

Okay. Okay. Um, this came through TPW. Miss Coen, would you like to read the motion? Sure. Thank you. Motion to approve AB26-029, a resolution accepting the Northbend Bridge 1135-3 and bridge 1135-4 deck repair and overlay project as complete and authorizing release of retainage. Thank you.

Thank you, Rob. Seconded by Mr. McFarland of Okay, Miss Cole, do you have any comments you'd like to make to your motion? I like new infrastructure. I think it's important. I don't want anybody the bridge falling apart and people falling in the water such as happened in Scadget Valley in the past. It's in my mind and I think it's a good project. Thank you. Mr. RF, you have any comments you like? Nothing to add. Great. Oh, okay. Mr. discuss it.

In the spirit of council member Torus pulling this off consent such that we get to uh be transparent and share with the public. I just want to read briefly such that people do understand how some of this works. Bridge 1135 is the North Benway Bridge over the South Fork of the Snowqual Me River and was 100% federally funded at close to $2 million. That's a huge, you know, that's a big deal. We I drive over that bridge. We all drive over that bridge and it's because of efforts of staff uh who work hard, are aware of these things, pay attention that bring those sorts of external dollars into our community to make things better. Yes, the city did end up covering uh some overages and the tens of thousands of dollars to help cover change orders, which is still a few percentage points on the over cost of the entire project, which was successfully completed. Thank you

so much. Anybody else? No, everybody. Okay. Uh motion to approve AB26-029, a resolution accepting the Northbend Bridge 1135-3 and bridge 1135-4 deck repair and overlay project as complete and authorizing release of retainage. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Measure a motion passes unanimously. Thank you one and all. And final um on our main agenda of course is consent agenda item number five. Move to number 12, AB26-030. Um, Amber, I'm looking at you again. I would love Thank you.

So, this is our resolution accepting the SCADA upgrades project is complete. Um, as the agenda bill notes, this project began in 2023 and was completed in 2026. So, this was a long-standing project. The original contract cost was 3 33290. There was three contract amendments issued for the project while increased price by 32,464 and5 most of which was because of sales tax and was vertally not included in the original contract. Approximately a thousand of the increase cost was replaced of feld transistor that was found during construction. Um the final construction cost was 365,4545. Um this action will accept the project as complete. The retainage as I mentioned in the other one cannot be released until the project has been accepted by city council. Any clarifying questions for Miss with Amber? Anybody on council? No. Okay. This came through again TPW. So I'm speaking to you um Miss Coen to make the motion.

Motion to approve AB26-030 a resolution accepting the SCADA upgrade project as complete and authorizing release of retainage. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Mr. McFarland. Thank you again. Um, Heather, would you like to speak to your motion? Again, I am an infrastructure girl at heart. I like it that we're updating and not kicking down the road as some previous council members have done and keep our stuff nice and up to date. Excellent. Mr. McFarland, do you have anything you like? Nothing to add.

Okay, great. All right. Motion to approve AB26-030. Resolution accepting the SCADA upgrades project as complete and authorizing release of retainage. All in favor? I. Uh motion passes unanimously. Thank you one and all. Um Mayor, council and administrator concerns and initiatives. Let's start with you Brandon online. I know you're in Michigan, so it's three hours later.

Yeah, we're we're approaching tomorrow. We're about 20 minutes away from tomorrow here. So, thank you for that, your honor. Um yes. Uh couple things. one, I would like to respond to um the resident commentary or testimony regarding ICE. Uh we had a discussion today in our public health and safety uh committee meeting uh where our new chief um essentially uh reiterated uh the King County Sheriff's position on ICE and there is no voluntary action uh where we will be supporting them. Um, it's on the King County website. U, it's well documented. There's funds, uh, making put bringing Washington back to work. Uh, there's funds and there's contractual obligations and legislation, uh, that prohibits us from, um, actually being proactive with with ICE, for example. Um, there are certain emergency situations where perhaps our law enforcement officers would have to respond, uh, police action, things like that, but there is nothing proactive. So, I'm I'm unclear on uh what more we can do other than to continue to promote either in our messaging um our position with that and it really falls in line with the state's position. So, so hopefully uh we've addressed it in previous communications out to the public. Um we definitely talked about it again today in public health and safety committee meeting. Um there's notes and things like that. So, uh, hopefully our resident will walk away satisfied knowing that the position that we put out is still the position that we maintain. And I'm not really sure what else that we can do, uh, to to continue to reinforce um, that particular arrangement that we have. Um, and it's really interesting talking to a camera as opposed to a live audience. So, I apologize that I'm if I may sound like I'm babbling. Uh the other piece that I

