City Council - Regular Meeting

checking me.

I know. I have been home.

Okay. I call the meeting of February 17, 2026 to order at 6 pm. Will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. At the invocation, I'd like to call Greg Newert of Faith Covenant Church

to push a button. Correct. All right. Um, good evening. I'm Greg Newert from Faith Covenant Church. And to start off the invocation tonight, I'd uh like to read a short scripture from the book of James. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to you. I share this scripture today because I believe that this country and our city council are facing trials of many kinds and have testing and perseverance to go through. And I don't want to assume to suggest that any of you lack wisdom for these trials or decisions. But I do want to invoke God, the giver of all wisdom, to help guide and direct you through those decisions. Would you pray with me? Almighty and everlasting God, we come before you today with grateful hearts, acknowledging your sovereignty and your grace over the city of Sumar. We thank you for the beauty of this city and for the heritage of the people who call Sumar home. We ask for your divine blessing on this council. our mayor and the city staff as they gathered to conduct the business of this community. Lord, grant these leaders a spirit of wisdom and discernment as they deliberate on matters before them tonight. Give them clarity of mind to see the true needs of our citizens and the courage to make decisions that reflect your justice, integrity, and goodness for all. May their decisions be marked by humility and mutual respect. and may their work serve to strengthen the bonds of our neighborhoods and protect the vulnerable among us. And

it's in your holy name that we pray. Amen. Thank you. Will the clerk please call the role? Alers here. Evers here. Foxetter here. Kenna here. Frankie here. Wilie here.

Okay. Will the clerk please read the consent agenda? Item number one, Steuart Road ITS consultant contract award. Item number two, approval of the meeting minutes from the regular meeting of January 20th, 2026. The special council meeting of January 26, 2026. The study session of January 26, 2026. And the joint study session of February 9th, 2026. Item number three, Frier Avenue Trail Project Property Acquisition Dewali Investment Group 2 LLC. Item four, Frier Avenue Trail Ride ofway Consultant Agreement Supplement. Item five, Foster Pilot Water Rights Project Consulting Contract amendment. Item number six, resolution number 1741, setting public hearing date for vacation of the alley of south of the alley south of Harrison Street.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elers, would you please make a motion to adopt the consent agenda? Raise my hand. I think Go ahead and let's see if it works. Um, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda of February 17th, 2026. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by council member Kenna. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Would any council member wish to remove an item? Okay. All in favor? I I

opposed. So it passes unanimously. in favor. Thank you. So, there's no public hearing tonight. Uh let's see. We do have uh now our unfinished business. Regular unfinished business. There's no unfinished business tonight. So, now we will open for public comment. Uh the limit is 3 minutes. I'd like to read the rules for public comment. So the purpose of these meetings is to conduct the important business of the city and that often means the city council is making difficult pol policy or budgetary decisions. With that said, I want to share a few rules and reminders that I will be enforcing to encourage respectful and orderly public comment. As a reminder, the public comments section of the meeting is a time for the council and myself to hear from members of the public on topics not on tonight's agenda. And while it may feel awkward, this is not a time for the council or myself to answer questions or engage in back and forth debate. At the conclusion of your comments, I may request that the appropriate staff member contact you for further discussions. So, first, please keep your comments relevant to city business and about matters over which the city council has control. Number two, all council members and city staff deserve respect and dignity. Please refrain from disorderly or disruptive speech or conduct, personal attacks, name calling, rude or offensive statements, obscenities, derogatory comments directed at individuals, and hate speech. If you don't comply with this rule, I will interrupt you with a reminder and then may choose to suspend you from continuing or have you removed from the meeting.

