City Council - Regular Meeting

take care of some IT issues. So

Excuse me. Hello. Can they It's probably not Can I just please get everyone to take their seats? ready. Okay. I call the meeting of March 16, 2026 to order at 6:03 p.m. 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. I'd like to ask Father Burns to come do the invocation if you would please.

The Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God of all creation, you have blessed us with so much. Help us to know what to hold on to and what to let go of, what to reach for, and what to avoid. Send your heavenly favor over this council. Grant them wisdom to care for this city, to provide for the people they serve for the time grant God has granted them. We love you and we know you love us and you protect us and you send your servants to protect others and for this we are grateful and we make this prayer in your name. Amen.

Thank you. Will the clerk please call the role? Alfers here. Evers. Council member Evers is absent. Hawkstutter here. Kenna here. Ranky here. Wilie

here. Malcolm. Excuse me. Not yet. All right. Thank you. Council member Evers is absent tonight. I was notified per council rules. Is there a motion to excuse council member Evers from tonight's meeting? I'll make a motion to excuse council council member Evers. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Alers. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Council Member Kenna. All in favor? I. All opposed?

All right, there we go. So, at this point in time, I would like to ask Mr. Malcolm, where is he? There he is. Thank you. Uh to come on up here and we'll uh administer the oath of office.

I have technical difficulties. I need instruction to not touch things. So, it's all right. So, and they we have to stand here. So, are you ready? Okay. Please raise your right hand. I state your name. I, Mark Malcolm, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States and laws of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington and laws of the state of Washington and all local ordinances and all local ordinances that I will to the best of my ability that I will to the best of my ability diligently and impartially diligently and impartially perform the duties of the office of council member

perform the duties of the office of council member for the city of Sumar for the city of Sar in and for Pierce County, Washington in and for Pierce County, Washington. As such duties are prescribed by law as such duties are prescribed by law. So help me God. Say help me God. Thank you. All right. So we're just going to take a minute. Let him do a photo. Come on up. You can actually join him up there if you would like. Thank you. Carmen.

Thank you. And so you can take your seat up here.

All right. So now I would like to call on Chief Mori. So we're going to spin this around here real quick. Good evening, mayor, council members, staff, and our many guests here tonight. I have the privilege and honor to recognize two of Summoner's outstanding citizens for their extraordinary acts of courage and compassion in our community. I'm also joined tonight by Deputy Chief Stemanfelt. If he wants to come up, Kevin, come on up. We're going to be co-presenting our awards this evening to these unsung heroes. Uh we're also joined by family members of loved ones who also want to convey their appreciation publicly. Although I was not present personally for the events that I'm about to describe, I have reviewed police reports. I've looked at 911 calls, watched body camera video of officers that were on scene, and interviewed many witnesses to gather the facts that are the basis of tonight's recognition. But first, I'd like to call up Terry Gimmel. On February 15th, 2026, at 10:07 a.m., Mr. Gimmel was outside working in his garage, doing what normal neighbors do on a Sunday morning when he heard his 90-year-old neighbor Joyce call out for help. When Terry looked over, he saw smoke billing out from Joyce's home. Without hesitation, Terry grabbed his fire extinguisher, ran to the house, went inside to find Joyce in the living room surrounded by flames, and he brought Joyce out to safety. to the hands of waiting neighbors. Terry then went back in inside and deployed the fire extinguisher to help quell the flames to protect further property

damage. By this time, there had been many several 911 calls. The first one was from Joyce, but her phone became disconnected. By this time, several other neighbors began to call 911, including Terry's wife, Gian, who's also present tonight. And some of the notes from the 911 call taker. The notes included, "Female was heard crying. Fire alarm in the background. Upset female crying. Say no honey. My husband wants to go back in." And he did. Once outside, neighbors surrounded Joyce with comfort and care until East Pierce could arrive, deal with the fire, and also evaluate Joyce medically. Later that morning, one of my officers that were present at the scene emailed me to highlight Mr. Gimmel's heroic actions. After reviewing everything, talking to the family, I have no doubt that Mr. Gimmel's swift action prevented sure and certain harm to Joyce and also limit further property damage. I would invite Joyce's daughter up to share a few words as well of thanks.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Michelle Dun Marsh. Um I'm Joyce Dunn's daughter. Terry and Jan have been um incredible neighbors and I'm sorry I'm I'm very emotional because she's with us because of of Terry's actions. Um my mom will be 91 in 12 days. She survived the Japanese air raids in Mandandalay in World War II. She was a refugee to the United States sponsored by the US government because she worked for military intelligence in Burma. and to be at this stage of her life and have a trauma like this is not something we'd wish on anyone. But she's alive because of Terry and Jan and the great actions of the Sumar Police and Ease Pierce. And on behalf of my brother and sister and I, I just want to thank you all. So, Mr. Gimmel, on behalf of the victim, her family, the Sumar Police Department, and the citizens of Sumar, we wish to recognize your selfish and historic actions, heroic actions. We are all very proud of your selfless acts and believe that your actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of Sumar's most civic-minded citizens and reflect great credit upon yourself and the entire Sumar community. So on behalf of that, here's a citizen chief's commendation and my department coin.

Thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank you, sir. Oh, sir. Uh, on behalf of East Pierce Fire and Rescue, uh, I'd like to pres present you with this uh, civilian citation in recognition of your extraordinary bravery and meritorious action on February 15th, 2026 and the rescue of your neighbor from a burning home. Your courage, quick action, and selfless concern for others exemplify the highest ideals of community service. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

And Senator doesn't have just one here. It has many. I'd like to invite up uh Derek Councilman. 11 days later on February 26th, 2026, Kate Conselman, Derek's wife, woke up to the sound of a crackling fire. Unbelievingly, it was her neighbor's house, Choice, that was on fire. She immediately woke up her husband, Derek, who happens to be a professional firefighter for Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority, and he's got a lot of support here in the room. Seeing his 90-year-old neighbor's house on fire, fully engulfed in the front of the house, uh Derek did not hesitate, ran across the street, found an open door on the side of the house, entered and safely brought Joyce out to safety. And meanwhile, I could see from the bodywn cameras, Kate scrambling around trying to move the cars that are parked in front of Joyce's house so the fire department could respond and be unimpeded in their fight of the fire. Another neighbor grabbed his fire or grabbed his garden hose and was trying to douse the house with fire to keep the the flames at bay. Um, based on what I've seen and what I've heard, I have no doubt that Mr. consilman's selfless and swift actions to enter the burning home and bring Joyce out to safely prevent a sure and certain harm. And Joyce's family's here also to share a few public comments.

Joyce is here herself, too.

So Derek. Okay. I Oh, my sister's and my mom and I appreciate you guys. I mean, you know, it's like one of those things. It's like you can't say just thank you because it's not enough. But because of you guys and because of Steve and Leslie helping out next door, our mom has the best neighbors and

you all saved her life. And so the same thing, you know, you live such a long life and there's trials and tribulations along the way and to think that she was brought out of the fire and uh is with us still is a true miracle. So thank you. Thank you, Derek.

Thank you. VERY MOVING. So Derek, on behalf of uh myself, Sumar Police Department, the citizens of Sumar wish to recognize your selfless and historic uh heroic actions. We are all very proud of your selfless acts and believe that your actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of Summoner's most civic-minded citizens and reflect great credit upon yourself and the entire Sumar community. All right, Derek. On behalf of East Pierce Fire and Rescue, I have this civilian citation like to present you with in recognition of your extraordinary bravery and meritorious action on February 26th, 2026 and the rescue of your neighbor from a burning home. Your courage, quick action, and selfless concern for others exemplify this high the highest ideals of community service. Thank you, sir.

I want to thank you for giving us the time to honor these individuals. Thank you to our public safety partners at East Pierce and also a big thanks to uh Derek's command staff at Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority for coming down to sharing with us this moment of gratitude. And I hope you are as proud to have him on your department as we are to have him in our community.

