City Council - Regular Meeting

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

Would the clerk please call the roll?

MACHT: Deputy Mayor Johnson. PRESENTER Present. Council Member King.

PRESENTER Present.

JOSEPH Council Member Kasimah? PRESENTER Present. Smolko? PRESENTER Present. JOSEPH Council So

we always like to recognize our young people that attend our council meetings. And I see that Ken Martin's family has got some aspiring members. So our future mayors of Puyallup are here with us tonight. Thank you for being here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting?

GREGORY Motion to approve.

GREGORY Second.

GREGORY All in favor?

GREGORY Aye.

We'll now consider the minutes of the meeting for 12/02/2025. Do I hear a motion?

DAVID So moved. DAVID Second.

All in favor?

Aye. Abstain.

GREGORY We will now consider the approval of the December. Motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. All in favor?

Aye. Aye. Abstain.

Council Member Smallko was not on counsel at that point, so I think it's appropriate that she abstain. Just a word of clarification. Okay, we're getting right to the heart of the matter here. We'd like to have a proclamation honoring Ken Martin, a past mayor of Puyallup. Served faithfully and well for a number of years.

I'd like to read that proclamation now. Whereas Kenneth Ken Thomas Martin was a lifelong resident of Puyallup, Washington, whose deep roots in the community began at his birth in 1941 and continued throughout a life dedicated to public service, and whereas Ken was a proud graduate of Puyallup High School and went on to honorably serve his country in The United States Army and the Air Force Reserves, demonstrating a lifelong commitment to public service and patriotism, and whereas Ken was a successful local businessman whose entrepreneurial spirit contributed to the validity and economic well-being of the Puyallup community, and whereas Ken devoted more than two decades to civic leadership as a member of the Puyallup City Council and as mayor, serving with integrity, steady leadership, and a deep concern for residents and the future of the city of Puyallup. And whereas during his years of public service, Ken was known for his approachability, thoughtful decision making, and dedication to improving the quality of life for the community he loved. And whereas beyond his public roles, Ken was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather whose faith, generosity, and kindness left a lasting impact on his family and all who knew him.

And whereas on December 28, Ken passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones. And the city extends its sincere condolences to his family and encourages the community to reflect on his life and service and to carry a spirit of civic engagement and compassion. And whereas Ken Martin's legacy is reflected not only in the policies and projects shaped during his tenure on city council, but also in the example he set of civic responsibilities, service above self, and enduring commitment to Puyallup. Now therefore be it proclaimed that on this day of 01/27/2026, the Puyallup City Council hereby honors and remembers Ken Martin for his distinguished service to the city of Puyallup and its residents and express its deepest gratitude for his leadership, dedication, and lasting contributions to the community. In witness whereof, I, Mayor Ned Whitting, have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed on this January 2026.

So I will shortly come down and hand these proclamations to family members that are here tonight. But I'd like to take a few moments of personal privilege, and I will offer my colleagues the same privilege, to just express my personal appreciation of Ken. I moved to Puyallup back in 1998, which didn't really get involved in civic government much. But I did run into Ken on a number of occasions and had reason to visit him. And he was very open with me and was everything I would have expected from a mayor.

I attend the same church as Ken did and recognized his impact in the church hemisphere as well. So I just want to express my condolences to the family and appreciation for Ken and his legacy. Thank you.

Council Member Castama. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like to take the liberty to and make some comments regarding Ken Martin. He and I both kind of grew up at the same time politically. I entered the state legislature in the 1990s. And I exited close to 2010. 2012 was when I left. But I knew Ken very well during that period. There's quite a legacy in this city of providing a commons for all the community to come together around.

Pioneer Park is one of that that commons in our community where we all come together. And during his tenure, you know that that was built tremendously by his effort and others but he was a leader in that. If you look at the structure we're in right now, City Hall, if you look at the library, if you look at the pavilion, all of these things have garnered tremendous accolades from everyone from not only in Washington state but around the country. And I want you to know that Ken was very instrumental in making that happen. He took the torch from prior leaders.

And we took the torch from him. And hopefully, we've done him honor in doing that. So thank you for being here. The communication with you, the family, has been wonderful. And I wish you well. Thank you.

JOSHUA Councilmember Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

JOSHUA Deputy Mayor, sorry.

JOSHUA That works, too. Thank you. I just want to say to the Martin family, your father and your husband were, he was an amazing person to me personally, as well as to the city. He was a man that was quiet in nature but influential in action. He didn't need to be the loudest person in the room.

He didn't need to be the demanding person in the room. He had a way of steering influence with a steadiness of leadership style and a steadiness of character. And he exuded that in a manner that was very rare. I remember probably over thirty years ago, was a young younger man then, and so was he. And, our family had just moved to Puyallup and we had three young children of whom we homeschooled all three children.

And, so part of the education that we wanted to teach our children was civic government. And, so I would take my three children in ages probably three to, you know, seven, And we would go down to the City Hall, which was down where the kind of senior center area is in that area, and seeing all the council members there. But your father and your husband, Ken Martin, inspired me. We would go there, he would always acknowledge the children. And I think he even gave them a city pen.

He was the human touch of city leadership that oftentimes, in leadership you feel untouchable that you're somehow higher and mighty. He he he was certainly influential, mighty man, but he was humble in spirit and we certainly picked up on that. But as I began to reflect on the impression he had upon my family and our children, he also had an impression upon me. And, who would have known that by his example and others that it stirred in me a heart to run for public service at some point down the road. And so, inspired me to continue on in my own unique way, yet different than him, continued public service here in our city.

And, I remember when I decided to run, approached him about that and he gave me some good counsel that encouraged me to do so. Beyond a man of a community man, I also respect his his faith and faith in God and Jesus Christ. I appreciate that about him. As a man of faith myself and a believer in Jesus Christ, I certainly appreciate those who share that passion for me. And he wasn't ashamed of that. That was who he was, but he didn't have to also pronounce it. It just he lived it out through his actions and who he was. And so that part of him, I I certainly deeply respect. I also wanna apologize that I wasn't able to make it to the memorial service. I had it in my wish to do so, but my employment would not allow me the time off.

And that was a real test of my self control because I wanted to be there to honor him. But, I was glad that we had this proclamation so you could hear me publicly express my appreciation for him and my respect for him and his life that he lived. I look forward to someday meeting him beyond those pearly gates and thanking him in person, but I do wanna honor the family and thank you for giving him to us. We know that public service takes a lot of your time and your attention. I'm sure his mind was at times focused.

And so, you know, it takes a it takes a toll on the marriage, takes a little toll on the family. And but know that your father and your husband made a difference. And whatever split mind and and energy he had giving toward the city, I know that it wasn't in vain and that God honors those that serve others and I know that he honored him for that. So, you know, I could go on and on for much more, but I hope that my articulation expresses my sincere gratitude for your father and your husband. I hope that his legacy continues.

And, I understand there's a son that I think lives in Sumner, hoping he might move to Puyallup and and run for office. But we'll see about that. But, anyway, thank you so much for giving up your dear loved one to our committee service. And and as as council member Castilla mentioned, you know, we look around and and he was part of a great legacy of a council that got stuff done. And I think we aspire to rise to education and get stuff done in this council and for future councils. Thank you very much and God bless you.

Councilmember Adler.

Thank you. I just want to say thank you for allowing us to honor your father, your husband, our community's asset, and a friend to us. My family, as discussed before the council meeting with my mother earlier today, was trying to I mean, you should see the sketches we were doing of trying to figure out how Mr. Martin and myself, where we share a maternal, on my maternal side, blood. And I think that it is my maternal grandfather's I think I share a great grandparents with Mr.

Martin, who my great grandmother was his aunt, is what I think it is. And I remember my grandfather, Cliff Morrison, a proud Puyallup man, often referring to his cousin Kenny, particularly when he was serving on the council. And I knew how important civics was to my grandfather. And I know that he was very proud, very proud to call Ken his cousin. So thank you for allowing us. And I will carry a piece of him with me in my service to this community. Thank you very much.

JOSHUA Councilmember Gilliam.

Thank you. I was debating on whether or not to speak, but I figure if I don't speak, I'll miss it. But I remember council member Martin he was a part of a community prayer breakfast. And it would meet I wanted to say once a week. And I got to serve him coffee at that. As a young 20 year old at a leadership school, he was a very influential man. He was a gentle, kind servant. And as a young one, I remember him being very wonderful. So I wish I knew him better. But

hey, we have

his blood here on council. We are very honored by him and by you. And I just wanted to say thank you.

Okay, it looks like that's the end of our council member comments. So I'd like to invite you to come forward and get some pictures and have Okay, we now have a second proclamation. This is a black history proclamation. Whereas in observance of Black History Month, we recognize and celebrate that black Americans helped shape our nation's identity in many wonderful and lasting ways. And whereas Black History Month first originated as part of an initiative by writer and educator Carter G.

Woodson, who launched Black History Week in 1926 and proclaimed it should always occur in the February between the birthday of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. And whereas in 1976, as part of the nation's bicentennial, Black History Week was expanded and became established as Black History Month and is now celebrated all over North America, Canada, and Great Britain, and whereas since our country's founding, countless black Americans have achieved exceptional success in all aspects of our society, including business, education, politics, science, and the arts, and serve as inspiration for fellow Americans of every race and ethnicity, and whereas we affirm the importance of black history and honor all individuals who have stood up against prejudice, discrimination, and injustice, and whereas the city of Puyallup acknowledges and appreciates the black members of our community who contribute to our economic, cultural, spiritual, and political development, and whereas the Puyallup City Council is committed to cultivating and fostering a community of diversity and inclusion, whereas Black History Month allows us to shine a particular spotlight on the achievements and challenges, both past and present, of black Americans while celebrating and expressing gratitude for the many positive impacts they have on our community.

Now, therefore, I, Ned Whitting, mayor of the city of Puyallup, Washington, to hereply proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Puyallup. We recognize our black residents who are valued and vital members of our community, and we pledge to continue working towards achieving a society that is just and prosperous for all. In witness whereof, I have hereto unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Puyallup to be affixed this January 2026. And again, I'll take a little liberty here. We've just had a wonderful MLK celebration here in town, the first ever community wide MLK celebration.

It was well attended at Praise Chapel, our black church here in town. And it was a wonderful event and brought in a lot of people that feel strongly about the black influence and good that they bring to our community. And I just want to say that it's my objective to make Puyallup a neighborly community for all. And this proclamation, I think, helps us do that. And so I'd like to invite Doctor.

Chaya Flores to come forward and accept this proclamation.

I also brought staff and students, if that's And I had a few words to also say, but I'll wait, if that's all right. Good evening, council members and mayor. Thank you for this meaningful proclamation. Once again, I'm Chaya Flores. I serve as president at Pierce College Puyallup.

And I'm joined tonight by staff and students. On behalf of the college, we are honored to accept this proclamation, the twenty twenty six Black History Month. Your acknowledgment today recognizes the impact of black Americans, past and present, that have had on our country as well as our community through their leadership, creativity, perseverance, and vision. At Pierce College Puyallup, this proclamation truly matters. About nine percent of our students identify as black.