We have expect uh number three, we have behavioral expectations. We will all model courtesy and respect. This includes those of us on the dis and members of the public are expected to do the same. Audience members, to ensure every speaker feels comfortable speaking, please do not clap, boo, or speak while another person is addressing the council. Item number four, please speak into the microphone. Comments are broadcasted and recorded via the mics. If you leave the microphone, your comment time ends. Now that I've reviewed the rules that will apply, I invite the first speaker to the microphone. Please start your comments by stating your name and the city in which you reside for our records. You will have three minutes to speak. Uh is there anyone participating via Zoom who would like to make a comment? No. Okay. So, Michelle, do we have anyone signed up for public comment?

No, mayor, we do not. Okay. Thank you. So, we'll move on to new business. So, uh, ordinance number 2954 allowing metal cargo containers for emergency supply supplies. Council member Hawksteader, would you like to make a motion? Yes, I'd like to make a motion for ordinance 2954 allowing metal cargo containers for emergency supplies. Thank you. Uh, is there a second? Second. Seconded by council member Evers. Okay, I'd like to call on Scott Waller, senior planner.

Good evening, mayor and council. I'm Scott Waller. I'm one of the planners in our development services department. And tonight, I'll walk you through proposed ordinance 2954, which looks at emergency metal containers um on sites in town. So, this ordinance uh is pretty narrow in its scope. It looks to allow metal containers uh to be used by public agencies for the sole purpose of emergency supplies and emergency preparedness throughout the city of Sumar. The goal here is to provide additional options and resources throughout Sumar uh for emergency preparedness and response. This would allow for supplies to be housed outside of and away from primary structures that are um habitable um for things like fire, earthquakes, or other options where you need people to eress a building. those materials are away from and outside of the main structure. Um it also allows for uniform emergency preparedness um using standard um small metal shipping containers. Uh this is especially pertinent at the district who uses these currently outside of SAR city limits on their at each school. Um and they're looking to have some uniform um allowances that they would use this at Sumar schools as well as those outside of Sun City limits. Um, and these allow for a more flexible and mobile option where the structure can be moved depending on a need, depending on the emergency, depending on the site. They can be rearranged, moved from one area to another. There's a lot more flexible options with containers. So, Su's code currently um generally prohibits metal containers in most situations. It allows them for things like shipping, commerce, and temporary storage. Um, so that's where this ordinance would come into play. It would allow for an exemption or an allowance for these for a very narrow purpose public agency sites emergency preparedness. The new code um it would still have review for these staff would still review the container type, the location, the pad it's being put on. It would look

for visual screening of these um as well as requiring that they meet setbacks and that they're replaced if damaged. So the alternative to containers is, you know, stickuilt or, you know, permanently built structures, um, such as sheds or other kind of outuildings. Um, those do have kind of more options as far as a design aesthetic goes. You can do sidings and different materials. Um, whereas a a container, you're limited to, you know, painting it or maybe putting a mural or artwork or something on there where, you know, touches it up a little bit. But otherwise, you're limited in what you can do with those um, from a visual perspective. However, um as I mentioned, they are um more mobile, flexible. The access to them, even the way doors open, you can get multiple people in there to grab materials and get stuff um kind of moving to where it needs to be, as well as the whole container can be picked up and relocated to a different site if need be. Um staff recommends um the approval of ordinance 2954. um we think could be useful throughout Sumar for added emergency preparedness um at sites throughout town. But I'd be happy to answer any questions or offer clarifications.

Any comments from the public? Anyone on Zoom? Okay, thank you. Any comments from the council? Wait, Council Member Kenna. Sorry, I just just beat you there. Um yes uh Scott just a um clarifying question. Um so these are uh intended for uh medical um and emergency kind of supply material storage. Um so it's not for private individuals to use you know to store their own valuables or uh household goods or whatever. So city when city reviews that um we have to sign off on their use and their location and things like that.

Absolutely. Yep. It's limited to public agency sites. um and not just the general public and it has to be for emergency preparedness materials. So the district has been looking at these um they want to put things like water and MREs um even their binders for their school roster so that if they have to egress they have all that stuff there um if the city proposed to put these other places we would look at what we would want in such containers but yes it is for emergency preparedness on public agency sites. Thank you Scott. Council member Hawksteader. Yeah, thank you. Am I on? Thank you for the presentation. You're not. Try it again. Am I on? There we go.

