City Council - Regular Meeting

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we'll have to Mark, I want to ask you about Pa baseball after. All right. Yeah. Got one. Waiting for next week. I haven't got anybody for next week. I think I'm asked. You did? Okay. Let me know. I'll help however I can. Yeah, we can get people. I'm sure. Otherwise, you got to do it. You should do it. That'd be great. Run around there.

It'll be good to watch. Okay, you guys ready? Are you guys ready? Ready. Can you get his attention? Okay. I'd like to call the uh call to order the study session of April 13, 2026 at 6 PM. All members are present. Uh with that said, I'd like to call on economic and community development director Ryan Windish.

Thank you, Mayor Bowman, members of the city council. Uh tonight I'm going to present on the community partners fund. This is our 2526 bianial budget reporting. I'll go over a little background on what the community partners fund even is. Uh the community partners fund was created in order to allow for uh a variety of of our community partners uh who provide valued services including affordable housing, food, uh community events, business assistance, and economic development to really come and kind of make a case to city council during the budget process to ask for funds for their organization that provides these valued services to our community. So, back in the beginning of in uh as we were preparing the this bianial budget, there was $250,000 of funding available and we ended up the city council ended up allocating that out to uh nine different entities and one of them uh the United Way ended up not moving forward with their particular effort. So, uh, we have, uh, eight, uh, entities here, community partners here tonight to present on their organization and give a brief, uh, fivem minute presentation on kind of what they've done with the money, so to speak. Uh, done a lot of great things that have been happening. Uh, these are fantastic organizations that provide a lot of value to our community. So, I'll start with the first one. Uh, Mikasa Housing. Um, Mikasa Housing owns and manages 18 affordable housing units in Sumar. Uh, and I saw that you you got their their one their one-page flyer there. Uh, their 18 units are on Washington Street. So, if you're out walking around, driving around the community, they're uh very wellmaintained. Uh, great assets. So, they received $15,000 and I'm going to have somebody come up here from EASA Housing and do a little

So, if if I could just ask the council to please hold your questions for each presenter until they are done presenting. All right. Thank you. Hi.

Well, thank you for inviting us to come and talk about Macasa uh because it is something that we like people to know about. So, Macasa, it's a 501c3 charitable corporation, and we're run by an all volunteer board of directors. We operate three two-bedroom forplexes and two three-bedroom triplexes here in Sumar, and that's a total of the 18 units that Ryan uh spoke about. We're committed to permanent affordable housing for very lowincome families. We try to limit tenant rent and utility expenses to 30% of their gross household income. And I want to thank you for your financial support these past three years. 2025 has been a very busy year for us. And you have the annual report that uh kind of summarizes what has gone on. We've had four tenants move from the Sumar properties this year, including two long-term tenants, one that had lived with us for 11 years and another lived for 16 years. It's great to see people better themselves and be able to move on and it creates an opportunity for us to help others and that's exciting too, but it's also extremely expensive. So this year with the change of tenants, we took the opportunity to completely revitalize and modernize the triplex units that these uh two families had moved out of. We put in new LVP flooring, new kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, new fixtures and appliances, painting and repairs. The average cost for the

turnover uh of these units is about $50,000 each. Your support in the area of essential and necessary expenses like fire insurance, water and sewer, routine repairs and maintenance has helped us make it possible to create a nice place for new tenants to live. I want to share a couple of success stories with you so that you know the difference that Macasa has made in this community and in their lives. One of our families moved this year had been there for 16 years. As I said, they were an immigrant family when they came to us and they were expecting their first baby. We rented them a one-bedroom apartment. As their family grew, we moved them into a two-bedroom and then last a third three-bedroom apartment. In that time, they worked hard and they started a small business. The business grew and that now allows them to buy their own home and to have stability in their lives. Long-term affordable housing allows things like this to happen. It's not a fast process, but the results are really good. Many of our tenants are single moms with children. Uh, and it's almost 50% of all of our units that we have are single moms. Stable affordable housing allows them to raise their children in a nice home, hold down a job and better themselves by taking classes so that they can develop better skills and build a better future for themselves. And their children have the opportunity for consistent schooling in the Sumar

School District. Uh, and they too are building a better future for themselves because of this. and Macasa is proud to be part of that process. The new families that we've rented to this year with these vacancies include a single mom with four children, a one-year-old, a three-year-old, a four-year-old, and an 8-year-old, and they were in desperate need of safe and affordable housing. Another mom is disabled with serious health issues, needed affordable housing for she and her two-year-old. Both tell us they would not be able to afford housing if it was not for Macasa. The city of Sumar's support makes a difference in the lives of the 18 families in the Sumar area and we hope that you'll continue to support uh us as we continue to work here in Sumar. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any questions from the council? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next organization is the Sumary Bonnie Lake Family Center. Their mission is to build safe, stable, and nurturing relationships as well as environments for children and youth. It's a partnership that the city has with the Sumar Bonnie Lake School District and they receive uh funding of $70,000 and we'll have Merily Hill Anderson come on up and present.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Bowman, members of the council, it's delightful to be with you today. Thanks for having us. Um, we have been uh partners with you to serve our families in Sumar for many, many years. And the very first thing I want to say one more time is thank you. Truly, thank you because we couldn't do it without you. And uh Ryan, would you be able to advance the slides? Thank you. Right there. Oh, sorry about that. How do I hit the Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Back. Oh, no. My my seconds are fleeting. Okay. Um,

thank you. Okay. I need this slide right here. But while Ryan's getting our top Oh, there we go. This is just an important Just say next slide. I'll see if I can make this work.