This is the case for our employees as well. And many students attend or graduated from high schools right here in the Puyallup School District. They bring so much strength, insight, and energy to our campus every day. By issuing this proclamation, you're affirming to our employees and students that their lived experiences, and also helping create a sense of belonging, not just at Pierce College, but across the community they call home. Your action tonight tells our black students, employees, and the broader community that their stories matter, their contributions matter, and their future in this community matters.

We're grateful to stand with you as we continue working toward a more just, inclusive, and opportunity filled for future for everyone. So, you again.

Thank you. I appreciate those words and your presence here this evening. We're now going to move on to citizens' comments. And if the Martin family would this might be a convenient time to exit if you so desire. I wanted to offer you the opportunity.

Okay, so now we're going to move on to our citizen comments. Will the clerk please provide the instructions for citizen's public comment?

This part of the meeting is for general citizen comments. Please reserve any public hearing testimony to that section of the agenda. The mayor will call on those who have provided their names in advance, then the mayor will call for other citizens who wish to speak. For the record, please state your name and address or city council district in which you reside. Please direct your comments to the council as a whole, not individual council members. All comments are limited to three minutes. The clerk will provide verbal notice when only thirty seconds remain. As a reminder, this portion of meeting is council's opportunity to hear from the community and not a time to engage in debate. Lastly, per state law, this public comment period cannot be used to speak in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure or individual candidacy, and no such comments will be allowed.

Thank you. Our first citizen comments will be by former mayor John Hopkins.

John Hopkins, District 1. Proclamations are obviously important. Tonight, had two really good ones. Sometimes, they're not particularly contentious, you know, like, must be trees this week because bees were last week. They're kind of repetitive. Sometimes, they're really contentious. You know, you've had to deal with a few lately. And in this environment, it can be kind of tough. You know, the LGBTQ ones, a little bit tougher. The celebration event, also tougher.

A little bit of contentiousness when you have a president who spews forth some pretty intense rhetoric. I could go on. I'm echoing what Marilyn Strickland said. Some of you know exactly what she said, So you know what I mean. And then you have some evangelical churches that say love thy neighbor, but we don't have to worry about, you know, the ones who are queer or who are Muslims.

A little bit hypocritical, but what you guys did with the Martin Luther King celebration, I totally take my hat off to you because that took some courage. And you didn't just read a proclamation. You did the work. You took leadership roles in it. And that's really important. So thank you very much for doing that. I certainly applaud you for that. Because Puyallup, it isn't a cow town anymore. It's been accused of it many times in the past, but it's not. There's lots of weird characters around now.

You know. I'm an immigrant. Okay. I'm white and privileged, but still. And then, I have a granddaughter who's black, and then I have my daughter-in-law, Chinese, And then I have a nephew who's now a niece. You know, it's a diverse community. Not everyone was born here. Not everyone went to Puyallupai. And a lot of people have got passports. We're changing. We're changing rapidly. And I appreciate the fact that you showed courage and leadership and put on that this event, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Hope to do it again next year. Thank you.

Thank you, John. I just like to comment that I I don't think it took much courage. Think if you do what's right, then then good things will happen. So we did what was right. Okay, I'm going to murder this last name, Trevor.

You can pronounce your last name for me.

Thank you, Mayor Witting, distinguished council members. My name is Trevor Baumgartner. I'm an LPN who works at Good Samaritan Hospital. I'm also a union delegate and member of the negotiating team for SEIU Northwest eleven ninety nine. The reason that we're here today is to let everybody know, for those who don't know, this is a large and continually growing community that Good Samaritan Hospital has the emergency room that is the fourth busiest in the nation.

Most people don't know that. I know that the hospital is keen to expand, and we wish to grow with the hospital. And as union members, we believe that not only do we need buildings and facilities, that we need safe staffing levels, we need the ability to safely provide for our patients, we need to be able to have a competitive wage to be able to be in this community, live in our community, raise our children in this community. And that we honestly and truly believe in service. We believe that the city of Puyallup is worth serving.

We believe that the greater Pierce County area absolutely needs top quality health care, and we're here to provide it. The only thing that we really want to be able to do is have multi care grow and have those who work with multi care grow with them. We would love to be able to stay members of this community. We would love to continue to work in the facility safely, have our health care protected, have our family's health care provided for, and that the values that everybody stands for of doing right and taking care of everyone in our community are served. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Penny Thorpe.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. I first want to acknowledge all of the ancestors who have made this town and this land important, Those of you who have ancestors who came from Europe have been here about one hundred and seventy years. And those from the Puyallup tribe have been here five thousand to ten thousand years. So I want to acknowledge that and the intensity that it takes to work together. So I am here tonight asking you to have a liaison from the city council to the Puyallup tribe.

And I'm also asking you to have a liaison to the school district. And the third thing I want to ask is that you have a code of ethics. The rest of the county has code of ethics for every single city council. And I think it's time that Puyall does the same. Thank you.

I appreciate your comments, Penny. And one of my first initiatives as mayor is to reach out to the tribe. And I'm trying to get a meeting with Aaron Flager of the tribe. So we're moving. And I should know your name by now.

Thank

you.

Good evening, council members. My name is Angeline Nisquierro, and I'm from Pierce County District 2 and a human rights activist. So tonight, I would like to provide a brief overview of slavery and human trafficking examples in our state of Washington, as well as the rest of our country. They say freedom isn't free, meaning it is not readily given to you. Human traffickers believe that it has to be earned by giving up a little or a lot of yourself.

Our United States Constitution explains how we, the people, are to secure the blessings of liberty, our independence, our freedom. Even Wikipedia states that freedom is considered a right, especially freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of press. So, how is it that there are men still hanging on the walls of sewers in the depths beneath the grounds we walk, and women placed in cages hidden from plain sight, or not like I have, toyed with as sexual objects still happening in this day in our month of January, Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month. Previously, I have provided other examples that were associated with the violent acts provoked by sexism and racism conducted by KKK human trafficking rings and others network with them, such as threes, fours rapists, and sixes, who still lynch anywhere outdoors or indoors on street posts, balconies, or rooftops. As mentioned in black history literature, I have helped save over 47 human trafficking slaves find freedom from the sewers of the West Coast and the Northeast regions of The USA.

We need to fix our broken system some more and provide more preventative measures against the oppression caused by the human traffickers and other methods that bring us to the holes of poverty, deepened in pits where it is hard to climb our way out. In upcoming meetings this year, I would like to see and hear how we are closing the gaps of systemic oppression that target the vulnerable and much more access that enables and empowers our community to feel more of the freedoms that we are already supposed to have. Thank you very much. JOSHUA Thank you.

I've called on all the people that have signed up in advance to give public testimony. Are there any additional people in the audience that would like to speak? Please identify your give your name and name.

Valerie Dent, District 2. Thank you, mayor. I find myself surprised by some comments made by counsel. And I would like to address some of those comments. First, in regards to Shaw Road and the comment of where all the traffic is coming from, and we need to find out what is causing it, that's a waste of time.

If they're doing it, stop. Just stop. I moved into the state in 1986, lived in Parkland, Spanaway, Frederiksen, Midland area for over sixteen years before I moved to Puyallup. 'eighty three, 1983, city council approved the building for Emerald Ridge and Sunrise Developments, running it out towards Graham. At the time, it was Okay if Meridian got plugged, take 122nd to Shaw and run it down.

Boeing expanded in the '90s. That created more build. Fort Lewis was starting to joint base. More housing. So now the breakaway points to twentieth, 172nd, and 112th runs that whole corridor.

So Pacific Avenue, Canyon Road, Meridian, and Shaw all dropped under that radar of not thinking about the impacts of traffic. And it's been openly publicized in publications, newspapers that take these routes. Meridian gets plugged, run over to Canyon. These projects started in 1987, and they're projected to be finished by 2026 over fifty years worth billed on roads as money comes in. If there's any research on that, stop.

We know what the cause is. We know what the effect was. And when planning was done, really looking at the to income and knowing that everybody was going to get cars did not equate into it. Second

thirty seconds.

Project is the traffic. And I'm still working on that. I'm disappointed the council has not talked to me directly. No meetings, no phone calls, no messaging. The only one that did was acting former mayor and the city manager who jogs by twice a day when time permits.

Mr. Mayor, speaker's reached three minutes.

JAMES But to call my neighbors and ask them if I'm serious about this and if the problem's serious is offensive and disrespectful. And we need to start getting things fixed. I'm sorry for being over time. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. We are well aware of the traffic situations. And I just like to observe that the traffic development out on Sunrise and those areas on South Hill are outside of our city boundaries, and they were approved by the county council. And we, as citizens of Puyallup, are experiencing the traffic that comes from that development out there. We are working as hard and as fast as we can to make some road improvements.

But it's expensive, and it's going to take funds far beyond the means of our city. So we have to go by grants. But I would like to talk to you further. So if you could make sure the city clerk has means to be in contact with you, we'll have a meeting. Thank you.

Okay, if there's no further public comment at this time, we'll move on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda is a time when we approve a bunch of routine and non controversial items with a single vote. And at this time, I offer my council members the opportunity to remove any of the consent agenda topics for further discussion. Council member Gilliam.

I'd like to pull four gs, please.

We will pull item four gs from the agenda, and we will make it count item 8B.

Thank you. Any

further items that we want to anybody wants to pull? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended?

So moved. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. We will now move on to a public hearing on Good Samaritan Hospital master plan. Our senior planner, Chris Beal, will give a presentation and will be available for questions.

Hi, mayor, city council. My name is Chris Beale. I'm a senior planner that works in development and permitting services. And tonight, we're giving a presentation that will look familiar to most folks on council. I know we do have one new council member. So this is the actual public hearing for the development agreement that was introduced in December. This follows the master plan process that occurred last year. Just as a broad overview for the master planning process for the multi care Ginsam Hospital, in 2003, we did have a previous master plan in EIS with a major amendment in 2007. That obviously expired after a ten year time period. City Council approved the current Good Sam Hospital master plan on 06/10/2025 after Planning Commission and City Council review.

There was also an EIS, an environmental impact statement, that was issued in May 2025 in support of the master plan. And again, to remind counsel, the master plan governs the future build out and expansion of the campus over a twenty year time period. Okay. Under the master plan that was approved, MultiCare is proposing a new patient care tower. The existing DALI tower has three sixty beds.

The new patient care tower would be 160 new licensed inpatient beds, plus 30 observational beds that would be transferred to DALI under the new Patient Care Tower. There'd also be a shell floor for a feature build out of 40 inpatient beds that are yet to be licensed. So that would be 200 new inpatient beds plus the 30 transferred. There's other phases as part of the development as well. There's parking structures.

The central utility plant would be expanded. There's two medical office buildings, central Support Tower, and the Dali Tower 3rd Street expansion. And again, these are all in the master plan that was previously approved by city council. This is the campus build out. I won't go completely line by line through here, but as you can see, there are phases one through four and some sub phases within those.