Um, thank you for the presentation, Scott. you brought this to the community development um committee and uh we we kind of peppered you with some questions and we passed on at that committee unanimously 300 um in favor of allowing the emergency supplies that are needed at summer high school to keep uniform with Bonnie Lake and some of the other schools that they have in the district. It's kind of tough for them as they're they're they're serving kids in our community in Bonnie Lake and Sumner and they're allowed to develop Bonnie Lake, but then when they scale their plan to Sar, they're not allowed. So yeah, it's the the the committee uh approved it three to zero in that and so I think it's a good idea. Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay. Will the clerk please call the role? Ranky. Yes. Kenna. Uh yes on. You're not. I don't think they're on. Thank you, Rinky. Yes, Kenna. Yes, Alers. Yes, Wily. Yes, yes, yes.

Pass unanimously. Thank you. All right, we will move on to reports. So, we'll uh start here with the council. Council member Evers. Oh, I guess first of all to say go Seahawks. That was kind of fun. I thought, stop. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He's not coming on. So, you got it cuz it's not working right here. Thank you. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. Let me see if I can remember what I said so far. You can.

Go Seahawks. That was just a great uh game. What a great defense. Oh my gosh. But um and then the Seattle Mar I'm a baseball guy, but Mariners start spring training here and hoping they go one step at least farther this year. And for those of you that don't follow hockey, the Kraken, if the season were to end today, would be in the playoffs, but it, you know, it doesn't end today, unfortunately. So, um and really quick, my wife and I made a little contribution to the city of SAR. We bought a new truck last week. it. I want to say Riverside Ford, but it's Sunset Ford. So, and it's still running good after two weeks. So, I don't know how much I don't know what my sales tax was on that, but um just anytime you can help the city with a purchase, you do it.

Thank you, Council Member. Deputy Mayor Elers,

you're good. Uh yeah, I think I'll just real quickly share we had a couple of committee meetings. I'll just go over that real quick. I'm trying to get in the habit of doing that this year. On um February uh 9th, we had a uh we had the public works meeting and then immediately after we had a joint uh joint meeting with uh city of Bonnie Lake. We obvious we do that once a quarter or I think once a quarter to just go over the sewer plant operations. Um and um so the the public works meeting there's not too much to say about it. We most of the items that we talked about are on the consent agenda tonight. Um so there's not really I don't have any remarks on that. The joint um uh meeting was um was helpful. We went over a couple of just operations things and and budgets and and um and um I don't think there's anything remarkable. We're still working on a couple big projects there. Um kind of overview. We did an overview of the 2025 year which I thought was it's always interesting to see what's happening and how much happens at the wastewater treatment facility. And um they did a really big project last year. We're cleaning out the those big tanks. I forget what they're called. Those huge tanks that what are they called?

Digesttors.