So with that, thank you. for the recipients and family members. If we could go outside and we can get some photo opportunity and opportunity to gather together and we'll let the meeting commence. No, he's gonna Here we go. There we go. I didn't mention that Derrick can save the guy from the train thing earlier, but

we're just Yeah, I mean that's overwhelming. Overwhelming. Overwhelming. How crazy. Two house fires. Both named Joyce both years old. I was confused. I was like, is this the same story? It is. How are you?

I don't think I live by choice. So, it's not going to happen in my life. I'll see you. Okay, we'll just get started here in just about 30 seconds whenever you're ready. So, if there's anybody else that wants to go ahead and leave uh the council chambers, now's a great time. All right. Okay. We'll act like we didn't have that short little intermission and let's go ahead and will the clerk please read the consent agenda. Item number one, White River Restoration Project Property Acquisition Schleman. Item two, sewer manholes and castings construction contract award. Item three, Frier Avenue Trail project property acquisition, Puget Sound Energy. Item four, Frier Avenue Trail Project property acquisition, Club Wealth. Item five, resolution number 1747, setting a public hearing date for the vacation of port of portion of 63rd Street East. Item six, resolution number 1743, climate change and resiliency, Department of Commerce grant acceptance. And item seven, approval of the checks and electronic payments in the amount of 2,388,7.98.

One more. Sorry about that. Approval of the meeting minutes from the regular council meeting of March 2nd, 2026 and the study session of March 9th, 2026. All right. Thank you very much. Deputy Mayor Alpers, would you please make a motion to adopt the consent agenda? Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda of March 16th, 2026. Is there a second? I second it. Seconded by council member Hawksteader. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Would any council member wish to remove an item? All right. If no one removes, all in favor?

I opposed. Looks like it uh passed unanimously. All right. Now, we're going to move on to uh our public hearing. The first item on public hearing, ordinance number 2958, vacation of a portion of the Harrison Street Alley. I'd like to open the public hearing at 6:22 and call on Deputy City Attorney Doug Ruth.

Thank you, Mayor. I guess a road vacation wasn't enough to keep everybody in the audience. Um, and maybe that's because they weren't familiar with what a road vacation is, and we have a long agenda, so I'm just going to briefly touch on that. Um, road vacation is as it sounds. You vacate a road. You're not nulling the road. is you're terminating it and it goes back to the property owners. You can also think of it as vacation in the other sense. The road is taking a vacation, very long vacation, the ultimate vacation. We're killing the road and it goes back um and was replaced by the property of the um of the owners that are adjacent to it. Um but let's talk about the birth of this road. This is actually an alleyway. Um you can see up on the screen the original subdivision. It was the Green Lawn subdivision of 1890. Um, and there is below Harrison an alleyway there, the thin line. And I've circled the area where the um, vacation is actually happening, right? Um, near traffic avenue. It's called Traffic Avenue even in 1890. Um, and uh, a lot of that went away with the 410 on-ramp. Um, so if we go to the next slide, we can zoom in a little bit and we'll see the official diagram of what's being uh, vacated. Not the whole alleyway, of course, just the portion there with the two first parcels up against Traffic Avenue. It's about 60 ft long and 15 ft wide. And you can see the parcels that'll be adjacent to and it'll go return to that property owner who is the applicant. Um, SJS Investment. Um, and then if you're not familiar with that area, the next slide will give you a little bit orientation. We're up at the green circle and city hall. And then the red circle again shows the vacation area with a very distinctive triangular uh building there owned by SJS Investments. Um and then if we go to the next one, a little closer view, and you can see that this road is not currently really being used as a road or an alleyway. It's being used as a alley, an

aisle way for a parking lot. And it's been that way for um I think since 2002. And even before that, uh it wasn't used for a road. um back to the n 80s and 90s it was just behind a person's house. Public works has no need for this section of the roadway anymore. Doesn't expect to ever use it. Um hasn't been maintaining it. Um so it provides um uh no cost to the city to vacate it. Uh the applicant has met all the application requirements. Um and um this today is not the consideration of the vacation. And it's just the public hearing which is required by statute. Um there'll be no compensation asked because we have not been maintaining it nor did we purchase it. And um the one um qualification to the vacation would be retainage of an easement for uh utilities. And the last slide I'll show you shows those utilities. Um that would be you can see the red line is sewer. And um depending on how accurate the lines are up there, there might be a lighting facility too. that the broad easement would cover all utilities that are there. And that I'll end my presentation there. I'm happy to answer any questions I can otherwise. We'll let the public have their moment.

Thank you. Um, did anyone sign up to make comments? Yes, Mayor. We do have two people who have signed up for comments. The first one is Tina Bernett. Would you like me to read the rules for public comment? Well, I doesn't go against my three minutes. Oh, it won't. I'll read the rules. Do we have anyone on Zoom? Just real quick. No. Okay. So, I'll go ahead and read these rules for public comment. Uh, and I won't read them again when we get to public comment on unfinished business. This is that's where I was signed up was unfinished business

was well no public. I don't have any comment on the east. Oh, okay. Well, then you can go ahead and sit back down. You called my name so I That's all right. Go ahead. It's all good. Don't you worry about it. And the next person who signed up on public hearing for the ordinance is Janice Susan. Hi there. Hi. Hi. First, I hope this doesn't count against my two minutes. You guys have all been wonderful, especially Doug and Andrea. We lost Sam two months ago.

This is something that he always wanted to do. So, I took it on about eight months ago, and I was hoping to get it done before he passed, but I didn't. But he developed that whole beautiful area with those two buildings. Um, the 614 building is the first building you see when you come into Sumar. We've always tried through the years to make that the most attractive building because that's what you see. And we um maintain all the yard and that actually belongs to the city. I'll kind of skip ahead in my comments, but I think we spent about $3,200 last year on landscaping all those trees which belong to the city. That's all e city easement along there. We've been happy to. This is this is a great city and we're very proud of that building. Um, when Sam built the larger 612 building 18 years ago, he created this nice configuration of parking and we keep as many vehicles off the street as possible. Eventually further along, you know, at some point we may try to sell the building separately and having this portion, this vacation portion attached to the 614 building would make this much more um attractive to a possible um purchaser because it's kind of confusing like who do these spots belong to? So that's kind of what I'm thinking about down the road. Um, I think I've covered most everything where we have we Sam developed it, we graded it, we paved it, we painted it, we seal coat it, we clean it, we tow abandoned cars that happen to end up there. We have totally been the stewards of that space and we'd like to continue to do so. So, thank you all so much. Thank you.

Any other comments? City clerk, no more comments. We're done. There are no more comments. Thank you so much. All right. I will close this public hearing at 6:29 p.m. All right. Now, we'll move on to regular business. We have no unfinished business, so we'll move on to public comment. Hey, wait, wait, wait. No, no. Just hang on. Michelle, did anyone sign up for public comment? Positive, Tina. No, may merit. There is no other comment.

Okay. So, I will read the rules. 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 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 comment 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 discussion. So, one, please keep your comments relevant to city business and about matters over which the city council has control. Two, all council members and staff deserve and city staff deserve respect and dignity. Please refrain from disorderly or disruptive speech or conduct, personal attacks, name calling, rude or offensive statements, obscinities, derogatory comments directed at individuals, and hate speech. If you don't comply with this rule, I will interrupt you and with a reminder and then may choose to suspend you from continuing or have you removed from the meeting. 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, boot, or speak while another person is addressing the council. For please speak into the microphone, comments are broadcasted and and comments are broadcasted and recorded via the mic. If you leave the microphone, your comment time ends. Now that I've reviewed the rules that will apply, I 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.