This is the site diagram. I believe there's a better diagram probably on the next slide. This shows out the full build out of phase four under the approved master plan. And again, this is just to provide some context for what the development agreement covers. So tonight, counsel is going to be holding a public hearing on a development agreement.

Again, the development agreement implements the master plan or helps supplement the master plan. The public benefits, which are required under state law and city codes for development agreements, would be to expand the critical health care services for the city as well as the greater region, generating essential sales tax, construction, and property tax revenue, creating local employment education opportunities in the health care sector. And all of those are consistent with our municipal code. So the framework for the development agreement really hinges on about four or five different items. It outlines permit processing and timelines.

Those were agreed to in a previous memorandum of understanding with the city manager. That's included as an appendice in this development agreement to solidify essentially those permit processes that are previously agreed to with multi care. Vesting periods for the hospital related improvements in that permitting timeline. One of the key improvements that would occur during the build out of the master plan is street frontage improvements. Because there are a large number of public streets throughout the MultiCare campus, a customized approach to when those frontage improvements would be evaluated and triggered was necessary for this process.

And that can only really be approved through a development agreement. Timing related enhancements to the emergency room so there are capacity issues currently within the emergency rooms. Obviously, as more calls over time and a growth in hospital, a need for health care services, that emergency room ambulance bays will need to expand. That was previously approved in the master plan, but is also reflected in the development agreement to basically back up or provide a backstop to that previous approval. And then procedures for reassessing traffic impacts in the event there are changes made to the scope or size of the projects or the buildings planned in each phase.

The master plan really represents the largest possible build out. So there is a possibility that multi care, over the build out time frame of twenty years, could change maybe the size of the medical office buildings or a few of the ancillary buildings. So it outlines a procedure and process for reassessing the traffic impacts, as well as the traffic mitigation that's required under the master plan. This is the diagram. Sorry, this doesn't show up well on a PowerPoint.

This was in the master plan. This diagram essentially shows the phased improvements, phase one improvements to the ambulance bay turnaround area. This first phase focuses really on maximizing the space that's currently available, both for queuing outside of the ambulance bays and the porticochet next to the ER entrance, and then providing an overflow parking area. And then during phase two, which would be tied to a later phase in the master plan development, there would be a major expansion of the ambulance bays to provide additional vehicle capacity and throughput. This is the customized phasing plan.

Again, sorry, this doesn't show up all in the PowerPoint. This shows essentially the street frontage improvements tied to each phase. A lot of the street frontage improvements do exist. So some areas where we do already have curb gutter and sidewalk, we're likely looking for ADA upgrades. In other areas on 13th Avenue, where we don't have any sidewalks in significant portions, or perhaps sidewalks need to be consolidated or crosswalks need to be consolidated to meet current standards, those would be triggered under the colored phasing tied to each essential building within each of those phases.

Stow steps for tonight. Council will conduct a public hearing and gather public testimony. And then the council would consider approving resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into the development agreement with MultiCare. That's the end of my presentation. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Otherwise, I'll turn it over to you, mayor.

We will go ahead and open our public hearing. Would the city clerk please read the rules for comments?

This time is reserved for public comment on the public hearing only. For the record, please state your name and address or city council district in which you reside. Please direct your comments to the council as a whole, not individual council members. All comments are limited to two minutes. The clerk will provide verbal notice, but only thirty seconds remain. As a reminder, this portion of meeting is council's opportunity to hear from the community and not a time to engage in debate. Lastly, per state law, this public comment period cannot be used to speak in support of or in opposition to a ballot measure or individual candidacy, and no such comments will be allowed.

JOSHUA I will now open the public hearing. Anyone who wishes to comment can come forward at this time.

My name is Angeline Scioto. I have more of a question rather than a comment in terms of the operations of the Good Samaritan Hospital. So if possible, one thing I haven't seen from state to state, or even in our state, in our city of Puyallup, transparency of pricing. So when it comes to certain, I'd say, common or major medical procedures that can be pricey, so that way we don't have a scare as soon as we get those numbers come in after everything is done. Or perhaps a useful tool, like how we have for vaccinations, like how it says what each vaccine has for ingredients.

Perhaps we can have a list of common surgeries or The

purpose of tonight's public hearing is about the master plan. The topics you're addressing are not part of the master plan, So they're not appropriate. Do you have any comments about the master plan itself?

Okay. No, it's extra from what was mentioned. It's part of the operations.

The public hearing DELL: comments need to be addressed to the topic on hand. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Trevor? Yes.

Thank you. Trevor Baumgartner, LPN at Good Sam, SEIU member. In regards to the master plan for the build out for Good Samaritan, I know that parking is at a premium for both visitors, patients, and employees. So we would hope that parking will be improved significantly above current levels. As I know that in regards to the traffic flow, it is always a concern in regards to employees, especially during this time of year where weather might be a concern.

Safe parking structures, the ability to have hybrid parking and electrical charging stations built into that might actually also serve our community well. And in regards to the employees and visitors and patients that we serve, making sure that we have the additional parking buildings and access included to account for the growth of the city of Puyallup and Pierce County in general. Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie Dent, 12th Avenue. I noticed in the footprint where they stopped on 13th, y'all need to get it all the way down to 21st. Ambulances, paramedics have increased their travel since December on 12th Avenue. We've gone from six a week, maybe, if we're lucky, to at times six a day. And with that build out for the ambulatory system, the employees themselves have been an issue with speeding down twelve. I'm late. I'm a first responder. I'm entitled. Yeah. No, so much.

The other thing is you need to do the infrastructure on the street itself on 12th to support the build out at the hospital. You got that park coming in on top of that build out, and we're just hanging. It's unacceptable. If you're going to be doing these kinds of plans, put it down to the nitty gritty. Dig as deep as you can around the area that is affecting more than just where the hospital footprint is.

You've got things going on up there on 9th And 15th to enhance the hospital accessibility. But we're caught in a conundrum of being ignored.

Thirty seconds.

So thank you.

Thank you. Any further comment? Okay, we'll now close the public hearing. So is there a motion on this topic?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the city manager, Steve Kirkley, to execute a proposed development agreement with hospital. And, that would be my motion. And, I have some comments if it should be seconded. Second. All in favor? Mr. Mayor Koch, I'll make a few comments if you don't mind. Thank you. Of all, I to thank Chris Biel for putting this presentation together.

Once again, thank you for that. I want to thank their representation from the hospital here, both the union and staff of the of the hospital as well. Thanks for the reminder that Good Samaritan is one of the top four emergency rooms in the country. I think I had heard something like that before, and I had to kind of, you know, scratch my head. Did I hear correctly?

But now I've heard it twice. I haven't fact checked that, but I've heard it twice. And so, I have no reason to believe that it's not. But, what's amazing about that fact is with this new growth will come opportunity for increased service to those who are in crisis and need in the emergency room. And, as we look at the growth that's heading out south to have this base prepared and fully operational, it's going to serve a lot of people who are in outlying areas that may not be able to make it to other hospitals.

And so, appreciate the work and the investment that the Good Samaritan Hospital is investing into our city and into our region. I understand it's going be quite a few million dollars, upwards of 400 or $500,000,000, whatever that case is. It's a lot of money and investment into our city, which not only generates jobs, but really even as importantly, more importantly, medical services for people who are in need, whether it be in crisis or some terminal or temporary issue that they're facing. Having experienced firsthand several visits to the hospital on various accidents over the last year or so. I've seen firsthand the care and it's quite remarkable.

And if I can speak frankly, and I always try to be, because I think it's good to be honest in assessment of praise, but also honest in assessment of improvement. Remember many years ago when I moved to the Puyallup area, the Good Sam didn't have a reputation of being one of the hospitals that people wanted to attend or go to or even work at. And I heard this from employees. I heard this from people who had experiences at Good Samaritan Hospital some thirty some years ago. But you can tell there's been some intentional efforts by management and employees and so forth to really raise the bar of excellence.

And it's noticeably seen, felt, understood, and experienced, personally by me and many others. So, want to thank the Good Samaritan Hospital for raising the game and providing even more excellent service. And I have no doubt that the culture of the hospital is, has not plateaued, but will continue to strive to become more excellent in providing services and care for those who need it in times of need. So, it's a great honor to make a motion for this development agreement. It seems like a good partnership the city should have with a major stakeholder in our city, and it seems like it's the right thing to do.

I have no doubt and trust that the city and the hospital work together to make this not only smooth, but make sure that all the infrastructure and the things that need to be done are dealt with and put into place without cutting any corners to make sure that it's done quality and done right. So, thank you so much.

There any other council member comments? Hearing none, we have a motion on the floor. All in favor, please so indicate.

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. The motion passes. We'll now move on to a second reading of an ordinance adopting the city of Puyallup's commute trip reduction plan, four year plan, 2025 to 2026, and amending chapter 2,116 of the Puyallup Municipal Code. Senior planner Kendall Walls will be giving a presentation and will be available for questions.

KENDLE Good evening. Kendall Walls with Development and Permitting Services. We're here for second reading. There were several questions brought up by counsel at first reading. So we wanted to take a moment to address some of those questions.

The main questions we heard were, is the city required to implement CTR? What are the ramifications for not implementing the program? Is there data showing the effectiveness of the program? And what is the city staff time and financial commitment? So for the first question about requirements, yes, under the Clean Air Act, we are required to implement the CTR program.

This graphic here is showing the nine most populous counties in the state, and they're required to implement the program. It also identifies the cities that are required to implement the program within those counties. So what are the ramifications? We did receive some guidance from the city attorney after our last presentation. In short, we would lose funding and potentially be subject to other penalties if we don't participate in the program.

Additionally, other employers within the city would still be required to participate. If we were to remove ourselves from administering the program, they would still be required to participate through another agency. And not implementing the program would also be inconsistent with existing comprehensive plan policy as well as an existing city HR policy. So regarding data, we do have some data, but there are some limitations. There's been changes in commuting patterns since the pandemic, as well as an update made to the state survey that's used to gather the information.

So it doesn't allow for a direct comparison between historical and new survey data. But 2024 will be the new baseline. And then the surveys are completed every two years for program evaluation. So from the data that I was able to receive, this is a graphic from the Pierce County CTR survey dashboard. And it is showing from the employees that completed the surveys for 2024 to 2025, 73% drive alone for all of the participants in Pierce County, and 27% use other alternative means.

This is a graphic from the WashDOT's 2023 public transportation mobility report. The top line, the green line, is showing the Washington State CTR survey participants. The middle line, kind of an orange color, is showing Washington State commuters in general. And then the last line, the blue line, is US commuters. So of the nearly 190,000 employees working at commute trip reduction affected work sites who took the survey in 2021, 59% chose alternatives to driving alone for their commute, which is higher than the state and national average.

