City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the North Bend City Council for June 16th, 2026. Will the clerk please call roll?

Mayor Pro Tem Errol Tremolata? Here. Councilmember Brendan Elwood? Present. Councilmember Mark Jocelyn?

Present.

Councilmember Heather Cullen? Here. Councilmember Rob McFarland? Present. Thank you. Councilmember Christina Rustick? Present. Councilmember Susan Torgerson? Present. All are present, Your Honor. Thank you very much.

Would you be kind enough to lead us in the flag salute?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

good evening everybody welcome uh let's get to it near protein would you be kind enough to um make the motion to prove it tonight's agenda yeah motion to approve city council meeting uh on june 16th 2026 agenda as written thank you very much all in favor aye aye any opposed Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to consent agenda. But before we do counsel, do you have anyone here who would like to remove anything or speak to discussion? Okay, seeing none, let's move on. Appreciate that consent agenda. Do we have a motion to approve consent?

I so move.

Second, thank you very much on favor.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed. Motion passes unanimously once again, thank you very much audience participation as always. We are delighted to have. Participation from our community, and if there's anyone, of course, you're right there. It's great to see you again. But hold on just a quick moment as I proceed with the, the how to and the why to go for it. Please state your name and please spell your name for the city clerk and you have three minutes to speak for the record and welcome again.

Thanks. Hi, hope you all have been well. I'm Nicola Overstreet, O-V-E-R-S-T-R-E-E-T. And I've been recently emailing questions to Public Works employees and they've been super helpful and responsive. I really, really appreciate that. Um, and in particular, I've been asking about the location and availability of ADA spots downtown. Um, and the reason for that is I have a friend who has mobility issues and she shared with me recently that she's starting to find it really difficult to go shopping or go and eat anywhere along North bend way. Um, because she's never really quite sure if she's going to be able to park close enough to be able to make it to where she's trying to go. Um, So based on what's been shared with me, it sounds like public ADA spots along North Bend Way are maybe several years out with current plans. And in the meantime, the closest spots to our main road are in private lots that have ADA accessible spaces. But they usually don't want non-customers taking those spots during business hours. On my friend's behalf, I'd like to suggest that you all consider the possibility of making one of the public spaces along North Bend Way reserved for folks with disability placards. I hope that that could potentially happen sooner than some of the larger transportation improvement projects that are larger overhauls, because I think my friend and people like her should be able to go to North Bend Bakery and go to Friends & Co and should be able to participate in our downtown. And yeah, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Anybody else in online? I guess I'll zoom to that quite literally. Not tonight, Your Honor. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Let's go on to announcements, presentations, and appointments. Number four is presentation, chamber tourism overview. Ms. Kelly Coughlin, I'm glad to see you tonight. We all are. Please come to the podium, and we'd love to hear what's up with the chamber. Thank you so much. Hopefully my deck is here.

All right.

Got it.

Awesome. Okay, here we go. So hello everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on this. It's been a very long overdue response that I needed to tell you all about this. So I'm here to tell you about our Snoqualmie Valley Reasonable Tourism Project and what it means for North Bend and the larger valley. This work is about more than tourism marketing. It is about how we manage visitor growth, protect the places people come here to experience, and support our small businesses, and make sure tourism benefits our residents and communities. North Bend is one of the most visible gateways, as you all know, into outdoor recreation to the Valley. So the decisions we make now will shape what tourism looks like in the next 15 years. Next slide. So how did we get here? So this project was made possible through the Rural Tourism Support Program with the support from State of Washington Tourism. We received a grant that was worth $320,000 from Washington Tourism. We did not receive the funds. They were put in as a, the $300,000 was, we paid a collective contractor that they chose to put this program on. And then we received an additional funding of $50,000 from the Port of Seattle as a pilot program. So as you can see, there was a lot of money that was invested into this program. We worked nearly two years to help bring this opportunity to the Valley. It was a really, there's only been four programs through the entire state for this RTS program. Currently they're up in, and I'm gonna say it wrong, Skagit, did I say it right? All right, Skagit County is probably the last one that they will be doing. They've done Walla Walla in the past, and I think we were the third one. They also did the Gorge. So that is all that has been done. So we were pretty fortunate to be able to have this work done through the Washington Tourism. Here in this program, the goal is not to attract more visitors. The goal is to ask, how do we welcome visitors responsibly, protect our natural resources, and support the local economy at the same time? So this map shows, of course, the valley-wide approach, why it's so important. Visitors do not experience our communities in isolation. The move between North Bend, Snoqualmie, Fall City, Carnation, Duval, Snoqualmie Pass, the rivers and trails, and our downtown are all together. As you know, the valley is connected to some of the same I-90, SR-202, SR-203. And the Snoqualmie River system pretty much takes us all in for that pass. North Bend is a major entry point into this regional tourism ecosystem that means we have both opportunity and responsibility. Next slide. So tourism is not just hotels and visitors, it is an ecosystem. It includes restaurants, coffee shops, lodging guides, outfitters, museums, art galleries, farms, land managers, transportation partners, nonprofits, trail organizations, chambers, economic development partners, and our local communities. When the ecosystem is working well, tourism supports small business, it creates jobs, it improves visitor experience, and protects the places where people live. When it is not coordinated, we see congestion, parking pressure, safety issues, stressed trails, frustrated residents, and visitors who do not know where to go next. That is why leadership and coordination matter. And this is pretty much who was in our, our main group. So this is just want to let you guys see who included the Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, National Park Service, you can read all of those for yourself. And that's why it was very important for us to have all of those included. Okay, next one. And here is our steering committee. So as you can see, it's very well-rounded. You can see the different groups. The Snoqualmie tribe also participated in this. The casino worked with us, the school district, transportation partners, and community organizations. This matters because tourism impacts all of us. The strongest plans are built with the people who are affected by tourism and the people responsible for managing it. So we had, there were 99, I think of them total, so you can see all the names. Next one. So what we did, we created a impact statement. And this program focused on several key goals. First, we wanted to unite the residents, the businesses, the community organizations and visitors around with a common vision. Second, we wanted to protect and restore our land, water, wildlife and cultural resources. Third, we want to improve visitor management so that people know where to go, how to be safe and how to recreate responsibly. Fourth, we want to enhance visitor safety through education, better communication, and proactive planning. We also want to celebrate our local cultures, heritage, art stories, while making sure tourism supports economic prosperity and improves community livability. Responsible tourism means tourism that works for both the visitors and the residents. Very much in key. So this is exactly what we have lived on and what we have shown everyone. This is our statement of intent for the whole reason why we're doing this. Next page. So how did we get that? So there was an organized planning process that moved through three phases. The first phase was building the foundation through research, outreach, and program development. The second phase was engaging the community through visioning, scenario planning, and strategy workshops, which we actually held one of the workshops here in the city. I think some of you actually went to it. The third phase was moving into action through action teams and destination leadership. This is important because we are now moving from planning into implementation. The question is no longer whether tourism is happening. The question is how we manage it and how North Bend participates in shaping the outcome. So you can see that next page on the slide. So we have a 15-year vision that asks what success looks like in 2040. And this vision, Snoqualmie Valley is known for stewardship, economic resilience, collaboration, outdoor recreation, food, farms, heritage, and culture. Visitors are not just coming for one stop. And this is, again, this is our outlook in 2040, not that it's happening right now. Visitors are just not coming for one stop and leaving. They're staying longer, visiting multiple communities, eating locally, shopping locally, and learning how to care for the place they visit. For North Bend, this is especially important. We already have extraordinary outdoor assets, but we need to connect those visitors to local businesses, art, heritage, restaurants, and downtown experiences. The opportunity is to turn visitation into economic benefit while protecting the natural resources that make North Bend so special.

