Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

good afternoon i'd like to call to order the pierce county council today is june 9th 2026 the time is 301 p.m if the clerk could call the roll council member morell council member herrera council member krueger

Council Member Ayala? Here. Council Member Yambe? Here. Council Member Denson? Here. Council Member Hitchen?

Here. We have seven members present. With seven members, we do have a quorum. Thank you all for joining us this afternoon. In a moment, I'm going to ask Council Member Yambe to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and read a land acknowledgement. Following the pledge, while standing, for those that can, I'd ask that you remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of the men and women serving overseas. So again, for those that can stand, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence.

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

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish tribes. Coast Salish people have lived on and steward these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today. We recognize that this land acknowledgement is a one step toward true allyship and we commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the indigenous people of this land.

Thank you, Council Member Yahweh. We're now at section four, which is approval of our agenda. Is there any objections to our agenda as presented this afternoon? Seeing no objections, we'll consider the agenda approved. That brings us to, just as a reminder about today's meeting, on today's council agenda, there'll be multiple opportunities for public comment. On the consent agenda, you may provide comments on any final action item. This does not include items that are placed on the consent agenda for scheduling or introduction. Then during sections eight and nine of the agenda, we'll take public comment on each ordinance and resolution individually. And finally, under community form, there'll be an opportunity to address the council on any topic that was not up for final action on today's agenda. And for more information in the fine print on your agendas, you'll find a little bit more detail about how to engage and what the rules are. We're now at Section 5, which is our consent agenda. On our consent agenda today, we have one appointment resolution. So assuming nobody wants to pull the one item off, So, Vice Chair, for a motion?

Chair, I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

It's been moved and seconded. We approve the consent agenda. The item that's on that agenda is appointing two individuals to the Pierce County Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs. And at least one of you is here, but I didn't get a list of who. So, if you'd like to come to the podium and introduce yourself, that we know. And then... We would love to hear from you.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the appointment too. My name is Joseph. I'm originally from Kenya, Africa. Migrated here about a decade ago. Lived in Pierce County. I live in Roy, Fama. I love the place. I'm so grateful to just serve this committee and the community that I come from to just act as a liaison to just be for both of you as a bridge. Thank you. That's it.

That's all. Thank you. I appreciate you coming up, one, for volunteering and two, for being here. Are there any questions for Joseph before? And then I do wanna just check, there's another Saeed in the room or online. If you're online, you can raise your hand. Well, Joseph, thank you very much. We're gonna do our formal process here of voting on this, but we appreciate you volunteering your time to bring your life experiences as a resident of Pierce County to this work. Thank you. Thank you. So at this time, we're gonna open this up for public comment. If anyone would like to address the council on the one item on our consent agenda, please come to the podium or raise your hand in Zoom. And I don't see anyone in chambers, but I actually do see a hand raised.

For any member of the public that would like to provide comment on the consent agenda, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we do have one hand Madam Chair. Sorry if I get your name wrong. Juanita Arnold, please state your name for the record and you have three minutes.

I'm sorry, I just got online and I'm not sure if you're taking comments for the comprehensive plan.

Is that what you're doing? We are not. We're on the consent agenda, but you have plenty of time to get ready. We'll see you back after we finish with this. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

And there are no more hands at this time, Madam Chair.

With no other hands raised, I'm going to close public comment, bring it before the Council. Is there any further discussion on the approval of the consent agenda? Not seeing any, can the clerk call the roll on the adoption of the consent agenda?

Council Member Denson? Aye. Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

Council Member Herrera?

Aye.

Council Member Krueger? Aye. Council Member Ayala? Aye. Council Member Yambe? Aye. Council Member Hitchen? Aye. You have seven ayes, zero nays.

With seven ayes, zero nays, the motion is adopted. That brings us to item number six, which is messages from the executive and other county elected officials. Today, we have the honor of having Executive Melo join us. He had a couple of highlights that he wanted to make sure both we as the council and the public had a chance to hear about. So I'm gonna turn this over to you, Executive Melo.

uh good afternoon chair hitchin members of the council it's great to see all of you thank you for everything you do on our behalf for the record my name is ryan mellow and i have the privilege of serving the people of pierce county as county executive and i do have three bits of news i want to share with our community and the council um you know if you just lived on social media or just read the news all the time you might find it hard-pressed to find good news sometimes i'm here to let you know there are great things going on by the public servants who serve the people of pierce county every single day the first uh But I have three things I want to share. The first is, um, I want to share well deserved congratulations to Julie Demuth, Reed Bennion and Elizabeth Moutsouris and the entire budget and finance team here at Pierce County. Um, They received the Government Finance Officers Association's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. It is the highest form of recognition in government budgeting. So that's all for the great work they do to support the development of our budget, support you during budget deliberations, and everything they do to make our budget super accessible to everyone in our community. Pierce County also receives special recognition for excellence in performance measures and long-range operating financial planning. So government budgeting is really challenging work, and you all know it. It's the lifeblood of what you do for a good part of the year. It's incredibly challenging work. It requires balancing competing priorities, planning for the future amid tremendous uncertainty, especially in the times that we're under now, and translating complex financial information into something that is useful for decision makers to be understandable and transparent for not only you, but also for the public. And at its best, budget work helps ensure accountability, effectiveness and transparency in how we steward the public's resources. And this recognition reflects the professionalism, expertise and dedication of the team that makes that work possible. So I want to congratulate and thank the team for the seriously countless hours spent during a budget, developing a budget document that not only meets rigorous national standards, but also helps tell the story of Pierce County's priorities and the investments on behalf of the public. So, Madam Chair, I'd ask you to please join me in congratulating Julie, Reid, Elizabeth and the entire team, the entire budget and performance team on this outstanding achievement and thanking them for their continued commitment to public service.

Let's give them a hand.

The second item I wanted to speak to briefly, Madam Chair, yesterday I was joined by many at the Eastside Family Support Center, including Councilmember Yambe. I apologize, you were in rules. We were with the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department and many other partners who provide youth violence prevention work with us. And we announced the work that you adopted, invested in our budget. So I'm here to say thank you for the investment that you made in the current biennial budget to help make our community safer. You did a lot to make our community safer. You invested in an unprecedented way in the sheriff's office and prosecutor's office and the public defender and everything that it takes to create a complete justice system. But you also invested in prevention. And one of the preventative things that you invested in is our vehicle gun lockbox program. And so yesterday we were able to announce that program in that partnership with the health department who's working on this public health approach right on a preventative way of helping responsible gun owners. And thank goodness, the vast majority of gun owners are responsible gun owners. And in part, that means locking up your gun. Um, when it's not in use, so it can't get into the wrong hands. Um, we know that our own sheriff's department has shared with us that just since 2020, over 1000. Guns were stolen out of just vehicles stolen on the vehicles from law abiding citizens. Um. and that's just from 2020 and we know that's an undercount because that doesn't count the number of guns that were stolen from businesses or at homes and it doesn't count the number of guns that were stolen in our cities. That's an unincorporated sheriff's department number only. We also know from data that stolen guns are nine times more likely to be used in a crime. It's really serious and it's why I'm really grateful that you said yes to the investment we made in our biennial budget to invest in this effective prevention measure. In this case, we're working with the health department to do additional outreach and education and get biometric lock boxes, the kind that you just need your thumbprint to open very quickly so that responsible gun owners can lock their gun away, especially in a car. Um, when they go into a place that they don't want to take their gun to, or can't by law, they can securely store their gun. Especially they can use it in other circumstances, but primarily it's designed for vehicle, uh, vehicle purpose and context. Um, and so we're starting to get them out, uh. at family support centers where gun users use their guns at firing ranges and clubs and where folks buy firearms. And so we're here to encourage all gun owners to responsibly use their firearm and use uh safe safety locks or or lock boxes when they're not using their gun so they can be safely stored and not not be used by grabbed by criminals or abused for suicide or other ways that guns get in the wrong hands so congratulations to the county and our partners for helping to get the word out and launching that program i am absolutely confident it's going to save many, many lives. So thank you for that prevention measure. Lastly, Madam Chair, we're in the final hours in the countdown of welcoming the world to Puget Sound for the World Cup. The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off this week. The first match is in Thursday, not here at Seattle Stadium. The first match at Seattle Stadium is played later in the week, but the festivities start this week right here. So on June 12th, there's an opening celebration at the Puyallup Tribe Headquarters campus there at the Emerald Queen Casino and Tribal Headquarters off Portland Avenue. A parade down Portland Avenue, fireworks. Everyone is invited to not only the opening celebration, but all the events that you see on the screen here. And there's many cultural events, right? The Coastal Protocol, the World Cup Pow Wow. the stick games. And then every time that there is a match at Seattle Stadium, which is normally known around here as Lumen Field, that's called Seattle Stadium during the World Cup. Every time there's a match at Seattle Stadium, there's a viewing watch party at the fan zone. And we're really excited about that, and we hope you come. We hope you help share this news with all of our constituents. All the events are free and family-friendly, and it'll be a really great time to not only enjoy this sport that brings the world together, but also all the other cultural activities that the Puyallup Tribe is hosting for us over this close to five weeks. international event. I really want to thank Madam Chair, the many partners in Pierce County who are helping to make this event safe and joyous. Our Department of Emergency Management has been working really hard for a long time to support the Puyallup Tribe of Indians who don't have an emergency management department to plan for such a complicated event to keep it safe. The Sheriff's Department, who's been working to support the effort. There's lots of activities going on on lots of different tribal properties. The Economic Development Department here at Pierce County has played a major role in supporting the effort. And also our Visitor Tourism Bureau, right? We call them Visit Tacoma Pierce County. They've been doing extraordinary work to get the word out and help plan these joyous festivities. They came up with the brilliant idea of the art of the game, where we are hiding 1,000 glass medallions made by local artists all throughout Pierce County. And there's a sticker on the back of them that has a QR code, and you can bring it back to the fan zone to get even more prizes if you find one of them. So tremendous gratitude to Visit Tacoma Pierce County. And lastly, to our partners of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians who are, it's going to be a great, great event because of them. They're opening up their homelands to all of us and creating just a great venue and a first-class way for us to celebrate the sport. I hope you're all able to participate in as many activities as you can, and I hope everybody watching puts it on their calendar. This final slide has several of the web links that folks can go to to find out more about, especially go to puallupaltogether.org, puallupaltogether.org, and you can find all of those activities and more that were on the previous slide. You find the locations and the times. And you can also get there for free and with little hassle through Pierce Transit, who's offering free transit service from Tacoma Dome Station to the Fan Zone free of charge before, during, after the Fan Zone activities. So we're trying to make it as safe, easy, and fun to get to all these activities. all throughout, starting this Friday, all throughout June and into July. So thank you for letting me share, Madam Chair, the award. Our finance and budget team received the launch of our Gun Lock Box program to help prevent the misuse of firearms and firearms being used in crimes. and this amazing event that our team is coordinating with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to welcome the world and help our community partake in this awesome event and have a great, fun summer. Happy to answer any questions, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Executive Malau. Any questions for the executive? I know we share the same floor, but he's like here at our chamber, so if anybody has any questions. not seeing any, so thank you for highlighting the good work that's going on, and maybe we'll see you at a World Cup event. Thank you. Thank you. We have no proclamations this afternoon, so we are at Resolution Section 8. We now have Proposal R2026-146. Councilmember Ayala for a motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move Proposal Number R2026-146. It's been moved. I said the wrong one.