Digesttors. Thank you, Michael. Digesttors. And so it was that was a you know learning process for the city. So it was great to hear that. And then obviously we appreciate Bonnie Lake and um their collaboration with us on that. Um uh and then finance committee, we met uh on the 11th, so uh Wednesday last week, and we just went over a couple things. had a little bit of surplus um uh items that were pretty small and um talking about um the fact that our HR department is a little bit overt taxed and discussing um potentially uh an additional employee to help with that. I think we have 140 staff approximately and one one HR person doing all that and there's there is they're just as needing another help on that. So, uh, we also talked about sales tax report was kind of, uh, was kind of notable. I thought last year 2025, the city did really well on sales tax collections. So, there is a a surplus just over a million dollars. Um, so that that's a good thing. I think there's a lot of areas where we're not in a surplus and there's lots of of of more costs that are coming in that we can afford. So, I think that's that was a positive. Um, but those are kind of the highlights of th those two committees and and I do want to re mention that the Seahawks winning was was was it was fun. We had a a group of uh kids come over and uh and and had a lot of fun watching the game. So, thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Hawkstutter.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor Bowman. I think uh something to be noted is the Seahawks and the Spartans both winning it all in the same year. That's got I mean I I don't know that's got to be the first for that. Uh I do want to say I had a great time at the opening of uh the Heritage Park. Um it's just fun when the community can come together and celebrate a win together. That was a big win. Um to see that open and see that the Hops Alley and see how it's activating the back side of those buildings and um it's just so cool. So I just invite anyone from the community who hasn't seen it yet, walk by there, take a walk down the backside. My son and I do it every day now. It's kind of our thing. Um and and he likes to talk about the party that we had there. But uh Mayor Bowman sent out a really nice letter uh this this week about how Heritage Park I remember being at the first opening in 1996. Um I miss K ever was probably there as well. and uh to come full circle. Now I'm there with my kids and at at Heritage Park and the the kids are getting there and picture in front of the big SAR sign and um I I just thought it was a lot of fun and I I just I just want to anchor those moments when the community can celebrate a win together like that and that's a big win to see that park updated like that.

Thank you, Council Member Wy.

Thank you. Um, so I just want to um remind everybody that summer's coming up and we are going to have some really fun events coming this year. We've got rhubarb days that's uh getting started in the planning process and we've got um we've got uh um the uh music off Maine coming. Um I've been looking at my calendar and what all of that's going to look like this year. So um we've got a lot of fun. Um, we've got the Chalk Art Festival at Loyalty and um and then another SIP in August. So, we've got a lot of fun stuff going. So, as you're starting to look at your summer plans, I would encourage you to take a look at your downtown and see what uh what all fun stuff we've got going. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Ranky. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, I was going to report on committee meetings. Also, Deputy Mayor Alers reported on the financial or the finance personnel. Uh the only thing I would add is the uh surplus. There is a couple police vehicles in there that are being um or going to a surplus. So, if you're interested, they're in decent shape, I believe, with not too terrible amount of miles. Um, the only ones I got to report is tomorrow is public safety at 400 p.m. here the 18th and then Thursday is Pierce County Regional Council on the 19th, 6 p.m. for me. That's it. Thank you, Council Member Kenna.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, just a few things. Yes, go Seahawks. Start off with that. Um, I just wanted to share first that a few weeks ago, uh, myself and a few others went over to Sumar High School to participate in the annual youth forum. And if you're unfamiliar with this, um it's a I've been doing this since my second year, but I know we've been doing it for a number of years with the district. Um where we go and have staff, uh representatives from council, the mayor, um and other partners in the community go and uh kind of do some listening sessions and workshops with uh high school students. Uh I believe it's in their civics class um when they're either juniors or seniors.

Seniors. Um thank you, mayor. Uh so uh going and hearing about what's working in the community for them, what they think are the positives, the the great things about living here and some challenges or some opportunities uh things that could be improved upon. And um first I just want to say thank you to all the the folks and the partners that showed up and supported those kids that day. Uh the mayor was there, I was there. Um we had representatives from the city staff. We had the uh Tacoma um Pierce County Health Department. We had some of our police and community services officer there as well. Um representatives from the district and um the superintendent was there kind of observing as well and listening in and uh just a great event. We have some staff of the district uh in particular Mary Lee Hill Anderson and Valerie Reich who make this thing all work and put it all together and um not only do the logistics because that in of itself is a job um but they follow up with these kids on what they said and what they um felt u you know we all heard and tell them how their ideas could be implemented or what we're doing about it or if there's anything that can be done about it. And um so it's not just you know talking into thin air and then you know hoping something is done and never hearing back. Um they really make that um make that work. So just a kind of note on what we heard or at least what I heard um in my groups that I was facilitating. Uh the kids there loved that we have a walkable community. They feel very safe. Um and there's a very uh community oriented feel kind of like council member Hawkster was just talking about with Hops Alley and Heritage Park. Um the kids here love the events, you know. Uh sometimes I'm thinking, "Oh, are they too big for these parades and things, but but no, they get a kick out of it. They participate in it. Maybe they're in a a team or an activity that is out there marching as well." Um the come walk with me was specifically