Okay. Thank you. Um, you get a little shaky. It's hard to press. So, I would like to, as part of my annual report, introduce to you a brand new person who has become our family resource center coordinator. Today is her first day on the job, and I figured this was a great report to give her. This is your job, Cindy. Um, Cindy Conland, would you please stand? Cindy comes to us from uh, Faith Covenant Church. Uh, Ida left us after eight years with the center, and um, all I can say is day one, and I feel like we've hit the jackpot. We are so excited to have you, Cindy. And when you want to see where your investment's going, this is where your investment will be going. Um, most of it anyway. So, we're super excited. And the reason I wanted you to see that slide, uh, is because you are a partner with our district, with the health department, and city of Bonnie Lake to make sure that we have this lynchpin person here at the center who makes a lot of other things happen. And let's go ahead and advance the slide. Now, you get this really cool kind of nondescript uh, chart here. So, what I'd like to do is just go clockwise. So, what does your investment do? The resource center coordinator basically provides individual help. It helps people navigate a really complex system of very scarce resources, especially for rent and utility help. Helps coordinate groups and programs. Helps large scale events happen like community toy box. and it's going to be like, you know, she helps get the uh uh kids together and the families together for big give and for our back to school events. Everything we do that's large scale, she also helps um hikap and as well as for the individual help and the smaller classes. And then if you go around the clock, the the kind of logistics and just handling the supplies that come through our center is kind of crazy. I mean, we have 2,000 backpacks and 1,000 pairs of shoes and I don't need to go on. I mean, it just takes a lot of time to to make sure that we really know what we have, where it's going, and if we

have enough. Um, the logistics of colllocated programs, you know, when I was filling in, right, I had to make sure that there were no needles on the floor after the sewing class, right? And I had to make sure that the tables were clean and everything were was lined up. Those are the kinds of things our coordinator uh does. And it's just amazing what that person does to keep everything flowing well. and then supporting the staff of our different agencies that co-located our center as well. That just takes planning and encouragement and making sure that we're referring families that come in our door for help that we're referring to those programs. And next slide, please. Um, outreach with a purpose. Um, I have very little time to tell you a lot about what we do, but I would say the kids in these pictures, they would say that the outcome of our work was successful. I think we gave away about 50 pounds of candy this year at Halloween and a back to school nights. In all seriousness, if we can get kids to come to our table, trickor treat, and then we're telling the parents in 15 seconds about what we do, we are out there where families are because we see with gas prices the way they are, fewer people are able to make the trip. They're emailing, they're calling us, but we make sure to get out there and be in community. So, we served over 900 of your residents in these outreach events, including the street of treats, which I did not uh include up there. Next slide, please. Painting with a purpose. I loved this. Some of your money went to buy all of those art supplies. We had 24 parents and all their kids doing art together. And you may not know what they were painting, but they were painting people and places really important to them and having just great dialogue. It wasn't a heavy curriculum. It was about building that time and that space for wonderful conversation between parent and child. Next slide, please. Gotta hurry. Next slide, please.

All right. Sorry.

Back. Sorry. Um, well, I will uh let's see. We also have tutoring with a purpose. And while you're looking for that slide, I really want you to know that many of the people behind me, we work as a team. We are a web of support for your families. I'm just woo the slides. Um, you have them all, but tutoring with a purpose. The quote from Talc is, "The classes are going strong and the students seem to have fun learning. The support from the Sumar Community Fund and the School District Family Center has been key. We have 20 to 27 people every week. And again, if we did 20 times 45 weeks, that'd be a big number, but we wanted to give you kind of that solid number, right, of who was coming. So, um, you just muted me. Can I just go through my I don't know where Ryan is the rest of the slides here. I wanted you to also see the data um from some of our programs. We have multiple agencies giving me numbers. So they look a little odd, but here's what I want you to know about these numbers is that they're non-duplicative, right? So if there's 20 to 27, we had again hundreds of people come for the Tacoma Area Literacy Council classes. Um Proono was non-dup duplicative, but we could only have a few week uh people a week. And so I'm going to kind of go from the bottom up there. The sewing class speaks for itself, community toy box. Um I really love our back to school events. It's one of the largest things we do and we try to get bring in more resources for you than you give to us. That's always our goal that we give you a good return on your investment. So I apologize this was a little disjointed, but um we couldn't do it without you and all of us couldn't do it without our wonderful generous community. So super excited to be here. Happy to answer questions. Questions.