Dina Sumar, I actually live on Sumar Avenue and our mayor knows what's going on. Um, Saturday, March 7th, 7:45 in the morning. My cable went out. I'm fooling with my cable trying to re reboot my router and stuff. I went about nine nine o'clock outside to do some errands and the cable was actually ripped out of my house because it's drooping cable lines by Comcast in the street. Happened last August. Happened again. This time a car actually ran through it or truck probably. And I called Comcast said there's cables dangling cuz there was another one next door. Please do something about this. No, they I'm just a customer. Oh, we'll come out Saturday sun Monday and restore your service. I don't care about my service. Fix the road hazard. Nope. Monday, nothing. Wednesday after the garbage trucks went through, Waste Management called me and said, "Can you do something about the cable?" Well, I've tried with Comcast. It's Comcast cable, but the cable that's still hanging is attached to the empty house next door, not mine, and it's only being held up by my branches. So, I'm I've been afraid the whole time that wind, which we've had, is going to blow it off my branches and create another road hazard. So, Wednesday, talked to Carla, our mayor, and um she suggested a code violation. So, I filed a code violation. Late Wednesday afternoon, 8:00 a.m. Comcast was out there inspecting it because they said they got a hot email from the city. Thank you,

Doug Beagle and team for doing that. Um, so I'm so proud of our city. I really am. I always get great service as a homeowner. you know, water this, you know, they're they're very good and and I really appreciate they got right on it and I just filed it online through the the system. Unfortunately, Comcast still has not repaired the cable and it's still dangling there and Waste Management is not going to be happy Wednesday when they go through. So, if anybody is watching and you work for Comcast, get your service truck out to Sar Avenue and fix it. Thanks. Thank you. Oh, I just want to thank our heroes, too. Our This just makes me so proud in our town to have people like that that would do that. I I'm really proud. Thanks.

Thank you. Do we have anybody on Zoom yet? Okay. Thank you. So, let's see here. Um, we'll move on to new business. Thank you. A first item, ordinance number 2956, franchise agreement with Easy Fiber. Council member Kenna, would you like to make a motion? Yes, I would like to make a motion to adopt ordinance number 2955, franchise agreement with Easy Fiber. Uh, first reading.

Can I get a second? I'll second. Seconded by Council Member Ranki. Thank you. And for the record, uh, this is ordinance number 2956. Am I accurate on that? 55. It is 55. Okay. Thank you. Um, I'd like to call in city attorney Andrea Marquez.

Thank you, mayor. Ordinance 2955 is a franchise agreement with Easy Fiber, a Houstonbased uh company planning to install fiber telecommunications infrastructure throughout the city. A franchise agreement is essentially a license for the company to use public rideway to install, construct, operate, and maintain their fiber connections. These are very common, very formulaic agreements. Other examples of franchise holders in Sumar are PSSE, Comcast, AT&T, Fatbeam, Ziply, formerly Century Link, it's now Astound. So these are really common service providers and we've had agreements like this for a very long time. The term of this proposed franchise is 10 years. It grants to Easy Fiber a non-exclusive, meaning they don't have any exclusive right to use the right of way. They get to share it with everybody else. A non-exclusive right to use the city right of way for that full 10 years, and these are often renewed at the end of the term. Being a franchise holder requires the easy relocate their infrastructure if any city project requires it, and that would be at their cost. Each installation or expansion will require a separate permit application, a review by city staff in an attempt to mitigate any construction impacts, and at every step throughout their installation, they will be required to be bonded and have separate permits. State law requires two readings of franchise agreements. This is a fairly unusual procedure. And so, tonight is the first reading. There will be an opportunity for public comment and this item will be back before you at the very next regular council meeting for final action and additional public comment. Any questions? Thank you. Do we have uh any comments from the public?

Thank you. Anyone on Zoom? All right. Any comments from the council? All right. Thank you. So, we will not be taking a vote on this item since it's the first reading tonight. All right. So, item B, wastewater treatment facility bioolids modernization construction contract award. Council member Ranki, would you like to make a motion? Yes. I'd like to make the motion to move the wastewater treatment facility bioolids modernization construction contract award. All right. Can we get a second?

I'll second that. Seconded by council member Elers. I'd like to call on public works director Michael Kosa. Good. Yeah, the light went off. It's on now. I'm good. I can't touch anything.

I'm sorry. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. I'm Michael Kosa. I'm the public works director, and I'm here to uh talk about uh our uh Bioolids modernization construction contract award, which is on new business tonight, primarily due to uh its size and importance to the the wastewater treatment plan. So, uh I have a map here of the of our wastewater treatment uh facility site and uh a little bit about the project purpose. So, uh there's an overall uh map of the site uh that we own and operate. Um it's got some arrows on it. Our yellow and red arrows kind of in the upper right hand corner are where u influent enters the plant. and uh from uh the there's a a component from the city of Sumar and a component from the city of Bonnie Lake. We treat both of their uh both uh both cities uh waste water. Uh once it moves through our headworks, uh it kind of makes that zigzaggy orange uh pathway through our treatment plant. Uh the liquids are uh treated and then uh there's the blue arrows after you can kind of see the orange arrows and then the blue arrows. Blue Arrows is where uh the clean effluent is is routed to the river uh after it's been treated and uh meets uh the high quality standards that are required due to our permit. Um but I'm really here to talk about the brown arrows today and those are uh the the the path of our solids. So the this project is called the bioolids modernization project and so it's really the solids part of our of our wastewater treatment uh facility that we are working on this project. So the purpose of the project is to to replace aging equipment to meet current requirements for safety, energy efficiency and reliability.

So um we have two major replacement items. uh one is our dissolved air flotation thickener which is uh was installed in 1987. It is a takes up a large footprint and has a pretty high energy consumption. Uh it is one of the major components really the the the larger component is our sludge dryer which uh was installed in 2005 but they're both part of uh they're both the major components uh that we're going to be replacing as part of this project. So the sludge dryer uh is literally corroding and falling apart. uh it has reached the end of its useful life. It has done an amazing job for the last 20 years, but it is time for it to be retired. So, um high energy consumption as well. Uh we have constant monitoring and there is a risk of safety uh that we're constantly watching for to make sure that uh we're able to operate it uh safely and efficiently. So, uh we replacing both of those components. Additionally to that, uh there's a number of other replacements including our waste gas burner, our polymer feed system, our bioolid storage hopper. We'll be also modifying our digested sledge grinder system, our sledge truck loading bay, uh our odor control system, and our digtor gas compressor and treatment system. Other miscellaneous kind of overall improvements include some process in yard piping, uh electrical major electrical upgrade, uh and then also a small building addition expansion to accommodate the new dryer and a uh and some general site work. So, uh for the project, uh we received four bids uh last uh late last month. Uh our low bid was for Mccclure and Suns. Uh they met our bidding requirements for both safety and experience. The total bid was $23,826,82628. Uh there's a contingency uh that we asked for uh the motion for this

evening. Uh so uh with the contingency, it's uh 26,26,29,58.91. This project is uh funded both by Bonnie Lake and Sumner. uh uh per our ILA with the city of Bonnie Lake uh they will be sharing uh 54% of the cost of the project and Ser will be the 46% share. Uh from a budget perspective there's adequate funding and includes uh a $14 million bond that has been anticipated and worked into the rate model. Uh it's anticipated to be a 20-year bond. Uh it is uh we're uh we we'll be going out for that bond in April, but I know we're marching very steadily toward putting that out. Uh finally, the contract length is 390 working days and the working days are are Monday through Friday. So, um that's how that's how we we're counting those. So, with that, um construction contract award tonight is what we're requesting and recommending uh from city council. uh April 2026, we would be beginning construction, so late next month, and then construction would be complete in early 2028. So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Any comments uh from the public?

Okay, Mr. Beerman, and you understand the comments, right? The rules. Yeah.

Thank you. Uh yes uh Nick Beerman uh 582 Parker Road here uh here in Sar. Um it's sort of a question. So if council member also has the same question um it might be helpful to to ask. Um do you know the percentage or sorry do you know the since since summer share is a percentage of the cost of this facility and it's actually less than 50%. So, do we know how Bonnie Lake is covering the cost of their share? And I know it's not necessarily our business, per se, but then do we also know um uh what kind of funding sources they might be using and how that compares to what we're doing? It's more of more of like looking at our neighbors and and finding out what they're doing and seeing seeing if that matches what we're doing. Um cuz the 14 the 14 uh million bond that we're taking that's only to cover our portion. Correct.

