Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order the Pierce County Council. Today is July 28th, 2026. The time is 3.04. Apologies for the slight delay here. And I'd like to ask the clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Morrell.

Here.

Council Member Herrera.

excused council member krueger here council member ayala here council member yambe here council member denson here council member hitchin here you have six members present with six members we do have a quorum thank you all for joining us uh this afternoon In a moment, I will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and read a land acknowledgement. Following the pledge, I'd ask that you remain standing for a moment of silence in memory of the three people who lost their lives in Sunday's act of gun violence at the Taste of Seattle, and in honor of all those who were injured or whose sense of safety was shaken by this tragic act of violence. We pause to remember those lives who were taken this past weekend and all those affected by gun violence across our nation. May we also reflect on the importance of safe, welcoming public spaces where communities can gather free from violence. For all those that can stand, please stand for Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. invisible, 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 stewarded these lands since time immemorial and continue to do so today. We recognize that this land acknowledgement is one small step towards true allyship, and we commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the indigenous people of this land. We're now at section 4, which is approval of our agenda. I would like to note to my colleagues that I would request after our proclamation that we hear from our Pierce County fair ambassadors who made it down here. And so just adding that if there's no objections after the proclamation, since they are here in person, is there any concerns with that slight adjustment? And then the rest of the agenda would be. What is presented? Not seeing any, so we will consider the agenda approved with that addition. 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 placed on the consent agenda for introduction or scheduling. And then during section eight and nine of the agenda, we'll take public comment for each ordinance and resolution individually. And then finally, under Community Forum, there'll be an opportunity to address the Council on any topic that was not up for final action today. Pursuant to state law, the Pierce County Council may not accept public comment during the meeting that supports or opposes a candidate, a ballot measure, and this includes charter amendments, statewide initiatives, referendums, levies, bonds, and other measures appearing on an election ballot. For more information, there is fine print on the front page of your agenda. We're now at the consent agenda. Is there, on the consent agenda, we have one set of minutes for grant applications and a motion to rescind and reset the final hearing date for proposal O2026-545. Is there any item that somebody wants taken off the consent agenda? If not, I'm gonna go to Councilmember Ayala for a motion. Thank you, Chair. I move the consent agenda as presented. So moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda as presented. As always, we do get to open this up for public comments per our rules. So we'll start in the chambers. Is anyone here to, for some reason, address us on the consent agenda? Do not think that's why anyone is here, but I have to ask. Not seeing anyone. Mr. Dominique, we will go online.

Yes, good afternoon. For any member of the public that's joining us online this evening and would like to provide comments on the consent agenda, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. There are no hands at this time, Madam Chair.

With no hands raised, we'll close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I'd ask the Clerk to call the roll on the approval of the Consent Agenda as presented. Councilmember Denson?

Aye. Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

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

Aye.

Council Member Hitchen? Aye.

You have six ayes, zero nays. With six ayes, zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to section six, which is messages from the executive or other county elected officials. We did have one message returned to us signed and approved by the executive on July 10th, which was ordinance 2026-533, which was amending the Pierce County Code to remove and balm as a prohibited predisposition authorization activity. So that one's done. And under Section 7, we have proclamations. And our proclamation today is the Council and Executive Proclaiming August 2026 as Overdose Awareness Month in Pierce County. And I'd like to welcome and invite the following individuals to the podium as I read this into the record. We have Melanie Lopez, the Division Director from Strengthening Families from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, Elizabeth Allen, Program Manager in Behavioral and Emotional Health, and Bianca Schell, Program Manager from the Street Medicine, and there may be others in the audience that just want to surround. And then we also have Roman McKnight, who is District 6, uh resident who is here to share a little bit about lived experience so we can be up here and it gives the camera something to look at so it's not just staring at me um and i'm just going to read this into the record so thank you for traveling to tacoma A proclamation of the Pierce County Council and Executive proclaiming August 2026 as Overdose Awareness Month in Pierce County, Washington. Whereas Pierce County has been deeply affected by the opioid epidemic and overdose deaths impacting families across every community and neighborhood. And whereas internationally, Overdose Awareness Day is recognized annually on August 31st and provides an opportunity for people to remember those Um, loss to overdose support individuals and families affected by substance use and reflect on the solutions for the urgent need for continued prevention, treatment and recovery services. And whereas Pierce County recognizes that stigma, geographic isolation and the lack of access to care are barriers that prevent many rural and suburban residents from receiving the help they need. And whereas, according to the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department, Pierce County's coordinated response is showing measurable progress with the county recording 63 drug-related deaths in the final quarter of 2025, the lowest quarterly total since early 2020. lower emergency department visits associated with synthetic opioids declining approximately 43% since 2023, and first responders averaging 60 fewer calls for overdose per month in 2025. And whereas the Pierce County Council and Executive deem it in the public's interest to make Overdose Awareness Day a month-long observance in 2026. And whereas Pierce County has made significant and strategic investments to help treat substance use disorder, including more than $3.2 million from opioid settlement and federal grant funds. funds to deploy up to two fully equipped mobile opioid treatment vehicles, which began serving communities in early 2026, bringing lifesaving medications, counseling, peer support, and health services directly to underserved areas. And whereas these mobile units are part of a broader commitment by Pierce County to expand equitable access to care, especially in rural regions where traditional service sites may be out of reach, supported by an estimated $55 million in opioid settlement funds that the county will receive through 2034. And whereas the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department piloted street medicine team and a program in partnership with the city of Tacoma through a state grant expanding to the greater Pierce County area soon through funding from a diversified mix of local tax allocations, opioid settlements, and new federal investments. And whereas our continued efforts to center our work in community with lived experiences through providers, peer navigators, and partnerships like the Tacoma Indian Center, Pierce County Alliance, and MDC, the Metropolitan Development Council, and many others. And whereas June 2026, In June 2026, Pierce County and its partners transitioned the work of the Opioid Task Force into sustained countywide behavioral health response, ensuring that prevention, treatment, and harm reduction, along with recovery services, remain a part of everyday work in public health. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed on this 28th day of July 2026 by the Pierce County Council and Executive that August 2026 is Overdose Awareness Month in Pierce County, Washington, and we encourage all community members to take advantage of numerous events, medicine take-back days, and opportunities to support efforts to save our neighbors, restore help, restore hope, and proudly affirm that recovery is possible. Let's give them a hand. So Melanie, we'd love to hear from you and then our other guests.

Wonderful. Thank you, Chair Hinchin and other members of the council. We really appreciate your recognition of Overdose Awareness Month. I'm Melanie Lopez. I'm the director of Tacoma Pierce County Health Department Strengthening Families Division. And I'm here with my colleagues, Elizabeth Allen and Bianca Schell. Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in Pierce County. At the Health Department, we work alongside our partners to help people with substance use disorders in Pierce County to get the help and the support that they need. Some of the most recent trends that Chair Hitchen had just mentioned, we are actually seeing overdose deaths declining in Pierce County. From April 2025 up to March of this year, we've seen the lowest amount of overdose deaths since 2022. Overdose response calls and emergency room visits for overdoses have also declined. Primary or preliminary numbers right now are showing that this downward trend is continuing. Pierce County numbers follow statewide and nationwide trends. That said, these numbers don't happen without the hard work of everyone that's involved. We thank you so much for shining a light on this important issue and to talk more about the work that we're doing specifically to talk about fighting overdose. We are here. I will invite Elizabeth and Bianca to the board.

Good afternoon, council members. I'm Elizabeth Allen. I am the Behavioral and Emotional Health Program Manager at the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department. The strides that we have made with the opioid crisis are very important and very significant to our county and to our residents. Earlier this year, we moved our work to tackle opioid use disorder to the behavioral emotional health program at the health department. This makes and helps us continue that opioid misuse awareness, as well as care for part of our everyday work that we have. One of those great examples of that is continuing to fight stigma, and in the broader sense, fighting stigma around mental health. One of the great examples of that work with fighting stigma around opioid use disorder is our mental health first aid program that we have that helps with ending stigma with adults as well as youth and can help save lives. Helping people get treatment and ending stigma are just two important pieces of the work that we do at the health department. And now I'm going to turn it over to Bianca Schell, who will talk more about our street medicine team, as well as that expansion into Pierce County. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members. Thank you for recognizing Overdose Awareness Month. My name is Bianca Schell. I'm the program manager of the street medicine teams. Our street medicine team is comprised of two mobile care units that bring help to those in need where they need it. Our street medicine team works to combat the opioid epidemic in a number of ways. We provide resources to treatment, housing and social service referrals, Narcan and other harm reduction tools, mental health and substance use support. We've worked in Tacoma since 2025 and just recently expanded this month into Pierce County. This is a major step forward in offering opioid use disorder services where people are. Our street medicine team is also an example of how our work has expanded over the years. Since May, we've reached over 750 patients in Tacoma alone, and we are just starting to connect with folks in Lakewood, Parkland, Spanaway, Puyallup, and other areas of the county. Finally, at our building on D Street, the Public Health Clinic specializes in harm reduction and prioritizes opioid use disorder treatment. We recently expanded our public health clinic's hours by opening on Saturdays. Thank you again for having us all here. Thank you for recognizing Opioid Awareness Month.