I love this work. Folks, 34 years in county. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, our next community partner is the Sumar Community Food Bank. They provide supplemental food to Sumner families and really and beyond. Uh and they connect them to other services in the community. The funding they received was 50,000. I assume we have Anthony Y coming on up. Do you want to run this or you want me to try to do it? This one's working better than the other one. Which one? Yep. Okay.

Good evening, council members, Mayor Bowman. Good to see you again. Um same basic story that you hear from food banks all across the region. The need continues to grow, going through the roof. This is just give you an idea of the magnitude of that growth. And you can see where we were in 2021. We had 758 people registered with the food bank. We are approaching 10,000 registered clients in 2026. Now, as daunting as that may be, you know, we don't focus at how big the mountain is. We focus on that dotted line. That's our capacity level. And the challenge for us and the focus for our our spend our our spending strategy for the community partner fund is how can we narrow that gap. This is a schedule when I stood before you last year. This is what our schedule looked like. We went to appointment system and we have services available six days a week and we were open one evening a year ago today. Um, and it's it's rare for a food bank to be open six days, uh, let alone, um, to be open for evening services. Uh, with the appointment system and this current schedule, we could serve 480 families a week. And so, if you round that up, it's about about 2,000 people a month. This is our current schedule. So, what we have done is we have expanded our capacity. Now, we are open four evenings uh, a week. we can serve. We've increased our capacity by 40% just by opening up evenings. But what's even more important than just growing capacity is the reason the target of this capacity and that is for working moms and dads because our our standard hours are 10 to 1:00 during the week and a lot of people especially those who are working can't make it down there. So this really opens the doors to to really

help the working moms and dads in our community. So we have gone from 480 um that we families that we can serve a week up to 720. Now question the challenge is how do you increase your capacity without adding a whole bunch of of cost to the organization especially as a nonprofit. So, we thought, let's reach out to our faith community. And we got together with six churches and we sat down with them and we said, you know, we have the building, we have the food, we need hearts and hands. And the faith community stepped up in a remarkable way. Four churches stood up and said, "Yep, count us in." Faith Covenant Church, they opened up Monday nights. We have Gateway Chapel and Creator Lutheran. They're partnering up and they they opened up Tuesday night. And the 1st of March, just uh last month, we opened up Wednesday night. Calvary said, "Yeah, we have Wednesday night covered." So now we're open up four evenings uh a week. So just to kind of put this in perspective, let's put some scale on this. We have about 500 food banks in Washington state. The number of food banks that have evening hours are about 7 to 9%, 35 to 45 out of the entire whole state. Uh food banks that are open two or more evenings, less than 10. Food banks that are open three or more evenings, maybe one or two. There is one food bank that is open four evenings a week, and that is the Sumar Food Bank. The only one in the entire state, and that just blew me away. Evening access is rare u for food banks. So how did we spend the 25,000 that the city generously gave us? So we took the 15,000 and we hired a night manager. I mean it's it's good to get all the volunteers from the the churches, but we

still needed a staff member there to uh just be their support and to be able to respond in case of an emergency. Uh so we hired a night manager for uh the four nights during the week. We spent 5,000 on food purchases because yes, we're growing our capacity, which means we're going to be there's more food that's going to be going out the door. Um 2,000 uh we are going to dedicate towards fuel uh fuel costs. Last year we had a budget of 13,000. We spent 17,000 on fuel last year and it's just continues to go higher. Um equipment, we have uh 13 freezers and coolers here in the food bank. Um, one of them is on about at the end of its lifetime. So, we've dedicated $3,000 to buy some capital equipment and replace the freezer. Um, so that is how we've used the 25,000 um that the city has uh given us. Um I I want to say uh with the last seconds I have here um I can't thank the city enough for the support the amazing support we've had over the years but it really stood out um fourth quarter of 2025 when we were experiencing the government shutdown we saw a spike a surge of new registrants at the food bank the city was the first one who knocked on our door and said how can we help so from on behalf of the board members and the staff and the volunteers but probably especially the clients. We thank you for your generosity. Questions,

Council Member Hawksteader. Thank you for your presentation. U my first thought is being open in the evening. That's that sounds so important for working families. Did you see once you opened in the evening even a more of an influx of people in need signing up because you guys were available in the evening or did it pretty much stay the same?

You know, at at the front end when we start opening up evening, especially when we open up Monday and Tuesday, the slots fill up as fast as we can open them up. Um, and that happens that's typical that happens during the day as well. Wednesday though, it's it's a little bit slower than what Monday and Tuesday was. how what we experienced in regards to filling all the the slots. So, tonight uh when I checked this morning, we had probably about 20 slots that were still available to open. But part of this is getting the word out, letting everybody know that we are indeed open Wednesday night. So, we have to send out communications and adjust all our hours on our uh the social media platforms that are out there uh that are advertising what hours we're open. So, it's just a matter of time when people are aware that they we are open Wednesday evenings and it'll fill up.

Thank you. Yep. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you.