Another piece of information that was included in the report is that the cars left at home by commute trip reduction affected employees every weekday represent about one lane of bumper to bumper traffic stretching a 125 miles, which is the equivalent distance from Bellingham to Tacoma. The twenty twenty five wash Dot Public Transportation Mobility Report also included this graphic showing that of the 225,000 employees surveyed in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, that 50% chose alternatives to driving alone, alternatives, whereas only 35% of commuters statewide or 31% of US commuters used alternatives to driving alone. And then the last question was, what is benefits coordinator who implements the city's existing CTR policy. And that includes doing ORCA cards, paying for the carpools that employees participate in, as well as a vacation accrual benefit that's offered to city employees through the program. We also have a CTR coordinator who helps complete those survey requirements for the city's program.

And between those two positions and the work that they do, it's estimated that about seventeen hours are devoted to the CTR program on an annual basis. For this update in particular, additional staff did participate in the process for updating the plan and code. And it was estimated that around 72 of staff time were used for updating those documents. And the plan also estimates about $5,500 a year for the city to administer its own program. And just a reminder that we do have that agreement with Pierce County to then operate and implement the program for affected employers within the city.

And then just a reminder of the staff recommendation is to approve first re or excuse me, this was an old slide approve second reading of an ordinance adopting the updated CTR plan, as well as the code for chapter 21.16. And that's all I have for presentation tonight.

Okay. Is there a motion to approve the second reading of this ordinance? So moved.

Second.

The motion has been approved and seconded. Are there any council comments? Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor, Council Member Keene.

Respectfully, I'll yield to Councilmember Adler as she requested first.

Go ahead, Councilmember Adler.

Thank you, and thank you, Councilmember King. I'll be brief. Kendall, thank you. Thank you for going back and doing the work and finding or providing, rather, the answers to our questions. No further questions from me, but I do just want to say that as a long standing advocate for transit and the way in which I look at transit is similar to the way I look at housing and how we approach our housing crisis is that it is an ecosystem.

And I feel very similarly about transit opportunities to get single riders off of the road as best as we can and to provide opportunities for individuals to do so. And so I just want to go on record in saying that I will be supporting this and, again, appreciate your hard work. Thank you.

I just want to apologize to Councilmember Adler. I was thinking her I saw her name come up before the motion was made. And I thought that was associated, so I just made a mistake there. Councilmember King.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just had a question. And I'm sure you guys have already done this. But if you could reiterate it for those in the back, meaning me all the way back here. Was there a cost benefit analysis done on this CTR plan? As far as how much does it cost the city in comparison to how much the city receives?

I don't believe that level of analysis was done as part of this update.

Well, said, I appreciate all the other work you did. And that was the only question I had. Thank you.

Councilmember Adler.

Thank you. Kendall, hold me honest here. But I'm just going back into the presentation. Maybe close to an answer to your question, Councilmember King. And hold me honest, so if I followed correctly, we're spending the city of Peelope is spending under $10,000 to administer this program, But with an approved plan, updated plan, the city would receive $31,300 from the state for a two year period to administer the program.

But I assume that the $31,000 that is the whole pot?

Yes. That amount is provided to the city for administering the program. However, because of our interlocal agreement with Pierce County, those funds go to the program that they administer for us. Yes.

Thank you. Close, I guess. Appreciate it.

Thank you for that clarification. Any other comments? If not, we will go ahead and I will entertain a motion to pass second reading of this ordinance.

We have first and second.

First and second have already been done.

GREGORY Thank you. DELL: We'll now hold the vote.

All in favor?

Any

opposed? Roll call vote.

GREGORY Council Member King?

JOSEPH Aye. JOSEPH

Council Member KAUFMAN: Council Adler. KAUFMAN: Aye. JOSEPH Deputy Mayor Johnson. JOSEPH Mayor Witting.

JOSEPH Aye. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is item 6B, a second reading of an ordinance amending section six-twelve-forty five of the Peale Municipal Code as it pertains to the billing for solid waste services. And performance management analyst Talika. Will Makaria is present to answer questions. Do we have any questions on this? We've seen this before.

Move approval. Second.

Seeing no request for comments, all in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you.

Mayor Witting, the roll call vote?

Aye, yes. Roll call vote. Thank you.

Council Member Gilliam? Aye. Council Member Kasimov? Aye. Council Member Smoko? Aye. Council Member Adler? Aye. Deputy Mayor Johnson?

Aye.

Council Member King? Aye. Mayor Wedding?

Aye. Moving right along to considerations and requests, item 7A, Development and Permitting Services Department 2026 Work Plan. This is something I've been anxiously awaiting. And I'm excited to hear what Director of Permitting Services Courtney Brunell and Planning Manager Katie Baker have to say? Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, members of the council. I am Courtney Brunell, the new development and permitting services director. And I am joined by Katie Baker, our planning manager, to present our DPS twenty twenty six work plan as it pertains to code updates. So since I joined the city in October, I've had the privilege of meeting with many of you as well as many stakeholders.

And one common recurring theme is the need for some code updates and the priorities of those updates. And I can understand why. Again, in my first couple of days, planning manager Baker provided me with a 11 by seventeen, seven page, back to back document of code updates that had been meticulously recorded by our team in order for us to prepare for a more comprehensive update package. And so what we are presenting tonight is a response to a question that we've been asking, which is, what is the most effective and realistic way for us to approach this backlog of code updates? So what we're proposing is a structured work plan that will serve as a road map, really, to give you an answer in response to this organized backlog with clear intentional packages.

This plan will serve as the road map. The work plan is intended to provide transparency around how we plan to approach the work, the order we're proposing. Tonight, what we're hoping to receive feedback from counsel is if the packages are assembled properly, if it seems realistic, as well as if you'd like any further coupling of packages or potential separation, as well as to broadly inform the public of what they can expect from our team over this next year. Before we move into the details, I want to briefly outline what tonight's discussion will cover. First, we'll talk a little bit more about the purpose of the update.

Second, we'll provide a really high level overview of the six proposed code amendment packages. I will introduce packages one through four, and then planning manager Katie will cover packages five and six. And last, we'll walk through the next steps and proposed timeline for advancing this work. So first, the purpose of the update. There are a few primary drivers behind the scope and the timing of these updates.

First, there are six major legislative bills that require updates to our local development regulations in order for us to remain compliant with state law. The council has already adopted much of this policy as part of your 2025 comprehensive plan, which we are excited to share is posed to be certified by PSRC in February without conditions. So now we are moving into step two of that work, which is the implementation of the comprehensive plan. In addition, recently our team has met with members of the development community and partners. And through both our staff work and these meetings, we know that there are sections of the code that do not function well today.

They can be unclear and consistent and may create barriers to development. So this work is intended to address all four of these drivers in a coordinated and deliberate way. So with that, let's get into it. As outlined in your packet and shown on the screen, we're proposing six broad package updates this year. Each would come forward as its own ordinance, and each docket would be a separate section in that ordinance.

The packages are ordered based broadly on the work that we have already done to date. So packages one through four have already been reviewed in part by the city council and have already been through the planning commission or will be shortly. Much of the code language for those packages has already been reviewed in part, and it's really positioned to move forward at your next review in front of counsel. Our first proposed package that will be reviewed hopefully at your next council meeting is Title XIX subdivisions. Broadly, the goal of this update is to modernize our processes.

We will be taking the number of lots allowed in a short plat from four to nine. And we will also be addressing changes in legislation specifically related to unit lot subdivisions and residential lot splits. Specific to unit lot subdivisions, this update is a mandate in order to comply with Senate Bill 5,258, which would allow for middle housing units to be sold as individual units. This is a path to more home ownership in the city, as multiple units on a single lot would still need to meet our development regulation, but they would be able to be owned by separate owners. This update will also support the comprehensive plan housing goal, as well as bring us into compliance with the state mandate.

Last, as part of this first package, we are intending to bring forward the requirements under 5290 for permitting review and timelines. Our city has been reporting under 5,290 for the last two years. And this update will allow for us to ensure that our timelines are consistent in our local municipal code, as is required by state law. And this update will be reflected in multiple sections of the municipal code. For package two, we will be also looking forward to bringing this next month, which will include zoning map amendments to implement the comprehensive plan and associated overlay zones and chapters.

First, looking at the zoning map, you can see that we are proposing a two phased approach. So phase one is under package two, and phase two is under package six, which will be one of the last packages that we bring forward at the end of this year. Phase one, which you will see again at the next council meeting, are zoning changes that we see as a direct one to one correspondence with the adopted future land use map that was recently adopted in the comprehensive plan. In other words, we believe you've already made the policy direction here. And now it's through this update that we will implement it into our zoning code.

In addition to the map, we are proposing to remove the Shaw East Pioneer overlay and design review overlay, as they will no longer be serving or are no longer serving an active purpose, and have been updated by more stringent commercial site design standards and comprehensive design standards. And in conjunction with that, we will also be proposing to remove them from the zoning map as they will no longer be relevant sections. Next, late next month or early March, we plan to bring forward package three related to middle housing. This work has been underway since the interim regulations were adopted last year. And we're expecting the Planning Commission to take action for recommendation on February 11.

And we will waste no time bringing this back before council. As a refresher, this is another state mandate, Middle Housing House Bill eleven ten, which states that we must allow middle housing in all single family residential zones with critical areas exemptions. The draft regulations today include prohibiting middle housing in the identified volcanic hazard area. And when we bring this back to council, you will have an opportunity to reaffirm that direction and adopt code as it relates to middle housing and accessory dwelling units, both of which have been restricted in many parts of the valley since the interim regulations went into effect. Next, we plan to bring forward a revised critical areas ordinance, which aligns our code with the best available science from the direction of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources, and Department of Ecology.

We received a recommendation from the Planning Commission, but we intend to provide additional information to the public through a concentrated outreach effort. In addition, we're working through the SEPA process for this code update. After issuing SEPA in October, we received some additional letters from the tribe, and we have been in conversations with them since October. We do intend to reissue SEPA in the coming month. So we have a few more steps to take before we're ready to bring this back before counsel, but likely in the spring of this year.

For packages five and six, I'll introduce Katie Baker, who has been working on these efforts. Thank you, Katie.

Thank you, Courtney, City Council. So package five is our largest technical lift. This is an update to our design standards to meet House Bill twelve ninety three. This is a major undertaking that we are utilizing consultant support to assist with. The key requirement from the state here is the design standards must be clear and objective.

Applicants need to be able to look at the code and know whether their design is allowed, know subjective terms like attractive or harmonious. Additionally, the standards can't be used to reduce the underlying zone's allowable density or height, and design review can only include one public meeting. So we'll be updating our codes to comply with those standards. We're also taking the opportunity to combine three separate code sections into one. Currently, we have chapter 20.26 as our kind of conventional design standards, as well as our downtown design guidelines, and the mixed use design review overlay.

They live in three separate areas. We're consolidating those into one. As part of this, we'll also remove the mixed use design review overlay from the map. Our intent is to review those changes with you at your June study session, and then address any council questions, and bring it back in August for adoption. Package five will also include some straightforward housekeeping items first we'll be looking at removing or substantially modifying the electrical electric vehicle infrastructure chapter the state building code now includes EV requirements so our local chapter is largely redundant.