From what I understand that's my question. So okay thank you Mr. Kosa. Yes. Mary. Would you like to answer that? Yes. Would you please answer that question? Fantastic. I would love to answer that question. Yes. Uh we have been working handinhand with uh with Bonnie Lake for a number of years on this. We've been updating them and um also uh we've been keeping them updated on our bid. Um I don't believe they are taking out a bond. It's just my understanding. Uh but uh they they've they feel comfortable paying for it and it's been budgeted. So that's where we're at for that.

Thank you. Any other comments from the public? Okay. Any comments from the council? Coun Deputy Mayor Alers. Yeah. Thanks, Michael. Uh we've been talking about this for quite a while. So I I figured there's a few things that um I just wanted to ask just to refresh on a couple things. So one of the things we asked at the committee level was uh as far as like the value, this is 20 25 million approximately as far as the value of the whole facility, this is a pretty significant percentage. Do you remember?

Yes. Uh so our the uh insured value for the facility itself is about $17 million I believe. So um just right around $120 million. So if you're looking at a project that's 30 or 20 to $30 million, it's a very significant part of that, you know, it's 15 20% of the total cost of the facility. So yep, major upgrade.

And then I remember this has been a while since we talked about it, but I one of the things I was impressed by, it might have been a year ago, uh was the the you mentioned it briefly in your presentation that the the cost of the power costs go down significantly. Do you recall what the uh what the savings are on on that? Sure. Yeah, we um I'm not going to quantify those right now. Uh but we have been working with PSSE uh on uh they actually provide credits back for energy savings uh on fac on some of our industrial facilities like ours. Uh, and we are getting uh I I don't have the grants in front of me, but it's it's upwards of $500,000 of grant uh that is really uh for the benefit of of the energy savings that we're getting. In addition to that, there's also uh energy savings moving forward. We're actually going to be able to use our some of the um gas that is produced as part of our other processes on site and we'll be burning that as uh to uh offset our impact for natural gas. So there's a lot of energy efficiencies and trying to do a lot of reuse wherever we can.

Okay. And is there going to continue to be uh those uh solids available for customers to use for like their lawns and stuff like that? Absolutely. We would love it if people would show up and find some uh some of our bioolids grow product. Uh it's a wonderful soil amendment. Great for this time of the year when people are looking at trying to color up their flower beds. Uh it's uh available right now. Uh there we have a a hut that's available 247. It might be uh moving a little bit uh for this uh project as we uh adjust some of the site, but ultimately yes. If you cannot get enough of it, we can we can help you.

All right. Um yeah, thank you. I just and I just wanted to say thank you for the work on this. I know this went out for bid at one point and then it came back and then it got redone and there's been quite a few um adjustments. So, thank you for your work on this. Thank you. Any other uh Oh, Council Member Kenna. Hi, Michael. Uh yeah, thanks for uh your presentation. Just kind of some more technical questions. Um, one on uh Bonnie Lakes's end, does this require council action on their part as well to kind of bless this and agree to this um when we go through these types of things?

That's a great question. It doesn't. However, we've been uh keeping them informed and their staff of course is informing them as well. Um and then uh there are uh meetings that we have quarterly with uh with Bonnie Lake uh providing updates including on this project. So they're they're fully aware and those meetings do include uh I believe three of their council members and uh their mayor and city administrator. So So as far as like authority, we have kind of the ultimate authority, but we work hand in hand with we coordinate with them. We're good partners, that kind of thing. Yes.

Yeah. Great. Um and then last question, just in terms of the 5446 split, um does that ever get updated in terms of population growth? Um like I I was just curious if that's kind of like set in stone or if we look at that every few years. That's a great question. Uh it actually has to do with uh capacity ownership of the plant. Uh when uh Sar and Bonnie Lake they we kind of it's they don't own a portion of the plant but they own a portion of the capacity of the plant.

So that's been allotted to them. So that when growth occurs uh essentially um both both cities have a surplus of capacity right now. But if uh growth occurs up in Bonnie Lake, for example, and they eventually get beyond that uh capacity limit, then uh it really it triggers some things in in our ILA and would likely uh lead to them having to do uh pay more more of a share if if they're the ones that are uh causing that uh necessity to upgrade. Similarly, the same for us. If we uh if we are going over our capacity, we would be paying for upgrades to the plant. Um, okay. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Malcolm. Um, thank you, Michael. Um, great information. I just had a couple of questions. I wanted to follow up on Council Member Kenna's, um, question around Monty Lake and if something goes south with them, what happens with this whole deal? If they decide they're not interested or they push it down the, you know, out a year or want a lower price, what how does that affect how we approach this?

That's another good question. Uh it doesn't really work that way with uh the we have a we have an interlocal agreement and uh it's something that we can um I can get a copy for you at some point. Um it really just uh explains the the the way that that we have set it up. Uh what is um what is interesting about the ILA is that we they don't have uh authority to make uh some of those types of decisions. They're it's a little more customerbased. So it's almost like uh um you know for you you you as we all are PSSE customers we don't necessarily make make a decision on if they move forward with the project. We end up having to pay the rates though.

Uh so it's a little more like that. Although um you know every every one of these is a little bit different. So so they really wouldn't be able to uh say no without having uh implications to our interlocal agreement. Right. And second question I had was um around um so the $14 million of course we're getting the new bioolids burner in place. Are we also doing some other future proofing for other considerations in that 14 million or is sort of a very specific use for this money? It's a very specific use for this bond. Uh and it it will be it will basically cover all of our our project costs. So it will it's assigned to this specifically. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Wy,

don't touch it if it's red. Um, so just um circling back uh the we got a chance to to um tour the the you know sewer treatment plant and it was it was so interesting and so fantastic. Um and I just want to point out that crew um and that staff over there is just amazing. Um you guys do a wonderful job and it's kind of one of those things where nobody realizes there's a problem until there's a problem. So just um kind of going back with this equipment um it has to be done. End of discussion. It has to be done. Um am I correct in that?

Yes, it is. Like I mentioned, it's corroding and literally falling apart. So we have we've welded it together. Uh we've uh brought uh contractors in to weld things back onto it. Right. And we are uh ready it. It's time for an upgrade. and that staff is continuing to maintain it to try and keep that going. Um if the you know if we wait on something like this the consequences are potentially um devastating to the community because it's you know our final Yeah. And yes yes if if the it doesn't have a lot of redundancy in this right

uh we would have a pretty significant problem pretty quickly if we did not have uh this dryer in place. We would be uh there are contingency plans we have in place, but it's none of them are are are good options and it's not longterm. Correct. Everything would be shortterm and we would need to be doing what we're doing right now, which is exactly trying to remove this from our facility before it uh before it needs Yeah. still in in working order. Yeah. Which is maintenance and and healthy growth. Yes. But you're you're absolutely right with our professionals that we have at our wastewater treatment facility. Uh they're top-notch and they are very very on it. So yeah, it's great to work with them. We appreciate them very much. Absolutely.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Would the clerk please call the role?

Hawkstutter. Yes. Alers. Yes. Kenna, yes. Malcolm, yes. Ranky, yes. Bulie, yes. Motion pass 6.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kosa. Next, uh, item C, ordinance number 2955, amending the 2025 2026 banial budget. Council member Wily, would you like to make a motion, please? Yes. I'd like to make a motion uh for ordinance number two. I'm sorry. You're off. It's all right. There it is. I'd like to make a motion for ordinance number 29. Not I'm not touching it. You're good. Go ahead.