Next group is our generous influencers. They managed and promoted and facilitated the night market last summer in downtown Sumner. Uh it was on Wednesday nights. I think they had 10 10 weeks and uh they received funding $2,000 in the community partners fund and we have Patty. You want to be able to run the I don't have any. Okay. Well, take it away.

I know. Good evening. Thank you for having me, Mayor Bowman and council members. My name is Patty Hogensson. I am the executive director for generous influencers and I also manage the puallup night market and will be co-managing this one well administrating this the one this coming year um here in Sumar. So I just a little background on generous influencers. We are a group of people who are passionate about being a positive influence on the lives around us. We believe that small business is the backbone of our communities. When small businesses thrive, communities thrive, families thrive. So, our mission is to help develop a vibrant and thriving small business community that's equipped to positively impact others through the marketplace. And we do this through community markets like the Pual Night Market, education, and leadership development. Um, but it doesn't end there. We encourage our vendors to join us in adding value to the communities by seeking opportunities to build their businesses and take the next steps to reaching their goals. Great examples are right here in Sumar. Um the determination and hard work of the micro pop-up businesses reside right over there next to the park. Um both Eternal Soul Bowl and Bomb Chariterie worked their way into the success that they have reached and brickandmortar stores through the market community. Um, and we have vendors currently that are selling their products right over there on Main Street in several storefronts. So, um, it is a it's a a great way for our smallest and micro businesses to work their way into the marketplace, provide support for their families. Sometimes it's somebody that wants to be able to stay at home, sometimes they are supplementing their income. um we have a culture that's been built at generous influencers and I'm really

excited this year to be um collaborating with the city um in that it's a family. Our vendors encourage one another. They mentor one another and then we try we try to provide um counseling through whatever issues that our vendors are facing. Um so we are very thankful for the $2,000 award. We used $1,000 of that last year and that pretty much went to um some marketing but a lot to offset our venue costs because as a standalone market um in downtown you know our first year here we were in the park with music off Maine um and so it wasn't quite as bad but it's a very expensive venture and so um we are very thankful that we had that to help support the market. We saw some great engagement from our vendors. We had over 90 vendors that applied to be at the Sun Market. We only averaged around 20. Last year was a very rough year for markets and small business vendor pop-ups. Um, everybody struggled last year, but it always affects the smallest. And so, um, like I said, we had maybe an average around 20 vendors per market here. We had local musicians come in, um, and perform. They added activities and games um to make it a more event, you know, familyfriendly event. Um and then we were able to get support from some of the local churches, volunteers to come in and help our vendors haul their stuff in and unload, you know, and load it back out because it's, you know, it's a little bit of a jaunt. Um so overall, the investment from the community partners funds directly contributed to a a great season. um it supported small businesses, activated that downtown space and brought the community together. Again, we are so excited for this coming year and we will use the

remainder of that um as we collaborate with music off Maine, with Main Street, with the Township Foundation as we all come together and just utilize that beautiful park and Hops Alley. Our market will be using Hops Alley and all the streets surrounding where the concerts will be happening, the beer garden. And um we were really excited to work again with the small businesses on Main Street and all around Sar. Uh our first year here, we had some of those businesses come and put, you know, add a popup and bring some of their merchandise over. So that's great. We just really want to continue to bring business to downtown Sumar to create that cooperative atmosphere among small businesses and just have a good time. So, thank you. You have any questions?

Council member Hawksteader. Thank you. I I just want to say I think it's a great idea partnering with the concerts this year. I'm really excited to see how that turns out. I'm fingers crossed I think it's going to go really well. It's going to be great. Council member Ranky. Yeah, I was just curious. Can you Do you guys take an attendance of how many people show up? Just curious how many, you know, this I wish I had more data for you.

Um Tyler Clark was the market coordinator last year and he's no longer with us. So I don't have any I wasn't here personally except for just a couple um just to come by and see how it was going. So I know they had flow. It wasn't it wasn't what we normally would see. Um but there was great feedback from vendors in the community came out and was were very supportive and so yeah I will we will do a better job of being able to report those numbers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

S Main Street Association is our is next. Uh they work to stimulate economic growth and revitalization in our downtown, enhance beautifification, nurture historic preservation, and ensure the vitality of downtown Sumar. And they received funding of $60,000 through the fund. And I'll have Lori up here. Thank you. All right. I'm nervous about the clicker. This button. Yep. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Good. All right. Well, good evening, Mayor Bowman and council members. So, I'm so glad to be here tonight. Um, my name is Lori Waltier. I'm the executive director of Sar Main Street Association or SMSA. Um, we appreciate your support and I'm here to share a brief update on our work and how it benefits the residents of Sumar. So, quick reminder of who we are. Um, SMSA is a volunteer-driven 501c3 nonprofit led by a board make up of made up of local business owners, local property owners, nonprofit leaders, workers in the industrial center, and residents. We currently have two full-time staff members. As an accredited Washington Main Street organization and a designated affiliate of Main Street America, we follow a proven approach to strengthening downtown districts um through promotion, events, economic vitality, and community engagement. You may know us best for rhubarb days or SIP Seminar or the Santa Parade, but events are just part of our work. At its core is what we do is we help create a downtown that is econ economically strong, welcoming, and connected. And this matters directly to Sar residents. A thriving downtown means people can shop, dine, and access services locally, but just as importantly, it creates a place for connection where people run into their neighbors, spend time together, and feel a part of the community. That kind of social connection is increasingly recognized as essential to public health and overall quality of life. So, when we invest in downtown, we're not just supporting the businesses, we're strengthening the fabric of the community. Let me highlight a few of the ways that we're doing that. Um, first, community engagement. Last year, more than 50 volunteers contributed over 1100 hours to SMS programs and events. These are residences. These are residents actively shaping their downtown and we're continuing to grow that base. Second,