Thank you all, and we would love to hear from Roman.

Good afternoon Council members. I want to just say thank you for this opportunity and to stand before you all as one of the many faces that has lived experience that has overcome drug addiction and so I have a passion for getting out there and just Being a part of the hands and feet as the rest of the people behind me, So, and with that, right, I want to highlight a friend of mine, Ann Artman, who is very dear to my heart. Because when I got here to Washington from California, she was someone that's seen something in me that I did not see in myself. And she gave me an opportunity. And so... The recovery center that she founded, it was a pivotal resource for me in me being where I am today. So I just thank you for the opportunity to be here and to receive in honor of those that are out there still struggling and just, also for just making this a month a month long thing where we continue to to do what we can to to help those that are still in need out there on the street so thank you so much well thank you all for being here i'm going to see if my colleagues have any comments or thoughts

councilmember ayala thank you chair um what just one comment um well two uh thank you everyone for everything that you do it's um it's very challenging work but very worthwhile work and so anyone who is uh out doing this is There's a lot of passion there. I do want to add one more thing. I appreciate highlighting Ann Artman. The second you said her name, there's a moment there, those that know Ann, Ann did so much for our community. I think one of the examples that I took from her is, When you have someone who sees something in you, that invests in you, whether or not you see it yourself, and they stick around, that makes such a lifelong difference. And whether it is this work here or in any other space, that level of engagement, work, and passion translates and does transform lives. And so I want to say thank you all for being those folks that are transforming lives in our community. Thanks, Chair.

Thank you for your comments. We'll go to Council Member Krueger. Thank you, Chair.

I just want to say how much I can appreciate what you do. When I want to have a party, I just think about the things that you guys do and then I feel pretty good. You're facing a lot of trauma and that's got to take a toll. But I have to ask, how could you leave the weather of California And then come up here, and I'm assuming that the services here obviously were good enough or successful enough that took you into a better stage of life. And what was excelling here that worked?

well in in that regard i just never gave myself a chance in california and my lovely wife back here she constantly stayed on the phone with me telling me to get out of there because there was nothing there for me so me coming up here and just having a made-up mind that you know change was waiting for me And all of the resources that were available here, because I ended up going to Bates and DSHS really played an integral part as well in providing those services. And so, yeah, just took advantage of it and just never looked back and just stayed looking out the windshield and just glanced at the rear view mirror and just left everything behind me.

I'm glad you had an opportunity to find the use of feet and hands. Appreciate that.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your comments. Well, I will just conclude I had the opportunity last week on Wednesday to go with the Street Medicine team. I think it was the hottest day of the year, so it was a lot. But the reality of what they are able to do in a 10- to 15-minute conversation about maybe somebody saying yes to treatment or support because they treat them with dignity, they treat them like people. They treat them without judgment. And if today's the day, then they have those really quick, frank, sometimes hard conversations. Today is not the day. Maybe we'll see you next week, and maybe that'll be the day. And they're really quick. They are directly connecting people with services, getting them into treatment, getting them into detox if that's the path, getting them assessed by our counselors. And so we've been investing in these programs for a while. We really were struggling for how do we get people to say yes? How do we connect with somebody to say yes? And our street medicine team, I think, is going to be kind of one of those people. Really impactful, powerful tools that that will show dividends with some of the hardest to reach people who really, like, just. I've lost hope. And so very excited and was really thankful that I had the opportunity before this proclamation came up. So we're going to take a picture. Thank you so much again. And congratulations. And Mr. Dominique. Okay.

Are we close to the. Okay. I know you guys are going to send it to us, right? Oh, of course. I might take my own on my cell phone, too. I do trust you very much. I appreciate it. Someone showed me a trick to move this out of the way.

Yeah, let's

A few photos. All right, this is the one right here.

One, two, three. Thank you.

I saw that, you tried to get us to shift to the right.

I love the tree bits.

Okay, so per our comments and requests at the beginning of the meeting, we would like to welcome the Pierce County Fair ambassadors up to the podium, but starting with Dr. Herring and then any of the ambassadors that want to join her. And thank you for what you do.

Hello, thank you, thank you for having us. Such a blessing to be here. I am Dr. Saville Herring and I am taking on the role of the advisor for the Pierce County Fair Royal Court. And just briefly, being a fair ambassador is much more than just wearing the awesome outfit and all the glitter and the glitz and the glam and stuff and having a ball during fair week. Those are great, however, It is more than that. It is a youth leadership program aimed at supporting and promoting our fair. The ambassadors have been tasked with it gives impromptu speeches. They also They give short speeches that they've written themselves, which you will listen to here in a moment. And they interact with the public in many different realms. Of course, under my and the other chaperones' watchful eyes. And what I love though about it is that it pushes, this program pushes the individuals just a little bit outside of their comfort zone so that they can build confidence, work on that resilience, and cultivate those beneficial life skills that we all need. And I really think that that is the beautiful thing about our program. So throughout the year, the ambassadors, they go to schools and talk about the fair and why they, what people can do and show and participate in at the fair. They talk about, or they go to and do community service at different events and parades where they will promote the fair as well. But it's not just for youth, the program is for youth, but the fair is not just for 4-H or FFA, there are vendor opportunities, there are volunteer opportunities, really. So it is like a holistic, can bring the community together opportunity that the ambassadors are talking about and promoting. And I love that too, because a sense of community is, what we need. And that positive little nudge is what we need to keep building and growing in a society that cares about one another. So I'm truly appreciative that I get to represent the Pierce County Fair and be a part of this year's ambassadors lives because I love seeing them at the beginning, but I really love seeing them at the end and how much they've grown. But I would like to have each of them say a little bit about themselves, introduce themselves, say a little bit about themselves. And yeah, that's what we'll do. And we'll start with Alina.

Hello, my name is Alina Sushek. I'm 17 years old and a senior at Emerald Ridge High School. I have been exhibiting at the Pierce County Fair for nine years. I raise, breed, and show dairy and pack goats. And along with that, I show market goats and market hogs. And this year, I'm grateful to be showing a market lamb at the Pierce County Youth Market Sale, which was donated to me. But along with showing livestock, I also participate in livestock judging, goat judging, and I've exhibited art. I wanted to become a Pierce County Fair ambassador so that I could get a better look into how the fair is run and what goes on to make sure that all of us youth get to participate at the fair. And I'm very excited this year to be sharing my opinions and how to grow a stronger community around all the youth and to make sure the fair is always improving. And I can't wait to see you all there.

Thank you.

Well, my name is Kaylin Hess, and I have been in 4-H for six years. I show chickens, I show... I show arts and crafts, I do archery, and I am in... I am a part of... Forever Green 4-H. I am my 4-H youth poetry leisure in my 4-H group. And I hope to see you all at the fair. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ellie Braat. I am an incoming high school freshman at Eatonville High. I have been a part of 4-H for three years now with both the projects of sewing and poultry. I have absolutely loved doing both of them and cannot wait to continue for years to come. This year, I have taken up the job as junior leader for my club's poultry section. Along with that, I am a flute player, my high school's piccolo player, and I'm currently learning the violin and studying Spanish. In my spare time, I am normally either reading, writing, sewing, drawing, or just taking it easy with my friends. I chose to become an ambassador because I thought it'd be a great opportunity to work on public speaking skills and working with the team. I have really enjoyed all of it through and through and have loved everyone who's been on my team so far. Thank you and have a great rest of your day.

Thank you. I'm trying to figure out how you have spare time with that list.

Hello, my name is Casper Fay. I am 16. I've been in 4-H for nine years now, and I am a member of the Outlaw Wranglers 4-H Club. I have been involved in many things in 4-H involving Know Your Government, doing livestock judging, I also raise and show market and dairy goats, as well as beef cattle at Pierce County Fair and many other shows as well. And a few of the things that I enjoy doing, I like to play violin. I enjoy hanging around with friends and family. I like to enjoy books, a good movie, and many various types of games. And I hope you can come to the Pierce County Fair and enjoy things like that.

Well, thank you all for being here. I'm going to pause and see if my colleagues, I'm assuming Councilmember Kruver might have something. It's just a theory.