Next one.

And again, the slides expands on what responsible tourism can look like over time. And I think you guys all receive this in your packet. So if you want to go back over and read some of that, I would love for you to read those. There's some really good. I don't want to read it all to you guys. That's boring. Next page. So, the Snoqualmie Valley Heritage Trail is a powerful example of the kind of visitor experience we should be building. It connects our communities through stories, history, culture, trails, and a place based on interpretation. This kind of project helps visitors understand where they are and encourages them to move thoughtfully through the valley, learn our history, respect tribal lands and local communities, and discover more than one destination. For North Bend, heritage and storytelling can be a major part of our tourism strategy. Outdoor recreation brings people here, but history, arts, food, shopping, and local experiences are what encourage them to stay longer. And I've asked Christy Lake to come up and tell you just a tad bit of what this heritage trail means and her funding mechanisms. And I'll be back.

Thank you, Kelly. I'm Christy Lake. I'm the executive director at Snoqualmie Valley Trail, and as part of the destination management program, I was asked to take a leadership role in one of the action teams, the Snoqualmie Valley Heritage Trail. The concept was that people have 7 opportunities to spend money in your community. They wake up, they eat, they do an activity, they eat, they do an activity, they eat, they do an activity, they sleep. So if we can provide them some additional activities that they stay longer within our community, they'll then spend more money in our community. We also have a plethora of tourists that are coming to hike in our community, but on trails that are not made to cope with as many visitors as we're currently receiving, while the Snoqualmie Valley Trail is made to handle a large amount of traffic and is underutilized. So the concept that was brought up was creating it into a heritage trail like there are in multiple other countries so that it can become either a half day experience or a full day or even two day experience where people travel through our community on a trail system that is set up to cover the traffic of a lot of people, and also share the rich history of our community. The Snoqualmie Valley Trail is originally a railway line. It's 25 miles between Duval to the Cedar River Watershed Education Center. There's over 120 heritage sites along the trail, including historic landmark districts in most of our communities. So we created a team based mostly off of turning our images of America's Snoqualmie Valley Book Committee right into this committee and then adding a few additional committee members. So our committee is made up of King County Parks staff, King County Historic Preservation staff, representatives from the four historical societies in the Valley and the Northwest Railway Museum, the Snoqualmie Tribe, some North Bend community members, especially in the biking industry, and the Snoqualmie Tribe and Mountains to Sound Greenway. We're meeting monthly right now. We just received a $30,000 grant from the Port of Seattle over the next two years to create a strategic plan for the trail system, which will also act for King County Parks as a template for creating trail system strategic plans for the rest of their trail systems, because they don't currently have that. And I said strategic plan, but I actually mean interpretive plan. and then produce six of these trailhead signs at key points along the trail to introduce the visitors to the topic. Through Kelly's Port of Seattle grant, we received just under 10,000 last year to create the draft panel, create a draft printable map and a website. The website is now live at Snoqualmie Valley Museum dot org slash heritage trail. And we were also able to commission this painting from a local artist, J. Craig Thorpe, who's nationally renowned as an industrial artist. And he also created six sketches, which you'll see one at the bottom representing each of our communities so that we can tell unique stories on the interpretive trail map as well.

Is there anything else you'd like me to cover, Kelly? You know, that just what you said last time, something about they stay the different places they can come in and out of the cities.

I'm trying to remember what I said last time. But yes, so our trail instead of falling only the Snoqualmie Valley Trail actually goes through each of the downtown districts. So you'll see in the map for North Bend to 5 how it's red and it sends them through the downtown because most of our historic sites are actually in the downtown. So we want to celebrate that. Additionally, I was going to add one other thing when you said that. King County Parks is also applying to get it recognized as a state scenic bikeway as well.

Thank you.