mentioned as another way to support um certain folks in our community. So, uh they really loved the uh the focus on community here in Sumar. Um there are some challenges, there's some opportunities. Um I I did hear homelessness brought up a number of times and I know that's an issue that we're we're facing not only in this country but a lot in this area in this region and um you know staff were there taking notes and we're we're all talking um about what we heard and how this is affecting not only our students but also individuals that don't have a place to live, that aren't um sheltered, that don't have a steady income, those types of things. So um you know we we heard you on that front. Um, I also, uh, did hear that public transportation is, uh, is lacking for for, uh, no better words there. Um, kids would really like to see some connections to Bonnie Lake, to Puallup, to Auburn, even Tacoma. Um, that's really like a lifeline for them to be able to go to activities, to be able to meet their friends, um, do something outside of Sumar. We have a lot here to offer, but, um, so does the surrounding community. Um, so great event there. Um, I would encourage anybody um, you know, to reach out to the youth in our community, hear what they have to say in in whatever format you can do that. Um, I know we've we've commented on the Seahawks. Uh, I know a couple months ago we all had great things to say about the high school football team. I just wanted to share a couple additional things that I received. Um, as a as a parent of uh a couple kids that are in the the district, um, the school district, there's some other teams that are doing some great things, too. Um, I know that first uh, council member Evers didn't mention Sounders are starting up here, too. So, don't forget about soccer in there.

Mariners, Mariners, too. But, I mentioned Sounders. Sounders are starting up.

Um, yeah. Well, let's see if we can incorporate that into uh what you're doing over there. But uh yeah, we also have um the Sumar High School girls wrestling won duels at state, which is fantastic. Uh the Sumar boys wrestling finished fourth. Uh Sumar girls bowling got the academic state championship. So that's super impressive. Uh we had Sumar girls flag football that got to the semifinals in the 4A tournament. So um just lots of great things from our different clubs and activities and sports in in our in our schools here. Um, and on that note, I also wanted to give a shout out to uh the Missoula Children's Theater. If you're not familiar with them, they're a traveling theater group and uh my cousin years ago participated in this and went to the Southwest to do this, but it's only it's only two two individuals and they um go to the University of Montana and they do a tour of a specific region. Um they came to Mapleon for one week. they worked with um I'm going to guess it was 30 to 40 students um to put on a show in one week and um it was Alice in Wonderland. And so these kids are spending their afternoons and their evenings late into the night reciting this show, rehearsing it, uh auditioning of course at the very beginning. and uh they really work wonders with with the kids and we're really lucky that the district um and the elementary school here has worked with the Missoula Children's Theater to make this happen and give our our kids an opportunity. I know we have a number of folks up here that are um very supportive of the arts and unfortunately the arts are something that are being uh reduced in our curriculums and those are some of the first programs to be cut. So keeping this lifeline opportunity for kids to you know have an interest or or just participate is is really important. Um, lastly, just to piggy back off of Council Member Hawksteader there, I I did mention Hops Alley earlier, but I just thought it was um a fantastic day to get out there with the community. We had a really good attendance, even

though the weather was a little bit iffy that day. It looks fantastic. It looks really inviting. I'm I'm very excited to see our, you know, summer and fall events kick off and have that be a really open space. Um, and see how we can use that. Um, I want to thank the staff who put years into that project to make it happen to go after grants. Um, you know, previous councils to support that as well, I think is is just really exceptional. Um, and also thank the business owners who, you know, they did have to bear the brunt of that project for a while. Um, I know there were some impacts to that. I was speaking to one uh business owner down there who had some some um, you know, she went through some challenges and whatnot. Um but she said there's opportunities and there's uh ways that this is going to grow her business. And so I was really um inspired by hearing not only yeah there was some there was some heartache, there were some some tough times, but we're looking forward and we're seeing where this is going in the future. So I think that is all I have for tonight. Mayor, leave it to you.