No, you said the right one. Okay, never mind. So it has been moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read into the record?

Proposal number R2026-146, a resolution of the Pierce County Council adopting the updated 2025 to 2030 comprehensive plan to end homelessness and directing the Human Services Department to implement the plan.

Thank you. And this afternoon we have policy analyst Mary Connolly to brief us on this item. Ms. Connolly.

Thank you, Chair Hitchen. For the record, Mary Connolly, council staff. Starting with some background, RCW Chapter 43.185C requires that each county in Washington state create a homeless housing task force to develop a five-year homeless housing plan that addresses short-term and long-term housing for homeless people. The local government may amend the recommended plan before adoption. In May 2020, the Pierce County Council fulfilled those requirements by adopting the Pierce County five-year strategic plan to address homelessness for the period of December 2019 to December 2024. Then in 2021, the Pierce County Council directed development of a comprehensive plan to end homelessness, and this was in addition to the five-year plan. A steering committee developed the plan and the council adopted resolution number R2022-22S to adopt the recommended comprehensive plan to end homelessness. This resolution also directed the Human Services Department to regularly convene through June 2024 a Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness Implementation Advisory Board, which is also known as the IAB. And then in 2024, the council adopted a resolution to extend the expiration date of the IAB until the council identifies a successor body to oversee the county's homelessness work. In 2024, the Washington State Department of Commerce issued guidance for development of counties 2025 to 2030 local homeless plans. The guidance allows jurisdictions to develop an addendum to an existing plan to address the updates that are required by state law. In December 2024, the Human Services Department, in coordination with the IAB, determined that amending the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness was the most effective way to meet the requirements for the 2025 to 2030 Local Homeless Plan required by the state. The Human Services Department designated the IAB to act as the local homeless task force that's required under state law and to oversee the development of amendments to the plan. Throughout 2025, the Human Services Department conducted stakeholder engagement and regularly convened the IAB to incorporate stakeholder input into the plan. The department also convened an ad hoc committee with members from various sectors to further advance plan development, and the IAB requests that the council proceed with review and adoption of this updated plan. So before your consideration today is resolution number R2026-146. This was amended in committee. This resolution adopts the updated 2025 to 2030 Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness. It directs the Human Services Department to implement the plan. It also directs the Human Services Department to regularly convene a comprehensive plan to end homelessness implementation advisory board until another entity is identified. And then a couple of, I'll go through all of the amendments later, but a couple of key amendments here. The amended resolution requests that the Human Services Department provide the Council with annual reports on plan implementation and performance measures. It also requests that the Human Services Department or Finance and Enterprise Services Department to host performance measure data on open Pierce County to ensure that aggregated data can be downloaded by the public. I'll also quickly go over the goals in the plan. There are eight. The first is to promote an equitable, accountable, and transparent homeless crisis response system. The second is to prioritize assistance based on the greatest barriers to housing stability and the greatest risk of harm and ensure interventions are effective for all populations. Third is to prevent homeless episodes whenever possible. Fourth is ensure adjacent systems address needs of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Five, meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness. Six, expand the permanent housing system to meet the need. Seven, strengthen the homeless provider workforce. Eight, seek to house everyone in a stable setting that meets their needs. The first six goals that I listed are similar to or the same as in the last plan, and goals seven and eight are new. The department recommends approval of the resolution. As I mentioned, there were amendments in committee. There were seven total that were included. Do you want me to walk through what those amendments were? Briefly, just to remind people what we've already changed. Yes, okay, great. So Health and Human Services, and I should, sorry, I should have said Health and Human Services passed or forwarded this to Council with a do pass recommendation. There were seven amendments and forwarded as amended. So those seven amendments, there was a technical amendment that just fixed an error. There was an amendment that updated narrative goals and strategies related to the unified regional approach to an homelessness project currently underway. There was a new added strategy to incorporate food access expectations for housing and shelter providers. A new action to allow service providers to use up to 15% of total direct costs for administrative expenses. I already talked about the new sections in the resolution that require annual reports from human services and posting data online to be downloaded. Uh, there was another technical amendment that clarified the intent of an action and then there was a new strategy to establish a jobs and housing stability program in unincorporated Pierce County. And the fiscal impact is de minimis on this because it is a plan. It does not allocate any. It does not allocate any budget items, but this would inform future budget allocations and future funding opportunities. And there's a community impact note available. And there are six amendments prepared for discussion today.

Thank you. Are there questions on the underlying bill before we take up the amendments? not seeing any and then for those people that have joined us um this afternoon when we we don't take comment on the amendments so once we're done with the amendments then we'll do our normal public comment on what has been amended um for anyone that's here for that item just so that we are aware of process so um we have Council Amendment No. 2, No. 1 was pulled. So, Council Member Ayala for a motion? Yes, Chair. I move Council Amendment No. 2. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we adopt Council Amendment No. 2. Ms. Connolly, can you tell me what this one does?

Yes, so as I mentioned, the resolution as amended requires an annual report to Council from the Human Services Department. So this would add some additional requirements to that report. More specifically, it would add client counts broken down, well, I'll just start from the top. So this annual report would require the Human Services Department to provide the following information. The status of completing each strategy and action outlined in the plan, performance measure data for the plan, and that's what's already in there, so then now I'm gonna talk about the amended language. Client counts broken down by service type, some housing market data to provide context for performance measures. In instances where client privacy is not infringed, an analysis of disparities in intervention, enrollment, and performance measure data by race and ethnicity and populations of focus, that is youth and young adults, veterans, chronically homeless, families, BIPOC individuals, and those fleeing domestic violence. strategies that the Human Services Department plans to implement to improve progress in meeting performance measure goals and to address disparities, an analysis of whether the performance measures in the plan are the most appropriate for tracking, evaluating, and communicating the county's progress toward ending homelessness, if applicable, recommended changes to plan performance measures, and if applicable, recommended amendments to the plan. And then, also, this amendment would also request quarterly reports that just include data on performance measures and client counts broken down by service type. It would be delivered quarterly, everything else would be annual, and then all of it would be made accessible to the public online.

Thank you and I will speak to this amendment though. There's been a lot of feedback. Part of the goal of this really is we, we have these really great performance measures. We are really working on better coordination around supporting the data so that we have informed decision making based on data. Um, and so we wanted to make sure that we were. calling out specific things that we thought would be important around this work. We also didn't want to make it so cumbersome that it was impossible to actually keep up and publish the data. So there is a request to have just check-ins, those quarterly reports, so that we are up to date on things, but we would be ongoing having this conversation about the work that's going on, who is being served, who's not being served, so that as budget changes happen or grants come available, that we really know that data's informing decision makings, both at the human services side of the house, but also if there's any decisions that the council And for transparency to the public who this is a high impact area to the county. We do spend funding on this. And so we really wanted to be. Pretty clear about the kinds of data that we are expecting to be collected and being shared so that people can see who we're helping, how we're helping and what. So, appreciate Ms. Connolly working with the Human Services team to make sure we weren't asking for something that's literally impossible and that it would also be meaningful to us as a policy-making group. Looking for questions on Council Amendment No. 2. Seeing no questions, all those in favor of approving Council Amendment No. 2, say aye. Aye. any opposed motion carries thank you that brings us to council amendment number three council member ayala for a motion thank you sure i moved council amendment number three it's been moved and seconded uh can we get it explained miss connelly this is a technical amendment to update the pierce county housing authority's name to housing pierce county Thank you. It literally is changing a name. Any discussion or concerns or questions on this one? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Council Amendment Number 3, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. That brings us to Amendment Number 4, Council Member I all for a motion. Thank you chair.

I move council amendment number four.

It's been moved and seconded. Miss Connelly, can you tell us what this one does?

This amendment does a few different things. First, it inserts a new performance measure into the plan to track exits to permanent housing from homelessness. It also directs the Human Services Department to evaluate policy options to increase the number of annual exits to permanent housing from homelessness. So essentially evaluating strategies to increase that performance measure. It clarifies certain performance measures that are already in the plan, but that were a little bit unclear as to exactly what they were tracking, so it clarifies what they mean. And then finally, it adds a new appendix to the plan, Appendix H, which would include data for performance measures for 2024 and 2025, so that we know the baseline that the county's working from for their goals.

Thank you. And Council Member Ayala, do you have any comments on this one before?

Thank you, Chair. My only comments really is in deep appreciation for everything that is offered and also the way that community has leaned into supporting not just us, but the greater work that is happening around addressing homelessness and really pushing for ways for us to continue having that innovative perspective year after year as we see changes in this. Thank you.

Council Member Kerber, I see you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was wondering, does it track any timeframe of the exit? Like, do you check back in one year, two years to confirm if they are still in housing?

We'll go to Ms. Connelly. Exiting the system. Ms. Isaacson is here as well.

There is a performance measure in the plan regarding returns to homelessness. The performance measure is, so this is the goal, is that no more than one out of every 10 people return to homelessness once they exit to permanent housing. I believe that's measured after 12 months. Devin is nodding. Yes.

Just one year. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Appreciate the conversation. One of the things when I read this plan is we were setting all of these goals, but if I don't know where we started, I don't know if we're being successful. So putting this appendix together took a little work, but I think it's really important because you need to know where you started so you can see where you're growing and where you're improving. And if you're not improving, We also need that. And so putting it in the plan and then in 2026, we'll just add another column and then 2027, we'll probably have to change the paper size, but we'll just kind of keep adding the data as we move through so that we are able to track areas where we are doing well and areas where maybe we need to modify things. but if we didn't know where we started, we wouldn't know where we were trying to go. So appreciate both department staff and Ms. Connolly and the team for getting all this data together and figuring out ways to make it meaningful as we do this. Are there any other questions or comments on Council Amendment number four? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Council Amendment number four say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. That brings us to Council Amendment No. 5. Vice Chair Herrera for a motion.

Chair, I move Council Amendment No. 5. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Can we get this one explained, Ms. Connolly?

This amendment would insert a new section into the proposal that requests the Pierce County Veterans Advisory Board to conduct a needs assessment for homeless veterans in Pierce County with an emphasis on the following groups, women, LGBTQ+, seniors, disabled people, families, combat veterans, and veterans with a less than honorable discharge. And the needs assessment would identify needs, existing resources and gaps in services for certain services, including shelter, housing, childcare, workforce development and trauma informed services. And it also requests a report with findings and recommendations to be submitted to the council. No, later than September 1st, 2027. Thank you.