Thanks, Christy. So that was a pretty big deal that we were able to get that done. And we're continuing. So Commissioner Fred Fellerman, this was his personal love, he wanted to make sure that this got done. So I want to make sure you guys all know that and next time you see Fred, Commissioner Fred Fellerman, just thank him for all of the money that he has put into Snoqualmie Valley. Next slide. So I want to give you some information. This slide gives us data behind the opportunity. In 2023, Snoqualmie Valley saw approximately 7.4 million total trips and more than 10.1 million visitor days. The average length of the stay was 1.4 days. The data shows also that approximately 47.6% of trips were visitor trips compared to 52.4% local trips. That means nearly half of all trips measured in this data are coming from visitors outside the immediate local area. This is a significant number. It confirms that tourism is already happening at scale. The opportunity now is to manage it better, connect visitors to local businesses, and increase the local economic return. Next slide. And here is our snapshot. So this slide helps translate visitation into economic impact. This is a really big number that I want you guys. This is a very conservative number. This slide helps translate based on the data. Snoqualmie Valley received estimated 3.5 million annual visitor trips. And those are not the same. These are individuals that are not here for any other reason. So I want to make sure you know why that number is different. Those visitors account for approximately 4.8 million visitors days each year, with an average length of stay, like we said, for 1.4 days. For this estimate, we used a conservative spending assumption of $75 per visitor trip. When you multiply 3.5 million visitor trips by 75, that equals approximately 262.5 million in direct visitor spending. then using a conservative 1.5 tourism economic multiplier, that direct spending generates an estimate of 393.8 million in total economic impact for our valley. These are just rounded for presentation purposes that I want you just to kind of soak in because it has a big impact. The main takeaway is this. Tourism is already a major economic driver in Snoqualmie Valley. The question is whether we are capturing the value for our local businesses, our downtown, and our communities. This is why responsible tourism is economic development. It supports restaurants, retail lodging, recreation businesses, farms, arts, events, and jobs. It also helps generate tax revenue and community investment when it's managed well. So I hope that sinks in. It's amazing to see that number, to see that that's yearly. And that is a conservative number. In 2019, 2020, and 2023, we saw larger numbers. um last year we saw a decrease in visitors here quite a bit of decrease and we're continuing on that downward spiral and it's i have all of the data that i'd love to to send your way for you guys to see all of it it's very interesting um and i want you to also understand that the chamber used to have funds we were spending a hundred and I've told I think this this governing body before we were spending um probably around a hundred thousand dollars a year when we were having LTAC funds that was just from Snoqualmie and as part of the chamber we always included North Bend it was a really big important part for us to include North Bend When we lost that funds and not able to do marketing, we saw a huge decrease starting to happen. The reason why we don't have those funds anymore is the Salish Lodge is now purchased or owned by the tribe. So they no longer put into the LTAC funds. And that was, I think, 175,000 just on their end, I think, per year. So made a huge impact. And I just want you to see we have had no funds whatsoever to spend on marketing. This is our first year we were able to get some money for World Cup through North Bend to be able to do some of that funding. But I just want you to see the impact of what we're missing out on. Next one. So we did two projects and this is timely. We did Christie's and then we did this one, Wander Wisely. And this is example how we communicate with visitors in a responsible way. It focuses on practical safety and stewardship messages, cold water safety, respect ancestral lands, wildlife safety, leaving places better than you found them, fire season safety, and emergency information. This is especially important for North Bend because many visitors arrive for outdoor recreation and may not understand the local risks. Visitor communication is not just marketing. It is public safety, resource protection, and community care. The more we can educate our visitors before and during their trip, the better experience they will have and the less pressure we place on emergency services, land managers, and residents. So this was very timely. As you have all known, there was a bear attack on Mount Si. and we just did a blog yesterday on how important it was to um how to defend yourself with a bear we are camp we've got a campaign going currently right now um instead of doing any really big world cup fifa marketing which we didn't have we use this wander wisely and we've been able to be in quite a few of our magazines and different places that were surrounding Seattle, not here, but in other areas. It has made a huge impact. As you saw Sammamish also had a drowning as well. And This is why this is so important is because we have to be better stewards and educate and let people know that there is, we'd love for them to be here, but they have to be able to respect our area. Next page. So here is our 15 year plan in a nutshell. This slide brings the conversation directly to North Bend, not just Snoqualmie Valley. The recommended role for the City of North Bend includes six key areas. Participate in destination leadership. Support visitor communication and safety. Invest in wayfinding signage, public restrooms, and visitor infrastructure. Support local businesses, events, arts, and heritage. Partner on transportation solutions. Help secure long-term sustainable funding. There are practical steps that can help North Bend benefit from tourism while reducing the negative impacts. North Bend already has the visitor demand, as you saw. The next step is building the structure to manage that demand and turn it into stronger local outcomes. That means helping visitors find downtown, encouraging them to support local businesses, providing clear signage and information, improving visitor safety, and making sure the city has a voice in valley-wide destination planning. This tourism plan is not a tourism growth plan. It is a tourism management and stewardship plan. So we are actually creating a DMO, a destination management organization. When you hear DMO, it usually means destination marketing organization. But that is not what we're doing because we already have the visitors here. So we need to manage them in a correct way. So our decision is to make a destination management organization, not marketing. And that's what the group wanted as well, was it to make sure that it was a management organization. The work outlined in the 15-year plan is not about bringing more visitors at any cost. It is about managing visitation in a way that protects our communities, natural resources, and I'm going to repeat that over and over, natural resources, cultural heritage, public safety, and quality of life. The tourism workspace participants were clear. Our goal is to help the right visitors have the right experience at the right place and time, while ensuring our residents and businesses benefit the Valley remains a place where we are all proud to call home. And I just wanted to tell you, if you get an opportunity, I would love for you to go check out Sedona, Arizona. They have demonstrated a trailhead transportation that can be an effective management tool. There are some options for us to be able to look into more of that. They actually have trailhead. Once you get into Sedona, they have that. They take it. Boulder, Colorado is the same. So we just want to make sure that we can work on them, especially the Trailhead Direct. The Trailhead Direct had 12,000 riders in 2025, which almost none of them came into our community. So it's up to us to figure out how we can support our businesses by managing those as well. So, and by the way, Snoqualmie Pass is not included in our numbers in here, but there are over 2.19 million recreation visits in the winter months. For every 10,000 Snoqualmie Pass visitors, North Bend can convert, converts into a local stop. Approximately 350,000 to 750,000 could be spent at North Bend businesses. Just wanna make sure that that's understood that we're missing out on that as well. So anyway, thank you very much and have questions for the next one. If you have questions for me and for Christy, we'd love to answer.

Thank you, Kelly and Christy. Council, I'm sure you have some questions.

Where did you get your data or how did you collect it? And when did you do this? Yep.

So Datify is who we got a grant for $20,000 to get the Datify for all of that information. Now we need to get more. So we are looking at options. to find other ways to purchase the data because it's very important for us to keep track of all of that information. And it was by cell phone usage. I knew you were going to ask that question. Mainly, the thing that they're doing now is they're using a geofencing where it's gaming. So if you have a game downloaded on your phone, then they can follow you.

Mm-hmm.

Kelly, can I ask a follow-up question on that data though? In 2019, correct me if I'm wrong, it excluded Apple phones, correct?

Before, so it wasn't 2019. So 2019 had Apple phones. I think it was 2020 that it actually went into law where Apple was, yeah.

