Remarks by John Nielsen
26 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 10:22
“I was going to torture you just for a minute more. So I serve on the board for Oasis Village, and I also am the city representative for COIC. I can testify with 100% certainty that in both organizations you were spoken of in kind of hushed tones and awe and admiration. So thank you for what you do and thank you for, I mean, yet again, kind of proving how far Redmond punches above its weight class when we talk about services to our citizens and when we talk about responsibility and professionalism and doing the right thing. So thank you for setting that example, especially in such a…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 20:28
“Okay. Any other, John? I have a non-billing question. So we have kind of a stated goal as a city. We want to reduce water usage by 10%. The tiered water system is not designed as a punishment for people who are wasting water, but it's designed as more of a carrot model to try to get that reduction down. Where have we seen this implemented in other cities, and what kind of reductions have we seen in those cities that have brought this forth?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 23:26
“So one more follow-up question on that. So do you have experience in terms of lead time? Because obviously the education piece of this is going to be huge to get this out to folks. Have you seen kind of what is the sweet spot between where we're giving them enough time to adapt but not so long that that's kind of falling off of their mind and they get surprised with it when the implementation finally does come into play?”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 34:03
“I move to have a second reading of Ordinance 2026-11 by title only. Second. Moved and seconded.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 34:41
“I move to approve ordinance 2026-11 by roll call vote.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 38:15
“I just want clarification on one point, which is that no action that we're taking tonight is going to prevent or interfere with any ongoing negotiations or an ability to reach an agreement.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 42:38
“I move to authorize the city manager to purchase one 2027 Kenworth T-483 axle dump truck chassis with snow removal equipment from Pape Kenworth utilizing source well contract number 032824-KTC in the amount not to exceed $308,014.94. I second.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 50:57
“I just want to say that I think the world is a little less bright today with the loss of Dolly Parton. And my thoughts and prayers go out to her family. And I've got some albums that I'll be rolling around tonight.”
City Council · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:03
“I move to award the Hemholtz Improvements Southwest Quartz Avenue to Southwest Obsidian Avenue design contracts to Dowell for design services in the amount of $725,037.35 and authorize the city manager to sign the contract. I second.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 11:49
“John? Chief, I don't want to put you on the spot, and if you can't answer it, I wouldn't expect that you can, but do you have any idea of, I guess, the cost for your department for responding to fires on the 4th of July? Do you know roughly what that costs you in terms of dollars?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 12:07
“Okay. And then... Last question for me. We had the fire on the fairgrounds. The wind was pretty favorable to us at that point. If it had gone the other way, what would you, I mean, I know you're not going to predict the future. I know you don't have a crystal ball. But if the wind had gone the other way, could we have lost the fairgrounds? I mean, is that possible?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 12:40
“So there is defendable space around the fairgrounds?”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 53:33
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:05:55
“Go ahead. I move to have a second reading of ordinance 2026-10. By title only. By title only, please.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:08:18
“I would prefer a shorter cycle just so that we're not limiting councils moving forward.”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 1:12:01
“All right. I have two items. The first one, on behalf of Republic Services and Cascade Disposal, with the passing of the fireworks ban, if you have fireworks in your garage, please do not throw them into your garbage cans. Dispose of them properly. There are a few things in life that are going to spoil a mood more than a flaming garbage truck in your driveway. So dispose of them properly. All right, the next one, I'm just going to read this so I can get through it. So it's my full three minutes. Before we adjourn tonight, I want to take a moment to share something with all of you. Serving the…”
City Council · Aug 11, 2026
- Play at 17:28
“So I want to make sure that I understand this correctly and that kind of the folks at home understand it. this is a progressive fee schedule correct so the first gallon all the way up to the last gallon of tier one is charged at that dollar 65 per unit that from the first gallon to the last gallon of tier two is going to be charged at the 173. it's not as soon as you hit tier four all of the previous gallons that you've taken out are not going to be charged that higher rate correct that is absolutely correct it is only the amount that you are using within that tier that is going to be charged…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 27:26
“I do have just a couple questions. So we've gone through these presentations for quite a while. And I appreciate all of the work and the dedication and the math that has gone into this. I guess for the folks who are kind of coming to this for the first time, or who are going to be looking back on this when they get their bill, we know that water conservation, we know that let's do a little whiskeys for drinking waters for fighting, right? That's always kind of the old cliche. My question had, have you looked at, and can you speak to us as to why you're recommending this option to encourage…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 30:23
“So we're encouraging conservation without Penalizing people for the kind of the basic necessity of water that they need to use.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 32:24
“Do we also have the capacity, could we do an informational letter to the two kind of the households that said basically for your trailing 12 months, this is kind of what the impact is gonna be so that they can actually see it laid out for a full 12 months on a single piece of paper in front of them or is that?”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 32:48
“I think it would be good. It's one thing to kind of see it in your bill, and you're like, oh, I'm going to have to deal with that. And then you pay the bill, and then you put it down, and it gets buried under something else, and they never see it. But I think if you have a single piece of paper that says, for the year, this is what it's going to be month after month after month, it might light a fire under something else.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 56:52
“I guess my question is a little more basic. I'm kind of struggling to... The slides are very impressive. The door hangers, all of the outreach, all of that stuff seems wonderful. Why was that not done before? So we are here today. Like we shouldn't have to be here today. We're here because we got feedback, the city staff got feedback that there were some real frustrations. And I guess my concern, it sounds like we've got, third party construction crews onsite doing this stuff. So this cannot conceivably be the first city that you've installed these utility lines in. So why are,”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 59:53
“So can we get your commitment, I guess, that you're going to make kind of the citizens who've already been impacted as well as any mitigation that needs to be done in the future, you're going to make folks whole?”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:25:17
“I think that it made sense six years ago to say we want to pause, we want to collect more data, we want to see what psilocybin actually does, what effect it has on the community. I continue to hear from veterans and folks who struggle with PTSD that this is a tool that if properly used under medical supervision, which these service centers do, that it is beneficial and helpful to them. And I don't think it is in the city's best interest to just simply rubber stamp this moving forward for yet another two-year ban without having some kind of discussion or bringing up some kind of expert's pro…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:31:06
“I move to approve resolution 2026-15. I second.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026