Just a short little bit. Just how much I appreciate you stepping out to do this because it takes a lot of courage. I got forced into doing a thing when I was in high school and... I should have appreciated it, but I don't, I didn't. But it didn't do for me what this is doing for you, what I can see for your future on this, especially when you can raise for the market. I would have a really hard time with that, and that's part of the life cycle. and somebody's gotta do it, and I'm great that it's at the fair. It's also a lot of my greatest memories, because where I grew up, there was the four-county fair, and it was in my hometown, so it always was a great experience and seeing what all the kids would do, and I appreciate it more now than I did then, so the memories that you have are awesome. So thank you for doing that, thank you for taking the time to be the mentor, and thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I deeply appreciate young people choosing to step outside their comfort zone and try something new. And just your dedication to the 4-H program and all the programs that allow us to kind of, what's the next generation going to do around this work, which is so important for us to be able to survive. So thank you. I did not buy a turkey. Somebody tried to sell me a turkey last year, though, and I just couldn't figure out, just couldn't do it. So we'll see. We would love to take a picture since you took the time to be down here. Are we comfortable doing that? I'm going to let Mr. Dominique direct us. Okay. Okay, so we are now at Section 8, which is resolutions. We have proposal R2026-170S. Councilmember Ayala for a motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal R2026-170S.

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

Proposal number R2026-170S, a resolution of the Pierce County Council approving additional positions in the Human Resources Department, Finance and Enterprise Services Department, the Juvenile Court, and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

Thank you. And Mr. Boki, our Principal Policy Analyst, is here to brief us on this item. Mr. Boki.

Thank you, Chair Hitchin. Paul Bocchi, Council Staff. R2026-170S is a resolution where you can approve additional positions. Section 7 of the 2025-562 S3, which was the Pierce County's biennial budget, states that the department shall neither employ nor authorize the employment of a person beyond the designated number within a fund or department without prior county council approval by resolution or ordinance. This resolution will authorize the hiring of nine full-time equivalent employees in the Human Resources Department, the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Juvenile Court, and Finance and Enterprise Services Department. The Human Resources Department requests three FTEs, two labor relations analyst positions to provide support for collective bargaining, workplace investigations, disciplinary processes, and corrective action processes, and one investigator position to support workplace investigations, reporting requirements, training efforts, and corrective action processes. The investigator position will be a new classification which is in the process of being drafted. This classification is based on an ongoing and increased need for administrative investigatory work. All three positions will be funded in the general fund. The prosecuting attorney's position, attorney's office requests three FTEs, one criminal investigator and two legal assistant, three positions to address claims and litigation support. All three positions will be funded in the general fund. The juvenile court requests one full-time equivalent employee department records management supervisor to address the growth in processing, public records requests, tort-related document production, and the overall records governance needs of the court. This was the position that was amended in at the Rules Committee. The Finance and Enterprise Services Department requests two records specialist FTEs to perform public records processing and related investigative work. These positions will be funded in the General Services Fund and Internal Services Fund. Initially, all the positions will be funded from vacancy savings. The intent is to use vacancy savings for the two record specialists in the general services fund for the remainder of the biennium. A budget adjustment in the future supplemental will likely be needed for the other positions. Those are all in the general fund. The fiscal impact is estimated in 2026 to be $670,570. Almost 550 of that is in the general fund. In 2027, the impact will be 1.3 million, and in 2028, just slightly more than that, just slightly under 1.4 million. So this was given a due pass recommendation as amended with a juvenile court position at the July 14th, 2026 Rules and Operations Committee meeting. And I believe Ms., we have a member here from the Executive's Department, Ms. Julie Murray, to speak to this if you have any questions.

Thank you. I do see a question or comment from Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was wondering why all of the positions came up in the same resolution, or is this ordinance, rather than separate by department?

I just think they batched them together and then there was a request by the juvenile court for that additional position. And so the council, the rules committee added that position also. They really are very similar in a lot of respects, a lot of public records and that kind of thing. And then the HR positions, I think kind of explained themselves also.

Yes, I guess I would have preferred to have had them separately, although I understand this is out of vacancy savings until the next, have to do an adjustment for 2027 for these new liabilities.

That was that was the discussion with, um, I know the juvenile position I was told explicitly by the court. Uh, that they, they really think that there's, um. Going to be a need to do a supplemental. I don't know that that's true though. All these departments have pretty robust, fairly robust. Vacancy savings I was told explicitly by. finance that they would be able to do everything out of vacancy savings for those positions in the Internal Service Fund.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. We're gonna go to Council Member Morrell. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Boeke, usually these positions, additional positions are handled in a supplemental. Why the rush on this?

The budget itself, the budget document itself, the section seven actually says you could do it by resolution or by supplemental. Supplemental budget, if they sent that up, it opens up the entire budget to everything. This is just really directing to add these additional positions and currently does not ask for any additional funds

Okay, and I assume these are permanent positions?

These are, all these are FTEs, yeah, that will have to be funded in the future if you want to continue them.

And obviously, you know, if you're following the county budget, we're already in a structural deficit. This just adds to it?

Theoretically, yes, yeah, except the item in the internal service fund, the two items in the general services fund, those do not, when you're talking about a structural deficit, you're talking about the general fund. But I would note, I'm not gonna argue about the structural deficit, but the These items, there are a lot of open positions right now, and so you're adding these items. Theoretically, if you don't make any changes to the budget and you just brought everything forward, including all these positions, it does make the general fund budget larger. You have more positions to fund, but that's in the future.

Okay, of any of these positions, can we expect these departments to be more efficient in their operations?

I think the human resources position, Director Vazquez in my discussions with her indicated that they really needed these positions. One of them is those collective bargaining agreements that two of the positions will be on and that investigator position just to move things along that they feel administratively they need to get done. On the collective bargaining agreements, you're looking at them and you realize that every one of them is in arrears. I mean, meaning they are all retroactive to the first of 2026. And so they are making a decision at the executive level to try to get those collective bargaining agreements done more quickly in the future so that they're done prior to 2020. the end of the agreement. And so most of the agreements you're looking at are ending in 2027, I think, or 2028. And so you do need to start those, you know, get people in these positions who are experienced, and there's also some other items in there.

Okay, and my last question for now. On the juvenile court, Who will that FTE answer to?

The item that we received, and I believe that the council did receive, it will be the juvenile court administrator, I believe. I don't know that for a fact. The memo that the council received, dated June 22nd, 2026, was a department records manager supervisor, which they were requesting, came from Mr. Gaddis, the Superior Court Executive Officer, but it will be a person inside the Juvenile Court. They'll be being paid out of the Juvenile Court budget.

Okay, and then Superior Court will have supervisory authority over this position?

I imagine the person's working in the juvenile, I don't know that. They are a member of the juvenile court, so they're probably to the juvenile court administrator, I would guess.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for the questions. Any additional questions from colleagues? Ms. Murray, any comments from the executive's office since you're here? Then I'm going to open this up for public comment. If anyone would like to address the Council on Resolution 2026-178S, please come to the podium. We always start in chambers. Looks like everybody that's here is county employee if I'm scanning the room. So we will go online, Mr. Dominique.

Good afternoon. For any member of the public that's joining us online and would like to provide comment on proposal number R2026-170S, please press the raise hand icon and zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. I don't have this time, Madam Chair.

No hands raised. I'm going to close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion on this before I ask the clerk to call the roll? I can't tell if you're teasing or you really are going to.

One more question. The three employees for the prosecutor's office are those to handle tort claims?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for the question. I think I will just speak to this and in conversations with both the executive and then the amendment that I proposed that was accepted to add the juvenile courts. I see all of these positions as reducing our potential liability, increasing our ability to be more nimble to address. Concerns raised by employees or concerns raised by outside entities and just respond and I am very aware that we have a structural deficit and potentially we'll have to the executive will propose some changes to staffing. It's. It kind of gives me heartburn when I think about the next biennial budget. But right now, this is needed to try and meet this demand that we are trying to stay in front of. And anything we can reduce our liability with, I think, is a good initial investment. And while I can't prove that any of these employees actually save us money in the long run because they avoid the lawsuits, i'm i'm all for it so um we'll we'll see what we can do and then we'll tackle the uh the deficit you can watch us on tv council member morale because you will be off enjoying life um so we now have proposal r2026 uh 170s before us for approval can the clerk please call the roll council member yambe aye council member denson

Aye.

Council Member Morrell.

Nay.

Council Member Krueger. Nay. Council Member Ayala. Aye. Council Member Hitchin.

Aye. You have four ayes, two nays. With four ayes and two nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to R2026-174. Council Member Ayala for a motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal number R2026-174.

I'll second it. So it's been moved and seconded. So can the clerk please read in the record?

Proposal number R2026-174, a resolution of the Pierce County Council adopting a new organization chart for the office of the Pierce County Council.

Thank you. And today we have our chief of staff, Mr. Taylor, to address us on this item.