But just want counsel to understand that the data is excluding Apple as of that date. So you're only Android. So just wanted to make sure counsel understood the data. Yeah. Thanks for that.

And they do have other ways, but I will say the Apple phones, they can use the data with the games. So they can't use it with their geolocating part of it, but they can use it. The game people can use, and that's where Datify gets a lot of them. And it's very interesting to look at how the data comes. There's also Placer AI that has the data as well. There's, I don't know, James, help me. There's Placer Data and Datify, and there's another one. Do you remember what?

Yeah, Placer AI and DataFire are the main main data sources for tourism.

And it's the Apple phones are only able to use it through the games. Is that correct?

I'm not sure about that. I'd have to look into it. But PlayStory, I just follow Apple. I met with them in Vegas and they talked about it.

Kelly, will you send the data over to me and then I can disperse it to council?

Yeah, I sent the data last year, but I will be happy to send it again so you guys can have it all. And when you get it, the real important thing is to see the heat index that I also have. the heat indexes show exactly where um all of the visitor is happening and it's very interesting to see you can you can actually see how it's changed over the years um especially during covid it spiked like crazy if you can imagine during those years but it has gone down quite a bit but and you'll see that and it only goes to 2025 because we don't have the funds yet to do the 2000 and um We have half of 2025 and not the other half of 2025. And you'll see that information.

Yep. Sorry. I'm very naive. When you say that tracking the gaming, what are we talking?

So if you have a, if you have, um, solitaire on your phone or if you have, um, uh, what's another popular one.

Um, you download candy crush. Yeah. Candy crush. Yeah. Scroll down the bottom. It'll say all the data that it's collecting from you and you're giving it when you download that game onto your phone.

Yep.

then they monetize that yes they track your purchases where you go they do calling contacts all outside yes they do but it's all spelled out fine print not all games but they'll spell out what the majority of them are yes please read the fine print susan you had to i had a question um yeah i read recently an article where there were some

land being purchased somewhere that might affect the trail? Is that going to affect this game plan?

Are you talking about Tolt?

I think she's talking about Tolt and My understanding is it shouldn't because the trail in King County has the right of way. So the property on the side of the trail is up for auction on, I believe, July 31st. And then I'm assuming, depending on who purchases it, that change how it's used in the future, potentially or not. Right now it's forest land. I'm not sure if they're able to develop it depending on the purchaser.

It's our number one bike riding place and we are following that carefully. Mountain Sound Greenway is following it and so the DNR is following it as well. We're trying to find out there is the amount of money was 432 million dollars that was the cost of that land. And so unfortunately, our state and our nonprofits didn't have the funds to be able to do that. So they are sectioning off. I think there are five different sections that they're auctioning off, I think is what it is. But because the Snoqualmie Valley Trail is on the Milwaukee Railroad, railroads never, ever give away their land. So that's lucky for us in that part. So it is entrusted to King County.

Bike trails that were going through Global Camel property. I'm not clear if they were legal trails or not.

They were legal, but they were not through the state and you had to get a permit. There were 10 permits every day that were given for that property. So it is a very sad, sad thing for our community unless we can figure out some way to keep it.

Thank you. Anybody else from Council have any questions? Okay, Mr. Elwood.

Thank you for the presentation. Super informative. Yeah, I like to think that my stage voice is so good. Thank you for that. Super informative and I do appreciate the data and it'd be interesting just as a sidebar, maybe in CED or something where we look at our retail leakage study and maybe we could, because I think we had similar kind of data, but I don't remember the impact of that. But so that's for us to kind of chew on. But also for you, if other communities and cities are doing retail leakage studies, there could be other available data for you that you don't have to spend $20,000 to purchase off.

Yeah, we've been trying to do that. But I will say that I just recently found out, and I think I've told Mayor Miller this as well, Ellensburg is one of our number one visitations. And I didn't know that beforehand. And they won't give me their leakage report. So that is a bummer. Oh, really?

It's not a public record?

Mm-mm. I think it was bought through something else that they were doing. So no, they will not hand it to me. But maybe we can figure that out. We can go and work our magic on SafeFit. But so far, I have not been able to get their leakage report.

Okay, thanks.

And Snoqualmie does not have a current one. They do have a quite outdated one. So all of Snoqualmie Valley has had the same problem. They haven't had funds to be able to do any of these. So it's been interesting to try and create magic out of pennies.

For sure. And then when you think about the economy and the cost of everything, people aren't traveling as much. So there's a lot of variables that go into

yeah lots of variables yep thank you anything else any other questions from council uh mr mcfarland online are you there if you have any questions please don't hesitate to speak up mayor can i ask i don't think anything is from rob can i ask kelly just for the for the public why did we choose destination management instead of promotion of driving tourism here um

Why did you choose that? Again, we chose management over marketing because we don't need, a majority of all places like Bellevue, like Seattle, theirs is a destination marketing organization. They are looking to attract visitors. We already have the visitation here. We don't need to attract if we attract more visitors. There's no way that our restaurants in the summer are dying at they we're we're really working hard with the public health trying to get them to understand that our our restaurants need a second kitchen, which is a, you know, to have a trailer or something to be able to cook with it, and they cannot so So we understand that. And we know that if we bring more people here, it's it's not an answer to us. It's how the people that are already coming here. It's our responsibility to figure out how they will go to different locations, and how to train them and how to educate them, not train them, sorry, educate them on what we're supposed to help where they're where they can go. So it's, was there anything else that you remember when tell that you can because you were there in that same

Yeah, so there were multiple visioning sessions with community members from all five of our towns and the cities and the tribe. And the feedback that we were getting from everyone is that everybody's at capacity as far as the infrastructure. It's just not all of the visitors are hitting all of the spots that could use more visitors. But on weekends, there's huge traffic jams when there's bike races, there's not enough toilet facilities and farms are getting people using their fences for their business. Mount size getting is it half a million or a million hikers a year? 700,000. There's enough hikers here, but they're not being dispersed in the right ways to then bring the economic impact. and it's causing more and more damage to our natural forests around the communities. So that was the major feedback from unincorporated residents from the Forest Service from the tribe from DNR is they need help managing the amount of visitation that's coming in. We as downtown businesses want more traffic. There's enough traffic here, we need to figure out how to bring them send them to the businesses rather than bringing in additional visitation and further impacting the areas that are hardest hit.