We'll also look at consolidating our two wireless facility chapters into one and making some minor technical updates for implementation clarity. These are very technical cleanup items, no policy changes, just making sure that our code reflects current requirements and will also be part of that design review package. In addition, there is one other package of major housekeeping work, and that's updating all of our permit process chapters. We're proposing to establish a new review type framework by level of review, whether that's administrative or the hearing examiner or the council. This will lay the groundwork for a more efficient permitting process and support meeting those state mandated timelines that Courtney mentioned with Senate Bill five thousand two and ninety.

We do plan to touch every process chapter in the code, from conditional use permits to variances to master plans, modernizing language, streamlining processes, and ensuring consistency throughout. We'll also rely on some consultant support here to help ensure these chapters work together and throughout the code. And the goals are efficiency, clarity, and consistency both for our applicants and for our staff, and this will be part of that design chapter package. Next, we'll move into the final package. This is phase two of our zoning map updates.

This these changes are more complex than phase one of the zoning map and why we've given it more time. While phase one is that straightforward implementing of what council has adopted in the comp plan, phase two requires more detailed analysis of five major zone districts residential, commercial, mixed use, manufacturing, and the fair. We'll come back to you for policy direction in April and have some kind of big policy questions for your input. And then we'll work with the Planning Commission to develop code language and bring final recommendations to you in October. This gives us plenty of time to work through the Planning Commission, as well as get property owner coordination and input.

So I'll go through each aspect of the zoning map phase two in a little more detail. First, there are some administrative items. We're looking at deleting the professional office zone entirely. Properties currently in the OP zone will be designated to other appropriate zones. And you can see some examples there on the screen in front of you near the South Hill Mall.

We'll also be updating the master zone list in the code to reflect all these additions and deletions from both phases of the zoning update to ensure that our code is internally consistent. One of the biggest chunks will be a rewrite of our residential zones, specifically our single family chapter. Right now, we have five separate single family zones based on minimum lot sizes. We're proposing to consolidate these into fewer zones, including incorporating our middle housing standards. The intent here isn't to change what can be built in these zones, but rather to simplify the administration and the customer experience in applying the code to their property or their development project.

This aligns with multiple comprehensive plan goals, maintaining our residential character, providing housing quality and choice, and streamlining regulations. And it also directly implements two of our housing action plan strategies, strategies two and six. The April policy discussion from counsel will be essential to have your guidance on certain big questions, like maintaining neighborhood character while allowing various housing types and the importance of maintaining distinct zoning designations. Moving on to commercial zones, PMC 20.3 does need broad updates to achieve our goals in streamlining and simplifying the code. This includes another zone removal and redesignation to help meet our goals of addressing commercial land use in the city, supporting our business districts while having a clear and streamlined code.

And again, in April, we'll be back to discuss some big questions, such as how our commercial areas should look going forward and consideration of a potential consolidation of our downtown zone districts. Our mixed use zones are particularly important because this is where we're seeing a lot of development activity, and code clarity here is essential. We're considering several updates to chapter 20.31. First of all, you've heard this a few times from us during the comp plan update. We'll be rewriting the LMX zone to implement the new neighborhood commercial land use designation.

We're considering possibly converting the very area specific CMX zone in the Shaw Pioneer area to a more general UCX designation, again, with that intent of consolidation, and considering density increases as well as allowing maximum height outright rather than through height bonuses. So we'll be bringing these larger questions back for you for your further input and discussion at that April study session.

Let's see.

A couple more here. Manufacturing zones in chapter 20.35 need less extensive changes, but we'll still be looking at some. Looking at allowances in our business park zone, which is applied to the Benaroya property, as well as considering some adjustments to ML zoning within the South Hill neighborhood plan area. The comp plan is clear. We need to continue to support employment land uses in the city.

We're not looking at a major restructuring here, just some minor updates, hopefully. And finally, the fair zone and the fair parking overlay will be looked out for updates based on the Planning Commission recommendations that we heard during the comp plan update, as well as specific requests from the Washington State Fair. We're looking at three primary considerations parking allowances near the fairgrounds, use allowances for fair owned properties that are outside the main fairgrounds, and thresholds for if and when a master plan should be required. The fair is obviously a unique and valuable community asset, but needs to connect well and sensitively with the surrounding neighborhood. So keeping those things in mind, we'll be looking again, for counsel's direction and vision when we are back in April.

So now I will turn it back to Courtney to walk through next steps.

Thank you, Katie. So as you hopefully saw, we have grouped related amendments together for efficiency. However, there is, again, an additional opportunity for additional consolidation or separation. Our goal, until directed otherwise, will be to finalize as many updates over this year and into next year as possible. With that, if some specific sections of any given package need additional time for review or decision making, we may opt to remove them from a package in order to review them separately.

As a recap for next steps starting next month, we are proposing to review packages one through three. So that is subdivision, zoning map phase one, and middle housing. All three of these have been before council in some scope in the past and are through Planning Commission. And then in spring, we will be bringing forward critical areas. For package five and package six, a new change is that we will be bringing them forward to counsel for policy direction ahead of going to the Planning Commission.

And our goal there is to get some initial policy direction so we can defer that direction to the Planning Commission to make sure they're on the right track as they explore these options. So for package six, which is the zoning map phase two in the bulk of our presentation tonight, you can see has a lot of policy direction that we will be seeking. We will be coming back at the April study session. And then for package five, design standards and housekeeping, a slightly less heavy lift, we'll be bringing that forward at the June study session. And then both of these will be back before you.

Our goal is late summer, early fall. So moving forward, our goal is that the code, it continues to be a living document. And we will continue to take your direction to refine and hopefully improve it. But to wrap up this evening, I wanted to touch briefly on the work that is, again, already underway. For packages one through four, Planning Commission has been actively reviewing draft code.

They have held the public hearings and will soon be making or already have made those formal recommendations. In addition, our team has already launched a public website for some of the packages. They've been posted and updated for public transparency and engagement. And beyond these six packages, we will be working on several additional items that may be brought forward late this year or early in 2027, depending on the pace of this work plan. Tonight's presentation was meant to be informational.

And we're hoping that this evening, the council can give us feedback on the overall timing, whether the topic groupings make sense, or if there's other items that you'd like to see consolidated or kept separate, and whether you have any early policy direction that we can take forward. Any policy direction that we receive now will just allow for us to have a more robust presentation at the time when we bring the topics back. So we really invite any conversation and dialogue. I want to thank you for your time this evening, and we're really looking forward to getting started. Thank you.

Thank you. I would just like to make some introductory comments here. Our code is significantly outdated, and that we've arrived at this condition for a variety of reasons. There's normal transition in code. As the city grows and develops, there need to be code changes.

And that's the normal level of code requirement changes that we face. But in addition to that, the state legislature has been passing more and more state legislation that requires code adjustments here in the city. So that has increased the workload on our staff. And this past year was a year devoted to working on the comp plan. And we've got a future land use, new future land use map that has to be adjusted.

So that adds another layer. We are our Department of Permitting Services is backlogged through no fault of their own, I might add. In fact, I want to commend them for the work that they've done. They are out in front of a bunch of these items in terms of packages one through four. To be able to have that ready for us to consider at this point in time is admirable, given all that they've come through.

So I want to express my appreciation to staff for making that happen. So now, what's the gating item? This is a heavy lift. The work plan that we've seen is a heavy lift, a heavy, heavy lift. And it's going to be difficult to achieve.

So I think we can count on staff to continue doing their share of the lift. If we're going to make this happen, it's going to be dependent upon the Planning Commission, the public hearings, and this council. So I just wanted to encourage my colleagues to work together to make these changes happen with as little delay as possible. If an item gets carried over from one meeting to another, it's apt to displace something that will then slide to another meeting. So I'm hoping that we can give clear direction to our city staff so that they can develop clear and concise code, because we owe that to our citizens and to our development community.

They need to know what our expectations are so that they can deliver to those expectations. And having the backlog and the ambiguity we've got in the code at the present moment makes things difficult. It causes delays, and time is money. So, we can make our housing more affordable by making the process more efficient. So, again, I encourage my colleagues here to, for all of us to work together to move this body of work along as quickly as we possibly can. Thank you for that. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Courtney, thanks for your presentation. And Katie, as well, thank you for that. Just want to make a couple of comments that kind of popped out to me. And first, I want to say thank you for looking at increasing the short plat from four to nine. Talked with a lot of industry, and a lot of industry is looking for nice affordable infills in our downtown area. And part of it has to be cost effective. So let's say, for example, you had a lot that could handle and was zoned for five lots, but you'd have to go through a full plat, which is more expensive and much more time conducive. So just to add one more lot, really discouraged intensity of infill.

I can certainly see the reason for a full plat when you have larger cul de sac developments. That makes sense. But on these infills, it really makes sense to make it more cost effective to be able to, if the zoning allows for more homes, that the short plot process is increased from four to nine. Think that's a great idea. I wanted to touch bases a little bit on the design standards.

I think you mentioned something about that as well. I had a chance to speak with industry, the MBA, earlier today with Councilmember King to talk about some insight that they had to share with us. One of the topics that came up was design standards. And when I thought of design standards, actually thought of my colleague Castemaugh here. I know that's important for him to preserve the dignity of neighborhoods and that new development kind of reflects, you know, existing neighborhoods, especially for infill and things along that line.

On the other hand, I certainly don't like to see a lot of bureaucracy where design standards are really in a sense clogging up the cost and the time. So when you were talking about design standards, at one time we had discussed some possibilities for certain segments that would be done through administrative review versus I think in the past or maybe currently we have this design committee. Is there any further discussion by counsel or staff to look at that or is that something that's kind of out there in terms of making a transition to possible staff administered design review on, let's say, a smaller or a certain window of maybe nonsignificant developments, unlike a downtown city core where there's, massive development. I mean, the small mom and pop ones don't need a design review board. Any thoughts on that aspect of it?

Yes, thank you for your question. That is one of the primary goals of the revision for design standards. And I will share that sooner rather than later, we will likely be bringing forward an ordinance that will address a situation that we've been encountering a lot over this last year, which is when this board does not achieve a quorum and is thus not able to review applications that come forward. And it causes delay on development, which especially as it's attached to new housing units and thus required reporting for 5290, it's impacting the city's ability to meet our timeline requirements. So we'll be looking to bring that forward sooner rather than later, just as an interim regulation. But longer term, as part of this larger lift, we will be looking for those clear and objective design standards, which would then be able to be applied administratively.

Yeah, thank you. There may be a role for major buildings where it requires downtown core significant buildings being built to maybe have a little bit more arduous. But on some of the smaller infills, it would seem a little bit overdone to have a a review board for some of that. And then and then, Courtney, I kinda wanted to just share. Well, first of all, welcome aboard and, you know, kinda thanks for being here and and kind of kicking this off with with some renewed synergy and and teamwork.