would like to bring up is uh Valley Center Stage uh which is a putting on a production of Important and Being Earnest opening this next weekend, this coming weekend. Um please support local performing arts uh supporting Valley Center Stage specifically uh supports two local nonprofits working together. Uh the SL Graange would be the other one there. So please come out, enjoy the show. Um I'm looking forward to seeing it. Uh, I've heard a lot of great um feedback about the rehearsals and seen some pictures. So, if you need to ease your brain from life's stresses and pressures, please come enjoy some local live performance theater at Valley Center Stage at SL Graange on Stilton, just down the street from City Hall. Uh, thank you, your honor.

Thank you so much, Miss Toruson. Thank you, your honor. Um, well, first of all, there was this kind of basketball tournament recently and go Wolverines, they won.

Yes. My husband's father went to that school, so we always for them. So, yay. Um, secondly, I appreciate the community coming out and speaking about the battery storage um system. Um, I think their concerns are valid. I think we do need to do more research and um it's very disconcerning because um you know, we we are on a water aquifer and uh if it gets contaminated, we have no place to go get our water. So, that's not good. Flint, Michigan. Um, remember Aaron Brochovich, Hankley, California. I mean, it's a serious problem and um, so I really appreciate everybody expressing their concerns cuz the more people talk about it, the more people are going to talk about it. So, I think that's awesome. Um, another concern I have, um, as we talked about a little bit earlier today is, um, there's been some situations where we have contracts and they've expired and then, um, then we're they come to us, the city comes to us regarding that. So, uh, I think it's a real problem because we, you know, we lose our negotiating position when we're the contracts are already expired and now we're trying to renegotiate with whoever the vendor is, that kind of thing. So, I'm proposing a policy where the administration u maintains a master list of every signed contract with its expiration date. um the council would need like a six months heads up to ensure that we're staying proactive and um we can protect our interests in whatever the contract is. Um and instead of right now we're just reacting it seems like in a lot of situations. Um the main goal is to make sure that we never end up in a situation where a contract is expired and then we're trying to negotiate after the fact. Um so it's really about staying proactive and keeping our oversight clean. Um, and

you know that's also I talked about the procurement um policy earlier um how when we do have rules where um the mayor has the opportunity to spend up to $25,000, I'd like to see that we start enacting the 1.5.3.1 um part where they keep track of those contracts and just send us a report so council's aware and we're not surprised. I think that'll do a lot for transparency and and less confusion. Um and then um I also wanted to follow up on our last meeting um about um where we're at on the monthly budget versus actual reports. See if uh if staff is willing to provide that for us or not. And that's about it.

Thank you, Miss Colen. Um, I would like to say congratulations to our new Chief Hall. We are very excited for this transition. We think it's going to be great. The police vehicle looks great. He's already interacting with our community. It's amazing. Um, but I would like to notice as the weather gets nicer, those electric scooters and electric bikes are out and about. So until we can get a formal education program, if the parents could do a little Google search and realize it's not just a toy, it's serious business, especially with our roundabouts, to have their children be careful on these vehicles because they are vehicles with motors and helmets are important. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Rusting.

Yeah, thank you. Yes, I was going to comment on uh the e motorcycles also. It was about this time last year, spring break, where we were uh trying to figure out what the right solution was for Northbend. And so I was going to say we haven't solved it completely, but thank you to all of the um the youth that are out there wearing helmets that I know were not wearing helmets this time last year. So that's that is a positive uh for their own safety. And I also want to thank the the Snowqualami residents and Northbend residents that came to talk about the battery storage facility. Um yesterday I did meet with one of the Snowqual Me uh city council members on this particular topic and I know several other of my peers here um are either doing that or have done that as well and so we do take that to heart. We are one valley and we want to work together with them for the right solutions. So thank you.