OK, thank you.

Other map that had the Heritage Trail and it looped into downtown. I like that. If and when I should say when a downtown foundation gets the Main Street designation program, how does that overlap with the Heritage Trail plan and? Is there overlap or is there?

there possibly can be overlap. So right now your downtown is a King County historic district. And so you have key buildings that are called out as landmarks. And so those are historic sites that we're planning on interpreting with the trail. And if you go to the website, there's actually a paragraph on each one with historic picture. Once you get that designation, they can play together with sharing the importance of that downtown. I think the other key was routing them through the downtown is how we get people from off hiking and coming into the downtown, because that's where the businesses are that have more capacity for more visitors.

Right. Yeah. Thank you.

And I also want to add that we we need one voice um for our how we're doing this currently because currently everybody's got their own way of they we don't want them not to have their own um branding and marketing but um we are we are duplicating services on so many things from um with these and so it's something that needs to change and be able to all work together to be able to to to uh

When you say we, the foundation and the chamber?

The foundation, the chamber. There's other entities that are not there. They've all created their own little. some of our nonprofits have created their own entities where their tourism as well. And so the whole point of it was to create one identity and then have brand the cities inside of that identity. So that's why we're looking at creating the destination marketing or sorry, I said it again, destination management organization.

Any other questions from council? Okay, seeing none. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you, Christy, for your presentation. Appreciate it. Okay, we're going to move on to Commission and Community Reports. Community and Economic Development. Let's start with Councilmember Torteson tonight, and thank you.

Okay. All right, so today we had a Community and Economic Development Committee meeting. At 4pm and first we started off with a presentation from the train museum and sharing with us what they've been doing a lot of the things that they've done in the past things that they kind of have some ideas for the future and potentially how that increased. train frequency to our town potentially could bring more visitors to our town again connecting with everything right so it was it was a nice presentation um and then we talked about parks elements um basically we're going to be going through and reviewing that over the next few months um we've got both the parks and the planning commissions that are going to be um reviewing that and then they'll be coming back to council through ced and then potentially bring that to council at a council meeting to do a resolution that's all part of the comp plan. And then we talked about something that's kind of interesting, an expanded outdoor alcohols service area for special events. The state passed a law, HB 1515. Mainly it was for the whole FIFA World Cup. So they'd have some social districts and being able to move around and have alcohol without having beer garden fences. Anyways, we thought maybe that might be a good idea for our town if we could do something along those lines. So we kind of talked about that, and James is going to look a little bit more into it, but that was an interesting thought. And then we reviewed the CED activity report, and Olive Council has that in their email so they can review that on their own. And that concludes the CED report.

Thank you so much. Uh, let's see council member drastic. Would you provide, um, let's say finance administration and then East by rescue. Please. Sure, thank you mayor.

Yes, the finance and administration committee met on June 2nd at 230 in the German room on the agenda. We did a review of budget to actual status report by fund for the period of January through April 2026. so hopefully all of council had a chance to look at that in their minutes. Then we talked about an update to the budget calendar status for the 2027-28 budget planning process. And then finally we did a 2027-28 budget 101 with the first session being on June 2nd and then the next one will be it was originally scheduled for june 7th but uh because that is following the holiday it has been moved to july excuse me july 7th has been moved to july 14th so delayed seven days and then finally on august 4th and that was all we had for that meeting east side fire and rescue let me pull that up okay met last thursday there we go oops okay yeah met last thursday um and discussed well there were a number of retirements a number of recommendations recognitions there we go for employee of the year for east side fire and rescue so um that was really fun to see um the good work that east side fire and rescue employees were doing Then we had a visit from some guests from the Cascadia Ridge to talk about the Cascadia Ridge Resiliency Energy Storage Project. Specific input to how the Eastside Fire and Rescue could respond to the BESS proposal. And so there was some discussion there. The chief mentioned that They were working closely with the fire marshal's office for King County and that providing input on the fire safety for that through that office. Then we did have a review that took a pretty lengthy period of time on the governance and financing options next steps. So I shared that, I think, with all of you on council a couple of months ago. There were four different options that we went through in more intricate detail, including forming an RFA. The only point I'd wanted to note was if everybody forms an RFA, then it does require voter approval. We know that. Some of the other council members did express concern that perhaps their cities would not support, something like that. So anyway, talked in depth about pros and cons, and I know that we will continue to have further discussion about that. I also wanted to just add that on June 9th, there was a budget review, a budget meeting to start conversations about the 27-28 budget for Eastside Fire and Rescue, and I am part of that committee as well. So that was just a beginning of the conversations, but there will be more to come. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council Member. Public Health and Safety Council Member Elwood.

Thank you, Your Honor. Public health and safety meeting met June 2nd at 4 p.m. A few items. Of course, we have wonderful updates from our police chief and our fire chiefs. There was other topics of water safety. We also have it on the agenda and actually to talk more about, I believe, on the bike lane, 140th. And the next meeting for July has been canceled. And so the next one will be in August. unless that gets canceled too, but okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. TPW Transportation Public Works Council Member Coleman.

Thank you, Mayor. TPW last met on May 26th at 3 PM. We had four items that we placed on the consent agenda and three items that we decided to place on the main agenda. The first one on the main agenda was a resolution awarding construction contract with SaskCon LLC for 2026 sidewalk gaps project that we spoke at our last council meeting on the second. then we spoke about resolution awarding construction contract with active construction incorporated for the starfish roundabout project we also dealt with that at our june 2nd city council meeting and the last one we will be discussing tonight on our main agenda is an ordinance approving forged fiber franchise agreement and that is all our next meeting is next tuesday the 23rd at 3 p.m wonderful thank you so much mayor pro tem councilmember tremolata

Yeah, we had a work study on May 26th. A few topics covered. We went over budget planning as part of Mr. Chaw's 2027-2028 budget development workshop. We discussed at the time the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which we are in the thick of right now with Mr. James Henderson. We also reviewed the North Bend Downtown Foundation 2026 contract, which we voted on at our last meeting to continue on the events for the 2026 year and we will be picking up the long term vision of the foundation and the future contracts as the next or subsequent work studies ahead. And the next work study, I believe, is next week. Am I correct?

