City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Sorry. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the 12/02/2025 meeting of the North Bend City Council. We'll bring it to order. Let's see. Can the clerk please call roll?

Mayor Pro Tem Mark Jocelyn?

Present.

Council member Brendan Elwood? Present. Council member Alan Godhoff?

Present.

Council member Heather Cullen?

Here.

Council member Christina Rustic? Present. Council member Susan Torgerson? Here. Council member Errol Tremolotta?

Present.

All are present, your honor.

Thank you very much. Can the clerk please lead us in the flag salute? Good evening, everybody, and welcome, of course, to our wonderful people in the audience and online. Not sure how many we have online tonight, but welcome all. Before I move on any further, I'd like to announce for staff council and public consumption that mayor pro tem Jocelyn and I have conferred and agreed to cancel the December 16 city council meeting, primarily because there was no agenda no no items for the agenda.

Excuse me. Also, the the December 23 work study has been canceled as well. This makes tonight city, city council member Alan Gottelf's last official city council meeting in eighteen years. He has spent nineteen years here and two of those well, how many years were you on planning commission?

Year and a half.

Year and a half. Almost two years. So, it's an incredible privilege to have had you here, to help out the city. Your service has been impeccable. You've, made great strides, made many friends. Our city's history and decision making you've had in your hands, so I appreciate everything you've done personally. So thank you very much for that. And you have a heart for service. That's undeniable. And and and it takes that to do these jobs, and I I could speak from my heart too.

Okay. So we're gonna move on, from that. We've got something special before we go for any further, and it is to wish two wonderful colleagues of mine back into office for the oath of administering the oath of office. Excuse me. And, we're gonna start with, mere proud Tim Jocelyn first. Do you want that? I'm gonna meet you up towards the podium, and I've got the oath in my hand, and it'll be a photo session afterwards. You're gonna have a 10 break after we have, this other gentleman surrounded by wonderful people. I know that all the time. So, Errol, being the next one up.

So let's do that right now. Okay. Follow me up. Okay. We're gonna go straight up to the podium.

And I'm gonna swing this your way so we're back and forth. K. We'll leave it in the middle.

Okay. Ready?

Ready. Please please raise your right hand. Thank you, sir. I and repeat after me. I, Mark Jocelyn

I, Mark Jocelyn.

Having been duly elected to the office of

Having been duly elected to the office of

City of North Bend council position number six

City of North Bend council position number six

Do solemnly affirm that I will

solemnly affirm that I will

Support the constitution of The United States

Support the constitution of The United States.

And the constitution and laws And the constitution and laws the state of Washington the state of Washington and all local ordinances

And all local ordinances.

And that I will faithfully and impartially

And that I faithfully and impartially

perform and discharge the duties

Perform and discharge the duties

of this office according to the law

This office according to the law.

And the best of my ability.

The best of my

ability. Congratulations, sir.

Thank you very much.

Wonderful. Quick quick shot. Right.

Where would you stop with the TV in the bathroom? Okay. Perfect. Okay. There we go.

Just to come along with mine. This is too fun. I'm gonna switch it.

Thank you, Errol.

Okay, mister Trimalada. Please raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, Errol Trimalada.

I, Errol Trimolata.

Having been duly elected to

the office of Having duly having been duly elected to the office of

City Of North Bend Council position number four.

City of North Bend council position number four. Do solemnly affirm that I will support Do solemnly affirm that I will support.

The constitution of The United States.

The constitution of The United States.

And the constitution and laws of the state of Washington.

And the constitution and laws of the state of Washington. All local ordinances. And all local ordinances. And that I will faithfully and impartially And I will faithfully and impartially

Perform and discharge the duties of

Perform and discharge the duties of

Your office according to the law and the best of my ability.

The office according to the law and the best of my ability.

Congratulations, sir. Proud of you.

Your guy? Citizens account. Citizens account. You. You. Way to go. Thank you, everybody.

We're gonna take a ten minute break, so we're gonna have pictures for the family of whatever you like.

And then we'll be back. How about?

Okay. We are back, back in order. Consent agenda, we will now move on to the consent agenda. We have four items. Pardon me?

I wanted to modify the agenda, by switching number 10 with number nine.

On the main agenda? Yeah. Number 10 will now become number nine? Mhmm. Okay. We'll we'll take note of that as we get towards the main agenda. And thank you very much. Okay. We'll now move on to consent agenda. We have four items on our consent agenda. Can I get a motion?

So moved.

And can I get a second? Second. Motion made by mister Gottelf and seconded by miss, Heather Collin Collin. Thank you very much. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries and is unanimous. Thank you, everybody. We'll now move on to audience participation since we're no longer taking, public comment after each item on the main agenda.

Will be the time to come to the podium and to speak about, a comment about any item agenda items, excuse me, or any other item you wish to speak about. If you were here to speak regarding a b twenty five dash one three four, twenty five to twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six mid biannual budget, please hold your comments until the public hearing later in the meeting. If you have requested accommodation with the city clerk and wish to speak through the virtual platform, please raise your hand, we will take your comments after in person comments. Please remember to state your name, your address, and you have three minutes to speak for the record. Okay. Bill, Bill, Matt, have anybody wish to speak tonight? Deb? There's Deb. Come on. You picked us. Thank you.

Thank you. Deborah Landers. I'm at 14615 438th Avenue Southeast in North Bend. Let's see. I'm here for a couple of reasons. We just finished up our second festival, Art Off the Rails. It was this Sunday. As with each festival that we've, initiated in the Snoqualmie Valley, it grows every year. So this year, we were at the Snoqualmie Valley, Snoqualmie Middle School. We had 71 artists as well as several local musicians and a couple food trucks, and we had a lot of activity going on there.

So 71 artists, and we counted with our little clickers, we're getting more professional, we counted not quite 1,500, I think we were at 1,471 people. So it was a good turnout, The artists did really well. They were really excited about it. And our next festival is this summer Art Off the Rails on June 20. So festival season is over.

That makes me happy. We have had, North Bend Art and Industry has had just an incredible year of growth with moving into our new location off of Bendigo Boulevard North and really appreciate all of the support that we've gotten from the city as we've maneuvered our way through permitting and construction and learning all kinds of things that I didn't know I needed to learn. So I really appreciate your patience and support as we went through that process. And we're now ready to do our official ribbon cutting. That is next Monday.

I'm really hoping to see you guys there. I'd love to love to help love to have you here to celebrate with us. It is Monday, December 8 at 04:00. We'll have beverages, both adult and nonadult beverages, and some light appetizers too. And if especially if you haven't seen the Center for Creativity, it's not completely finished out, but we've done some pretty major remodel, and it really is beautiful space. So please come if you can next Monday. I'd love to see you there. And with that, Ellen, if you're worried about not having something to do, we're always looking for someone on our board that really knows how to support our community. So just putting it out there. And that's all.

Have a wonderful holiday, you guys. That's it.

Thank you for that all.

Thank you, Deb. Way way to go. Okay. Robin, welcome.

Hi. I'm Robin Balcom. 246 O'Lalley Place in North Bend. I was here last time. And hopefully, I'm gonna be here more often. Hope that's good news for all of you because I really do appreciate everyone who serves on the city council. I appreciate all the staff. And I feel like you because I'm a taxpayer, as I understand it, you work for me. And I but I want to understand processes better. And I will say, I went through the Citizens Academy.

I appreciated it so much. I missed the budget or finance one, and I'd even like to go to that one because that's something that's from my week last time that I was here. It's bugging me. I wanna understand where the talks to tax dollars are going. I want to understand when money gets moved from here or somebody leaves. And so I'm not here giving you a warning. I want you to know I come in peace. I come wanting to learn. I come wanting to understand because I wanna advocate because I hear a lot of people on the street talking stuff. And I'm like, we'll go to a city council meeting.

I try to lead by example. And so in doing that, I'm willing to sacrifice some of my Tuesday nights as well. The last thing I'll just tell you from my being here last time and not understanding a lot of what y'all are talking about, which I'm gonna try to find out. You know, it sounded like there were things about salaries that were I didn't quite understand it, but I was like, wow. I I think I'm hoping that we can find out.