Excellent. Um Mr. Dawson. Uh thank you your honor. Um I too want to acknowledge the onboarding of Chief Hall. Very exciting. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge a number of folks who without whose sincere efforts and support that wouldn't have happened particularly members of the King County Sheriff's Office starting with Sheriff Patty Cole Tindle uh who came and was present in these chambers but in then particular Chief Challang Captain Tin Meyer and Major Mark Kaski who uh attended one of our retreats a year ago and brought us along and helped inform us. I also would be remiss for not acknowledging and thanking uh the Snowqualami uh police department and their 12 12 years of dedicated service, support, and helping keep our communities safe. Uh and Chief Horsey in particular, it is a bit odd to not see him at the back of the room where he's always been uh since I've been well for the past few years that I've been on council. Um I want to thank the community members who took time to come forward and share their thoughts uh this evening. Uh the battery I need to do my homework. I will say that energy I I spoke earlier about looking forward as governments and as a government and one of the biggest challenges that our region faces is the need for uh electrical power. I want that to be clean power or as clean as possible. That does not mean I am necessarily in support of the facility that's proposed in Snowqualami but it is one of the challenges that's going to continue to confront us in our region going forward is adequate uh power supplies. I thought it was a very interesting evening when we take uh juxtapose a number of things. The mention of ICE and immigrant communities uh the director of trail youth coming forward and the support they provide to

young people. It's a very hard time I believe to make sense of the world that surrounds us. Uh the food bank standing up a new facility in our town, the need for you know just human services and also it's sexual assault awareness month. Those are all the things, you know, goodness me, that's quite a list. Uh, all of which came before us for consideration and I appreciate this council's ongoing, I believe, commitment uh to be supportive of those issues. That's a big deal. Um and then lastly we had the citizens academy members of our community who took hours every week of their time to come be present interact with our fine staff and learn about government and governing and uh engage with us and this whole enterprise here that's I find incredibly uh affirming and supportive and I'm thankful to live in a place where folks that live in our community are willing to engage And that's sort of an undertaking. And I'm going to with Council Member McFarland up here next, my my single uh musical interlude that I'm going to go for this evening is It's a Small World After All. Thank you.

Well done. Okay, Mr. McFarland.

Wow. I wasn't sure what was coming there. Um um April sun shining um and hope springs eternal um perhaps only for a few days this week. Uh we will be celebrating Earth Day again later this month. And while we made great strides, particularly in the 70s, there is so much more to do and perhaps we'll be needing to undo. Uh, nonetheless, I'm thankful for our town and those who in this town who lean in. Uh, that includes another shout out, yes, to our 26 graduates of the citizens academy. Um, really gratifying to see the folks that stepped up this year and how the program has grown overall. That's just fantastic. again as I challenge some of you. And now what? You know, get you you got to take that next step and stay involved however you choose to do it. Stay involved in your community and and yes, local kid does good. So pleased pleased to have um the new service here. Uh and yes the our our past association with Snowquami our boots on the ground always always performed well for us. So, my interlude is uh although written in 1991, which is way newer than what I mostly share with you, uh my share tonight's really about April 4th, 1968. So, I still pull it back and the hope that endures. James Taylor wrote Shed a Little Light uh in 1991. And although my favorite version is actually by Amy man, I thought she sang it better than James

and that's hard to do. So the lines, oh let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King and recognize that there are ties between us. Shed a little light, O Lord, so that we can see. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Mayor Proen. I have a few more things than I typically do. So, uh, first and foremost, welcome Chief Hall. Um, I think tonight, uh, is a fairly big night for council, for all of us that worked on so many months and those many hours in that chamber figuring out what in the darn were we going to do. U, but I think the the early signs both from the community and and from the King County Sheriff um are tremendous. I think um we couldn't be more proud for the the hard work that that we did together uh and the future has started and I think that's something um that should be underscored both for staff but also for council and the mayor that this was not an easy decision and I'm just really proud about the way we went about it. I think we did it the right way. Um and everyone's excited uh for the new chapter here. Um, additionally, uh, I want to appreciate the public for bringing forth concerns on the best battery project. Um, I'd like actually council to explore due diligence on not only the best project, but it also its potential impacts on North Ben. I think those were points well taken. Secondly, uh, as we continue to navigate our land use planning, I' I'd like council to additionally take into note, um, Chair Teal's comments on considering annexation throughout the greater Northbend area to maintain local control about the future land uses both in and around our city. Um, and as I have been, I'd like to shine some light on mental health. Nearly 7% of American adults have a major depressive episode every year. That's around 16 million people. That is enough to fill every Major League Baseball and football stadium in the United States four and a half times over. Check in with your friends and family. Mental health matters. And don't let the hard days win.