Vice Chair to speak to your amendment.

Thank you, Chair. Just needs assessment for 2026 is important. We need to know what's happening boots on the ground today. I thought this is a good amendment to give the Veterans Advisory Board mission, a mission that That is very applicable to why they even exist. So I think we're going to give them plenty of time to do a thorough job in finding out what exists in Pierce County, what doesn't exist, and who our most vulnerable are. So thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments on Councilman No. 5? Not seeing any. All those in favor of adopting Council Amendment Number 5, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. That brings us to Council Amendment Number 6. Council Member Ayala for a motion.

Thank you. I move Council Amendment Number 6.

It's been moved and seconded. Ms. Connolly, can you tell us what this one does?

This amendment would add a new strategy and related action to the plan. The strategy is to support justice involved individuals and families in attaining and maintaining housing stability through partnerships with organizations in the child welfare, legal and reentry systems.

thank you and i will just speak to this uh this is there was a number one and then we pulled it because it was getting well to say it weird it just wasn't kind of working uh and i believe it was councilmember krueger that asked some questions so thank you this is clean it identifies a very specific population that we know are part of a population that cycle or are on the cusp of potential becoming homeless if you have a couple and half of the family is now incarcerated what happens to the rest of the family and those kinds of stories are the way people slip into homelessness through no fault of their own that if we could find ways to be more proactive we might be able to stop that harm and so asking us as a county with department staff and stakeholders to really work together seemed like a very logical part of this plan. So appreciate the questions that were asked and the work that was done. Are there any other questions on this amendment? not, oh, Council Member Krueger. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. It just seems that as I read this, I'm kind of getting an overload of information on all of these different groups seem to be all prioritized. I mean, I just, we're putting another organization to the top or putting more emphasis. It seems to be getting a little discriminatory or anti-discriminatory with all of the different groups. How do I understand that wanting to help the specific group, but doesn't it displace other groups who need just as much help or assistance?

Thank you for the question. I'm not quite sure that I actually understand the concern because this is literally anybody who touches our justice system is the way this is phrased.

Correct. But it is there's all of those who are not touched with the justice system. It's just how are they already not included in the plan?

So, I think. Miss Connolly, I don't know if you have any thoughts on this, but what I would say initially is that, um. We've identified specific populations that we're keeping numbers and data on. One of the reasons that this was, we wanted to call this out specifically is because we have partners in the county that work directly with families and individuals, like through the great work at the District Court Resource Center, through Raymond Hall, through our different courts. And so asking them to be partners in this work will help support people that just touch the justice system in any way, shape or form as to the, we have so many priorities We do, but this is a priority that we're asking those that are in the justice world to help us with. And then we have other groups that we are prioritizing, like the veterans group. I'm not gonna talk to the, well, I might talk to the veterans court, but I'm not gonna talk to other organizations around that. So this plan is countywide and we're trying to pull on all the different experts to try and address the different ways that people enter the homelessness system.

Okay, yeah. Okay. Thank you very much.

Okay. Any other questions? Not seeing any. All those in favor of adopting Council Amendment Number 6, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Council Member Ayala, we're going to go to you for Number 7.

Thank you, Chair. I move Council Amendment Number 7.

It's been moved and seconded that we approve Council Amendment Number 7. Ms. Connolly, can you tell us what this last amendment does?

Yes, this amendment requests the Finance and Enterprise Services Department, in partnership with the Human Services Department, to add some additional data to one of Pierce County's homeless data dashboards. The additional data that's requested is in regards to the Landlord Liaison Program, which facilitates housing placements for people who are homeless in units in the county. And so some of that data that is being requested to be made available online are the number of landlords engaged in this program, the number of active units, Um, number of success, a number of successful housing placements. This requests historical data if available and then, if not starting to collect that data and and add it to the dashboard annually. Thank you council member to speak to your amendment.

Thank you chair. Um, the underlying, um. the the underlying bill has some really great direction around expanding access to the landlord liaison program and in reviewing this realize we don't necessarily have that strong data set to know who's being placed through what coordinated entry pathway and so The request really is to start tracking this data to see then what can we do to either advertise this, work with folks that want to promote this, understand the challenges behind it, and also understand what parts of Pierce County need a bit more attention or coordination in terms of working with those in the private sector or those that have a place that can house individuals.

Okay, thank you. Her brain is forward. Council member Cooper. You have a question or comment. Yes, thank you.

Madam chair. I just was curious. Is this information that they could access whether you requested it or not?

Oh, is the question if the human services department and. Like, if the departments could access the data.

I mean, does it need its own part in the ordinance to use that information? Because it just seems to me it's something they might access regardless of it being asked for or not because it looks helpful.

So I will look to the Human Services Department to see if they can respond to the question about if they already have access to this data. I believe that, yeah. Go ahead, Devin. Or Ms. Isaacson.

Good afternoon, Devon Isaacson. I'm the Acting Community Services Manager of Human Services. To answer your question, some of the data is already collected and some of the data will be collected in new contracts starting January 1 of 2027. The data that is already collected is the landlord, number of landlords. The data that is not collected right now is entry into HMIS for those people that exit into permanent housing from the Landlord Liaison Program. So we are gonna ask that whoever is granted those funds or awarded those funds in 2027, start collecting that data.

Okay, thank you. thank you any additional questions on this amendment seeing none all those in favor of adopting council amendment number seven say aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you i'm going to pause and see if there's any well there are no other paper amendments any other questions or comments before we open this up for public comment Not seeing any. So at this time, I'd like to invite members of the public to provide comments on proposal R2026-146 as amended. Please state your name if you'd like it on the record and keep your remarks to three minutes or less and direct your comments to the chair. I didn't actually grab the sign-in sheet. So if anybody in chamber, I see a couple of familiar faces. So I'm assuming you're here to speak to this one. We'll just have you say your name. We'll start with you.

Thank you so much. I think I'm first on the list anyway, so I'm not breaking protocol. Good afternoon, Chair Hitchin and members of the Council. My name is Michael Yoder. I serve as the Executive Director at Associated Ministries, a Pierce County nonprofit that leads key aspects of our community's homeless response system. I come before you this afternoon to share my endorsement of the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness as amended and encourage you to adopt it. From the perspective of my staff and I, as well as what I hear from peers in the service provider community, there is consensus that this plan effectively represents our voices and ideas. The process has been described as being grounded in data, community input, and the lived experience of people who have experienced homelessness, and I can affirm that this has been the case. I believe this plan can achieve its stated goals to strengthen governance, improve service delivery, expand housing, and better align resources across systems. So I urge the council to adopt the comprehensive plan to end homelessness because I believe it is an actionable roadmap that we can all follow on our shared journey to end homelessness in Pierce County. Thank you for your consideration. Let's get going. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Um, next we had, um, it looks like Brenda sign up, but there wasn't a item. So it's Brenda here to speak to this 1. To this, the comprehensive plan.

My name is Brenda Lumis, and I'm here to address my effects and been impacted by the homeless. I lived in New Tacoma, senior apartments, and they left four set-asides open, which was for homeless. Not knowing that the innocent people not on drugs and seniors live there. I opened an elevator, came open there as they were smoking fentanyl. I hit the ground. I almost died last year in April. Police department wrote a report, fire department. I got a list of calls at ministries. The health department wouldn't come out because I wasn't big enough to address this. I needed someone bigger to me to inspect it, but the fire department did. I went every which way on this list that I was handed to to help me. What I see the help is for them. They are impacting our world. They're impacting innocent people. My body was red. I couldn't catch my breath. And they told me if my heart was bad, I would have died. This is what's going on when you open the doors to homeless. I think they're being enabled. And I think my cousin, he's a warden of one of the jails in our county. And I think we need a place like that that has rituals and things that are in place. Not everybody knows how to deal with them. They have treatment. They have counselors on board. They have all this because right now you're sifting everything out here, this landlord, this place, this place. Get one place that's structured. That's all I'm saying. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next, we have Theresa, and that's all that's formally said they wanted to speak. So after Theresa, others will be welcome, and then we'll go online.

Hello, I'm Teresa Power Drudis. Thanks for listening to me, Chair Hitchens, and the crew. I wrote my comments already, and I'm sure you all found them to be riveting, so I won't repeat those. But I do want to address a couple of things. One is that first of all, yes, yes, please move this forward. We need to start moving forward and we can't keep revising it. I'm sure we can make some iterative changes as we go along. But one of my concerns is about this, it's not about Amendment 4 per se, it's about the fact that all these wonderful 2% increases sound really good, but if we do not, at the same time, Increase housing available to people at 30% AMI or less, it's impossible. This can't happen. So it's like telling someone to make a dinner for 15 with a peanut. So please tie this somehow to the fact that if we don't get more housing for people in those categories, you're not going to do it. We're not gonna do it. The other thing I want to say is that you have these wonderful resources out here and some very bright people who are working in agencies, you've heard some of them today, who spend a lot of time thinking about this. And Sally Perkins is one of those people. I'm sure you've seen her 19-page document that she wrote about how to build more accountability in this to make it more resilient when looked at by HUD folks. I mean, she's really got her I hope you'll pay the same attention to that as you do to people that you pay the kind of money that she deserves for what she does. So please do hear that. And when you're reading the comments of people, not just mine, I hope you will read mine, but read the comments of the people who are saying kind of, Uninformed things, that's a signal that we are not getting the word out about the reality. We are not busting the myths in the ways that we could. And that's the role of not just the county, but all of us. So I hope you will engage in more myth busting as you go along. And the last thing I want to say is that You have an amazing resource here. Devin keeps showing up, Mary keeps showing up, Valerie keeps showing up to hear from us who are working on this and they hearten us, they give us clear information. I know they're giving you clear information back and you should give them all a raise. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Anyone else in chambers? come to the podium, you have up to three minutes, and we're now using the system with the little sock there in front of you instead of the Zoom screen or so.

I'd like to say that this current plan doubles down on policies that have already been proven to fail. To solve homelessness, you have to stop enabling it. No more free housing, free food, or free money. Why are these people gonna work if you're already giving them everything they want for free? It's because you're incentivizing homelessness Now more people view it as a viable option instead of something to be feared like they used to. If you end all homeless programs, maybe within a year or so, there won't be a fucking crisis anymore. Ooh, sorry. There won't be a crisis. If you don't have the courage to make the right decisions, then resign.

Thank you for your comments. Anyone else in chambers? Okay, we'll go online, Mr. Dominique.

For any member of the public wishing to provide comment on proposal number R2026-146, please press raise hand icon and zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we have six hands at this time, Madam Chair. I will call them off as they appear on my screen. First, we have a username, Reed Carolyn. Please state your name for the record and you have three minutes.