I guess I would just like to personally and publicly challenge you a little bit in good sense. I would love to have you explore and put your ear to the ground of any model cities, specifically within Washington State, but if they're outside of Washington state that really have exhibited just tremendous healthy growth that still maintains a high standard of quality, but also exhibits efficiency and coordination between partnerships between the city and the developers to really, in a sense, see a vibrant economic development that happens. And so, if there are model cities within Washington, probably would be ideal, if there is some, which there probably is, maybe find out how we can kind of share information and in our own unique way, not be them, but glean from some of the principles that are working that we can apply in our own unique situation to become more efficient. And thanks to the council, and I specifically believe that Councilor Castama, who started this efficiency and lean SIGNA and all this other stuff that we started, but making sure that we're improving. I think we need to look at model studies and how are we raising the game of really efficient development that's vibrant, we're still having great standards.

And then I would also like to, again speaking for myself individually, and I won't speak for the council, but we want you to be successful. We want your department to be successful. And and whatever tools you need, if there's some glitches that you're you're sensing along the way that need to make some adjustments for some ordinances or zoning or whatever, they should let us know. We we wanna know that so it gives counsel a chance to help clear the road or get roadblocks out of the way that that we're seeing you running into this glitch. We wanna know about that.

And it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that we'll ask them to pass it, but at least bring it to our attention because we're not in the weeds like you are. We wanna know about that. And then I would also challenge and really say, if you feel that there's some tools in your toolbox, whether it be not just perhaps changes or ordinances, things like that, but even in staffing that you feel like, man, we really could do more if we had x y z. I know that budgets are tight, but I do think that council should be aware of that through our city manager to say we're briefed on that situation. Because there might be creative ways to provide that staffing and to make it more efficient for you and for our city and for developers to build a work in.

If the workload is getting too bogged down, we want to know about that. And then I would, lastly, just state, and these are just kind of my own personal thoughts, is think outside the box. Customarily, bureaucracies are pretty much like a rubber stamp. This is how we've always done it. Is what we've in this city. This city does this. This state does it. That's great. But part of innovation means that we maybe look at things differently that might not be necessarily standard protocol, but maybe is a little bit more innovative. And so it's okay to, I think, in my opinion, to try or explore other thinking and other approaches with a minimal chance of failure, but a tremendous chance for success.

So, anyway, those are some things I would just kind of encourage you to kind of look at in the process of what you're doing. But I'm encouraged with what you've shared tonight, and I believe that the future of Peelope is looking very good. And there's a lot of potential that will maintain standards, achieve affordable housing, but yet still make it desirable to our investors who want to invest here because it's not bogged down in the muck of just a slug snail pace. So thank you very much.

Appreciate how you've just mapped everything out, and how you're supporting your staff to be efficient. And we just recognize time is money. So I can see this being a real strong move forward for the whole city. So thank you for that. I do have one in the weeds question. And if this isn't the time or place, maybe we can talk offline. But I've received several emails from constituents. And I definitely heard from our residents here tonight about traffic calming. And I'm just wondering if that's going to be something that we can put into the code. Code.

I'm not sure of the terminology. But maybe we can create a plan to also include traffic calming throughout the city, especially in areas where our residents are really concerned about it, near the hospital as it grows, around the area. So I just wanted to bring that up and see when and where we could address that.

Absolutely. I think that traffic is a factor for every development application. And so it's something that we'll certainly be reviewing at a high level as part of these updates. But then in separate sections of the code, can discuss, as well as through policy setting, through your budget, other options for traffic calming throughout the city.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. And well done, Katie, as well. Thank you so much.

Councilmember King. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for your presentation. And welcome to the city. And I look forward to our future meeting one of these days. And looking forward to that and the questions that I have. But I have a couple that I wanted to just reach out to you with. And that is, how does this work plan address most of the common resident complaints regarding permitting delays and inconsistent enforcement? More in part, we talked about the timelines. And where are we with that? And how close are we to achieving that?

As far as timelines go, so two years ago when we first reported under 5290, the timelines at face value were not great. I'm happy to say that under the leadership of our city manager, the DPS department, by the time I joined, was at near 100% compliance already for those timelines. And we're continuing to monitor it very closely. It's a high priority for the department. Our goal is 100% compliance.

And so through the approval of that first package, that package one with subdivisions, we'll be able to adopt the timeline to again get closer to that 100% compliance. Right now, there's inconsistencies between our code and the state law. And that's created some confusion for constituents as well as for staff. So we're really looking forward to seeing that come forward. And then I think that some of the other concerns are related to the design review. And so I think those two areas are very important, as well as the implementation GREEN: of the

flume. So right now, our policy under the flume cannot be enacted under the zoning map. And so we need to clean that up, too. And that'll be brought forward again next month.

Fantastic. I appreciate the transparency on that. And moving forward, and you in this position as a new staff member, what metrics are we going to use to evaluate whether the department meets the twenty twenty six standards that you've set forward?

Again, before I joined forces here, city manager Steve Kirkley, as well as Talika, had already put together a series of online dashboards. We have that public facing on the city's website, as well as behind the scenes dashboards that really closely monitor 05/1990. Our entire department gets an email on Monday, Wednesday, Friday with the five thousand two and ninety goals and all of the projects that are related to that. And so we are looking at it every other day, if not every day, and then meeting on it weekly. So happy to share more with the reports that we already have available. At this point, I don't think that we need to expand because we have such a robust GREGORY: amount

of reporting made possible by CityView and the work that's already been done.

Perfect. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to tag on Councilmember Gilliam's comments. I think it was worthy of kind of a reinforcement. Typically, when a development goes in, there's typically improvements that happen, typically sometimes sidewalks and curbs and gutters and all these things that go in to improve or to make sure that the development is kind of flowing with a community vibe.

I'm not saying across the blanket of all developments, but on certain developments. Are there jurisdictions that would, just like curb, gutter, sidewalks, might say, you know what? With this added development, this might require some street traffic calming measures that would be put in upon construction as you would with sidewalks and things. Are there any jurisdictions that provide that? And if so, would that be helpful for us to consider to mitigate some traffic calming?

Again, I'm just thinking out loud. I'm not proposing that we do it. I don't know if it has been done, but it's certainly a good idea if we're going to do the development and we see that it might have increased impact on traffic that maybe you build in the traffic calming with development. So, growth pays for growth in terms of traffic development, rather than waiting till it's developed, then they have to go, the neighbors have to go through this process of qualifying for a traffic calming when perhaps it should have been done with new development that was added in a specific neighborhood. Is there ever any precedents for that? Or is that something we need to look into?

Yes, there is precedents for it. I will say that the nature of those types of updates typically are off-site improvements. And usually, the only mechanism that we have to require off-site improvements is through a SEPA threshold determination. And not all projects trigger SEPA. However, many projects do play into our traffic impact fees. It's something comprehensively we can look at for opportunities for traffic calming. What we require is frontage improvements. But for infill development that wouldn't be triggered by SEPA, we don't really have a mechanism to be able to require off-site improvements.

I guess I just want to kind of I would love to explore that more. Again, I don't know what the metrics would be on how you would qualify to provide that extra infrastructure, I. E. Traffic calming with maybe a speed bump or, you know, for a significant development, maybe a traffic calming circle or whatever that case is. Again, I wouldn't propose this on ADUs and smaller things, but I think on anything that has some significant amount that we would want to have some kind of measure built into the development that would mitigate traffic, because I just think that that's a serious issue.

And I have some other ideas that we want to go over at a later date that I've been discussing with a few colleagues on how we might be able to fund some of the side notes of traffic mitigation on other areas. But anyway, just thanks, Councilman McGillian, for bringing that up. I think there's some merit to at least take a look at that. Thank you.

Okay. I would just like to try and summarize a bit and pile on on some of the things you've heard. I strongly support Deputy Mayor Johnson's comments about short plots, Taking the short plot from four to nine seems to make a lot of sense to me. His discussion of design standards, I second as well. One thing that nobody's mentioned is the SR category consolidations.

That was outlined in our housing action plan. It's something that I've supported from day one. So I encourage us to follow through on that. And I feel that that'll make things a little bit easier and allow expedited processing on some of those items. We lost city manager Kirkley, but I've had some discussions with him about a project to bring before council about traffic calming.

I forget the date that we intended to bring that forward. But when he returns, maybe he can provide that for us. And again, I just applaud staff's attention to all of this work and look forward to working with you to push this great body of work. One thing I did forget to mention is the state legislature is in session again. And guess what they're going to do?

There's going to be more code requirements, so we've got to get out in front of that. So we've got to clear our desk so we can handle the next round of code changes that are needed. And city manager, you're back. I just, we were talking about traffic calming. And in our discussion, had a traffic calming item on our upcoming agenda. And I forgot when that was going to be happening. I appreciate it if you could.

JOSHUA Yes. Thank you, Mayor Whiting. Your retreat is next week, February. And on the second night of that, we will be having a traffic calming presentation that will go over our program, some of the data we're seeing, and some potential improvements, and then seek input from counsel on that.

JOSHUA Great. So I thought that's when it was, but I didn't want to make a mistake there. So those are my comments. I appreciate your presentation and look forward to your work. We want to support you any way we can. And if there's no further comments, I think we're done with

Thank you. You, Councilor. Okay,

moving on to item 8A. This is our council member committee appointments. Can we bring up that slide? I'm hoping we have a slide. No slide.

It's in our packet.

Just as background, committee assignments are made by the mayor, subject to the approval of the council. And so I have put forward a number of committee assignments. We go. Thank you. So those are the committee assignments as they stand.

I have not, at this point, put forward an appointment for the Pierce Transit Board. So I would like to move that we approve the committee and organizational assignments that I have made appointments for. So I would like to make that motion. Do I have a second?

I'll do a second.

Thank you. Discussion? Council member Gilliam.

I'd like to put Council member Ether in for Pierce Transit Board. I'd like to nominate her for that.

This is a board that I'm not ready to make an appointment for yet. So we're going to postpone that one at this time. Thank you. Councilmember Adler.

Thanks. I'd like legal opinion on that if a motion can be brought forward without appointment or a recommendation, rather, from the mayor.

JACK Attorney Beck. JACK Thank you, mayor. Our process is governed by our council rules of procedure. Our council rules of procedure provide that the mayor appoints and the council confirms. So it could happen, but you would have to suspend council rules, which requires a twothree majority of the council to suspend council rules. And then it could be nominated from the floor.

Move to suspend council rules.

GREGORY Second. GREGORY DELL:

Before excuse me. I have a procedure question. It actually Attorney Beck, according to our rules, suspension of rules takes four votes, correct? Not a super majority five, but four.

GREGORY It does require a super majority to suspend rules.

Which would be what? GREGORY A five. Also, Attorney Beck, if you look at the we adhere to Robert's rules of order, correct?

GREGORY We do, except where amended by counsel policy and procedures.