Thank you, Miss Amber. Thank you. I will say 1991 was still junior high for me, Council Member McFarland, but I mean, you know, I would just leave you with that. Um, thank you for that. You're welcome. You're welcome. You would have been fun to babysit. By the way, I'm sure of that.

Um, thank you to the committee for coming out. I will mention, uh, Council Member Elwood brought this up about ICE. I think the messaging from Snowquami was about city staff. We don't share anything personally out. If someone were to come in and ask for utilities, whoever they are and they're not the account holder, we would not give that information whether they were an officer or not. There's certain protocols that you need to go through to get personal information. So that's just an added piece for us as the city. If we were to take a step further and make an announcement, we wouldn't give that information out anyway to anybody, let alone a federal officer that would be coming in for that information. So I think that was the differential and the new statement that they made out. So I appreciate you bringing that forward. And the law enforcement, as council member Elwood said, um stays the same. The the keep Washington working act is very clear about the the um the uh agreement that they have with that. So I will add that for that for that statement. So thank you for bringing that forward. The contracts, we are working on a database. That's why so many things are coming forward because we're cleaning out everything that we have right now with all the contracts. We have two folks that keep a really good We have an eagle eye here that keeps a very good um eye on many things that we have, but we're making sure that all those things connect. And with the Clark Newberg grants um process that you guys all approved, thank you so much for that. um a couple weeks ago that helps us dovetail that into our contract. So that you'll see all that start to come to fruition where we're kind of dovetailing that all in. And if I can if you give me one moment to have Elaine speak to the A and B reports, Council Member Toransson, just so we can wrap that up so that we can have that answer, I would greatly appreciate if she would do that.

Thank you, Elaine. Happy Me too. Thank you, Council Member Torusen, for the great suggestion about a month ago. our um finance team, especially our senior financial analyst, is putting together a budget versus actuals report that is combined with a report that you already see. So, not yet another report, but an expanded report that gives you a little more information that might be helpful, right? You're welcome.

Great. Okay. Um once again, please chief hall, welcome. Um well, he invites you. uh residents to join him in the community conversation about local public safety and the city's new police department. Please stop by for two opportunities to connect this Friday, April 10th at Hartwood Cafe from 9 to 10 or Valition Brewing from 5 to 6. Additional meetups are scheduled. If you are unable to attend, please check the city's calendar on your website, our website. The US Small Business Administration has opened a disaster loan outreach center at the Chamers's Northbend location located at 128 West uh Second Street. The outreach center is open weekdays in April from 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. to help businesses, nonprofit organizations, and residents affected by severe storms in the Snookme Valley between um December 5th and December 2 or 22nd, excuse me. The yard waste recycling program will start uh Saturday, April 18th from 8:00 a.m. to noon at public works. The program is open on select Saturdays through October and is available to all who reside in the 98045 zip code area. in honor of Earth Day. Thank you, Rob. Uh the city invites community members to join us for Northbend Beautifification Day on April 22nd. More information about the event is available by visiting the community calendar on the city website. And like everybody else tonight, we really thank our community for speaking to your needs and coming forward to talk to us about just about anything. We will listen to you as best we can. And citizen academy graduates, you're wonderful. I wish you all the best. Thank you for supporting and wanting to get to know us. We want to get to know you, too. And of course, George, thank you for coming. He was the last year's academy um graduate, one of them at least. And thank you to all the hardworking staff. You're amazing people. I day in and day out, I'm always impressed by you. So, thank you all your efforts. I appreciate you all. Have a great night, everybody, and a great week. Uh call for adjournment. Can I have a second?

Second. Okay. All in favor? I I We are journed.