Thank you. You are correct. Absolutely. Oh, that's okay. You do know that. We'll come back to regional committees, but Planning Commission, Parks Commission, Economic Development Commission, Mr. Henderson, you covered all.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. The Planning Commission met on June 3rd to review the draft unit lot subdivision regulations addressing requirements of recent state legislation to enable the simplified form of lot division for certain types of residential development including cottages, townhomes, and accessory dwelling units, as well as the draft lot splitting regulation allowing a simplified division of a single residential lot into two lots. A hearing before the Planning Commission for the Draft Unilot Subdivision and Lot Spinning Regulations is scheduled for July 1st. The Planning Commission will next meet on June 17th for a special joint meeting with the Parks Commission for a public hearing on draft amendments to the park element of the Comprehensive Plan. The Parks Commission met on May 27th for a public workshop on the draft amendments to the park element of the comprehensive plan. The workshop was well attended and provided good feedback on the draft amendments. The Parks Commission will next meet jointly with the Planning Commission on June 17th for a public hearing on the parks element. The Parks Commission and Planning Commission will then jointly review and are anticipated to provide a recommendation of approval on the parks element at a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Parks Commission on July 1st. And finally, the Economic Development Commission did not meet in May, but the commission did hold their inaugural What's Brewing in North Bend on May 13th to support local businesses and entrepreneurs. The event featured Beth Burles of the North Bend Theater and Anne Granderson of the Village Project. Both shared their stories of how they started their businesses, lessons learned, and best practice advice to current business owners and entrepreneurs. The commission will next meet on June 25th.

Thank you so much, regional committees. Anybody wish to comment about their committee? Oh, Ms. Torgerson, and then I'll defer to Mr.

Okay. So on May 28th at 730 AM, the King County Regional Law Safety and Justice Committee met. Judge Jason Holloway is the chair of the committee, and we had three guest presenters. King County Superior Court Judge Avril Roth Rock. Her topic was about unlawful detainers and civil protection order status. Department of Public Defense, King County Department of Public Defense, Steve Weidlich was the presenter. And then King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Douglas Wagner was the presenter. The eviction and harassment surge from the Superior Court Um, they said that they started getting a little bit, they're trending a little bit higher. They went down last year and then they're starting to trend a little bit higher again. And, um, they were happy that they got some funding for new judges because the wait times dropped from six months to two to three weeks. However, the system is bottlenecked on the back end, taking law enforcement 30 to 90 days to enforce physical evictions, the King County department of public defense. said that they are hitting 100% on all other indigent clients, keeping 90% of felonies in-house across four distinct internal firewalls. Let's see what else. They're doing great, basically. They have a new case weight system, and they launched it on July 1st of 2025, and it scales credit, scaling credits based on difficulty. Then there was a discussion from the King County Prosecutor's Office. Their issue was that they are very understaffed. Mayor Zimmerman called out the major imbalance. Taxpayers fund a robust public defense, but the municipal cases are gridlocked because the prosecuting offices is really underfunded. and then um let's see what else so basically that was the morning meeting the prosecuting officer office said they have 350 to 500 misdemeanor referrals a month but the budget cuts sports budget cuts force them to slash the district court filing lawyers from three down to one and that means one person can only process 200 decisions Therefore, they have a backlog of anywhere from 150 to 300. Then we had our afternoon meeting. And again, we discussed more about the friction about prosecutors not having enough staff and how that affects cities. And I'm trying to make it short. A lot of details. Future meetings. I'm kind of excited about this. August 27th. Our next meeting is going to be in August. And I actually advocated for this last year about the issue of substance use treatment models. And I was able to find someone who's going to speak to that. Her daughter passed away from heroin addiction. And so she's going to be speaking about how potentially we can do better as far as helping out that community. So I'm excited. I feel like I made some progress in helping some people out. And then our next meeting will be in September 24th. And after that, so then there you go.

Thank you so much, Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Your Honor. The Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee met virtually on June 10th. robert feldstein the executive director reviewed uh recent appointments to regional boards and committees uh there was a conversation amongst those present about the proposed 2027 proposed solid waste rate response letter that i mentioned in a prior meeting it does not apply directly to north bend as we have our own waste white wastewater treatment plant but rates are going up hugely across the county and lots of folks are very concerned as they should be. There was then a conversation around the December 2025 flood response. Dax Tate, an SCA policy analyst led a conversation about seeking input, what worked, what didn't. Folks spoke and provided some feedback and that's going to be an ongoing conversation. If folks have specific responses, you could reach out to Mr. Feldstein. He'd be glad to integrate any feedback. And that was pretty much it. There was a conversation around future conversations, potential items for discussion, Regional Policy Committee, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority Governing Board, and establishing a Solid Waste Advisory Committee. The next meeting will be held the second Wednesday in July. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Jocelyn. Yeah, you certainly may. I won't refuse that. Thank you.

Brief. I just wanted the Council to know that the Snoqualmie Valley Aquatics Collaborative continues to meet. They met on Wednesday, June 3rd, and Councilmember Colon and I attended ongoing discussion. Addition this year to the discussion is the Mayor of Snoqualmie and one of the Councilmember was there. So it truly is now a collaborative across the valley discussion. So more to come. Just wanted the council to be aware that that continues. Thank you.

Thank you so much. That's awesome. I think we covered that. Let's move on to introductions. Let's see. Our only item for tonight is AB 26058, an ordinance. Mr. Moore, would you like to further that conversation? I won't spread that too thin for you. You have a lot of time to speak.