GREGORY Robert's rules of order, I'm familiar with. The term pending, if you look at Robert's rules of order, allow for items that are pending, of which this is, the definition is that those are allowed to be amended and that the only way something can be excluded from vote is if it specifically states that it is excluded. If it says it is pending according to Robert's rules of order and I ask you to check that specifically it says that that is subject to amendment.

GREGORY D. If you're asking whether the motion on the floor is subject to amendment, I believe that it is. GREGORY Okay.

So therefore, Council Member Gilliam's request,

DELL:

would not it be germane and applicable?

It is if it's a motion to amend, it includes a motion DELL: to amend or to suspend the rules.

No. I said to amend, not suspend. GREGORY

Well, it's an out of order motion then to amend because it violates counsel rules of procedure.

GREGORY And the rules and procedures, again, can you just state those? I am not following this, that the mayor can appoint and we approve. So we are not capable we have done it in the past to look at precedents. We have, in fact, amended the recommendations that have been put forward and changed committee assignments. Are you saying that all of the prior history of doing so was out of order?

I don't have a specific memory of that happening in the past. I suppose that was something that was allowed by the consensus of the mayor at the time, who would then have been seen as making the appointment and going along with the rest of counsel. But certainly, as a straight motion from the floor, it does not go along with counsel's adopted rules of procedure.

One last point. We have suspended rules in the past with four votes. And now you're saying it's five. Can you specifically address that section in code, please?

Yes. Section 2.8 of counsel's rules of procedure, suspension, and amendment of rules, says that we will be governed by Robert's Rules boarders, provided, however, that in the events of a conflict between the rules and Robert's rules, the council's rules of procedure will prevail. Any provision of these rules may be temporarily suspended by a twothree vote of the council except when suspension would conflict with state law or an ordinance of Puyallup. And the ordinance follows Robert's rule in that procedure? GREGORY The procedures I honestly have to tell you I don't remember exactly what Robert's rule says about suspending rules.

But in any event, the rules of procedure would supersede Robert's rules.

Thank you.

Call the question to suspend the rules.

Did we have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye. Call.

Excuse me? Roll call. I didn't hear a vote yet.

I'm requesting a roll call vote.

ROLL Okay. Roll call vote. Actually, before we do that, I'd like to weigh in on this. I deferred this item. If my terminology on pending is inappropriate, I would use a different word that accomplishes the same purpose.

The mayor's responsibility is to make these appointments. It's fully my intention to make these appointments. But there's an issue that needs to be resolved before I feel comfortable bringing this item forward. So with all due respect to my colleagues, I request time. And this will not be an extended delay. I'll be bringing it back within our next regular meeting or the following one, in all likelihood. So

it

might mean one Pierce County, Pierce Transit Board meeting. I ask for the council's understanding of the issues that I feel are serious enough to require delaying this item. So I request that.

There's a motion live on the floor, Mr. Mayor.

I'm talking to that motion. So that is my request of my colleagues. And I would appreciate your support in that. We will now take a roll call vote.

Can you please restate the motion on the floor?

City clerk.

JOSHUA The motion on the floor is to suspend the rules of procedure. Council Member Kasimov?

Aye. JOSHUA

Council Member Smolko?

JOSHUA

Council Member Smolko? Aye. Aye.

J. Deputy Mayor Johnson? J. Nay. J. Council Member Gilliam? J. Nay. DENNIS Motion passes, five-two.

CLIFFORD: I'd like to place myself in nomination to represent the city appeal up on the Pierce Transit Board of Commissioners. Second.

Any comments? Okay, I will comment. And I will comment why I think it's inappropriate to cover this at this point in time. There have been accusations made about conduct of city council members. There's been accusations of sexism and ageism for myself and three of my colleagues.

There's been a formal complaint filed with regard to abusive language on my part. I don't believe that those accusations are accurate. And I have expressed my concerns about about the the in good conscience, I couldn't recommend somebody for the Pierce Transit Board that makes unfounded accusations and complaints, because that would be disruptive to the Pierce County Board. So I have delayed that. We will be having an executive session tonight to discuss this matter.

I would feel that it is appropriate to delay this matter until after the executive session, where we plot our course forward. These are serious charges and deserve an independent investigation. I support that independent investigation, and will cooperate fully in that investigation and make myself available. And as the subject of that evaluation, it's my privilege to have that take place here across the dais. I think transparency is an important principle, it's important to maintain the public trust by handling some of these things publicly as opposed to privately.

So that is my position on this. This is why I did not feel it was appropriate to bring forward this matter at this time. And I demand an external and independent investigation of these matters. Those are my comments. I have lost a little track of where we are.

I think we've got a motion and a second. I call on Councilmember Castama.

GREGORY Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The reason that I'll be voting for Councilmember Adler is really not related to the comments that you made. I simply believe that council member Adler is the best person for that position. I currently sit on Pierce Transit.

And I sat on that because I had ten years experience in transportation in the state legislature. And Pierce County executive Bruce Dammer wanted me to sit on sound transit. And the only way I could sit on sound transit was to sit on Pierce transit. You have to sit on both of them. You can't sit on sound transit without being on Pierce transit.

So I took that position. And I've had it now for two years. And during that time, there was a period of which the council member Adler was the lobbyist for Pierce Transit. And I know that her knowledge of Pierce Transit is extensive. And Pierce Transit is going to be going through some very difficult times.

All public transportation agencies have difficulty in funding. But Pierce Transit is examining whether they'll go before the voters and ask for more funding, of which comes in the form of sales tax. And I believe that with council members' intricate knowledge of Pierce Transit, she knows every detail of that organization had to lobby on their behalf in Olympia. And I think she also did work on the national level, maybe collaborating with other lobbyists. But as such, I thought that her knowledge was very good and very appropriate.

So I am stepping aside voluntarily of that. And I think that she would be the best person for that. And that's frankly why I'm putting her name forward. Thank you for letting me make those comments, but I will be voting for her. Councilmember Adler. JULIE

Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Castama, for your kind words. It is true. Over a year ago, did work for Pierce Transit, was not or was a registered lobbyist, but was a government relations administrator representing the agency at the local, state, and federal level. But again, that is no longer my employment and hasn't been for over a year.

But thank you for your kind words, Councilmember Kastema. It is appreciated. I just want to say this in response to the mayor's comments. I was the one that filed the complaint. I like to let due process play out and wasn't really planning to make a comment on that or the contents of the complaint. But I will say this, as now being alleged as someone who can't be trusted or represent this great city, I do find the mayor's comments to be retaliatory in nature. Thank you very much.

Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, mayor. So I wanted to kind of give some comments on this new motion recommendation. One of the things I've learned in the ten years sitting on this council is each of us, I'll speak of myself, I may have an opinion on something initially. But what I've tried to do is when the ruling of the council is extended forth, I move forward with that consensus. I read a book many years ago many years ago called Ten Minutes From Normal, and I was kind of a leadership junkie guy at the time.

And now I I just kind of operate it. I don't read up much about it. But there was a gal named Karen Hughes, who at the time was George Bush's, I think, assistant when he was governor of Texas. And when he went to the White House, she went to be one of his staff members. Anyway, I read this book and there was something in the book that really stood out to me, which I think is applicable to this point in case. She said that when the president had a an issue to deal with, he would bring in all of his advisors and they would close the doors in the Oval Office. She didn't go into details, she said it was quite fiery. Some choice words were coming out. Some anger was coming out. It was a little bit raw.

But, in the process, in this case, his executive, once he made a decision, the doors opened up and they walked out. They were all on board. This is the play that's been called. We're gonna move it forward. Applying that in this situation, I I may have an opinion. In this case, I I was giving the mayor the respect of his due process of appoint appointment recommendations and allowing him the respect of getting back on this one and and appointing, you know, mayor very well could have been council member Adler. I don't know. And so that's why I was supporting that due to the role he's in and precedence has been set. The attorney is correct. I think there may have been some adjustment to that.

In fact, I think it was when I was mayor. There was a discussion on a particular board. And because I was mayor at the time, I allowed that to take place. Okay. I'll change that recommendation.

So there was no amendment that went against the mayor's recommendation because I adjusted it at that time. In this case, he's still holding on because he has reason to believe that it could be delayed. And so that was why I was supporting him on that. In this case, the super majority of the council has given some direction that they want to change that and suspend the rules. And so because I want to be consistent in counsel direction, unless there's some further discussion that would indicate a reconsideration of the mayor's recommendation, I will be supporting the appointment of Councilmember Adler to this because of the fact that I can see I can count the numbers, and I wanna move forward in harmony and principle.

But I I do respect and and believe that perhaps some emotions may have caused overriding of the mayor's suggestions and precedents when he very well could have made some adjustments later. But that's behind us now. I do want to state that for the record as well. So thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Just in closing, I was prepared to make an appointment on this thing, but I delayed my appointment in favor of letting the process play out on the complaint. My appointment would have been Council Member Deputy Mayor Johnson. And just a little history on this. Four years ago, we had a similar situation on the same Pierce Transit board. We had two individuals that both wanted to serve on this board.

One was, at the time, Mayor Johnson, and the second was Council Member Palmer. And the vote came down to three to three. The final vote was deputy mayor, mayor Johnson's. And in the interests of counsel harmony and the desire to have a cohesive and supportive counsel, Mayor Johnson voted against himself in favor of council member Palmer. And I always admired that action on him.

It brought a different spirit to our council. And I think we benefited from that for the next several years. It was a really respectful and gracious move. And I've always appreciated that move on his part and admired the character that made it possible. But that wasn't the last time Council Member, Deputy Mayor Johnson was interested in Pierce Transit.

He was interested two years ago as well. And at that time, Pierce County Executive Dan Meyer was interested in having Mayor Kastema serve on the sounder board, which required that he also serve on the Pierce Transit board. So again, Councilmember Johnson yielded to yield his own desires on behalf of the greater good. And once again, I admired that action on his part. So, Council Member Johnson is now entering his eleventh year.

He has two years left before he's term limited on this council. I would honor him for his integrity and his team spirit by appointing him. But in light of the complaints that have been filed, I wanted to reserve that for a few moments. But as with Council Member Johnson, we bring our thoughts and our concerns before this council. And once the vote is taken, then it's up to us to try and mend fences and move on as a team in the best interest of the city.

And I commit to doing so, but I do want to put his name in nomination as well, because of the great service he's provided and the patience he's shown in this. And Councilmember Adler will have plenty of opportunity to serve it in the future. With, again, ten years, she's at the opposite end of the spectrum from Councilmember Johnson. So those are my thoughts on the appointment. And if there's no further comments, we'll call the question. Roll call.

DELL: Point of clarification, what is the motion on the floor? I thought we

current motion sorry. The current motion that I have is a motion to appoint Councilmember Adler to the Pierce Transit Board.

Yes. So Attorney Beck, I've put another name in nomination. With the motion on the floor, how does that nomination play in?

GREGORY D. Well, your motion would basically be a motion to amend the motion that's pending of nominating Council Member Adler, which is a subsidiary or an amending motion of the main motion to adopt the slate.