All right. Thank you. Uh city administrator Jason Wilson. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh coming up next week, we have our uh interviews for the council vacancy. So later this week, uh you'll receive an email letting you know that those applications have been posted. Uh it did close at five o'clock today. I understand we have a number of applications that we need to review for eligibility as well as do the redactions before we can make them uh public. So those will be coming to you later this week. So uh next week we'll do those interviews on March 2nd. That's when you'll actually go through the appointment process for that council vacancy. And uh that's actually all we have on the agenda right now for the March 2nd meeting. That may change before then. Uh I'm also wanted to share with you that the city's been designated by the Association of Washington Cities as a well city. I believe this is our 14th year receiving the Well City recognition. Uh if you're not familiar with the program, the Well City program recognizes members that achieve quality standards and employee health promotion. For being a a well city, the city receives a 2% discount on our medical insurance premiums. In context, that's about $60,000 a year savings uh for being a well city. And I'll just This is from their website. Um I'll just read this to you. While a 2% discount on medical premiums is significant, the rewards of a healthy workplace can be felt across the organization and have a positive impact on the community as well. Based on their research, while cities are great places to work with quality, sustainable benefits and a workplace that supports employee well-being, a healthy workplace culture leads to happy, healthy, and productive employees that are fully engaged in serving their communities. and also reduce costs with decreased sick days, disability, healthcare claim costs, and workers comp claims is a win for everyone. Want to send a special thank you to our wellness uh

coordinators. That's Adrien McNeely, Michelle Converse, and Courtney Latrell. Happy to answer any questions for you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. So, uh I'll close with my report. So, first of all, I'll jump on the youth forum. So, that was about two weeks ago. Uh, and I joined staff and council member Kenna at the youth forum at Sumar High School. So, Carmen Palmer was there and Jason Wilson were there. Was anybody else from staff over there that I missed? Ryan Windish. Cresandra.

Cresandra. Yeah, it really was kind of Sumar City in there facilitating. It was very nice. Uh, we did get great feedback from the students. Carmen and I had a very couple of really lively groups, but one group was very lively. And uh I'm going to say we had a good time with them. They just give you raw feedback. And I think what's most impressive is um their ability to focus on solutions. So they they understand the problem, but then they just get right after the solutions. And if one of them would say, "Well, I don't know that we could do that." The other one would tell them, "Well, this is how we can do it." So just that positive upbeat nature that they shared, I found that just so thrilling. It was actually really good. And so they had some great questions where at one point we had to bring uh the police officer in. Carmen and I exchanged, she went to that group. They just really have great in-depth questions. These kids, they know what's going on. So much so that uh based on that, we're trying to set up I think Michelle is at a monthly meeting where I'll go over and meet with the kids in the high school, you know, and go to them and just continue this with them. So it's just really great. Uh I now know what an HMart is sort of. They had to really I don't know if anybody else in here knows what an HMart is, but these kids want an HMart in this town. And they came in real hard on that. I don't have a clue, but we're going to talk with them about it. Um, so I'll talk more about this next week in the E-News. And if you're not signed up for the E-News, I really want to encourage people. See, they don't know what an HMR is either. Um, he's asking you to get him. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and so, um, sign up for the ENS. You know, I think we have a thousand people that are signed up for it. maybe 500 people open it um and read it. But I got a lot of great comments based on that e-news mailed to me this last week based on I'll now jump to the ribbon cutting. And I think it was so impressive because as Carmen and I were