Like, I would like to know what people do make. I mean, if you wanna know what I make, I'm a professional volunteer. I make nothing. So I'm happy to share where that comes from, but I I think it's it's I I mean, and I called I mean, I talked to mayor, mayor Miller last week, and I just said, you know, one of the things I wanna know is where are we cutting spending? I hear there's a deficit that's a projected deficit.

I would like to know how are we preparing for that by cutting spending, not just taxing more. I complained about the taxing more part, and that's still a real felt need for me. I know I'm probably but I wanna and I still don't understand what the financial impact of the police, you know, divorce we had with Snoqualmie is gonna cost the citizens in North Bend. I heard a lot of a lot of emotion and a lot of information, but I never really got down to what it was cost. So I'm just coming as a citizen, a good active citizen and small business owner in North Bend, and I do wanna understand and I wanna support the policies and decisions that are made, but I wanna understand them. So thank you for hearing me out. Thank you

very much, Robin. Anybody else with us tonight? Will anybody online that should come in?

Not at this time, your honor.

Thank you very much. Okay. We will now move on to announcements, presentations, and appointments. Item number five AB25Dash131, reappointments to parks commission. Current terms on the parks recreation and beautification commission for parks or positions number one, two, three, and four expire on 12/31/2025. Matt Miller, position number one, Kyle Braun, position number two, Eric Thompson, position number three, and Tim Talovich, position number four, have all generously offered their time for another appointment on the commission. We appreciate that. Councilmember Jocelyn, will you please make the motion? Yes,

your honor. Give me a second here.

Nope. No worries.

Motion to approve a B25Dash131 confirming the reappointments of Matt Miller to position number one, Kyle Braun to position number two, Eric Thompson to position number three, and Tim Talovich to position number four on the parks and recreation I'm sorry. Parks, recreation, and beautification commission terms expiring 12/31/2029. Thank

you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Second. Motion by mayor pro tem Joslin, second by mister Tremolotta. Thank you very much. Would you like to speak to that motion at all, sir?

Well, yes. Robin just came forward as state heard intention to be involved. Here's other folks stepping up in support of helping our city and and serving of their time voluntarily in ways that are incredibly meaningful, supportive, and foundational to this city continuing to be a place that lots of folks wanna live, and we all feel privileged to be a part of. And I just wanna express my sincere thankfulness and gratitude for your willingness to serve. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mister Tremblayer, would you want to add anything?

Yeah. I'd just like to echo that as well as say that anybody who's willing to spend some time, whether short hours or long hours to, help move our city forward in in so many different ways, including parks, which is why most people lit move to North Bend to recreate outside, I think is commendable. And so I thank you for serving, and I look forward to working with you on your next term.

Thank you very much. Before we discuss and vote on the motion, do we have any parks commissioners here tonight? I think we do. Right.

Yep. K.

What will it go for?

I'll go

for Yeah. We will do that. Hi, Tim. Thank you for coming. Sure. We'll on for just a moment. And in the meantime, does anybody on council wish to make another comment or two at this time? Brennan?

As always, I'll express my gratitude for anybody who raises their hand to support their community in any fashion you can. Volunteering is is what makes our society a wonderful place to live, specifically here in North Bend. And, no matter what capacity it is, it's always greatly appreciated. And the results of everybody's efforts are usually often recognized and embraced with open arms. So thank you all for volunteering for this, and I look forward to all the great things that you'll be able to

Thank you. Alan?

Yeah. Just wanna recognize that, you know, a couple of us started on a commission or so. So that could be the start of the next council members come here.

So

appreciate your support and appreciate didn't volunteer.

Don't scare me.

Yeah. I I see Tim smiling broadly out there, actually. That's a good sign. Anybody else from council wish to say anything? No? Well well, I and I've missed everybody. I've got it rid I just wanna add thank you, Tim, for stepping up again and for your fellow, commissioners. They're all wonderful humans. And, like everybody said here at at, tonight, it's it may be the beginning of something beautiful down the road that may be everlasting. Like, city council position for you, who knows?

But we really certainly appreciate your efforts, all the time it takes, and the value you bring and, the selflessness involved. So thank you so much. And I think oops. We'll we'll have you, Tim, come up to the podium if you don't mind, and we'll we'll move to vote. But just stand in the area, and we'll we'll get that going really quick. Okay. The motion before you is to approve a B twenty five dash one three one confirming the reappointments of Matt Miller to position number one, Kyle Braun to position number two, Eric Thompson to position number three, and Tim Talovich to position number four on the Parks Recreation and Beautification Commission terms expiring 12/31/2029. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously as I knew it would. Thank you one and all. And, sir, I'll be right up in just a moment. We'll do some pictures, and I I'll have to tell you why I'm wearing what I'm wearing. It's gonna be an unusual picture. So gonna.

We're have brands.

Congratulations, sir. Yeah. Sir. I

did not can I just say I did not make this beautiful ugly sweater? Want to come and present to city council or you want me to wear it,

and they went, oh, yeah. You'll wear it. This is the by who was it? Who Who Yep.

Why do we know that? Because she's part of North Bend Arts and Industry and a wonderful human and, obviously, a creative mind and an epically wardrobe dresser for me. I just knew I needed a change. So here we are.

Maybe have you guys get one step away from podium. We called us. Paul's gonna. Yeah. Thank you. Congratulations. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

Alright. Do mayor pro pro tem. Jocelyn, we're gonna move right ahead to something very special. Does council have any nominations for mayor pro tem?

Your honor, the RCW 35ADot12Dot065 requires the council select a mayor pro tem. In addition to serving in the absence of the mayor, the mayor pro tem, in coordination with the administration, sets the agenda for the monthly work study meetings, serves as support for the council's standing committees, serves in absence of committee members, assigns chairs, and works with the mayor and administration in connection with the duties of the committees. City of North Bend resolution one four three seven states the council must select a council member to serve as the mayor pro tem at the first meeting in December, which would be this meeting. The council member so selected will serve as mayor pro tem for a period of one year. I would like to move to approve a b 25 dash one three two confirming Errol Tremolata as the 2026 mayor pro tem.

Thank you, sir. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. Mayor pro tem, thank you for this, and thank you, commissioner our commissioner council member. Sorry. Thank you very much for your your second to that. Okay. I don't think I mentioned this was item number six a b twenty five dash one three two. I wanna be clear that we are talking about the selection of, 2026 mayor pro tem. Of course, we are. Mister Jocelyn, would you like to speak to your motion?

I'm glad to hand the torch off.

Thank you. Okay. Miss Rustic, do you have any comments you'd like

to make? Yes. Thank you, mayor. So I I am thankful for, council member Jocelyn's work this year as mayor pro tem, and I support the appointment of council member Tremolado, who's a hardworking and dedicate and dedicated to this city. He works well with all the council members and is open to considering varying opinions, but making his own decisions.

And I think that makes for a great, mayor pro tem. Tonight's motion, as read by council member Jocelyn, references resolution fourteen thirty seven as a procedure for selecting mayor pro tem. This resolution has not been updated since April 2010 and does not have any guidelines documented for the specifics of the selection of mayor pro tem. Per legal counsel, motion to discuss this resolution fourteen thirty seven and propose any type of, documented procedures was not germane to tonight's agenda item. However, I have been assured that the placement of this subject will be on our early twenty twenty six council retreat agenda, and I look forward to further discussion on this with, my fellow colleagues.

So that's all I had.

Thank you. Thank you, miss Rustic. Anybody other council members wish to make a comment at this time? Nope. No. Alan, sorry. Pardon me.

I haven't left you. No. Of course, you haven't.

I have one more on this meeting. First off, I wanna thank, Mark for, stepping up to the job. He did a phenomenal job in a time where we had a lot of decisions we had to make. If it wasn't for his organizing and everything else, I think the police contract would have been a lot tougher. So I wanna thank you for all your efforts in that.

Can't say enough about council member Tremolotta, and he'll do a good job in the position and look forward to that. To add on to what council member Rustic said, it it's been a long standing trend for us to vote for the most senior person. Looking forward to seeing a pair I thought it was memorialized, but apparently not. We work with Susie for eighteen years. I've been on board the same way of looking at, and hopefully, somebody memorialize that to move it forward because it's worked for all these years and probably should move forward that way. But congratulations, Errol, and thanks again for all your work, Mark.