Okay. There we go. I hear you. Now, I'd like to make a motion for ordinance number 2955 amending the 2025 2026 bianium budget. Thank you. Could we get a second, please? I'll second that. Deputy Mayor Elers made the second. So, I'd like to call on Chief Financial Officer Cassandra Raymond. Hello.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, council. Uh, so before you is ordinance 2955. This is amending the 2025 2026 banial budget. There are a couple of reasons that we amend our budgets. This budget was adopted on December 9th of 2024. There we go. And why do we do these amendments? Uh we bring quarterly amendments to city council. This is a really good way for us to provide council with a timely and transparent view of our budget needs. It gives us the opportunity to review changes, revisit and revise forecast and adjust for any programmatic changes. This is something that's important for us to do because when we do adopt a bianial budget, we are adopting two years at a time and things move quickly uh and things change. We review these amendments in detail at the finance and personnel committee. So my thanks to that committee. Um I think it's the most exciting time we have. But you know um and this really is an integral part of our city's overall financial management process. In this particular amendment, I'm sorry, there we go. Clickers and I do not get along. The amendment process really begins with our departments. We have departmental budget reviews. We work with the departments. Our departments keep a tracking list. Um, as we are looking at our forecast, looking at our programmatic changes. This amendment did come to finance and personnel committee on March the 11th where we reviewed at the line item detail and then we're before you this evening for action our amendment at a glance. What I've done is I've categorized our funds and then I've split out separate columns for revenues transfers in and interfues. those are different. Transfers in and out between our funds really are for items that don't have a specific service attached to it. Um whereas an interfund

revenue has a specific service attached to it. Um I know I've made this made this example before, but we've got over 30 budgeted funds. They're categorized in different ways. And think of each one of those funds as its own separate bucket. It has its own set of revenues. its own set of expenditures and we can't pour from one bucket to another without a council action. So all of those buckets have to stay separate and that's why with the amendment at a glance I split out what are transfers in and transfers out and what are inner fund in and inner fund out because those are movements between those those individual funds. Overall, uh, combined with our revenues, transfers in an interfund revenues, this amendment, um, increases revenues by $684,171. And we've got corresponding expenditures of 1.5 million. Again, some of those are internal moves ins and outs. I'd like to take these by fund. Um, in our general fund, we're asking to recognize $4,250 of revenue and associated expenses. This is to recognize um two specific operating grants. One is to acquire a radar trailer uh from WASPIC. The other is a grant from Pierce County Department of Emergency Management for some emergency training our officers attended with um again we've got a Department of Commerce grant. This is for climate resiliency. So recognizing both the revenue coming in of 240,000 and the associated expenditure. In our general fund, we have programmed through our budget process a transfer out to the cemetery fund. This is to support cemetery operations. Part of that was to support a seasonal position in our cemetery operations to do um irrigation to do handwatering. We've since completed an irrigation project and so we no longer need that

position. We'll be talking about that as we get into the cemetery operating fund. But for the general fund portion, we'd like to reduce that transfer out to the cemetery fund by that amount, the 15,800 that was to support that seasonal position. Our HR specialist position, this is one that we've talked about at committee as well. This is recognizing an expenditure of 164,000. Um that is a fully loaded cost. So that's everything from the labor to the medical benefits and all of the associated um payroll taxes and and other line items that go along with that position. You'll see there's also a transfer in on that. That is we have an indirect cost assessment. So our administrative cost and that's legislative, executive, communications, human resources, legal, finance. All those administrative costs are run through a rate model and the water, sewer, and storm fund pay for a portion of those. And so we're recognizing that 95,000 that's going to be coming in to the general fund from those utility funds to help offset the cost of this position. Um, I will say the HR specialist, I don't know that the formal title has been determined yet. Um, but I had to pick something to put on that line item. So, um, so that's what that is. And you will also see in the ordinance um we have a section that authorizes that additional FTE um for this for this amendment. And then in the general fund we have a little over $50,000 that's budgeted through the bienium for traffic calming in our street operations. It's kind of a placeholder so that we can assign out as projects are identified. In this case, we've identified 23,894 that we'd like to move out of the general fund, reduce that traffic calming budget, and move that out to our sidewalk fund. And we'll see that in the sidewalk fund as a transfer in from the

general fund and then the associated expenditure. So, when we move into our capital funds, we see here fund 302 as our sidewalk capital. We're going to recognize that transfer in from the general fund and recognize the expenditure uh for the main street crossings. In fund 320, this is our street capital fund. We're actually recognizing two new hazard grants. These grants are 100% participation, so we do not have to have a local match. The first one is for a roadway curve warning project of $150,000. And then we have a traffic calming intersection data collection project. Um so that's not construction at this point. That's going to be data collection and analysis and that's $143,000. We recognize both the revenue and the expenditure sides in facilities capital 12,500 in expenditures to do some improvements here in our council chambers for our audiovisisual. that includes both um network switches, other technology switches and um microphone work as well. As we get into our utility funds, this first line line item, actually both line items you'll see throughout our water, sewer, and storm. This first one is a fire panel replacement. As we were doing security improvements out at our current public workshops, uh we noted that the fire panel had failed. That's an $85,000 replacement and really that is not discretionary. That's something that has to be done and that is split between water, sewer and storm. So we see recognizing that expenditure that will come out of the fund balance for those respective funds. And then earlier we talked about the assessment for the HR specialist and we're going to see that in our water sewer storm as well. In our sewer fund, you see the fire panel replacement. And here we see the HR specialist offset by both the sewer

operating fund as well as the uh wastewater treatment facility. Those are two separate budgets. Um and again, that wastewater treatment facility will be partially offset through um request for reimbursement out to the city of Bonnie Lake under that interlocal agreement. Additionally, we're reducing a capital budget for lift station number 10. Um as we finalized the scope and completed that work, we were able to reduce the cost of that capital project. This next one is related. Um every bianium we program funds for sewer main replacement and rehabilitation. That's built into our model, but it's there so that we can allocate that out as specific projects are identified. And that's what's happening here. We have sewer improvements at Harrison and state. And so we'll be re we'll be reallocating funds from that. um replacement rehab budget out to the specific project. And then we'll be requesting funding for a wastewater treatment facility. This is a master plan. Uh we have a whole group of buildings out at that location um at various ages. This was a project that had actually originally been in the 2526 banial budget. We had some staffing um we had a retirement last year. We had some u some le some staff out on leaves and we had to do some staffing changes in order to accommodate that. We deferred this project over as we were doing the rate model. The project was put back into the rate model and so we're asking for that to be to be reappropriated at this time in our storm water fund. Again, we see that fire panel replacement, the assessment for the HR specialist, and then we see a street sweeper replacement balance. When we have a heavy piece of equipment, we have a rate model, and so we acrew replacement funds throughout the life of that piece of equipment. We have to replace our sweet our street

sweeper. Um, and we're going to see that in one of the next funds. But the acrrual value in the fleet replacement fund is short about $43,000 to fully replace that that piece of equipment. When that happens, we go out to the um to the using fund to kind of uh backfill that portion back up so that we have the full acrual um acred. And so that's what we see here, 43,000 to top up that replacement balance in fund 555 in cemetery op. Oh, as we come into a budget season, I'm going to have to get a new one of these in fund 410. This is our cemetery operations. Again, this is that seasonal position that I talked about in the general fund. And where we see this reflected in fund 410, we're going to reduce the transfer in from the general fund by 15,800. And we're going to reduce the expenditure. So, it's a net zero to the fund, but it is changing the revenue in the expenditures. In fund 440, this is Metro Animal Services. Um, we are a lead agency for Metro. We partner with the city of Puallup and then we also have I believe five um funding I'm sorry five community partners. We are requesting 45,500. This is to do a facility feasibility study. Um we are currently located in a building that is owned by the city of Puallup. It's up on South Hill. Um I encourage you to go up there. Um I encourage you actually to um foster kittens. It's something we do and it's just one of the funnest things ever. But one of the reasons they use a lot of fosters is that building is woefully undersized. And so this this feasibility study is for a firm that does this um exclusively. And we'll be looking at our current public works shops facility to

see if there's any um potential there for sheltering. And then in fund 555 here we see that street sweeper replacement. This was due to be replaced in 2027. We are moving that up a bit. Um so we see that transfer in and then programming the full expenditure 425,000. The balance between those two will come from fund 555's fund balance which has been acrewing there for many years. I am happy to answer any questions. Okay. Do we have any comments from the public? Anyone on Zoom? Nope. All right. Any comments from the council? Deputy Mayor Elers.