kind of, you know, uh going through the motions of what are we going to write in the news? Because that's what we do. We kind of volley it back and forth, right? and um she's so good at starting it and then I'm really good at kind of taking it sideways and then she brings us back on track. But I think what really came to bear in mind based on this ribbon cutting was the generations, the multiple generations, you know, and the obligation that we have to all the generations and seeing uh Michael's mom uh Cindy Hawker there. she, you know, previous council member and deputy mayor and then seeing Michael there and then seeing Michael's wife and a kid there, you know, it was like this is multigenerational and we have an obligation to the past, the present, and the future. That's really an obligation that we have. So, we talked about that in the E-News, but it was very heartwarming to uh to see all the people that came out. It wasn't the best day weatherwise, but people showed up, right? So, I thought it was really great. Um, and the businesses did come, you know, and I don't know how many other people up here support the local businesses, but I'm in all of them all the time. And every I go into uh Hometown Charm a couple times a week because she said her business was hurting during that. And I could tell as uh we would kind of get towards this opening up, all the ideas that she started talking about, right? And Nicole, you have a business there. you know, the back door comes out into that alley and now people are looking at it from that lens of look at all the great things we can do in this space. So, it's just very very encouraging. Um, then as I hope most of you know, we had Sumar University. I'm going to say first thing I think it was an wonderful night and obviously council member Hawksteader did too because he came in and he said, "I'm just here for the first few minutes to say hi." Did you stay for the whole thing?

I stayed a while. Yeah, he was here a long time. I kept saying Michael's still here. Um, so we had a great time at Sumar University. It was a full house, so there's no way anybody else can sign up. Couple of people, like all three that I see out here in the public, they were all there. Um, we just really enjoyed it. We have our second one, the 25th, session two, the 25th of this month. Um, so this is a new way for us to start engaging, you know, the city and the people. And I think it's a great way to let people know what's going on and really talking about the why, you know, why things are done, why decisions are made. Um, so we we will plan, we are planning more opportunities in the in the future, but Summer University was a lot of fun. It's a long day for the city staff that comes in here at 7 7:30 in the morning and they stay until 9:15 at night. That that's a full day, but I think we all enjoyed it and I want to commend the city staff that presented. They did a great job and the people that came back to support it. So, it was really nice. Then last Thursday, uh we uh did a legislative visit. Uh myself, Deputy Mayor, what's your last name? Elpers. No, I'm just kidding. And uh Carmen Palmer and uh city administrator Jason Wilson. We went down to Olympia last week to meet with our state legislators uh for most of the day on Thursday. It was a great experience. Um, we got to spend about five minutes with them on the floor in between votes. Uh, we did go into uh Drew Stokes's office and spend some time with him. Uh, we had lunch with uh Phil Fortunado uh in the they call it the locker room. I thought I'm not eating in a locker room. And what isn't it called the locker room or Yeah. I'm like really we're going to go in the locker room but it was a restaurant so it was okay, you know. It was not bad. It was good. Um, and then we actually watched a House bill we

supported pass while we were there. So, a lot of activity going on down there, but I do want to thank uh Representative Stokesbury, Penner, and Keaton for meeting with us. Um, and then as well Senators Fortunado and Chris Gildon. Uh, there are some crazy bills in this session and we appreciate their support with navigating through them. I mean, it was a lot of discussion back and forth and then they asked for follow-up emails which, you know, we gave to them um once we got back. I think Carmen had to send some, Jason sent some. Um but they we get great support out of those folks, you know, for here in the city of Sumar. So, uh with that, I think, um that's going to be all I'll report tonight. I think uh we'll wait about 30 more days and then we'll talk about my first 90 days and everything that's been going on. Um but I can honestly say I feel bad for the staff because they're just having to stay here to fire hose me. But they're doing a great job. They're doing a great job. Long days. So with that said, there is no executive session tonight. So, please exit the council chamber at the conclusion of the meeting so staff can close and secure the room. Uh, if you wish to continue conversations, you're more than welcome to do out outside. Do that outside. So, as you'll see, I've probably made a few changes to how this meeting runs. It's going to be a well-run, smooth business meeting, and we're going to stick to it. Okay. So with that, I'd like to close this council meeting at 6:38. We're journal