Wonderful. Thank you. And before we move on a little bit more, Mark, thank you so much for everything you've been to me so far. The year is not quite over. And I appreciate all our meetings, all the time we spent together, and all and your excellent mind. Love how you think. Thank you. And, Errol? Look at him surrounding. I can't wait to work with you. I know it's gonna be another epic year, and I'm super excited that you're willing to go forward in this. We're gonna have a great time, learn a lot about each other and about city business, obviously, but, I'm I'm so in. So thank you. Alright. Now that we are have no additional comments, the motion for you is to prove a b 25 dash one three two confirming Errol Termolata as the 2026 mayor pro tem.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you one and all. Moving on to the main agenda. I think we're gonna we just had a, council member Torreson wishes to move item number 10 a 25 dash one three six motion, 2026 general fund appropriations move that up to number nine. Am I clear on that? Is that right? Okay. Thank you for the confirmation. But right now, we're gonna move on to number seven, a b twenty five dash three one three three, motion authorizing lease with d f

Mayor, what? We need a vote for that to happen. Thank you.

First, we do.

We are moving Ding ding.

Moving We we want a time

agenda to move it to from number 10 to number tie number nine. Excuse me. Correct. All in favor.

Point of order, your honor. May may we ask, house of honor authority to actually submit a full formal motion onto the table so that we can then second it and then discuss it and then Let's

do it.

Thank you.

You're, of course, welcome.

I move that we, exchange the oh, boy. I'm doing this on the lie here. I move that we move the motion the number or not the motion. The, agenda item number 10 to agenda item number nine as it makes most sense being next to the budget since it's regarding funds, and then move number nine to be number 10. I can remember that.

Just one point of clarification. That's part of our rules. If we have an old business come back, it comes back before after public hearing. So I just wanted to clarify that. Is it part of our council flow that's old business comes back after public hearing? So just wanted to confirm that for you, mayor, before the vote. Okay.

Did you complete that? I I don't remember if you okay. Yeah. Mind starting I'm gonna start over. I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Since item number 10 is old business, I would like to move it to I'm making a motion to move it to item, location number nine.

I'll go ahead and second it.

Okay. Thank you very much to item number nine. Okay. Did you wish to speak to this for any reason?

I just think it makes most sense.

Okay. Mister Gottelf, would you like to speak to this? Anybody else need to speak to this? Okay. So

I just wanna be clear that my understanding for the reason for moving it is stated by the city administrator that it's old business and therefore should come prior to new business.

Yes. That's correct, mayor pro tem.

Okay. Thank you very much. Anybody else I might have missed? Okay. With that, we're gonna we're gonna take a vote. So would you like me to restate if we're good? Any reason why I need to restate? Good. Okay. Excellent. The vote. Let's go to a vote. All in all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Vote carries. Any unanimous. Thank you so much. We'll get going on. Now we're moving on to item number 7AB25Dash133, motion authorizing lease with DFW for CED Annex Building. Miss Escobar, will you please provide the, tonight's report? Thank you. Thank you, mayor,

and good evening, council. The Department of Fish and Wildlife have leased part of our Annex Building since 2021. The renewal lease was originally brought to council in June and was pulled at that time due to last minute changes to the contract. It was brought back again in November, but once again, there were changes requested by DFW that did not make the deadline for the packet. I'm very happy to have the lease on the agenda tonight.

It has been approved by DFW and the city. The lease before you begins 01/01/2026 and ends 12/31/2026. There is a 5% rate increase over the previous year from 16,000 to 16,800, which is 1,400 a month. A question was asked in f and a regarding what the city pays for electrical, janitorial, solid waste, water, sanitary sewer, and outdoor maintenance, because we own the building, to ensure the rent covers these costs. The city pays about $533 a month for those services, so rent does indeed cover the costs.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife will be sharing the building with the King County Sheriff's Office. Both agencies are mutually agreeable to this arrangement. Once the King County Sheriff Office occupies the building, the cost sharing of utilities will be evaluated and negotiated with the King County Sheriff Office. Renewing this lease was discussed in February at TPW and in October at FNA. There are two alternatives for the council to consider. The first is not to renew the lease, which staff does not recommend. The second alternative is to approve the new lease for another year through 12/31/2026. Staff recommend this alternative. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Let's see. Do we have any questions for, Lisa, mister Trimolot?

Just so just to be clear, the DFW is gonna lease the whole thing, and then in the future, King County will negotiate, like, a sublet, or will they come to us? And

The

DFW occupies part of the building, and the sheriff will occupy another space.

So we'll have separate leases?

And they've all talked about it, and they know where all their offices will be, etcetera.

Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else from council have any clarify? Alan?

Yeah. Can you clarify for us what changed on this? I thought it was more than a year when we first looked at it, or was it always a year? And why are they going less than what we originally talked about in f and a? So if you could clarify what was changed, greatly appreciate it.

So the first time the lease was pulled in June, there was some question as to whether the King County Sheriff Office would want to occupy the annex. We weren't totally sure yet. So that was a question that was out there. And so the second piece of that is I can't think of it right now,

but I will.

And then the oh, the the it was it was a month to month lease at originally. And so that was not the preference of the DFW. They would prefer an annual lease. And so we were unsure if the King County would want the whole building, part of the building, etcetera. So there were just too many questions in June. And then, when we brought it to f and a, we included a a lease excise tax, which after further research discovered that they do not need to pay the lease excise tax. So that reduced it by about a $179.

And I guess clarify, did they not wanna go more than a year?

No. They want want more well, yes, they would like to do more than a year, but they are willing to do year by year at this point.

Did was that our choosing of not going more than a year? Or

It was either a month to month or an annual lease at the

time. Okay. Anybody else from council have any clarifying questions? Seeing none. Okay. The motion before us is to oh, Ellen. Ellen. Always back to Ellen.

You're just forgetting about me. You you thought it's my last it's I'm not here, you know, my last time Oh gosh. Meeting I see.

I would never want it with that.

Alright. Let me figure out how I'm going to do this because I see there's two alternatives. But do I need to put the all name the alternative in the motion or assume that I'd be saying the alternative too?

Your motion is approved.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure because I see. Yeah. Motion to approve a B 25 dash one thirty three authorizing the mayor to execute and administer a lease agreement with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife for the use of the city's former CED Annex Building in a form and contact approved by the city attorney. Second.

Thank you. May a motion made by the unforgettable mister Gottelf and seconded by mister Brennan Elwood. Thank you, gentlemen. Mister Gottelf, do you would you to speak to your motion?

Yeah. I'm glad we're finally getting this moved forward. I would have hoped that at least we could have made it easier and made additional given them additional years as opposed to coming back every year. I think they it's a great opportunity for both. And when I think I talked to the King County sheriff, they were excited that they'd be sharing it with it. So I hope this goes on long term. It does help, defer city costs and is probably one of the most efficient ways of doing that. So thank you.

Thank you, mister Gottelf. Mister Elwood, do have any comments you'd like to make?

No. Your honor. You go. Council member Gottelf saw the summer.

Excellent. Any other council members wish to make a comment or two? No? The motion for us is to approve a b 25 dash one three three authorizing the mayor to execute and administer a lease agreement with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife for use of the city's former CED annex building in a form and content approved by the city attorney. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. One and all, motion passes unanimously. Moving on to item number eight, a b 25 dash one three four.

Public hearing only, twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six mid biennial budget, mister Chaw. The lights are down, and we're about to take it away. That doesn't mean we leave the building. Just stay put, everybody. And, mister Chaw, would you please revive the staff report when you're ready?

Absolutely.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, mayor. For the record, Martin Chaw, finance director, city of North Bend, AB twenty five one thirty four establishes a public hearing for the mid biannual budget for the listing public. RCW 35 a 34 dot one thirty requires that all cities to operate with a biannual budget hold a public hearing as part of the biannual budget review process. As you recall, the mid biannual review was conducted in mid October by staff. Staff does not have any proposed modifications to the mid biannual budget. Again, this is for, public hearing only. That concludes my my remarks.