Hi, this is Carolyn Reed. I'm currently the Board Chair for Associated Ministries, the Board Chair President, sorry. Good afternoon, Chair Hitchens and other council members of Pierce County. On behalf of the Board of Directors Executive Committee of Associated Ministries, I'm here to thank the Pierce County Council and the many community partners who helped develop the comprehensive plan to end homelessness. This plan reflects both the complexity of the challenge before us and the collective commitment of our community to meet it. Homelessness affects every corner of Pierce County and touches the lives of our neighbors, families, communities, and businesses. The good news is that we know what works, and this plan provides a clear, thoughtful roadmap for strengthening governance, improving service delivery, expanding housing opportunities, and better aligning resources to achieve lasting results. We are especially encouraged by the plan's focus on collaboration and accountability. No single organization or sector can solve homelessness alone. Progress will require all of us, the government, nonprofits, faith communities, businesses, and residents, working together toward a common goal. We strongly urge Pierce County to adopt this plan and commit to its implementation. With sustained leadership, partnership, and investment, we can make meaningful progress towards functionally zero homelessness in our county and ensure that more of our neighbors have a safe place to call home. Together, we have an opportunity not only to respond to homelessness, but to build a stronger and more compassionate community for everyone. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next, we have Lori Lee Littman. Please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Yes, my name is Laura Lee. I wanted to say that I fully am behind this, you know, especially I'm a disabled veteran and especially helping my fellow veterans. There's a lot more resources for them at the Veterans Homeless Outreach Program at the American Lake Campus and Building 148 as well. And I just wanted to say regarding Councilmember Kruver, What she was trying to say earlier is that she didn't want any groups specifically mentioned, which means the LGBT community, which many of my fellow veterans are. So she's just being homophobic and discriminating against the LGBT community because she didn't want them mentioned. um let's be clear so and regarding what that gentleman just said about quote giving free stuff out and incentivizing homeless our taxes are supposed to help us and help the people in need like my fellow veterans who cannot work due to disability or otherwise thank you thank you for your comments

Next we have Angeline Esguardo. Sorry, I forgot your last name wrong. Please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Angeline Esguardo. You were close, very close. I'm from Pierce County District 2. So homelessness is a beast of a subject and this comprehensive plan with new approved amendments shows progress headed in the right direction. even though some more ways to go, of course. There's always room for improvement, right? So I support the comprehensive plan currently and the resources associated with it, along with the openness of the scenario mentioned by Jamie Hitchens of how homelessness can occur due to various reasons, not just the stigma attached reasons, but in the case of having multiple arrests within a single family, even in a large family, if you're missing so many family members due to incarceration, especially wrongful incarceration, where they have been proven innocent and due to discriminatory policies, or misuse of conduct and protocols and state standards and county standards and even city standards to where it just tumbles down like a domino effect on the families. There's so much hardship that presents itself to each as an individual, also to each household, and also to the family as a whole, to where it really is not the fault of any of those individuals, any of those households, and any of those families, even the big old family like mine has been, to where there will be no money, There will be evictions. There will be anything that can additionally cause homelessness for extended durations of time. It's hard to get back on your feet. I appreciate the mention of that because you don't hear that very often when it comes to homelessness, especially when it comes to those cases where they can be overlooked in other scenarios, in other cases, and even in other places. They're not mentioned everywhere. So thank you for mentioning that. Thank you for being more open-minded. Thank you for having more approved and more additional options listed on the comprehensive plan. I look forward to seeing even more things offered to where it's not just three things handed out. There are people still looking for work on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, even through all the hardships occurring today. So thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments.

Next, we have Trisha Munson. Please state your name for the record. And you have three minutes.

Hi, my name is Tricia Munson. Good afternoon, Chair Hitchin and Council, and I am a constituent in Pierce County. Additionally, I have been doing this work here in Pierce County for over a decade. I am asking for Council to approve this plan and move it forward. While there are parts of this plan that may not be perfect, we have an opportunity to make one of the best steps we can, and that is to do something different than what's been being done because it's obvious we need to make changes. I wish there was time for every element of each part of this plan. So everyone community members and council would have a clear insight into which each of these steps actually encompass. There's no plan that's going to make everyone happy with every item, but we would miss huge demographics of individuals if we followed only 1 person's point of view. I don't believe in accountability without a level of compassion, which is different than enabling. And I don't believe in compassion without a level of accountability. And that doesn't just extend to the people who are seeking services in our community, but those who provide the services and those who oversee the services and those who are handling the finances. One does not work without the other. As a constituent in Pierce County, who's been doing this work for over a decade, I'm encouraged by the current vision, the willingness to make changes and the leadership right now, even if it is only interim at this time, hopefully gets not. I am absolutely delighted to see that there have been things included that should have been included all along. And I'm also grateful to see that there are things that are going to receive less emphasis because they're currently not working. So, again, I am asking and encouraging council to approve this plan and I am encouraging the continued positive changes that we're seeing across the county leadership specifically in human services. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next we have Juanita Arnold, please state your name for the record and you have 3 minutes.

Good afternoon Chair Hitchen and Council Members. My name is Oneida Arnold. Excuse me, I have a bit of a frog. I live in District 7. I'm riding in strong support of Pierce County's comprehensive plan to end homelessness. I appreciate the work that has gone into developing a plan that focuses on coordinating jurisdictions towards a more unified and effective homeless response system. to support our communities there are many reasons why people fall on into homelessness housing affordability and availability have been verified to be the major reason in all categories families use 18 to 24 Veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, people exiting behavioral health crisis systems, people exiting incarceration and other populations with unique needs. Veterans are the only group that is experiencing a decline in homelessness. This progress is a result of targeted federal investment through HUD Veterans Affairs supportive housing and supportive services for veteran families programs. This success underscores the importance of pairing sustained, well-funded interventions with stable housing and robust wraparound services in effectively housing our community. On the other hand, elders are falling into homelessness at alarming rates. As our families, which puts our children at risk. Without stable housing families struggle to maintain consistent employment and keep their children and keeping their children enrolled in the same schools. I'm a retired teacher, by the way. For those who have spent their whole lives stably housed, later life homelessness is typically precipitated by traumatic experiences like the onset of health issues, death of a spouse, job loss, eviction, all of which then causes a housing crisis. I urge the county to approve and implement this well-focused coordinated regional approach to solve our homelessness crisis and house our residents. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And next we have Sally Perkins. Please state your name for the record. You have three minutes.

Sally Perkins, District 4. Last week, I brought an accountability framework for the updated Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness to the Health and Human Services Committee to add to the plan. The framework is detailed and thorough, and given the large number of comments that you've received about the plan, I suspect you may not have had a chance to read it all the way through and thoroughly. But here we are on the cusp of council action on the plan, and so I am here to ask you to approve the accountability framework as part of the plan. Why? Because we have to know the answer to, did this activity or strategy help a homeless person get into stable housing and move toward a stable life? The current plan does have some performance measures and it feels like Amendments 2 and 4 try to move in this direction, but I'm not sure they're sufficient to answer that key question. The accountability framework builds on the existing performance measures and could build on new ones as well and adds more measures for a comprehensive approach to accountability across all of the plans, goals, and strategies. Without a comprehensive accountability framework or something very similar, you will not know what works and what doesn't or how to answer criticisms, as you heard today, of services like drug treatment or gaps in services like mental health. You could be flying blind with a whole bunch of money. Since the county is the accountable entity for virtually everything in homeless services, you can't afford to be flying by with a whole bunch of money. Please approve and add the accountability framework for the plan. Lastly, last evening at the Charter Review Commission meeting, the Pierce County Sheriff used the following language to describe homeless people, transient hobos. For people with addictions, junkie, pothead, frackhead. Are these the official attitudes of Pierce County law enforcement? If so, please say so clearly. If not, please refute them clearly. It is curious to me that the Pierce County Sheriff feels qualified to identify moral failings as belonging to our less fortunate neighbors and those of us who advocate on their behalf. No one is perfect. But what I have learned in going out to help my homeless and sometimes addicted neighbors is the real moral failing is the unwillingness to see the basic humanity of every one of our neighbors, even those who struggle or maybe especially those who struggle and to refuse to do anything to help them and calling them names is not going to help. Approve the accountability framework as part of the plan and refute the Pierce County Sheriff. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And there are no more hands at this time, Madam Chair.

Seeing no other hands, I'm going to close public comment, bring it back before the council, and see if there are comments or questions. We'll start with Council Member Murrell. Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, I'd like to just say my appreciation to everyone who's worked on this. And I think there again, the depth of this document speaks to the different fingerprints on it. My concern is the rush to finalize this. This is a 60 page plus document. And those of us who haven't been intimately involved on some of the committees, we just saw it, I just saw it over the weekend. We've had over 15 amendments to this document. I have yet to see a clean resolution on where all this fits together. My recommendation would be to continue this for a few more weeks so I can digest part of this. Now there again, this council doesn't operate around me. So if you feel the need to move this forward, then I will probably make a verbal amendment to accept the accountability framework of Sally Perkins. I have no idea how you're gonna implement that. but given a couple weeks we could probably figure it out um so your choice on how we're going to move for this council's choice on how they're going to move forward i agree with one of the previous speakers that unless we have the housing available this plan is going to be a failure i know when we passed the marine howard housing plan there was a portion in there for 30 imi and below it is i understand that it's not enough but we need to get going on that also the comment pertaining behavioral health mental health and personal accountability i just need to make sure that that is in this document Delaying or continuing this would help me immensely. And so I'm just kind of curious to see what my colleagues want to do. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there additional comments or questions? Vice Chair Herrera.

Thank you, Chair. I agree with Council Member Morrell. This is a big lift. I mean, we've i've been in the county i've been here about four years and uh you know we've done data uh driven and informed uh decisions for homelessness um and you know in the past five years we've spent millions and millions of dollars on homeless initiatives and we've still seen double-digit increases in homelessness so we need to get this right and i think if we have someone who well we got some good input i read I have it right here. I read what she wrote, and there's a lot of stuff in here that can probably help get this right. And I think pumping the brakes on this a little bit to get it right, I think it would be, would help this make it better. So I agree with Council Member Murrow. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Iombe.

I am curious Devon My inkling right now is to pass this as presented and then work on some of Miss Perkins suggestions, which I have looked briefly through and I think that there's merit to them but as some of the testimonials have been is that this is a big leap in the right direction, and I'm saying rather than pump brakes, pass this and then work out that detail and addendum. Is that something that is possible? to pass it and then work out some of those, I don't usually react to just one person, but Sally is one of those who knows her stuff and I value it. And so is that a possibility that we could implement some of those things after passage?

Ms. Connolly, we'll go to you with comments or thoughts and then potentially department staff.

Yes, the plan can be amended and the annual report also, the new section requiring an annual report also requests that if there are any recommended amendments that they could be sent at that time. I believe, though, that there's nothing stopping the council from amending at any time. Is that right, Ms. Isaacson? Okay, yes.

Okay. All right. Well, in that case, I urge colleagues to pass this and then work out some of the implementation of Ms. Perkins' suggestions because I think that there's a lot of merit to it, and I think I have no problem with that.