Thank you, Hugh Taylor, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Pierce County Council. So the proposal before you is proposal number R2026-174. This proposal would adopt a new organization chart for the Office of the Pierce County Council. The reorganization associated with this organization chart is intended to provide increased communications and operations support to the Council. It's consistent with the action taken by the Rules and Operations Committee at its June 1st, 2026 meeting. That action by the Rules Committee authorized a series of position conversions in the office to support the reorganization. Attached to the resolution as Exhibit A is the new organization chart that reflects the position conversions. I want to note that with this new organization chart and these position conversions, there is no increase in the total number of authorized positions in the Office of the County Council. The amendment or the memo that's attached to this proposal that's included within your packet summarizes the position conversions. Just quickly, those position conversions include the conversion of the communications coordinator position to a public information specialist position. There's also a conversion of an open assistant clerk position to an operations assistant position. The operations assistant position will provide, as a primary aspect of their job, Zoom support, moving that function out of the communications team into the IT and operations team within the council office. There are also two other related changes included within the organizational chart that I'd like to touch on. The first is the conversion of the IT and operations coordinator to an IT and operations supervisor. That change is associated with the new operations assistant position that will be supervised by the IT and operations supervisor. In addition, there is a change in title for the communications coordinator, excuse me, communications manager. That title would be changed to council communications director. That title change is intended to more clearly identify that role to the public external agencies and partner organizations. As noted at committee, this title change does not modify job duties for that position or compensation for that position. This proposal was reviewed at your Rules and Operations Committee. It did receive a due pass recommendation last week, July 21. Last thing I'd like to touch on is the fiscal impact associated with the proposal. The proposal is projected to have a fiscal impact of $31,000 in the current biennium. That cost will be fully offset by accrued vacancies for fiscal year 2026 within the council office. Fiscal impact thereafter, so in future, biennia is projected to be approximately $25,000 annually. That impact is associated with the differences in compensation with the positions that are being established. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.

thank you are there questions from my colleagues councilmember krueger thank you madam chair i'm wondering i understand there are some lingo that is traditional in the the realm and i'm wondering if the public information specialist could be called the public information expert instead would that I'd rather be a pie than a, is that?

So I would, my response to that is the naming convention for that position proposed is consistent with the naming convention used elsewhere in Pierce County government, so on the executive branch side of the house, for example. I will say that the office has the ability to establish business titles for positions that are different than the position title that's for the position description or salary classification table. That can be done without action by the council. I'd certainly brief at an administrative study session on that. So that is an option if there's interest by the body in looking at a different business title in the future, that option exists. And that option is used in the executive branch side of the house, for instance.

So I wouldn't necessarily need to make an oral amendment to change that. That can be addressed at a later time.

A separate business title could be established. I'd want to consult with the communications manager and the council about what that title should be so it's accurate in reflecting what the position does. But you do have that option of establishing a business title separately.

thank you I can address that with the cheerleader Thank You madam chair Thank You councilmember Kuber council member morale thank you madam chair opens up a whole lot of new ideas I like the word extraordinaire it does need to fit on a business card a couple questions that I have mr. Taylor these These positions were vetted with HR. and they did the research and came up with the class grades. Can you explain that process? It's not just something we've thunk up.

That is correct, Councilmember. So there was extensive consultation with Human Resources on both the position descriptions and then the compensation. scheme for those positions or proposal for those positions. It started with the proposal from me that I then reviewed with HR and then had them vet and verify that the proposed compensation schedule was consistent with generally how we compensate employees across county government and the position descriptions were generally consistent with the same. While the council does operate under a separate set of administrative guidelines than the rest of county government those guidelines say that whenever possible our office will be consistent with the compensation scheme of the rest of the county government and so that's what we Strive to do and that's what's reflected here I'm sorry, Councilmember, when the council considers the ordinance later that has the salary classification associated with it and the pay scales, I can talk further about this if needed.

Okay. Okay. And in HR's research, they look at both public and private?

The county does look at both public and private sector compensations when they do the class and compensation review that happens on a frequency approximately every two to three years. So the county selects multiple positions in county government that are used for benchmarking. They look at peer jurisdictions, jurisdictions that have a similar size, responsibilities, budgets in the same region for comparison. They also will, HR will also look at the broader marketplace and a report is produced that basically analyzes all the positions, looks at the compensation for those positions with the target that that compensation fall within a range relative to the marketplace. So for instance, 85% to 110% of how positions are paid in the market. Positions above that are paid more than that or positions that are paid below that benchmarking are typically selected for further evaluation, either of these being excessively compensated or not compensated enough the last evaluation i believe that occurred was 2024 certainly i certainly can provide that to members if they're interested but it's performed by human resources It's not performed by our office. Our office does have the ability to call for, ask for a separate compensation study if it wished to do so, and that has happened occasionally in the past. But the most recent one was 2024, performed by Human Resources Department.

Okay, and then you had stated that the fiscal impact for the current biennium is $31,000?

Yes, Councilmember, $31,000 is the estimate. That reflects the additional cost of positions from basically mid-September through the end of the year. plus a full year for fiscal year 27. And so $31,000 is the estimate. And again, that there's accrued vacancy savings within the council office that are more than sufficient to offset that additional cost.

Okay. And then at some point we won't have vacancies is our plan. And that will cost then an extra $25,000 a year? Well, sure.

So there are, not including the two positions that we're talking about, so not including the operations assistant, this new operations assistant position and the public information specialist position, there are two other vacancies currently in the office that I expect in the next several months I will bring back a proposal to the council. On one of those is the vacant senior analyst that's the deputy legal counsel. And so as I've discussed in rules briefly, there's likely a second organizational change coming in the future that's related to the legal team within the council office. also related to the Board of Equalization change that the Council authorized, budgetarily at least, for fiscal year 27. That would have to be reflected in the organizational chart as well. So I expect to bring that forward as soon as Ms. Long and I are actively working through that within the next couple of months for Council consideration. So those are the additional vacant positions and one position on the policy side of the house.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for the questions. I'm not seeing any other lights, so I'm going to go ahead and open this up for public comment. If anyone would like to address the council on R2026-174, please state your name if you like on the record. You have up to three minutes. There are no members of the public in chambers, so we will go online, Mr. Dominique.

Good afternoon. Excuse me. Good afternoon. For any member of the public that would like to provide comment on proposal number R2026-174, 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. Angelin, we can see you're unmuted, but we cannot hear you.

Okay, how about now? Now we can hear you.

Yay! Sorry, working with different sound functions today. So, thank you for letting me know. My name is from Pierce County district 2. I am speaking today to express my support for resolution. Number are 2026174. It says, the visual hierarchy of the council office brings forth more understanding of your internal infrastructure on who the community can communicate to and about what. I would like to personally see names for further convenience before this resolution gets finalized. But if not possible at this moment, then it is okay as the chart still proves to be handy and useful. The consistency intended, as mentioned earlier, is appreciated. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments.

And there are 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 resolution? Well, I just want to acknowledge and thank Mr. Taylor along with several staff that supported and thought through the work of what this should and could look like. And then the dialogue that we've had, I know that they've had with council members about what this should look like. So thank you all for getting us to this place. And with that, I'm going to ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of R2026-174.

Councilmember Ayala? Aye. Councilmember Yambe?

Aye.

Councilmember Denson? Aye. Councilmember Morrell?

Pass.

Councilmember Krueger? Aye. Councilmember Hitchen? Aye. Councilmember Morrell?

Okay, all aye.

You have six ayes, zero nays. With six ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. We are now at ordinances. We have proposal O2026-535, Councilmember Morrell for a, nope, Councilmember Ayala for a motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal number O2026-535.

So moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Proposal number O2026-535, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council repealing chapter 2.111 of the Pierce County Code Notice of Funding Availability Process as adopted by ordinance number 2023-67 and amending section 4.48.020 of the Pierce County Code Special Revenue Funds to conform with the repeal.

Thank you. And this afternoon, we have our policy director, Kerry Waterland, to brief us on this item.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For the record, Carrie Waterland, staff for Council. What you have before you, as the title implies, is something that repeals Chapter 2.111 of the Pierce County Code, which is called Notice of Funding Availability Process, as well as amends Section 4.48.020 of the Pierce County Code, also known as Special Revenue Funds, to conform with that repeal. By way of a little bit of background, in October of 2023, this body established the Notice of Funding Availability, also known as NOFA process, pursuant to Ordinance 2023-67. This process was codified in Chapter 2.111. That is what you are considering repealing today. of the Pierce County Code. The NOFA process that was passed in 2023 allows for the Pierce County Council to revise a list from a pool of eligible applicants or revise funding amounts to address geographic diversity, district equity, or county funding priorities as adopted by resolution. To use the NOFA process, the Pierce County Council must direct through an ordinance that the NOFA process be used for specific funds. Otherwise, the RFP process is used. The RFP process, the Pierce County Council, it's different. The Pierce County Council may do one of the following. You may approve the recommended list of proposals, reject the list in its entirety, and initiate a new RFP or fund fewer proposals on the list by rejecting the lowest ranked proposals. In the RFP process, the Council may not revisit or re-rank the list of proposals or recommended amounts of funding in the RFP process. In April of 2024, the Pierce County Council through Ordinance 2024-516 directed the NOFA process be used for funding opportunities made through the Housing and Related Services Fund and amended PCC or Pierce County Code 4.48.020S to reflect that decision. Currently, this is the only fund that the Pierce County Council has directed the use of the NOFA process onto. So again, you passed something that created the NOFA process. In order to use that process on any funding, you would need to pass an ordinance. You've done that one time for one month. for one bucket of money, what you're considering today is repealing that Chapter 2.111 and then amending the Pierce County Code to reflect that repeal language. So you're removing the language for the NOFA process off. So this proposal again would repeal Chapter 2.111 in its entirety and would also amend Section 4.48.020, specifically subsection S3 of the Pierce County Code, specifically the Housing and Related Services Fund, and strike any reference to Pierce County Code 2.111. The executive recommends adoption of this, and it came by way of his office. On July 6th, this was continued in rules and operations, and then July 14th, the public hearing was held, and that received a due pass recommendation. It is now in front of you for final consideration. This does have de minimis fiscal impact or no fiscal impact, and a community impact note is also available. With that, I've concluded my presentations. I'm happy to answer any questions. Julie Murray from the Executive's Office is also here should you have any questions for her.