Thank you, sir. Council, do you have any questions for mister Chaw? No? Okay. Seeing none, we will now move on to the public hearing. Public hearing on the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six mid biennial budget is now open. If any members of the audience would like to comment during the public hearing, we would invite you to come forward to the podium at this time. If you have requested accommodation with the city clerk and wish to speak, please raise your hand, through the virtual platform, and we'll take your comments after in person comments. Please remember to state your name, your address, and you have three minutes to speak for the record. Bill, do we have anyone this evening?

Not at this time, your honor.

Okay. Alright. Give it one more sec. Okay. I will now close the public hearing on the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six mid biennial budget. A lot of gabbling tonight. Sorry about that. We're gonna move on to item number former number 10, now move to item number nine. It's the motion, which is old business of nine how do I describe that? Old business now moved up to nine nine, and it has been moved by request of council member Torgerson. Miss let's see. Miss Torgerson, do you wish to speak to your agenda item?

Yes. I do. Okay. Great. I'd like to preface it a little bit, and then I wanna make an amendment to the motion. So the motion was made on November 18. The purpose of it was to recall, budget appropriations and move them to the, 2027 Police Services Fund. As we all know, we have, a huge, deficit coming down the pike. And so, councilman Elwood postponed the vote until today's council meeting. The reason for postponing was to determine whether 600,000 was a little or too much.

So, I had asked, the finance director Shah to provide us with a year to date personnel cost report, which shows what has been spent in 2025 for personal costs. He he emailed it to all of council on November, '26. It forecasts the year end personnel costs. Finance director Chaw stated that on the north, the the meeting on November 18 that city at that council meeting, that any funds remaining in an account at the end of the year are transferred to the general fund. So anything that's an overage at the end of the year goes transferred to the general fund.

Taking the personnel cost budget for 2025 and and subtracting the year end actual personnel costs, the amount equals to about $685,000. So at the end of the year, a number close to that because it could vary, obviously, because the end of the year, it should be around $685,000 that would go to the general fund. So what I've included for you guys to look at is that report because I knew you got an email, but just to remind you. And then, also, I just did a little summary that shows you the difference between what was, budgeted and then, what's the forecasted actual dollar amount. The goal is to reduce the the the deficit, caused by our increased police services costs.

So recalling these funds and redirecting it to the twenty twenty seven police service, account would help lower the 2027 police services cost burden that we we face. So, I'm making a motion to amend the pending motion and direct city staff to earmark $685,000 of the 2025 general fund and ending fund balance for public safety services in 2027 as part of the budget amendment one in 2026.

Point of order, your honor. If I understand correctly, the council member is making an amendment to a motion that has yet to be moved to the floor, so I think we're a little sideways on this.

Yep.

I think you're accurate.

Mayor, if you could call for someone to make the motion, and then it would be pending, and then the council member could make the motion to amend the pending motion.

Would someone like to make that motion?

I'll go ahead and make it. Okay. Motion to approve a b 25 dash one thirty six directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance with the staff to recall 600 k from the 2026 appropriations within the general fund and redirect the spending to spending authority for police services.

Do have second?

That right. Second.

Okay. Motion by mister Gottelf, second by miss Torgerson. Mister Gottelf, would you like to speak to your motion?

No. I'll hand it off to council member Torgerson who's gonna make Make an amendment. Make an amendment to it.

Okay. And council member Torgerson, here you go.

I would like to make an amendment. I am making an a motion to amend the pending motion and direct city staff to earmark $685,000 of the 2025 general fund ending fund balance for public safety services in 2027 as part of budget amendment one in 2026.

Second.

Okay. Motion by miss Storgasen and second by mister mayor Pro Tem Jocelyn,

would you like

to speak to your motion? Amendment. Amendment to your motion. Excuse me.

Are you asking me? Yep. Okay. I think this is a great idea to do this. We're not going to be affecting salaries. We're not going to be affecting any services. We're using money that was was for personnel costs that is not being used, and I think it's a great way to help us with our budget problem coming forth in 2027 for the police contract services.

Thank you very much. And, mister, Jocelyn, would you like to speak to him?

Yeah. I appreciate the proactivity of staff to bring this forward, the mindfulness that's brought to the budgeting by staff. I wanna acknowledge council member Targason for her research and time spent digging into this. I do wanna set for my own self the record straight a little bit. I I do not think the the financial house of the city is on fire.

The most recent information provided by financial director Chaw at the work study at the October, you know, showed a number of scenarios. Scenario zero looked pretty desperate. Scenario one looked better, and scenario two, which includes operation expenditures reductions, projects that by the year 2030, the deficit that the city would face in terms of that would bring it to a zero balance is $2,400,000 five years from now. While that's not an insignificant amount of money, it's not 9,000,000, it's not 11,000,000, and it shows to me that already city staff is cognizant of a not real rosy outlook for this city and its finances. At the same time, there are many levers available to council and to staff going forward to help address the financial challenges and keep the city on the rails, and that's what we intend to do.

And so I am, in support of this amendment. Thank you.

Anybody else wish to reach out to?

Yeah. I appreciate that we say that it's not on fire, and I'm gonna agree with you on that. But, we, as a council, need to look at more than a five year horizon, but a ten year horizon. I think it's important for us to always look at where we can save money and where we're we're, you know, can make sure that we don't have to increase taxes. Now we're talking about you know, we talk a lot about, you know, well, it's not affecting the general fund or it's not affecting this.

Every dollar we spend in the city affects our taxes, whether it's allocated for sewer, whether it's allocated for anything else. And to be be forecasting anywhere out even in the five year horizon for a deficit should be something this council should continue to look at and look at how we bring that down. Because on top of it, I would love to see you guys moving forward to have some ability to do, you know, your own own visioning and, you know, what what we the the cards that we do every year. So my wish for you guys as I leave is that you get back to the decision cards and have some ability to to really get some of the projects I've heard that you guys wanna get started moving forward. But it starts with taking a look at the current budget moving forward and understanding that public safety is not gonna continue to go down.

It's gonna go up in cost. We we cut costs specifically at East Side Fire and Rescue this year to keep it low. Have, for the number of years I have, been on that board, that's not gonna continue. We need to take a look at that and rework that so that that fire agency, as our agency, has the right money it needs to provide public safety. And that is our number one obligation as a city. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Gauthel. Mister Tremlada. Questions.

Martin, so in can you help explain the mechanics of this? So if we do nothing, the $600 goes into the general fund. By passing this and earmarking it, how is that different? Is it in the general fund with an asterisk that says in 2027, this is where it's going? Is it in a different interest bearing account? What are the mechanics of doing this versus the default?

Right. Thank you, councilman. An answer to that is the monies would be earmarked, as councilwoman Torgerson explained, for public safety services. So as you recall, each year at the beginning of the of each year, we typically bring a budget amendment ordinance to council that will recognize the actual ending fund balances from the previous year. And we intend to do the same in 2026.

So when we do that in early twenty twenty six, the fund balance the ending fund balance from 2025 for the general fund will be some number. What we will do is as part of that agenda bill is we will earmark 685,000 of that specifically for public safety services in 2027.

And then the the balance of of the, fund balance would then be available for, general for general fund purposes in in 2026. And then to clarify, if we were to pass this as amended and we change course in June, we will have to then bring forth an amendment to this to unearmark those funds, which we would be already discussing in '26 for the budget planning for '27 anyway.

Yep. That's correct.

Clarify point of clarify a point real quickly. Yeah. You said public safety. This is specifically police, not public safety. Is that correct?

That's right. It's for, the intent is for, police services.

K. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Cohen.

That was my question. When we earmark it for public health and safety, it's not being set aside for fire department and just police?

Correct. Just police.

And to add, if we air market and things change, we can't put this money that would be in the general fund to another use if we so needed?

Unless we bring it

back, we're gonna

have some sort of vote.

Okay. Anybody else from council? Miss Miss Rustic. Yep. Thank you.

I believe it was, early November the mayor brought forward a reduction in budget of four hundred four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. This that is contained within this amount. Is that correct? So, really, we are talking with this vote an additional $260,646. Is that correct? No. No. No.

If I could explain Yes. My councilman. So there are, what we brought forward were the administrative reductions of starting with 425,000 in 2026. What councilwoman Torgerson is referring to, this would be in addition to what mayor Miller proposed.