Thanks, Cassandra. Um, by the way, I did really enjoy going through it line by line. I think, um, that was a highlight of my week this week. So, thank you for that. Uh, cuz I always feel like I know the uh the these are always tricky because you have a lot of ins and outs. And so it's like to be like, "Oh, what are we actually spending money on?" That's really like changing the cost of things cuz a lot of them are like, "Oh, this was programmed last year and we didn't do it. Now we're doing it this year." So I was it was really helpful to go line by line. So appreciate that. Um cuz I think I was able to calculate some of the numbers of like the new FTE and some of the stuff like I think about a million dollars was net additional when you had the first uh thing. And so out of that it seems like about half of it or a little bit more than that was just timing issues.

Yes. Um, can you remind me how you explained the uh the street sweeper because I think that was an interesting one. It's a pretty big percentage. It was 425,000 and it was kind of a unique the way it was was presented. That was an extra expense but really you you had some other details. Can you fill us in? So, we've been budgeting to replace that street sweeper for for many years. Um, Mr. Stephins, do you recall how long we've been acrewing on that one? I'm happy to help answer. Thank you. sweeper. Your question again was uh just there was some of a timing issue. I think we had uh it was in the rate model. So the there were some interesting things. I thought the rate model was it seems like it's once a year. Is that correct?

The the rate model itself is uh we're actually looking at providing revisions to that. Now as far as updates, I think the last update was done in 2018. The sweeper itself, I believe, has been on the replacement schedule for upwards of 10 years. Um I'd have to double check that. It may be 12, but 10 10. So, uh, that's the story as far as a sweeper goes. It was originally scheduled, as Cassandra said, for next year. It's an extraordinarily long lead time, so we wanted to go ahead and get started on that purchase as soon as possible so that we can at least ensure that we get it when we were originally hoping to have it by.

Yeah, I think that was the fact because I think it's a big part of the budget adjustment, but really it's like when do you know when we pay for it? We pay for it now or we pay for it when we get it. um we will be going ahead and making payment for it after we order it. Uh that's the way that they actually start production on it. Uh so we would go ahead and and uh and um uh make that payment uh after we order. So at some point this year when we actually process that, we'd be moving forward. Yeah. And I think that was interesting because it's something that's been planned but wasn't approved by council in the 2025 26 budget. And so it's it looks like a big change, but really it's just a year earlier because of the the the wait time. Correct. Correct. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Any other questions or comments? Council member Ranky. Yeah. I just want to say I know it's a lot of numbers and stuff for everybody to listen, but we do these quarterly amendments every quarter. It seems like the first of the year from the last year is a little bit bigger, but it was good. Cassandra did a great job. We went through line item by line item which I did appreciate also not as excited as Andy probably but uh it was very informative and it is a lot of stuff to take in and just want to let everybody know it was a do pass recommendation from the finance committee to do pass. So thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other comments questions from the council?

Okay. Thank you very much. Will the clerk please call the role? Wily, yes. Kenna, yes. Poxetter, yes. Malcolm, yes. Ranky, yes. Alers, yes. Motion pass 6. Thank you. All right. So, we are on to reports. So, I'd like to start with the uh council member Kenna uh for your report, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Um yeah, uh lucky to uh I feel like I'm lucky to start off because there's a lot of good things here. Um I'll give an update on the public works committee here in just a moment, but um first want to welcome our new council member, Mark Malcolm, down there at the end. Uh I've had the pleasure of knowing Mark here for a little while. Um, we actually ran for the appointment that I ended up um, just barely getting out about a year and a half ago and and Mark stayed interested, kept engaging me, kept coming to meetings, um, had great questions. I'm known to walk my dogs pretty religiously and so Mark's always out in his front yard um, with, you know, a kind word or a question or just just wanting to be engaged. So, I feel lucky that I have him as a neighbor. Uh he also does a great job, him and his wife, um during Halloween. So my kids, he's like he's the the big candy bar house, the king-size candy bars, and not only the candy, which is good enough in itself, but they just decorate, they go all out, and so the whole neighborhood is is always uh heading over there. So, um you know, Mark's a great guy, happy to have him on council, and Sumar is is very lucky. Um, also want to just say I know uh they've a lot of folks have left from earlier this evening, but um Terry and Derek uh thank you. I know uh my thank you is kind of meaningless compared to the folks that uh you have helped um and the impact you've made on the community, but um was really really uh compelled to hear that those stories and those accounts and was kind of talking in the little brief intermission we had there about like the uh coincidences about the the folks that were were helped, their names, you know, similar ages, this kind of uh strange stuff. But we are lucky to have folks that um hear something going on, hear somebody calling for help, hear something that doesn't sound right, they have the skills and abilities and um kind of get up to do that to help somebody. So that's that's the good

stuff. We don't hear enough of that um to be honest. And so uh right now I think it really means something to hear they've got a couple folks um that are willing to help others. And uh I'd also like to say again with the kudos uh I know council member Hawksteader last week mentioned this but the girls basketball team making it to the state final just coming up a little bit short. Um yeah I was I was there along with a few others. Uh tons of our community was out there. It was so cool to be um at a you know major sports venue rooting on your team watching the girls you know play their hearts out and uh you know regardless of the result they put in a a great year and uh you have a number of seniors going on to you know other things but they'll have kind of the memories of that of that run this year. So really special there. Uh as far as the public works committee um to kind of deviate from uh some of the the um really compelling stuff some of the more nitty-gritty stuff. Michael, I do appreciate our time with you. Um, but I will say that uh they I've been on the public works committee just a couple of months now and the depth and the breadth of the work they have going on. I didn't know what I was signing up for over there, but it's it's really interesting stuff. This is, you know, what I consider kind of the core of like city functions to keep it running, to keep people's services going, um to, you know, maintain our infrastructure in the city. And so, uh, I would recommend if anybody's interested, doesn't want to read through tons of documents or whatever, just go and find the public works committee agenda packet from any of the last few months. And towards the bottom, I believe it's got a spreadsheet of all the projects and the status of those projects going on around the city, whether those are near completion, whether they have completed, what's coming up uh, in the near future, or whether something hasn't been funded at all and it's just sitting there waiting for, you know, opportunities like that. It really gives you a good snapshot of um what we have going on and and uh I'm super impressed by Michael and his staff

and all the other teams that um touch that work as well because there's so much and it's it's hard for me as a council member to to keep my head from spinning, but they do this stuff dayto-day. So, um really want to just kind of give a shout out there. Uh a number of the items we talked about tonight um are at the committee. Of course, we talk about that before we bring it here to council. Um, but a couple of the things I just wanted to highlight, they were on uh the consent agenda, but we do have a number of property acquisitions um for the White River Restoration Project for the Frier Avenue Trail. And uh I had to be briefed on these and and exactly what they were. Of course, property acquisition should make sense just by the term. Um but it really these these projects, these are major major projects, millions and millions of dollars for these projects. and they require property to be able to do them and to be able, you know, the White River restoration project is a major historic investment in this community and unless we get a few parcels here and there, we can't do it properly. We can't, you know, it it risks um just not being done. So, uh those are kind of interesting, you know, just to hear about that, to hear the the neighbors and the friends in our community that are impacted by those that have to negotiate those. Um it is just kind of a a weird thing as in running a city that you're a part of, but um it is part of the business nonetheless. And so um you know, just wanted to highlight those. Uh we did touch on the uh wastewater treatment facility. We've got great staff out there. I'm glad that council member Wley was able to tour and kind of highlight that. Um, as well, uh, Michael did touch on this, but the, uh, joint advisory committees that we host with, uh, the city of Bonnie Lake are, I was able to attend one of those so far this year, um, in February, and we talk about all the nitty-gritty stuff, uh, you know, like the digtor, like personnel, like budget. Um, and it's great that we have, uh, fantastic partners over in Bonnie