events. Our events bring both residents and visitors downtown, supporting local businesses and activating the public spaces. We continue to refine rhubarb days as our signature event working closely with the city can commutes and farms and many partners. We're very intentional about intentional intentional sorry about prioritizing small and local vendors to preserve the experience and the Sumar brand. That's very important. Um we've also expanded SIP Sear to three seasonal events increasing visibility and sales for the downtown retailers. Third, partnerships and tourism. In addition to the city, um we actively collaborate with other partners like Visit Tacoma, Pierce County, Visit Reineer, the chamber, Rotary, the food bank, um and Kusen Farms. These relationships help us expand our reach and they're m mutually supportive. This year, we're also leveraging a lodging tax grant to promote rhubarb days outside of Pierce County that we hope will bring new visitors and new dollars into seminar. Fourth, business and merchant support. We launched our merchant meetups last year to connect businesses, business owners around topics like public safety and social media marketing, and we've connected them to resources like this Washington Small Business Development Center. And finally, placemaking and downtown experience. In July, we will begin phase one of our light up main project, installing new commercial grade lighting on the exterior of buildings on Main Street. This project will enhance the look and feel of downtown yearround, while our seasonal holiday decorations show what's possible through a strong partnership with the city. Those are two great examples of projects that help build a sense of community pride. Looking ahead, we're building on momentum. We've added new board members, brought on a new events and social media manager. We're focused on expanding volunteer engagement, strengthening relationships with property owners, and exploring new opportunities for business

recruitment. There's much more that I could share, but I will close with this. A strong downtown doesn't happen by accident. It takes coordination, partnerships, and sustained effort. SMSA is proud to play that role here in Sumar, and we're grateful for your continued support in helping us do do that. Thank you. Any questions? Council member Hawksteader. Yes. Uh, thank you. Could you show us a little bit more about the lights that the possibility of the lights on the on on the top of the buildings?

Absolutely. Yeah. So, our board voted last year to um dip into reserves to get the project started. We worked with Trim Light Northwest to get some bids together and we identified a section of downtown um and we're just gathering the last few permissions for that. We've identified July 20th, 24th as when we're going to get started. Some of it already started last year, but working with Trim Light's tough because they their busy season starts in September and then they're busy until, you know, through the holidays. So, but um we've just got a few more permissions to get coming in. It's a complex there's a lot of stakeholders involved in this one, but um I'm confident that it will get started.

Yep. Council member Ranky, I was just curious, is it voluntary for the businesses or is every business going to have them or is it um I hope so. Um like I said, we to get the project started, we just had to dip into reserves a little bit, but we can't do the whole downtown yet. Okay. So, based on a lot of criteria, our board looked at what's going to create the most impact on Main Street and then the costs of the because it's we're funding it ourselves essentially, but we kind of feel like if we build it, they will come. So, I think if we start, we can get the fundraising going to to get it finished. So, some of them will have them, some of them won't probably more than likely. Yeah, but it'll be stretches. Okay. You know, it'll be one continuous stretch on either side of Main Street.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Bodis is the next community partner and they assist individuals with disabilities by integrating into our community through employment opportunities and this evening we have and they received $30,000 from the partners fund. This evening we have Sailor presenting for Bus. It's just the uh little clicker button there.

Perfect. Thank you so much. Um, so I want to start off by thanking the mayor and the council members for your time and support today. Um, I'm presenting on behalf of Vis. As Ryan just said, uh, we're a local vocational nonprofit. We have been operating here in Sumar for, I think, 46 years now. Uh, we've been helping individuals with disabilities achieve independence uh, through housing and employment. And my team in specific, our pre-employment transition services team, uh, was one recipient of the community partners grant fund. So, thank you so much for your continued support again. Um, so pre-employment transition services is one team that Vadus has. Our PRITs team for short refers to a series of services that we provide to students with disabilities to help them achieve independence after graduation. So that looks like in-class workshops where I myself as well as my team go out in in class and meet with students face tof face, teach them valuable lessons about things like how to build a resume, how to apply for a job or how to prepare for an interview. We also connect students with opportunities to learn more about their jobs in their communities through something we call work-based learning. that is uh like informational interviews where they come out and they ask questions about a job they might work one day or job site tours where the students can come out and see all the different jobs in a particular business. Um and we also connect students for paid summer internships. We serve over 300 students in Pierce County each year. 15% of those students are here in Sar Bonnie Lake School District. uh and Sar Bonnie Lake School District. So, Eli Hill High School, Bonnie Lake High School, and Sumar High School receive a combined total of over 700 hours of just inclass workshops from Vadus each year. So, over the last four years, uh since we've partnered with Sar Bonnie Lake School District, uh we have actually served over 180 students uh for over 1,400 in-class workshop hours. We've