Any other council members wish to come I'm gonna go with Brennan then with Heather. Thank you, Brennan.

First of all, thank you councilmember Torgerson for digging deep and doing all the hard work, and thank you staff for working with council member Torgenson to come to us with some numbers. I supported this motion last time just to explore what are the possibilities, so I appreciate this seems like we're kinda working together, which is awesome. One question, have to ask it, always ask it, What is the drawback to this type of motion?

The the, the drawback is actually fairly minimal. So we do have sufficient funds in reserve for the general fund. We are meeting our 16.7% minimum reserve target. So any funds over and above that, we could earmark that for for purposes such as this and so long as we comply with the minimum reserve target. And that's what the, for example, external financial institutions would look at when they're evaluating the financial wherewithal of the organization is is the is the health of the city's reserves.

And they'll ask two two questions. Number one is how much is in reserves? And then number two, do we have do we have a reserve policy, and are are we meeting that reserve policy?

And we do. Great. Thank you.

Miss Cohen, I think you had a question. So

if we pass this and we earmark this money for police services, which doesn't say that specifically, but, and my colleagues are telling me that it's easy to amend if we need to for whatever emergency should come our way. Is it easy to amend that?

Yes. What we would do is, as an ex as a scenario, councilman, colon, again, in early twenty twenty six, we do a budget amendment recognizing the 685,000. They're marking that for police services. If, let's say, later on in 2026 needs change and we have to redirect those resources to for another purpose, what we would do then is adopt a a subsequent budget amendment that would amend this first amendment in to budget amendment in 2026.

Anybody else I missed?

I have another question. Is our I know council King County Council hasn't approved formally the ILA. Right? It's forthcoming. But what is the projected 27 monies owed for that contract? Like, what I guess, to to say another way, if we earmark 600 k, what are we looking at that's not going to be earmarked? It's the balance.

The estimated cost I'm doing this from memory. So the estimated cost in 2027 is about 4,100,000.0. So the 600,000 would go towards that. The the remaining 3 and a half million would come from existing city resources. And as you recall, during staff's presentation in in November when we're talking about different levers that we could pull.

One was the administrative reductions that mayor Miller proposed starting at at 425,000 in 2026. I mean, that would go on through the year 2031. And just so that you have this in context, you know, that six year total is worth a cumulative total of 2,100,000.0. So the the first lever that we pulled is or the administrative reductions, that's worth 2,100,000.0. This could be considered another lever, right, 685,000.

And then the other lever that we that staff proposed is for the city council to consider imposing the 0.1% criminal justice sales tax. And that's new too that the state legislature authorized cities to levy starting in in mid twenty twenty five. And if the city were to impose that starting in, let's say, 2026 through the year 2031, that would raise about another 2 and a half million dollars.

You good with that?

I mean, yeah, just a comment. I'm not clear why we're doing this now. The money's going to the general fund. It just feels like we're memorializing something we would be doing in 2026.

If I could share, councilman, this is no different than how the state manages their budget. So for example, when the state of Washington adopts their biannual budget and the state legislature wishes to set aside a certain amount of monies for a particular purpose, they'll include in the butt in the budget bill what's called a budget proviso. So it'll be something such as x number of dollars is provided for this specific service. And and this will be the closest analogy to councilman Torquerson's emotion.

I mean, I can appreciate that, but they also have legislator legislators asking for money every other day, so it's different. Right? Like, we're a a tighter ship. I just I have a little bit of heartburn because I prefer, like, free cash flow, and I don't know what's gonna happen next week, let alone six months from now. And we have a bad winter, and who knows what happens, and we have to redirect certain things. I like the idea that we're fungible, but I understand that earmarking is a hill we have to climb in '27 no matter what. But okay.

How about everybody? Right. Ready to make the motion?

Oh, go ahead and then.

Excuse me. The motion to amend the pending motion? Yep. Okay. Are we ready to take that vote? Do I need to see the full amended motion? Do we have that rigorous information? Okay. Can the motion to amend the pending motion to approve a b 25 dash one three six? Okay.

Mister point of order, your honor, I believe what we're voting on is the amendment as proposed by council member Turgeson.

Okay. That sounds great. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, everybody. Now now we're back to the motion as amended. Wait. The motion before us as amended to approve a b 25 dash one three six, directing the city attorney to draft an ordinance with staff to recall six hundred six hundred thousand or 680,000.

Point of clarification. I thought the wording was earmarking.

Earmarking? Thank you for that. Earmarking 600,000 from 2026. 680,000. 685,000. Let's get that correct. Thank you so much from the February yes. Thank you for that. $685,646. What am I looking at?

The bold part.

Okay. Thank you. Let's start that one again. Motion to amend the pending motion and direct city staff to earmark 685

I I apologize for interrupting. It's a motion to approve a b two five dash one three six as amended by that motion. Mhmm.

You have to amend it from there.

Okay. Motion to amend the pending motion from a b e 25 dash one three six as amended. Okay. All in favor?

Well, think the part point of where there is an opportunity for discussion amongst the council should they choose.

Okay. Here we go. Anybody like to make a comment? No? Nobody? Okay. Can we go to the vote now? Okay. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries and is unanimous. Thank you again for that. Now we're gonna move on to, item number 10, which was nine number nine. Let me get my paperwork here. Excuse me for the pause here. Ordinance a b 25 dash one three five, ordinance adopting 2026 salary schedule. Mister Cha, would you please provide that report for us again? And thank you.

Absolutely, mayor. Again, for the record, Martin Cha, finance director of city of North Bend. AB twenty five one thirty five is an ordinance that that adopts the 2026 salary schedule. Just by way of context, council, the 2526 budget was adopted by ordinance, 1823. That ordinance established FTEs, over the two years as well as spending authority for each of the two years.

This includes operating costs as well as salaries and benefits as well as fund reserves for all funds in the city and establish the 2025 salary schedule for the city. The ordinance before you tonight is what adopt the 2026 salary schedule. There are materials in your packet council. Exhibit a establishes the twenty twenty six FTEs at 51 FTEs, which is unchanged from current levels. Exhibit b establishes the salary schedule for nonrepresented employees.

Exhibit c establishes the salary schedule for Teamsters, public works employees. Exhibit d, seasonal employees, and exhibit e, which is not included in your packet. And that's because the the city's currently undergoing a collective collective bargaining negotiations with the Teamsters Clerical Union. So exhibit e is not attached, but it's referenced here just for for information only. Are there materials in your packet council?

You should note that in schedule for attachment b, which is on page 45 of your packet for a pay grade eight. There was a error planning manager is added to that pay range, and you see that in your materials highlighted in yellow. No other changes to the exhibits are are presented, and that concludes my remarks.

Sir, any clarifying questions questions for mister Chaw council? Just Straight up.

Point order, that was not included. They don't have this at the dais, the highlighted

No. I'm so good. The the change to number eight, you said? Can you repeat?

So attachment b, which lists the nonrepresented regular employees as the position titles for the various positions, and the planning manager was inadvertently excluded from pay grade eight. I can pull that up on on screen if you wish, counsel.

The line item on page 45. Yeah.

Any other clarifying questions, mister Chop? Mister Gantoff?

It it this this seems a little different than the way we've done this. This seems to be, in my mind, we're doing something out of process. And if we're gonna be changing it, the process is to go through the committee or a work study before bringing it forward. I'm a little concerned that this is not in line with what we've done and not within our process. I'm also concerned that we we you know, previous reports and previous ones I've seen, we take a look at, director level salaries. And at one point, we were trying to to put them together or whatever. And one of the things I'm concerned with oh, actually, that's my question when it gets. I'm going beyond. I will comment later. But that's my question.

Why are we doing it differently, and why are we not following process?

And I can answer that, councilman. So the ordinance and the exhibits before you, we base this on model ordinance from several other cities as to how they adopt amendments or, salary schedules for each of those cities. You know, I have received several comments from from council members regarding the change in the process, and we understand that. And one option for council is we can defer this to a work study session in early twenty twenty six where we can discuss this change in approach and format, and we can go go into greater detail on that. The the salary, data points in the exhibits are are consistent, councilman, with the, cost of living adjustments that, I reviewed with, council, two weeks ago.