Thank you. Additional comments or questions? Okay. Council Member Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. I do appreciate the comments that have been put forward, and I do believe there's a lot of merit to having an outlined accountability framework. And this is where I would need to look to staff. Is there a possibility of us to include the direction to build out an accountability framework that gives us time to work on that and ensure that we are crossing those T's and dotting those I's?

Yes, you could include in the resolution direction either to the Human Services Department and or Council staff to build out that accountability framework and return it at a certain time.

Without having everything spelled out today?

Yes, if the direction is to develop an accountability framework, yeah, you could just say that. And I'll also look to go to Susan to make sure I'm not speaking out of turn.

Ms. Long, you wanna help us out and make sure we're doing this correctly if this happens?

Yeah, no, Mary was on the right track. For sure, you could amend into the document before you a new section requesting the department and council staff to move forward and work on the accountability framework and report back to the council by a certain date, at which time then you could look at the document and make amendments. to that as well.

Thank you.

Councilman Moriala, do you have thoughts or do you want to see what Councilman Moriala wants to say?

I'd be happy to hear everyone, but I would be in support of something that allows us that opening to ensure that we put something forward and giving us the time to really vet everything.

Okay. So that wasn't a motion. I've got Vice Chair Herrera.

Thank you for letting me speak on it a second time. I think Council Member Morrell was talking about pushing this forward cleanly. I mean, if we pass it the way it is without probably the most important aspect of this, the accountability framework, I think we're sending a message and that that part isn't important to us. And I think having a clean, ready-to-go bill for staff to know what right looks like moving forward, I think is real important. I don't know what the rush is, but, you know, We've seen where accountability hasn't been doing very well up in King County, where the King County Regional Homeless Authority has failed at this. So we don't want to be like them. And I think that accountability framework will help us move forward on that. So thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I first, too, want to commend the staff, all of the organizations that worked to put this together. It's a Herculean efforts that were made. And what came forth was a lot of good things. But there's also some jurisdictions that I have a difficulty with in that really we're all competing for dollars. There's only so much available to the county. We're competing with needed infrastructure, education, the environment, fish, litigation, public safety, healthcare. The state wants their dollars. from our constituents for a lot of the same things and the feds want dollars. And having an accountability piece that is going to measure the success of what the details are, I think is profoundly needed in this plan because of all that is at stake in this. I think that needs to be more time. I appreciate what Council Member Morrell had put forth in ideas for delaying this. I don't think it's something that if we don't do it today, it's not going to be the end of the world. I, um. I just would appreciate more time on that in looking at being able to measure all of the inputs and outputs. Thank you manager.

Thank you. We will go to council member Denson.

Thank you, Chair, and I'm not part of the Health and Human Services Committee either, so I've been catching up with all of you and listening to all the comments, and I certainly read Ms. Perkins' accountability framework and have the utmost respect for Sally Perkins. I agree, I think all of us agree that accountability is extremely important. extremely important issue for us to address in Pierce County. We know it. We hear it from our constituents all of the time. I know I hear from my constituents. This is definitely one of, I would say, the top three issues that we are dealing with on their behalf here in Pierce County. I'm concerned that although Sally Perkins is brilliant, and again, I hold her in the utmost respect, I don't think it's prudent and I don't think it's us doing our due diligence and respecting other stakeholders just to accept the one framework, although I know it was very thoughtfully presented I think it will take a bit of time and we should do our due diligence with other stakeholders, some of which are in this room, some of which are online. A lot of folks that are watching here today and listening to what we do to take the time to make sure that we've got the appropriate accountability framework I don't want it to take forever, though, because that can tend to happen. So I think what I'm going to suggest, and this is really totally off the cuff here, is because we've heard from our stakeholders that have been following this process and have been contributing, we've heard from them the importance and the helpfulness of this document, moving it forward today. I would encourage us to do that, but to talk through here, which we're doing, an amendment that talks about asking the department within a fairly short period of time, and I'm gonna look to their face to see what that time might be, a relatively short period of time to take Ms. Perkins' document to gather the folks that were so instrumental in putting this plan together and then come back to us just within maybe two months with a suggested accountability framework. You know what, it's never gonna be perfect. but we do have some brilliant minds that have already been thinking through this, like Ms. Perkins and some of her colleagues. And we've got brilliant staff at our department. We've got lots of stakeholders that spend all the time in the world talking and thinking about this issue. So I think we can come up with something as clean as possible. so that's that's my suggestion i can take a stab at an amendment and i'm going to look to miss long as well and that would be to create a new section and i know others that have been thinking of it please jump in okay did you want to did you want to try councilman very gala

she's going to ask a question before you make just a couple questions for the department there are several convening tables that come together that have supported human services before to the point that councilmember just made around what would it look like to adopt an amendment crafted by just one individual as opposed to multiple stakeholders We fully understand Ms. Perkins is an incredibly wise individual and very well-connected, so not to assume anything may diverge too far from that, but to go through the process of doing this, what might that timeline look like for the Human Services Department?

That is a great question, and I will say that the process to write this plan was bringing all the interest holders together. And so if we're to adopt an accountability framework, I would recommend the same process. This is a community plan. It was written by the community for the community, and that would be my recommendation. Yeah.

if we were to make a call of our community to convene around this action, How responsive do you feel a community will be to come to a table to have this dialogue?

I have all the confidence in the world in the interest holders that hold homelessness close to both the work they do and their personal lives. I know that we would get a great showing of people that wanted to be a part of creating that framework. We had an amazing showing to write this plan in the first place. Over 150 people showed up over three feedback sessions to give us input and be a part of writing the plan. So you have to advertise it, put the feelers out there, but Mike Yoder, standing behind me, Executive Director of Associated Ministries, he's a prime example of someone that is standing up for this plan and is excited to get started so we can implement some of these great things.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you. Devin, don't go too far in case this is for you as well. Council Member Morrell.

I'm just kind of interested in the comment you just said. We just passed 15 amendments without it going to your committee. How can we get away with that when... make a motion to accept the accountability framework just like any other amendment that we pass on this council. I don't need to go to a community group to get an amendment passed.

No, I understood Council Member Ayala's question to be if you were to take one person's recommendation for accountability framework versus taking it to the community, and please stop me if I'm wrong, and if we could convene the community to get additional feedback. But yes, you are correct. You could pass that today.

Yeah, I mean, any one of us. Your amendment, you didn't take it to the committee to get it passed, so why can't we put some accountability framework into this right now?

I think that anyone could, and I fully support it.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. I have a question now.

The motion I was going to make originally was to create a new section and direct the department to do the work and recommend an accountability framework and bring that back to council by August 31st. That's what I was thinking. I know that's fast, but I also know that we want the accountability framework in place as we are rolling out this new plan. But then I was thinking, do you actually need councils, maybe we want this, but do we do need our approval or could we direct the department to create and implement an accountability framework which means that we don't have to bring this back and amend the comprehensive plan to end homelessness. We're directing you, having faith with you and your stakeholders to take Ms. Perkins' document, massage it, make sure you feel comfortable with it, and just implement it. Is that possible? That way you don't have to come back and amend it, the plan, which would be nice, I think.

Sorry, can you repeat the question? Is it possible to give direction for the Human Services Department to create and implement?

To create and implement an accountability framework. Yes, yes. So it doesn't have to come back and we don't have to amend the Comprehensive Plan to end homelessness. I mean, eventually we will, but we don't have to do it in two months.

The council could do that. Okay, that's... What do you guys think?

I'm just thinking that streamlines things. Yes. Now, I guess the danger is that you create and implement a framework that we don't like, right? That's the risk. So I'm going to stop there and see if there's any comments. Okay. Before I make that actual comment.

Going to council member Alice.

Thank you chair. I, um, I appreciate council member. Denson's last point, and I would add that regardless of what my personal feelings are about. an accountability framework, the fact that it is put together by people that work in the field, have the lived expertise and have those boots in the ground, I'm not going to put forward my personal bias of whether or not I like it to what the experts are saying. And so knowing that we can, give direction to the Human Services Department to engage in this. I would like to make a motion that the Human Services Department work with the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness Implementation Advisory Board to develop an accountability framework for the plan that was transmitted and bring forward to us and it's i so period and it's something that i will look forward to in the future knowing that if it's not implemented there is an opportunity for that to be formalized okay i'm going to try my best to say that motion back but i'm going to look at miss call and see if she needs a minute

So a couple of things, I didn't hear a date. You just said go forth and do. Okay. Ms. Call, are you ready for me to attempt to say it back? Well, that'd be easier. You want me to try? Okay, what I heard was a motion to have the department go to the Comprehensive Plan and Homelessness Implementation Advisory Board, so the IAB, to develop an accountability framework and then implement it. Anybody object to that frame? Was I close?

Yes, she did say bring back to us at the end.

Oh, and bring it back to, was there a date? I did not bring it back to us. Okay. So, Council Member Denson.

Okay, when you read that back, I liked it better than I heard it the first time because you did, so I just want to confirm that it's to develop and implement the accountability framework, not just develop it and then it take forever for us to put it into place. Okay, I like that. How about I make an amendment to the amendment adding the date of August 31st? I'm looking at Devin to see how big your eyes are. So I know I'm seeing, I'm seeing, I think the issue is... October 30th? October 30th? Maybe? I just want to put a date on it so it's not forever.

Is there a way to take a short recess and have a conversation about what it is that people want? We can actually make sure, but we're in the middle. Something's on the table, so I don't know if I can do that. Can we call a quick recess and talk through the language? We can't as a quorum, but... Okay, Council Member Morrell who started this whole thing, I'm gonna go to you.

Okay, do you think that this council could come forward with an accountability amendment in a couple of weeks to put in this resolution that would save them a whole lot of work?

Uh, potentially, I mean. I, I don't know, I have not had, like, we have not talked about specifically the things that were in the accountability framework. We got it relatively quickly. So, um. But it is something that we could do.

I guess what I'm saying is a couple week delay to get it as close, and I agree with my colleagues, nothing's gonna be perfect. But if we could do the work, the heavy lifting, to come up with an accountability process or a framework, Save human services from having to do more work. We're already telling them to reinvent the world as it is and You know, then let's see if it if it works I mean, I I think we're capable of coming up with some kind of an accountability framework and

okay heard um we have a couple lights on we do have an amendment on the table though and then i did propose uh kind of the ball we'll go i don't know between councilmember herrera and councilmember krueger who spoke so we'll go to the vice chair and then we'll go online i didn't i didn't push your button

Councilmember Ayala, did you push your button? I did. Okay. I want to reemphasize that for me, my priority is to take direction from those that are working in the field and with the lived experience. So though we may have the capacity to and the willingness to and the desires to, it's not necessarily stemming from a place of experience.

Thank you. Councilmember Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was wondering if someone could elaborate on the repercussions of waiting two weeks.

Ms. Connolly, is there anything time sensitive related to us delaying this if we were to continue it?

No, this is due to the state by July 1st. So getting it done, that's what it's due to the state.