connected uh students with 16 different opportunities to get out into their community and learn more about jobs that are available. Uh that includes seven paid internships where students have worked over $290 and brought in over $2,000 in wages from Vadis since 2022. Now, our interns typically serve a pretty valuable role in their community. They get hired by folks like Napa Auto Parts just down the street or uh Ben Franklin Crafts up the road or Top Gun Muffler. and they're typically filling uh long vacant part-time roles and completing tasks that are often neglected uh the things that just don't get done around the office um while they're still learning how to integrate with their employer and overcome the boundaries that may otherwise prevent them from integrating into the community. So, uh what we've done with the money here is is we've built and expanded and improved upon our curriculum for the students. uh we use the feedback from the teachers, the students and the residents of Sumar to iterate and build upon that curriculum to make sure that it can be accessed by the students with the highest support needs. We've improved our instructor capacity through improved training and connecting our instructors with work uh industryleading uh resources, educators and researchers uh for folks with disabilities. We have also built out hands-on activities and added incentives that help students stay engaged and leaves a lasting and memorable impact about some really difficult things like communicating with others or how to budget our money, things like that. And we've invested in technology that will improve our ability to uh collaborate with and collect feedback from the teachers and students of Sumar. And we intend to continue to work here in Sumar and provide world-class services to students with disabilities in the Sumar Bonnie Lake School District. We hope to expand into classrooms and serve students that we have not yet served. And we do hope to

continue to bring forward services for the Sumar Bonnie Lake School District uh as we continue to work with them and connect the employers here in Sumar with wonderful employees. And we have a couple quotes here from some of our teachers in the Bonnie Lake and Sumar high schools. But I want to finish us off with a quote from one of our interns from Eli Hill High School who said, "I've gained so many valuable lessons and knowledge through Priett. It has really given me a better outlook on the workforce as a person with disabilities." Uh we do have these quotes in full available as well as some others that we couldn't fit here uh should anybody have them. Uh but I want to turn it over to the council now for any questions that you may have.

Questions? Looks like you're good. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Our next partner is the Tacoma Area Literacy Council. They provide free tutoring and basic literacy skills. I should probably attend basic literacy skills and English as second language to adult learners. incredibly valuable resource here and they received $3,000 in funding and we have Emily presenting up. Thank you. No slides. No slides.

Thank you for having us. I'm Emily. Uh I'm a tutor with Tacoma Literacy Council. You're welcome to join us any Tuesday in our classes. Okay. So, I'd like to first remind you uh what we do in general, then what we do in Sumner, and then how you are able to help. Uh so, in Pierce County in general, and we do serve all of Pierce County, uh we recruit new tutors and we train them so that they can work onetoone with learners. Uh we match them with a learner and we provide ongoing support, books, mentorship, etc. to help them when they are tutoring. Uh we are a group of about a 100 plus volunteers. Uh we have about 300 learners that we are serving. We are all volunteer. We have zero paid staff and we provide our services 100% free to all of our learners. Uh about a third of our learners are in the Sumar area and about a third of them attend our one of our three weekly classes that we do here in Sumar. Uh these are provided at the Sumar uh Bonnie Lake family center. So thank you Marilyn and the family center. That's a huge help to get a space to do these classes. Um, so how you are able or how you have been helping. So this year's funds uh purchased 104 books. So that's about $15 per book on average. Most of our books come from New Readers Press. Uh they are a publishing group that publishes adult literacy materials and they've got a lot of really great resources and they're geared towards adult level learning. Um, so a couple of our favorite titles are Journey to Success. It covers from the very basics, learning the alphabet all the way up through big lengthy articles. And another favorite is Oh, and they have a lot of like grammar concepts and worksheets and everything all in one book. So, it's a really great resource. Another one of our favorites is Long Story Short. I like this one because it's very funny. All the stories end

with like a little twist, a funny twist at the end. So understanding is one thing, but understanding and getting the joke is extra good. So our learners feel very accomplished when they get that. Uh we've also purchased several of the number one ladies detective agency books which are just full novels intended for English speakers. So some of our learners are reading to that level. And then we got to thinking. So we had basics and beginner and intermediate class. And then we realized our intermediate class is reading whole novels now. And our beginner class is reading articles and our basics class, they're beyond the alphabet and basic sentence structure. So in the last year, we have metriculated everybody. They graduated, but we kept them with the same instructors because they developed quite a sense of family and camaraderie and they never want to leave their instructors and all the people they've been learning with. So we just moved everybody up. So now we have beginner, intermediate, and advanced. And we're hoping to start another basics course in the fall. So merrily, we might need some more space. So, uh, they share with us everyday successes, being able to understand odd signage, uh, understand their doctors, understand their teachers, uh, understand their neighbors, and be able to talk with their neighbors. Uh, some of them say, some of our classes start with small talk, so the infamous how are you phrase. And uh some of our learners respond uh I am wonderful today because I am in class learning English and you all have made that happen. So thank you very much. Any questions?