Thank you, Ms. Waterland. I will pause and see if there are questions from my colleagues. And ended up using it for one pot of money so which I appreciated it and But feel like it's not necessarily necessary anymore but we'll listen to public comment and then I will have some additional comments. So not seeing any lights. So at this time, I'd like to invite members of the public to provide comment on O2026-535. There are no members of the public in chambers, so we will go online, Mr. Dominique.

For any member of the public that would like to provide comment on proposal number O2026-535, 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'll close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion on this item? Well, I will just add one of the reasons and thinking back to this work is trying to make a really complex system transparent to the public uh when we are approving things when we approve it in the budget that's the one time it's massive but these funding allocations come out throughout the year because first we allocate the funds and then we put out things like rfps or nofas and truly do appreciate the ability for the council to hear what's going on and transparently share with community so while i am supportive of of this repeal, just continue to think that it's important that we're getting those report backs and information as items come out through either the RFP process or some of the other one-off directed processes that go through the council. And maybe someday we'll get to a place where there's just like, specific set of rules that we follow all the time until another council changes it um so at this time i'm going to ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of proposal o 2026-535 councilmember krueger aye councilmember aiella aye councilmember yambe aye councilmember denson aye Aye.

Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

Council Member Hitchen? Aye. You have six ayes and zero nays. With six ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to item number two in this section, which is proposal O2026-536. Now, Council Member Morrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move proposal number O2026-536 for consideration.

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

Proposal number O2026-536, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council granting a non-exclusive franchise to Fatbeam LLC for a wireline system on certain county-owned rights of way and authorizing the county executive to execute said franchise.

Thank you. And this afternoon we have Mr. Tom Swanson, one of our amazing policy analysts, to brief us on the siting.

Thank you, Chair Hitchen. The proposal before the council this afternoon is the first of three telecommunications franchises that will be coming today. The proposal would authorize the executive to execute a 10-year franchise agreement with Fatbeam LLC that would allow for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a wireline telecommunications network. in the county's right-of-way. FATBEAM provides high-speed broadband services within Pierce County and within the unincorporated Pierce County. They are requesting a county-wide franchise in order to expand those services. The county engineer has reviewed this application and does recommend granting of the franchise. The proposed 10-year countywide franchise contains several provisions to protect the county's interest. I would note the other franchises also contain these same provisions, and I won't bore you by going through them on every franchise, but for the record on this first one, we'll detail the provisions of the wireline franchises. Fat beam would be required to obtain a utility right-of-way permit and comply with the manual on accommodating utilities in the right-of-way whenever work is occurring in the right-of-way. Fat beam must also relocate or remove facilities at its own expense when necessary for public improvements. or safety purposes and remove abandoned facilities and restore the right of way if facilities remain out of service for more than 180 days. The agreement requires Fatbeam to repair damage it causes within the right-of-way, maintain specific insurance coverages, and provide a performance bond and restoration bonds as required. The company must also notify the county of significant ownership changes and install facilities underground where existing facilities are already underground. Finally, FAPB must defend and indemnify the county against claims arising from its operations and provide facility information and mapping and assistance with public records upon request. The $2,500 application fee has been paid and received by the county. And with that, Madam Chair, both council and we have planning and public works staff available to answer any questions.

Thank you. Are there questions from my colleagues on this item? Council Member Morrell.

Madam Chair, just kind of curious, is there anything unusual about this particular franchise? This is your standard franchise agreement with standard 10-year?

Yes, this is a standard 10-year agreement that came forward from the department. It's the same franchise agreement that did come forward prior to council amending it. Was it two weeks ago now, three weeks ago? when we had the Easy Fiber franchise up. The agreement itself is the same. Council amended that one. This one remains at the 10-year.

So I guess I'm a little bit confused and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the other franchise agreement that we're going to talk about are only five-year agreements if the amendments pass. But this one doesn't have an amendment to...

The difference, and I'll refer to the amendment maker, but the difference in the... the previously amended and then the two coming up. Fat Beam currently is operating under, it's an expired franchise, but they have a previous franchise and are currently operating on incorporated Pierce County. They got a franchise approved in 2013 for 10 years, which actually expired at the very beginning of 2024. They've been continuing to operate under that franchise. We haven't established an existing relationship with Fat Beam LLC. The other three, previously Easy Fiber and the two coming up, there is no existing relationship as franchisees with the county or work history performance.

Okay, and so under the existing franchise agreement, they've operated without any violations, I would assume?

That wouldn't be the case, no. I mean, they've had violations, but those have been remedied. The current, they're on an expired franchise, so that factors into this. They are currently not listed as a utility in good standing. However, I've verified with Planning and Public Works. They are eligible to apply for that as the time of their violations were years ago. Those have been remedied. Again, we're renewing the franchise now. It is a paperwork exercise, essentially, for them to become a franchise in good standing at this point. But currently, they're not on that list.

Okay. So they're not on the good standing list is what you're saying? At this moment, no.

They are eligible to apply for that status, however.

Okay, I'm just looking at it as a fairness issue. So, okay.

Thank you. Are there additional questions on this one? not seeing any um not trying to get out in front of my own amendments in the next ones but in working with mr swanson the goal was i proposed amendments for entities that had not done business in unincorporated pierce county um this one though i think it was a different name potentially had done business which is why i did not propose an amendment though if you were wanted to councilman morale we have the language so if you're going to propose an amendment on the fly this is the best time to do it but um that was that was the line that i drew for my own thinking was if they had not done business in the past in unincorporated pierce county um then to do five years so just that was my thinking council member

thank you madam chair i i would feel more comfortable in allowing it to move forward if the franchise was in good standing or the expired franchise obviously they had violations that caused them to get out of good standing so if the bar is going to be set i would rather have them prove themselves than to continue to operate under the fact that the violations aren't cleaned up. There's nothing that says they have to clean them up, they can keep operating without good standing. Is that true, Mr. Swanson?

That is true. Within the manual on accommodated utilities and right-of-way, the main difference is there's a fee structure based on whether a utility in good standing or not a utility in good standing. Currently, that is a binary. It's an either-or. There is kind of no middle ground, as was mentioned earlier, for companies we have no history with. But it's a different fee structure, and you pay more for your work permits not being a utility in good standing. I may have said that as a double negative. Utilities in good standing have lower fee structure on their work permits. Okay, and if it...

What would happen is after five years, they would have to apply again, pay the $2,500, and extend at that time if we limited it to five?

Yes, for the franchise portion. They would still be eligible to apply for the utility in good standing. I mean, as I understand from the department, they're... They could apply for that yesterday.

Yeah, any time they can do that if they wanted to pay the better rate. So, like I say, I'm just kind of a little bit concerned on fairness. These other franchises, though, not getting ahead of myself from what I hear, have not had a good track record in other states. but they haven't operated here, so they have no violations, technically.

They have operated in Washington State and operated in Pierce County. They haven't operated in unincorporated Pierce County. But for the purposes of determining utility in good standing and not utility in good standing, those performances outside of Pierce County are not considered. So they're not on the list to be a utility in good standing because we haven't done business with them. They would need to be a franchisee for a year, and then they would be able to apply for that. If there were no violations in unincorporated Pierce County, that would be granted after a year.

Okay. Well, I will ask that we treat all these that are moving into Pierce County. Seems to be a trend that we have here. I would prefer to keep the 10 years just to make it more efficient, but I want to There again have parity among these that are going to come forward if we're going to continually go to the five year. So I guess I would like to make a verbal amendment. And the verbal amendment would be terms of the franchises. Franchise shall be for five years beginning on the acceptance date of this agreement.