So that was the concern that we had. Council Member Krueger is giving the department, because we've made, to Council Member Morrell's point, 14 amendments, and they need to actually get something drafted and put out. And if we delay this a couple of weeks, they can't go in. Well, they can start, but it's challenging to get some of that work done. So that was part of the thinking and why we started talking about this a month and a half ago in committee. So that's part of the thinking. So I've got a couple more lights up. We're on the amendment, but Council Member Krueger, do you have additional questions before we move? No, I do not. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Turned off. Council Member Denson.

Yeah, I just think that highlighting the deadline information is important, which is why I think that the amendment giving, we want an accountability framework. I'm hearing that from everybody, giving the department the authority to develop it and go forth and implement it, knowing that in the future if, you know, we might want to tweak it in the updates of the plan and we'll be asking questions, but they are, to Councilmember Ayala's point, they are the experts. They work with their commissions. So I think this gets the plan moving forward on deadline and it gets the accountability framework implemented and institutionalized, which I think we are all very supportive of.

Thank you. Ms. Call, can you read the amendment as it currently stands? No, Ms. Long, yes.

I just have a clarifying question, if that's okay. So the motion, which Ms. Call will read momentarily, does not, as I understand it, amend the proposal that is before you. It's just, is that correct? It's not a motion to add a section or a new recital. It's just a request to the department aside from the proposal. That's what I'm hearing.

That is what I heard, but not how I interpreted it. So that would be a question to the maker of the motion. Did you want it actually added to the resolution as one of the sections, Council Member Ayala?

Sure. And then we would have it in the plan that there is an accountability framework? Yes. Yes.

Okay. So... Can I read it back? Okay. Ms. Call, can you read it again to make sure we're on the same page?

All right. I'm going to insert amend the proposal into the motion. So Councilmember Ayala moved to amend the proposal to direct the Human Services Department to work with the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness. Implementation Advisory Board. Yes. To develop and implement an accountability framework and bring it back to us.

Okay. Okay, we're going to have you read it again for some reason. We're processing and maybe get a little closer to the mic. I know there's an echo. Okay.

All right. Council Member Ayala moved to amend the proposal to add a new section to direct the Human Services Department to work with the comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness Advisory Board. Implementation Advisory Board to develop and implement an accountability framework and bring it back to us.

It was moved and seconded. I'm really not going to try and say it again. Is there additional comments or questions on the motion before us? Council Member Denson.

I would really love to have a date. So is this the appropriate time to propose an amendment to the amendment?

Council Member Denson, while I appreciate the want to get a date because we're saying to develop and implement I don't know that they could implement an accountability plan the way this is phrased. So they could get it written and come back to us. But because we're saying the way the motion was written, they're actually doing the stuff and then coming back to us. So I'm trying to figure out.

I think you- How about at the very end, it ends saying that, Ms. Call, what's the very end of that amendment?

and bring it back to council?

How about they bring back the plan to council by December 1st? I did not even look at the calendar to see if that's a day that even works. So they're not actually developing and implementing it by December 1st. They're just bringing it back to us by December 1st so that we have a date. I trust you guys. I do. But I just think that that's helpful before the end of the year. And I'm going to look at the calendar to see if that even makes sense. And feel free if you guys have other thoughts about that. It's a Tuesday.

Wow. Wow. Nice job.

There. Council Member Krueger. Thank you, Manager. I just wanted to agree. I would rather see the plan before it's implemented. So this accomplishes that as well.

We can get feedback.

Okay. So the motion before us is to amend the amendment to add that they are coming back to council by December 1st. Yeah, it's just the very end of the amendment by December 1st, 2026.

Bring the plan back to council by December 1st. You said plan. Yeah. Correct? Okay. Do you want me to reread it one more time? Yes, please. Okay. Move to amend the proposal to add a new section to direct the Human Services Department to work with the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness Implementation Advisory Board to develop and implement an accountability framework and bring the plan back to Council by December 1st.

Is there a second to adding the by December 1st? 2028. 2026.

I'll second.

Okay. So it's been moved and seconded that we add a date of December 1st, 2026 to the end of the current amendment. Is there any further discussion on that? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Ms. Call, I hate to make you read it again, but just so that everybody knows where we are, can you read the now amended amendment?

Councilmember Ayala moved to amend the proposal to add a new section to direct the Human Services Department to work with the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness Implementation Advisory Board to develop and implement an accountability framework and bring back to the Council by December 1st, 2026. Okay.

It's been moved and seconded. We've amended it. Is there any further discussion on the amendments? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Deep breath, okay. So we already did, good job following directions. So we've already done public comment on this. This has now been amended. Looking to see if there's any further discussion before I ask the clerk to call the roll. so um i will just conclude with uh deeply appreciate the the work that went into getting this plan where it is i look forward to seeing the additional work this is a This is a working document. It is not something that's sitting on a shelf. It's not gonna sit in the back of someone's office. It is truly something that we are going to be working on and implementing with our IAB, with the Continuum of Care, with council, and with the many, many, many partners that help us do this work and having a plan with now potentially now adding an accountability framework and all of the other measures that we are actually putting in there and saying collect this data so that we know that the investments are working and then we can find the ones that aren't working and then change things but if we don't actually commit to like the data and the accountability measures and the work we are just dumping money into something that may or may not be working, which is not good governance. So truly appreciate the work that came before us and the many stakeholders that have provided feedback and energy behind this. I'm gonna ask the clerk to call the roll on the adoption of R2026-146 as amended.

Councilmember Yambe?

Aye.

Councilmember Denson? Aye. Councilmember Morrell? Pass. Councilmember Herrera?

Nay.

Councilmember Kruver?

Aye.

Can you restate that please? No. Kruver says nay. Nay. Councilmember Ayala? Aye. Councilmember Morrell?

Nay.

Councilmember Hitchen?

Aye. You have four ayes and three nays. With four ayes and three nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. We now have item number two, which is resolution 2026-157. Councilmember Yambe for a motion.

Make a motion that we move proposal number 2026-157.

It's been moved and seconded. Can the clerk read it into the record?

Proposal number R2026-157, a resolution of the Pierce County Council approving the Human Services Department and the Allocation Advisory Commission for Prevention Programs 2026 to 2027 funding recommendations for youth violence prevention services funding.

Thank you. And this afternoon, we have Ms. Waterland to brief us on this item.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee, Carrie Waterland, staff for the council. As the title implies, what you have before you is approving the 2026-2027 Youth Violence Prevention Funding Recommendations from the Human Services Department and the Allocation Advisory Commission for Prevention Programs. By way of background, state law authorizes that county legislative bodies can impose 1 tenth of 1% sales tax. for use for criminal justice purposes. In 1993, the Pierce County Council adopted an ordinance to impose that tax and directed that 80% of the revenue being collected from that tax be spent on traditional criminal justice purposes with the remaining 20% of that revenue collected being spent on prevention services. The 2026-2027 prevention services funding is allocated as follows. 13% goes to Human Services for Administration, 25% to the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, 52% of the services recommended by the Allocation Advisory Commission for Prevention Programs, that is what you have before you today, and then 10% for the County Council for Direct Appropriations. For a little bit of a summary, in January of 2026, the Human Services Department issued a request for proposals that was public for the 2027, or 2026, 2027, rather, funding for violence prevention programs. 42 eligible applications were received in response to the request for proposals. Applicants requested a total of over $4.7 million for 2026 programming and over $6.7 million for 2027 programming. Again, that is the request. The AAC met on May 4th of 2026 to review and score all of the applications and ultimately recommended 15 applications for 2026 and 26 for 2027. As you will find in Exhibit A, each application was scored with funding for 2026 and 2027 being awarded separately. The department does project that the funding for 2026 programming will last for approximately five months and will begin in August of 2026. Funding wouldn't start until you all approved that, so that's why there's a lag. The funding period for 2027 is expected to run a full 12 months. Agencies awarded for both funding in 2026 and 2027 will have a contract length that's projected to be from the date of execution to December 31st of 2027 for that full period of time. Agencies awarded 2027 funds only will be expected to have a 12-month contract period beginning of January 1st of 2027. Applications were required to use best practices or evidence-based models and were encouraged to use findings from the 2025 Youth Violence Prevention Needs Assessment, Youth Violence Prevention Needs Assessment to identify relevant risk and protective factors with applicants that aligned with the VIB-VP&A data with evidence-based or promising programs receiving higher ratings. The Human Services Department and the Allocation Advisory Commission for Prevention Programs submitted their funding recommendations to the Council on May 12, 2026 for review and approval. This was heard on June 2, 2026 in Health and Human Services and received a due pass. This has a de minimis fiscal impact. A community impact note is available And Madam Chair, you will find that an amendment is available as well after this received a due pass in Health and Human Services and error was discovered. And with that, that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. There's also a representative from the department here.

Thank you. Are there questions on this item before we take up the amendment, Vice Chair Herrera?

Just a quick question on the percentages of... the doling out of the money, like you had 13% for human services, 25% for the health department, and so on and so forth. Have those always been the same since 1993, or will those change over the years and have they changed for this year?

I will do some research to make sure that I'm accurate, but what I'll say is that I believe that those have remained the same. I don't think that that has changed, but I will look.

Thank you. Additional questions? Okay, not seeing any. Normally the chair doesn't make the motion when there's things going on, but I'm gonna make this motion to this amendment because it's a hard one to make, but it's what we're doing. I would like to move council amendment number one for R2026-157. It's been moved and seconded.

Ms. Waterland, can you explain what it does? Yes, Madam Chair. This amendment does a few different things. One, it corrects the authorized funding amounts that were outlined in the original proposal. Two, it clarifies that funding is approved for projects in ranked order up to the amount of available appropriations. Three, it gives contingent approval to the lowest six ranking projects that are recommended for calendar year 2027, only if sufficient funds become available. And lastly, it adds that the Human Services Department shall investigate and notify the Council and providers of potential funding opportunities, specifically in the behavioral health tax.

Thank you. Are there questions on this amendment? Vice Chair.

Just wondering if we've ever dipped into the behavior health tax or something like this before?

What I can let you know is that often providers who apply for this funding pot also apply for behavioral health tax programming, also apply for PASTA. So it may be, and I'll also let the department answer this if they've got a different answer. It might be a little bit hard to tease out because many people will have kind of funding streams that are braided for a few different purposes. And because these taxes, things like youth violence could have some mental health funding components to it. It's a little bit tough to tease that out. I will pause and say, Julie.