If

you need a second to amend the motion to nominate Councilmember

Adler. GREGORY Okay. So I've got an amendment on the floor. Is there a second?

GREGORY Mr. Mayor, can I speak to your amendment? Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for those, that reflection. And, I do recall that moment when it was in my grasp to take that easily, and willfully gave that away for the sense of taking the high road. And so I do reflect back on that. I do recall two years ago, once again asking at that time, Mayor Castama if I could, hey, I'd like to serve on that role, second try. And then he mentioned that he had this predicament where he needed to be on that.

And I said, I'll yield to that. And then, of course, on this one, when it came up the third time, I did request interest in that one and other some another competitor had put in for that, which is fine. And but I think, mister mayor, I'd like to do is, again, I think there's been clear consensus that there's a direction by the council to move forward with Councilor Adler. And so I would petition you to remove my name as an amendment so that we can move forward in harmony and support her in this role rather than create contention of a vote to reject your nomination against me, which would be further awkward for me. And also awkward, I think, for council member Adler.

And I I don't want that for her. And so I'll be I'll be supporting her request for that and and hope that perhaps it's even a consensus of maybe even seven point zero just to move beyond this and let the chips fall where they may and move on to some other things. Anyway, I respect your amendment and your reflection, but I would petition that you remove my name just for the state's reasons I've stated to just move forward with harmony. Counsel have spoken super majority that they don't do that lightly. And I just don't want to get in the way of that for precedence. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Johnson. And I hear you. And I just want to applaud again the character and integrity that you've demonstrated again here tonight. And I want to pattern that integrity. So I will withdraw my amendment. And I would ask for a unanimous vote in favor of Councilmember Adler. Councilmember Adler, do you have something you would like to add?

Yes, thank you. I just would like to take a moment to thank the deputy mayor, Deputy Mayor Johnson, for your kind words and words of reflection, and particularly sharing the story of Karen Hughes. I think, Mr. Deputy Mayor, that you know me well enough to know that I value partnership. And I know you to be a transit writer and user of very many years.

And I don't think I have to say this, but you can count on me to be a partner with you and represent not only your own experiences, but the rest of our colleagues in this service. And so I appreciate your willingness to want, of course, always the best for what is the relationships here on the council, but also for the city. So thank you again for affirming that.

Okay, I think we're ready for a vote. I don't think we need a voice vote or a roll call vote. All in favor?

Aye. Any

opposed? Unanimous verdict.

Mr. Mayor, can get a roll call?

Please. GREGORY Absolutely.

GREGORY There's a purpose behind it. It's individual affirming. Boom. Real clear.

GREGORY Councilmember Smolko.

JOSHUA Aye.

JOSHUA Councilmember Kastema? JOSHUA Aye.

JOSHUA

Deputy Mayor Johnson? Aye. Mayor Wedding.

Aye.

Good. Thank you.

Okay. Mr. Mayor, there's still a pending motion for the slate of candidates.

Oh, yes. So we now have a slate of candidates for review. Do I hear a motion to approve? Motion Second. To All in favor?

Well, Mayor, I'd like to suspend the rules for that. Just messing with you. We're good.

In favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any opposed? No. The ayes have it. Okay, moving on to our we're now to the item 8B, which was formerly on the consent agenda as item four gs, authorize a contract with Atwell LLC for the bike lanes, West Stewart and 23rd Street Northwest. Do we would you like to talk to that?

Thank you, Mayor Whiting. Yeah, just had a quick question for Hans, since he's ready to address my question. So I just would like an update on where we're at with the project. And I believe there's going to be another public hearing. The residents that were at the first meeting have an opportunity to hear firsthand from the staff what the new adjustments are to help accommodate. So I just wanted it on record for our residents.

JOSHUA Sure. So with the bike lanes on Stewart And 4th here that we're doing after the first public meeting that we had that we heard a lot of opposition to eliminating parking on Stewart. In order to be better informed on that, we're implementing a parking survey of not only Stewart, but the cross streets that come into it and stuff, to be able to see how many spots are available, the use of them, so that when we implement bike lanes, if we do limit parking, reduce parking, what are the consequences of that? And then we'll hold another public meeting for that.

JULIE Fantastic. Do we have a date in mind or a rough estimate?

JOSHUA I'm hoping that in February is when we'll be holding the next public meeting and stuff. But really, we've to complete the parking study.

JOSHUA Fantastic. Will there be notifications out to the residents that live on Stuart?

JOSHUA Yes, absolutely.

JOSHUA Fantastic. Thank you so much.

Okay. So we have item 8B on our agenda. Do I hear a motion to approve? So moved.

Second. All

in favor? Aye. Okay. We're city manager's report.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. I'll keep it brief just that, as I already alluded, you have your council retreat is next Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be at Pierce College in Room 102 in the Student Services Building. So looking forward to that both evenings. Thank you.

Okay, Councilmember Adler.

Thank you. I will pass tonight, although I certainly have a lot to say. Thank you.

Councilmember Gilliam.

Thank you, Mayor. So I am the PMSA liaison, Pelton Main Street Association Board liaison for the city. And we had a fantastic board meeting last night. All great things. They're continuing to advocate for events that bring business into the businesses, so events that actually bring customers into stores, not just around them.

So really proud of all their great work. One of the things they did request or a big push that they're going to do is if you go on to your social media, just like the PMSA, Kelp Main Street Association, so you can stay up to date on all the wonderful activities that are going on. They're always really fun. I believe a lot of people really enjoyed the stocking stroll in the Nashville Nights, which filled customers in the local restaurants. So they're continuing to work on more events like that for our local businesses. When you shop local, it supports local. So it builds up our city. Less need for property tax to go up. So shop local, like your PMSA on social media. And that's all I got. Thank you.

JOSHUA Council Member Smallko.

JOSHUA Thank you. I don't have much to say today, but I am super excited to get more involved with Doctor. Jho and all of the people on the guiding coalition for the MLK Day of Celebration and have a lot of ideas I want to run by her and them to get more of these cultural conversations happening. There's clearly a demand for it and an interest and a passion for it. So I am equally as passionate and want to start trying to do what I can to promote those and get them rolling.

JOSHUA Council Member King.

JOSHUA Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In respect of our additional time that we have to spend here tonight, I will pass. And with that, go Hawks.

Council Member Kastema. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate that. I only have one shout out to Jill Roeder, who lives in the Northwest section of town.

She sent me an email talking about one of my pet projects in Puyallup, and that was the amount of litter that was in her neighborhood. And something that she wants to focus on is assisting more neighborhoods in coalescing, having groups come together for their neighborhoods and keeping litter under control. She joined me on one of the on ramps onto 512, which we both collected about 10 bags of garbage along those on ramps. I mean, they're absolutely disgusting when you get off the freeways. And by the way, our freeways are still very filthy.

I don't understand. We're supposed to be the evergreen state, ecological state. But you would never ever tell that by the state of our freeways just being full of garbage. I just don't understand it. But nevertheless, she joined me in starting to cleaning some of the on ramps and off ramps.

And I hope to put together some kind of a sign campaign to discourage people from littering so much. And again, Jill Roeder is her name. And I just want to give her a shout out. The second thing is that tomorrow on Wednesdays, on the third usually on the third Wednesday of every month, I, as mayor, would have a meeting at the senior center. And it was the dessert with the mayor at 12:30 in the afternoon.

And I consistently had 25 to 30 people show up. And this year, I'm kind of handing the football off to Mayor Ned Winning, but I will be there. And it's a great opportunity if you're a senior. Come by the senior center, and we just have a great conversation, probably far too much sugar than we should consume. But nevertheless, it's a good environment.

I always pull people there. I ask them what they think about particular items. It's fascinating, absolutely fascinating, pulling those individuals. And I kind of use them as a resource. So I will probably piggyback and still go along with Mayor Winning when he has these meetings with the mayor. I'll probably still just join them for the entertainment of it all and the conversation, very cordial, and just wonderful discourse. So with that, that's all I have to say. Thank you all.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few comments. I recently ran into a minister who has a fairly significant church up north. And I watched him at a distance for over thirty years and happened to see him a few weeks ago in a public setting.

And I looked at him, and I just thought, man, this guy looks like he's been through the ringer. You know, he just looked. I mean, you could just tell that the job has taken a toll on him. And and I had immediate empathy for him because I realized that, you know, it's not easy kind of being in the public eye. In this case, as a minister, you're always getting criticized and told how you should do it, and this and that, and plus all the ramifications of the nature of his work.

So, was sharing with a coworker of mine in the private sector, and I said, man, I saw pastor so and so, and it looked like he's just like like a warrior that's been through several world wars. And he goes, well, isn't that kinda like elected officials? Know? And I go, yeah, it kinda is sometimes. You know, we're not perfect in any way, speaking for myself anyway.

Maybe some of my colleagues could state that they are, I'm not sure. But, know, one of the things that's interesting is that there could be some tensions that's going on in this role. It's not always easy. And, it does take a toll on you, I think emotionally, and relationally, and professionally, and perhaps spiritually for those who believe in that kind of a realm. But, in the day, I think that we can at least empathize that, know, not just us, but for everyone, everyone goes through struggles.

And what can we do to support them? Because we know that life isn't always a bed of roses, but there's always challenges that we all face. And all the more that we need support each other, because who knows what they've gone through that week or that month or the last ten or twenty years, who knows. But anyway, that's that little bit of rambling comment. And then I want to say hi to Marla, right there. Hi, Marla.

Okay, just a couple of quick comments related to the committee assignments. We do serve on these committees. And I think it's important to get report outs. So I'm going to encourage my colleagues to report on the meetings that they have. And I would like to ask the city clerk to keep track of the various committees that are meeting so that we can be sure to follow-up and get reports from the appropriate council members on the activities of the various boards and commissions on which we serve.

We are now going to go into executive session. And the council will recess to discuss the city attorney's matters related to agency enforcement actions and to receive and evaluate complaints or charges against a public officer or employee. We've already talked about that a little bit. The executive session is expected to last one hour. And we're we there is the potential to have a report out after that one hour period after the executive session.

And with that, we the meeting is now recess. Back from recess. And we are here to discuss the matter of the complaint or charges brought against a public officer or employee. And we are here to discuss what action should be taken as a result of this complaint. And I believe that we may have a motion.

Do I hear a motion?

I'd like to move that the city council authorize the city manager to initiate investigation into a complaint involving a council member utilizing a qualified third party investigator. The city manager is further directed to ensure that the investigation is conducted promptly and to bring back a report with findings and recommendations to the city council for considering any any final action.

Mr. Mayor, I second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? In that case, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is unanimously carried. With that, I believe the

Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry, just for formality. Can I get a roll call?

Absolutely. I

know. There's reasoning behind it.

We've asked for a roll call. City clerk.

Councilmember Adler. Aye. Deputy Mayor Johnson. Aye. Councilmember King.

Aye.

Council member Gilliam. Aye. Council member Kasimov.

Aye.

Council member Smoko. Aye. Mayor Wedding.

Aye. So I think our business is concluded. I adjourn this meeting.