Thank you Mayor and Council. Forged Fiber purchased Lumen's fiber optic network within the city's right of way and has requested that the city execute a new franchise agreement to formally recognize its ownership. Forged Fiber is not planning any construction or build out of the city to staff's knowledge. Any work within the right of way would require Forged Fiber to go through our street use permit process where we get into more detail about the specific project at hand. making sure it's in line with city code and standards. The city attorney has reviewed and negotiated the attached franchise agreement with Forge Fiber. The agreement establishes standards for operation, maintenance, permitting, safety, insurance, and compliance with city codes, while allowing Forge Fiber to continue operating fiber optic facilities within the city right away. The franchise does not grant exclusive rights to Forge Fiber and does not impose a financial cost to the city. A few highlights of the franchise agreement, it sets a 10 year term commencing on the effective date of the ordinance. It includes a relocation requirement clause at the grantee's cost for public improvement projects. For example, if we were to put a roundabout in at an intersection, and the existing fiber optic line was in conflict with our proposed storm or water main, we could go to Forge Fiber and tell them to relocate it at their cost prior to us going out to construction. It includes an indemnification and hold harmless clauses for the city's benefit. It does not allow the grantee to install wireless communication facilities for section 1-E of the franchise agreement. And finally, the franchise fee per RCW 35.21.860. It allows the city to charge franchise fees, but only to the extent that the fees recover the agency's actual administrative expenses that are directly related to receiving and approving such franchises. This is a one-time fee to recover administrative and legal costs for putting the franchise together, essentially. And staff would send that invoice out after the franchise agreement is signed. With that, TBW committee recommended approval of this item at the May 26th meeting. And a second and final reading is scheduled for the July 21st city council meeting. And I'm happy to answer any questions council may have.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Excellent. Any questions from council for Mr. Moore tonight? Ms. Torgerson.

So in one of my regional committee meetings, a mayor from another city was very concerned about because of a, I won't say what company name, but a fiber company came into their city. And when they did do some installations, they unfortunately hit some water mains and caused a lot of public works issues. And so my, my curiosity is, do we have like in our contract, um, with them, if they do anything as such that we're protected and they'll pay for any sort of issues.

yes there's all kinds of insurance and indemnification clauses within there to protect the city's assets thank you very much any other questions from council or clarifying questions of course anybody online mr mcfarland none okay seeing none uh let's go to tpw head ms colon motion

Yes, motion to approve AB26-058, setting for a second reading and consideration by the City Council, the ordinance to approve a franchise agreement with Forged Fiber 37 LLC at the regularly scheduled July 21st, 2026 City Council meeting.

Can I get a second? 2nd, you can miss rustic, um, is called to speak to your motion. Yes. Excellent.

I cannot wait. I'm excited, actually. It's basically a housekeeping item. It's a change in companies that are using the City of North Bend's right-of-way. This franchise agreement sets expectations for both parties. It also protects both parties. And I support this ordinance and consider it housekeeping, as I said. Thank you.

wonderful miss rustic would you like to add anything to your uh i don't have anything to thank you perfect um okay ready to take a vote here anybody else want to have anything to say before i go there nope we're all good to go Okay, let's go for me saying motion to approve AB 26-058, setting for a second reading and consideration by the City Council, the ordinance to approve franchise agreement with Forged Fiber 37 LLC at the regularly scheduled July 21st, 2026 City Council meeting. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? motion passes absolutely unanimously thank you very very much um moving on to mayor council and administrative concerns and initiatives let's go to mr mcfarland online since you're you're way far away literally tonight thank you mayor i'm going to go off video so make sure that hopefully the connection stays better it's been going in and out all night thanks for being here

Thank you. Comments short and sweet tonight. I caught an event blurb today and with apologies to Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and their 1964 Motown anthem. Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the streets. I hope you find time to go to Haystack Americana Music Festival on July 10th as hosted by many, many venues provided by your downtown North Bend merchants. That ought to be a blast. Sounds like a good thing. Another event put on by Danny Colkey. I love blues walk. I love jazz walk. So I think this is the end.

Thank you very much, Mr. Elwood. We'll start with you, please.

I think we lost him.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you. 1st of all, I want to say, thank you for coming before us and sending emails on behalf of your friend. Accessibility is an important thing. We want every resident, anybody that visits our community to be able to participate fully and wholesomely. So, thank you for that. And I want to give you my card before you go before we cut. So thank you for that. Also appreciated the presentation on the Chamber's actions. And I do want to follow up with you on your we're becoming a house of brands instead of a branded house. I have some questions on that. So I'll reach out to you, Kelly, separately. And then as far as locally, summer's here, so it's great. But at Valley Center Stage, in partnership with the Grange, Salal Grange, right over here on Stillson, it's a production of Murder on the Nile. It takes place in Egypt, in case you didn't know where the Nile is. It's an Agatha Christie play. It's a wonderful play. I just saw it this weekend. They did a fantastic job. So come on out and check us out at Valley Center Stage. And also, there's a local business called called Reflections, and their business is they do sets for casinos and so forth. They've donated some marvelous Egyptian statues. So the set in the lobby just looks spectacular. And again, these are all volunteers, 100% nonprofit. So come and spend your money there. We have a full bar. Best drink, most affordable cocktail in town, I would say. But check it out. Thank you very much, Your Honor.

Wow. Okay. Thank you very much, Ms. Torgerson.

On the topic of alcohol.

And then there's me. So, first of all, thank you guys for speaking tonight. And also, I want to thank Richard Anderson from the Terrain Museum. He spoke today in the CED. That was very interesting as well. And we did talk about having the enhanced beverage out into our community, which would play upon what you guys are talking about and sort of what he's talking about. But what I wanted to talk about is last night I took my dog out to go to the bathroom and then I brought her in and I have a camera and literally within two minutes there was a bobcat right behind my house going on the patio. So it's dangerous out there is my point. Super scary. So be safe. So that's my spiel for today.

excellent miss colin thank you my spiel for today is about e-bikes and e-scooters my favorite talk topic so we have been having beautiful june weather this far the days are longer and the temperature is pleasant and a lot of people are out enjoying it every age group is out walking biking e-biking or using e-scooters We need to share the roads, sidewalks, and trails with each other. So, reminders for the riders. Please wear your helmets and use the strap provided with that helmet. Do not ride double on any device, no matter how tempting that might seem. Also, for the riders, please be cautious and considerate of the people walking. A lot of walkers have dogs, small children, strollers, or have their earbuds in. And as you may have noticed, not all of our sidewalks are super wide and this makes it hard to pass. For the parents of children and young teens with these devices, please take the time to educate them on safety for themselves and others. And remember to check in with them to see how it's going. We all want to enjoy our town and all that it has to offer. We need to be respectful of each other and look after each other, young and old alike. Be safe out there and enjoy this summer.

Great important information. Thank you. Everybody is rustic.

Yes, thank you. Yes. Well, said council member colon. So, scarves up North Bend. Finally, it is World Cup time. I'm sure you've all. I just know that the. There you go. So the Downtown Foundation and the Chamber have been working for over two years easily to prepare for this event. And I know they've got some different things in town for people to enjoy. Great. But also our local businesses have, you know, TVs that they are showing the games and it is really fun if you can't afford to go see the games in person. Really fun to actually just go and watch the games with some of your fellow people from North Bend. So just wanted to say that. So there you go.

Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you very much. Let's see, Mr. Jocelyn.

Thank you, Your Honor. A few things. It was touched on the Snoqualmie Forest northeast of Fall City that's for sale. It's 48,000 acres. The asking price is just under $43 million. Thankfully, not $432. There's an excellent article in the June 5th Seattle Times about it. That forest belonging to Weyerhaeuser was sold to Hancock. It now belongs to Campbell Global throughout the majority of that time. The owners have decided to sell at different, you know, annual pass or daily pass, but to allow access to folks to ride the trails and recreate on those lands. And so that's what's at risk. I personally am of the belief that it's under a conservation easement such that it cannot be developed into residential areas. homes and so forth. But I could be wrong about that. It is expected, you know, they want a sale by the end of July. The timeframe is very short. King County is also paying attention. So other you know that is a huge uh resource for our area and for the Snoqualmie Valley and so that it's a big concern. I was very pleased to see on the desk here at City Hall the water watcher on duty tags as we all know there was a drowning in Lake Sammamish this week and that's tragic a 50 year old not at the beach I understand But these are here for community members to pick up. Wonderful advice on the back that I will not review, but I'm pleased to see a member of the public came before us. We as a council responded and seek to be supportive in ways like that, and I'm very pleased about that. We had a wonderful presentation from Kelly and the Chamber about all of the visitors who come to town. And few of them stop. So I'm going to give a little bit of a pitch on shopping local because we too, in our behavior, what we're after is not only to drive business in town and support the business owners, but that does also benefit us as a city because sales tax is captured when folks stop in our businesses. And that's a big deal. So our personal behavior drives sales tax generation. And I learned even more about this. I sort of knew about this, but the other week my microwave broke. And I learned, I talked to our finance director, that if I drive to Issaquah and pay for that microwave, Issaquah gets the sales tax. If I have that microwave shipped to my home and the delivery dresser quote the point of sale is in North Bend, well then North Bend gets the sales tax. Now I have historically not been a fan of so many delivery trucks, but it's also true that those same three delivery trucks come down my street every day of every week, whether I've ordered something from a vendor or not. Though I am more supportive of delivery trucks that I've been, And just want to make folks in this town aware that, you know, when you shop from home and, you know, especially larger items, but over time, you know, that's something to consider. And then I also want to point out that that passes on to services. For many years, I've had my oil changed in Snoqualmie, and I've changed that behavior. And I plan to have my oil changed by there's any couple, you know, number of folks in town here who provide that service. And in doing so, I'm driving local sales tax. So I would encourage folks just to, you know, consider doing the same because then that, you know, creates more revenue flowing into the city coffers that you're going to be spending anyway. My one last comment on the presentation and all the folks who are coming and going, Tollgate Farm was called that for a reason. And I'll leave it at that. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Jocelyn. What would you like to say tonight?

I've got a few things. First, if you have not seen or heard, James Henderson has been hard at work and AdventureNorthBend.com is live and it is very impressive uh check it out um just some great stuff there so congratulations james this is awesome i will push it out to the public as much as i can um great job um also for chief ed hall in the back and the kc sheriff uh group I had a very good call with a small business this week and they just called and said, you know what? I just wanted to let you know that the sheriff has been amazing and we see them everywhere. Not that there's any specific incident. It was just the presence in town and their patrons are seeing it and they're seeing it as owners. So just wanted to share that feedback. Appreciate you guys being active in the community. You're being seen and it's making a big difference. So that's great. And Ignite Dance Studio has a large cohort of dancers headed to San Diego at the end of next week to compete in the national championships. So good luck to all of them. And mental health is important. And I will rattle off a few items that you may not know about stress. Around 75% of US adults experience stress. Two thirds of Americans say their stress manifests as physical symptoms. most common of which are nervous or anxious feelings, fatigue, and headaches. 83% of U.S. workers say that they experience work-related stress. Just a reminder that mental health matters. Check on your friends. Have a cup of coffee. Make the phone call. Don't let the hard days win.

Thank you so much. Ms. Emery.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a reminder, as shopping local, the Farmer's Market was nice and lively on Thursday, so make sure you go out to that. And also, our Off the Rails this weekend is going to be, and it should be a fun event and not raining. So very excited about that. So see you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amber.

Hopefully I didn't jinx that because Deb will be very upset, and then I'll have to hear about it in here for sure.

Oh, my gosh. I'm following that up. Here we go. Thank you for that. I'm excited to invite you all to North Bend's inaugural 4th of July Family Fun Parade, Tikes, Strikes, and Tails as part of our America 250 celebration. Join us at 1045 on July 4th. To join the parade, we'll gather at the closed section of Ballarat Avenue South, just outside North Bend Bar and Grill, beginning at 10 a.m. Bring your bikes, trikes, scooters, wagons, roller skates, friendly dogs. Why not? Of course you're friendly. And your patriotic spirit for this fun neighborhood-style parade throughout downtown North Bend. Families can walk in the parade or come cheer from the sidelines. So please come out. Want to decorate your ride? Join North Bend Art and Industry at the Center of Creativity on June 30th or July 2nd from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a free decorating party. That sounds like a blast. A seasonal moratorium on outdoor burning is now in effect through September 30th. Yes, we're in the thick of summer for sure. This measure aims to reduce fire danger in our community. For more information about the burn ban, please visit the news section below. of the city website. And city offices will be closed Friday, June 19th in observance to Juneteenth holiday. And council, just a reminder that July 7th city council meeting has been canceled. And I want to thank our speaker tonight for stepping up for your friend about the ADA issues. It's always great. We always love to hear from our community, whether you're in person or online. or email us, please keep doing that folks. And our presenters, Kelly Coughlin and Christy Lake, thank you so much for your informative presentation. Thank you to staff for your incredible efforts always. And council, thank you for participating and doing what you can for our community as always. Okay, so let's go on to an executive session. We're gonna have that for about 10 minutes. And it's the discussion collect to discuss, excuse me, bargaining negotiations pursuant to RCW 422-30-1404. There will be no decision made. So we'll be back shortly. So thank you for everybody and all your input today.

Have a great, great week.