Is there a second? Is... Just... Councilmember Ayal. Okay, Councilmember Krueger, a second. Now we can discuss. But do you want to... You kind of spoke to your amendment, so do you want... We're being very messy. Clerks, Ms. Call, the way that was phrased, did that capture everything or... Because... I think, I understand the intent, but I don't know that what was, the way it was phrased covered everything. So I just want to make sure for the record's sake that we, I'll check with the maker, but the assumption is that the intent would be to basically parody the language in Council Amendment Number 1 to O2026-537 for this particular ordinance. Council Member Morrell, does that? Yeah, correct. Okay. I mean, I could, yeah. Okay. So then we will go to Council Member Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. Just a clarifying question to the maker of the amendment. The thought process here being that we have an equal approach. So we're talking five years. Can you speak a little bit more about the rationale?

Yes, thank you for that question. Yeah, the rationale is pretty simple, is we have a non-exclusive franchise to Flat Beam LLC that is really in not good standings. So they've had violations against them. And if we're gonna be transparent, the ones that we're gonna speak to in next, they haven't operated in unincorporated Pierce County, thus they have no violations and we're limiting them to five years.

Got it.

Thank you. So that's what I'm going for.

And then follow-up question to Mr. Swanson, and I'm kind of conflating all of these. The other ones we're going to hear have incorporated, sorry, have operated in Pierce County, just not unincorporated Pierce County.

That is correct. Got it.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Council Member Krueger. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just finding I'm having concern in looking at ownership of these companies that one is Canadian-owned and one is UK-owned. The one, the Fat Beam is UK and Ziply is Canadian. And PSE is Canadian, and if we are having our infrastructure built out by foreign countries, then yes, we're getting the employment here, but the dollars are traveling to another world, I want to say. And I guess I'm almost looking at any franchise that is of foreign country origins or owned by, it should have a five-year. And I don't know how to switch this or add an amendment to reflect that. And I get the fairness on it, but I don't like punishing companies to a 10-year when they haven't done anything wrong. But I don't want to open the doors for foreign investment, that kind of timeframe, without a check on it. Could you repeat the amendment?

councilmember kruger it literally will be the amendments that we're going to look at the same one to apply to this one okay that's right i thought you had added more to that so okay i think it would be good to support the amendment thank you thank you councilmember kruger additional comments on the proposed amendment not seeing any then all those in favor of adopting uh the amendment i'm going to phrase this this way instead of trying to read this but it is uh identical to council amendment number one for proposal 02026-537 with the exception of it's for 536. so madam chair would you like me to detail the amendment now since we haven't talked about it Perfect. Let's do both those things. She's going to create one and you're going to tell us what it does. Okay. Formally, though it was explained by Councilman Morrell. Let's try that.

Okay, great. So what the amendment would do, there'd be three components to the amendment. The first one would add a recital on proposal O-2026-536. That would be at line 22 beginning. and that recital would state, whereas Chapter 12.34.430 of the Pierce County Code authorizes the county to grant franchise agreements for an initial term of not more than 10 years and, okay, that'd be the first component. The second component would be on the proposal itself, that line section one of the proposal beginning at line 30 for this proposal where section one goes down in details the term being 10 years would strike out 10 and put the number five in that place and then the third component of the amendment would be in the exhibit itself on page three under terms of franchise which for this proposal begins at line 25 you'll see along the fir the on page again page 3 of 38 terms of franchise line 25 The franchise shall be for, again, it says 10 years and has the number 10. It would strike out the word 10 and write 5 and then strike out the number 10 and put 5 in its place. So those are the three elements that would occur with this amendment on this proposal.

Thank you. Exactly what I said.

Identical.

Okay. So, Ms. Call, we're good now. That makes sense. To my colleagues, are there any additional questions? Council Member Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. I will speak in favor of the amendment and also want to acknowledge that, um, the thought process that both of both the amendment that we have in our packet and the live amendment that we propose what we have in front of us may not be the legislation to make those changes but we will in can in the future have more boundaries around moving and navigating these forward so it's less cumbersome for us to put in amendments to standard franchise agreements thank you not seeing any other comments so we are going to open this up for public vote on the amendment

struggling today and i'm not sure why let's try that so uh we have the amendment as explained i can't call it council amendment it's the amendment that council member morale has proposed to ordinance 2026-536 any further discussion all those in favor say aye aye any opposed Motion carries, thank you very much. Now we have the item as amended. Is there any further discussion? Not seeing any. I'm gonna open this up for public comment then. If any member of the, well, we don't have members of the public, but we have department staff. I didn't call on you, sorry. Do you have anything to add to this, Mr. Dieman?

Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity. Josh Diekmann, Director of Planning and Public Works. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the different types of franchises that we're talking about today, as was discussed some of what we talked about the last time we were before you approving a different franchise. was that for those companies that had not previously operated within our rights of way, we, for consistency, would be looking at granting a five-year or proposing a five-year franchise for that initial transaction today. We're also talking about pre-existing franchises who may have had to fall out of utility and good standing during their times. One of the things the department highlighted last time we were before you is that council has built many tools for us, for the department to manage the franchisees who are operating within our rights of way. county engineer has expressed that they're quite comfortable with the tools at their disposal and that it gives them a lot of ability to manage the franchisees that are within the right of way. The utility and good standing program does incentivize them to follow the provisions of our right-of-way manual, and it provides some cost savings to them, and so they're incentivized to come back into compliance and to be good partners to us. And so I think that the permitting timelines and the permitting fee discounts that they get through that utility and good standing program are incentive, sufficient incentive. Staff is not prepared to discuss today how many of our franchisees We're out of good standing during any time, and so we don't know the ramifications of adjusting the approach. So for consistency, I think it was very straightforward to say if they've never had a franchise, the initial term would be five years. I don't know the ramifications and what that would mean for all of our franchisees as they come back into the program, how many of those we would have to address, and how we would define whether or not they were met Council's intent for maybe falling out of good graces at any point during their 10 year 10 or the 10 year franchise period. So I can't speak to the ramifications of the amendment that's before us.

Okay, thank you. Well, we did pass the amendment, but I appreciate the comments. We're going to go because we can magically undo things. It's the power of the council. Council Member Krueger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just was curious if you're able to describe the process that if there is a franchise that falls out of graces, what is the, you know, and they want to get back in. Is this like a week's kind of thing to figure out what was just an oops or it was deliberate or does it take months to put them back in good graces? How does that play out?

Thank you, Council Member. I can only speak to that in very vague terms because I am not the subject matter expert. I'll see if there's any. It looks like one of my colleagues will be able to be better prepared to speak that than I am. Thank you.

Hi, John Baker with PPW. So it's a one-year process and in that one year you have to have less than three violations. Okay.

Is there any kind of a category for is there like a category 1 violation a category 2?

No, um, well, I am unaware if there's different categories for the violations. I can't speak to what that beams were. So, back in June and September of 2023, they did not activate their permit prior to doing work. And then in October of 2023, they were caught doing work without a permit. There is ways within the franchise for them to do work without a permit in case there's an emergency to their system, things like that. We did not believe it fell into the emergency category at that time.

Okay, so there was no life issue. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Council Member Rowe.

Thank you. Mr. Baker, when the county brings forward these franchise agreements, do they note that there's any violations or

they're not in good standings do you guys tell us that or just we have to ask the questions um this was definitely the first time this has come up um when i've been proposing them uh and oce is a different group and they notified me after i submitted this that fat beam had fallen out of utility and good standing um so i know we didn't make that um clear to tom when it was brought up so

Okay, and if someone is not in good standing, do you look at them individually, the violations? i'm kind of looking at a long one that has been lingering since i've been on this council and how do you remove those violations is it a one-on-one conversation with the municipality or the contractor how do you do that i'm unsure how you would remove the violation um i can

look into that for you. I know that's our OCE group that manages those and would inform them of the violations. In terms of getting back in UGS, you would need to have one year without three or more. So I can speak to that.

Okay. Obviously, I would like to know who, you know, what the violations are, whether minimal or whether they're impactful to whether we consider them to renew their franchises if they're going to still do um cut corners um so thank you thank you director diekmann

Thank you, Chair, if I may. Planning and Public Works had noted that Council has multiple questions about the franchise program, and so we're in the process of capturing those questions and trying to schedule some time to present to Council so that we can provide comprehensive information about how franchise works and to answer all of your questions.

Okay, I just want to check in So, we're going to open this up for a comment on no 2026.5 has amended changes to staff. So, we'll talk about those real quick. If you're not along, any comments from staff, then we will open now officially for a comment. Let's see what that is.

or star 9 on your telephone keypad. We have one hand at this time, Madam Chair. Ambulance, please change the record.