Hi, for the record, Julie Murray, Acting Human Services Director. I mean, it will not be a one-to-one. People are still going to have to meet the statutory requirements that it has a behavioral health purpose. But if you look at the list, there's particularly with the violence prevention and using the needs assessment, a lot of the best practices were focused to behavioral health issues, right? Having better conflict resolution skills, better relationships with your peers and your your parents and your support system so when we were looking at those that didn't receive funding you know we're in there there were quite a few that I we felt could be put to behavioral you know behavioral health tax monies so it would be its own RFP and I I will say and this could be something maybe you could even just discuss is And I think internally we were viewing this that there have been all these different RFPs that have been put out multiple, where this new one would be more directed to people who haven't received county funding. That they, for lack of a better words, were on the losing end of these RFPs. Because what we have seen is since the applications have increased so dramatically, the competition is stiffer. And so we, but we still have some people, if you look at them on an individual basis, seem to succeed in these RFPs better than others. And so we wanted to have that opportunity for those who maybe didn't rise to the top to have their own competition. If we look to just unexpended funds as well as return funds, delayed funds, it would be Off the top of my head right now would be about half a million dollars. And so 1 of the questions too, is your intentions if you want that to be spread broadly, or do you want that to be a subject of just. Unstated because if you look at those who are now on the wait list, they. received some substantial awards in terms of what they requested so i guess in our minds it was sort of like this would be for 27 because it does take time um kind of small awards looking at the more rural underserved areas looking across those rfps and seeing you know where are the where are those pockets that need to be filled but just haven't and i don't know if you have any thoughts on that or that direction that we were looking at

Thank you. I think as the maker of this amendment, one of the things I was looking for, for me, was looking at reaching out to organizations that didn't get funding. I know we heard quite clearly in committee from Red Barn, and there are other organizations that were removed. It was, again, we were not directing human services to go and give an allocate fund. There needs to be an RFP, so we assumed people would We would go through the whole regular role that we must do, which I agree with, but it was not. I had no intention of directing the department to only look at smaller groups, but I think. We could potentially. an amendment? No, you don't need to amend it.

I mean, we can do some of these things by conversation. It's just like, what is the desire of the group? And I think part of this is that I am sort of forecasting, we are getting ready to submit the PASTA resolution. And that was another competition where we had, you know, I think between both the early learning access, which behavioral health tax would not likely be, you know, available for that, but for the out of school programming. Again, there's a lot of worthwhile programs that were directed to providing sort of mental health, behavioral health services to kids outside of the school. I think between those two, there was about 50 applications and with the reduction in funding that we have due to sort of the sound transit slowdown is the group of disappointed applicants is going to be large when you spread it across all of these RFPs.

Yeah, funding for young people has really decreased in the last couple of years in all of these buckets. Council Member Denson.

Yes, thank you, Chair. I appreciate what Director Murray is sharing. I appreciate the thought that has gone to this. So I just wanted to express that In my opinion, it's not a matter of small organization or large organization for me. It's a matter of impact, right? How many youth are they impacting? What's the quality of their services? That and geographic coverage because our county is enormous. And so personally, if we're doing a separate RFP, I would want the department to use our excellent GIS staff to look at where we're missing, what gaps are there. And in rural areas, and I'll use the Key Peninsula as an example because we had communities and schools of Peninsula and Red Barn here expressing the devastation that they were not one of the awardees. But I'm sure there's organizations out in District 1 and 3, for example, that might have similar situations. I would say, or I would ask the department to look at organizations that are actually based in some of these communities because they know the families, they know the communities, the communities can get to them, these areas that don't have transportation or have very rural transportation. Either organizations that are actually based in the community or organizations that have past proven proven service to those communities because anybody can say that they're serving county-wide and they can say that there's a and i'm sure they want to but it's really challenging and there's so much need in the central area of the county that i would i would want to be sure that they already have the relationships out there and they can reach these kids and have the trust of these kids and families so those would be my comments It's important to make sure that we're really, really reaching the people and not just saying, oh, it's available. Well, it's not really available if you can't get there and you don't have any trust or relationships. Thank you.

Thank you for the comments. Any additional comments on this? Okay, so we'll reach out with further conversation as you develop this. So we have council amendment number one, just quick making sure there's no additional comments on this. Council Member Morrell. Thank you.

I'm tracking, tracking this. So Ms. Waterland, Council Member Herrera made a comment pertaining to the percentages Is it up to this council to allocate the percentages?

So thank you so much for that question. I had an assist from one of our fellow staffers who sent me the link really quickly. It's actually in code. So Pierce County code 4.28.130 does outline the prevention services are appropriated in the following way. And it does outline the 52%, the 13%, et cetera.

Okay, so if we wanted to geographically divide it up between seven districts, could we do that?

I think that there is an opportunity for you to look at the code. Ten percent is already of the funding allocated to the Pierce County Council. I think that I will also look over to Susan for an assist to see if there's anything that I'm somehow not understanding about the fact that Pierce County Council can look at the code and update. I would have to get back to you on that question. Yeah. I will do a little bit further looking.

In addition, I feel like the violence prevention dollars, this is the one pot of money that Councilmember You don't allocate because I thought we don't collect this inside the city limits of Tacoma. So, geographically, it would be. Almost all of us, but not. The sections, and then it gets so we, we have 10% that comes back to the council. To allocate through our offices. With the exception of district 4, because it is fully incorporated. So these are dollars for only unincorporated Pierce County. Many of us lean into our cities and towns to provide services to the unincorporated areas. Um, but. That is part of the crux around dividing it up geographically because we all have different amounts of unincorporated. Some are donut holes or pockets, and some are giant swaths of land that involve a volcano.

Well, I'm just following up on Councilmember Denson's comments pertaining to geographic, because it's just kind of like community needs funds that we have. Each one of us know where the dollars need to go, and obviously there's never enough, but when it comes to some of these important youth programs, there again, rural areas always seem to come up on the short end of the stick and so I'm just was just thinking out loud thank you thank you so we have council amendment number one before us appreciate the thinking

I'm going to pause and see. Actually, we're just going to ask. All those in favor of adopting Council Amendment Number 1, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. So that brings us to Proposal R2026-157. As amended, we are going to open this up for public comment. We'll start in chambers. Is there anyone in chambers that would like to address the Council on this item? Not seeing any, we will go online, Mr. Dominique.

For any member of the public that would like to provide comment on proposal number R2026-157, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we have one hand at this time, Madam Chair. Angelyn, please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

So, Catherine, council members, once again, so I have a comment on a comment that was mentioned by one of the council members. The term or the phrase, it's available, that you see on signs, that you see on newly crafted documents or forms in terms of human services, what does that really mean when it comes to the Department of Human Services or even just the subject as a whole? It makes me wonder at times because me being a Puerto Rican woman, aka Hispanic, some people might say it's more Latina, but Hispanic is the politically correct term. So I would go ask for this service that would be listed on this sign or paper and go to the front desk or the receptionist, the administrative assistant, or someone wandering around that has a name tag that's at their facility or institution that would be able to answer the question. And they would tell me most of the time, no. It's very much a barrier of people that there is to the services and not connecting to the person of need. whether it be someone from the homeless community, whether it be someone who is a patient at a hospital or any other facility, whether it be just a citizen of a local place talking to law enforcement or any other examples that connect people to community resources. the barrier of people means that it's discrimination or racism or sexism or another ism and our processes our policies standards ordinances uh proposals and resolutions don't usually have something like that to some blue or um some piece of information or code or rule that helps try to enforce or And enforce the correct way of speaking to the person who's asking the question, in which they will give more of a resounding yes, rather than a flat-out no, and I can't help you, you need to go find someone else, or there's nothing we can do for you here, you may have to leave this establishment. So I hope that when thinking about brainstorming, we think about our language and verbiage of how we can empower more people but also enforce more fairness. Thank you for your comments. And not just behavior. Thank you very much.

Are there no more hands at this time, Madam Chair?

No other hands raised. I'm going to close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion on this item as amended? Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just was curious if a youth could participate in more than one program. I'm looking at the Big Brother and Sister that serves Spanaway and the Choose 180 that also serves Spanaway. So could one youth enroll in two programs?

I can't see a reason why they would not. And I don't believe the programs track youth and talk to each other. We're the only one who tracks that information at the end. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Any other comments? So while that amendment was a little hard to do because there was confusion and an error made, I do appreciate the dialogue and the conversation that we've had around how we could best work on potentially getting additional dollars out to some of the areas that have been Underfunded or unfunded and we'll work with human services and the executive staff to think about what that could look like with an RFP and appreciate the dialogue. They're seeing no other comments. I'm going to ask the clerk to call the role on the approval of our 2026 dash 157 as amended.

Councilmember Ayala? Aye. Councilmember Yambe?

Aye.

Councilmember Denson? Aye. Councilmember Morrell?

Aye.

Councilmember Herrera? Aye. Councilmember Krueger? Aye. Councilmember Hitchen?

Aye. You have seven ayes, zero nays. With seven ayes, zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. We are now at Section 9, which is Ordinances. We have Council Member Krueger, we're gonna go to you for the first and only ordinance we have today, item number one. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to move proposal O2026-514 for approval. Second. It's been moved and seconded.

Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Proposal number O2026-514, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council vacating a portion of the Eustis Hunt County Road east lying in north half northeast quarter, southeast quarter section nine, township 18, north range four, east of the Willamette Meridian, Pierce County, Washington.

Thank you. And today we have a senior policy analyst, Tom Swanson, to brief us.

Thank you, Chair Hitchen. Yes, the proposal before you would vacate an undeveloped portion of Eustis Hunt County Road in the Graham area. This is located within Frontier Park. There is a map and an aerial view of that that are included within the staff report. This is a little different than the vacation request that this body has seen over the last couple of years in that this is not originating from a private party. This is in response to a request from the Parks Department to vacate the right-of-way. This is part of the Horse Arena project out at Frontier Park. The right-of-way needs to be vacated in order for the construction permits to be issued as part of that project. The county engineer has reviewed this application to determine that the right-of-way segment is not needed as part of the county road system and that it is in the best interest of the public to grant the proposed vacation. Planning and Public Works staff has also reviewed this application to determine that this portion of right-of-way is classified as a type E right-of-way, meaning that the property is not tax-title, but there is credible evidence that public monies were expended in either the acquisition or maintenance of this right-of-way. That means that the assessed value does need to be paid. it is pierce county paying pierce county in this case um but it is um it is the parks impact fee that will be paying the county road fund um as part of keeping the county road fund whole as as part of that expenditure um that payment has been made and um that that 32 000 payment from the park impact fee fund is to the county road fund is documented in your packet um With that, I believe there is planning public work staff available on the call or council staff is available in chambers to answer any questions.

Thank you. Are there questions on this item for staff? Council Member Morrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Interesting that the taxpayers who got to pay for this thing twice But, I mean, I guess in looking at this, has the county road fund been paying taxes on this particular parcel?