Council member Kenna. Emily, thank you uh for your time tonight and it sounds like you guys are doing some great work. Um I think you touched on it a little bit towards the end there about uh some of the outcomes. Maybe do you have an anecdote or two of folks that you know started through classes, you know, maybe have graduated like you were suggesting or or um you know were able to get a job or a able to access resources on their own, gain some independence like you know what is what does it truly mean when somebody achieves you know literacy like like you guys are doing?

It means something different for every person. Sometimes it's that they really want to understand what's happening like at doctor's appointments. Uh some it means they get a promotion at a job or they get a new job. We have had a couple of people get some promotions. Uh we've tried not to get into too many specifics because we'd like to respect their privacy. Um I know that there are also some people that we sadly have to say goodbye to because they got a job and they can't attend anymore during a weekday. So um we still tutor in the evenings and try to do things one-on-one to meet continue to meet with them. But uh those would be some of the basic ones is um mostly uh interpersonal things and also the um uh uh job promotions. Yeah,

great. Thank you. Any others? Okay, thank you so much.

And this is our last community partner fund presentation. It's the P of Sumar or we like to call it the Sumar Fualup Chamber of Commerce promoting an economically vibrant and competitive region where community, family, and business prosper. They received $14,000. And we have Allison Schaefer.

You still um council mayor. Um I'm Allison Schaefer, the president and CEO of the of Sumar Puallup Chamber of Commerce. Yeah. Um, the Sumar Qup Chamber of Commerce was selected to receive the City of Sumar Community Partners Fund. Hold on, I'll do this one. Because of its proven ability to deliver high impact programs that directly benefit the community, local businesses, and the city as a whole, the chamber serves as a connector, bringing together businesses, residents, and local government to create meaningful opportunities for economic growth, community engagement, and leadership development through established events, programming, and partnerships already rooted in Sunner. The chamber is uniquely positioned to um to maximize the city's investment and deliver immediate and measurable results. Let's click this one. What we delivered summer, specifically our events and our programming. The chamber is proud to invest in summer through intentional high impact events that bring people, businesses, and leaders together. Each year, we host our economic forecast lunchon at locallyowned handsome place, convening more than 120 community leaders for meaningful conversations focused on our regional economy. Our business expo held at each spring at Kusen Farms draws in hundreds of attendees and showcases over 60 local businesses creating valuable visibility and connections. We also celebrate and elevate women leaders through our women in business event also hosted at Kudson Farms. Sumner plays a key role in developing future leaders. We also hold hold full day leadership institute sessions at our iconic local businesses including Delano's coffee drur and the old canary as well as the city of Sar. In addition, we maintain a strong and consistent presence through weekly networking opportunities with at least one hosted monthly in the city of Sar. Beyond events, we actively celebrate the success and growth of Sar's small businesses through our

community ribbon cutings and milestone celebrations. Our commitment is simple to drive divis visibility, connection and economic vitality in Sumar through programming that brings community together and supports local businesses in success. So here's our ROA. Increased customer traffic and business visibility, access to networking, education, resources, stronger business retention and growth, and direct connection through local government and advocacy. I know I have Ryan in like this in investment is a catalyst for economic growth and increased tax revenue. By driving attendance to events, we bring in more people into Sar who dine, shop, and spend locally. It elevates Sar's brand visibility and reputation as a vibrant vibrant, welcoming, and businessfriendly community. Hosting highquality, well-attended events positions as a destination for visitors and for businesses considering where to locate or expand. A strong brand builds long-term economic competitive competitiveness. This work also supports collaborative economic development by bringing together the chamber, the city, and local businesses and community partners. We align and create an unified approach to growth. These events not only stand alone, but they are part of a broader strategy to strengthen local economy through connection and shared goals. We maximize partnerships and shared resources ensuring that investment goes further by leveraging sponsorship, volunteers, support and inind contributions and existing community assets. We amplify the impact through duplic without duplicating efforts. This collaborative model allows us to deliver high in value programming efficiency and effectively. last shows kind of our ribbon cutting and

but appreciate you. Any questions? Questions? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So that's the final presentation on the community partners fund. And normally we have a slide that says next steps. And so what uh next steps will be in terms of the bianial process for the budget this year. Uh you'll we'll be going through a process to have the community partners come in and kind of make a pitch in front of council for funding for the next bianium. So you will probably see a lot of our community partners back again. uh when you listen to all that they presented, it's really clear that it's a it's awesome that the city's able to provide funds to these organizations that just broaden the impact that the city has on on creating value for the community. So, want to thank them for all coming out. Appreciate it and all that you do.