So I guess I have a question for the parliamentarian. I'm very supportive of the idea that this get moved to a work study as noted by council member Godhelf. It's certainly deserving of a more thorough review and conversation, I believe, amongst all council. Now a motion is not before us. It hasn't been moved yet to the floor. If it had been moved to the floor, then a motion to postpone it to a work study would be appropriate. Is there what steps might counsel might be available to counsel at this moment in time to move this to a work study?

Mayor Pro Tem, as he suggested, I I think following our normal practice of having a motion to put the item on the floor. So right now, we're clarifying questions, but having that motion made to put the item on the floor with a second, and then should council seek to postpone it, a council member could make a motion at that time to postpone the item.

Okay. Any other clarifying questions, council? Oh, Brennan.

Thank you. So quickly, councilmember Torrigson has pointed out in the past that it's her belief that we must pass the salary schedule in this year is where do we stand on that? And if we move it to a work study, which I'm in support of as well, how would we get about that? Would that just be simply passing this tonight and then amending it later, or what what are the mechanical operations there?

Councilman, in answer to your question, as you recall, in the 2026 budget, we established the spending authority for '25 and '26. So the cost of living adjustments that's being included and proposed as part of a b twenty five one thirty five is within the spending authority that's been approved by by council.

Miss Torgerson?

In in ordinance eighteen twenty three, it specifically states that we create a salary schedule in 2025. So aren't we going against our own ordinance by not following completing that process in 2025?

So to add on to council member Albuzin, I'll add to your council member Torbenson's question. If council were to take action and move it to a work study, that action would then push that forward into the New Year, and that would then do you wanna clarify on this that that action would then have the ordinance satisfy the ordinance?

Right. So the if we proceed with opening the floor with a motion and then postponing it, That would, if passed by a quorum of counsel, would be the act of counsel to override that prior statement. And we do have appropriated funds as confirmed by the finance director. So quorum of counsel would speak to move that item forward to 2026 or a majority of counsel. I'm sorry. I misspoke.

Storgasen. So in, the salary schedule that was provided to us in the finance and administration meeting, it had a change in, one of the job descriptions in which the person was getting a new title and therefore a new pay scale. So if we're not declaring that now, I mean, is that gonna affect that particular person getting their pay by waiting till 2026?

No. That person is already being paid at that level, councilwoman.

You're the council clarifications. Anything else? Oh, Keith Strelitz.

Just so I'm super clear in tracking, Kendra, what I think I heard is by simply making the motion and taking action tonight, that satisfies the ordinance that we are moving forward with the scout salary schedule. Is that correct? It does not necessarily mean we have to pass it. It is that we are taking action to pass it.

Correct. That is my opinion is that majority of council moving this item forward and having appropriated funds would satisfy the requirements.

Thank you.

If I got everybody, you're good to go? Okay. Mister Jocelyn, would you please make the motion? Oh.

Well, I would defer to council member Godhoeff as head of the finance committee should he choose to move the motion.

Thank you for that. My apologies.

My concern, I I guess, is I'm trying to think of what to do. I mean, it should go through. But, again, the concern is is we did not talk about, the schedule, and it came at this point in time. And I think the only way to move it forward, and counsel's gonna have to be pretty clear what they wanna do moving forward, is I think we should move it forward to, the next finance meeting whenever that's associated. I know there was one left open. Not sure if you wanna do that or until the new council moves forward and do it in January.

Point of

your honor. Well

Well, I

I was just gonna ask our parliamentarian. Since no motion has been formally made, even though there's one that's been suggested in the agenda bill, my colleague could make a motion that moves it towards the next meeting even though, correct, he could just make that motion now.

Your honor, I'd move to approve a b 25 dash one three five in ordinance adopting the 2026 salary schedule as a first and final reading.

Second. Second.

K. Motion made by mister Jocelyn, second by mister Tremolotta. Mister Jocelyn, would you like to speak to your motion?

I would. Thank you, your honor. As has been addressed by a number of members here, there is an interest, I believe, for the entire council to have the opportunity to review this and and better ingest it and understand the implications and be in conversation about it. And for that reason, at this time, I would move that agenda bill 25 dash one three five be postponed until the next North Bend City Council work study.

Yes, sir. Mister Tomolata.

Second.

Wait. Then I'll see it seconded.

Oh, sorry. Second. Mister mister thank you, Brendan. Do like to speak to your

Just one discussion point on there. One comment. I was just thank you, mister Jocelyn. That is one step to get the ball rolling on this, but I was also just a little clarification. You could make a motion however you wanted to modify it in that moment even though it's not as written by staff recommendation. Is that correct? Just clarify that one.

Yes, council member Alwedbite. In order to postpone or make a subsidiary motion

You still

it may motion on the floor.

Thank you. Okay. And then the next point would just be to the comment to that. Mister Gothelf had suggested that we put this to a committee and then a work study. The particular motion now is just moving it towards work study, bypassing the committee. So would we want to modify it again to make it go committee work study just just as a discussion point?

Hang on just a moment.

Yeah. Well, the order of rank of motions, a motion to postpone to a time certain, which I have moved, is to move it to a work study, precedes a motion to refer it to committee. So we would have to, you know, take a vote that's before the body to postpone it to a work study. I am not sure at this point how it would be moved to finance committee prior. I I don't know what would preclude it from being on the finance committee agenda should staff or council choose to discuss it at a finance committee.

I don't think there's anything that prevents that from happening.

Mister Tremolano? Yeah. My comment would be we could certainly it should be discussed in work study. Mhmm. And I think during that work study discussion, I think council could infer to staff that after that discussion debate, it goes to finance committee from there. Although we can't vote on it, but I think we will expedite this process by going to work study first.

Anybody else? Miss Tremolotta or miss Torgerson. Excuse me.

So, first of all, talking about the item itself that's on the agenda, looking at it, a lot of it, it seems like it's policy that needs to be made. And in my opinion, like, sounds like other council members agree, is that we all need to discuss it more before voting on it. So I agree in moving it somewhere and and having when we talk about policies like this and changing something so completely that it should be, going to work study so we can all put in our opinions about it. And, so that that's where I have a problem with this. However, the things that are in there, I do I do like what's been put in there.

I just wanna say that. It just feels like, maybe there's more detail, maybe there's more process, and that's why we need a work study to get those things kind of pulled out of that. I don't I kinda wanted to run make a motion tonight and just get a 2020, six schedule completed in 2025. I'm kinda tired now. It's kind of getting tired of this whole concept, but, I don't know at what point I would do that. Would it be after we make decision on going to work study? Okay. Alright. That's my conclusion of comments.

Mister Adelk?

Yeah. I'd like to add to the motion, and I I think it's the right thing to do, but I do have some concerns. I have concerns that we're looking at 2026 if the last one that came through compares it. We do have more than a 2.7% increase on some of the steps and some of the managers. I'm also concerned that we're not taking, you know and and maybe goes back to 2025.

We didn't take a look at the way we did these. One of the things as a city, we've always tried to be midpoint in the pay scale. If I look at some of these pay scales, we have people that are making a lot more than midpoint of it and much more than you find as an average on the, salaries. And I and and I would I won't be here. I would implore this body to take a look at that and see what we're doing because, again, the house isn't on fire, but 2030, we're coming to a deficit.

And the only way we can do that is by increasing people's taxes. I think what we need to do is take a look at the people we have the on the bus, and I'm not saying they're not there, but make sure that we're not overpaying. And the reason in some ways we've made

Point of order, your honor. The motion before the floor before the body is to postpone And I'm I I understand, Alan, but what I I'm sorry. Your honor, my understanding is that a motion to postpone, you cannot discuss the merits of the main motion except as it proponents pertains to the postponement. So I believe the council member is out of order in speaking to the main motion at this time.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else from council?

It's up to you to either affirm or or to to step away from my assertion, your honor.

Yep. Yep. Okay. So where are we at with the motion here? K. Do I need to clarify that motion for no? It's out there. Okay. Did you have it here?

The

motion. Let's read it one more time.

It's twenty five one thirty five.

AB 25 dash one thirty five be postponed until the next North Bend City Council work study. All in favor?

