General Legislative Session - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. Snohomish County Council is called to order for our administrative session. Today is Tuesday, July 14th, 2026 at 9 a.m. We're meeting in the Jackson boardroom and also remotely. I'll read the script for public comment and then our clerks will take roll. We'll take public comment beginning in person and then remotely on Zoom. Click on the hand icon to raise your hand. If you're calling in by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak and please start your comment with your name and city of residence. Next is roll call.

Council Chair Dunn?

Here.

Vice Chair Low? Present. Council Member Neering?

Here.

Council Member Mead?

Here.

Council Member Peterson? Council Member Peterson? I do see him online.

Here.

There we go. Chair, we have five members present.

Thank you. Next is public comment. Did anyone wish to provide public comment this morning? You can use the podium in the center of the room. Yep, go ahead.

Good morning. My name is Timothy McDonald. I am east of Arlington and the Oso area. And I saw you last week, of course, and I put in a boundary line adjustment. Interesting thing came up on Tuesday. In 1967, a fellow came out with a study regarding human communication, and the number 7, 38, and 55, meaning human communication was 7% the actual word, 38% was the tone of the speaker, and 55% was the body language. So, actually, the written word is the minor part, the actual word. My experience so far with PDS and Snohomish County has been that we've reduced all communication pretty well down to nothing but the 7% level. I just don't see people. I can go up there to the office and... The staff at the desk is nice, but regarding the boundary line adjustment I put in over three weeks ago, all I get is messages. I get text messages, and I get text messages directing me to email messages, but I don't know who they are from or what they really want. They just say, you're incomplete, and I wish there was a person involved. I wish that we're moving away from communication by people and instead these obscure tools are taking over our lives. And I can contrast you to, look, the other extreme is down there on the first floor, the treasurer, assessor, auditor, You look at a room, you get people. They come over and they talk to you. They even call other people to come talk to you. With one visit, you can solve every problem you have. I've got 30 seconds left. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Council Member Nering.

Yeah, thanks, Chair. Mr. McDonald, I can touch base with PDS and see if we can get a meeting set up on that issue.

Thanks. Any other public comment? Are there any hands raised online? No hands.

Okay.

We'll close public comment and move on. We have introduction and assignment of legislation to committees. You can see the items that have come in. I'll go ahead and read through Committee of the Whole. So, unless there's objection, we'll go ahead and read through Committee of the Whole since we're not taking action. But items A and B are for assignment and then to set time and date for tomorrow. to set time and date tomorrow. And then items C through G are also for reassignment to move to tomorrow for consideration. Item H is to move to tomorrow for consideration. And items I through M are for a brief discussion today and then to move to next week for consideration. So we'll hear a quick staff report. Do you want to read them in?

It's not necessary if we're not going to take action. Okay. Unless you want me to.

Good morning, Heidi Pazizo for the record. On June 24th, the Council issued a press release soliciting applicants to serve on the pro-con committees for the five charter amendments proposed by the Charter Review Commission. For Proposition 1, Adoption of a Foundational Government Services Policy, we received one applicant for the pro-committee and two applicants for the con-committee. For Proposition 2, Prioritizing the Funding of a Budget Stabilization Funds, we received one applicant for the pro-committee and three for the con-committee. Proposition 3, converting all elected offices to nonpartisan offices. We received six applicants for the pro committee and 10 applicants for the con committee. For Proposition 4, increasing public access to county financial transparency. We received two for the pro committee and three for the con committee. And finally, for Proposition 5, requiring a supermajority council vote to increase taxes. We received four applicants for the pro committee and 11 for the con committee. Council may appoint up to three members for each pro and con committee for each proposition. Each proposition is listed on the agenda with an associated motion and a sheet indicating the applicant and, if provided, their reason for wanting to serve on that committee. The request today is to assign the motions to Committee of the Whole and move them to admin on July 21st for amendment and consideration. Happy to answer any questions.

Questions from council members? So we will fill in the blanks next week and take action. So everyone's clear on the process? Any questions online? We only do this once every 10 years, so just want to make sure. Okay. Council Member Neering.

Yeah, thank you, Trayden. So I had an opportunity to just look at the names that were submitted. Do we have next week? Is there an idea of the process we'll use to make decisions?

Typically in the past when we've appointed individuals, I'm thinking of most recently when we sent the fireworks advisory vote to the ballot. When we did that, the motion is put on the table and then there are proposals for amending the motion with certain names and then council has a conversation and then ultimately selects three individuals but if council wishes to have a different type of process for discussing which individuals they want that's up to the body and we have it on the 21st is that the last day to decide

That is the last date that I will be available so that I'd leave on the 22nd. Okay. So if there's questions or some applications were incomplete but the names are known and council can just discuss, I'd say, on the dais and make the decision. Okay. Okay. Are there any other questions? Okay. We'll move on then. Clerk's report on pending legislation. There's no report. Council reports of council committees. You can see the dates and times of upcoming committees. Reports on outside committees. Any updates? None. Okay. We did have our finance committee, which is a quarterly meeting with the treasurer, the executive, and the chair. The last meeting was in June 2025, but we approved a strategic investment plan at that meeting yesterday. Okay. Any other reports? Okay, hearing none. We have the chairpersons report, no report, Chief of Staff's report.

Thank you. Just a verbal reminder that Council does go on recess July 27, through August 7. And so the last public meeting that we will have will be on the 22nd of July. And then I am on leave the 22nd through the 5th of August.

Thank you questions. Okay, full counsel on action, full counsel action on items from Committee of the Whole. There's nothing. For other business, please review Motion 26-275. We have no executive session today, so we are in recess until our 10 o'clock Finance, Budget, and Administration Committee. Thank you.