Lake that are invested, uh, financially and and otherwise. Um, but really ask questions. they want to be involved. We are good partners. I I've noticed that from the get-go on the public works committee. Um there's one particular uh interest that I took is that we were talking about um the use of AI and I know a lot of people have different feelings about that. Um but in terms of these uh these different parts and uh pieces of our facility and how we operate them and maintain them, um I've been told that the manuals for these uh are exhaustive. They're enormous. And so we're able to use AI. Um it was kind of I think the term of a sandbox was used in terms of you're able to upload these manuals and kind of cut it off from any external um you know uh internet or uh otherwise and just kind of say like I I need to be able to find out how to fix this uh this part, replace this uh do some maintenance here and AI can help us quickly and easily look through these manuals um and these documents so that we're our technicians and folks are able to do that. uh quickly and rapidly. Um so I was really impressed to hear that we're kind of forward thinking. We're we're figuring out how we can do that. Again, we've got to do it in a in a um right-sized manner and and kind of protect any sensitive uh things. And I was uh able to tell that we're able we'll think we're thinking about that. Um we're also talking about this is kind of a preview in the public works committee, but we're looking at Heritage Park and phases three and four and and what we're doing over there and what's coming up there. Um and then we discussed a lot of the uh franchise agreements with the fiber companies. Um attorney Marquez talked about that tonight. Um and just lastly I will note uh we did talk about this recently but public works committee dates are changing to the third Tuesday I believe right Michael? Third Tuesday of the month 4 p.m. Um that does coincide with those joint advisory committees um with

Bonnie Lake on a quarterly basis. So, we kind of did that. Um, worked for their staff and council members, worked for ours. So, if anybody was does want to join, just uh do that on third Tuesdays at 4 p.m. Thank you, Mayor. All right, Deputy Mayor Alers.

All right. Thanks. Uh, just a couple quick things. Uh, welcome, uh, Council Member Malcolm. Excited to work with you. Um, appreciate your ability just like you're well spoken and I appreciate your presentation we did when the interviews. So, uh, again, glad to have you on council. Uh, again, thank you to Derek and Terry for their, uh, just service service to the community. It's really, really nice tonight to have something where the community can get excited about to recognize some some folks who did some really unique and and meaningful things. Uh, it wasn't mentioned. I believe Derek had also was part of rescuing somebody from a a big car accident at the train station. That wasn't mentioned. Maybe that was too much for one night, but pretty pretty uh, impressive. So, um, so between him and and council member Evers, I think it's good to have some good news in in in, uh, locally. So, the, um, I wasn't able to watch the final for the basketball game and and Mr. Ever isn't here to talk about his his, uh, sports updates, but, I did watch the semi-final at Township 20, which is also a great place to gather, and uh, they have it had it on on TV, and it was great to see a few people in the community and be part of that. So, I I do appreciate uh, these local local sports, and it's been a great year, obviously, the last year locally. Um, and then on the finance committee, I'm uh the chair on the finance committee, which I'll give a quick update on. Um, there's a couple items, some some of them are sorry, Mr. Stephins, but there was a couple items that were personnel related that are less exciting than the finance part. Um, but uh some people might disagree, but there was a recreation conservation grant authorization that we worked on to give approval to uh Mayor Bowman. So, we're excited. Now you can go get grants, which which we are summoners did a great job at. So, um, very important policy, uh, personnel policies, uh, updated some of that. We'll see again that the these are coming up in the next couple weeks. Um, I think one of the highlights of that one is I think there's some ability to have some quarter zips with the Sumar logo on it. I thought that was the highlight of the

conversation there. Um, which I hope you guys like quarter zips. They're great. Uh, the, uh, last item we talked about was amending the banial budget. Again, it was the highlight of my week. I got to mention it again. Uh going line by line. Uh there was some updates on the recruitment and negotiations. Uh we are uh there's a lot going on the city. Um and uh there's just one negotiation with the police killed an an international union of operating engineers. So audit status. I think we had our exit interview. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it. Sorry about that. But uh um uh just good report. I think we had one thing come up at the end that was a little frustrating. Uh but uh but overall it was very clean audit. Thank you very much, staff, for for doing all the work on that. And um I think that's all I have. Thanks.

Thank you, Council Member Malcolm.

All right. What a great first uh council meeting to to attend and be part of. Um want to thank the council again for your confidence in your vote. I really look forward to working with all of you. Um I'd also like to thank the other applicants that uh that that uh put themselves out there for consideration. It's kind of an awkward and and uh and different way to kind of do it, but it's uh really appreciate that they're uh stepping into the arena and trying uh trying for that role because I think it's just a very valuable place to be involved in the city. So, thank you for all of those people that uh put their name in the hat. And I'd also like to uh thank the the members of the community that got up and and spoke on my behalf and and endorsed me. That was very cool. Uh there were some folks I actually had never really met who had actually uh had seen some of the stuff that I had written and felt compelled to come up and speak. So that was very cool. Really appreciated that. Um on another note, I just want to give a shout out to our amazing city of Sar water department. This last Friday during the deluge that we were just getting nailed with. I noticed a small lake developing in my yard which uh few years ago that meant I had a water uh main leak and they they came and fixed. So I was a little bit concerned. So, I went in online trying to see if I could find the help desk. They were done for the day on Friday. So, I put the email in and lo and behold, within an hour, the truck pulls up in front of the house. Antonio hops out, gets out there, starts pumping away at it. I go to talk to him, and he's, you know, he's making me feel good about this is probably not a problem, but we'll take a look. And he actually got down and jammed his arm down in there up to his elbow in that cold, horrible water. Um, but you know, just made me feel really good about having that kind of responsiveness from the city. And then Kayla sent me an email first thing Monday morning because that's when I thought I would get a response and uh she had somebody there about 7:30 checking it and they went in and they actually filled in some low spots around it and put some lawn seed on it. Um, so it was very cool to see how fast they acted and how responsive and Antonio was

great. He was just very friendly and I felt really good with the engagement. Um, and then lastly, I just looking forward to the uh the street sweeper naming uh project whenever that comes up for a contest. I think that'd be great. Thank you everybody. Thank you, Council Member Wy.

There we go. It's red. Um, thank you. I want to uh welcome Council Member Malcolm um to the DAS. It's not as scary on this side as it is down there. So, that I've learned Um uh the other thing I really I don't have much but I just want to say thank you to our police and fire department. Um you guys do um what you know um the rest of us don't know how to and so I just want to thank our police and fire department um you know East Pierce and um you know our local police officers. Um you guys are amazing. um you put your lives on the line for us every day and so we just we really appreciate um police and fire. So, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Hawksteader.

Thank you, Mayor. I I would like to uh echo the the appreciation for our wastewater treatment facility. It's not often that we get Jeremy here in our presence, and I think uh I think um I think it needs to be known that you guys do an amazing job. the council got an opportunity to tour the facility and see what you guys do and see how you were doing the best you could with what you had and um I just want to assure the public that there is no there's no quote no pun intended water like waste when it comes to what you guys are doing very important um so I happily approved what needed to be done with um with improving the facility so thank you Jeremy last I want to say is open house looks like it's a month away um I'm sure maybe city administrator will talk about that. But, um, April 14th, 5:00, I just know that there's a lot of people who want to say in things or be heard or see what's going on. Um, and so, just to keep getting that date out there and keep inviting our neighbors into the open house. I think it might be kind of special this time. I think it might be actually at Heritage Park. So, it might be kind of a new twist. No, it's going to be at city hall. It's going to be at city hall, but we'll probably talk about the updates at Heritage Park. But, anyways, that's it. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you very much. All right. I would now like to call on city administrator Jason Wilson. Oh, I'm sorry. Gosh. Well, council member Ranky. Well, I'm usually not last, so I know forgot. Holy moly.