I appreciate the transparency mentioned during evaluation of the utility company and proposal number 2026, 526. it's nice to see that you are all putting public safety of our community as a priority. love it is issuing a check on the investments is smart cautious and fair thank you thank you for your comments no more answer this time i'm sure no other hands raised i'm a closed public comment bring it back before the council is there any further discussion

not seeing any so mr swanson i think we have a couple more of these coming forward based on what just happened um asking you to maybe work with the department this one was out of was not currently doing business so checking with councilman morale if they currently have a franchise agreement and are just renewing and are in good standing the 10-year franchise would be your thinking and as they move forward so that staff know how to support us as we have several of these.

Yeah, I think there again, I don't see any problem running through the other ones with the same amendment. But as far as, you know, I'm still concerned about the not in good standing and the fact they've had two years to clean it up and haven't done anything. Because I think you said 2023? Mr. Baker.

Yes, it was 2023. My understanding, though, is they haven't done any work since then, so there hasn't been any reason for them to apply to remove their name from or to add their name to UGS status.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Well, that brings us, I'm going to ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of O2026-536 as amended.

Council Member Krueger? Aye. Council Member Ayala? Aye. Council Member Iombe?

Aye.

Council Member Denson?

Aye.

Council Member Morrell.

Aye. Council Member Hitchen. Aye. You have six ayes, zero nays. Six ayes, zero nays. Motion is adopted. That brings us to item number three, which is O2026-537.

Council Member Morrell for a motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Ordinance 2026-026-537 for consideration.

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

Proposal number O2026-537, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council granting a non-exclusive franchise to Zipley Fiber Pacific LLC, DBA Zipley Fiber, for a wireline system on certain county-owned rights-of-way and authorizing the county executive to execute said franchise.

Thank you. And Mr. Swanson is back to tell us a little bit about this franchise.

Thank you, Chair Hitchin. Yes, the second of our three proposals for wireline telecommunication franchises. This proposal would, again, authorize the executive, again, as it currently states, to execute a 10-year franchise agreement with Ziply Fiber LLC, again, allowing for the construction operation and maintenance of a wireline telecommunications franchise. network in the county's right-of-way. Ziply provides high-speed broadband services within Pierce County and is requesting a countywide franchise to expand their service offerings into portions of the unincorporated county. The county engineer has reviewed this application and does recommend granting of the franchise. I would note Ziply is a wholly owned subsidiary of our next franchise coming up, NFC Northwest. Separate franchise agreements are being sought as NFC Northwest owns and maintains the facilities and assets, what we'd call the spine of the telecommunications system, while Ziply is the retail service that accesses the right-of-way in providing curb-to-home service. So one company, two franchises. Two franchises, but one network. Two companies, two franchises, one network is the correct way to say that. Again, the applicant has paid the $2,500 application fee. The same provisions that were detailed in the previous franchise also are in this franchise. Again, with that, Madam Chair, we have both council and planning public works staff available, and we do have the before-mentioned amendments.

Thank you. Are there comments or questions on the underlying proposal before we take up an amendment? Not seeing any. Council Member Ayal, are you willing to move Council Amendment No. 1? Yes, sure.

I move Council Amendment No. 1.

It's been moved and seconded that we adopt Council Amendment Number 1 to O2026-537. Mr. Swanson, can you tell us what this one does? It should sound very familiar.

Thank you, Chair Hitchin. Yes, it does the same three elements as the recital is being added, detailing the county codes, authorization of the county granting franchises of no more than 10 years. Again, the Section 1 amendment changing 10 years to 5 years. And then within Exhibit A, the agreement under terms of franchise where 10 years is listed, changing that to 5 years. So, again, those same three elements changing the franchise from 10 years to 5 years.

thank you and i can speak to this one um this came up with the last conversation around entities that had not done business in pierce county unincorporated pierce county and maybe doing business in cities and towns that i'm not aware of um and so bringing it down to five years so originally i was really only concerned about that one franchise agreement the last time it was brought up as a fairness idea. So that's where I landed was to do this. So that is why I proposed the same amendment. And that's what I'm hoping to earn support on. So looking to my colleagues to see if anybody has any comments or questions. Not seeing any. All those in favor of adopting council amendment number one to O2026-537 say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries, so we now have this item as amended. Is there any further discussion on this before we open it up for public comments? Not seeing anything from department staff on this one. Okay, so I am gonna open this up for public comment. There are no members of the public in chambers, so we will go directly to online. Mr. Dominique.

For any member of the public who would like to provide a comment on proposal number O2026-537 as amended, please press the raise hand icon in Zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. There are no hands at this time, Madam Chair.

Seeing no hands raised, we're going to close public comment, bring it back before the council and see if there's any further comments. We'll go to Council Member Murrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would, and Mr. Baker, you might be a good person to answer this question. When you get these applications for franchise agreements, do you do any background checks

So we do some basic, just making sure they are a company that is able to operate in Washington. We don't necessarily dig deep into their history.

Okay, and obviously, since they've never operated in this state, we're assuming, or this county, they have no violations?

So, Ziply has operated within Washington. I know they offer services in the city of Tacoma, but they have never operated within unincorporated Pierce County, and they don't have any violations with us.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for the questions and the answers. Not seeing any other comments, so I will ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of O2026-537 as amended.

Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

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

Aye.

Council Member Denson? Aye.

Councilmember Hitchen? Aye. Yes, 6 ayes, 0 nays. With 6 ayes, 0 nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to Proposal O2026-538. Councilmember Morrell for a motion.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move approval of Council, or excuse me, of Proposal O2026-538.

So I moved and seconded it. Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Proposal number O2026-538, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council granting a non-exclusive franchise to NFC Northwest LLC for a wireline system on certain county-owned rights-of-way and authorizing the county executive to execute said franchise.

Thank you. And Mr. Swanson, we're back to you.

And thank you, Madam Chair. The third and final telecommunications franchise before the body this afternoon would authorize the executive to execute, as currently drafted, a 10-year franchise agreement with NFC Northwest, allowing for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a wireline telecommunications network in the county's right-of-way. As stated earlier, NFC Northwest owns and maintains the facilities and assets, or the spine, of what is commercially known as the Ziply facility. telecommunications network. The provisions stated previously all still apply within this telecommunications franchise also. The $2,500 application fee has been paid by the applicant and received by the county. And with that, again, we have council and department staff available, and we do have the same amendment.

Thank you. Is there any questions for Mr. Swanson on this item? Councilmember Brown.

Thank you. Mr. Swanson, you could probably answer this one. Do we just get the check and sit on it until we approve it, or do you actually cash the check?

We're going to phone a friend, Mr. Baker.

We do cash the check once we receive it. I try and get it once it's received to our team within two days to make sure that they can cash it and do whatever they need to.

Okay, so the check's good by the time it gets to us. Okay, just wanted to make sure. Thank you, Mr. Baker.

Thank you for the questions. Okay, we do have an amendment. Council Member Ayal, are you willing to move the amendment for this proposal as well?

Yes, sure. I move amendment number one.

It's been moved and seconded that we approve council amendment number one to O2026-538. Mr. Swanson, to repeat yourself.

Attempting to not choke here. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the amendment, again, is very familiar at this point. The same three components, adding the recital, just documenting what the county code says about the duration of franchises not being more than 10 years, adding to the proposal in Section 1 or changing Section 1 of the proposal to read five years instead of 10 years, and then under Exhibit A within the actual franchise agreement itself under terms of franchise where 10 years is stated, changing that to five years.

Thank you. Is there any further discussion on this amendment? Not seeing any. My reasons are the same and have not changed. So we'll ask for support. All those in favor of approving Council Amendment number one, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. So that brings us to O2026-538 as amended. Is there any further discussion amongst my colleagues before I open this up for public comments?

not seeing any and again there's no members of the public in chambers so we will go online mr dominique for any member of the public who would like to provide a comment on proposal number o 2026-538 as amended please press the raise hand icon and zoom or star 9 on your telephone keypad And Madam Chair, there are no hands at this time.

No hands raised. We'll close public comment, bring it back before the council. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, I'd ask the clerk to call the roll on the approval of O2026-538 as amended.

Council Member Denson. Aye. Council Member Morrell?

Aye.

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

Aye. Council Member Hitchen? Aye. You have six ayes, zero nays. With six ayes and zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you. That brings us to item number five, which is proposal O2026-546. Council Member Ayala for motion.

Thank you, Chair. I move proposal number O2026-546.

So moved and seconded. Can the clerk please read it into the record?

Proposal number O2026-546, an ordinance of the Pierce County Council related to wage adjustments for nonrepresented employees of the office of the Pierce County Council and amending the Pierce County salary classification plan.

Thank you. And we are bookending this and back to Mr. Taylor to talk about this one.