It's not a tax-titled parcel, so property taxes wouldn't be paid. In determining the type E road, the type e status of the right-of-way that means planning public work staff determined that public monies had been expended at some level there isn't within the within the statute there isn't a determination of like up to the 32 000 or there isn't a threshold of what that expenditure is um that triggers that it's whether or not expenditures have been documented out of that It's not even necessarily at this point documented that those expenditures occurred out of the road fund. The reason that transfer takes place amongst departments is because while nearly a million people live in Pierce County, those who pay into the road fund aren't necessarily the same people that have paid into the parks impact fee fund. for the same purpose. So therefore, the road fund gets made whole as that right-of-way is vacated going to another department for a different public use. Yes, they're both public uses within the scope of Pierce County government, but it is a different group and sometimes representing a different group of people who have paid into those funds.

okay not to belabor this issue but this park has been there since the beginning of time so who how did this road get put in the middle of a park or in the corner of a park i would have to ask i don't know the specifics of when how that determination was made in this case if planning and public works staff is on the call they may have more insight into that

for this specific determination? I hear Mr. Turco is on the call.

Yes, council. The road, I don't have the exact date, but it was established in the late 1800s and then was abandoned at some point. And then later on, the parks started using the property So the road has existed for quite some time, and the parks, though it has been there for many decades, hasn't been there as long as the right-of-way.

Okay. I'm going to quit digging on this one. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you customer crew where I see your hand up.

Thank you. Madam chair. I too am kind of befuddled by this in for as long as it has been there. And would it be correct to assume that the, the maintenance done was maybe from meridian to the arena in fixing that road over time? Is that perhaps. Where it gets this value.

My apologies, Council Member Krueger, the audio is not great in this section of the Chamber. But I believe you were asking, could it be the maintenance side of those expenditures that triggered the Type E categorization? Is that what you were asking?

Something along that line. Because there is the paved road from Meridian to the... to the arena. That's where I'm trying to figure out where they get that kind of value for this right-of-way.

The value, I know the value, there was an appraisal done and the appraisal was done looking at both a 60 feet swath and a 50 foot swath of the right-of-way portion that the arena would utilize. And based on the square footage calculations where that $32,000 number comes from, the evaluation that's used for the purposes of being a Type E is not related to the amount that was expended on maintaining or anything of that nature. Again, Planning and Public Works staff in their evaluation determined that public monies had been expended on this right-of-way in some capacity at some time. Again, I would have to ask back to Mr. Turco, in this case, for what specifically triggered the category of Type E with this application. But it isn't related to the assessed value. The Class E categorization just means the assessed value gets paid. An appraisal is then done to determine that appraised value of what that is. And in this case, for the 60-foot swath, it was determined to be $32,000. And I'm wondering...

If it is something where the segment could be just that which goes through the arena, does the other part need to be vacated or is it just all in one mandate?

In this case, the entire portion remaining in that parcel is being vacated. It isn't just the specific part for the arena. The entire vacation is being done.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Related to that parcel, there still remain undeveloped portions of the Eustis Hunt going the other direction, but for that parcel where this project is occurring within Frontier Park, the entirety is being vacated.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your questions and thank you for the answers. Is there any further questions or comments on this item? Seeing none, I'm going to open this up for public comment. If anyone would like to address the Council on Ordinance 2026-514, please raise your hand in Zoom or come to the podium. Sorry, I did the Board of Health one where I get to say it all at once. Mr. Dominique, do you want to see if anyone online wants to speak?

Are we on public comment?

We are on public comment for O2026-514, sorry. Sorry about that.

For any member of the public that wants to provide comment on proposal number O2026-514, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. There are no answers this time, Madam Chair.

No hands raised. I'm going to close public comment, bring it back before the council and see if there's any further discussion. Council Member Morrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I normally don't do this, but this one kind of baffles me because I think any of my colleagues would rather have $32,000 spent on their parks versus $32,000 spent and sent to the road fund. A road that was established back in 1800 just doesn't make sense to me that there would be a value of $32,000 on a road that goes to nowhere. And so I am not going to support this. I'm going to stand for the taxpayers and say their $32,000 can be spent on parks. It shouldn't be spent between agencies. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Council Member Kruver.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, I agree with those comments, and I know this happens quite often from agency to agency, but with this amount of money and where that road vacation is, what happens if we don't approve this? The arena is almost done, the cover.

They're awaiting certain construction permits, and those permits, as I've been told by park staff, cannot be issued without this right-of-way being vacated.

So we can't just go ahead and build without the permit? Council Member Krueger, I wanna gavel you for that.

Council Member Krueger, I'm gonna decline to answer that question and pretend I'm having audio issues.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, I'm afraid to ask if anyone has any other questions. I'm afraid the answer will not be good. Okay, then we've had public comments. I'm going to ask the Clerk to call the roll on the adoption of O2026-514. Councilmember Kruver?

Aye. Council Member Ayala? Aye. Council Member Yambe?

Aye.

Council Member Denson? Aye. Council Member Morrell?

Nay.

Council Member Herrera?

Aye.

Council Member Hitchen?

Aye. You have six ayes, one nay. With six ayes and one nay, the motion is adopted and we'll finally, maybe someday, actually get a horse arena out there, Council Member Krueger. and all the things, okay. So we are now at section 10, which is community forum. Community forum is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on any topic of significance or affecting Pierce County government that did not appear on this agenda for final action. There is a three minute limit. um and also a reminder that in accordance with state law the use of public facilities which these chambers and this system to support or just discuss any testimony regarding campaign for elections or promotion or opposition of ballot items is not allowed and if you'd like your name on the record please state it and you address all comments the chair we're going to start in chambers again you have up to three minutes so if anyone in chambers would like to address the council thoughts I don't don't think we'll have the public won't be able to see we can leave it with the clerk or we can look at it after but it's just talking to us for three minutes so maybe we can have somebody help hold it up yeah it is very very important please i would appreciate it and thank you for your help it's all on there okay

First of all, good afternoon. I come here as a. As a pro se litigate who desperately needs your help. I was. I received a confession for judgment. By the same commissioner commissioner. Barbara. They can bail who also gave me an order for. disbursement from the clerks once the money came in. Well, this was in 2024, and since then, I have been waiting and waiting and waiting and trying hard to find out where the money went. I found out that payment from the other party did come in, and when service was activated on from the sheriff, What happened was I, being a pro se litigate, did not understand what was printed as part of items.

Ma'am, can you speak closer into the microphone? I'm sorry.

I, as a pro se litigate, did not understand in 2024 that a check had come in and it was put into a registry or a trust fund that In 2025, 2026, December and January, so this was just this year, other county superior courts, clerks, and two attorneys located the fact that there is a check in the registry, and they told me to come down and receive it. However, on March 16th, the chief civil clerk told me she would be able to cut a check. She saw the order. She saw the fact that the county auditors have recertified my judgment three times because they know I've never been paid. I'm looking at needing help. as soon as possible because if it's in a trust fund, I never have received any information on it and it's a lot of money because it stems from, it all stems from a loss of a child and when I was severely injured, a bank was supposed to pay for a court order they took responsibility for and that's how I got the agreement. They did end up paying and now I'm just trying to locate the check and I literally have a few days before I myself will become homeless if I can't find this check that I've been working hard to try to receive. It's for a lot of money, and I didn't know it was actually at the clerk's office.

Thank you for your comments, and maybe we can chat after the meeting, but I know we spoke before, so thank you.

Anyone else in chambers?

And there's the item that fell off Mr. Taylor over here that I don't know if she needs it back. Not seeing anyone else in chambers, Mr. Dominique will go online.

For any member of the public that would like to participate in community forum this evening, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we have one hand at this time, Madam Chair. Lori Lee Littman, please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Yes, this is Lori Lee again. I would like to repeat that I'm a veteran and I served so everybody in this country would have the right to the pursuit of happiness and i'd just like to repeat that i am ashamed of a council member crewber for again another year in a row not having the decency to appear in the chambers because because of her homophobic views in that the pride flat is in the chambers i respect every religion but it doesn't give you the right to discriminate discriminate against the very constituents that you serve you can't pick and choose which constituents that you serve amy as a public servant you should be serving everyone in your district and by not even stepping into the chambers because there's a pride flyer you are choosing laura lee i'm going to ask you to address comments to the chair thank you okay that those aren't even you um by not stepping in the chambers you're choosing to message that those constituents are worthy or human to you You are blatantly dismissing your own constituents that are LGBTQ and you should be a reason that you fully step down and never serve as a public servant if you cannot serve everyone in your district. Then you shouldn't be in any public office at any time. No one's asking you to join them. They're only asking you to respect them as human beings. I would also like to add that Sheriff Swank last night at the charter review meeting said some really vile things about members of the community. He needs to be, I don't know, spoken to discipline recalled I don't know he's a disgusting piece of garbage who tries to also violate the state and federal constitution daily he said things last night and about people in our community um using derogatory terms calling them homeless transient hobos drug addicts alcoholics junkies potheads crackheads and i think it's pretty vile for a sheriff that's supposed to be serving the entire community um i think it should be recalled i mean we only got stuck with him because he got fired from seattle pd thank you thank you for your comments

Next, we have Andrew Lin. Please state your name for the record. And you have three minutes.

Hi, there. I wanted to have a clarification very quickly. This is the Citizen Commons or Citizen Forum, or are we still discussing the previous section? Because there's the bar, the information bar at the bottom of the screen that is not listed. So I just wanted to confirm. we are at community farm angeline okay thank you very much did you i do have i guess i do have a comment all right thank you very much once again okay uh so my topic today um is angeline scared again with pierce kind of district two says on uh car solutions for the homeless um So a strong statement caught my attention from the White House press conference today about two ways of reacting to homelessness being forced that are considered options. A homeless shelter, which sounds nice, but has to have addiction and mental health services or fines or to jail time. Why does it have to resort to only these options? Why can't a homeless person receive an opportunity for shelter with essential resources like food pantry, transportation services, a job coach, a helpful case manager, medical assistance, checkups, legal aid, et cetera. These are some of the things to assist a homeless person regardless of situation, especially for victims of extreme violence. and help to a speedy recovery of identity since homeless people do lose their identities when they're off on the streets, they tend to get lost or are considered lost people and also thrive. resorting to mental health due to unchecked biases and way outdated stereotypes as a conclusion that needs a solution, even when a conversation isn't involved between the victim and finder, officer, or other type of professional who is not following correct ways of care and hospitality to the vulnerable community. This is a reason why I oppose permanent housing with only the entrapping programs of addiction and mental health services along with these two options being set forth. And that's not to mention permanent housing. It seems like it's outside of a jail and prison environment but can act as one at times depending on how it's conducted. I've seen it in person. I was a witness to it for myself and also other people as well. So jail or other jail and prison or even fines, which can be exploited by mostly human traffickers and slavers and abusive controlling people seeking to corner victims before, during and after homelessness. putting them back into that downward spiral doesn't make sense unless probable cause was found and a crime was committed. Must I remind all that homelessness is not a crime. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And there are no more hands this time, Madam Chair.

Seeing no other hands, I'm going to close community forum and bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion or business between the council? not seeing any well i will just remind you all that we do have a committee of the whole tomorrow so please be here for that meeting i actually don't remember what time it is but it's tomorrow it's on your calendar so please be here and we also are celebrating one of our council staff's upcoming marriage i think it's the item so seeing no other business before us we are adjourned thank you everybody