That's all right. I'll be brief, but uh I want to welcome also Mr. Malcolm to the council. He'd be a great addition to it. Um, as far as the last couple weeks, uh, Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00 p.m. I I've, uh, was on the Puget Sound Regional Council, which is basically a made up council members, mayors, port commissioners from basically Kitap County up to Snomish County, Everett, Everett to Breton basically. And I'm on the economic development board uh, committee. So, we had our first meeting and just worked on our work plan for 26. uh they only meet quarterly so it's just four times a year. Uh then on the 11th we did go to the personnel finance committee uh deputy mayor Alfers reported on that very nicely so I won't say anything on that. Uh the other thing I will say is thank you to Terry and Derek citizens accommodations I got tonight. Um, I got a little bit different perspective on it since I did have 35 years in the fire service and uh those are life-changing moments for somebody that even in the whether they're in the fire department or not to even have that chance to try to save somebody out of a burning structure. Now, I ran into a lot of burning structures in my 35 years, but I had a hose line and 500 gallons of water or hydrant and probably six to eight firefighters behind me. So, it's a whole different story when you're in there with nothing and it's street closed. So, I really my hats off to those guys and I appreciate uh them stepping up and doing that. Um, and the last thing I guess I'll say is uh the March March 18th, this Wednesday at 4 p.m. is public safety committee and Thursday, March 19th, 6 p.m. is my Pierce County Regional Council meeting that I'll be on. So, that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you so much. I'm so sorry I passed you. That's okay. All right. Well, you're not easy to forget, so I don't know how this happened. Okay. City Administrator Jason Wilson.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Coming up next week at our study session, we have two items on the agenda. First is a recap of the 2026 legislative session. Uh, Miss Palmer and Bill Clark will be here to present on everything that the legislature passed and also what they didn't pass. Well, not everything. That would be a very long night. everything that's germanine and relevant to your legislative agenda. Uh after that, Cassandra Raymond will be presenting on the 2025 financial review. March is a month where we have five Mondays. So five Mondays means you do not have a meeting on the fifth Monday. So enjoy March 30th off April 6 at your next regular council meeting. Uh, you'll have a proclamation for the Rotary Centennial, a proclamation for the animal care and control officers week, a public hearing on the six-year transportation improvement program, approval of uh to apply for RCO grant for the Bennett property park, an ordinance uh vacating the alley on Harrison Street, some commission reappointments, an ordinance amending the civil service chapter, an ordinance uh updating our personnel policies, an ordinance for a zoning code text amendment related to co-l livingiving housing and finally an ordinance uh for the second reading that you heard tonight for the franchise agreement with Easy Fiber. Other than that, I will mention we do have the open house coming up on April 14th 5 to 7:00 p.m. and it is in this room. So, just didn't want to take a bet on the weather in April because we'd probably lose. So, happy to answer any questions.

Any questions? Okay. Thank you very much. All right. So I think that that now leaves me. Um so I too would think Mr. Gimmel and Mr. councilman that day. You know, I didn't hear about the first one and but I did hear about the second one and then that's when I heard about the first one, the fires that occurred and uh council member Hawketter called me and then um on the second one here on Sumar Avenue and it just so happens that uh you know the neighbors my phone starts going off and uh Joyce that lives on Sumar Avenue, her uh daughter and son-in-law live across the street and up three houses. So I reached out to them to make sure she was there and family was very shook up, but she was there having breakfast and had gotten back from PUIP at the hospital with clean bill of health. So that was great to hear, right? Um so again, as others have stated, uh it's not an easy task to run into a burning house with nothing but a blanket and you know, your clothes on and uh both of them. Uh so I would thank both those men. Then I would like to uh welcome council member Malcolm uh to the dis and I'm thinking that you're finding the view is different from here in this uh type of setting versus the planning commission that you've been on. It's a little bit different uh type of activity but uh it's a broader view and hopefully uh you're going to enjoy it. I think most of us up here do. I would like to say all of us. So I'm going to just go with all of us do.

Um and then I have to share something I realized last week. So with Kerman, we start the news uh newsletters back and forth. So she's the director of communications and she does a good job kind of poking me and saying, "Gosh, we need to get going on this." And I was working on the letter for the next print. And so it's a long litany of what I've been doing the first 67 days in the seat. I wish Mr. Evers was here to know that we're on day 70 today, but I'll catch him up next week when he's back. And so I added up all the meetings. uh that I had gone to in the first few weeks as mayor and in 67 days I've attended 172 value added meetings and that is mostly Monday through Thursday. We try to block out Fridays. Uh people run hard here in the city. I try to block them out but it never quite happens. So in the morning there's usually meetings. But then I have to commend uh city administrator Wilson because he not only had his calendar, but he went with me to every single one of those meetings. So, it was a very busy time. So, if he says he's tired, everybody should believe him, you know, and we're only getting started. So, it's been a really busy. But just a few of those meetings, and those aren't just meetings here. We drove and we went and visited nine other mayors. So, we drove around and talked to all the other mayors and we had to discuss their city vision with them. We talked to them about their city financials, uh the strengths of their city, the challenges in their city because we're all going to have those uh what their largest revenue streams with each of those mayors. And so, we was a great opportunity to talk and the other city administrators were there. So, that was very enjoyable. and then um just a myriad of other things that I'm going to keep secret because you need to read the ene. So that's why I don't want to give it all the way here. So for those that are

watching uh online uh that would be the challenge. Then last week I also uh included speaking uh to middle school students at Fuchi Junior High School in Palop. So you know up early we were there by 6:30. Again Carmen Palmer went with me spoke to a couple of classes of 12 and 13 year olds. If you ever get the chance to do that, I tell you what, it is very eye openening. Uh, you know, they're going to be um it's career day. So, they're going to be influencers and what's the other thing they're going to be? It's influencers and something on, you know, the phone. Um, but it was great to talk with them. So, I really appreciate being able to talk with the kids and talk to them about career pathways. And so, I got some uh great questions. I talked to him a lot about uh on the job training and trade school because that's where I started was in trade school and a lot of experiences I had. But they asked, "What are the key things?" Uh um and I said, "Show up, work hard and like what you do, but show up. You have to show up, you know." So they really uh had a good time. And then we also hosted the leadership institute here in Sumar last Friday from the Sumar Pilip Sumar Chamber of Commerce. And so, uh, um, city administrator Wilson and director of communications Kerman Palmer, they taught that class. It was really cool. And then, uh, director Ryan Windish over there, he got the the tour bus and took them on a tour and they were all so excited. I don't know if they got to see the wastewater treatment plant, did they?

They did.

Dang it. But they were they were looking to do it. So, that was great. And so it's also equally interesting to talk to mid-career professionals about all about all the work that comes out of the city, you know, and uh everything that goes on in the mentoring. So that was last Friday. And then I'm also meeting with city staff in small groups so that they can have a chance to ask me questions and I can ask them questions, you know, get to know them, them get to know me, uh see how they're doing. A lot of great great awesome people. You know, I think uh sometimes people are a little fearful when somebody new comes into a seat uh because they don't know the person as a person. They know the position. So, uh I don't really I'm not one that carries the position. I'm more the person. So, I know I have to doing the position, but just great people and getting to know people one-on-one at a smaller, more intimate level is really great. Then last Friday was the gala for the summer Rotary and they raised a lot of funds uh for the Rotary efforts including funding the stage in the future phase of the heritage park. So a lot of fundraising going on there and then um in every event or meeting I do meet someone or learn something new every time we meet. So that turns out to be a great learning experience I think for all of us involved. And so I've really been enjoying it and uh we've only just begun. So don't forget it's the year of the horse so we got to run.

So with that uh I will say that we do have an executive session tonight uh pursuant to RCW42.30.110 I to discuss with legal council representing the agency litigation or potential litigation. Uh the session will last 20 minutes and there will be no action to follow. So, we will now adjourn into executive session at 7:38. And with no further business before the council, this meeting is adjourned at 7:38 p.m.