All right, thank you. Hugh Taylor Council staff. So the proposal before you is proposal. Oh, 2026, 546 that amends the Pierce County salary classification plan. Uh, this proposal is a companion to the resolution that the council considered earlier. It's really it. Reflects the, um. changes to the salary classification plan that are necessary to reflect the positions that are being created through the council's reorganization. So exhibit A to this ordinance shows those new positions. The positions include the Council IT and Operations Supervisor, which I spoke to earlier, the Council Public Information Specialist, and Council Operations Assistants, both of which I spoke to earlier. The exhibit shows the proposed compensation plan for each of those positions. I will note that this proposal does not have a fiscal impact. The fiscal impact associated with the reorganization was addressed in the resolution itself. That's where the actual changes occurred in terms of bodies. employees being authorized. This proposal was reviewed by the Rules and Operations Committee. It did receive a do pass recommendation. There is one amendment in your packet at page 212 of the electronic packet. I'd be happy to walk through that once it's been moved. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there questions before we take up the amendments? not seeing any councilman briel are you willing to make a motion yes sure i move amendment number one It's been moved and seconded that we adopt council amendment number one to Oh 2026 546 Mr. Taylor to tell us what this does, right?

Thank you. So council amendment number one Would eliminate a position from the salary classification plan the position being eliminated is communications coordinator position that positions being eliminated in because it's being converted to the operations assistant position and the public information specialist position. So with those two conversions, the existing communications coordinator position won't be present in the Office of the County Council, so it shouldn't be reflected in the salary classification plan. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions regarding this amendment? not seeing any so thank you mr taylor for finding this or whoever found this and realized oh we should probably fix this credit to miss long for that well thank you miss long we like our stuff to be actually what's happening so um not seeing any other comments or lights come up so then all those in favor of approving council amendment number one say aye aye aye any opposed The motion carries, thank you very much. So that brings us to O2026-546 as amended. I'm gonna pause and see if there are any comments on this one or questions. Council Member Ayala.

Thank you, Chair. Just one quick technical question. Do we have anything in policy that allows additional pay for additional work? or would that fall under the category of moving folks from one step to the next?

three there's three opportunities i think for additional compensation one is a merit review but that's compensation within the existing pay scale for an individual there's opportunity for lead worker pay or there's also opportunity for working out of class or in a acting capacity to typically on a temporary basis. So those are the opportunities. If there are regular duties that are being performed that are outside the class for an employee, then the Recommendation would be that the position be reviewed for either out of class assessment or potentially a change in the assigned. Duties for that position, and that would be something we'd bring to rules and operations committee and discuss.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I know 1 of the things that we tried to solidify and I don't remember what year we did this, but just. When somebody would earn out of. class i think is the right term so really good example when stephanie called to eat some much deserved holiday and gets out of town and we take somebody in like per for this case um miss persons and make her the clerk while she's gone doing all the duties we then give her a little bit of a pay bump and in our different spaces where people are filling in and doing additional work if they're just filling in for 20 minutes during the council meeting because somebody had to leave is a very different or when we were assigning people to do work to support charter review outside of the charter review budget just to support the workload that they came with that there were ways that mr taylor and the team figured out potentials but when it's ongoing and consistent because we've added to their workload that's when we review are they being paid appropriately so hope that helps um not seeing any other lights come up so i'm going to open this up for public comment if anyone would like to address the council oh we were on we passed the amendment okay thank you i didn't check it Um, so we have, um, I'm going to open this up for public comment. There are no members of the public in chamber. So we're going to go online. Mr. Dominique.

For any member of the public who would like to provide a comment on proposal number 02026-546 as amended, please press the raise hand icon and zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And Madam Chair, there are no hands at this time.

With no hands raised, I'm going to close public comment, bring it back before the Council. Is there any further discussion on Ordinance 2026-546 as amended? Not seeing any. Can the Clerk call the roll on the approval of this item?

Council Member Yambe.

Aye.

Council Member Denson. Aye. Council Member Morrell. Aye. Council Member Kruver. Aye. Council Member Ayala. Aye. Council Member Hitchen. Aye.

With six ayes, zero nays. With six ayes, zero nays, the motion is adopted. Thank you, everybody. We now have Section 10, which is Community Forum. Community Forum is a member for members of the public to address the council on any topic of significance to or affecting Pierce County government that did not appear on the agenda for final action today. There is a three minute limit. As I've stated a couple times, there are no members of the public in chambers. So we will go online. Mr. Dominique.

Yes, good evening. If you would like to participate in public or in community forum this evening, please press the raise hand icon and zoom or star nine on your telephone keypad. And we have one hand at this time, Madam Chair. Angeline, please state your name for the record, and you have three minutes.

Good evening, council members. My name is Angeline Esquerdo from Pierce County District 2. And I'm speaking today in regards to a very important issue. That is an emergency for women who are having to do a legal pregnancy experimentation, including. Washington state is a no ban abortion state. There's a huge problem, but trying to gain adequate abortion health care from hospitals in the city. Seattle for King County, but there's also throughout Pierce County. But according to Washington State University, more than two-thirds of resident abortions in Western Washington occur in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. While we have the largest statistics throughout this side of our state, we are still lacking in medical care for actually having to receive an abortion surgical procedure or abortion medications. For about three years, I have searched for abortion medication due to being a victim of illegal pregnancy experimentation. I have not been able to get any. Experiment procedures have varied about over the past four years. It is extremely painful. The details of this would make you fall out of your seats. There's a lot, so I won't go into too much detail into this introduction. I'll leave you with this note of the illegal activities with disregard for women's rights. And autonomy cross intersects with the operations of human trafficking rings as well for awareness purposes. Excuse me. Also, I know of one doctor who tried searching for abortion medication in at least 10 hospitals within a few days and was told no. Another doctor outside of his residence was trying to find out if his patient could receive a safe emergency abortion surgery since she couldn't find anything at a local hospital. He searched from Western and Eastern Washington hospitals and was given the same response as she. No. out of eight hospitals. All of these asks are from this year, another time that I had searched between 15 hospitals. I had no luck getting past the lobby waiting room or check-in room in the emergency department section with only a vital check-in symptoms list. Sitting there in such horrible pain was tough for hours, only to be told that there's nothing else that they can be done at the moment. because they chose to not to do abortions. There's something wrong that we have the type of women's health care that is considered legal even in our capital as a sanctuary city, Olympia, allowing abortions too, that we still cannot get a reliable answer of a profound yes, unlike other neighboring states and especially in the state of an emergency. There should not be any problems in this area. While there's a gray area of doctors having a choice not to perform this type of surgery for their own personal reasons, there should be a referral service just for the hospital staff for the troubled female pregnant patient to still receive the life-saving medical care that she needs at a place where lives are also supposed to be saved. Thank you for your comments, Angela. Thank you.

My normal answer is time manager.

No other hands raised. I'm going to close committee forum and bring it back before the council. Is there any news announcements or reminders? We're going to go to council member Kruber.

Thank you, manager. I just want to clarify earlier, I'd mentioned on Puget Power PSE, they are owned by Puget Energy, which in turn is held by Puget Holdings LLC, which is, they are mostly foreign investors, Canadian and Australian. So I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you.

Thank you. We like being factual. We're going to go to council member Murrell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to make the public aware and the council, Council Member Kruver and myself attended the Freedom Plane National Tour. It landed at Boeing Field yesterday. And it carried the documents that forged this nation. It's part of the 250th anniversary celebration. And you can see these documents at the Museum of History and Industry from July 30th to August 16th. That's cool. You may say, why? This is the first time that these documents have been flown around from Miami to Seattle. Seattle's the last stop, and it's the 1823 original engraving of the document of independence. There was only 50 known engravings commissioned by John Quincy Adams. It also has the secret printing of the Constitution in draft form, dated 1887. And this is something that I didn't even know about, the Treaty of Paris. 1783, the Treaty with Great Britain that acknowledged the U.S. as an independent nation. It also includes the Bill of Rights, the Articles of Association, dated 1774, signed by all 53 delegates, urging a boycott of all British goods. So these documents will be on display at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle from July 30th to August 16th. So I know there's a lot of excitement about seeing these documents, and if you have the opportunity, it's worth the trip. Thank you.

Thank you, and thank you for attending. I think we all got that invitation. I was just like, I have rules, and I have study sessions, so I can't be in two places at once. Not seeing other comments or announcements, so I will just remind everybody, I turned in my ballot this morning, got a text message after study session saying, signature matched, it has been accepted, and now I know my vote will count. It's a really secure and sweet setup that we have here in Washington and our auditor's teams between the ballot boxes and the way they communicate. I'm just truly thankful to live in a state that makes it equitable, accessible, and people of all abilities have the ability to read the ballots, understand the ballots, whether it's a language barrier, and they will work with you if something is not right. Please call our auditor's office. They are happy to try and work with you if you think there was a mistake made, you didn't get a ballot, or you lost it. Not going to say that's never happened to me, but it is one of those things that they will assist you and have all the checks and balances to make sure you don't accidentally vote twice or intentionally vote twice. There are things. We have prosecuted people for voting twice in Pierce County. But not seeing any other comments, so seeing no other business before us, we are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.