I'm going to call on Council Member Evers. Just thank you all for coming. That was very wonderful to hear all the great things you do. I'm just curious, how long has the city been doing this? This is our second round. Okay. Yeah, this will be third round coming up this summer. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Kenna.

Yeah. Thank you, Ryan. And thank you to everybody that was here tonight presenting um just extraordinary work that you all are doing. And uh not just everybody here also, but the the spiderweb of other partners that are supporting your agencies and nonprofits and everything. Um just fantastic. and shows, you know, how strong of a community we have here. Um Ryan, just in terms of, you know, next steps you were mentioning about um kind of the the pitch to come down the road of, you know, other projects. Um is that uh is that to a select group of partners like we have here tonight? Is it open to other potential new partners? Yes.

Um and then, you know, maybe you can speak a little bit about that kind of application process in terms of, you know, is there a set threshold for money that organizations can go for? Do we try to limit it to a certain amount so we can spread it around? Like how does that kind of all work?

Yeah, that's some great questions. So, we um we started doing this process because we've had ongoing community partnerships with Main Street Association, the Sumar Bonnie League Foundation. And so, we thought, well, let's let's broaden this out. Let's give other people other organizations an opportunity. So the so the process will be that we'll kind of have an all call notice for folks to basically apply and then uh you know they'll put in how much they'd like to receive and then it comes to council and it's another five minute round of this is why you should give us money sort of a thing and provide funding and the benefits and then the council has the really unfortunate and and not envious task of figuring out who are we going to fund who's bringing the most value to Sumner uh you what fits and and how much based on their ask and how much they're going to get. And I don't know what if we even have a a a fund m limit right right now, but I know the first round was 200,000 and this one went up to 250,000. I'm not guaranteeing it's going up or down, but um it'll be up to council to, like I said, have the unenvious task of really trying to figure out um which which organizations are are going to be funded. Right. Thank you, Ryan.

Deputy Mayor Alers. Oh,

I just wanted to make sure I thanked everybody. It's really It's really been a pleasure to see a lot of these organizations and have a couple years ago gone through the process and and be able to see what you've done. So, it's really appreciate the reports and the updates and um it it is really neat to see the balance of helping families in need and helping businesses grow and just trying to create community. So, uh it is a lot of you guys I've I've known for a little bit. So, it's been again I just really appreciate you coming. appreciate all the work you're doing. Thank you for encouraging volunteers and for people to to just um try to keep our community a bright spot in the in the region. So, uh thank you for that. Look forward to I'd love to hear some anecdotes. I did feel like I echo that just like that was the data was great and I think that's important and I and I think it it's obviously significant because we're giving money, but man, it sure is neat to hear stories that are positive. We had somebody come in here, I don't know, maybe a month ago who had kind of been a local hero, had helped people, a couple people who helped with fires and and those are just such an inspiration to hear. And so those stories that you guys are kind of involved in. Um I mean, I was looking through each of these and like, oh, maybe maybe this will be something I could ask my wife about or maybe this is something, you know, I think we got a couple kids to get through college still, but um I feel like these are all like really neat things to do where you can serve others and and so thank you so much for your work. Thank you. All right. Thank you all for coming and uh sharing your stories. So, we'll move on. Uh city administrator uh Jason Wilson, do you have a report tonight?

U mayor, no formal report, but just one minor modification. We do have an executive session tonight, and I notice your prompt sheet says five minutes. We'll actually need 10 minutes. So, when we get to that point, other than that, no report. Thank you. And then uh for the council, any meeting agenda changes on the calendar? Any committee meeting agenda changes? Deputy Mayor Elers.

And I'm hoping we can um adjust the finance committee meeting for uh we had scheduled for May 13th, Wednesday. I'm traveling on the 13th and 14th, so I was I suggested the 12th. And I don't think we heard back from everybody. Uh I think we heard back from Mr. Stephins and uh Cassandra. And I was hoping that the I think Mr. ever said you're you're good with it, didn't you? On the email, this that's a different committee. Deputy mayor, are you not on that one? No. No. Public works. Well, then I'm waiting to hear back. So, I think Mr. Malcolm just curious if we could do the 12th which is is a Tuesday. And then I think um Mr. Ranky, I think you are you on that committee as well? The finance I emailed back. So, you emailed back. Sorry, I got you guys.

Okay. So, read your email. Yeah. And you're good. 50%. Yeah. All right. Are we good with that? So if that's good with staff, we're going to move that to the 12th. 12th of May. 12th of April. Uh May. 12th of May. April as Sunday. Yeah. Sorry, not April.

All right. So with that being said, anything else? Any other changes? Okay. Thank you. Um we are going to adjourn the into a study session uh at this point in time uh for the purposes of reviewing the qualifications and performance of an applicant for public employment pursuant to RCW42.301G for 10 minutes. There will be no action to follow. So we will do this at 6:55 p.m. Thank you.