Aye. We didn't hear the My

apologies. Let me speak again. I moved to, that a b 25 dash one thirty five be postponed until the next North Bend City Council work study. All in favor.

Point of clarification, your honor. You didn't make the motion. Correct? Yep. Thank you. I'm sorry. I thought I heard you say I move to make that.

I might have. I apologize.

And I just wanna clarify for the record. You aren't actually making the motion. You're disputing the motion into the record.

Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for clarifying that. Anyway, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any opposed? Okay. Two nays, and the rest are bid passes. So four five to five to two. Okay. Let's see. Where are we going on from here? Yeah. We're getting towards the end now.

I think we're on the council administered.

Yep. Okay. We're gonna start off what's that?

Point of clarification. This has been edited so many times. So we made an amendment to the agenda item and

but

we didn't ever talk about the agenda item. Are we supposed to still talk about the agenda item? Or, like, we're I'm not I'm unclear as to where we're supposed to be at.

The item was postponed, so we don't go back to the main item. It was not amended. It was postponed. The next time the council will discuss it is in the next city council work study session. That is the the postponement that prevailed.

Thank you very much,

everybody everybody on board. Everybody understand. Okay. Mayor, council, and administrator concerns and initiatives. Let's start with mister Gottel down there. Like to Make a motion. I'm sorry? Make a

motion. And it's probably gonna fail, but I'm gonna do it anyways because I put the work into it. I make a motion to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance with staff to use this 2026 salary schedule that I have that staff can provide to you if it gets voted forward and ensure that the ordinance is similar to the one most presented to the finance and administration committee on November 12.

I'm sorry. Point of order, your honor. It seems to me we just passed a motion about the salary schedule and moved it forward to the next work study. And if I this seems like a motion that's competing with the motion that was just addressed.

That's correct.

I agree, mayor. If anything, it would perhaps be a motion, for reconsideration, but, the council member did not vote with the prevailing side, and the motion was postponed.

Or, excuse me, the item was postponed. So that that's Miss Torres, do understand?

We have it here. But I'm not happy about it because I Okay. I'll just say that I had gone to the city today and talked about making this motion, and this has been such a disaster here. What are we doing? Are we moving this motion? Are we making this? Blah blah blah. Put all that time into this. What my intention was is that I felt that the information on this agenda item was way too much that we as counsel needed to talk about it and that it be moved to another meeting to talk about

Point of order, your honor. We cannot adjudicate the action that was just taken by this council. It's out of order. We need to move on.

Thank you, sir. And we will do just that. Once again, mayor council administrator concerns and initiatives, and, mister Gottelf, I'd like you to take away tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you. Well,

since it's my last night, I wanna thank everybody, the staff, and everybody I've worked with for the last, what, almost nineteen years. It kinda reminded me. Didn't realize it was a little bit more than that. I've enjoyed the time here. One of the things people talked about tonight is the stewardess of the finances, and I'm very concerned since it's my ability to say it here that we have over, spent in some areas.

And I hope that the council looks forward, in the next work study and really takes a look at that salary schedule. And we come up the way to get back to the original idea of trying to be midway to the market. The only reason we went for certain ones and agree to increase it was because we had a hard time getting recruits. It's not that this the staff doesn't deserve it. They do.

But the taxpayers also deserve to be spending the right amount of money for the services that they're getting. So with that, I'm happy that I'm stepping away from here. You guys have big shoes on your hands. I don't think in the eighteen years we've ever had a point where we thought we're gonna hit a deficit and had no, decision cards. But that's where we're at right now. And as I leave this this board and this council, I think you've got the right people here to do it, and I look forward to seeing what you guys do. And and thank you for the time here. I do appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Gauthel. Miss Rustic.

Thank you, mayor. I just wanted to say congratulations to council member Gauthel on a fine, lengthy career on the city council, and also congratulations to council members Jocelyn and Tremolotta for their reelection. And I appreciate everything the staff has done this year. I think we've together accomplished a good many things, so thank you for that. And I just wanna wish everybody a happy holidays. Thank you.

Mayor pro tem, Jocelyn.

Thank you, your honor. Yeah. Alan, it's been such a pleasure. You've set a high bar. Your contributions are noted. You're leaving a significant legacy. And I also wanna say, I I think through your actions, you've led by example. I've certainly learned from you. I'm gonna miss you, and I mean that sincerely. I've appreciated the mutual respect that we've come to share.

I think that's the basis of us as a council working well together and moving forward. As you've heard me say before, it's a, you know, it's a unique moment when this body is in session. We make decisions that impact directly people's lives, the quality of life, and that I don't think is lost in any of us. I I wanna acknowledge councilmember Trimolata Trimolata's willingness to step up and take on the role of pro tem. I really look forward to working with him.

I think he'll do an excellent job. It was wonderful to see your family come join us this evening. That just reinforces part of what we are all doing up here, I think, is building a future that we can be proud of as Alan has, again, amply demonstrated through his actions and commitment not only to this body, but to Eastside Fire and Rescue. And we're in your debt. I'll echo councilmember Rustic's well wishes for everyone to have a a joy joyous, hopefully, relaxing holiday and get a bed of time off.

And I wanna once again just acknowledge the exemplary staff I think that we're lucky to have working for us and for the city. Thank you, your honor.

Thank you, sir. Mister Tremoloto?

Yep. First and foremost, thank you, Alan, for mentorship and friendship, and I know you won't be far away if I need to lean on some nineteen years of history to help us through the coming year. So appreciate it and congratulations. I'll also say thank you to my colleagues for the trust in the pro temp role. I certainly take it seriously, and I hope you all know.

Although I may have some strong opinions that I'm I'm always available, I think I have a very good working relationship with all you, and we'd speak on a regular basis as well with administration. I think that'll be key to having a successful 2026. So I look forward to taking on that role. I also wanna just say that this was an incredible year for the city and to thank all of our directors. And Martin, as you've seen all your reports and Elaine, who has supported that and work studies, it could not have been more comprehensive in my opinion for somebody who has asked a lot of questions, and I appreciate the finance team's work.

And Tom, sliding into a new role. Your team's out there doing some great stuff all over the place, definitely in our neck of the woods, which I know our neighbors are excited about. So, and I think we haven't lost a beat since you stepped up. So I appreciate, you taking the reins there. And, James, on your team, we've got a number of new businesses in town in 2025 and no short effort from your end and and some big projects ahead, which I'm certainly excited about.

And, Lisa, and I don't think Aaron's here, but, appreciate all the work you've done with the transition, with CAs, with Amber, and the the King County services contract. I know that it's been something that you probably aren't normally prepared for and then most cities don't. So just appreciate all the work. And, Brie, of course, everything you do for our our team and getting all the news out there and and the pictures, I I know folks love it. So just wanna tell the staff how much we appreciate what you did in 2025. It was a dynamic and, I think, probably unique year for for most cities, but for ours specifically. So look forward to 2026. Hit the ground running. I will probably steal a little thunder from the mayor, but don't forget holidays this weekend. And I'll only say that because my two little girls will be rocking around the Christmas tree.

If you wanna see them again, they will be dancing around. So thanks.

Funny. I love it. Okay. Miss, Colin. Colin, thank you so much for all the years you've worked on city council. It can be fun, and it can be horrible. So I appreciate your service, and you will be missed. For mister Jocelyn, thank you for being mayor pro tem this year. I think you did a great job. And for Errol Tremolotta, I look forward to stepping into his shoes. And we wear our shoes on our feet, not

our hands, Alan. Just so you know. That's it. Thank you. That was fun. Okay. Miss Torgerson.

Yes. So, Alan, you're definitely gonna be missed. You are, just a wealth of information with all your eighteen years. You have so much information that, you know, we just don't have us on. Our next guy is Brendan here.

No, you you have such a wealth of information, and I definitely will be calling you when I have questions about how things should work and have worked in the past and what can we do better. And I wanna thank Mark for being our mayor pro tem. Did an excellent job this last year in Tremolata. I'm super glad that you're gonna be our mayor pro tem. I know you're gonna be knock it out of the park in baseball terms.

I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to pass the the the motion I brought earlier. I think it sets a good communication with our community saying that we are thinking about our finances going forward, and, you know, we really don't wanna raise property taxes. We're gonna try and do the best we can to not go down that road if we can. So, I think that makes our community, thankful for us doing that for them. And, of course, all of our staff this whole last year has been probably a really nightmare year with, having to change police services and changing all the different roles we had to do.

I mean, it's been a pretty, pretty crazy year. I mean, the year before, I'm telling you, my was my first year. It was a piece of cake. First nine months, cakewalk. This last year, not so much. But, anyway, so, I just I'm thankful for all that, and I hope you all have a good holiday. I I don't know how many more I don't think we have any more meetings, do we, this year? So, anyways, that's a wrap for me.

Thank you, mister Elwood.

Thank you, your honor.

First of all, thank you

to the staff. It has been an interesting year. Every year, I start new. I'm like, okay. Can't be as bad as last year. We still seem to have this I feel like Sisyphus, a lot of times, pushing that boulder up the mountain, and then once we get to the top, it just rolls right back down. But the flip side of that is that there's a lot of accomplishments. There's a

lot of things that we

can look back, take pride in, the effort, the the connection, what we've worked through, what we're working towards, and where we're getting. I think the and I appreciate, council member Jocelyn or Jocelyn Gothelf. I'm gonna talk about you next. Jocelyn, bringing up the point that where we started on the deficit was this big number, and we've been winnowing it down over time, and that's through dedicated, due diligence by staff and by council being, trying to be good stewards and observant to what's going on. So that's teamwork, and we're working towards that.

So that's a good thing. So I think with the break coming up, hopefully, all of staff can just take a step back and say, we don't have to see these seven people, every other week, and, we can relax and and and really decompress and reflect on all the good things and successes that we have. So when we come back in 2026, we'll be starting hard and fresh and and fast, and it'll be good. Turning around over here. Jocelyn, thank you. You've been a fantastic pro tem. There was a lot, you have to go through. Know I've been through it, but I will say I don't think I've had to go through as much as what you had to go through. I'll be very transparent and honest about that. But thank you for tremendous work. I mean, I the countless hours that you put in above and beyond the Call of Duty, you served very well, and your community should be very proud. I know I am, and thank

you for your service for sure.

Mister Tremelada, it's gonna get a lot harder. No. It should be good. Thank you for stepping up, and I appreciate what you're about to do because I think it'll be a good year. Mister Gothel, oh my gosh. Ten years we've served together. It's amazing. We haven't always seen eye to eye on issues. You know, we've we've done our fair share of battles, but I think in the end, we've come around to make great decisions. And I think that's that's what makes this body, at least what I've seen in my ten years here, we disagree. We argue. We get it out. We make a decision. We move on. And then in hindsight, we often find that that decision, more often than not, was a good decision because we had those discussions, and we thought through it.

I appreciate the friendship that that we've developed. So I know even though you're leaving here, I I will continue to see you, and we'll still, be in touch. But I appreciate your service and your all that we've done together, everything you've done before me to the community and the citizens and the residents that we serve. So thank you very much for your service. It's it's commendable and much appreciative. Thank you very much for that. And then I'll just leave on one final note. Valley Center Stage, in partnership with The Grange, is putting on a Christmas holiday play called the best Christmas pageant ever. If you don't know Valley Center Stage or where The Grange is, it's right behind me over here on Stilson. It's a fun production.

Lots of little kids in it. Please come out and check it out. When you do, it's all nonprofits. Nobody gets paid. It's a 100% nonprofit, and you're serving the arts in the community, and you're keeping the arts alive here in North Bend. So please check out the production. It should be a good one. It should be a funny one. When I saw the baby angels the other day, I just it's so adorable, and I just busted out laughing. So please check it out. Thank you all.

Thank you. Miss Emery.

Yes. I just wanted to tell Alan congratulations, and I'm very thankful for our four and a half months we had had with each other. But thank you for everything that you've meant to the city, and thank you for all of your dedication and hard work. And I know that we'll be speaking to get all your information on Eefer before you walk out the door. I know that you've given that to Rustic, but we still need to talk about that.

And then mayor pro tem Jocelyn. So every week, you and I have spent hours and hours on the phone, and I just I know you're look delighted by that. So I appreciate every, call you took from me, every walk that we did so we can have a conversation and just your dedication. It just I know that your colleagues have said that, but just appreciate this new gal coming into my seat and all that that you've given me with your with your seat.

And I look forward to

working with Errol, as mayor pro tem, but I just wanna say thank you.

You. Okay. There's been a lot of wonderful things said tonight, I'll just continue that, I hope. Starting with mister Gauthelf. Once again, this night, it seems to be always around you. And please know that you you you're in history now. You're in the history books here. That's that's never changing. And I just wanna say thank you. What a what a wonderful time it is to get to know you through the years and your family and just see the dedication and the care that you have for our community. Mister Jocelyn, once again, thank you for all that you do, and it's been an adventure. And and, someone said it was a nightmare this year. I I I'd refuse to call it a nightmare myself. It's just an opportunity to learn every single minute of every single day, and I've enjoyed it immensely. So thank you for that.

And, let's see, mister mister Tremolotta, once again, looking forward to next year with you right beside, and we're gonna be getting to know a lot of how the city works together and how we can help each other and help all our community and our council members and our staff working as a team is essentially what the the goal is and doing our our best there. Okay. Residents and businesses are invited to shine brightly this season at the annual Light Up North Bend holiday lighting contest returns. Those interest interested in registering for the contest, can can find out more information on the news section of the city website. Registration deadline is Thursday, December 4.

Please join us in celebrating the holiday season this Saturday, December 6, holidays. We have several events happening to celebrate. Start your day with the annual Santa breakfast at the Mount Sai Senior Center from 08:30 to 11:30AM. Enjoy fluffy pancakes, hot cocoa, cookies, and photos with Santa. And I'll be one of the servers I I hope I hope I am.

I'm planning on it. Then celebrate the season at Sideview Metro Park's annual holiday bazaar at Skyview Community Center from 9AM to 3PM, featuring a full house of talented artists with locally handmade goods, perfect for giving gifts. End of the day by, joining us in celebrating the holiday season from five to 8PM at Downtown North Bend. Our holidays event will be featuring great music and activities, including a visit from Santa and our annual tree lighting at 7PM. Hope we can see you there.

Please join me at my meetup with the mayor series as that continues, where residents are invited to stop by chat and ask city, related questions that are important to you and connect. I'll be at Bread and Bone on Wednesday, December 10 from 11AM to noon. City offices once again are gonna be closed Wednesday and Thursday, December in observance of the Christmas holiday. And, of course, we mentioned that December 16 city council meeting once again will not be happening nor will the December council work study. I want us to thank take this time to thank once again, the staff that already know I I'm gonna not assume anything anymore, but you already know how much I care about each and every one of you and every person that calls city, the staff at at city hall a home.

Our public works team, our wastewater treatment team, all our directors, all our staff are impeccably hardworking individuals. I give mountains of respect to each and every day, so we're we're blessed to have you here. Thank you again. Counselor, you're hardworking. I appreciate each and one of one of you this year. We're gonna only dive in deeper next year and have a good time along the way. And all our planning commissioners, park commissioners, economic development commissioners out there, even if you're not here with us today, please know that we care about what you do and how you do it, and thank you for your faith and, service for Citi. We love you all. And and, also, I wanna thank the gentleman at the very back, mister interim chief police chief Gary Hrasey. I'm not ignoring you at all.

I just wanna thank you for all your efforts. You came into your position. You got thrust into it. Right? And you've been you've been a great help throughout the year. So we look forward to working with you and your team at Snowpope, till mid part of next year. And as everyone probably already knows, we are welcoming a new police chief. In and what's his name again? Anybody know? Ed Hall. Thank you. Once and all, we're gonna be excited when he comes in, which is technically January. So we'll be working together. Right? Okay, everybody. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Bless you all, and have a great, great holiday break.

See. To adjourn.

And, please, let's do that. Second. Yeah. Thank you. Mister Galtov, thank you for taking us away and until 2026.

And all in favor?

Yes. All in favor.

It away. Have fun. Oh,

boy.

Aren't gonna know what to do